The Guardian

Endangered species enjoys best summer in 150 years thanks to habitat restoration scheme

The large blue butterfly has enjoyed its best summer for 150 years in Britain thanks to targeted restoration work, which is also benefiting other rare insects including the rugged oil beetle and the shrill carder bee.

The butterfly, which became extinct in Britain in 1979 but was reintroduced via caterpillars from Sweden four years later, flew in its greatest numbers in June this year since records began.

Exclusive: Revisions revealed through FOI are more focused on protecting forestry industry than preventing species going extinct, scientists argue

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Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats pushed for a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species to be changed to remove and play down the scientific evidence that logging was the biggest threat to its survival.

Scientists said the proposed changes to the recovery plan for the swift parrot – revealed in draft versions made available under freedom of information laws – were more focused on protecting the forestry industry than preventing the species going extinct.

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Surge of about 20% this year due to system that concentrates power and profits in hands of few companies

Food price rises around the world are the result of a “broken” food system that is failing the poor and concentrating power and profits in the hands of a few, food experts have said.

Rising food prices are causing widespread suffering in developing countries, and even in the rich world the combination of high food and fuel prices threatens hardship for millions.

Surge in festivals after Covid lull risks making green spaces elitist as councils try to offset tightened budgets

Cash-strapped councils are increasingly hiring out their green spaces to festivals, an expert has warned, blocking them off from residents for weeks at a time, damaging grass and causing congestion.

Councils were “more desperate than ever” to attract commercial income to supplement their reduced budgets after a pandemic hiatus, risking making public parks “more exclusive and more elitist” in the process.

Civil society groups say covert screening process excluded government’s critics

A group of Egyptian civil society organisations have been prevented from attending the Cop27 climate summit by a covert registration process that filtered out groups critical of the Egyptian government.

Egypt’s foreign, environment and social solidarity ministries privately selected and screened NGOs that would be permitted to apply for one-time registration for Cop27, a separate process from applications for official observer status, which closed last year.

Environmental activists take action at Cobham services in Surrey, Clacket Lane in Kent and Thurrock in Essex

Environmental protesters have blocked three service stations on the M25 in a second day of action this week attempting to put pressure on the government to end new oil and gas projects.

According to the Just Stop Oil campaign, 32 of its supporters took action from 5am at Cobham services in Surrey, Clacket Lane services in Kent and Thurrock services in Essex.

Flavorings made from mealworms could one day be used on convenience food as a source of protein

Insects can be turned into meat-like flavors, helping provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional meat options, scientists have discovered.

Mealworms, the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle, have been cooked with sugar by researchers who found that the result is a meat-like flavoring that could one day be used on convenience food as a source of protein.

Ukrainian campaigners call for immediate end to investments, to cut funds to war and help avoid climate breakdown

US and UK financial institutions have been among the leading investors in Russian “carbon bomb” fossil fuel projects, according to a new database of holdings from recent years.

Campaigners in Ukraine said these institutions must immediately end such investments, to limit the funding of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to avoid climate breakdown.

Parts of China are enduring the worst heatwave in decades, affecting crops and power supplies as water levels reach record lows

As environment secretary, Liz Truss made cuts that undermined regulation. Now coastal communities are suffering

Untreated sewage pouring into coastal waters around England is far from the only crisis afflicting the UK in this worrying summer. But there could be few more dispiriting signs of the state we are in than the fact that holidaymakers on some of our most popular beaches are being warned to stay out of the sea because of the risks to health from swimming with faeces, while the majority of rivers are on “red alert”. In some locations, including Littlehampton in West Sussex, there are no working monitors, meaning that there is no way to measure pollution.

Rightly, the water companies and Ofwat, their ineffective regulator, are coming in for heavy criticism. And the headline figures and facts that sum up the sector’s dismal performance are worth repeating. Between 1991 and 2019, English and Welsh water companies paid out £72bn in dividends, and took on around £55bn in debt. But the investment in infrastructure that was supposed to follow privatisation never came. Not one new reservoir has been built in 30 years, while Scottish Water, which remains publicly owned, has invested 35% more per household. On a host of measures, from leaks to river water quality, the UK’s performance is poor, with leaked data showing that at current rates it will take 2,000 years to replace the pipe network.

Why focus just on the politicians where there are plenty of CEOs out there with excrement on their hands?

I have an idea in the public policy/apocalyptic light entertainment space. No water company boss should be allowed to collect their salary or bonus unless they take a long and exhaustively reported dip in the waters of one of the beaches they’ve pumped sewage into that same morning. Just think of it. The first wild swimming article you’d genuinely want to read.

In the meantime, the water firms keep on doing it, with one of the hottest summers on record punctuated by daily reports of both drought and sewage discharge. Environment Agency data suggests the amount of raw sewage pumped into seas and rivers by the water companies has increased 2,553% in the past five years. To Jonathan Swift, scatological humour seemed the rational satirical response to the state of early 18th-century politics. To us, it’s simply the factual state of affairs. There’s no real need to write a metaphorical poem about parliamentarians dabbling in their dung, since any MP who has holidayed on these shores this summer has literally done it.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Marina Hyde will be in conversation with Richard Osman at a Guardian Live event in London on 11 October. Join them in person or via the livestream – book tickets via the Guardian Live website

Leaked data shows water companies are replacing 0.05% of England’s crumbling pipe network a year

It would take English water companies 2,000 years to replace their pipes at current rates, leaked data reveals.

Analysis of Water UK data from 2021 by the Angling Trust has found that on average, water companies replace 0.05% of their pipe networks a year.

Essex police arrest 18 people at three locations as protesters try to disrupt distribution of fuel

Dozens of environmental protesters have blocked critical oil infrastructure in Essex and the Midlands as they revived a campaign to “just stop oil”.

At daybreak on Tuesday, about 50 people took part in protests targeting three oil terminals, from where fuel is distributed to petrol stations, the activist group Just Stop Oil said.

Sales at world’s top four traders have soared, raising concerns of profiteering and speculation

Companies at the centre of the global grain trade have enjoyed a record bonanza amid soaring food prices around the world, raising concerns of profiteering and speculation in global food markets that could put staples beyond the reach of the poorest, and prompting calls for a windfall tax.

The world’s top four grain traders, which have dominated the global grain market for decades – have seen record or near-record profits or sales. They are forecasting demand to outstrip supply at least until 2024, which is likely to lead to even higher sales and profits in the next two years.

Researchers design composite resin for blades that can be broken down to make new products including sweets

The next generation of wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears at the end of their service, scientists have said.

Researchers at Michigan State University have made a composite resin for the blades by combining glass fibres with a plant-derived polymer and a synthetic one. Once the blades have reached the end of their lifespan the materials can be broken down and recycled to make new products including turbine blades – and chewy sweets.

A species of carpet shark is evolving to better survive warming seas and the climate crisis

Researchers at a Florida university say a small but feisty species of carpet shark with an extraordinary ability to walk on land is evolving to better survive warming seas and the climate crisis.

The epaulette shark, commonly found on shallow reefs of Australia and New Guinea, can walk for up to 30 meters on dry land using paddle shaped fins, and survive hypoxia – a deficiency of oxygen – for up to two hours.

Local authorities have had to slash funding for maintaining their open spaces, and friends groups are picking up the slack

• Funding for England’s parks down £330m a year in real terms since 2010

Sparse. That’s how Chrisie Byrne describes the playground in Walton Hall park. The outlines of missing equipment scar its black rubber flooring. “It’s a huge footprint, with nothing in it, or at least very little in it,” says Byrne.

There is a set of swings, a low climbing frame with a slide for small children, and a roundabout. A couple of rocking horse-type contraptions date back to the 1990s, well past their usual lifespan, but local people have begged the council not to remove them. Another climbing frame that was burned by vandals was removed and never replaced.

Deep cuts by local authorities leaving green spaces in decline, with poorest areas losing out the most

• Parks at risk: ‘If it was not for the volunteers, we would struggle’

Local authorities in England are spending almost £330m less a year in real terms on parks and open spaces than they were a decade ago, with the most deprived areas experiencing the deepest cuts, a Guardian analysis has found.

Years of deep budget cuts have left bandstands and playgrounds deteriorating, buildings crumbling, staff numbers decimated and parks’ upkeep in the hands of volunteers, according to park workers, volunteers and visitors.

Alligator, shrimp and beaverslides … Holly Lynton’s beautiful photographs reveal the spiritual state of being that emerges from nature and tradition

Senior Tories rule out asking households to reduce energy use despite planning for winter blackouts

No 10 and allies of Liz Truss are resisting the idea that people should be asked to cut their energy use, with the government insisting that consumption of gas and electricity is a “decision for individuals”.

With the threat of shortages possible this winter, officials have raised the option of the UK public being requested to reduce their energy usage, after countries in the EU including France and Germany were asked to cut gas demand by 15%.