The Guardian

What the UK needs is pragmatic, joined-up policymaking. But what we get instead are culture wars, and a tabloid feeding frenzy

What’s an acceptable number of dead people in European waters? What about dead children? I’m asking largely about healthy young people, albeit exhausted ones. Migrants, who have braved long, terrible journeys, often experiencing horrific violence and terror.

So how many should we write off as justifiable collateral damage in our war against … what, exactly? There is no war except with ourselves: it’s a culture war. The cause is “strong borders”, but strong against what? Despite the rhetoric, this not an invasion. If the strong borders are to protect our economy – well, these are young, fit workers who could boost our economies if we actually let them work.

Scientists find ‘substantial ecological changes’ after greening initiative by major road in Melbourne, Australia

The benefits of urban greening initiatives are increasingly well documented: they can help mitigate the effects of urban heating, and improve physical health and mental wellbeing. And even small greening actions in cities can significantly improve local biodiversity, new research suggests.

Increasing the diversity of native plants in a single urban green space resulted in a sevenfold increase in the number of insect species after three years, Australian researchers have found.

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Antarctica is experiencing disturbing changes – from missing winter sea ice to disintegrating ice shelves – and it’s almost certain things will get worse

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After decades immersed in Antarctic science, I’ve learned that physical and biological changes rarely occur smoothly. More often than not, they unfold in sharp steps. Right now, Antarctica’s climate and ecosystems are experiencing disturbing changes.

Much of this winter’s sea ice is missing. A crucial ocean current is slowing down, and glaciers and ice shelves are disintegrating.

Changes in Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments are linked to, and influence, climate impact drivers globally.

Australia needs firm policy guidelines to prevent breathless campaigns against renewables, but the conflicts over land use are real

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This week we are expecting representatives of a solar energy company to come to our farm in southern New South Wales. They want to build next door.

We are not in a renewable energy zone but we are close to existing transmission lines.

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Release plans approved by UN nuclear authority have caused outcry in China and concern for the reputation of Japan’s seafood

Japan is to begin releasing wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from Thursday, in defiance of opposition from fishing communities, China and some scientists.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has said that disposing of more than 1m tonnes of water being stored at the site is an essential part of the long and complex process to decommission the plant.

Report argues chickens should be kept in much smaller flocks and given more space

The industrial poultry farming sector needs to be radically restructured to stop the spread of bird flu, says a report that argues wild birds are victims rather than the main vectors of the disease.

Bird flu is spiralling out of control and being spread by intensive poultry farms, according toreport by the campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF).

Falmouth sighting of cross between common and striped dolphins thought to be UK first

Rare hybrid dolphins have been spotted off the coast of Cornwall in what is thought to be a UK first.

The pair of cetaceans, seen in Falmouth, are a cross between a common dolphin and a striped dolphin.

Link to climate activism is seven times stronger for anger than it is for hope, say Norwegian researchers

Anger is by far the most powerful emotional predictor of whether somebody plans to take part in a climate protest, research suggests.

The study, which asked 2,000 Norwegian adults how they felt about the climate crisis, found the link to activism was seven times stronger for anger than it was for hope. The effects were smaller for other actions, but fear and guilt were the best predictors of policy support, while sadness, fear and hope were the best predictors of behavioural change.

Early flowering and germination has been observed across much of south-east Australia, with scientists saying the climate is changing the way plants develop

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Orchids are blooming early in the shade house at Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens this winter.

“We usually don’t see these warmer temperatures until early spring,” orchid conservationist Alex McLachlan said.

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Australia is experiencing an unseasonably warm winter and experts are noticing some odd side effects in Australian flora. 'These warming temperatures are changing the way that plants would normally act and it can lead to decreases in population as there aren't enough pollinators out ready to pollinate the flowers,' explains orchid conservationist Alex McLachlan. Some orchid species, like the Caladenia valida, are flowering a month ahead of schedule at the Cranbourne botanic gardens in Melbourne

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Weather ballon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave

A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swathes of continental Europe.

A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an “extreme” risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber heat alert.

This tiny furry animal weighs less than a teaspoon of water – how is it alive?!

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Archaeologists fear dangerous precedent if court approves new beach facilities at site of Phaselis on the Mediterranean coast

The construction of tourist facilities on two beaches that were part of the ancient city of Phaselis – a tentative nominee for Unesco world heritage status – has caused outrage at what is claimed to be the latest example of the Turkish culture ministry sacrificing heritage for tourism.

The Alacasu and Bostanlık beaches, on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast in the province of Antalya, were part of Phaselis, a Greek and Roman settlement thought to be the birthplace of Plato’s student Theodectes. Despite having ruins dating back to the second century BC, the beaches have never been subject to an archaeological dig.

The nation relies on tourism, yet many local people feel the right to enjoy these timeless places is being denied them

It was mid-August 1997; I was in my 20s and heading from Athens to the Aegean island of Sifnos with three friends. We hopped on a ship at the port of Piraeus and sailed out into the blue waters. Arriving late in the evening, we spent that first night on the beach, close to the port of Kamares.

It was bliss: the lapping of gentle waves a few metres away and the distant music from the bars as we gazed at the stars and the blazing meteors crashing through the atmosphere. You felt you were shedding your old skin like a reptile; it was painful and liberating; it was existential.

Elias Maglinis is an author and the arts editor of the Sunday edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini. His most recent book is a nonfiction novel, The Very Last Voyage of Their Lives: Asia Minor, a Travelogue in Times of Peace and Times of War

In the desert town of Rancho Mirage, close to Palm Springs, a city that typically gets around 4.6 inches (12 cm) of rain in an entire year could receive 6-10 inches from this one storm. "It's quite amazing. I've never seen anything like this. And the tropical storm hasn't even hit us yet," said one resident.

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Kemi Badenoch wants gender-specific lavatories in new venues, but is it wise to release more excrement into our fatally compromised sewage systems?

There are important questions to be asked about lavatories, and Kemi Badenoch is certainly the Tory best suited to answering them. A report in the government’s Daily Telegraph mouthpiece announced that a new government initiative would see the equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, appoint a Tory lavatories tsar, a task that would doubtless make her flush with pride. But the Independent then reported that the government had “distanced” itself from this appointment, for fear of increased bureaucracy, and also, presumably, across-the-board toilet tsar-based ridicule.

Apparently, Kemi Badenoch’s Tory lavatory tsar would have ensured that all new offices, schools, hospitals and entertainment venues have separate male and female lavatories; a big job and a massive piece of business. But our children’s generation seem largely ambivalent about gender identity, and the practical lavatorial considerations that come with it; first-wave feminists, in contrast, are understandably anxious that women’s hard-won recognitions are not, as they see it, eroded; meanwhile, some young women tell me they fear the loss of certified spaces in nightclubs and pubs for crying, vomiting up alcopops and avoiding young men; most young men, however, seem comfortable with the idea of urinating indiscriminately on the floor, while simultaneously passing wind, in any toilet, however Kemi Badenoch choses to designate the toilet’s gender.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

Remote sensing technology shows 70% of tree coverage moved uphill between 2000 and 2010

Mountain treelines are rising in response to the climate crisis, a study has found.

Scientists from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, used remote sensing to map the highest points of patches of tree coverage on mountains. They found that 70% of mountain treelines had moved uphill between 2000 and 2010.

Exclusive: Assessment that used to happen annually will now take six years despite rising concerns

Analysis of EU and US shows livestock farmers receive about 1,000 times more public funding than plant-based and cultivated meat

The “gigantic” power of the meat and dairy industries in the EU and US is blocking the development of the greener alternatives needed to tackle the climate crisis, a study has found.

The analysis of lobbying, subsidies and regulations showed that livestock farmers in the EU received 1,200 times more public funding than plant-based meat or cultivated meat groups. In the US, the animal farmers got 800 times more public funding.

A long-term Labor government is the ‘difference between laying the foundation and finishing the build’, the PM tells national conference

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Anthony Albanese is famous for his mantra of wanting to “fight Tories”.

But the member for Grayndler, centred on the people’s republic of Marrickville, has proven just as adept fighting for decades on Labor’s left flank against the Greens and internal progressive disappointment.

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