The Guardian

Never mind the yuck factor: precision fermentation could produce new staple foods, and end our reliance on farming

So what do we do now? After 27 summits and no effective action, it seems that the real purpose was to keep us talking. If governments were serious about preventing climate breakdown, there would have been no Cops 2-27. The major issues would have been resolved at Cop1, as the ozone depletion crisis was at a single summit in Montreal.

Nothing can now be achieved without mass protest, whose aim, like that of protest movements before us, is to reach the critical mass that triggers a social tipping point. But, as every protester knows, this is only part of the challenge. We also need to translate our demands into action, which requires political, economic, cultural and technological change. All are necessary, none are sufficient. Only together can they amount to the change we need to see.

This year’s temperatures would have been virtually impossible without climate crisis, scientists say

More than 20,000 people died across western Europe in this summer’s heatwaves, in temperatures that would have been virtually impossible without climate breakdown, figures show.

Analysis of excess deaths, the difference between the number of deaths that happened and those expected based on historical trends, reveals the threats posed by climate change-induced global heating, scientists said.

Forestry Commission response to freedom of information request reveals only 15 convictions in a decade under its regime

Fewer than 1% of alleged illegal tree felling cases reported to the Forestry Commission have ended in a successful prosecution over the past 10 years in England.

The Forestry Commission received 4,002 reports of trees being destroyed without a licence from 2012-13 to 2021-22.

Objections to active travel infrastructures are now picking and choosing data to fit the narrative

I’m starting to wonder if anyone is ever going to make an honest argument against cycling and walking infrastructure again. They do exist. People used to say things like “I want to drive and park wherever I like”, or “why should cyclists and pedestrians inconvenience my much more important car journey?”.

Those are still the basic objections, but these days most prominent opponents realise that it sounds a bit politically incorrect. You need some higher public interest ground, however shaky, to pitch your tent on.

Report exposes scale of human waste discharges into UK waters, including potentially illegal ‘dry spills’

Water companies have been releasing sewage on to beaches and in rivers even when it is not raining, according to a report from Surfers Against Sewage.

Sewage spills are only supposed to happen under exceptional circumstances; when it is raining so heavily that the system cannot cope with the amount of water and effluent being spewed at once.

The federal government will legislate new protections for Indigenous heritage sites, accepting all but one of the recommendations of a report on mining company Rio Tinto's catastrophic destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sacred site at Juukan Gorge. But the organisation representing the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) traditional owners of the site says it is 'angry and disappointed' by the government's response because it was not consulted on the content. A spokesperson for Tanya Plibersek said the environment minister's office attempted to engage with the PKKP 'on at least four occasions since the response was approved by cabinet on Tuesday'

• Labor commits to new Indigenous heritage protections but response to Juukan Gorge report angers traditional owners
• Juukan Gorge traditional owners sign agreement with Rio Tinto to co-manage WA mining land

Meanwhile, BP’s CEO was in town spruiking the energy giant’s climate credentials, as its oil output increases from last year

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In the wake of the UN climate talks in Egypt, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, gave birth to a new factoid in a question to the prime minister this week.

The government, Dutton claimed, “has just signed up to funding a $2tn loss and damage climate fund” that would send money overseas.

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Raptor has not bred in southern England for decades – with only breeding populations found on northern moorlands

Hen harriers are to be bred in captivity in England for the first time and released on to Salisbury Plain in a new attempt to revive the endangered bird of prey in southern England.

The raptor’s only English breeding populations are on northern moorlands, where the bird has been subject to huge persecution in recent decades because its prey includes red grouse – a lucrative gamebird.

Partnership between RHS, Natural History Museum and DfE will enable schools to access funding to create green spaces

Children will learn about biodiversity and nature in schools, and perhaps gain new green spaces in the playground, thanks to a new partnership between the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the government.

The plan is for students to map out the biodiversity in their schools and add it to a nationwide database, as well as supporting teachers to develop curriculum-based climate education resources and lesson plans.

Measure affecting 15 million people comes to end but company urges customers to show restraint in usage

A hosepipe ban imposed on 15 million people in England is being lifted after three months, it has been announced.

Thames Water said the scrapping of the measure was possible due to recent above-average rainfall and the public’s compliance. But the company, which thanked individuals and businesses for helping save water while stocks needed replenishing, urged them to continue showing restraint in their usage.

Whither do you go little snipe?

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Activists caused permanent harm to frame holding Peach Trees in Blossom at a London art gallery, judge finds

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been found guilty of causing criminal damage after glueing themselves to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at a London art gallery.

Emily Brocklebank, 24, and Louis McKechnie, 22, caused just under £2,000 of damage at the Courtauld Gallery when they attached themselves to the 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom, their trial heard on Tuesday.

A shy albatross, a skydiving kestrel and a curious galah are among the shortlisted and winning photos in this year’s bird photography prize, chosen from more than 5,600 images. Funds raised by the competition support bird conservation programs

Campaigners call for more access after analysis reveals public cannot access huge chunks of many parks

The majority of many of the national parks in England and Wales are shut off to walkers, analysis by campaigners has found, as they ask for larger areas to be opened to the public.

Research by the Campaign for National Parks shows that just 10% of the Pembrokeshire coast is open to the public. Only 36% of land is accessible in the Peak District, which was the first designated national park, and given the status in 1951 after protests over the right to freely roam in the countryside, most notably the Kinder trespass.

A list of the five most promising legal steps we can take to help fight climate change

The world has reached an acute point in the “highway to climate hell”. Talks at Cop27 barely achieved anything, despite the fact that almost one-third of Pakistan’s territory was submerged during unprecedented flooding; record heat over the summer killed nearly 25,000 in Europe; and almost 200,000 people in a major US city have not had clean water for months.

It’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of such widespread catastrophe. But we as citizens can do something right now. There are many interesting and entirely workable legal ideas percolating around the world from some very thoughtful people. Together, alongside increased citizen activism, these ideas can begin to provide a coherent and comprehensive legal framework for all of us to help save the planet.

Steven Donziger is a human rights lawyer and environmental justice advocate. He is also a Guardian US columnist

The country is highlighting China’s status as top polluter after being called out for climate inaction

The US, fresh from reversing its 30 years of opposition to a “loss and damage” fund for poorer countries suffering the worst impacts of the climate crisis, has signaled that its longstanding image as global climate villain should now be pinned on a new culprit: China.

Following years of tumult in which the US refused to provide anything resembling compensation for climate damages, followed by Donald Trump’s removal of America from the Paris climate agreement, there was a profound shift at the Cop27 UN talks in Egypt, with Joe Biden’s administration agreeing to the new loss and damage fund.

The action in the Victorian supreme court mirrors another in the US that was recently settled for $1.3bn

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A class action against car company Mercedes-Benz is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over the alleged use of “cheat devices” to manipulate diesel emissions.

The action, filed in the Victorian supreme court on Tuesday, covers thousands of vehicles sold in Australia over a 10-year period.

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Move comes after lawyers and MPs raised concerns about charitable status of Global Warming Policy Foundation

The Charity Commission has confirmed that it is reviewing a complaint about the Global Warming Policy Foundation after lawyers and MPs formally raised concerns about its charitable status.

GWPF exists to question policy around the climate crisis, and was set up by former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson, who has said that climate change is not a threat, but “happening very gently at a fraction of a degree per decade, which is something we can perfectly well live with”.

Just Stop Oil campaigners were held on remand after charges relating to M25 protests

More than 30 climate activists were behind bars in UK prisons while diplomats from around the world negotiated at the Cop27 UN climate talks in Egypt.

Most of the activists, all supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign, were held on remand after being charged with causing a public nuisance, or conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, in relation to disruptive protests on the M25 motorway.

Exclusive: Most important antibiotics for human health still used in supply chains of major US food companies, risking spread of superbugs

Suppliers of beef to McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Walmart are sourcing meat from US farms that use antibiotics linked to the spread of dangerous superbugs, an investigation has found.

Unpublished US government records obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian show farms producing beef for meat packing firms Cargill, JBS, and Green Bay are risking public health by still using antibiotics classed as the “highest priority critically important” to human health (HP-CIAs).