The Guardian

A young peregrine falcon – one of four that hatched on Salisbury Cathedral this spring – took its first flight into the Wiltshire sky, days after an unsuccessful attempt where it lost its footing and slipped. The tumble was captured on a webcam which focuses on the balcony and has proved a hit with people tuning in to follow the birds’ progress. The falcon, named Noble X3C, took the plunge again on Tuesday and this time managed to stay airborne

People working with government on strategy say ambitious plans to tackle nature, climate and health crises have been ditched

The government is expected to water down its upcoming food strategy for England, ignoring the ambitious recommendations proposed in two government-commissioned reports, campaigners say.

The white paper, due later this month, was supposed to be a groundbreaking plan to tackle the nature and climate emergencies in response to eye-catching recommendations urged by the restaurateur Henry Dimbleby in his reports.

Edinburgh palaeontologist says smaller mammals are better able to cope with increased temperatures

The climate crisis may lead the human race to shrink in size, as mammals with smaller frames appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert has said.

Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future.

Sian Phillips, the sister of the missing journalist Dom Phillips, urges Brazilian authorities to search the routes he used amid fears for the safety of the Briton and Bruno Araújo Pereira, an Indigenous expert he was travelling with. 

'We knew it was a dangerous place but Dom really believed it’s possible to safeguard the nature and the livelihood of the Indigenous people,' says Sian Phillips. 'We are really worried about him and urge the authorities in Brazil to do all they can to search the routes he was following. If anyone can help scale up resources for the search that would be great because time is crucial.'

• ‘Every second counts’: wife of British journalist missing in Amazon urges action
  

Ex-UN climate envoy says continent’s need for energy is so great it should be able to widely use the fossil fuel

African countries should be able to exploit their vast natural gas reserves despite the urgent need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, the former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson has said.

Robinson, the chair of the Elders group of former world statespeople and business leaders, said African countries’ need for energy was so great that they should use gas widely, in contrast to developed countries that must halt their gas use as quickly as possible to stave off climate breakdown.

Only about half the funds required are being provided by rich countries, according to a report by Oxfam

The funding needed by UN climate disaster appeals has soared by more than 800% in 20 years as global heating takes hold. But only about half of it is being met by rich countries, according to a new report by Oxfam.

Last year was the third costliest on record for extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and wildfires with total economic costs estimated at $329bn, nearly double the total aid given by donor nations.

NGOs argue priority list was drawn up without consideration of methane emissions

An EU plan to fast-track funding and permits for 30 gas projects is facing a legal challenge from NGOs including ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth Europe.

The European Commission has been asked to review its backing for infrastructure projects such as the EastMed pipeline, a 1,180-mile (1,900km) gas pipeline to connect offshore gas fields in Israel and Cyprus to Italy.

Global La Niña-like conditions could result in more flooding rains in east Australia and bushfires in south-west US

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Climate change is slowing down the conveyor belt of ocean currents that brings warm water from the tropics up to the north Atlantic. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, looks at the profound consequences to global climate if this Atlantic conveyor collapses entirely.

We found the collapse of this system – called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation – would shift the Earth’s climate to a more La Niña-like state. This would mean more flooding rains over eastern Australia and worse droughts and bushfire seasons over south-west US.

CO2 has not been so high since before hominids walked upright – and are not dropping fast enough to avert catastrophe

The level of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than during the pre-industrial era, further pushing the planet into conditions not experienced for millions of years, well before the emergence of humans, US government data shows.

The latest measurements showing the relentless upward march of CO2 follows scientists’ new warning that the world may still barrel into disastrous climate change even if planet-heating emissions are drastically cut, which governments are still failing to achieve.

World risks ‘sleepwalking to disaster’ officials told as climate summit kicks off in Bonn

Governments cannot use geopolitical tensions and soaring energy prices as an excuse for falling behind on their climate commitments, experts and diplomats warned as officials from around the world gathered for talks on the climate crisis in Bonn on Monday.

These are the first UN climate negotiations since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the first since the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November ended with countries pledging to reconvene this year with strengthened commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Coalition of lawyers, journalists and campaigners challenge climate-busting mega projects exposed in Guardian investigation

• Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger climate breakdown

A coalition of environmental lawyers, investigative journalists and campaigners has launched a group to challenge the “carbon bomb” fossil fuel projects revealed in a Guardian investigation.

After a meeting in May, more than 70 NGOs and activist groups from around the world have formed a “carbon bomb defusal” network to share expertise and resources in the fight to halt the projects and prevent the catastrophic climate breakdown they would cause.

ACT is the only jurisdiction bucking the trend of soaring power bills now plaguing the rest of Australia

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The ACT will cut electricity prices this year, bucking a trend of soaring power bills for the rest of Australia, as the territory benefits from long-term contracts that locked in low-cost renewable energy.

Basic tariffs will fall by a minimum of at least 1.25% from 1 July, the ACT’s independent competition and regulatory commission said on Monday. “This is equivalent to a real decrease of 4.93% after excluding inflation,” it said.

Exclusive: invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations such as robins and blackbirds, researchers warn

A brightly coloured subtropical songbird from Asia could colonise Britain’s gardens and change the dawn chorus for ever, a new paper warns.

The highly invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations, particularly competing with garden birds such as the robin and blackbird, researchers say. Early signs suggest this little bird – olive green with a bright red beak and yellow throat – may already be establishing itself in gardens and woodlands in southern parts of the country.

Environmentalists fear a toxic disaster is occurring on the seabed, and government denials seem less and less plausible

With every passing week, it looks more like a cover-up. The repeated mass strandings of crabs and lobsters on the coast of north-east England, and the ever less plausible explanations provided by the government, are the outward signs of an undersea disaster and a grim new politics.

Last October, beaches around the Tees estuary and along the coast of North Yorkshire were suddenly covered in dead and dying crabs and lobsters. The government launched what it called an “investigation”. In January, hundreds of dogs reportedly fell ill after being walked on the same beaches. In February, a government press release announced that the mass death of sea creatures was caused by an “algal bloom” – a rapid increase in the population of algae that can release toxins into the water and affect other wildlife.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

There is a long history of nuclear energy being used as a delaying tactic for acting on climate change in Australia

• Peter Dutton says he’s ‘not afraid’ of nuclear debate after advocate named shadow energy minister
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Last week, the Nationals’ new leader, David Littleproud, said it was time for Australia to have a “mature” conversation about nuclear energy while his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, called for a national moratorium to be lifted and argued nuclear power would be “really important” if the country was serious about reaching net zero emissions.

On Sunday, the nuclear power advocate Ted O’Brien was appointed as the Coalition’s climate change and energy spokesperson. In an interview with ABC Radio National, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he was “not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear” as the country should not be afraid to “talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices”.

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Extinction, a new book by Marc Schlossman, explores endangered and extinct species and the factors threatening them through a rare behind the scenes look at one of the most important sets of natural history collections in the world at the Field Museum in Chicago

Conservation status chart:

Vulnerable

Endangered

Critically endangered

Extinct

Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limited

The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.

Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.

But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.

Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.

Ideas shouldn’t be ruled out ‘simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them’, Liberal leader says

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Peter Dutton has confirmed that his frontbench pick for the opposition’s climate and energy portfolio signals he is up for a debate about nuclear power in Australia.

In Sunday’s reshuffle the Liberal MP and nuclear power advocate Ted O’Brien was appointed to the shadow cabinet in the crucial portfolio.

For years Australia was a roadblock to global climate action. It’s time we returned to the right side of history

The Australian election was, above all, a climate election. It has attracted a lot of international attention on that basis – and for very good reason. Now the government has changed, all eyes will be on the new prime minister, the energy and climate minister and our foreign minister.

The climate inaction of the Morrison government attracted high profile criticism from governments such Fiji, the United Kingdom, the United States, and indeed the UN secretary general – along with many international commentators and scientists.

Not long ago, the humpback was almost wiped out, now its numbers are booming in what conservationists say is a ‘wonderful success story’

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People across Australia’s east coast are catching an earlier than expected first glimpse of breaching humpback whales as they migrate north, and scientists say the reason why is a conservation success story.

Whale watchers were treated to a spectacular show in Sydney on Monday as two humpback whales surged from the water metres from their boat. Dr Wally Franklin, director of the Oceania Project, said sightings have also been reported off the coast of Merimbula, Byron Bay, Tweed Heads, the Gold Coast and Hervey Bay, as the whales journey north from the Antarctic to the Great Barrier Reef.

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