Shadow energy secretary says price set by regulator would help consumers who do not switch tariffs and are getting a bad deal for gas and electricityCaroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, has reopened the war on “rip-off” energy prices by calling on the government to introduce a protected energy tariff for vulnerable customers and end £1bn of overcharging.The tariff would be set by the regulator and target those least likely to switch tariff. Continue reading...

The Countryside Alliance claims the Springwatch host has an ‘extreme agenda’, but we should welcome a presenter who isn’t afraid to speak his mindSo Chris Packham finds himself in deep water again over comments he has made in his column in BBC Wildlife magazine. His latest outburst, a broadside against the conservation groups he has worked with all his life including as vice-president of the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, is typical of a man who has never toed the line, whether as a conservationist, campaigner or BBC presenter.What makes his latest outburst different is that the Countryside Alliance, which has long defended shooting and hunting with hounds, has finally come out and called for his sacking. In response to his article on conservation groups sitting on the fence over badger culling, fox hunting and the persecution of hen harriers, it stated “There is no issue with people voicing such opinions, but using the position granted by a public service broadcaster to promote an extreme agenda is a different thing entirely.” Privately the Countryside Alliance has long despised him but has been wary about taking him on given his huge popularity. Knowing in the current climate how sensitive the BBC is to any accusation of political campaigning, the alliance has seized its opportunity. Continue reading...

Analysis of government data shows policy is working in Wales in contrast to England where bovine TB is on the riseMore frequent testing of cattle for tuberculosis is a “no-brainer” in curbing the disease in England, according to a scientist whose new analysis of government statistics shows the policy is working in Wales. In contrast, TB in cattle is rising in England, where testing is less frequent and a controversial badger cull is taking place.“To me, this is a no-brainer,” said Professor Matthew Evans, at Queen Mary University of London. “It is clear that testing cattle frequently is the most effective way of reducing bovine TB. Farmers and policymakers should not ignore this evidence which is based on the government’s data.” Continue reading...

South Australia aims to attract $10bn in low-carbon investment as part of ambitious new strategy and will seek to attend UN climate talks in ParisThe South Australian government is launching a new strategy to decarbonise its economy and has set a goal for Adelaide to become the first carbon neutral city in the world.

Campaigning against CSG exploration is an all-ages affair for the ‘mini Walter Whites’ dressing up as the accidental activist from the Australian documentaryRelated: Frackman's accidental activist: 'There's blood in the water and I'm the shark'Australian schoolchildren are voicing their opposition to coal seam gas by dressing up in costumes inspired by “accidental activist” Dayne Pratzky from the powerful anti-CSG documentary Frackman. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Despite its invasive tendencies, Himalayan balsam is a useful food source for many insectsPop, pip, pop ... seedheads of Himalayan balsam are bursting in tiny explosions. The flower heads are chandeliers of red-green, glassy, pendants, which open into lipped, lobed, bulbous flowers like orchids from cerise to shell pink.Each of these has a bee’s backside sticking out of it. When they’re pollinated and the petals crinkle and fall, the seedhead grenades are formed. Continue reading...

Kiribati president says any attempt to water down a commitment to curb global warming would be a ‘betrayal’ and that there will be no compromise on target

Up to 10 farms to be built across Australia through grants and loans in move aimed to make cost of large-scale solar comparable with wind-generated powerRelated: Canning byelection poll: renewable energy trumps national securityUp to 10 new large-scale solar farms are to be built across Australia through $350m in funding from two government renewable energy bodies, following the creation of the southern hemisphere’s largest solar farm in New South Wales.

Dumping has surely reached tipping point when a countryside walk involves white goods as well as green grassI’ve been continuing a lovely long walk through the ordinary British countryside in recent days. Apart from being struck by the absence of people, and the correspondingly overgrown footpaths (as mentioned in previous Notebooks) , I’ve spotted an astonishing number of green woodpeckers, and quite a few fridges.There are many more woodpeckers than dumped fridges so perhaps I should rhapsodise about the former, but the randomly dumped refrigerators chime with new figures showing another increase in fly-tipping. After years of decline, last year the government recorded a 20% rise in illegally dumped rubbish. The latest figures are not comparable, coming from council responses to a freedom of information request, but still show an upward trend. Continue reading...

The US hunter who shot and killed Cecil the lion returned to work at his dental practice in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Tuesday. Walter Palmer remained silent as he walked past journalists to the River Bluff dental clinic, as a handful of protesters showed up at the office to express anger over the killing Continue reading...

A case study from the US shows benefits of using clean and renewable energy to power up home and cars outweigh costs, reports The Huffington Post

MEPs vote to firm up EU embargo on seal products, after partially successful challenges by Canada and Norway at the World Trade OrganisationMEPs voted to tighten a ban on seal products on Tuesday, in a move that campaigners say will protect millions of seals from commercial slaughter.

Helen Pidd took on Rapha’s Manchester-London ride for Ambitious About Autism on Sunday. Here are the (very painful) lessons she learned about long distance cycling after 17 hours and 19 minutes in the saddle

Speaking to the Guardian, the chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, Tim Bonner, says Springwatch presenter Chris Packham is using his position at the BBC to promote his views about conservation in the countryside. Bonner says Packham’s views are representative of the animal rights movement. Bonner says: ‘It should be perfectly possible to disagree with people about a policy without insulting them’ Continue reading...

A handful of protesters and a throng of reporters were on hand around sunrise awaiting Walter Palmer, who returned to work after weeks out of the public eyeRelated: Cecil the lion: hunter's reopened office is calm but protesters vow to fight onThe American dentist at the center of an international uproar over the killing of a beloved lion in Zimbabwe returned to his clinic in suburban Minneapolis on Tuesday after weeks out of the public eye. Continue reading...

How can developing countries reach 100% renewable energy generation? Our expert panel had these suggestionsRenewable energy is clearly becoming the cheapest, more scalable and quickest way to provide electricity to the new demand from emerging markets. Currently there is only one key issue, availability of the renewable resource (no sun at night and no-wind days), but new technologies (battery energy storage) are becoming more viable. Riccardo Amoroso, head of innovation and sustainability, Enel Green Power, Rome, Italy

The former Reserve Bank governor clashed with ministers over claims about policy and also endured government attempts to abolish his organisationBernie Fraser has quit as chairman of the independent Climate Change Authority, a body the government has previously sought to abolish.The authority issued a brief statement late on Tuesday saying it “regrets to announce” the resignation of Fraser, who is a former Reserve Bank governor. Continue reading...

The current refugee crisis has its origin in Syria’s complicated civil war – and not a global warming eventThe desperate and the displaced of Syria’s war should not be cast as climate refugees, observers have told the Guardian, as this overstates the role of global warming in setting off the conflict.Many agree that the collapse began in March 2011, when a group of Syrian teenagers sprayed the words “Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” on a wall in the southwest Syrian town of Dara’a. Continue reading...

The United Nations began with 51 member states and an annual budget of $19m. Seventy years on the UN has 193 member nations and spends $40bn a year. Actor Rachel Weisz looks back at its history and asks: how did the UN get so big? And – as the UN marks its 70th birthday – has it stayed true to its founding principles of spreading human rights, social progress and upholding international justice?

Medical charity says stockpiles of anti-venom Fav-Afrique will expire in June with no alternative likely for at least two yearsMedical charity Doctors Without Borders says the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for snakebites next year, putting the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk, mostly in developing countries.

Protest group Land Water Future has released a satirical campaign video poking fun at the proposed Shenhua coalmine in NSW. The $1.2 bn proposed mine on the NSW Liverpool Plains is facing a legal challenge over claims the NSW government did not properly consider the impact the mine would have on the local population of koalas, possibly leading to extinction of the group. Chinese state-owned company Shenhua would have to start the approvals process again if it loses the challenge at the NSW land and environment court Continue reading...

NSPCA granted a warrant to gain access to private reserve and can bring charges against organisers of the week-long hunt if they see signs of animal crueltySouth African animal rights group the NSPCA has said it has obtained a warrant in its attempt to stop a week-long large game hunt that could see hundreds of animals die.

Church Norton, West Sussex As the sun comes out, a slim grey greenshank wakes from its slumber and starts to preenThe South Downs are hidden behind low cloud as wind drives the rain across the harbour. Raindrops fall on the brambles all around me and run down the ripening blackberries and blue-grey juniper berries. I put my hood up, cover the telescope and sit on a bench overlooking the harbour, sheltering among the bushes, to wait for the tide to fall.It is hard to imagine now, but the harbour at Pagham once bustled with boats – from Roman times to the 14th century – until storms engulfed the area in 1341. The inlets began silting up and the channels became too narrow and shallow. Continue reading...

Crocodile researcher warns the reptiles face a ‘bleak future’, but Australia’s saltwater and freshwater species have a brighter outlook due to hunting banAs many as half of the world’s 27 species of crocodilian face being wiped out due to human activity, although the most feared variety, the saltwater crocodile, faces a brighter future, according to a new book by a veteran crocodile researcher.Land use changes, pollution, culling and feral animal invasions mean that many crocodile species face a “bleak future”, warned Professor Gordon Grigg of the University of Queensland. Continue reading...

Green buildings and better infrastructure would not only spur economic growth but also cut carbon emissions equal to India’s annual output

To counteract potential risks of the deal, Australia’s treaties committee recommends nuclear-armed India agree to a number of safeguardsThe government-dominated treaties committee has given a cautious green light to a proposed uranium deal with India, but only if the nuclear-armed nation agrees to a number of safeguards.India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) nor the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT), yet the emerging world leader is in dire need of energy. Continue reading...

Wildlife presenter accused of pursuing ‘obsessive crusades’ and corporation of printing ‘blatant political propaganda’The Countryside Alliance has called on the BBC to sack the high-profile wildlife presenter and naturalist Chris Packham after he criticised leading conservation groups for sitting on the fence over fox hunting, badger culling and the plight of hen harriers.Tim Bonner, chief executive of the alliance, which lobbies to promote the interests of rural people and communities, said Packham was pursuing “obsessive crusades” and that the BBC was printing “blatant political propaganda”. Continue reading...

Nations must make a greater effort to reach agreement or else millions face the risk of becoming climate refugees, says French presidentThe president of France, Francois Hollande, has warned that the global climate change talks scheduled for Paris this December will fail unless nations make a much greater effort to reach agreement – and that the result could be millions of new refugees fleeing climate disaster.

Up to 30 trucks are plying on a 32-mile purpose built road illegally carved out in the jungle in Ucayali region, smuggling out tree trunks on an industrial scaleOnly from the air is it possible to make out the scale of three illegal logging roads which have been carved into Peru’s eastern Amazon, while local authorities in the jungle Ucayali region seemingly turn a blind eye.

A new study challenges the traditional assumption that experts are best placed to evaluate how well people could cope with and adapt to an emergencyThe concept of “resilience” is taking development and humanitarian sectors by storm. Huge amounts of finance are being channelled into “resilience-building” activities, aimed at supporting people and communities to deal more effectively with climate extremes, financial shocks and the many other risks that threaten lives and livelihoods.Given the pressure on NGOs, governments and donors to demonstrate value for money and support the right people and activities, the race is on to find the best ways of measuring resilience. Continue reading...

British farmers among estimated 4,000 blockading city centre as European ministers hold emergency meeting on agriculture crisisEuropean agriculture ministers have agreed a €500m (£366m) aid package at an emergency meeting in Brussels as police outside clashed with farmers protesting against falling dairy and meat prices.

They are touted as a free source of clean, unlimited energy to heat your water but the first independent test suggests they are not as efficient as thoughtThermodynamic panels have been touted as “a free source of natural, clean and inexhaustible energy providing 100% of your hot water needs, 365 days of the year”. For around £5,000 to buy and install, they sound too good to be true – and the first independent tests suggest they are.

But global decline continues and woodland the size of South Africa has been lost since 1990, reports UN’s Food and Agriculture OrganisationThe rate at which the world is losing its forests has been halved, but an area of woodland the size of South Africa has still been lost since 1990, a UN report said on Monday.Improvement has been seen around the globe, even in the key tropical rainforests of South America and Africa, according to a surprisingly upbeat Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), which is released every five years. Continue reading...

US dentist challenges stories about Zimbabwean hunt and says he was ‘heartbroken’ for staff when he had to close his clinicThe American dentist who killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe has expressed dismay at the furore that engulfed his family and staff and said he needed to return to work for his patients.Walter Palmer, who has kept a low profile for more than a month after becoming the target of protests and threats, is to return to his suburban Minneapolis dental practice on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Global warming does not cause the conflicts that have caused mass movement of people, but it would be wrong to say it does not contributeAs I looked in on my own children sleeping safely last Thursday night before I went to bed, I did so with added poignancy as I reflected that this was something Abdullah Kurdi was not able to do. I’m sure millions of parents of young children right across Europe have felt similar emotions these last few days.We’re all human, and so it’s perhaps not surprising that it takes a single photograph and an individual’s story to shake a society, all too belatedly, into glimpsing at one horrific aspect of Europe’s refugee crisis and demanding action. Continue reading...

Carrifran valley, Scottish Borders There is a real sense here of what the glens, cwms and valleys of the British Isles would be like if they were let off the leashThe ground steepens into a glacier-gouged corrie, and walking into it feels like crossing an invisible threshold. A slope falls away below us, steep and unnervingly slick with rain, above which hundreds of small white butterflies flicker in a low cloud, charging the air with the same soft suspense that comes with falling snow. After this muted summer, it comes as a surprise to find so many butterflies here, gathering secretly in the upper reaches of the Carrifran valley.We wade gingerly downwards into a corrie coated with life; a montane of blaeberry and bog myrtle, harebell and hogweed, tormentil, asphodel, wild grasses and huge marshmallows of moss, all growing in amounts that feel strangely luxuriant for the altitude. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 9 September 1915A curiosity of this season is the number of flies that come into the house. Flies do not seem to be conspicuously more numerous elsewhere, yet the window panes in the room where I am now writing are black with them, and there is a constant peppering against the glass from outside as though half-a-dozen pea-shooters were making a concerted attack upon me. I fancy that as the mornings and evenings grow chillier flies are more and more attracted to the warm and sunny surface of the house-walls and beat the windows in intervals between sun baths.The whole countryside seems to take the sunshine like a bath these delicious September afternoons, and here in Oxfordshire we associate the grateful autumnal heat with the sleepy sound of the slow rolling of loaded waggons along all the roads that lead into the village. Our farmhouses are mostly in the village street, with their rick-yards beside them, and the corn is brought in from the outlying fields and stacked at the homestead. This system no doubt has its conveniences, though it must delay operations immensely at a critical season. It has its merit to the outside observer in this long low rumbling which now fills all our ears - as though content and plenty had found a voice. Continue reading...

Jean-Luc Kister was one of a team which planted mines on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985, killing photographer Fernando PereiraA French secret service diver who took part in the operation to sink Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior 30 years ago has spoken publicly for the first time to apologise for his actions.Jean-Luc Kister, who attached a mine to the ship’s hull, says the guilt of the bombing, which killed a photographer, still weighs heavily on his mind. Continue reading...

Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss to push for the creation of a new futures and insurance market in dairy products at EU farming ministers’ summitThousands of farmers will descend on Brussels on Monday to protest about falling dairy and meat prices as European ministers hold an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in the agriculture industry.An estimated 4,000 farmers, including some from Britain, plan to march through the centre of Brussels on Monday to highlight the pressure they are under from falling prices. Continue reading...

Scene outside dentist Walter Palmer’s workplace is in marked contrast to that of late July, but demonstrations are planned for Boston, Washington, and Las Vegas

Electronics giant calls on ministers to think again about impact of reducing funding for homeowners who want to install panelsPanasonic, one of the world’s largest electronics companies, has urged the UK government to think again about its plans to cut subsidies for homeowners who install solar panels.The Japanese company, which is a major supplier of solar panels in Britain, said it normally tried to avoid intervening in political decisions but could not stand by and watch the industry being attacked. Continue reading...

Annual naming event fetes a conservation success story and burnishes the reputation of the country’s president Paul KagameIt was a scene reminiscent of Planet of the Apes or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Two dozen performers wearing hairy gorilla suits, complete with masks and rubber boots, scampered along a bamboo bridge, beat their chests and cavorted in a field at the foot of a volcano.The occasion was Rwanda’s annual naming ceremony for mountain gorillas. Since the 24 babies born in nearby wild habitat over the past year had failed to RSVP, a group of parents and children in costumes gamely played their parts instead, grunting and rolling in the grass to the delight of thousands of villagers, diplomats and president Paul Kagame. Continue reading...