The Guardian

Ski resorts in the Alps are grappling with unseasonably warm weather as a result of global warming. A lack of snow has caused many to close

• Record warm winter in parts of Europe forces closure of ski slopes

Humanity is now a ‘geological superpower’ and declaring a new epoch is critical to tackling its impact, scientists say

Exactly where and when did the Anthropocene begin? Scientists are attempting to answer this epochal question in the coming months by choosing a place and time to represent the moment when humanity became a “geological superpower”, overwhelming the natural processes that have governed Earth for billions of years.

They could decide the start is marked with a bang, thanks to the plutonium isotopes rapidly blasted around the planet by the hydrogen bomb tests that began in late 1952, or with a shower of soot particles from the surge in fossil-fuel power plants after the second world war.

Conservative-majority court could soon decide on scope of Clean Water Act, dramatically affecting laws and wetlands countrywide

A 15-year legal tussle over a tiny plot of land near a lake in northern Idaho could culminate in the US supreme court drastically reshaping clean water laws across the country, with a decision by the conservative-dominated court now looming.

The case is the latest and perhaps most significant of the repeated challenges to the scope of the Clean Water Act, which has been the subject of 50 years of fraught argument over the federal government’s ability to prevent pollution seeping into America’s waterways.

Emission of toxic chemicals and carcinogens from gas stoves creating indoor pollution worse than car traffic

Around one in eight cases of asthma in children in the US is due to the pollution given off by cooking on gas stoves, new research has found, amid moves by Joe Biden’s administration to consider the regulation, or even banning, of gas cookers sales to Americans.

Around a third of US households have gas stoves in their kitchens, with the gas industry long touting the method as the cleanest and most efficient way to cook food.

Exclusive: National Lottery funds will help vulnerable coastal town combat effects of rise in sea-level

A coastal town in Cornwall where rising sea levels threaten to wipe out homes, beaches and businesses in a few decades’ time has been awarded £2m to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The money awarded to the popular tourist destination of Bude, in north Cornwall, and 11 surrounding parishes, from the National Lottery climate action fund, comes as the area faces an existential threat from the heating planet.

Shareholders say lawsuits over PFAS compounds linked to cancer and other diseases represent growing threat to companies’ profits

Investors from some of the world’s largest firms are pressuring chemical companies to end production of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, which shareholders say represent an enormous and growing threat to manufacturers’ bottom lines.

PFAS are a class of about 12,000 compounds typically used to make products resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, and are linked to cancer, kidney disease, liver problems, immune disorders, birth defects and other serious health issues.

Climate disasters continue to ravage our country – more international aid is urgently needed to save millions from misery

• Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is the prime minister of Pakistan

The apocalyptic rains and floods that hit Pakistan last summer claimed 1,700 lives, left a swathe of territory the size of Switzerland under water and affected 33 million people – more people than live in most European countries.

International attention has receded, but the waters have not. Large parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces remain inundated. The number of food-insecure people in Pakistan has doubled to 14 million; another 9 million have been pushed into extreme poverty. These flooded areas now look like a huge series of permanent lakes, transforming forever the terrain and the lives of people living there. No amount of pumps can remove this water in less than a year; and by July 2023, the worry is that these areas may flood again.

Attracting more than 9,000 entries from 53 countries, the annual celebration of close up photography was won by a poignant shot of salamanders being devoured by a pitcher plant, by Canadian photographer Samantha Stephens. Here is a selection of the best entries to the CUPOTY

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including fur seals, sandbar sharks and Thor the walrus

Ben Okri, Simon Schama, Helen Pankhurst and AL Kennedy among those saying they ‘stand with’ protesters

Ben Okri, Simon Schama, Helen Pankhurst and AL Kennedy are among more than 100 writers who have signed a letter in solidarity with UK climate protest prisoners.

“That the UK now has political prisoners, incarcerated for defending sustainable life on Earth is yet another national disgrace,” Kennedy said.

Communities in the Kimberley in Western Australia are reeling from the largest flooding event in the state's history, which has wreaked havoc in the region. The Fitzroy River peaked at 15.81 metres, about 1.8 metres above the previous record. Emergency evacuations continued on Thursday as the Fitzroy's flood peak bore down on tiny Noonkanbah. Helicopters plucked anxious residents from sodden outstation as evacuations continue, with three Australian Defence Force planes helping with the airlift

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• ‘They’ve been texting us for food’: remote communities left ‘abandoned’ in Kimberley flood response
• Authorities struggle to deliver food and essentials to towns stranded by WA’s ‘worst ever’ floods
  

If you return to the same spot often enough, you’ll get to know the regulars

The movie adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel Blueback is out this week. It focuses on a friendship with a big friendly fish – the blue groper; and the powerful response to humans threatening the animal. As with My Octopus Teacher, it’s a highly emotive story, and seen by most people as unusual or unique. Because humans only befriend domestic animals such as cats and dogs. Or do they?

Let’s start with the blue groper. This is a charismatic Australian native, with many interesting characteristics. They are protogynous hermaphrodites, starting life as juveniles with the potential to be male or female; and always starting as green-coloured females. The dominant male has a harem and, if he dies, the largest female will become male and adopt the striking blue hue which gives the fish its name. These fish can live up to 70 years and are the state emblem of New South Wales.

If global heating continues at current rate of 2.7C, losses will be greater with 68% of glaciers disappearing

Half the planet’s glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if humanity sticks to goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, according to research that finds the scale and impacts of glacial loss are greater than previously thought. At least half of that loss will happen in the next 30 years.

Researchers found 49% of glaciers would disappear under the most optimistic scenario of 1.5C of warming. However, if global heating continued under the current scenario of 2.7C of warming, losses would be more significant, with 68% of glaciers disappearing, according to the paper, published in Science. There would be almost no glaciers left in central Europe, western Canada and the US by the end of the next century if this happened.

Temperature records have toppled across the continent. Governments must not delay any longer

Warm winter days do not instinctively feel like an extreme weather event. Unlike the freezing bomb cyclone endured by the US at Christmas, or the floods that swept through the Philippines, they are unlikely to cause immediate widespread death and devastation. At a time when soaring energy costs have pushed so many into poverty, many will have welcomed the warmth that has been felt across Europe, especially the millions in Ukraine suffering due to Russia’s attacks on its power infrastructure.

Yet the heatwave should alarm us all. Though it may have been less punitive to experience than last summer’s record temperatures, which led to thousands of deaths, it has spread across many more countries. “We can regard this as the most extreme event in European history,” said one climatologist. Poland, where the average January temperature is around 1C, saw the thermometer climb to 19C on New Year’s Day. At least seven more European countries have seen record highs. Ski resorts closed slopes or resorted to artificial snow. Though the weather might seem mild, it is disrupting crops and wildlife, and of course sudden thaws can lead to avalanches or floods.

Europe's record-breaking winter weather has closed ski slopes after temperatures exceeded 20C in parts of Switzerland and southern Germany. Footage from across the continent shows people braving the sea in Spain and resorts opening summer trails for skiers as eight countries recorded their warmest January day in history. 

In the UK, the Met Office confirmed 2022 was the UK's hottest year on record, with the average annual temperature exceeding 10C for the first time. The record-breaking heat was made 160 times more likely by the climate crisis, indicating the dominant influence of human-caused global heating on Britain

• UK’s record hot 2022 made 160 times more likely by climate crisis
• Record warm winter in parts of Europe forces closure of ski slopes

Exclusive: England plan will omit aim of reducing area used for animal farming, key to cutting emissions

The government has been accused of being “pathetically nervous” about encouraging the public to eat less meat after excluding the aim from a key strategy.

The Guardian can reveal that the government’s upcoming land use strategy will not include a reduction in area used for animal agriculture in England.

Campaigners hail EU move, and congressman says it gives fresh impetus to similar US plans

A groundbreaking EU deal to ban the import of goods linked to deforestation has set a global benchmark and will hasten the passage of a similar law in the US, American lawmakers have said.

A football pitch-sized tract of forest is lost every second somewhere around the world, mostly to agricultural expansion. From 2024, the EU will require firms working in deforestation hotspots to certify that their goods have not harmed forests after a cutoff date of 31 December 2020.

Data reveals hundreds of hours of discharges via storm overflows in some locations

The scale of raw sewage discharges into rivers by England’s biggest privatised water firm is revealed in a new interactive map showing real-time discharges.

After growing pressure from campaigners and the public, Thames Water has created an interactive map showing sewage dumping via storm overflows in real time.

Without global heating, such warm temperatures would be expected only once every five centuries, Met Office says

The record-breaking heat in the UK in 2022 was made 160 times more likely by the climate crisis, indicating the dominant influence of human-caused global heating on the nation.

Last year has been confirmed as Britain’s hottest on record, with the average annual temperature passing the 10C mark for the first time. Scientists at the Met Office calculated that such heat is now expected every three to four years. Without the greenhouse gases emitted by humanity, such a warm year would be expected only once every five centuries.

Environmental cash incentives part of government scheme to replace EU common agricultural policy

Farmers are to receive additional payments of up to £1,000 a year for protecting nature and the environment, as the government changes post-Brexit subsidies to agriculture.

The increased payments will come under the environmental land management schemes (Elms), the cornerstone of the government’s system for replacing the EU’s much-criticised common agricultural policy (CAP).