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Fasten your seatbelts, we're heading into a big week of contested politics and policy.

WWF analysis reports that 40% of rivers are polluted with sewage that can harm wildlife and put human health at risk

Raw sewage is flowing into rivers at thousands of sites across England and Wales, a report has warned, harming wildlife and putting human health at risk.

The total amount of raw sewage intentionally being put into rivers is unknown, which is a “huge concern”, according to conservation group WWF, which produced the analysis. The available data suggests that more than half of overflow sites spill sewage into rivers at least once a month and 14% at least once a week.

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It's beginning to look like the Federal Government is walking away from the Clean Energy Target proposed by Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel.

Electric cars won’t eradicate gridlocks and air pollution, but carbon footprints could be cut by favouring pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit

The spectre of our cities choking with unhealthy air has prompted numerous governments to mandate a transition to electric cars. Their concerns are well founded, even if their proposals fall short of what is needed.

Over the past four decades, cars have become far less polluting. Their fuel efficiency has practically doubled and their tailpipe emissions have been reduced by more than 95%. Yet cities such as London and Paris are still battling smog and pollution. California has for decades demanded the toughest emission standards in the US, and yet Los Angeles heads the list of US cities for bad air quality. Moving to all-electric car fleets will be a positive step, albeit an inadequate measure.

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Georgetown mayor Dale Ross is ‘a good little Republican’ – but ever since his city weaned itself off fossil fuels, he has become a hero to environmentalists

When the caller said he worked for Harry Reid and the former Senate majority leader wanted a word, Dale Ross assumed it was a joke. “OK, which of my buddies are messing with me today?” he wondered.

He shouldn’t have been so surprised. Ross is the mayor of Georgetown, population 65,000, and he has become a minor celebrity in environmental circles as a result of a pioneering decision in 2015 to get all the city’s electricity from renewable sources.

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Pret A Manger becomes the latest to act by offering free filtered water and selling empty glass bottles

A growing number of outlets selling food and drink in the UK are taking action to ditch plastic amid deepening concern about its effect on the environment, with drinking straws and bottles among items being phased out.

Pret A Manger has become the latest to take action, announcing that it has installed taps dispensing free filtered water and started selling empty glass bottles in its three vegetarian stores. The scheme is due to be rolled out to branches in Manchester from the end of October.

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Not long ago, energy market modellers thought we’d be building gas turbines everywhere to hit our emissions targets. How quickly things change.

Is Australia undervaluing its most valuable natural asset by only charging $6.50 a day to visit the Great Barrier Reef? And would it help if tourists were asked to pay more? Michael Vardon, Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

China’s decarbonization boat stayed in harbour this year but the winds of change continue to blow.

In the wake of this year's Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, the global race to bring solar PV integrated EVs to market is hotting up. And Australia is a key contender.

New study highlights billions of dollars saved through rooftop solar installations, as ACCC defends manipulation of markets by major generators as "rational behaviour", says nothing can be done about "gold plating" of networks, and argues against measures to encourage more renewables.

Yates, Corbell team up to create new renewable energy investment fund that will write contracts and tap into huge pipeline of wind, solar, storage projects.

An organic orchard turns itself into a farm co-op; a Swiss engineer makes boutique olive oil; the Australian Boys Choir sings in the outback; and we go paddling the Darling River.

A recent story on 621 plants being built globally was played up in various media – but the figure is way off the mark

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This is a story about how misinformation can take hold. It’s not always down to dishonesty. Sometimes it’s just a lack of time, a headline and the multiplying power of ideological certainty.

Last week, China announced it was stopping or postponing work on 151 coal plants that were either under, or earmarked for, construction.

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Given the safety risks and a huge number of other problems that need to be repaired and managed, it is no wonder that AGL is keen to shut down Liddell.

Formation of new government in Berlin will have important implications for future of the Energiewende, but much has been achieved already.

Paris to limit the number of cars powered by internal combustion engines on its streets and eventually move beyond polluting cars.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 19 October 1917

Someone had taken a wasps’ nest. Perhaps as he carried it home some of the inmates objected, or he discovered that most of the cells were empty; at any rate it had been dropped, and lay broken by the path. Over the grubless cakes a few weary workers, chilled by the night exposure, crawled feebly, and three young queens refused to leave the ruins of what had once been their home. They seemed puzzled by the tragedy which had overtaken the busy colony, but they were too weak or too stupid to fly in search of shelter. Two of them died quietly in my killing bottle, but it was not until I pinned the bodies on a setting-board that I discovered that one was abnormal. Either through accident in her youth or from birth she was a cripple; the second and third legs on the right side were missing. Imperfectly developed insects are not rare; but the interesting point about this wasp was that she had made the best of a bad business. When she was alive I did not notice anything peculiar about her gait, but when I attempted to set her limbs I found that the third leg refused to remain on the left side. It was only then that I found that the right legs were missing, and that, in order to avoid the bias of three legs against one, the third left leg was bent under so as to work on the right side. I was sorry that I had not kept her alive to watch her manner of walking.

Related: Conservationists slam 'hateful' survey promoting wasp killing

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It never occurred to me, peering through rain-soaked binoculars, that I would have to wait 43 years to see another one

It was late September 1974. Manchester United led the old Second Division, Kung Fu Fighting was top of the pop charts, and the BBC had just launched its Ceefax service. Meanwhile, I was birdwatching on the Isles of Scilly, thanks to my mother’s far-sighted decision to take me out of school for a fortnight, slap-bang in the middle of the migration season.

We saw some good birds, including Iceland gull, scarlet rosefinch and a sharp-tailed sandpiper from Siberia. But nearly 50 years later, those I remember best were three buff-breasted sandpipers, plump little waders that had flown all the way across the Atlantic, driven off course by the tail end of a hurricane.

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Increased sightings of endangered species doesn't mean it's recovering – but that's the argument being made by the native forest logging industry. David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.