The Guardian

Our federal government pays some people to protect native forests, while state governments pay others to cut them down

The climate crisis often gets blamed on market failure, but government failure plays a pretty big role as well. Not only do Australian governments spend more than $11.6bn a year subsidising fossil fuels, at the same time the federal government spends billions paying some landholders to grow more trees, state governments perversely continue to subsidise the logging of native forests. I’m not sure that’s what people mean by the circular economy.

While successive governments have spent billions subsidising research into carbon capture and storage (CCS), the really inconvenient truth is the most effective CCS technology is the humble tree. It’s low cost, low risk and ready to roll. Trees quite literally suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it safely in their trunks and their roots. And as if that’s not a cool invention, trees throw in water filtration and native species habitat “services” for free. If Elon Musk had invented the tree, he’d be a trillionaire by now.

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A lack of recent rainfall forces part of the Leeds-Liverpool canal to shut while 5 million face a hosepipe ban

Boat owners on the UK’s longest canal will not be able to move their boats next week, due to a water shortage, while 5 million people have been warned they may be soon facing a hosepipe ban.

Stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool canal will be closed during periods next week after a lack of rainfall has led to low levels in some Yorkshire and Lancashire reservoirs, leaving canal locks unable to be filled.

The WHO declared it a probable human carcinogen in 2015 and 70-80 UK councils have turned to chemical-free options

Yellow grass and unnaturally bare soil around public trees and paths is increasingly a vision of the past, as indiscriminate use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate is phased out by councils. But changing the way the public realm looks is not without controversy, with some complaining so-called weeds make urban spaces unsightly.

Heavily used in farming, glyphosate’s non-agricultural use extends to parks and green spaces, pavements and playgrounds, hospitals and shopping centres. Since the WHO declared it a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015, after research found “strong” evidence for its toxicity, 70 to 80 UK councils have turned to chemical-free options or simply letting plants grow, from Bath & North East Somerset council, to Highland council in Scotland.

The party’s climate-sceptic right wing is succeeding in its campaign to push candidates away from climate pledges

This weekend, I received a call from a well-known green Conservative, telling me to stop using the phrase “net zero” in my articles and tweets about the leadership election. It has become too toxic, he said.

While this was shocking, it wasn’t completely unexpected. None of the leadership candidates so far have made the positive case for green jobs and cheap renewable energy. Instead, the only ones speaking out about climate change are culture warriors Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch, who wish to scrap net zero targets.

George Eustice reassures public as he announces 50 landowners have applied to rewilding programme

Fifty landowners have applied to a government scheme to rewild their land, the environment secretary has said, as he reassured green Tories that the net-zero target will be protected by the next administration.

Speaking at the Conservative Environment Network’s summer party, George Eustice acknowledged that people who care about the environment feel “apprehensive and anxious” about the Conservative leadership election.

New agreement to fast-track climate solutions signed as countries underscore need for diversified supply chains

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The US and Australia have stressed the importance of breaking the near-complete reliance on China for zero emissions technology supplies while signing a new agreement that promises to accelerate the development of climate solutions.

In a joint press conference in Sydney, the US energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, and the Australian climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, announced a “net zero technology acceleration partnership”, including an initial focus on long-duration energy storage and digitising power grids.

Research puts US ahead of China, Russia, India and Brazil in terms of global damage as climate expert says numbers ‘very stark’

The US has inflicted more than $1.9tn in damage to other countries from the effects of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis that has provided the first measurement of nations’ liability in stoking the climate crisis.

The huge volume of planet-heating gases pumped out by the US, the largest historical emitter, has caused such harm to other, mostly poor, countries through heatwaves, crop failures and other consequences that the US is responsible for $1.91tn in lost global income since 1990, the study found.

UK households recycle just 12% of single-use plastic, says Greenpeace

UK households throw away nearly 100bn pieces of plastic packaging a year, according to a survey by Greenpeace.

The results of one of the largest voluntary research projects into the scale of plastic waste show that only 12% of the single-use packaging used by households is sent for recycling.

Video showing dozens of beachgoers running and jumping out of the way of sea lions has gone viral online. The video from the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park has sparked conversations about whether the animals were chasing people or reclaiming parts of the beach. A sea lion expert, Eric Otjen of SeaWorld, said what he saw was normal sea lion behaviour for this time of year, when males are sparring over females as breeding season gets under way

Bioluminescence phenomenon has long eluded scientific inquiry owing to its remote and infrequent nature

Waking at 10pm, a sailor looked out from the deck of the superyacht Ganesha to see that the ocean had turned white. “There is no moon, the sea is apparently full of plankton, but the bow wave is black. It gives the impression of sailing on snow,” they wrote.

For centuries, mariners have described navigating unearthly night-time waters, lit up by a mysterious glow, but such “milky seas” have long eluded scientific inquiry owing to their remote, transient and infrequent nature.

A pod of orcas, including the matriarch and several calves, were filmed as they swam close by a family on holiday in Shetland, Scotland.

Eric Linklater, 21, caught the group known as the ‘27 Pod’  on camera in the Eshaness area. His father, Alexander Linklater, who posted the video to Twitter said: 'For an idea of what it’s like to see this up close and spontaneously, my seven-year-old daughter started crying in terror at the awesome killer whales she was seeing'

Global Feedback seeks judicial review of plan for not suggesting less meat and dairy consumption

Food campaigners are taking legal action against the government for failing to support the transition to a low-carbon diet by encouraging people to eat less meat.

Global Feedback, which campaigns for regenerative food production, says the government’s food strategy does not take into account advice that cutting levels of meat and dairy consumption is crucial to achieving the country’s net zero goals.

Focus on market has led to climate crises, with spiritual, cultural and emotional benefits of nature ignored

Taking into account all the benefits nature provides to humans and redefining what it means to have a “good quality of life” is key to living sustainably on Earth, a four-year assessment by 82 leading scientists has found.

A market-based focus on short-term profits and economic growth means the wider benefits of nature have been ignored, which has led to bad decisions that have reduced people’s wellbeing and contributed to climate and nature crises, according to a UN report. To achieve sustainable development, qualitative approaches need to be incorporated into decision making.

Just 60 MPs due to attend briefing by Sir Patrick Vallance, based on slides Boris Johnson was shown before Cop26

Only 60 MPs are expected to attend an emergency climate briefing by the UK government’s chief scientific adviser in parliament on Monday, the Guardian has learned.

The briefing, organised by the climate change all-party parliamentary group, will be an updated version of the slides that the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, showed Boris Johnson before the UN climate summit Cop26 in Glasgow in November. But the APPG told the Guardian fewer than 10% of MPs had signed up to watch.

An SA farmer was praised for returning a young seal to the water, but experts highlight dangers for both parties in handling animals

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If you ever stumble upon a seal pup far from home, best leave it alone and call for help.

Humans (and their dogs) can pose a danger to seals, and the marine mammals can give humans tuberculosis.

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British scientists say trial shows the nonlethal method could help eradicate the invasive species and allow red squirrels to recover

Oral contraceptives for squirrels are working, research has found, and the government hopes they can be used to keep populations down in the UK.

Grey squirrels are an invasive species in the UK, introduced from North America in the 1870s. They pose a problem for wildlife including endangered red squirrels, which they outcompete. They also carry a disease called squirrelpox that does not affect them but can kill reds.

At least 27,000 hectares of Cerrado have allegedly been destroyed by suppliers to major soya traders that supply UK meat industry

Supermarkets and retailers have been asked to end relationships with soya traders who allegedly continue to buy soya from suppliers contributing to deforestation in Brazil.

It comes as an investigation by campaign group Mighty Earth alleges that suppliers selling to leading soya traders have deforested at least 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) across 10 farms in the Cerrado region of Brazil since August 2020.

Environment minister Tanya Plibersek says she would be ‘carefully considering’ projects referred under EPBC Act

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The Albanese government could face decisions on whether to approve up to 27 coal mining developments, based on applications lodged under national environment laws.

An analysis by the Sunrise Project, a climate activist group, found 13 greenfield coalmines and 14 extensions of existing mines had been referred to the federal government for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

The Spix macaw, a bird that had once vanished in the wild, is now thriving in its South American homeland after a successful breeding programme

Twenty years ago, the future of the Spix’s macaw could not have looked bleaker. The last member of this distinctive parrot species disappeared from the wild, leaving only a few dozen birds in collectors’ cages across the globe. The prospects for Cyanopsitta spixii were grim, to say the least.

But thanks to a remarkable international rescue project, Spix’s macaws – with their grey heads and vivid blue plumage – have made a stunning comeback. A flock now soars freely over its old homeland in Brazil after being released there a month ago. Later this year, conservationists plan to release more birds, and hope the parrots will start breeding in the wild next spring.

Campaigners warn crucial legislation must not be abandoned while the UK government is distracted

Crucial environment legislation must not be allowed to be sidelined or abandoned amid the distraction of a Tory leadership race, campaigners have warned.

Ministers openly admit they do not know what is going on with much of the legislation, but those who remain in government are working with skeleton teams to get bills in shape to be passed.