The Guardian

Climate breakdown and crop losses threaten our survival, but the ultra-rich find ever more creative ways to maintain the status quo

According to Google’s news search, the media has run more than 10,000 stories this year about Phillip Schofield, the British television presenter who resigned over an affair with a younger colleague. Google also records a global total of five news stories about a scientific paper published last week, showing that the chances of simultaneous crop losses in the world’s major growing regions, caused by climate breakdown, appear to have been dangerously underestimated. In mediaworld, a place that should never be confused with the real world, celebrity gossip is thousands of times more important than existential risk.

The new paper explores the impacts on crop production when meanders in the jet stream (Rossby waves) become stuck. Stuck patterns cause extreme weather. To put it crudely, if you live in the northern hemisphere and a kink in the jet stream (the band of strong winds a few miles above the Earth’s surface at mid-latitudes) is stuck to the south of you, your weather is likely to be cold and wet. If it’s stuck to the north of you, you’re likely to suffer escalating heat and drought.

Exclusive: Former envoy raises concerns over possible ‘deliberate defunding of climate diplomacy under Sunak government’

The UK Foreign Office has said it does not know how many of its officials and diplomats are working on climate change and energy issues, in response to freedom of information requests.

The government has frequently described itself as a world leader on climate issues and the Foreign Office recently stated that “climate change remains an area of utmost importance and is a central focus of our diplomatic relations on a daily basis”.

After revealing that sampling from the Cadia Hill goldmine showed a vent was emitting dust at more than 11 times the limit of air pollution regulations, the NSW Environment Protection Authority announced interim test results from dust samples were within regulatory limits. While management says the Newcrest-owned mine is now operating in compliance with licence conditions, residents and experts remain concerned

• Woodside LNG: Australia’s ‘biggest’ contribution to climate crisis a step closer to 50-year extension

• Australia’s annual plastic consumption produces emissions equivalent to 5.7m cars, analysis shows

Two demonstrators removed almost immediately after sounding air horns and throwing confetti on the stage

Two Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted the opening night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall after running on to the stage, setting off confetti cannon and sounding air horns.

The pair were taken off stage at the west London venue within moments of unfurling their orange banners on Friday evening, according to footage on social media.

The fossil fuel industry has spent billions on winning over the public. The climate movement must learn from its tactics

You may think we have all the proof we need. More of it is in front of us right now, with heatwaves scorching through Europe, breaking records, wreaking havoc. In Athens, they closed the Acropolis on Friday as temperatures at the site headed towards 48C. In Lisbon, visitors expecting perfect blue skies have been disappointed to find them streaked with grey – not clouds, but smoke from forest fires. In Italy, there was no spring this year: floods gave way to unbearable heat with barely a pause.

It’s happening all over – biblical downpours in New York state, unquenchable fires in Canada – and yet humanity is not acting as if it is confronting a planetary emergency. Extreme weather is fast becoming the norm in the US, and yet Americans tell pollsters it is a low priority, ranking it 17th out of 21 national issues in a recent Pew survey. Even when the impact is personal, as it was for many Australians when bushfires raged through the country in 2019, opinions prove stubbornly hard to shift: one study found that among those “directly impacted” by the fires, around a third saw no connection to the climate. They were “unmoved.”

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Return and earn schemes have diverted tonnes of waste from landfill. For some people, it is also a source of income

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Sitting on a milk crate outside Sydney’s Wynyard station, with a plastic poncho, a cardigan and a beanie to stay warm on a bitter night, Tepyanee waits.

It’s getting late; if she has to wait much longer, she risks missing the last train home and getting stranded – it wouldn’t be the first time. Last week she missed the last connecting service home and remained on the platform overnight until the first train at dawn.

Scientists caution against rush to mine the seabed, and say it could be decades before the full impact on marine life is known

Animal populations appear to decrease where the deep sea is being mined, and the impact on marine life of the controversial industry may involve a wider “footprint” than previously expected.

According to analysis of seabed ecology undertaken after drilling tests in 2020 in Japan – the country’s first successful extraction of cobalt crusts from deep-sea mountains – there was a decrease in marine life such as fish and shrimp at the site a year later. The density had dropped even further in areas outside the impact zone, by more than half.

Discovery that some species build nests from anti-bird spikes highlights growing awareness in UK that deterrents don’t work

It seems like the ultimate revenge: birds have been found constructing nests from the very spikes meant to deter them from perching on buildings. But while humans have no shortage of tactics to wage against unwanted birds, experts say it’s time to abandon the war.

Though there are myriad ways to deter or remove birds from city roofs, train stations and other settings – from spikes to fire gel, professional falconers and even plastic owls – it seems many only lead to a temporary reprieve.

Tories, including former net zero tsar, among signatories to letter urging PM not to let down developing countries

Rishi Sunak must uphold his £11.6bn climate finance commitment, Conservative parliamentarians, including the former net zero tsar, have said.

Writing to the prime minister in a cross-party letter, they say recommitting to the target and clearly demonstrating how it would be met would “avoid doing further damage to the UK’s climate leadership, and help to build a safe and more prosperous future”.

I worry about the climate but didn’t think more than 40 Women’s World Cup players would sign up to create a positive environmental legacy for the tournament

If I had to pinpoint one moment when I started to really think about climate change it would be in 2009 when Cop15 was held in Copenhagen. Since then, my interest has just been growing and I have become more and more concerned about the future.

My efforts to change my behaviour and reduce my carbon footprint didn’t come all at once, but gradually I have adjusted things in my life to be more carbon friendly. What is driving me is that the countries and the people that are least responsible for this situation are the most affected by the climate changes. That is unfair.

CPRE London hopes to surround capital in trees by weaving existing areas of green belt in outer boroughs

An environmental charity is bidding to create an “M25 for nature” that would encircle London in woodland, hedgerows and street trees to boost biodiversity, carbon capture and wellbeing.

The countryside charity CPRE London hopes to weave together existing areas of green belt in the city’s 18 outer boroughs to create an uninterrupted ring of trees around the capital.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including released beavers, fantastic flamingos and a hungry puffin

Other countries, including China, have threatened to further restrict Japanese imports if the Fukushima wastewater discharge goes ahead

The European Union has lifted restrictions on Japanese food imports imposed after the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, weeks before Japan is expected to start pumping wastewater from the facility into the Pacific Ocean.

China and other countries, however, have threatened to further restrict Japanese seafood imports if the water discharge goes ahead.

As annual three-week survey kicks off, there are signs weather has taken toll on populations of common species

Last summer’s drought may have reduced butterfly populations this year because grasses and flowers that would usually feed caterpillars withered and died in the heatwave, scientists say.

People are being urged to help researchers understand the impact of extreme weather on British butterflies by counting the number and species they see this summer as part of the world’s largest insect survey.

Energy secretary indicates cooling of government aspirations as concerns grow over costs, safety and efficiency

Controversial UK government aspirations to replace gas boilers in some homes with a hydrogen-based alternative are likely to be scrapped, Grant Shapps, the energy minister, has indicated.

Shapps said he believed hydrogen would form part of Britain’s overall energy mix but predicted it was “less likely” that the gas would be routinely piped into people’s homes, amid growing concerns about cost, safety and perpetuating a reliance on fossil fuels.

Climactic event will almost certainly strengthen throughout the year, US climate scientists predict

Mild El Niño climatic conditions brewing in the Pacific Ocean will strengthen throughout the year, with an outside chance of a record-breaking event that will further turbocharge already sweltering temperatures around the globe, scientists have forecast.

Last month saw a “weak” El Niño form, a periodic climatic event where the circulation of the equatorial Pacific Ocean shifts and its temperature rises, causing knock-on heat around the world, according to an update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

Britain and Switzerland among countries that need to adapt most for heating, says research looking at impact of 2C global rise

The UK and Switzerland will see a 30% increase in the number of days of uncomfortably hot temperatures if the world heats by 2C, and are two of the countries which need to adapt the most for global heating, scientists have predicted.

The research, published in Nature Sustainability on Thursday, found that while central Africa will see the most extreme temperatures overall, it is mostly northern European countries that will experience the greatest relative increases in uncomfortably hot days.

In 2010, Barcelona’s nine city beaches were topped up with 700,000 cubic metres of sand. Since then, 70% of that sand has disappeared. In the past 20 years the rate of erosion along Spain’s east coast has been accelerating. It is partly to do with storms and rising sea levels but there are also other factors at play. The local authorities are in a bind, trying to balance economic needs and the environment, with no viable solutions to choose from. It is a tricky situation that could spell the end of Barcelona's beaches

Licensing for scallop dredging and trawling must comply with National Marine Plan after judicial review by Open Seas charity

The Scottish government should stop approving licences for fishing vessels using methods believed to cause harm to habitats, a charity working to protect marine life has urged, after a court declared a routine licensing decision to be unlawful.

Scotland’s highest court ruled that the Scottish government had failed to act in accordance with Scotland’s National Marine Plan (NMP) when varying fishing licences last December, after a judicial review by the conservation charity Open Seas. It is legally obliged to act in accordance with its environmental duties, as stated in the NMP, when making these decisions.

Investigation finds polluting farmers may not face action after breaking the rules

A loophole in the UK’s pollution legislation allows farmers to pollute rivers by spreading excess manure, an investigation has found, with those acting unlawfully not facing any action in most cases.

The government introduced new farming rules for water in 2018, aimed at cleaning up England’s waterways. However, after lobbying from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), including at least two meetings with ministers, the guidance was watered down.