Tasmanian man held prisoner for two months after Russian commandos stormed Arctic Sunrise in 2013 says ‘I’m vindicated’A Tasmanian man held prisoner for two months after Russian commandos stormed a Greenpeace ship is feeling vindicated after an international court ruled in his favour.Colin Russell was held in a Russian prison after the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise was boarded in September 2013 and the 30 Greenpeace activists and journalists were detained. Continue reading...

Solar Council letterboxes all electors in Western Australia’s seat of Canning encouraging them to vote for Labor, the Greens or the Palmer United partyThe solar industry is letterboxing all electors in the crucial West Australian Canning byelection urging them to vote against the Liberal party on 19 September in response to the Abbott government’s “war on solar”.The Solar Council leaflet states: “Installing solar helps Western Australians cut a typical power bill by up to 65%. The federal government is targeting solar by slashing the renewable energy target. We will support any political party with a good solar policy.” Continue reading...

Brampton, Cumbria Suddenly, there it was, in elegant outline, its feathers painted with Japanese brush strokes in verdigris, amber, slate-blue, honeyIt felt like an agricultural show. Lines of cars parked in a field and a blue canopy were definitely an event. Laminated signs read “Bee-eaters, this way”. We followed a footpath that skirted Low Gelt sand quarry, gorse pods snapping open in the hot evening air. On the long walk in, we talked to a steel worker from Redcar, his first time travelling to see a rare breeding bird – a bird from southern Europe that fires the imagination with its rainbow colours.The RSPB had set up a second open-sided tent on the rim of the quarry. Backed by bracken and birch saplings, a large gathering waited, their binoculars and scopes trained across a deep bowl to the far side. There was hushed chatter like a congregation waiting for a service to begin. Pink sand was sculpted into crags, bluffs and Saharan swirls, and tracks looped across the bottom where a machine had recently been working. Continue reading...

Washington-based Center for Global Development predicts 289m hectares (714m acres) of tropical forests will be felled by 2050 based on current trendsTropical forests covering an area nearly the size of India are set to be destroyed in the next 35 years, a faster rate of deforestation than previously thought, a study warned on Monday.

US president says conservative politicians and businesspeople are ‘standing in the way of the future’ by opposing his clean energy measuresBarack Obama has railed against US political and business figures who oppose the expansion of wind and solar power in a speech where he singled out the influential Koch brothers for criticism.

Swedish firm Hennes & Mauritz reacts to critics of ‘throwaway culture’ by encouraging ideas for recycling fibreHennes & Mauritz, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, is launching an effort to promote recycling as it seeks to cut its environmental impact, boost its ethical credentials and address looming shortages of raw materials.The move comes as critics point out the damage being caused by a throwaway culture fuelled by cheap clothing that has seen a sharp rise in the number of garments sold annually around the world. Continue reading...

Territory says it banned activist group’s entry after it had ‘deliberately attempted to disrupt the legal and regulated activity of driving and killing pilot whales’Denmark’s autonomous Faroe Islands announced on Monday that they had refused entry to a ship carrying 21 activists from the militant conservation group Sea Shepherd who were trying to disrupt traditional whale hunts.

Trade in bear bile and other illicit animal products continues as local shopkeepers point to tradition: ‘Why are we punished for our culture?’California legislators aiming to pass more stringent regulations on the sale and dissemination of ivory and rhinoceros horns received a boost last Friday when a San Francisco man pleaded guilty to selling an undercover federal agent two black rhinoceros horns for $55,000. The art dealer Lumsden Quan and Mill Valley man Edward Levine will face sentencing in December.But despite this guilty plea and the attempt at a crackdown, rhino horns and other illicit animal products remain on sale in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Continue reading...

The government’s chaotic, secretive killing plan is far more costly, and far less efficient, than simply vaccinating these animalsIn New Zealand, deerstalkers have issued a grovelling apology after four critically endangered takahē were shot dead during a government cull of pukeko, a common and superficially similar-looking bird. In Australia Queensland’s government has been criticised for authorising the killing of 621 sharks – a futile gesture about being seen to be doing something after shark attacks on surfers.These culls illustrate three uncomfortable truths about the organised killing of wildlife for a specific purpose: mistakes happen; there are always unintended consequences; and culls are hugely unpopular. Continue reading...

Mahi Tabet-Aoul says Algeria is not responsible for a large amount of greenhouse gases, but it will still suffer greatly from the impact of climate change, reports El Watan de Algerie

Police investigating suspected environmental scams swoop on state officials and businessmen in Amazon area known for woods used in furniture and deckingThe raids began at dawn as the sun rose over the Tapajós river and more than 100 police swooped on a dozen locations in the most sophisticated operation yet against suspected timber laundering in Brazil – a practice that allows consumers in the US and Europe to buy flooring and furniture with what they think is a clear conscience.More than 30 officials, local businessmen and sawmill owners were arrested in Pará state in the north of the country this morning as prosecutors targeted what they say is a criminal organisation that whitewashes environmental crimes and reveals the flimsiness of Brazil’s logging controls.

Major UNFCCC carbon trading scheme hit by serious corruption allegations involving organised crime in Russia and UkraineA key carbon offsetting scheme was so open to abuse that three quarters of its allowances lacked environmental integrity, a new report says.UN officials confirm the findings by the Stockholm Environment Institute that around 600m tonnes of carbon were wrongly emitted as a result, under the UNFCCC’s Joint Implementation (JI) scheme. Continue reading...

The environmental justice and Black Lives Matter movements are complementary. We can’t afford to choose between the twoThose of us from low-income communities of color are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. US cities and towns that are predominantly made up of people of color are also home to a disproportionate share of the environmental burdens that are fueling the climate crisis and shortening our lives. One has only to recall the gut-wrenching images of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath to confirm this.At a time when police abuse is more visible than ever thanks to technology, and our communities continue to get hit time and time again by climate catastrophe, we can’t afford to choose between a Black Lives Matter protest and a climate justice forum, because our survival depends on both of them. Continue reading...

Freak wild fires are becoming the new normal as global weather patterns have changed dramatically but we still not have accepted that

This hobby is surging in popularity, and I can see why – it’s easy, relatively cheap, and is a window into a world of beautiful, abundant creaturesIt is encouraging to read reports of a growth of interest in moth-trapping in the UK. The practice may sound like the ultimate resort for nerds but it has given me unflagging pleasure for 10 years, since an enormous box on my birthday brought an inspired present from my wife.It was a Robinson mercury vapour lamp, the Rolls-Royce of moth traps. She knew that I had yearned as a boy for one to accompany my butterfly net and pieces of cotton wool soused in some diluted variant of chloroform. Those were Enid Blyton days when a 12-year-old could visit the chemist to buy small bottles made up of what you and the pharmacist both knew as “killing fluid”. Continue reading...

Pioneering technology to deliver the cheapest, small-scale concentrated solar power plants in the world could revolutionise the renewable energy marketIt is a problem that has so far stumped even Google’s brainy engineers – how to generate cheap solar electricity using a small-scale array of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy.Now a team at a South African university – led by a former Intel strategic planner – believes they have cracked it. Once they have completed a prototype system in October they have big plans for rolling out the technology. Continue reading...

As with climate change, both mitigation and adaptation are needed to tackle air pollution in China

Regulator awards licence to Bazalgette Tunnel to start building along Thames and says bidding process has cut costsLondon’s new £4.2bn super sewer will cost customers less than expected, the water regulator has said, as it awarded a licence to start building the tunnel next year.Ofwat said Bazalgette Tunnel Ltd, a company formed to lead the project, would build the Thames tideway tunnel. The 16-mile (25km) sewer is designed to reduce the 39m tonnes of untreated sewage that flows into the river Thames each year. Continue reading...

These elusive creatures are back from the brink of extinction in Britain, but that’s no guarantee you’ll get to see one. Still, it’s worth a tryIt is a quiet, calm dawn and the low sun silvers the surface of the river. Ahead, a line of bubbles on the water. We stop paddling and our canoe glides silently downstream. Suddenly we are spotted: two greylag geese honk noisily. Whatever was bubbling in the water ahead of us – an otter? – slips away, unseen.When I was a boy, you were about as likely to see an otter in the wild as a big cat. Otter-spotting was an exotic pursuit only worth attempting on a trip to the Highlands. Over the last two decades, however, helped by the banning of pesticides that once washed into our rivers, European otters (Lutra Lutra) have returned to every English county. They are also seen on urban waterways – in Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and even on the Thames and the Lea around London. Continue reading...

Australia’s politicians seem to have accepted that climate change is happening and must be addressed urgently. So why are they delaying?

Henstridge, Somerset Only a few intrepid bears opted for free fall, but all were safely gathered in by children holding a sheet belowIt has been the time for seasonal festivals. Of our three local villages, Templecombe (inspired by its history of Knights Templar) has had its medieval pageant; Horsington its traditional fete and an open garden day at a fine 17th-century house, the Grange; and Henstridge has had its “Jostle”. Baffled by the name, I made enquiries and was referred to a dictionary: “Jostle (noun) An experience at which jostling (a crowding or bumping together) occurs”.There have been Henstridge jostles on a royal theme, with the landlord of the Bird in Hand as a monarch knighting village worthies, but a clue to the character of this year’s jostle was a figure, seen for a while before the event, slightly less than life-size, leaning casually against a wall as you entered the village. He had grey whiskers, a black Stetson hat and a guitar, and looked like an extra from the hoedown scene in Oklahoma!, as did other figures dotted round the village. Continue reading...

Anote Tong, whose island nation is threatened by rising seas caused by climate change, says Australia has moral obligation to worry about at-risk countriesThe president of Kiribati has criticised Australia’s commitment to new coalmines on economic grounds as a “very selfish perspective” that illustrates the “fundamentally unjust” dynamics of climate change.Anote Tong, whose small Pacific island nation is threatened by rising sea levels, has written to other national leaders calling for a worldwide moratorium on new mines ahead of UN climate talks in Paris in December. Continue reading...

Despite the fear-mongering, the Coalition’s own modelling shows if emissions were cut 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, GDP growth would stay above 2%When a government is embarrassed about something, it puts it out late on Friday afternoon without even a media release.Such was the case last Friday, when the release of the government’s modelling of emissions cuts was put online without any fanfare, and with a fair degree of embarrassment. It showed the cost of emissions reductions is much less than suggested by the prime minister in parliament. Continue reading...

Bodyboarder Dale Carr is recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in attack at Lighthouse beach on SaturdayBeaches have reopened on NSW’s mid-north coast after a shark mauled a bodyboarder.Dale Carr, 38, is recovering in hospital after suffering leg, back and stomach injuries in the attack at Lighthouse beach on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 27 August 1915Wasps, now numerous, are sadly degenerating; they are giving up their useful work of destroying flies, and, lured from the path of virtue by too many sweets, are destroying the ripe fruit. On the tall reeds, whose floral tufts are now at their best, there are swarms of aphides, and scores of wasps crawl amongst and over them, greedily sipping the honey-dew. This does not matter, but when one nearly picks a ripe gooseberry and finds it is but a hollowed-out sham from which the business of an intoxicated wasp protrudes, the rest of the insect buried in the pulp, it is a little annoying. No sooner did the gooseberries ripen than the wasps attacked them, and they take each fruit in turn as it ripens, plums and pears being special favourites. However, these raiders have ceased to be useful members of their communities, and if we slay them we shall not lessen the future stock, for the queens are safe at home.“E. E. H.,” who has often sent information, picked up at Longnor another kind of wasp, the giant ichneumon, sawfly, or tailed wasp, really one of the wood-boring sawflies, Sirex gigas. He submitted it to a well-known entomologist, who, to my surprise, says he has not come across one in the Buxton district for twenty years. This insect, being large and striking in appearance, is often sent to me for identification, and numbers are found in Manchester and the manufacturing districts of Lancashire, whither they come in timber. It is fairly common in the Delamere country and other parts of Cheshire. Continue reading...

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) have been quietly re-establishing themselves in the woodlands of Britain for a couple of decades, although that statement might be challenged by those who have had their gardens dug up or crops eaten.Related: Here comes trouble: the return of the wild boar to Britain Continue reading...

Wind turbines are controversial. They are accused of being blots on the landscape, expensive to run and need good winds to work. But the critics could be silenced with a totally new way of generating wind power – using kites. This is a serious proposition. Power-generating kites are far more sophisticated than toy kites, and designed like aircraft wings capable of flying in most conditions.Related: Our weather pages are now bringing you real sunshine | Chris Elliott: Open door Continue reading...

It’s a good question: our pets eat 2.48m tonnes of fish a year

Scientists ‘very concerned’ and suspect toxic algae, though Noaa concedes ‘bottom line is we don’t know what’s causing deaths’Thirty large whales have recently washed ashore on Alaskan coasts, prompting a federal agency to declare an “unusual mortality event” and mount an official investigation into the mystery of what could be killing so many marine mammals.Related: 'A deaf whale is a dead whale': US navy sonars could be cause of strandings Continue reading...

Situation is similiar to early days of the US shale boom, says industry expertIn The Frackers, a book about the fracking industry in the US, Gregory Zuckerman tells the story of “new billionaire wildcatters” who made fortunes and went on to use their wealth to shake up Hollywood, education, politics and sport. In the UK, a similar book would present a very different narrative, as local anger and government delays slow the expansion of the industry.But now, with the award of licences for fracking in 27 locations in England, some of those who have doggedly supported the controversial method of extracting gas from deep beneath the ground are hopeful they are about to embark on the first chapter of a new, more profitable, journey. Continue reading...

An indigenous tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, the Monpa, fears its religious and cultural sites will be affected by 15 hydroelectric projectsOn 24 and 25 August, the Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects of the Ministry of Environment and Forests is scheduled to discuss the impact of 15 hydroelectric projects planned for the Tawang river basin in western Arunachal Pradesh. In an area wedged between China and Bhutan, these dams, with a combined capacity of about 2800MW of power, will submerge 249 hectares (615 acres) of forest. Other construction work such as roads will affect an even larger area of forest.

Instead of playing it safe with Isas and deposit accounts, three intrepid investors gambled on something weird and wonderful

Simon Barnes spent a whole month with his son Eddie, 14, discovering the simple joys of the outdoorsThe river had us under its spell. We paddled the canoe at the perfect pootling pace, snug to the bank. Song of sedge warbler among the reeds, insects crowded together on the inside of the bends where the water – always gentle on the Waveney – runs slowest. Eddie and I moved upriver making little sound.Three weeks later, Eddie and I recalled the trip. I asked him what we had seen. “Dragonflies!” Yes, indeed. And what were the especially pretty insects we saw on the inside of the bends? “Banded demoiselles!” Continue reading...

Glen Strathfarrar, Highlands Not until I uploaded the photographs onto the computer did I realise that she only had one hornThe remnants of the old Caledonian Pine Forest and the river Farrar rushing through the bottom of the glen were attractive and impressive. Yet what drew my attention were the snow patches on the surrounding hills.They seemed to sum up the summer, with its low average temperatures compared with other years, as the snow should have long melted.Related: Country diary: Glen Strathfarrar Continue reading...

Wild West End will link parks with green stepping stones to draw wildlife to built-up streets, with beehives, bird and bat boxes being installedLondon’s West End may not seem the ideal habitat for wildlife, but wrens, thrushes and bats are making it their home.Robin-like black redstarts, common pipistrelle and the rarer Leisler’s bat, pied wagtails, song thrushes and wrens are among those recorded in a recent survey of buildings around Regent Street, Haymarket and Piccadilly Circus.

Rise of Isis led to substantial decrease in NO2 emissions in Baghdad and central Iraq since 2013, say researchers, with similar trends seen in Egypt and SyriaWar, humanitarian catastrophe and economic crises in the Middle East have drastically altered air pollution levels in the region, according to a new study.

United Utilities says it is ‘step closer’ to lifting notice for 300,000 affected homes as potential compensation bill mounts following cryptosporidium outbreakConcern and anger are rising in Lancashire more than two weeks after 300,000 homes were warned to boil tap water following an outbreak of a parasitic bug.Facing a compensation bill of at least £15m, the water company United Utilities has announced new measures to kill off cryptosporidium after first finding the organism in a water treatment plant on 6 August. Continue reading...

Historians will wonder why the US president was so willing to compromise his stance on climate changeThe Arctic sea ice starts about three days’ steaming north of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Small, sporadic floes grow larger, the great Atlantic swells flatten out, the bitter polar winds are stronger and the utter stillness begins. If you can handle the monotony of the vast ice-scape that unfolds, it is possible to navigate a ship with a strong hull and a good lookout nearly to the north pole at this time of year.Three years ago, I got to within a few hundred miles, alongside Greenpeace and a group of international ice researchers. We might have pressed on through the thick sea ice that forms and melts every year, but no one, least of all the scientists, expected that year’s record ice loss, and only a fuel shortage and time forced us back. Continue reading...

State Department official says administration’s stance on oil drilling program continues to spur criticism as Hillary Clinton joins list of opponentsA senior official at the State Department has admitted there is an “obvious tension” between the US’s commitment to combat climate change and its approval of Shell’s oil drilling in the Arctic.

RAC predicts petrol could soon be sold for £1 a litre after Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco slash price of unleaded fuel by 2pSupermarkets in Britain have slashed their petrol prices as the cost of crude oil continued to slide.Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all announced on Friday a cut in the price of unleaded fuel by 2p, leading to predictions that motorists could soon be buying petrol on the forecourt for £1 a litre. Continue reading...

They tried to influence government – but it stopped working. So now the new boss of Friends of the Earth is taking a more radical approach. And, as he predicts a storm of protest over a massive expansion of fracking, he’s ready to take on George Osborne in an ‘ideological war’For someone who spent the night celebrating a Welsh community’s rejection of a giant opencast coal mine, Craig Bennett seems pretty clear-headed.The new head of Friends of the Earth (FoE) may not have known the words of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the Welsh national anthem, but he sang them along with ex-miners in the Blast Furnace Inn pub in Pontlottyn, he says, and the experience of working with them and others to reject the Nant Llesg mine rammed home the point that environmental groups must become relevant again to all kinds of people. Continue reading...

Sleeping otters, a giant gecko and humpback whales feature in this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Singer will perform outside Shell’s headquarters in London to campaign against the company drilling for Arctic oil and to raise awareness of climate changeShe’s performed for the pope, the Queen and the former president of the United States, but next week Charlotte Church will turn her attention – and her voice – to the employees of the oil giant Shell.On Wednesday the singer-songwriter and actor will sing a “heartbreaking” song alongside a requiem outside Shell headquarters in London, as its oil exploration vessels gear up to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic. She hopes it will highlight the oil firm’s “nonsensical and exploitative” billion dollar venture under the ice cap and persuade its employees to blow the whistle on the company. Continue reading...

Councillors of Wick in far north of Scotland say ‘disgusting’ slaughter of over 400 pilot whales has tainted the whole of the Faroe IslandsA Scottish town has broken off its relations with the Faroe Islands in protest against this year’s “disgusting” killing of over 400 pilot whales.Wick, a coastal in the far north of Scotland closer to the Faroes than to London, has been twinned for 20 years with Klaksvík, the second-largest community in the Faroes. But the islanders’ traditional whale hunts have sickened civic leaders who fear that their association with the remote archipelago could also affect their own tourism. Continue reading...

Imidacloprid, a nicotine-like pesticide used on crops, led to loss of bee colonies in England and Wales, according to government-backed researchProtecting oilseed rape crops with a controversial nicotine-like pesticide has led to the loss of honeybee colonies across England and Wales, a government-backed study has found.The research, based on large-scale data on pesticide use, crop yields, and honeybee losses spanning 11 years, looked at the effects of coating seeds with imidacloprid in nine regions between 2000 and 2010. Continue reading...

Conservation group plans to move five to 10 rhinos from South Africa, where poaching is on the rise, to Zakouma national parkThe critically endangered black rhino is to return to Chad decades after it was last seen in the country as part of an ambitious relocation from South Africa, where it is under siege from poachers.African Parks, a conservation organisation that recently reintroduced lions to Rwanda, intends to transport between five and 10 black rhinos to the Zakouma national park in Chad next year. Continue reading...

Water deliverd to sustain agriculture and livestock on Native American land after Gold King Mine toxic spill but liquid allegedly tainted with black oil substanceThe president of the Navajo Nation said he feels betrayed that water supplied by the Environmental Protection Agency appeared to be tainted with a black oily substance.The water was delivered by the EPA to Shiprock, New Mexico, on Friday 14 August, to sustain agricultural operations and livestock after an EPA accident released a toxic plume from Gold King Mine into their natural water supply. Continue reading...

Hard-to-detect small-scale clearance of Amazon rainforest makes up half of country’s deforestation rate, says study. RTCC reportsBrazil’s drive to nip illicit tree-felling in the bud has shifted the nature of the problem, according to researchers.Small-scale illegal logging is – proportionally speaking – on the rise, says a report by the Climate Policy Initiative and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Continue reading...

A group of Islamic scholars have called on the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims to take action on climate change. Religious principles support themMuslims have a religious duty to take action against climate change, according to a declaration released by a major group of Islamic scholars, faith leaders and politicians from 20 countries. The Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, launched in Istanbul, is aimed at the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims and suggests mosques and Islamic schools should immediately take action.In using religious authority to call for stronger climate-change policies at the UN summit in Paris this December, the Islamic declaration follows a similar intervention by the pope earlier in the year. Continue reading...