The Guardian

With the Empire State Building and the Lincoln Memorial blotted out, the US is experiencing the climate catastrophe first-hand

The unnerving sight of New York City’s skies turning a dystopian orange from wildfire smoke is just the latest in a barrage of recent distress signals that life in the US is starting to fray under the relentless pressure of the climate crisis, experts have warned.

On Wednesday, New York held the dubious title of having the worst air quality in the world, with Detroit in second place, as plumes of smoke from hundreds of fires in Ontario and Quebec were carried south by a stiff breeze.

The argument that markets will react badly to borrowing doesn’t wash – Rachel Reeves has to be open about using taxes

• John McDonnell was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020

Today, Rachel Reeves announced that she is delaying plans to borrow £28bn a year for a green prosperity fund under a Labour government. There may be some influential people in the Labour party who never supported the plan in the first place – maybe because it looked so much like the 2019 manifesto. And now, perhaps as a result, we’re seeing any excuse being used to undermine it.

The argument being put forward is that the bond markets will react to Labour’s borrowing in the same way they responded to Liz Truss’s fantasy budget. This would make the necessary borrowing too expensive to deal with, and anyway, it’s impractical to spend on that scale in the early years of a government.

John McDonnell has been the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. He was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020

Scientists say marine life is being harmed by human chemicals from recreational drugs, antidepressants and oestrogen

A study looking at water pollution on the south coast of England has revealed high levels of potentially harmful chemicals including recreational drugs and antidepressants.

Scientists involved in the research say marine life is being harmed by human chemicals, pointing to evidence that oestrogen in water can feminise male fish through biological changes.

Satellite images captured from the International Space Station on Wednesday showed smoke from Canada's raging wildfires spreading to the US. The massive cloud of smoke was seen moving across Lake Superior, in the Great Lakes region, passing over Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and ending in Pennsylvania, which appears completely obscured. The smoke pushed further down the Atlantic seaboard on Thursday, blanketing Washington DC in an unhealthy haze

As Russian oil and gas imports fell petrostates including UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia increased exports to UK

UK fossil fuel imports from authoritarian petrostates surged to £19.3bn in the year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it can be revealed.

Efforts to end the purchasing of oil and gas from Russia appear to have resulted in a surge in imports from other authoritarian regimes, including Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to data from the Office for National Statistics analysed by DeSmog.

New rules agreed at meeting of environment ministers welcomed as breakthrough by conservationists

Industry will be forced to do more to cut waste and boost recycling after Australia’s federal and state governments agreed for the first time to impose mandatory packaging rules on manufacturers and retailers.

The agreement, at a meeting of environment ministers in Sydney on Friday, was welcomed by conservationists as a major breakthrough after years of voluntary industry action has failed to reduce waste.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a hungry gull, a rare wolverine and a police escort for ducks

Plumes of smoke move southwards across US east coast. Elsewhere, Japan hit by remnants of Typhoon Mawar

Wildfires in Quebec, Canada, continue to rage, following a spring that was drier and warmer than normal, creating perfect conditions for wildfires to develop. As of 7 June, at least 150 fires remained active across the province, with more than 400 across the country according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Officials warned this could be the country’s worst wildfire season to date, with at least 9.4m acres of land destroyed so far.

Plumes of smoke from the fires have been moving southwards across the US east coast, delaying thousands of flights. The US National Weather Service also issued air quality alerts for many states, with air quality index levels above 400 – a level of 300 is considered “hazardous” – in some states. A fairly static weather pattern this weekend will mean further plumes of smoke moving towards eastern parts of the US.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts increased temperatures and heatwaves this year, raising the prospect of blackouts – just as the electricity sector faces several other challenges

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The Bureau of Meteorology this week declared a 70% chance of an El Niño developing this year. It’s bad timing for the electricity sector, and means Australians may face supply disruptions and more volatile energy prices.

El Niño events are associated with increased temperatures and heatwaves. These conditions drive demand for electricity, especially in summer.

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Orange smoky skies might be a new phenomenon for those on the east coast, but for the American west, it’s just the average summer

It was a sight all too familiar to Californians: orange skies and thick smoke blanketing the sky, emitting the eerily out-of-place smell of a campfire.

But this time the scenes were in New York City, as smoke from more than 400 wildfires darkened the famous skyline and gave the US its worst day of air pollution in recent history.

Exclusive: rapid analysis of extreme event by Stanford University shows worst day of exposure to such pollution since 2006

• Canada wildfires smoke – live updates

The US experienced its worst toxic air pollution from wildfire smoke in its recent recorded history on Wednesday, researchers have found, with people in New York exposed to levels of pollution more than five times above the national air quality standard.

The rapid analysis of the extreme event, shared with the Guardian, found that smoke billowing south from forest fires in Canada caused Americans to suffer the worst day of average exposure to such pollution since a dataset on smoky conditions started in 2006.

Advocacy group says continued destruction of critical habitat leaves it no choice but to take legal action against Steven Guilbeault

Environmental groups in Canada are taking legal action against the country’s environment minister, arguing his delay in protecting old growth forest is harming the critically endangered northern spotted owl.

In February, Steven Guilbeault said he would recommend an emergency order after determining the species was facing “imminent threats” to its survival.

Better management of existing apex predators and compensation schemes for farmers and gamekeepers needed, broadcaster says

Lynx and wolves are likely to become feared and hated if they are reintroduced into Britain’s forests, the adventurer and broadcaster Ray Mears has warned.

Speaking at Cheltenham science festival, he said Britain was not ready for such rewilding schemes, despite the potential ecological benefits.

The small village of Lytton in British Columbia hit the global media when it smashed Canada's highest temperature record in June 2021, at 49.6C. Two days later, a wildfire burned the entire village to the ground. In the ashes of their homes, this cohesive but diverse community, which includes a majority of First Nations people, had to confront the realities of climate displacement by being relocated away from their ancestral lands. Through the stories of three residents we find a community searching for answers while relying on a collective spirit to heal

Sultan Al Jaber – Cop28 president and CEO of state oil firm – is ‘ally the climate movement needs’, posts say

An army of fake social media accounts on Twitter and the blogging site Medium have been promoting and defending the controversial hosting of a UN climate summit by the United Arab Emirates.

The president of the Cop28 climate talks is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the state oil giant Adnoc, which has major net zero-busting expansion plans.

Researchers say bumpier air travel is driving up costs and increasing the risks for passengers and crew

The climate crisis is leading to more turbulence during flights, driving up costs and increasing the risks for passengers and crew, according to new research.

The study found that warmer air, caused by carbon emissions, is creating bumpier flights around the world with severe turbulence in the North Atlantic up by 55% since 1979.

The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion is leaving Westminster. It’s a sign that change will only come to a broken system from outside

With our forlorn sense that politics isn’t working and that democracy is broken, as we feel the impacts of both climate change and the decision to leave the European Union in real time, the symbolic answer to our political crisis was always staring us in the face. It was Caroline Lucas, the best prime minister we never had – and, now that she is standing down from her Brighton Pavilion seat, we will never get.

In her bold but gentle way, Lucas embodied the fact that politicians and politics could be better. Not perfect, but good enough. Good enough to know that meaningful change needs a vision of a good society to compel it, alongside bold enough policies and strong enough alliances to get us there.

Neal Lawson is director of the cross-party campaign organisation Compass

Children whose mothers are exposed to toxic PFAS can experience phenomenon previously linked to fetal tobacco smoke exposure

Children whose mothers are exposed to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” during pregnancy run an increased risk of low birth weight as well as obesity and high body mass index later in life, an effect similar to prenatal exposure to tobacco, new research finds.

The low birth rate effects of some PFAS have been previously established, but the study tracked 1,400 kids and found higher BMIs and more incidences of obesity in those ages two to five. The “low birth weight-high obesity risk paradox” was previously associated with tobacco smoke exposure during fetal development.

Activists to gather in Washington to demand Joe Biden ‘reclaim his climate legacy’ by blocking 300-mile Mountain Valley pipeline

Protesters are set to descend upon the White House on Thursday under smoky skies amid growing anger among climate activists at Joe Biden for allowing a controversial gas pipeline in Appalachia to be fast-tracked.

Several hundred protesters are expected to gather in Washington to demand Biden “reclaim his climate legacy” by blocking the Mountain Valley pipeline, a 300-mile pipeline that will bring fracked gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.

Storm overflows group has been promoted by ministers as evidence they are taking issue seriously

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The storm overflows taskforce set up by the government to tackle raw sewage discharges by water companies in England has only met once in the last year, a freedom of information request has revealed.

The group, which was promoted by ministers as evidence that they were taking the issue of raw sewage discharges by water companies seriously, is supposed to meet fortnightly, according to its mission statement.