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My daughter and I spent a weekend scouring the Salcombe estuary for discarded plastics. What we found proves that a throwaway culture is simply not sustainable

One My Little Pony, two crabbing buckets, five balloons, six balls, seven straws, nine shoes, a dozen coffee cups, 20 carrier bags, 205 plastic bottles and lids, polystyrene and a huge amount of rope. That is just a fraction of what my six-year-old daughter, Ella, and I collected over the course of two days last weekend, as we paddleboarded around the Salcombe-Kingsbridge estuary in south Devon, scouring the foreshores of every creek and cove for 22 miles.

Within seconds of setting off from South Sands beach by the mouth of the estuary, we spotted a clear plastic carrier bag floating in the shallows. Marine wildlife could easily have mistaken it for a jellyfish. Ella grabbed it with a litter picker as we paddled past.

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Coal rebound and slowing efficiency gains in 2017 suggest Paris goals may be missed, says oil firm

The renewed upward march of global carbon emissions is worrying and a big step backwards in the fight against climate change, according to BP.

Emissions rose 1.6% in 2017 after flatlining for the previous three years, which the British oil firm said was a reminder the world was not on track to hit the goals of the Paris climate deal.

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EU lawmakers are on course to set 2030 renewables and energy efficiency goals of above 30% later today, Europe’s climate chief Miguel Arias Canete said Wednesday.

The battery – which is capable of generating 2 MW of power for one hour – will be used to optimise spinning reserve and is expected to save hundreds of thousands in maintenance and fuel costs in the process.

The internet has been transfixed as it scaled a 23-floor Minnesota building for nearly a day.

A British man has received a maximum 15-year disqualified order for his role in a £7 million tax fraud involving emissions allowances.

Light source BP has unveiled plans to offer no-deposit rooftop solar and battery storage packages to Australian households.

China climate officials are eager to include offsets in the national emissions trading scheme as a means to fund forestry and renewable energy projects, according to a senior official, offering a glimmer of hope for beleaguered developers.

Councillor calls for sign to be removed from battlements saying it is ‘beyond irony’

A historic town in south Wales has been criticised for celebrating becoming a plastic-free community by hanging a banner made of plastic from a 13th-century gateway.

Chepstow fixed the large banner to the battlements of its town gate after being granted plastic-free status by the green charity Surfers Against Sewage.

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Sir William Worsley is tasked with stopping the unnecessary felling of trees and support plans to plant 11 million trees

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has appointed a “tree champion” to stop the unnecessary felling of trees and boost planting rates.

Sir William Worsley, chairman of the National Forest Company which oversees the National Forest, has been appointed to support government promises to plant 11 million trees, plus a further 1 million in towns and cities. The move, part of the pledges in the government’s 25-year environment plan, comes after a controversial tree-felling programme in Sheffield.

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The poisoning of dozens of wedge-tailed hawks in Victoria could affect the entire wild population. Simon Cherriman, Ornithology, Murdoch University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Households that are most likely to go solar are those that can afford solar panels, but aren't so rich that they don't have to worry about their electricity bill at all, says a survey of 8,000 homes. Adam McHugh, Honorary Research Associate, Murdoch University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Species including the wildcat and black rat may be lost within a decade while others such as deer are thriving, analysis shows

The wildcat and mouse-eared bat are on the brink, but deer are spreading and otters bouncing back, according to a comprehensive analysis.

At least one in five wild mammals in Britain faces a high risk of extinction within a decade and overall populations are falling, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date.

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An increasingly change-averse political right wing is driving transport to the front line of Australia's climate wars. Can Labor get their policy act together and stop us from becoming another Cuba, a living museum for petrol and diesel cars?

Investors are about to get unparalleled access to the best clean technology start-ups in Australia thanks to a new angel investment group launched by EnergyLab.

Why electricity is more than just a means to various ends.

Falling costs of wind and solar in Indian auctions leaves big coal plant idle and inspires government to significantly lift its renewables targets.

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: There were masses of southern marsh orchids, many of which were in the early stages of flower opening like a slow-motion firework display

The southern marsh orchids, Dactylorhiza praetermissa, are almost knee high, with apple-green leaves, thick hollow stems and a spearhead of extraordinary purple-pink, cryptically lined flowers. They have suddenly and ceremoniously materialised in the abandoned field like ambassadors from another planet. Despite their indolence, everything about them – their form, colour, identity, presence, future – is mysterious. They stand among us, splendidly alien, as if they’ve entered consciousness from a terra incognita outside our everyday experience. These are not just flowers but an event with a magenta aura.

Only last week I wandered into this field, really just a fenced-off patch of limestone quarry spoil, to check on what might be flowering. In some years there are dense colonies of common spotted orchids and one year there were dozens of bee orchids, but the larger groups of orchid never last long and some years they are few and far between. I was beginning to think this year would be a poor show until I came across a couple of big southern marsh orchids, opening from places that had been really wet all winter.

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Porsche made public their commitment to zero-emission vehicles last year, and have now officially christened their flagship electric vehicle.

First of 400 Tesla PowerPacks arrive at site of 25MW/50MWh Gannawarra Energy Storage System, to store power from 60MW solar farm.