The Guardian

Unwanted lockdown goldfish pose a triple threat to native species in UK waterways, study reveals

If that lockdown goldfish is starting to lose its lustre, think twice before throwing it in the river or canal – the creatures may look innocent but their voracious appetite, tolerance for cold and have-a-go habits compared with native species can be catastrophic for local wildlife.

New research shows that goldfish consume much more than comparable fish in UK waters, eat more than other invasive fish and are also much more willing to aggressively take on other competing species.

Time is running out to save 58 resident species, Butterfly Conservation warns

Half of Britain’s butterfly species are now listed as threatened with extinction after five more joined the new “red list” of endangered butterflies.

The increase in the number of species listed as “vulnerable” from nine in 2011 to 16 today is a warning that time is running out to save the 58 resident species, according to Butterfly Conservation, which compiled the red list from scientific monitoring data according to the criteria set out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Climate change is likely to exacerbate the rapid spread of viruses and pathogens as humans encroach on the natural world

In the past three weeks there have been nearly 100 cases and 18 human deaths from a rare tick-borne disease in Iraq; a fourth case of the Ebola virus and more than 100 cases of bubonic plague have been found in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and just two years after Africa was declared free of wild polio, new cases have turned up in Malawi and Mozambique. A dangerous strain of typhus is circulating in Nepal, India and China. There are alarming outbreaks on several continents of mosquito diseases such as malaria, dengue and West Nile virus.

Set against this global context, the so-far very limited monkeypox outbreaks that have started to appear in the last month – including 71 cases detected in the UK – are only remarkable because they are being reported in rich countries.

The ruling, and another crucial court decision this week, will force the company to face charges it lied about global heating

The Massachusetts high court on Tuesday ruled that the US’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, must face a trial over accusations that it lied about the climate crisis and covered up the fossil fuel industry’s role in worsening environmental devastation.

Exxon claimed the case brought by the Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, was politically motived and amounted to an attempt to prevent the company from exercising its free speech rights. But the state’s supreme judicial court unanimously dismissed the claim in the latest blow to the oil industry’s attempts to head off a wave of lawsuits across the country over its part in causing global heating.

Experts say 35% rise in acreage covered by migratory insects my reflect adaptation to changing climate

Mexican experts have said that 35% more monarch
butterflies arrived this year to spend the winter in mountaintop forests, compared with the previous season.

Experts say the rise may reflect the butterflies’ ability to adapt to more extreme bouts of heat or drought by varying the date when they leave Mexico.

Scientists hope Albanese government addresses extinction crisis as new research shows 63 vertebrates face annihilation by 2041

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More than 40 Australian animals at the highest risk of extinction in the next two decades could be saved – and it would take only a small amount of extra conservation effort to achieve this, according to new research.

A team of Australian scientists has identified the 63 vertebrates they believe are most likely to go extinct by 2041, and found at least 47 can be brought back from the brink.

We can replace coal power with renewables and storage, electrify everything, create a renewable export industry and grow clean energy supply chains

“Together we can end the climate wars, we can be a renewable energy superpower,” said Australia’s 31st prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in his victory speech on election night. Words are powerful, and by uttering them, our nation’s new leader signalled a new way for our policy and politics aimed at uniting and strengthening our communities and economy.

But what sits behind the words of politicians is often more important, so let’s get into what it means for Australia to become a renewable superpower and how that will cast the climate wars into the history books where they belong.

Government limit on contracts for new renewable energy generation is ‘outdated thinking’, says Greenpeace UK

Consumers will face higher energy bills than necessary next winter because of a decision by the government to limit new renewable energy generation, described as a “missed opportunity” by the renewables industry, and “outdated thinking” by a green campaign group.

Ministers have decided to authorise contracts for about 12GW of new renewable energy generation, to start construction this year, with much of it likely to come on stream before next autumn. However, the renewable energy industry estimates that about 17.4GW of projects have cleared planning permission and are “shovel-ready”.

António Guterres says young people should tackle climate crisis by using talent to deliver a renewable future

The UN secretary general has told new university graduates not to take up careers with the “climate wreckers” – companies that drive the extraction of fossil fuels.

António Guterres addressed thousands of graduates at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, US, on Tuesday. “You must be the generation that succeeds in addressing the planetary emergency of climate change,” he said. “Despite mountains of evidence of looming climate catastrophe, we still see mountains of funding for coal and fossil fuels that are killing our planet.

Shell was forced to halt its AGM in London after it was disrupted by environment protesters chanting: 'We will stop you' and shouting: 'Shame on you' at executives.

Investors were due to vote on Shell’s climate proposals. The company has come under increased scrutiny after a senior safety consultant quit, citing Shell's 'disregard for climate change risks' and accusing the company of causing 'extreme harms' to the environment

• Shell pauses London AGM as protesters chant ‘We will stop you’
  

Analysis of nearly 100,000 samples found residues in a third of apples and half of blackberries

Contamination of fresh fruits by the most hazardous pesticides has dramatically increased in Europe over the past decade, according to a nine-year study of government data.

A third of apples and half of all blackberries surveyed had residues of the most toxic categories of pesticides, some of which have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and birth deformities.

Largest single release of the endangered animals seeks to grow population that had been completely wiped out from mainland Australia

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There are hopes 50 eastern quolls returned to the wilderness in NSW will spark a historic baby boom for the endangered creatures.

It’s the largest single release of the little predators on mainland by conservation organisation Aussie Ark.

Focussing on carbon dioxide alone will not keep world within 1.5C limit of global heating, warn scientists

Cutting methane sharply now is crucial, as focusing on carbon dioxide alone will not be enough to keep rising temperatures within livable limits, scientists have warned.

CO2 is the greenhouse gas most responsible for heating the planet, with most of it coming from the burning of fossil fuels. As a result, it has been the major focus of international efforts to prevent climate breakdown.

Soaring temperatures in subcontinent, which have caused widespread suffering, would be extraordinarily rare without global heating

The heatwave scorching India and Pakistan has been made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. Extreme temperatures and low rainfall since mid-March have caused widespread suffering, including deaths, crop losses, forest fires, and cuts to power and water supplies.

The study is the latest to show the already severe impacts of global heating on millions of people, even though the global average temperature has risen only 1.2C above pre-industrial levels to date. If it rises to 2C, heatwaves as intense as the current one would be expected as often as every five years in India and Pakistan, the scientists estimated.

Covid disruptions in China and rising costs are affecting supplies of solar panels and wind turbine parts, while domestic energy prices climb

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Supply chain delays from China and the soaring cost of steel and other materials are combining to slow the advance of renewable energy in Australia and elsewhere, a leading insurer and industry groups say.

The cost of steel for wind turbine blades had risen by 50% or more since the Covid pandemic’s start, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a scramble to accelerate the switch away from coal, oil and gas to clean energy alternatives, according to GCube, a global insurer of renewables that has recently opened its first Australian office in Sydney.

Annual survey is important for understanding health of the Atlantic puffin’s breeding colonies

• The annual Farne Islands puffin count returns – in pictures

It may well be one of the least hi-tech nature counts in the UK, and involves rangers sticking their arms blindly down a hole knowing there will be one of five outcomes: they will feel either a puffin egg, a puffling, excrement, nothing at all – or the annoyed reaction of a puffin as a giant hand suddenly enters its home.

“They will quite often give you a wee nip,” said Harriet Reid, an area ranger at the National Trust, smiling. “I can show you a couple of scars … it does hurt. But I’m used to it.”

Vulnerable island nation split over project to dredge millions of tonnes of sand to create land for resorts and industry at Addu Atoll, made a Unesco reserve for its seagrass and mangroves

A controversial project to reclaim land on an atoll threatened by rising sea levels has been announced in the Maldives, with hopes that it may boost tourism balanced against fears that it could “choke the ecosystem”.

The low-lying island nation, one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, has commissioned a major shore protection and land reclamation scheme using sand dredged from a lagoon, despite concerns about the impact on this Unesco biosphere reserve.

Global Warming Policy Foundation is lobby group not charity and brings no public good, say signatories

The Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate sceptic thinktank, has been reported to the Charity Commission by the Green MP Caroline Lucas and Extinction Rebellion.

The move comes after the Guardian revealed that the group received funding from fossil fuel interests.

It’s that time of year in Australia’s capital when a chill hangs in the air, wooly jumpers come out of the wardrobe and deciduous trees put on their annual colour show. Photographer Mike Bowers documents the change of season in Canberra

Driver’s details shared on social media after allegedly running over ducklings at roundabout as other drivers waited for them to cross

Police have urged the public against any vigilante actions after the registration of a driver who allegedly ran over a brood of ducklings was published online.

Staffordshire police confirmed it is investigating a Facebook post which claimed that at least three ducklings were killed on Friday at a roundabout in Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent. The post claimed they were killed by the driver of a white transit van who allegedly ignored other drivers who were waiting for the ducks to cross the road.