The Guardian

Australia’s new minister faces difficult challenges fixing laws, creating an EPA and curbing an extinction crisis

There was surprise last week when Tanya Plibersek was announced as Australia’s new environment and water minister. The portfolio, which had been held by Terri Butler in opposition before she lost her seat, comes with a long list of unaddressed challenges.

Here are five that Plibersek will face as she gets up to speed in her new role.

Our values of decency and tolerance, and confidence in a secure green future, make Labour the party of patriotism now

As we come together as a nation to celebrate the Queen’s remarkable platinum jubilee, we also unite around our bunting and flags in a moment of pure British patriotism. Being patriotic isn’t something that Labour has always looked comfortable with, but progressive politics has been at its most successful and transformational when it captures the best of British values, nurtures our world-famous institutions and instils a belief that our best days lie ahead of us, not just in the past.

A quick survey across British politics today tells us that it’s not the Conservatives that enshrine these patriotic principles but Labour.

US farmers’ struggles for the right to fix their own, now highly computer-controlled equipment, have implications for us all

It was one of the few pieces of cheery news to emerge from the war in Ukraine. Russian looters, no doubt with the assistance of Russian troops, stole 27 pieces of John Deere farm equipment, worth about $5m, from a dealership in Melitopol. The kit was shipped to Chechnya, where a nasty surprise awaited the crooks. Their shiny new vehicles had, overnight, become the world’s heaviest paperweights: the dealership from which they had been stolen had “bricked” them remotely, using an inbuilt “kill-switch”.

This news item no doubt warmed the cockles of many a western heart. But it would have raised only hollow laughs from farmers in US states who are customers of John Deere and are mightily pissed off, because although they have paid small fortunes (up to $800,000 apparently) for the firm’s machinery, they are unable to service or repair them when they go wrong. These gigantic vehicles are no longer purely mechanical devices, but depend on lots of electronic control units (ECUs) to operate everything from the air conditioning to the driver’s seat to the engine. The ICUs run software that is essential to the operation, maintenance and repair of the machine. But only John Deere has access to that computer code and without employing a company technician the tractor’s software won’t even recognise (let alone allow) replacement parts from another manufacturer.

Wasps are ecologically and economically important – and they don’t want to sting you, they just want your sugar and sausages

Every summer, with the predictability of hay fever and impromptu barbecues, I am asked by friends, family, strangers and the media: “What’s the point of wasps?”

Although some people will be starting to worry about wasps as they set out their jubilee picnics this bank holiday weekend, wasp complaint season usually kicks off in mid-August in the UK. It’s my summer holiday calibrator, and generally peaks just about the time when I’ve started to unwind from the busy chaos of my life as an academic. I’m not grumbling (my family does that for me); I never turn down the chance to evangelise about wasps. But I am beginning to sound like a stuck record.

Last year the government asked for ‘big ideas’ on access to green space. Now it is refusing to publish the responses

When countryside campaigners were invited to meet government ministers and share “big, creative ideas” for “structural and systemic changes” around access to green spaces, they thought it could be too good to be true. Was the government listening, and were England’s archaic laws on countryside access about to change?

Last summer, groups representing more than 20 million people who are active outdoors, including ramblers, canoeists and mountaineers, were asked to speak to officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Treasury to explain how people are shut off from accessing green space because of trespass laws and other barriers.

Toxic particles from tyre wear almost 2,000 times worse than from exhausts as weight of cars increases

Almost 2,000 times more particle pollution is produced by tyre wear than is pumped out of the exhausts of modern cars, tests have shown.

The tyre particles pollute air, water and soil and contain a wide range of toxic organic compounds, including known carcinogens, the analysts say, suggesting tyre pollution could rapidly become a major issue for regulators.

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

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

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.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

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

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

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

• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

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.