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Emperor penguins are perfectly adapted to survive harsh Antarctic conditions but their habitat is threatened due to climate change. To celebrate World Penguin Day, the WWF has chosen its top 10 emperor penguin facts

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Tindale Tarn, Cumbria A flock of sand martins skim the choppy water and tufted duck bob on the dark grey water

Buffeted sideways by the gale, we descend to Tindale Tarn, a small lake in the RSPB reserve of Geltsdale. Skylarks spring up from rough pasture around the stony track to sing shrill and sweet as piccolos in a stormy sky. This land, once mined for coal and lead, is an important breeding area for upland birds; curlew, redshank and lapwing call as we huddle in the open-sided hide by the tarn.

A flock of sand martins skim the choppy water, having come here to feed from their nests in a nearby sand quarry. A cormorant is fishing, and tufted duck bob on the dark grey water. Wind catches the surface and runs with it, making flurries of waves. The back of a mute swan, neck submerged, resembles a plump meringue. The female sits on a nest close to the hide, dragging reedy stems around her body with her orange beak, primping and perfecting the huge mound.

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Wind is ‘increasingly the cheapest form of electricity’, says industry group, urging Tories to reassess ban on subsidised onshore windfarms

Conservative opposition to windfarms risks the UK missing out on one of the cheapest sources of electricity, according to the head of a Shell-funded industry group.

Adair Turner, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, said wind and solar power costs had fallen dramatically globally and urged the government to rethink its ban on subsidised onshore windfarms.

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A start-up company is persuading local councils in the UK to turn local plastic waste into roads.

Academic staff from EU countries should be urgently guaranteed a right to stay, say MPs.

Many people are unsure about what machine learning is, but the chances are they are using it every day.

Victorian government asked to ‘completely prohibit logging’ on more than 100,000 hectares of the state’s mountain ash forest

Conservationists have called for a moratorium on logging more than 100,000 hectares of Victoria’s remaining native forest estate to protect the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum.

Environmental Justice Australia, acting on behalf of volunteer organisation Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum, wrote to the Victorian environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, on Monday requesting she implement an interim conservation order to “completely prohibit logging within the critical habitat of the Leadbeater’s possum” in order to ensure the survival of the species, which is at risk of dying out within the next 40 years.

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A caterpillar that munches on plastic bags could hold the key to tackling plastic waste, say scientists.

'Better you than me,' jokes US president as astronaut Peggy Whitson reveals drinking recycled urine.

The Goldman prize honours the achievements of grassroots environmental activists in six continents, recognising their sustained efforts to protect natural habitats often at great personal risk

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A new theory may explain the background to one of the most famous works of art ever produced.

Carmichael project likely to be ‘cash flow negative’ for the majority its operating life, according to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

The risk of the controversial Adani Carmichael coalmine becoming a stranded asset has increased in the last 12 months, according to a new report.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), says the Carmichael project is likely to be “cash flow negative” for the majority its operating life, even with concessional loans.

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We asked readers to tell us what action they are taking against air pollution. Here’s what some of them said

About 40 million people in the UK are living with illegal air pollution levels, according to analysis commissioned by the Labour party.

Earlier this month the Guardian reported thousands of children across England and Wales are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution from diesel traffic, putting the health of young children at risk in the long term.

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The UK government may face legal action after seeking to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution until after the general election.

Campaigners attack government request to be allowed to breach Monday deadline to publish air quality plan

The government is facing renewed pressure after a last-minute attempt to delay the publication of its plan to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis.

Ministers were under a court direction to produce tougher draft measures to tackle illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, which is largely caused by diesel traffic, by 4pm on Monday. The government’s original plans had been dismissed by judges as so poor as to be unlawful.

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Lawrence English and Philip Samartzis base their musical practice on the engagement with the sounds of everyday life and turn it into art.

Many brands use the word organic on labels when their products are not certified as such, warns Soil Association

The makers of many “organic” beauty products have been accused of confusing and meaningless labelling, according to a new survey in which 76% of consumers admitted they felt misled.

According to the Soil Association’s recent market report, sales of organic health and beauty products swelled by more than 20% in 2016, with the market now worth about £61.2m in the UK.

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Australia's energy market is in a holding pattern while we wait for court decisions, the full Finkel Report, policy announcements, auction process developments and legislation to set the path forward.

Deutsch Bank becomes latest to revise up its near-term global solar forecast, off the back of further reduction in costs and a potential post-Trump “gold rush” in the US market.

Stamford, Lincolnshire Discovering that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only glanced my door but set off from it, I decided to walk it piecemeal

It took 10 years of living here before I looked hard at my town’s Ordnance Survey map. There, like most who neglect study of their closest ground, I saw my daily familiar articulated in a diagrammatic, unfamiliar way. Here notable historic echoes inscribed alongside its present. And I discovered that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only glanced my door but set off from it, travelling 88 miles from this old Lincolnshire town to the unlikely end of Banbury, traversing a ridge-seam of limestone that gave Stamford its stone and the route its name. Drawn, it presents like a diagonal scratch across the belly of England.

With spring here I decided to walk it piecemeal, beginning today with the first mile. With the town’s spires to my back I cross the floodplain of the meadow, joining the bank of the Welland. Its banks are plump with green, the water still but for the odd ripple from a surfacing fish. The path is a balding in the grass.

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