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As the US withdraws from the Paris Climate Agreement, and reduces funds for research, other countries are poised to take the lead.

Australian rocks bear the scars of the some most dramatic events in the history of planet earth. Prepare yourself for the boom!

This week we visit the world's largest Fairtrade program; and how would you like to live in a silo house?

First-class degrees | Female saints | Rambutan | Tennis and nationality | Sheep v giant hogweed | Litter

Gosh! How clever we have all become. Fifty years ago, only the top 2% of the population went to university and about 10% of them got firsts, so 0.2% of the population. Now, 30% go to uni, and 25% of them get firsts (Number of UK degree students receiving firsts soars, theguardian.com, 20 July), making 7.5% of the population. The universities say there is no grade inflation so we must be more than 30 times cleverer! Impressive or what?
Rob Symonds
Birmingham

• How refreshing, considering the Guardian’s stance on attitudes at the BBC, to find that of the 13 saints in your Wordsearch grid (20 July), just one is female, and that AnneMarie Ciccarella is “a fast-talking 57-year-old brunette” (The long read, 18 July). Do you need to know my hair colour to print this?
Alison Robinson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Gove’s vision for the environment is undoubtedly ambitious but it is at odds with much government action – making it real will be a gargantuan task

Who knew? Environment secretary Michael Gove, arch Brexiter and seen just months ago grinning and thumbs up in eco-villain Donald Trump’s lair, turns out to be – in words, at least – a deep green.

His first major speech railed against “corporate greed and devil-take-the-hindmost individualism”, “extractive and exploitative political systems” and the “selfish agenda” of vested interests.

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Palm oil plantations on illegally deforested land in Sumatra – home to elephants, orangutans and tigers – have allegedly been used to supply scores of household brands, says new report

Pepsico, Unilever and Nestlé have been accused of complicity in the destruction of Sumatra’s last tract of rainforest shared by elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers together in one ecosystem.

Plantations built on deforested land have allegedly been used to supply palm oil to scores of household brands that also include McDonald’s, Mars, Kellogg’s and Procter & Gamble, according to a new report.

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A pod of pilot whales, nesting storks and a clan of hyenas are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Sixty-five MPs have written to the environment secretary urging him to include the measures in his new strategy to tackle the air pollution crisis

A cross party group of MPs is calling on Michael Gove to adopt a clean air bill in his new strategy to tackle the crisis of air pollution in the UK.

Sixty five MPs have written to the environment secretary as he prepares to address the most pressing issue in his intray – a demand by judges for a new air quality strategy by 31 July to cut illegal levels of pollution from diesel vehicles.

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Drivers who fail to give cyclists enough space when overtaking will be pulled over, and officers will explain how to overtake cyclists safely

London’s police force has launched a new initiative to tackle drivers who pass cyclists too closely, using plain clothes officers.

From Friday, the Space for Cyclists initiative will be carried out by UK’s only cycle-mounted police command, the Met’s cycle safety team, after months spent adapting the tactic for London’s roads from a West Midlands Police initiative, introduced last year.

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Environment Secretary Michael Gove plans to pay farmers for protecting the environment and creating rural jobs.

North Lees, Derbyshire The site of the old smelting works felt wholly reclaimed, and as the rain ended the air filled with insects and soon after wrens

The rain started as I crossed the pasture above North Lees Hall, the model, it is widely accepted, for Thornfield Hall in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. It’s a house the author visited more than once, staying with her friend Ellen Nussey in nearby Hathersage, and the intertwining of the names – thorn being an anagram of north and lee derived from the Anglo-Saxon for field – coupled with the detailed description Brontë gives, are persuasive.

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Big reductions in no-take marine protected areas are being considered, going beyond those recommended by an earlier federal government review

Australia’s marine protected areas look set to be slashed by the federal government, with plans announced for cuts that go beyond those recommended by a review commissioned by the previous Abbott government.

Draft management plans released by the Director of National Parks on Friday propose that large areas of Queensland’s Coral Sea, as well as off the coast of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales, will lose or have their protection downgraded, to make way for expanded long-line fishing and seafloor trawling – which have been shown to damage the conservation value of the oceans.

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Moving on from the world's biggest battery in SA, Elon Musk broke the internet week with Tweets about his new, new thing: The Boring Company.

Solar is expected to be a $US1 trillion market within five years, driven by EV uptake, micro-grids and corporate purchases, and as unsubsidised solar and storage reaches cost parity with the grid in most major markets.

Developers of wind and solar projects may try and accelerate their projects to get in in front of the proposed generator reliability obligation.

While Malcolm has been pumping Snowy 2.zero, Craig has been promising death by renewables, Josh reckons we are on track to meet Paris commitments and Barnaby is backing coal.

Battles against takeaway coffee cups, marine plastic pollution and energy wastage will get support from the City of Sydney’s latest round of environmental knowledge exchange sponsorships.

Conservatives may be pushing for new coal generator in north Queensland, but the region is about to become the country's first significant exporter of solar power.

South Miami this week became the first city outside of California to require all new homes to install solar panels on their roofs.