The Guardian

As the Ukraine war and climate crisis act as a wake-up call for the industry, one UK farm is leading the way

Lettuces are sprouting, the wildflowers are in bloom and a buzzard is circling above the meadow on a sunny spring day at Huxhams Cross Farm near the village of Dartington in Devon. From the top of a hill, Marina O’Connell can survey most of the 15 hectares (37 acres) she has dedicated the past six years to transforming.

When she took over running the farm in 2015, she recalls, the farm contractor called this a “miserable bit of land”. Now the fields and hedgerows buzz with wildlife, and young farm workers chat as they sow carrot seeds and plant out early spinach. Further downhill, chickens peck about near polytunnels full of vegetables and soft fruit.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a rock goby, a fox-chasing crow and a frolicking Icelandic horse

The portfolio carries the fate of Australia’s unique constellation of lifeforms, and the world will be watching whether we choose to let them thrive

There isn’t another portfolio like it. With a stroke of a pen an environment minister can choose to allow the destruction of a constellation of lifeforms that have existed for tens of millions of years, or can decide instead to help that constellation of life flourish for millions more. It’s the portfolio of the million-year legacy.

An Australian environment minister carries this responsibility in a way that environment ministers from other countries don’t: Australia as the long-isolated island ark, has flora and fauna like nothing else on the globe.

Pupils’ vital attention skills stunted by ‘toxic’ peaks of road noise heard from the classroom

Road-traffic noise significantly slows the development of crucial memory and attention skills in primary school children, research has found.

The study of almost 2,700 children aged between seven and 10 in 38 schools in Barcelona, Spain, is the first to assess the impact of traffic noise on child cognitive development over time and to determine the impact of peaks in noise.

Most widely used pesticide in history harms critical ability of bumblebee to regulate nest temperature

The critical ability of wild bumblebees to keep their colonies at the right temperature is seriously damaged by the weedkiller glyphosate, research has revealed.

Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in history, intended to kill only plants. The harm to bumblebees – vital pollinators – was not identified in regulatory risk assessments, which only test whether a pesticide rapidly kills healthy, individual bees. However, the collective failure to regulate colony temperature could have a massive impact on its ability to produce the next generation, the scientists said.

New study finds 44% of world’s land surface needs increased protection, with 1m wildlife species at risk of extinction

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Almost half the planet’s land surface needs extra conservation protection if the biodiversity crisis is to be halted, a major new study has found.

At least 64.7 million sq km (25 million sq miles) needs “conservation attention” but overlaps with areas where 1.8 billion people live – about a quarter of the world’s population – raising critical human rights challenges for conservationists, communities and governments.

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Vegetated areas above treeline have increased by 77% since 1984, satellite data shows

The impact of global heating on the Alps is visible from space, with the snow-white mountains increasingly colonised by green plants, according to a study of high-resolution satellite data.

Vegetated areas above the treeline in the Alps have increased by 77% since 1984, the study says. While retreating glaciers have symbolised the speed of global heating in the Alpine region, researchers described the increases in plant biomass as an “absolutely massive” change.

Environmentalists threaten legal action over UK permit for Shell to develop Jackdaw field

Environmentalists are threatening legal action in an attempt to halt the development of a new gas field in the North Sea that has been given the green light by the UK government.

Climate experts reacted with anger after the government announced it had given the Jackdaw field, to be developed by the oil multinational Shell, “final regulatory approval” on Wednesday.

Three former UN climate heads say gap between government promises and actions will change environment irreversibly

The policies currently in place to tackle the climate crisis around the world will lead to “catastrophic” climate breakdown, as governments have failed to take the actions needed to fulfil their promises, three former UN climate leaders have warned.

There is a stark gap between what governments have promised to do to protect the climate, and the measures and policies needed to achieve the targets. At the Cop26 summit last November, countries agreed to bring forward plans to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the limit of safety, according to scientists. They have so far submitted pledges that would limit temperatures to under 2C.

Conflict and Covid make these troubling times, but national leaders must cooperate and take action now

At the end of February this year, the world’s governments signed on to a statement that was startling in its strength and clarity. “The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and planetary health,” reads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. “Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.’”

You might think that political leaders could have no higher priority than securing a “liveable and sustainable future”. Is that not what all of us, in every country, need and want for ourselves and for future generations? It is true that other issues are causing grave concern in many societies: governments worldwide are tackling poverty and hunger, wars and civil conflicts, the rising cost of food and energy, health systems and economies crippled by Covid-19.

Christiana Figueres was executive secretary of UNFCCC from 2010 to 2016

Yvo de Boer was executive secretary of UNFCCC from 2006 to 2010

Michael Zammit Cutajar was executive secretary of UNFCCC from 1991 to 2002

One ecologist counted 160 dead wild birds while walking round a Scottish loch, and figures from other countries are just as worrying

As he walked along the shoreline of a Highland loch on a fine May evening, ecologist and wildlife photographer Peter Stronach could hardly believe what he was seeing. The beach was littered with dead and dying birds: male eider ducks, several species of gulls, a gannet, a puffin and no fewer than 26 pink-footed geese, which should by now have been on the way back to their Icelandic breeding grounds.

In all, Stronach recorded 72 individual birds of 17 species at Loch Fleet national nature reserve on the east coast of Scotland on that one day, plus many more in the following days.

Greg Mullins says Chris Bowen’s invitation to meet with experts is a ‘stark contrast’ to outgoing Coalition government

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The longest-serving former fire commissioner in Australia, Greg Mullins, has predicted the Albanese government will ramp up its 2030 emissions reduction target over the coming years, because Labor is prepared to take advice from experts.

Mullins made the prognostication after meeting the new climate change minister Chris Bowen in Canberra on Thursday.

The path to net zero is plagued by claims that LNG is less dirty than coal, but there is practically no evidence to back them up

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Is Australia’s multibillion dollar gas industry going to help the region and the world decarbonise, as its supporters and the industry claims?

Neat soundbites that gas is less dirty than coal, or factoids suggesting liquefied natural gas exports are pushing out those of more polluting coal, are plentiful and slip easily from the tongue, but are almost always bereft of detail.

Sheriff’s deputies were able to shut the animal in a classroom. There were no casualties

A mountain lion entered a California school Wednesday morning and was safely confined in a classroom, authorities said.

All students and staff at Pescadero high school in the town of Pescadero were safe, the San Mateo county sheriff’s office said in a social media post.

‘On what sort of planet does the commonwealth think they don’t need a recovery plan for a Tasmanian devil’, asks Wilderness Society

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Recovery plans designed to prevent the extinction of almost 180 threatened species and habitats, including the Tasmanian devil, were scrapped by the Coalition in one of Sussan Ley’s final acts as environment minister.

Last year, the Morrison government proposed removing the requirement for a legislated plan for 185 plants, animals and habitats, including several plans that were years overdue.

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Australian Marine Conservation Society says management of reef line fisheries is ‘really admirable’ and will help keep fishing stock ‘environmentally resilient’

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Queensland seafood lovers who want to eat sustainably and can afford a finer fillet have been given the green light to eat seven new species of reef fish.

But they have been advised against buying iconic species, including prawns and barramundi, that have been caught in the wild.

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Deflationists and Tyre Extinguishers both say they want to make SUV ownership impossible in urban areas

A new group of climate activists targeting the owners of sports utility vehicles has set itself up as a friendly rival to the Tyre Extinguishers by deflating the tyres of dozens of vehicles in the suburbs of Glasgow.

In a statement, the group, which calls itself the Deflationists, claimed to have let down the tyres of 50 vehicles in the city’s affluent Newlands area and the neighbouring Shawlands.

Calls for action as decline is seen as evidence of harm caused by climate crisis, pollution and fish farming

Salmon anglers have called for urgent action to protect Scotland’s wild salmon after the lowest number on record were caught last year.

The latest official data shows that 35,693 Atlantic salmon were caught by anglers on Scottish rivers last year, the lowest number since records began in 1952 and just 75% of the average over the last five years.

Ohio woman, 25, was tossed 10ft in air after getting close to female bison on boardwalk

An Ohio woman was gored by a bison after approaching the animal while visiting Yellowstone national park in Wyoming, park officials said on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old was visiting the national park from Grove City, Ohio, about 20 minutes outside Columbus.

Ohio woman, 25, was gored and tossed 10ft in air after getting close to female bison on boardwalk

An Ohio woman was killed by a bison after approaching the animal while visiting Yellowstone national park in Wyoming, park officials said on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old woman was visiting the national park from Grove City, Ohio, about 20 minutes outside Columbus.