Greens' Sarah Hanson-Young warns $14m in federal funding nowhere near' enough to support South Australian communities reeling from toxic algal bloom covering coast

Experts say the level of ambition in Labor's upcoming 2035 emissions target will influence the capital decisions of many companies

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The decision to let a small blaze burn - before it suddenly erupted - has drawn scrutiny. Now those who love the remote North Rim are reckoning with the destructionWhen lightning struck on 4 July along the remote North Rim of Grand Canyon national park, sparking a small wildfire in a patch of dry forest, few predicted the terror and loss that lay ahead.Fire managers decided that conditions seemed ideal to let the blaze burn at a low intensity - a practice known as control and contain" that helps clear out excess fuels and decreases the chance of a more catastrophic wildfire in the future. Rains from previous weeks had left the forest floor moist and weather forecasts indicated the summer monsoon season would arrive soon. Continue reading...

Steve Reed says he is unable to rule out further above-inflation rises and any decision would be up to regulatorsThe environment secretary, Steve Reed, has said he is furious" about an average 36% rise in water bills in England and Wales but was unable to rule out further above-inflation increases in future to fix the broken water sector.Reed said he hoped that root and branch" reform of the industry would lead to billions of pounds more in investment, which would mean companies would never again" have to increase bills in the way they did last year. Continue reading...

From Shakespeare to Radiohead, ancient woodlands have shaped the UK's creative landscape. They deserve to be celebratedIf the mindless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has taught us anything, it is that there is no such thing as just a tree", as one of the perpetrators, Adam Carruthers, told the jury. It was almost as if someone had been murdered," he said of the ensuing public outcry. For many it was.Animism runs deeply through our relationship with arboreal life. From Macbeth's prophetic Birnam Wood to the towering Ents in The Lord of the Rings, trees have long been personified in literature. And, from Constable's bucolic Suffolk to David Hockney's Yorkshire wold, they have helped shape Britain's artistic landscape.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

With tax reform back on the agenda thanks to the productivity roundtable, Henry's 2010 review has a lot of answers to the biggest challenges facing the Albanese government

Watchdog has faced intense criticism over sewage spills, shareholder payouts and ballooning debts

Use of wastewater treatment plant effluent containing Pfas threatens wildlife, food and drinking water, advocates sayMany of the nation's wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas forever chemicals" as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn.Effluent is the liquid discharged by wastewater treatment plants after it disinfects" sewage in the nation's sewer system. The treatment process largely kills pathogens and the water is high in nutrients that help plants grow, so on one level it is beneficial to struggling ecosystems. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter signed by 59 MPs criticises party's deputy leader after his warning to energy firms over new contracts

Current list of 24 invitees to next month's economic reform summit includes only one environmental representative

Big Butterfly Count asks volunteers to spend 15 minutes in local green space with big recovery expected after 2024's dramatic declinePeople are being urged to help measure the scale of Britain's butterfly bounceback after last summer's dramatic decline with this year's launch of the world's biggest insect survey.The Big Butterfly Count asks volunteers to spend 15 minutes in a local green space counting the butterflies and day-flying moths they see. Results of the survey, which takes place from 18 July to 10 August, can be logged on the Butterfly Conservation charity's website or via its free app. Continue reading...

Environment Agency records 75 serious incidents among total of 2,800, with Thames Water being worst offenderSerious pollution incidents by water companies were up 60% last year compared with the year before, data has revealed.These incidents are the most environmentally damaging and indicate that the sewage spill or other pollution incident has a serious, extensive or persistent impact on the environment, people or property. They could, for example, result in mass fish deaths in rivers. Continue reading...

Rules to prevent enormous waste' of fuel are seen as weak and poorly enforced and firms have little incentive to stopThe fossil fuel industry pumped an extra 389m tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere last year by needlessly flaring gas, a World Bank report has found, in an enormous waste" of fuel that heats the planet by about as much as the country of France.Flaring is a way to get rid of gases such as methane that arise when pumping oil out of the ground. While it can sometimes keep workers safe by relieving buildups of pressure, the practice is routine in many countries because it is often cheaper to burn gas than to capture, transport, process and sell it. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

The bulk of global greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic, and many big oil and gas exporters are also authoritarian

The Kangaroo Island assassin spider's only known home is in the north-west of the island off the coast of South Australia, where it hides out in moist clumps of leaf litter. As parts of Kangaroo Island - still recovering from the black summer bushfires - suffer through near-record drought, scientists say an invasive plant root disease is drying out the Jurassic-era spider's habitat even further Continue reading...

Indigenous groups had offered to rehome grizzly nicknamed Tex who was killed without authorizationThe journey of Tex, a young grizzly bear that gripped public attention in Canada after swimming to a tiny populated island, came to a violent end this week after he was shot and killed without authorization, despite plans by Indigenous groups to relocate him.The four-year-old bear's landfall on 25 May on Texada Island, a tiny island off the west coast, set off a controversy between differing interpretations of how to treat wild predators. Its shooting on Tuesday has advocates calling for the British Columbia government to act faster when it comes to working with First Nations on environmental stewardship. Continue reading...

The president is threatening to deport essential farm workers, grocery clerks and food delivery drivers. But without them, shelves could go empty and prices could soarThe Trump administration's assault on immigrants is starting to hit the American food supply.In Texas, farmers who have for years depended on undocumented people for cheap labor - to plant, harvest and haul produce - have reported that workers are staying home to avoid raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). In Los Angeles, restaurants and food trucks have been forced to close as the immigrants who cook and wait tables fear Ice and other law enforcement. Continue reading...

Residents of Minot, North Dakota, exasperated by proliferation of furry foot-long neighborsThe Richardson's ground squirrel weighs less than a pound, is about a foot long and is native to the northern Plains.The little creature also is a ferocious tunneler, and it's exasperating the people of Minot, North Dakota, where it's burrowing everywhere from vacant lots to the middle of town, and growing more plentiful over the past two decades. Continue reading...

Pesticide Injury Accountability Act would ensure that Bayer, Syngenta and others can be held responsible for allegedly causing health issues

President has 15 days to approve or veto legislation that critics say will lead to vast deforestation and destruction of Indigenous communitiesBrazilian lawmakers have passed a bill that drastically weakens the country's environmental safeguards and is seen by many activists as the most significant setback for the country's environmental legislation in the past 40 years.The new law - widely referred to as the devastation bill" and already approved by the senate in May - passed in congress in the early hours of Thursday by 267 votes to 116, despite opposition from more than 350 organisations and social movements. Continue reading...

Tires take decades to decompose, and millions are improperly dumped every year. An intrepid group sets out to clear Kentucky's conveyor belt of trash'In the 1980s, Russ Miller and his wife moved to a far edge of eastern Kentucky's Red River Gorge, where they built a homestead on a ridge hugged by three sides of the river. It's the kind of place you can only get to with a hand-drawn map. A place so remote that the farther and farther you drive to get to it, the more unsure you are that you are in the right place.They would spend leisurely afternoons drifting the river in inner tubes, until they started noticing what floated alongside them: heaps of discarded junk. Continue reading...

Exclusive: 17% increase in military spending will add emissions equivalent to those of some entire countriesDonald Trump's huge spending boost for the Pentagon will produce an additional 26 megatons (Mt) of planet-heating gases - on a par with the annual carbon equivalent (COe) emissions generated by 68 gas power plants or the entire country of Croatia, new research reveals.The Pentagon's 2026 budget - and climate footprint - is set to surge to $1tn thanks to the president's One Big Beautiful Act, a 17% rise on last year. Continue reading...

Industry says party's threat to strip wind and solar subsidies if it enters power undermines national interest

Diners jump at chance to snuggle with cubs but wildlife experts accuse firm of exploiting wild animals for selfies'A restaurant in northern China has been criticised by animal welfare groups for offering an unusual item on the menu: lion cub cuddles.According to a screenshot of a menu circulating on social media, Wanhui - a restaurant in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province - has a four-course set afternoon menu costing 1,192 yuan ($166/124) that includes playtime with the in-house animals. Continue reading...

From microscopic images inside a human kidney to self portraits of enduring epilepsy and endometriosis, this year's selection is as moving as it is dazzling Continue reading...

Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technologyGovernments should consider taxing artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies to generate funds to deal with the climate crisis, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and a former French diplomat, is co-lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, an international initiative to find new sources of funds for climate action by taxing highly polluting activities including aviation and fossil fuel extraction. Continue reading...

Victoria's environment protection authority launches investigation over pollution of Banyule Creek in Rosanna

Using a speech to the National Press Club as a rallying cry to federal parliament to finally agree on a rewrite of the quarter-century old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, Ken Henry, now the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, said that Australia's environmental protection laws are 'broken' and should be reformed. 'We have had all the reviews we need,' Henry said. 'All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let's just get this done'

Search for female and her cubs on hold to campaigners' relief after court had quashed injunction against cullThe hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow has been put on hold, the Norwegian environment agency has announced, in a case that angered animal rights campaigners after officials shot the wrong bear.The agency said on Wednesday it did not now plan to act on a bear-culling order it issued in late June in Jarfjord, near the border with Russia, after a female bear bit a man's arm, leaving him needing stitches. Continue reading...

Durham is thought to be first UK local authority to rescind its statement, in a move condemned as a very dark day'A Reform-led council is thought to have become the first in the UK to rescind its climate emergency declaration, a move condemned as a very dark day" for the authority.Durham county council, which has had an overwhelming Reform majority since the May local elections, passed a motion to rescind a declaration made in 2019. More than 300 local authorities have declared a climate emergency. Continue reading...

For Sami Tamimi, preparing the food of his homeland is an act of resilience and keeping his culture aliveFood is both deeply personal and political for Sami Tamimi, the Palestinian chef and food writer, whose first solo cookbook is an emotional culinary ride down memory lane through the bountiful seasons of his homeland - and an effort to preserve the ingredients, techniques and traditions which have long been targeted by the Israeli occupation.Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from My Palestine is a masterclass on how less is so often more when it comes to creating food that connects with people and how the joy derived from cooking and sharing food can, in itself, be an act of resistance. Continue reading...

Announcement takes number of people hit by restrictions across England to about 8.5 millionSouthern Water has become the fourth English utility to issue a hosepipe ban, taking the number of people hit by such restrictions to about 8.5 million.The latest ban, which comes into force for about 1 million residents across large swathes of Hampshire and all of the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, comes after Yorkshire, Thames and South East Water announced similar measures. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Officials offering to amend bill if wildlife organisations stop campaigning against plansThe government is putting pressure on wildlife organisations to drop their opposition to its planning bill, the Guardian has learned.Some of Britain's biggest nature charities including the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust say the legislation risks widespread destruction of nature. The charities want a key section of the legislation, part 3, scrapped entirely because they say it is a licence to kill nature". Continue reading...

More than 2in of rain fell in an hour in the region, killing two people, and such storms are only going to intensifyMonday night's downpour was one of the most intense rainstorms in New York City history, the kind of storm that's now happening much more often due to climate warming.More than 2in of rain fell in New York City's Central Park in the 7pm hour on Monday evening, part of a regional downpour that filled the city's highways and subway tunnels and prompted several water rescues. Continue reading...

Campaigners attack council for backing plan to fell trees in burial site near runway to allow for increase in passengersA Labour-led city council has been criticised for backing an airport's scheme to cut down majestic" trees in a historic, wildlife-rich cemetery close to a runway.Environmental campaigners, people whose loved ones were laid to rest in the cemetery and opposition politicians have expressed dismay that the trees in South Stoneham Cemetery in Southampton are to be lost. Continue reading...

Huge glasshouse, home to world's oldest potted plant, to get 50m refit as part of emissions-cutting drive at gardensIt has been the tropical jewel in one of the UK's most famous gardens for more than 175 years, and now the Palm House in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is to get a green makeover.The attraction, which houses Kew's tropical rainforest, will close for five years to allow engineers and botanists to transform it into the first net zero glasshouse in the world. Continue reading...

Whale is having a full harbour experience', says an expert aboard a maritime boat shadowing the supersized mammal

National parks, famous for their rich natural heritage, should be at the heart of efforts to protect habitats and wildlife. Instead, experts say they are declining - fast

Pfas-laden pesticides and sewage sludge used as fertilizer move into crops and nearby water sourcesThe Trump administration has killed nearly $15m in research into Pfas contamination of US farmland, bringing to a close studies that public health advocates say are essential for understanding a worrying source of widespread food contamination.Researchers in recent years have begun to understand that Pfas-laden pesticides and sewage sludge spread on cropland as a fertilizer contaminate the soil with the chemicals, which then move into crops and nearby water sources. Continue reading...

Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done on backs of the poor'

Ministers call for hosepipe bans as East and West Midlands enter drought, joining Yorkshire and north-westFour areas of England are now in drought as the East and West Midlands have joined Yorkshire and the north-west.Continuing hot and dry weather was a hazard to crop production and wildlife, ministers said, as they urged water companies to put hosepipe bans in place to conserve water as levels deplete. Continue reading...

Grand Canyon Lodge consumed by two wildfires that have burned more than 45,000 acres in areaThe historic Grand Canyon Lodge on the monument's North Rim has been destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire, the park said on Sunday. The blaze has forced officials to close access to that area for the season.The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, the park superintendent, Ed Keable, told park residents, staff and others in a meeting on Sunday morning. He said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing also were lost. Continue reading...

Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every wayBritain's uplands are dying. What should be some of the very best places for nature are the absolute worst. Across vast tracts of some of our most beautiful landscapes, life is rapidly ebbing away. Where once there was purple heather, bilberry and buzzing insect life, there are now over-grazed, sheep-infested ecological disaster zones. For a nation of nature lovers, it's a disgrace.One of the very worst areas is the Dartmoor commons. These exemplify everything that is wrong about England's upland management. In a recent Natural England survey of Dartmoor's protected sites, only 26 out of 22,494 hectares (55,583 acres) were found to be in an ecologically favourable condition - that's 0.1%. All the blanket bogs and all the heathland surveyed are in an appalling state, and in many places these once wonderful habitats are in decline.Chris Packham is a naturalist, broadcaster and campaigner Continue reading...

The $1.6bn Biden-era plan for a gas-powered blast furnace at a steel mill in Middletown, Ohio, is indefinitely on holdA Biden-era plan to implement a gas-powered blast furnace at a steel mill in Ohio, which would have eliminated tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment year over year and created more than a thousand jobs, has been put on hold indefinitely by the Trump administration.Experts and locals say the setback could greatly affect the health and financial state of those living around the mill. Continue reading...

Lawmakers send letter railing against suffocating' smoke days after voting for Trump plan likely to boost pollutionA group of Republican lawmakers has complained that smoke from Canadian wildfires is ruining summer for Americans, just days after voting for a major bill that will cause more of the planet-heating pollution that is worsening wildfires.In a letter sent to Canada's ambassador to the US, six Republican members of Congress wrote that wildfire smoke from Canada had been an issue for several years and recently their voters have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer". Continue reading...

NOand PM2.5 levels down significantly since 2015 but climate crisis may be driving rise in harmful surface ozoneThe UK's air pollution has dropped since 2015, scientists have found, but they have warned that dangerous levels are still reached too often.Researchers found that nitrogen dioxide (NO), which is mainly produced by traffic, fell by 35% on average at monitoring sites. Fine particles called PM2.5, which are small enough to get deep into lungs and are caused by burning wood and driving cars with internal combustion engines, dropped by 30%. Continue reading...

Class action led by two community leaders argued government had legal duty of care to prevent or deal with damage linked to global heating

Former Durham county council climate lead calls motion to rescind climate emergency declaration reprehensible'Two councils that have been recognised for their work to cut emissions but are now under the control of Reform UK are expected to scrap climate pledges this week.Durham county council's deputy leader, the former GB News presenter Darren Grimes, has proposed a motion to rescind a 2019 declaration of a climate emergency, in what it is believed would be a UK first. Continue reading...