Case brought against mine alleged environment minister Greg Hunt approved project without regard for conservation advice for two endangered speciesThe federal court has overturned the Abbott government’s approval of Australia’s largest proposed coal project, Adani’s Carmichael mine in north Queensland.The court has ruled the environment minister, Greg Hunt, ignored his own department’s advice about the mine’s impact on two vulnerable species, the yakka skink and the ornamental snake. Continue reading...

Project will evaluate 5,600 miles of English coastline, where some 70,000 archaeological sites are threatened by changing sea levels or coastal erosionA small army of volunteers, backed by drone technology, is being recruited to record and monitor the longest archaeological site in Britain: 5,600 miles of English coastline and tidal foreshore containing some 70,000 sites at risk of being destroyed by changing sea levels or coastal erosion.The drones are being sent in as the safest and quickest way to survey large sites where there is little more than an hour of working time between tides. Continue reading...

Flooding in Burma is likely to spread further south, the UN announced on Tuesday. Over 200,000 people have been affected, and 46 killed, by the heavy monsoon rain which has caused flashfloods and landslides in central and northern areas of the country. Infrastructure has also been badly hit, with roads and rail lines cut in many places and telecommunication links broken Continue reading...

Seventy years after the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 15,000 miles away in Brazil, a group of bomb survivors known as hibakusha campaigns against the use of nuclear energy. Brazil has nuclear energy capabilities – but the hibakusha argue that there is no practical way of disposing of radioactive waste

The policeman who killed Michael Brown gets more sympathetic coverage than the dead teenager did, and let’s not even get started on Cecil the lionThis past weekend, a massive photograph of Cecil the lion (the beloved animal whose illegal death at the hands of a dweeby American dentist inspired a global outpouring of grief) was projected on to the Empire State Building. The installation was part of a campaign to raise awareness about endangered animals – usually a fairly benign and uncontroversial cause (yes, alive lions good, dead lions bad) – that struck a sour, nearly satirical chord with many US activists. “I’m personally going to start wearing a lion costume when I leave my house so if I get shot, people will care,” writer Roxane Gay tweeted last week.As many writers of colour have already pointed out, there has been no memorial on the side of the Empire State Building for the black American victims of police violence, let alone the black American victims of white supremacy in general. In fact, there has been no memorial on remotely that scale, or with that degree of civic endorsement. There has also been no unified international uproar demanding justice for those dead Americans, nor any swift legislation to make those Americans safer (by contrast, Congress is already working on a bill to ban big-game trophy hunting). I’m as disgusted as anyone by Great White Hunter vanity killing, but it is an objective fact that police officers hunting people is a more pressing social issue than dentists hunting lions. You can and should care about both, but caring about both requires caring about both. Continue reading...

While mushroom foraging for personal use may be defensible (Letters, 30 July), large-scale and indiscriminate picking of wild fungi for commercial exploitation will eventually have a major effect on the survival of species in the wild. Britain is already the last redoubt of some mushroom varieties that have become very rare on continental Europe and, while the reasons for this are probably complex, removing their reproductive bodies before they have shed their spores can only do harm. Mushrooms are beautiful, spanning every colour of the rainbow, and the vast majority are of no culinary value, or poisonous. They should be left for others to appreciate in the wild. There is nothing more depressing to a naturalist than finding a mass of mushrooms that have been trashed in a fruitless search for porcini. It would be inconceivable to treat wildflowers in the same way.

Your editorial “The immorality of the hunt” (31 July) alluded to the “sinister side” of Walter the dentist. It’s a profession that never fares well in the press or literature. Sitting opposite me is my kindly, Guardian-reading, be-sandalled, vegetarian husband. A classic of the kind. And a retired dentist! When he puts the paper down, he will probably pick up the jumper that lies beside him and darn a hole made by one of the ravening hordes of clothes moths living hereabouts, none of which he can morally justify swatting. Just so you know they’re all different.

Ministers and EDF have agreed on controversial £25bn development of Hinkley Point C, with most of upfront costs provided by Chinese companiesA £25bn contract to build the UK’s first new nuclear power plant in 25 years is expected to be signed within weeks.Ministers in the Department of Energy and Climate Change have reached an agreement with the French energy company EDF to develop Hinkley Point C, near Bridgwater in Somerset, and are ready to approve the project after parliament’s summer recess. Continue reading...

The pursuit of online outrage about killing big game is a new bloodsport that attracts self-consciously unpleasant rich people who take pleasure in the tabooEveryone is complicit in a bloodsport when it comes to getting angry about images of hunters posing with slaughtered animals. That bloodsport is the pursuit of outrage, the greatest game of all in the digital age. It is so thrilling to close in on your first really horrifying image of wanton cruelty to animals, and after that you want another. The death of Cecil the lion has unleashed a riotous thirst for images of slaughter that is currently being satiated, or more likely aroused further, by a woman posing beside a “dangerous” giraffe she bravely killed.Related: The hunter who killed Cecil the lion doesn’t deserve our empathy | Rose George Continue reading...

Foreign ministry says it has submitted bid to UN for more than 463,000 sq miles of sea shelf as competition for oil and gas resources heats upRussia has submitted a bid to the UN claiming vast territories in the Arctic, the country’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.The ministry said in a statement that Russia is claiming 1.2m sq km (over 463,000 sq miles) of sea shelf extending more than 350 nautical miles (about 650km) from the shore. Continue reading...

Companies should simultaneously compete and work together, says Jonathan Rowson, but there is a moral case for loading the dice to support greater collaborationI was recently introduced to Pandemic. Unlike zero-sum competition games such as chess, Pandemic is a cooperative board game that helps focus the mind on winning in the context of sustainability. The threat in Pandemic is the end of the world and, although the focus is public health rather than ecological collapse, the same principles apply.In Pandemic, players have to cooperate to keep four virulent diseases under control and can only win or lose as a team that actively collaborates. In its emphasis on coordinating diverse forms of expertise (dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher or operations expert) to address complex challenges, the game shares some overlaps with my view that climate change should be understood as problem with seven dimensions – science, law, technology, money, democracy, culture and behaviour. Continue reading...

Politicians and analysts say plan to cut emissions from US power plants helps effort to strike UN climate change deal in Paris later this yearPresident Barack Obama’s plan to slash electricity-generated CO2 emissions was welcomed on Tuesday as a courageous step towards a lower-carbon future, but not yet enough to brake dangerous global warming.

A lost whale surfaces in an upmarket marina in Buenos Aires on Monday. The whale was first spotted in the afternoon in Puerto Madero, Argentina, and news spread via social media, causing a crowd to gather along the water's edge. A police boat was called to try to herd the whale back to the Rio de la Plata river, which connects with the Atlantic Continue reading...

Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, which was studying lion shot in Zimbabwe, has received over £550,000 to fund big cat researchThe death of Cecil the lion has sparked donations of more than £500,000 to an appeal founded by a team of conservation researchers.

American, United and Delta will no longer ship lion, leopard, elephant, rhino or buffalo killed by trophy huntersThree US airlines say they will no longer ship lion, leopard, elephant, rhino or buffalo killed by trophy hunters, in the latest fallout from the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe last month.

Long-running government survey drops usual polling showing support for renewable energy, for first timeBritish public support for nuclear power and shale gas has fallen to its lowest ever level in a long-running official government survey, which has also briefly ceased polling showing widespread public support for renewable energy.Nuclear and fracking for shale gas are key planks of the Conservative government’s energy policy, but the polling published on Tuesday shows just one in five people now support shale gas and one in three support nuclear. Continue reading...

Elephant tusks with estimated black-market value of about £265,000 were being transported from Tanzania to China via SwitzerlandSwiss authorities say customs officials at Zurich airport have seized 262kg (578lb) of ivory that three Chinese men had dispatched from Tanzania.Switzerland’s customs authority said the ivory – found during a security check on 6 July and packed in eight suitcases – had an estimated black-market value of about 400,000 Swiss francs (£265,000). Continue reading...

Sabrina Corgatelli, a big game hunter, appears on NBC Today to defend her recent trip to South Africa where she shot a giraffe. Corgatelli says there is a misconception that hunters are cold-hearted killers, explaining that there is a deep connection with the animal. She also explains that giraffes are 'very dangerous' animals. Corgatelli first drew attention when she posted a series of photos to social media of herself with the carcass

Despite rapid growth in renewables, China and India are far from ready or willing to lead the world on environmental issuesAs the Paris climate conference draws ever nearer, and with it the prospect of a global agreement that all countries will cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Europe can look on its contribution to the fight against climate change with pride.

Country Diary: Buxton With many species having disappeared from Lightwood, it’s a delight to see others establishing themselves in the absence of grazing flocksLightwood, on the north-western edge of this town, is my ur-landscape – the place of sheep-grazed hills, steep-sided cloughs and rushing water over dark gritstone beds that launched my relationship with the whole of nature. Sadly, it has also become a landscape of loss, since many of my most treasured fixtures – lapwing, woodcock, grey partridge, ring ouzel, tree pipit and wood warbler – have gone.Yet, recently, I was delighted to find that Lightwood has also gained since my childhood. As we walked the track where the reservoir has been drained and dismantled, we were shocked to find both sides smothered in tangled banks of marsh bedstraw, ragged robin, valerian, marsh thistle, greater bird’s foot trefoil, tormentil and, here and there, great phallic spikes of spotted orchid. On the higher slopes were patches of bilberry already with fruit, and swaying passionately in the breeze were the magenta-headed columns of foxglove. Continue reading...

Flooding and sea level rise top the list of fears for how climate change will impact the UKThe majority of British people are worried about global warming, a poll has found, with flooding and sea level rise topping the list of fears for what rising temperatures will bring.

Sabrina Corgatelli receives barrage of abuse on social media but uses TV interview to justify killing animals that also included wildebeest and warthogRelated: Delta bans shipment of hunting 'trophies' amid Cecil the lion outrageA big-game trophy collector from Idaho has been criticised by animal rights activists over online images of herself posed with the carcasses of a giraffe and other wildlife she killed during a recent guided hunt in South Africa.

Echidna was returned to bushland near the Currumbin wildlife sanctuary two days after she was taken from her enclosure and has no serious injuriesA man has been charged over the kidnapping of Piggie the echidna, who has been returned to her Gold Coast home.Piggie, who was stolen from her enclosure on Saturday night, was found on Monday evening after being returned to bushland near the Currumbin wildlife sanctuary. Continue reading...

Barack Obama formally unveiled his administration's ramped-up plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants and declared climate change the greatest threat facing the world. Speaking to a friendly crowd at the White House a few months before international climate talks in Paris, Obama said the world may not be able to reverse global warming if aggressive action to stop it is not taken. 'There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change,' he said. Continue reading...

FOI documents also show centre rejected by University of Western Australia was planning to spend up to $2m of its $4m budget on eventsBjørn Lomborg’s “consensus centre” was to spend up to $800,000 of its $4m in government funding on promotion and marketing and up to $2m on high-profile “events” under the controversial and now-abandoned agreement with the University of Western Australia (UWA).Lomborg is searching for a new university to host his government-funded thinktank after a backlash from staff and students forced UWA to abandon the deal.

‘We are the last generation that can do something’ about climate change says president in announcing requirement of 32% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030Six years after first promising to “roll back the spectre of a warming planet”, Barack Obama finally committed the US to unprecedented action against climate change on Monday, with sweeping new curbs on carbon emissions from power plants that are equivalent to taking 70% of American cars off the road.

The Wisconsin governor, known for his anti-Obama environmental policies, was confronted by climate activists during a New Hampshire campaign stopWisconsin governor Scott Walker encountered what looked like a group of young supporters during a campaign stop on Monday at a local pizza shop, only to be presented with a fake check from the billionaire Koch brothers by a group of climate activists.Walker, one of the top-tier candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, was in the midst of a meet-and-greet with prospective voters in the early primary state of New Hampshire. The governor held the event ahead of a forum on Monday evening during which 14 Republican contenders are set to participate in what has evolved into a pre-debate before the first official GOP debate on Fox News later this week. Continue reading...

Leaf-mining moth, which infects and destroys leaves of ‘conker trees’, is moving north from England and WalesParasitic “hitchhiking” moths, which infect and destroy the leaves of horse chestnut trees, are moving north and could soon invade Scotland.The horse chestnut leaf-mining moth, which originates in the Balkans, was first recorded in London in 2002 and has spread throughout England and Wales. Continue reading...

The bold action on climate change taken by the US president stands out in stark contrast with the timid approach of BritainBarack Obama is setting out his vision for US climate action on Monday, and what is most striking of all is the tone. For a long time the US was considered a slow mover in taking serious steps to reduce the threat that a changing climate causes to food security, to public health and to the environment.Obama, keenly aware that this generation of politicians will be judged by whether or not we showed the ability to plan ahead to protect the future of our planet, clearly wants to change that. Continue reading...

The frackers are furious over the incentives given to solar and wind that provide them with a fighting chance to compete as coal is phased out

UN member states finally assent to plan for sustainable development goals that wins praise for pledge on poverty despite scepticism over implementationAfter tense negotiations, 193 countries have agreed the next set of development goals, which will seek to end poverty, achieve gender equality and ensure food security in every corner of the globe by 2030.“This is the people’s agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind,” said Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, after the targets were agreed on Sunday. Continue reading...

It’s August and while the northern hemisphere is enjoys heatwaves, the southern hemisphere wildlife are feeling the cold. We’d like to see your photos of the August wildlife near youAugust is here and while the northern hemisphere wildlife will be basking in summer weather, their southern hemisphere counterparts are now in the midst of colder temperatures. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d like to see your photos of the August wildlife near you.Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. Continue reading...

As if finding a rain-free day for a weekend barbecue wasn’t hard enough, we have to suffer the annual deluge of flying antsDid a swarm of frisky flying insects put a dampener on your weekend barbecue? Well, there’s a good reason – for a brief period each summer, millions of flying ants appear in Britain for a short frenzy of mid-air mating. This year, what’s known as Flying Ant Day fell on Sunday and colonies were spotted erupting out of pavements, spilling into gardens, bedrooms, on to sofas and even riding the London Underground.Flying Ant Day is actually a bit of a misnomer, says Professor Adam Hart of the University of Gloucestershire. A flying ant survey he has run with the Royal Society of Biology since 2012 has found that the idea of one synchronised 24-hour period of emergence is a myth. Sometimes they come out over a few days, or even weeks. Continue reading...

Barack Obama announces on Monday 'the biggest, most important step' the US has ever taken to combat climate change – the new clean power plan. Outlining the scientific evidence for global warming, including the negative effects on people's health, the US president says the problem is no longer for another generation. Calling time on the lack of federal limits on the amount of carbon pollution power plants can release, Obama also focuses on the creation of new jobs through sustainable, cleaner energy development Continue reading...

Activists hand workers copies of the music and encourage them to help the oil company ‘avert disaster’ on plans to drill for oil under ice capShell staff arriving for work in London were regaled with a new piece, Requiem for Arctic Ice, on Monday morning, performed by a string orchestra in protest at the energy giant’s plans to drill for oil under the ice cap.Greenpeace activists handed workers copies of the music and leaflets calling on them to blow the whistle, on what was the first day of a month-long protest outside Shell’s offices on the South Bank. Continue reading...

Government spies may have illegally targeted political and environmental opponents to president Rafael Correa’s plan to extract oil in Yasuni national parkEcuadorian spies may have broken the law by obtaining personal information on MPs, environmentalists, indigenous groups, human rights activists, academics and political opponents of president Rafael Correa who opposed the exploitation of oil from an Amazonian wilderness, according to leaked papers.

A new book of aerial photographs, Beautiful Destruction, captures the awesome scale and devastating impact of Alberta’s oil sands with stunning colours, contrasts and patterns. The book also includes 15 essays by prominent individuals from environment and industry, sharing their insights, ideas and opinions. Photographs by Louis Helbig Continue reading...

A major barrier to reducing the wasteful mindset of business and society is overcapacity and stranded investments in waste-to-energy incineration

After the heartbreaking death of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, the Book Doctor recommends children’s books that explore the complexities of conservation and the threats to the natural worldMy children were devastated by the killing of Cecil the Lion. They want to know about how animals in the wild can be protected. Are there any good books that might inspire them?For your children the shocking incident of the killing of Cecil will be a spur to finding out more about how man fails to protect animals. Continue reading...