The Guardian

More than 21,500 US deaths over last two decades were connected to heat, top medical journal finds

As record-breaking heatwaves continue across parts of the US, a new report shows that heat-related deaths in the country rose by 117% between 1999 and 2023.

The report, released on Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama), found that from 1999 to 2023, there have been more than 21,500 heat-related deaths recorded in the US.

Open letter to Labour energy secretary from 41 groups says wood-burning biomass plants are putting forests and biodiversity at risk

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More than 40 green groups have called on Ed Miliband to scrap plans to pay billions in subsidies to the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire for it to keep burning wood pellets imported from overseas forests.

In an open letter to the energy secretary, 41 groups from across Europe and the US say they are “deeply concerned” about the UK government’s plans to foot the cost of extending the subsidy scheme, which supports the UK’s most polluting power plant from 2027 until the end of the decade.

Groups challenging emissions limits in key sectors including agriculture, waste and transport

The EU is being sued for failing to set ambitious climate targets in sectors that contribute more than half of the bloc’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) argue that climate targets laid out for agriculture, waste, transport and small industry in the 27 EU member states until the end of the decade are not based on the best science and are therefore “grossly inadequate”.

Location of recently found sample of Britain’s rarest plant kept secret to protect it from enthusiasts and poachers

Britain’s rarest plant, a “holy grail” orchid, has been rediscovered for the first time since 2009, and scientists are now working to protect it from slugs, deer – and poachers.

The ghost orchid was discovered earlier this month by Richard Bate, a dental surgeon, orchid lover and member of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI).

Herefordshire and Shropshire: Found flowering in only five years between 1854 and 1910, followed by a 72-year gap until 1982, and then a 27-year gap until the last sighting in 2009.

Oxfordshire: Discovered by a schoolgirl in 1924, the ghost orchid was found flowering in about a dozen years between 1924 and 1979.

Buckinghamshire: First found in 1953, the ghost orchid was recorded in bloom in 25 of the years between 1953 and 1987.

It’s paper straws and compostable cups for the masses, space travel and $600m weddings for their overlords. No wonder everyone who can afford it wants a doomsday bunker

Jesus, if I remember correctly, usually travelled by donkey or by foot. Today’s corporate saviours, however, have more elevated tastes. Last week Starbucks made headlines after it was revealed its new CEO, Brian Niccol – who has been described as the “messiah” the ailing coffee company had been searching for – will be commuting to the office via private jet. Niccol, you see, is generously going to abide by the company’s policy of being in the office three days a week. But since he lives in California and the Starbucks HQ is more than 1,000 miles away in Seattle, a corporate jet is really the only way to go.

Did anyone at Starbucks sit down with a cup of coffee and ponder the optics of this before sealing the deal? Because the optics are terrible. Back in 2018 the company made a lot of noise about how it was getting rid of plastic straws and working towards a recyclable and compostable “cup solution”. What’s the point of that posturing if you’re then going to stick your CEO on an emission-spewing private jet a couple of times a week? As environmental groups and plenty of angry people on the internet have pointed out, this supercommute makes a mockery of Starbucks’ supposed “green agenda”.

Australian study of guppies shows that pharmaceutical pollution could threaten species’ long-term survival

Contamination of waterways with the antidepressant Prozac is disrupting fish bodies and behaviours in ways that could threaten their long-term survival, new research has found.

As global consumption of pharmaceuticals has increased, residues have entered rivers and streams via wastewater raising concerns about the effects on ecosystems and wildlife.

Speaking during the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga, the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said fossil fuels must be phased out and all G20 countries must pursue a 'drastic reduction of emissions'. Asked whether he believes it is acceptable for a country like Australia to be continuing to approve new coal and gas projects, Guterres said the 'situation of different countries is different' but there should be no 'illusion'. 'Without a phase-out of fossil fuels in a fair and just way, there is no way we can keep the 1.5 degrees alive,' Guterres said in a reference to the Paris climate agreement goal of holding temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels

• Albanese government accused of trying to ‘bury bad news’ about health of Great Barrier Reef

Education campaigns to change human behaviour and relocation of problem reptiles are better ways of managing risk, researchers say

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Culling crocodiles is an ineffective and expensive way to reduce attacks on humans, new research has found.

Research published in the journal People and Nature found 91% of crocodile attack victims in the Northern Territory were locals, with human complacency and water-based activities contributing factors.

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Three-quarters of households that park cars on street do not have charger within five-minute walk, data shows

North-east Derbyshire and Redditch, in the West Midlands, are among the worst public “charging deserts” for electric vehicles in Great Britain, according to an analysis that found 9.3m households do not have off-street parking where they could install a charger.

More than three-quarters of households that park their cars on the street do not have a public charger for electric vehicles within a five-minute walk, according to the analysis by the Field Dynamics consultancy.

Donation from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment will be used across country’s more than 400 national park sites

The official non-profit organization of the US national park service is set to receive the largest grant in its history, a $100m gift the fundraising group described as transformative for the country’s national parks.

The National Park Foundation, which Congress created in the 1960s to support national parks, will receive the donation from the Indianapolis-based foundation Lilly Endowment Inc. The park foundation described the gift on Monday as the largest grant in history benefiting US national parks.

Six properties disconnected in past year but there are thought to be 5,000 unlawful apartments in Spanish city

A court in Seville in southern Spain has ruled that the city council is within its rights to cut off the water supply to illegal tourist apartments.

Over the past year the city has disconnected the supply to six illegal apartments. Three owners appealed but the judge, mindful of neighbours’ complaints about noise, accepted the council’s argument that the apartments were not the owners’ residences.

From the merveille du jour to the burnished brass, Britain’s 2,500 species of moths are all special in their own way

• Tim Blackburn is professor of invasion biology at UCL and author of The Jewel Box: How Moths Illuminate Nature’s Hidden Rules

Let me start with a confession: I love moths. If your instant reaction to that statement is a shudder and expression of dislike (or worse), be assured that you’re not alone. It is the commonest response I get. But before you scroll on or turn the page, I hope you will give me a couple of minutes of your time to persuade you to change your mind. Moths are extremely important and beautiful creatures, and we should all love them.

Almost all of them, anyway. There’s a couple of tiny species that nibble holes in your jumpers and chew your carpets, and I’m not going to try to make you love those. Feel free to hate them with a vengeance, particularly as autumn draws in and you open your jumper drawer to find unwanted evidence of their labours. But Britain has about 2,500 other species of moths, and it would be unfair to let the clothes moths colour your perceptions of the other 99.9%. And the others really are special, in all sorts of ways.

Major report released at 4pm on Friday with no media release or a press conference from Tanya Plibersek

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A leading conservation group has accused the government of trying to “bury bad news” about the health of the Great Barrier Reef by releasing a major five-yearly outlook report on Friday afternoon.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s 600-page report said the “window of opportunity to secure a positive future” for the reef was “closing rapidly” and the outlook for the ecosystem was “very poor”.

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Greenpeace among 150 groups expressing outrage after preemptive arrests led to cancellation of protest camp

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have accused police of acting as “private security” for the UK’s biggest carbon emitter after dozens of preemptive arrests forced the cancellation of a climate protest camp near Drax power station.

In a statement signed by almost 150 groups, they called the operation against activists who had spent months planning the camp near the wood-burning power station “an unreasonable restriction of free speech”.

Dion George says avoiding extinction of African penguin is his objective, and settling case aimed at stopping fishing around major colonies will help

South Africa’s new environment minister has said he wants to stop African penguins from going extinct by taking measures including settling a case brought by two environmental charities to stop fishing around the birds’ major colonies.

BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCOB) said they want an extension of no-fishing zones around six beaches and islands where the penguins breed, after failing to reach an agreement with fishing industry groups demanded by the previous minister.

Countries hope big emitters will take more financial responsibility for emergency relief and damage claims

The outcome of an international court case on climate change obligations could strengthen the legal position of Caribbean islands claiming damages from developed countries after natural disasters, lawyers say.

Brought to the international court of justice (ICJ) by the UN general assembly, the case seeks clarification on what states can be held liable for in relation to climate change.

Team at University of Edinburgh using microbes to recycle lithium, cobalt and other expensive minerals

Scientists have formed an unusual new alliance in their fight against climate change. They are using bacteria to help them extract rare metals vital in the development of green technology. Without the help of these microbes, we could run out of raw materials to build turbines, electric cars and solar panels, they say.

The work is being spearheaded by scientists at the University of Edinburgh and aims to use bacteria that can extract lithium, cobalt, manganese and other minerals from old batteries and discarded electronic equipment. These scarce and expensive metals are vital for making electric cars and other devices upon which green technology devices depend, a point stressed by Professor Louise Horsfall, chair of sustainable biotechnology at Edinburgh.

Australia must urgently halt new fossil fuel projects and scale up investment in renewable energies such as solar and wind

My first visit to the Pacific Islands was in 1981 and, for two decades, I spent several months each year carrying out biodiversity surveys and conservation work there. Even in the 1980s, Pacific communities were acutely aware of climate change, experiencing it first-hand through rising seas and intensifying storms. Over time, their understanding of the role that climate pollution plays in worsening these impacts has deepened, leading to a highly organised movement to limit pollution from big coal and gas exporters such as Australia.

As the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) approaches, Australia must urgently align with the position of its Pacific neighbours and take decisive action to reduce climate pollution further and faster.

The Chips and Science Act has led to a production boom but experts say it could generate huge amounts of toxic waste

Producers of PFAS chemicals and semiconductors, a key part of most electronics, have formed a group that develops industry-friendly science aimed at heading off regulation as the facilities release high levels of toxic waste, documents seen by the Guardian show.

The group, called the PFAS Consortium, was formed during a boom in domestic semiconductor production spurred by the Chips and Science Act that has led to $825bn in investment aimed at shoring up the industry.

Freshwater Habitats Trust is asking citizen scientists to help find ponds that support declining species

More than one in five ponds in the UK could be designated as “priority habitats” but only about 2% have been identified so far, experts say.

Priority ponds are recognised as being the highest-quality water spaces for freshwater wildlife, often providing a last refuge for plants and animals that have been lost from surrounding areas. The designation can help preserve ponds threatened by proposed construction and other landscape changes.