The Guardian

WA mine approved on 10 April despite native species risk and not announced until 24 April

The Morrison government is under fire for quietly approving a giant uranium mine in outback Western Australia the day before the federal election was called, despite warnings it could lead to the extinction of native species.

Canadian company Cameco’s Yeelirrie uranium mine, 500 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, was approved by the environment minister, Melissa Price, on 10 April. There was no public notification on the decision until 24 April, when documents were posted on the environment department website.

Court decision blocking fossil fuel activity in swaths of the Arctic complicated administration plans to ramp up fossil fuel extraction

The Trump administration has shelved plans to vastly expand offshore oil and gas drilling in the wake of a recent court decision that blocked fossil fuel activity in swaths of the Arctic.

The administration had opened up almost all US waters to companies seeking to drill oil or gas deposits but this expansion has been halted due to a legal setback, according to David Bernhardt, the interior secretary.

Ceremony in London park marks break in activism after day spent targeting the City

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists have gathered at Hyde Park Corner in London to celebrate a pause in the protests that have gripped London for over a week and are preparing to take the fight back to local communities.

Climate protesters targeted the city’s financial hub on Thursday to highlight the role the sector plays in climate change. The environmental group said it was the last day of action before choosing to stop this stage of its campaign of peaceful mass civil disobedience, following protests in which hundreds of people were arrested and thousands of police officers deployed to sites occupied by the group for more than a week.

What would it take to create a legal duty of care for the Earth? That is the question the Scottish barrister Polly Higgins found herself asking 15 years ago; a question that led her to abandon her courtroom career and embark on a quest to establish an international crime of ecocide. Such a crime would render persons of superior responsibility (such as company chief executives and government ministers) liable to prosecution for causing or contributing to large-scale ecosystem destruction.

Polly, who has died aged 50 of cancer, had begun to see the climate activist movement take up her call in the weeks before her death, with Extinction Rebellion actions demanding that ecocide law be established around the world.

After two weeks of mass civil disobedience, we look at what has changed

Organisers of the climate protests that have seen peaceful mass civil disobedience across London over the past two weeks have said the first stage of the “rebellion” is drawing to a close. How much of an impact has it had, and how realistic are its goals?

BBC Springwatch presenter condemns campaigners in row over ban on shooting birds

Chris Packham has said he will not be intimidated by campaigners who left two dead crows hanging outside his home and glued shut his security gate.

The broadcaster told the police about the threats and vandalism, which came after the Wild Justice group he founded with fellow conservationists Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery successfully challenged the “general licence” that allowed the shooting of 16 species of bird, including crows, jays and woodpigeons.

UK exclusion of international aviation and shipping figures from carbon budgets was highlighted by Greta Thunberg

The UK is breaching the Paris agreement on climate change by excluding international aviation and shipping figures from carbon budgets, according to a leading NGO.

Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg accused the British government this week of “very creative carbon accounting” after the government defended its work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Proposals to replace EU rules ‘downgrade’ green principles, says cross-party committee

Proposals to replace the EU’s strong environmental protections after Brexit “fall woefully short”, according to a highly critical report from a cross-party committee of MPs.

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, said in December that the UK’s environmental standards would be enhanced after Brexit. But the MPs’ report said the proposals “severely downgrade” the environmental principles that underpin current EU rules.

Climate change activists have glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange and trains at Canary Wharf station in a fresh set of protests targeting the capital's financial district. The group plans to bring an end to their climate 'rebellion' on Thursday after more than a week of  demonstrators occupying sites across London 

• Extinction Rebellion activists glue themselves to London Stock Exchange

Plastic Soup: An Atlas of Ocean Pollution by Michiel Roscam Abbing (26 Apr 2019, HB, £20.31, Island Press) illustrates plastic pollution

• More than half the world’s new pipelines in the US and Canada
• Pipelines ‘locking in huge emissions for 40 to 50 years at a time’

More than half of the world’s new oil and gas pipelines are located in North America, with a boom in US oil and gas drilling set to deliver a major blow to efforts to slow climate change, a new report has found.

Related: Millions more Americans breathing dirty air as planet warms, study finds

Pristine forests are vital for climate and wildlife but trend of losses is rising, data shows

Millions of hectares of pristine tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2018, according to satellite analysis, with beef, chocolate and palm oil among the main causes.

The forests store huge amounts of carbon and are teeming with wildlife, making their protection critical to stopping runaway climate change and halting a sixth mass extinction. But deforestation is still on an upward trend, the researchers said. Although 2018 losses were lower than in 2016 and 2017, when dry conditions led to large fires, last year was the next worst since 2002, when such records began.

After the government said the opposition’s emissions reduction policy would cost $26bn, should you believe it?

Short answer: no.

London roads were blocked, reducing buses and taxis’ flow

While Extinction Rebellion blocked roads in London, the capital was awash with particle pollution, causing the mayor to issue alerts on bus stops. But this poor air had nothing to do with the protests, quite the opposite. Analysis by King’s College London found that air pollution improved close to the protest locations. This was especially clear on Oxford Street, without the constant flow of buses and taxis, but was also seen at Aldwych close to Waterloo Bridge.

There was no sign of deteriorations on the surrounding roads, which might be partially explained by lighter traffic because of the Easter holidays. The pollution alerts were part of the all-too-familiar rhythm of spring, when exhaust from traffic, emissions from industry chimneys and ammonia from fertilised fields combines to form particle pollution that drifts over western Europe. Unusually, this covered all of the UK and prompted the Irish Environmental Protection Agency to issue warnings for the east of the country.

Inventor crowdfunds to produce reviver sachets after prototype success

If you’ve ever felt a pang of pity for a starving bee struggling on the pavement in front of you, then help may soon be at hand. Or more precisely, in your wallet.

A community development worker has invented a credit card-style reviver for bees containing three sachets of sugar solution, which can be placed beside the insect to feed it.

Climate campaigners will voluntarily stop occupations and blockades on Thursday

The climate “rebellion” that has led to protesters occupying sites across London for more than a week to highlight the escalating ecological crisis will draw to a voluntary close on Thursday with a day of disruption and a “closing ceremony”.

Extinction Rebellion, which has been backed by senior academics, politicians and scientists during nine days of peaceful mass civil disobedience, said it would leave its remaining blockades, but added: “The world has changed … A space for truth-telling has been opened up.

Natural England scraps general licence to kill ‘pest’ birds after launch of legal challenge

“Pest” bird species such as crows, woodpigeons and jays can no longer be freely killed in England after the government’s conservation watchdog revoked the licence permitting it.

The move by Natural England came after a challenge to the legality of the “general licence” by a new environmental group, Wild Justice, created by conservationists Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham.

Climate activists say pressure growing on politicians to act as donations flood in

Support for Extinction Rebellion in the UK has quadrupled in the past nine days as public concern about the scale of the ecological crisis grows.

Since the wave of protests began more than a week ago, 30,000 new backers or volunteers have offered their support to the environmental activist group. In the same period it has raised almost £200,000 – mostly in donations of between £10 and £50 – reaching a total of £365,000 since January.

Activists tell us why they have taken part in the protest group’s international rebellion week

I am part of XR [Extinction Rebellion] Bhopal. The group is still in a very early phase and is working mostly on educating people about climate issues. On the evening of 15 April 2019 some school students and local activists gathered at Bhopal’s upper lake in solidarity with XR international rebellion week. There were speeches, dancing and music. A participant also read out a Hindi translation of Greta Thunberg’s speech to a large crowd.

Charity calls for action as report finds more than 1,000 killed in fishing nets each year

More than 1,000 harbour porpoises are needlessly dying in UK waters each year, according to a report from a global environmental organisation.

The study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says the small porpoises are accidentally trapped in fishermen’s nets, causing them to suffocate and die.