The Guardian

The deforestation of the Gran Chaco is dangerously overshadowed by its neighbour, the Amazon

• Tesco and M&S likely to have soya linked to deforestation in supply chains
  
• Home to the screaming hairy armadillo: the forest the world forgot
  

Somehow the Gran Chaco has remained off the world’s radar, its endless expanse of dry woodland overshadowed by the nearby superstar of forests – the Amazon.

Covering a vast area one and a half times the size of California – half in Argentina, a third in Paraguay and the remainder in Bolivia– the gargantuan scale of the Chaco tells only part of the story.

Comments from ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco, the British Retail Consortium, Cadbury and the Food and Drink Federation

We spoke to a number of companies in the course of writing our piece on on the joint problem of soya-led deforestation in Argentina, and the lack of traceability in that country. We asked them if they were aware of the issue, and if so what action they were taking. Their full comments are below.

More than 3,000 people gathered in the shadow of the University of Iowa on Friday afternoon to hear Thunberg speak

Three days prior to Greta Thunberg’s surprise visit to Iowa City on Friday, the organizer and local climate activist, Massimo Biggers, a 14-year-old Iowa City high school student, was preparing to strike – as he has done every Friday, sometimes on his own, since the Global Climate Strike day Thunberg inspired on 15 March.

Out of the blue, a message arrived from the Swedish teen activist, with whom he had been in touch, asking him if he was planning to strike again this Friday. “Of course!” he replied, and for the last 48 hours, according to his father, Jeff, neither had slept. “This was truly a miracle to have the town pull this together,” he said.

Most comprehensive study to date finds plastic in sediment collected from bay and tributaries and digestive tracts of fish

The most comprehensive study to date of microplastics in California has turned up a mind-boggling amount of plastic particles in the San Francisco bay.

An estimated 7tn pieces of microplastics flow into the San Francisco bay via stormwater drains alone, researchers discovered. Nearly half of the microscopic particles found in stormwater looked suspiciously like tiny fragments of car tires, which rainfall washes off the streets and into the ocean.

A crayfish crossing a road, fur seals living on a volcanic island and dissected seahorses

Critics say group is not doing enough to involve people of colour, or expose links between climate crisis and inequality

It was just a tweet, and whoever sent it probably didn’t think much about it. It was a sunny day in July and environmental activists had blocked the Strand with a big blue boat.

“Live from the royal courts of justice,” Extinction Rebellion London wrote. “It has been announced that all protesters arrested during the April rebellion will be prosecuted. We are asking the police and legal system to concentrate on issues such as knife crime, and not non-violent protesters who are trying to save our planet.”

By being on the road, women seem to be transgressing a boundary that some men find intolerable

I commute in London by bike. Run-ins with aggressive drivers are as much a part of my daily routine as brushing my teeth. Recently though, I’ve started to wonder whether there is a distinctly gendered dimension to the frequency and intensity with which I am shouted, sworn and honked at.

When I talk to friends who cycle, I’m struck by the instant recognition of this phenomenon by fellow women, who are quick to share their stories. Sometimes the abuse is explicitly sexual, more often it’s simply aggressive and unpleasant, or merely patronising. Almost without exception, it’s perpetrated by men.

Climatic change may be behind expanded range of very rare native mammal of British Isles

One of Britain’s and northern Europe’s rarest and most elusive mammals has been discovered living in the east of England for the first time in 115 years.

The return to Kent of the greater horseshoe bat has delighted and astounded conservationists, who are now examining whether climate change is shifting the species’ range. The bat is normally found only in Wales and the west of England.

Tembe warriors in Brazil wear colourful headdresses of macaw and other feathers, and wield bow and arrows to hunt and protect their homeland, which is constantly under threat in the globally vital Amazon region. Like their ancestors, the Tembe plant trees to teach their children the value of preserving the world’s largest rainforest, which is a critical bulwark against global warming

Police say media reports that trained marksmen would be brought in to control the town’s magpies were incorrect

Police in the northern New South Wales town of Casino have denied they planned to deploy specially trained officers to shoot and kill magpies, contrary to media reports.

On Friday the Northern Star reported that elite police officers would descend on the town to shoot local magpies which have been deemed too dangerous to live.

Vision taken from a helicopter shows 400km of dead and badly damaged mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The mangroves have been hit by a combination of rising sea levels, heatwaves and back-to-back tropical cyclones. Prof Norman Duke, of James Cook University, spent 10 days monitoring 2,000km of coastline from a helicopter. For hundreds of kilometres, Duke says what would usually be a landscape of lush green mangroves has been replaced by struggling dull grey trees with stripped foliage.

Possible rail line insurer Canopius says it is ‘not involved in any negotiations’ over the Queensland project

A Lloyd’s of London insurer – considered one of the few remaining possible underwriters for elements of the Carmichael coal project – has distanced itself from Adani and says it is not involved in negotiations.

Canopius was one of two global companies understood to have held discussions with a broker about insuring the construction of Adani’s proposed rail line, linking the Carmichael mine site to the Queensland freight network.

Both now appear to have ruled themselves out. It was reported on Thursday that Axis Capital withdrew its bid. Canopius said in a statement on Friday it was “not involved in any negotiations to provide insurance coverage for the Adani mine project”.

Whale calf caught near Bilgola beach was nearing point of exhaustion after spending days caught in netting

Rescuers have freed a humpback whale calf off Sydney’s northern beaches that had been tangled in netting for days.

In a frantic, last-minute rescue effort, crews from National Parks and Wildlife freed the whale on Friday morning after hours of work near Bilgola beach.

IFS warns the switch from fossil fuel to electric will cause tax revenue to drop £28bn

Britain should move to a system of road pricing to combat congestion and compensate for the £28bn loss of revenue from fuel duty as the country makes the transition to electric vehicles, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

The thinktank said the government’s pledge that the UK would reach zero net emissions by 2050 meant the tax take from petrol and diesel would shrink to nothing over the coming decades and a new way to raise money from drivers was needed.

Fatberg found in Sidmouth, Devon, contained no toxic chemicals or microplastic beads

The dirty secrets of a huge fatberg discovered lurking under the seafront of a Devon town have been laid bare after scientists carried out an “autopsy” of the monster.

As expected, household cooking fats, wet wipes and other hygiene products were key components of the 64m-long beast (bigger than the Leaning Tower of Pisa) but it also contained bits of bone, twigs, string – and false teeth.

Exclusive: discovery comes as authorities investigate tonnes of sediment choking creek near development site

Contaminated water has been discovered spilling from a luxury Gold Coast estate development into a Ramsar-listed wetland site, amid a broader investigation into an unfolding “environmental catastrophe” at the once-pristine waterway.

On Thursday the Gold Coast council notified the Queensland Department of Environment and Science that a “private recycled water main” at the Serenity Cove site had broken. Guardian Australia understands the contamination is likely grey water, which authorities advise has the potential to turn septic or breed micro-organisms.

Quarter of mammals and nearly half of birds assessed are at risk of extinction, says State of Nature report

Populations of the UK’s most important wildlife have plummeted by an average of 60% since 1970, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date.

The State of Nature report also found that the area inhabited by officially designated “priority species” has shrunk by 27%. The species are those deemed most important and threatened, and include hedgehogs, hares and bats, many birds such as the willow tit and the turtle dove, and insects such as the high brown fritillary butterfly.

Massive global expansion of tuna fisheries also poses a threat to sharks and other species, says study

Scientists have warned that existing levels of tuna fishing are unsustainable after researchers found that global catches have increased more than 1,000% over the past 60 years.

A study in the journal Fisheries Research estimated that about 6m tonnes of tuna are now caught annually, a rate that “risks driving tuna populations to unsustainable levels and possible extinction”.

Extinction Rebellion activists have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood on the Treasury's building in Westminster.

Protesters used an out-of-commission fire engine to drench the front of the building in red liquid and also erected a banner that read: 'Stop funding climate death'

• Extinction Rebellion protesters spray fake blood on to Treasury

• ‘Time is running out’: Extinction Rebellion activists on why they risked arrest

Activists use fire engine to launch water dyed red towards London government building

Four Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested after spraying fake blood at the Treasury in Westminster from the top of a fire engine.

Dressed in funeral attire, the protesters criticised the UK’s military role in the Middle East, highlighted how UK companies cause large fossil fuel emissions and called on others to rebel.