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Cotton has a disastrous foorprint, leather is destroying the Amazon, polyester threatens the ozone layer. Luckily there are some new fabrics on the way

The current exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art asks: “Is Fashion Modern?” Looking at the industry’s main materials you would have to answer “no”. The global wardrobe of cotton and polyester (invented around 80 years ago) spells ecological disaster.

How do you take the cow (with its thunderous footprint) out of a pair of leather shoes?

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Richard Di Natale ‘confident’ if project can’t be stopped in parliament or for financial reasons, Australians will stand in front of bulldozers

Adani’s Carmichael coalmine won’t go ahead, the Greens leader Richard Di Natale said, predicting “many, many thousands” of Australians would come together to protest any moves to stop the project.

Di Natale said he believed Australians largely stood against the Carmichael coalmine, choosing the Great Barrier Reef and the environment over the construction of what has been billed as the largest coal project in the southern hemisphere.

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The devastating winds of 1987 felled 15 million trees but also prompted a radical change to the way we work with the countryside to let it heal itself

It is remembered as a generation-defining moment, the night when ships ran aground, London endured its first blackout since the Blitz, 18 people died and 15 million trees were toppled. But the devastation wrought by the Great Storm of 1987 also left in its wake a startling woodland recovery, prompting a radical reshaping of the way we work with nature to care for the countryside.

Thirty years ago on Monday the storm hit south-east England after a fierce wind swooped up from the Bay of Biscay, across a corner of northern France before making landfall in the south-west and sweeping through southern England to bring the full force of its 100mph winds to bear on the south-east.

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Nominations for Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards include images of endangered species on island of Sulawesi

Nona is a Sulawesi crested black macaque. Photographed here by Stefano Unterthiner, she is seen chained to a chair outside the house where she is kept as a pet. The scene is made particularly poignant because Unterthiner has included in his image the shadow of Nona, her chain and a tree, thus underlining the freedom that the little animal has lost. At the same time, the owner of Nona – which means “miss” – stands relaxing in the early morning sun.

It is illegal to keep this critically endangered animal in captivity. Yet the law is rarely enforced, particularly in remote areas. Hence the grim picture – though far worse was taken by Unterthiner, an Italian wildlife photographer, during his visit to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Hunting, the live-animal trade and forest clearance have caused the animal’s population on the island to crash by 90% in the past 30 years. Only a few thousand are left there.

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Bodycam footage from a Sonoma County police officer shows the rescue of a woman in Santa Rosa. Thirty-five fatalities have been recorded so far, making it the deadliest week in California wildfire history. The death toll could rise further as search-and-rescue teams are deployed to sift through the remains of 3,500 burned buildings. Hundreds of missing persons reports have been resolved, but stories continue to emerge of people who did not make it out alive

‘Just ash and bones’: California wildfire survivors mourn loved ones

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Leading researchers and campaigners express concern that geoengineering research could be used as an excuse not to reduce CO2 emissions

Leading climate scientists have warned that geoengineering research could be hijacked by climate change deniers as an excuse not to reduce CO2 emissions, citing the US administration under Donald Trump as a major threat to their work.

David Keith, a solar geoengineering (GE) expert at Harvard University has said there is a real danger that his work could be exploited by those who oppose action on emissions, at the same time as he defended himself and colleagues from the claims GE strengthens the argument for abandoning the targets set by the Paris climate agreement.

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Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire Wild trout are once again thriving in the beck my grandfather tended for the Manchester Anglers’ Association

When I was a kid I recall fishing for minnows with a jam jar by the Ribble and being sketched by a man in wire-framed specs. It was the writer Arthur Ransome, who was there with my grandfather, Nat Hunt, then river keeper for the Manchester Anglers’ Association. I no longer have that sketch, but I do still own a card Ransome sent Grandad praising his hand-crafted trout flies (“north country spiders”).

Related: Peak District: Rewilding the rivers

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Forensic investigation needed to identify newly found worms in South Australia’s Gulf St Vincent.

A recent clean-up using volunteers collected 700Kg of plastic in just two hours. Plastic is ingested by many marine creatures blocking their intestines leading to death.

Preserving species that are both rare and elusive has led an Australian whale specialist to the Himalayas to search for big cat poo.

Preserving species that are both rare and elusive has led an Australian whale specialist to the Himalayas to search for big cat poo.

The ‘Seabin’ can collect the equivalent of around 83,000 plastic bags a year.

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.

Green peer Jenny Jones says the police’s actions at a fracking protest show they are helping impose government policy and defending corporate interests

When the police forcibly remove a 79-year-old woman for serving refreshments to fracking protesters, you know they have taken sides (Report, 11 October). Having wasted their time and our money dragging pensioners around, the Lancashire constabulary has asked the Home Office for an extra £3.1m to cover the cost of drafting in police from Somerset and Wales. It is time for the policing operation at New Preston Road to be scaled back, or called off altogether. The police are helping to impose a government decision to frack, which is opposed by local residents at every level of local government. The police should go back to patrolling the streets and arresting criminals, instead of defending corporate interests by harassing the protesters.
Jenny Jones
Green party, House of Lords

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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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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A wild boar, clown fish and two rhinoceros calves are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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A year in school adds nearly a year to your life, study in Edinburgh shows.

A US space agency satellite provides new insights on how CO2 is moved through Earth's atmosphere.

Only two chicks survived in a colony of 36,000 in a "catastrophic" breeding season in east Antarctica.

Cast: AdelaideSBN