The Guardian

Just Stop Oil campaign to target petrol stations, fuel depots and refineries to demand end to fossil fuel investment

Activists fronting a new campaign masterminded by Roger Hallam, the strategist behind Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, have said they are now preparing to move beyond protest and “into civil resistance”.

Two young supporters of Just Stop Oil went to Downing Street on Monday morning, where they delivered an ultimatum to ministers calling for an immediate end to new fossil fuel investments.

Hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds have been filmed falling out of the sky and dying under strange circumstances in the northern Mexican city of Cuauhtémoc. The cause of their sudden descent remains unclear but experts said it was most likely the flock was 'flushed' from above by a predatory bird swooping down to make a catch

Instead of pollution or 5G, it was most likely another bird that caused deaths caught on camera in Cuauhtémoc

Hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds have been filmed appearing to fall from the sky, some of them dying, in mysterious circumstances in the northern Mexican city of Cuauhtémoc.

The cause of death remains unclear but experts said it was most likely the flock was “flushed” from above by a predatory bird swooping down to make a catch.

Climate experts fear attacks falsely linking net zero to energy price rises are undermining UK emissions targets

Senior figures in climate diplomacy, including the key architect of the Paris climate agreement, have urged the UK government to maintain its commitments to climate action, amid escalating attacks intended to generate a “culture war” on the net zero target.

Laurence Tubiana, the French diplomat who crafted the 2015 Paris agreement, now chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, said: “We are not happy, and we are crossing our fingers [that the UK will reaffirm its net zero commitment]. It’s very important that the UK keeps this direction of travel.”

The German designer, now 83, became known for his satirical advertisement spoofs, especially for those lambasting fast cars and their owners

Klaus Staeck, the artist who challenged postwar Germany’s love of the car

Whitehaven Coal’s underground expansion has been backed by New South Wales government

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A $400m mine expansion earmarked for approval by the New South Wales government would become the dirtiest thermal coal project in Australia, a public hearing has heard.

Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri underground expansion was incompatible with the state government’s 2030 climate targets and should be rejected, environment group Lock the Gate told the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) on Monday.

Female was receiving intensive care for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning, and a male beluga died in August

The second of five whales brought from Canada to Connecticut’s Mystic aquarium last year for research purposes has died.

The aquarium announced on its website that the female had been receiving intensive care for the past several months for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning. A necropsy was to be performed to determine the cause of death.

The fusion energy industry could produce a breakthrough in human history akin to the adoption of electricity

If you want proof that the process known as nuclear fusion can produce energy at scale somewhere in the universe, you need only look at the night sky: each pinprick of light is a natural nuclear fusion-powered reactor. For decades, scientists have sought to bring the power source of stars down to Earth and, in a stunning result recently announced, the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire has reached a new landmark in sparking and sustaining a mini star.

Scientists working on a doughnut-shaped machine called Jet, or the Joint European Torus, were able to double the previous world record (set in 1997) for energy released by fusion reactions. While the experiment ran, the output of fusion power was equivalent to four onshore wind turbines – a step towards power production at an industrial scale.

Letter in favour of shale gas extraction is another indication of party battle over environmental issues

The former Brexit minister David Frost has joined Conservative MPs in writing an open letter to Boris Johnson calling for a resumption of fracking in the UK, in another indication of the ongoing battle within the party over environmental issues.

Lord Frost argued that extracting domestic shale gas would give the UK a “competitive and reliable source of energy”. But Zac Goldsmith, a key green voice in the government, said it would not reduce energy prices and would put ministers at “war with furious communities”.

Satnav keeps cows safe without the need for fences and lets woodland thrive

Epping Forest has swaths of designated land that is home to adders, grass snakes and common lizards, as well as white admiral and purple hairstreak butterflies, and mammals such as shrews and voles that, in turn, provide food for birds of prey and owls.

However, life for the forest’s bovine residents has not been so easy. Forest staff have long battled to prevent the cattle from roaming across nearby roads and dual carriageways.

Anomalies are a sign that global heating is changing behaviour of flora and fauna

A blackbird feeding a fledged youngster in early January. Red campions flowering four months early. And the earliest recorded sighting of a rare beetle.

Wildlife experts and gardeners are reporting a series of highly unusual early sightings of flora, fauna, insects and birds across Britain, some of them weeks before when they would normally appear, in a further sign that rising global temperatures are having a significant impact on British wildlife.

Tennis Australia axed Santos from the 2021 Australian Open sponsors list – who will follow their lead?

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Like almost every other institution in this country, Australian sport has been captured by carbon; succumbing to the interests of multinational corporations at the centre of the climate crises.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting completed the coup by announcing a multi-year sponsorship deal with the Australian Olympic Committee.

Every one of us now has a duty to do something, if not for ourselves then for the survival of future generations

Climate change is terrifying, so why don’t we do more to stop it? Read any headline on the climate crisis, and it seems unbelievable that we’re not all chaining ourselves to the headquarters of oil and gas companies, or at least hammering on MPs’ office doors. But we’re not. “Of course, I care about climate change,” we say. “But … ”

Then they come out, the reasons for apathy. We’ve all heard them. We’ve probably all said some of them. But do they really excuse us?

Elizabeth Cripps is a writer and moral philosopher at the University of Edinburgh, and author of What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care

There’s a growing trend of climate litigation around the world. Here’s a look at the Australian cases likely to make headlines this year

In March 2021, a 16-year-old student and an octogenarian nun walked into the federal court in Melbourne for the hearing of a defining case in Australian climate litigation.

The lawsuit brought by Anj Sharma, along with seven other teenagers, and Sister Brigid Arthur, is part of a growing trend among climate activists and environment organisations raising climate issues in the courtroom, amid a lack of action by the federal government.

Envoys at Brest summit sign up to measures to tackle fight against illegal fishing and cut pollution

Representatives from more than 100 countries have committed to measures aimed at preserving the ocean from human harm, including stepping up the fight against illegal fishing, cutting plastic pollution and better protecting international waters.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosting the high-level session of the One Ocean summit on Friday, said 2022 was “a decisive year, and we should take here, in Brest, clear and firm commitments.”

Kwasi Kwarteng re-approves projects stalled by high court, producing enough energy for 4m homes

A vast windfarm off the Norfolk coast has been approved by ministers for a second time after a local man convinced a high court judge to overturn the decision a year ago.

The high court verdict last February forced the government to reconsider the plans by Swedish renewables giant Vattenfall to build two offshore wind farms capable of generating enough green electricity to power the equivalent of 4 million UK homes.

White Turf race in St Moritz at risk because water in frozen lake is melting

Each February the rich and famous descend upon St Moritz, not just for the slopes and après-ski but for one of the world’s most exclusive horse races, held on ice.

Though the luxury resort has a nearby airport mainly catering to private jets, and visitors can be seen being ferried around in helicopters and Ferraris, moneyed guests are beginning to think about the climate emergency.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including dancing Siberian cranes, a snowy cat and a lonely black-footed ferret

Contamination at a small farm discovered after sewage sludge was tested for PFAS, but officials downplayed incident as ‘isolated’

Cattle from a small south-east Michigan farm that sold beef to schools and at farmers’ markets in the state have been found to contain dangerous levels of PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that can pose a serious risk to human health.

The news comes after consumer groups in 2019 warned that using PFAS-laden sewage sludge as fertilizer would contaminate dairy, beef, crops and other food products. However, at the time a Michigan agricultural regulator publicly assured the state’s dairy farmers her agency wouldn’t test milk for the toxic chemicals as they didn’t want to inflict economic pain on the $15bn industry, she said.

Beowulf Mining ‘hopeful’ for decision on mine in Sápmi despite opposition from activist, UN and Swedish church

A British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands.

The clamour of opposition was voiced as Beowulf Mining, headquartered in the City of London, suggested it was “hopeful” of a decision within weeks of a 5 sq mile iron-ore mine in an area where Sami communities have lived for thousands of years.