The Guardian

Airlines have missed 98% of their previous environmental targets yet they keep pushing to persuade more people to fly

Even with lethal wildfires licking around southern Europe’s holiday hotspots, airlines such as Ryanair are still flying people towards the flames. Aviation, dubbed “the fastest way to fry the planet’ by environmental campaigners, due to its high carbon emissions, is back as our default means of getting away. But our chosen means of transport, flying, incrementally wrecks the climates, prospects and lives of the places being flown to. This is no tragic, unforeseen irony, but a deliberate, heavily promoted act of self-destruction.

At precisely the moment when everything should bend to make less climate-damaging choices easier and more attractive, exactly the opposite is happening. Why?

All four seasons were among top 10 hottest since 1884, with extreme heat likely to occur more frequently

2022 was the warmest year on record in the UK, the Met Office has confirmed, with experts warning the unprecedented heat is a sign of things to come.

It was also the first year in which a temperature above 40C (104F) was recorded in the UK. A record-breaking 40.3C was recorded on 19 July at Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

Amid the despair and doomism is a real climate emergency. We must act accordingly

How to respond to the avalanche of record-breaking extreme weather and temperatures terrorising the planet? For many scientists it is a moment of genuine despair, but also a time to resist climate doomism.

For British tourists still flying to Greece while it is on fire, and a few holdout news organisations, the answer seems to be to look away or deflect. We shouldn’t join them. Equally, as Michael Mann and Susan Joy Hassol have argued, there is no need to inflate the magnitude of what is happening. The reality is confronting enough.

Report says nearly 200 cases filed around the world in past 12 months challenging governments and firms

Lawsuits challenging government and corporate inaction on the climate breakdown have become an important driver of change, according to a UN body.

A report by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University says litigation is setting precedents for climate action all over the world, even beyond the jurisdictions in which cases are filed. But it warns of a growing legal backlash as cases are filed that could delay climate action and criminalise activists.

Officials are baffled by the remarkable behaviour of a large pod of pilot whales that grouped together in a heart shape before stranding themselves on a remote Western Australian beach on Tuesday evening.

By Wednesday morning, more than 50 whales lay dead on the shore, with volunteers, government workers and scientists fighting to save 46 more

• ‘We have never seen this’: scientists baffled by behaviour of pilot whales before WA mass stranding

• ‘What is the sea telling us?’: Māori tribes fearful over whale strandings

British professor elected chair of UN’s expert panel, which warned in March that 1.5C threshold could be hit in 10 years

The British professor Jim Skea has been elected to head the UN’s climate expert panel, taking the helm of the organisation charged with distilling the best science to guide global policy in a crucial decade in human history.

Skea, who is a professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London and who co-chaired the report on solutions in the panel’s latest round of publications, said in a statement he was “humbled” to have been elected chair at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Australian’s latest adventure – two years traversing oceans and ice caps – aims to promote ‘carbon neutral exploring’

Geoff Wilson has spent much of his adult life exploring the planet. He has completed the only wind-assisted crossing of the Sahara and the fastest unsupported crossing of Greenland, south to north. He has stood atop Tanzania’s Mt Kilimanjaro with his father and spent a year sailing the world with his wife and three children. He holds the record for the longest solo unsupported polar journey in human history.

Wilson is the definition of a modern-day adventurer – a recipient of the Australian Geographic Society’s highest honour, the “lifetime of adventure” award. Having devoted decades to redefining what human beings are capable of, he is next seeking to prove that adventure doesn’t have to come at the expense of the planet.

Drone footage showed the scale of devastation in Algeria's northern Bouria region after deadly wildfires spread through mountain ranges on Tuesday, killing at least 34 people. About 8,000 firefighters battled blazes in 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people. The Algerian online news site TSA quoted the National Meteorological Office as saying that temperatures had soared to about 50C (122F) in some areas

• ‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia, Portugal

It often seems that people are searching harder for evidence we’re defeated than that we can win

Stanford engineering professor and renewable energy expert Mark Z Jacobson tweeted the other day, “Given that scientists who study 100% renewable energy systems are unanimous that it can be done why do we hear daily on twitter and everywhere else by those who don’t study such systems that it can’t be done?” A significant percentage of the general public speaks of climate change with a strange combination of confidence and defeatism: confidence in positions often based on inaccurate or outdated or maybe no information; defeatism about what we can do to make a livable future. Maybe they just get their facts from other doom evangelists, who flourish on the internet, no matter how much reputable scientists demonstrate their errors.

They’re surrendering in advance and inspiring others to do the same. If you announce that the outcome has already been decided and we’ve already lost, you strip away the motivation to participate – and of course if we do nothing we settle for the worst outcome. It often seems that people are searching harder for evidence we’re defeated than that we can win. Warnings are a valuable thing, given with the sense that there’s something we can do to prevent the anticipated outcome; prophesies assume the future is settled and there’s nothing we can do. But the defeatists often describe a present they assert are locking in the worst outcomes.

Rebecca Solnit’s most recent books are Orwell’s Roses and the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, co-edited with Thelma Young Lutunatabua

Environment minister says way pod crowded tightly together 150 metres offshore before becoming beached is ‘unique and pretty incredible’

• Race to save almost 50 pilot whales stranded in WA after dozens die
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Officials are baffled by the remarkable behaviour of a large pod of pilot whales that grouped together in a heart shape before stranding themselves on a remote Western Australian beach.

Drone footage captured the moment a pod of almost 100 long-finned pilot whales moved tightly together before stranding themselves at Cheynes beach about 60km east of Albany on Tuesday evening.

Our world is grappling with technological advances, shifts in geopolitical and economic power, globalisation backlash and climate change

Today we face four megatrends that are driving rapid and disruptive changes, and which will greatly affect our nation, the region and the world.
These pre-date Covid and are likely to continue well after the pandemic. They are technological advances, shifts in geopolitical and economic power, backlash against globalisation and climate change.

The first, the technology revolution – or what is also called the fourth Industrial Revolution – has already had a profound effect on our lives, our work, and how we connect with each other.

Yet experts predict the most disruptive technologies are yet to come, including quantum computing, genetic engineering and more.

To determine just how much this is driving the next wave of change, I went directly to the source and asked Chat GPT about the implications of AI.

‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

Rescue efforts continue to save 46 survivors after pod strand themselves on Cheynes beach, east of Albany

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More than 50 of the long-finned pilot whales stranded on a Western Australian beach have died, despite an overnight vigil by wildlife experts.

“Sadly 51 [pilot] whales have died overnight after a mass stranding at Cheynes Beach,” the Parks and Wildlife Service said on Wednesday morning in an update on social media.

Wildfires have been burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for nearly seven days, after an extreme heatwave hit parts of southern Europe. Local authorities ordered a mass evacuation, prompting thousands of tourists to leave their accommodation. Many were evacuated from beaches by coastguards, and thousands more spent the night in local buildings awaiting flights. Local people have been assisting firefighters in battling the flames, using fire extinguishers and towels. Some are urging authorities and neighbouring countries to provide more planes as high winds could spread the fires further

• Rhodes wildfires are climate wake-up call, says UK minister

• How bad are the wildfires in Greece – and what caused them? A visual guide

Footage captured from residents and local firefighters shows wildfires burning in Croatia's Dubrovnik region, a popular area for tourists in the Mediterranean. The country faced strong winds and extremely high temperatures, causing fires to spread quickly. Croatian authorities said up to 16 fire engines and 95 firefighters were deployed to the area, while the country's airforce sent two specialised planes to help extinguish the flames. Parts of southern Europe, including Italy, Greece, Turkey and Algeria are battling wildfires after suffering from extreme temperatures

• Storms and heatwave kill five in northern Italy as wildfires continue in south

• Deadly global heatwaves undeniably result of climate crisis, scientists show

Wildfires in Sicily have led to the temporary closure of Palermo airport after temperatures in the city climbed to 47C. A motorist captured the moment a blaze engulfed part of the highway, while flames could be seen on both sides of the road. Authorities have closed part of the motorway as more than 55 wildfires were reported on the island. Hundreds of firefighters from other regions are due to arrive to help tackle the flames. Italy is battling two extreme weather events, as violent storms hit the north of the country

• Storms kill four in northern Italy as wildfires continue in south

• Mediterranean is a hotspot for climate change, says Greek PM

Touching a tortoise’s shell is like touching someone’s hand through glass or putting your fingertip on a static electricity ball

It is important to remember that the tortoise does not live inside a shell, it is a shell: tortoises walk like they do because the sockets of their hip and shoulder bones are inside their shells, right at the top. They move like we would if we were cars with arms and legs: slowly, and not like cars at all.

Their shells are part of them in another way, too: they have nerve endings, which is why tortoises enjoy being cleaned with toothbrushes or showers:

Helen Sullivan is a Guardian journalist. Her first book, a memoir called Freak of Nature, will be published in 2024

Have an animal, insect or other subject you feel is worthy of appearing in this very serious column? Email helen.sullivan@theguardian.com

A collapse would bring catastrophic climate impacts but scientists disagree over the new analysis

The Gulf Stream system could collapse as soon as 2025, a new study suggests. The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) by scientists, would bring catastrophic climate impacts.

Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating and researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021.

Party’s environment lobby group wants forestry policy focused on restoring native forests, arguing they have more value as a carbon and biodiversity sink

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More than 300 Labor branches have backed a push by the party’s environmental arm for the Albanese government to fund an expanded, publicly owned plantation industry to ensure the country gets the timber it needs and end native forest logging.

A report by the Labor Environment Action Network (Lean), the ALP’s largest internal lobby group, calls for the party’s national conference next month to support an industry policy focused on restoring native forests. It says they have greater value if treated as a carbon and biodiversity sink than if logged to produce mainly low-value products such as woodchips, pallets and power poles.

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Increased public funding for forest protection and restoration, recognising that scientists have estimated $1.69bn a year is needed to arrest species loss.

Training and support for existing native forest industry workers and Indigenous custodians to work in new conservation and plantation roles.

A government-owned national natural capital corporation to manage the national plantation estate and help farmers take part in carbon and biodiversity markets.

A nationwide restoration program focused on 252 ecosystems identified as having less than 30% of vegetation remaining. It says this would require 13,000 workers for 30 years.

Investment in a national landcover database and vegetation mapping, based on the system used in Queensland, which has reported higher levels of land-clearing than reflected in national accounts.

A plane deployed to extinguish wildfires on the Greek island of Evia has crashed, shortly after dropping water on the blaze. Footage captured on the Greek news channel EPT shows the plane spraying water before turning into a valley and disappearing out of sight. Moments later, the camera catches a ball of fire. Greek authorities said a helicopter had been deployed to assess the crash site and confirmed both pilots died in the crash. Firefighters from several countries have been sent to Greece to fight the wildfires that have spread across a number of islands, including Evia, Rhodes and Corfu, with thousands of residents and tourists evacuated