The Guardian

Addiction, anxiety and sex reversal have been reported in species by researchers as a range of substances contaminates ecosystems

From brown trout becoming “addicted” to methamphetamine to European perch losing their fear of predators due to depression medication, scientists warn that modern pharmaceutical and illegal drug pollution is becoming a growing threat to wildlife.

Drug exposure is causing significant, unexpected changes to some animals’ behaviour and anatomy. Female starlings dosed with antidepressants such as Prozac at concentrations found in sewage waterways become less attractive to potential mates, with male birds behaving more aggressively and singing less to entice them than undosed counterparts.

Equipment being trialled in Scotland extracts warmth from nearby water sources to provide homes with heating

Scientists in Edinburgh have developed a home heating system that draws its energy from the world’s most abundant resource: water.

The equipment can use sea water, rivers, ponds and even mine water to heat radiators and water for baths and showers, using the same technology as in air source heat pumps.

Fossil fuel firms are biggest beneficiaries of investor-state dispute settlement courts which have awarded $114bn of public money

More than $100bn of public money has been awarded to private investors in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) courts, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet.

The controversial arbitration system which allows corporations to sue governments for compensation over decisions they argue affect their profits is largely carried out behind closed doors, with some judgments kept secret. But, according to a global ISDS tracker which launches today, $114bn has so far been paid out of the public purse to investors – about as much as rich nations provided in climate aid in 2022.

A $15bn compensation suit by TC Energy against the US government for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline which would have carried 830,000 barrels of highly polluting tar sands oil to the US coast every day. The permit was withdrawn by Joe Biden on his first day in office after a long campaign by Indigenous Americans, farmers and climate activists. The pipeline had been championed by ex-president Donald Trump and became a touchstone culture war issue.

Ruby River Capital’s claim for “no less than $20bn” after the Quebec government cancelled a natural gas liquefaction plant on the St Lawrence River. An environmental impact assessment had found that the plant would increase greenhouse gas emissions, hurt Indigenous Canadian communities and destroy biodiversity. RRC’s claim was the largest ever under the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

The most lucrative ISDS claim currently being heard is Zeph Investment’s $200bn case against Australia over a huge planned mine in Western Australia which, Zeph Investment claims, the Australian government had “effectively destroyed”, in breach of the Asean free trade agreement.

Avima Iron Ore is seeking $27bn from the Republic of the Congo, after it revoked iron ore mining licenses for three Australian-owned firms, handing them instead to a small Chinese investment group. The sum is almost twice as much as the country’s GDP last year.

The secretary general of the UN said fossil fuel companies should be banned from advertising in every country, akin to the restrictions on big tobacco. António Guterres delivered fresh scientific warnings of global heating in a major speech in New York. He called on news and tech media to stop enabling 'planetary destruction' by taking fossil fuel firms' advertising money, while warning that the world faces 'climate crunch time' in its faltering attempts to stem the crisis

• ‘Godfathers of climate chaos’: UN chief urges global fossil-fuel advertising ban

Mammal was likely swimming between Queensland islands when it ‘just got unlucky and got snapped’ – spikes and all – in apparent world-first

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The last thing a group of scientists busy tagging marine animals along the coast of north Queensland expected to see was a shark regurgitate a fully intact echidna – but that is exactly what happened.

In what is believed to be a world-first, researchers from James Cook University, including former PhD student Dr Nicolas Lubitz, were tagging marine wildlife off the coast of Orpheus Island between Townsville and Lucinda in May 2022.

António Guterres warns of ‘climate crunch time’ and announces dire new scientific warnings of global heating

Fossil-fuel companies are the “godfathers of climate chaos” and should be banned in every country from advertising akin to restrictions on big tobacco, the secretary general of the United Nations has said while delivering dire new scientific warnings of global heating.

In a major speech in New York on Wednesday, António Guterres called on news and tech media to stop enabling “planetary destruction” by taking fossil-fuel advertising money while warning the world faces “climate crunch time” in its faltering attempts to stem the crisis.

The venomous spiders native to east Asia look frightening, but are reportedly shy creatures

The US north-east is bracing for yet another pest invasion – this time, giant venomous spiders – as scientists warn that the gag-inducing arachnids are set to advance this summer.

The joro spider, an invasive species from east Asia, will be making a larger appearance in New York, New Jersey and other eastern US states as the summer season heats up.

Groundbreaking new research also reports that 11% of surveyed have faced physical violence in their reporting

Almost four out of every 10 journalists covering the climate crisis and environment issues have been threatened as a result of their work, with 11% subjected to physical violence, according to groundbreaking new research.

A global survey of more than 740 reporters and editors from 102 countries found that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities such as logging and mining. Some 30%, meanwhile, were threatened with legal action – reflecting a growing trend towards corporations and governments deploying the judicial system to muzzle free speech.

This article was amended on 5 June 2024 to clarify that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities. A previous version incorrectly said 49%.

Named due to its resemblance to JRR Tolkien’s sentient tree-like Ents, the 32m tall rātā was the clear winner in the annual poll

A lone rātā that appears to be striding across the landscape has taken gold in New Zealand’s tree of the year competition.

The New Zealand Arboricultural Association – which runs the competition to celebrate New Zealand’s trees – said the “extraordinary” northern rātā had earned the name “The Walking Tree” because of its resemblance to one of JRR Tolkien’s sentient tree-like Ents.

Third of world’s ocean surface particularly vulnerable to threats driven by burning fossil fuel and deforestation, new research finds

The world’s oceans are facing a “triple threat” of extreme heating, a loss of oxygen and acidification, with extreme conditions becoming far more intense in recent decades and placing enormous stress upon the planet’s panoply of marine life, new research has found.

About a fifth of the world’s ocean surface is particularly vulnerable to the three threats hitting at once, spurred by human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, the study found. In the top 300 meters of affected ocean, these compound events now last three times longer and are six times more intense than they were in the early 1960s, the research states.

‘The webcams do not lie,’ says Annalisa Koeman, whose family has been operating a mountain lodge for decades

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Bookings have been slow ahead of the ski season at the mountain lodge in Thredbo that Annalisa Koeman’s parents built in the 1960s and have run ever since.

Last ski season started with some good snow falls “but it went downhill from there. It was a disastrous end. The ski lifts closed two weeks early,” says Koeman, managing supervisor at Kasees Apartments and Mountain Lodge.

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Area from south-east California to central Arizona see will extreme heat, with temperatures topping out at 113F in Phoenix

Parts of California, Nevada and Arizona are expected to bake this week as the first heatwave of the season arrives with triple-digit temperatures forecast for areas including Phoenix, which last summer saw a record 31 straight days of at least 110F (43.3C).

By Wednesday, most of an area stretching from south-east California to central Arizona will see “easily their hottest” weather since last September, and record daily highs could be seen from Las Vegas to Phoenix, the National Weather Service said late on Monday.

Exclusive: Defra issues new cull licences despite government adviser saying there is ‘no justification’

Badger cull licences have been issued by the government despite its own scientific adviser saying there is “no justification” for doing so.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this month issued 17 new licences to continue culling badgers, overruling Dr Peter Brotherton, the director of science at Natural England, the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England.

Analysis of policies of nearly 150 countries shows shortfall to hit target viewed as vital for transition from fossil fuels

The world is off track to meet the goal of tripling renewable electricity generation by 2030, a target viewed as vital to enable a swift global transition away from fossil fuels, but there are promising signs that the pace of progress may be picking up.

Countries agreed last December on a tripling of renewable power by the end of this decade. But few have yet taken concrete steps to meet this requirement and on current policies and trends global renewable generation capacity would only roughly double in developed countries, and slightly more than double globally by 2030, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency.

Figures show breaches have rarely led to prosecution by Drinking Water Inspectorate since 2021

The drinking water regulator for England and Wales has brought only three prosecutions against water companies for providing poor quality water since 2021, despite 362 instances in which water was flagged as being unfit for human consumption.

Periodically, members of the public or companies have informed the Drinking Water Inspectorate about water that has not been not safe for human consumption. In those instances, the DWI can issue legal instruments that require companies to put in place a package of measures.

Insistence on investment purity misses the point and will only lead to a decline in arts sponsorship

In a ranking of climate villains in the fund management industry, Baillie Gifford would surely come a long way down most people’s list. The Edinburgh-based firm preaches long-termism and its specialism is backing technology companies, especially those with kit to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy and transport. It was early into Tesla on the thesis that polluting internal combustion engines are on the way out and Elon Musk had a winning electric design. Another high-profile bet was Northvolt, the Swedish pacesetter in batteries that is now the net zero envy of the rest of Europe.

Few portfolios in the mainstream asset management world are entirely free of fossil fuel assets but Baillie Gifford’s are definitely at the less oily end. As the firm has pointed out repeatedly in recent weeks, only 1% of the £225bn of the assets it manages is invested directly in fossil fuel companies, and the figure is still only 2% if one includes stocks such as supermarkets that sell petrol. That’s versus an industry average of 11%.

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, has begun erupting in a remote area that last saw an eruption half-century ago, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. The eruption is about 1.6 km (1 mile) south of the Kilauea caldera, in an area within Hawaii Volcanoes national park that last erupted in December 1974. The area surrounding the caldera has been closed to the public since 2008 because of other hazards, including ground cracking, instability in the crater wall and rockfalls.

• Hawaii’s Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupts

Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta refused to attend court on charges of trespassing over an anti-forestry protest

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• • ‘I’m ready for everything and I don’t care’: the man refusing to turn up at an Australian ‘colonial’ court
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A Hobart magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for an Aboriginal activist who refused to attend court on charges stemming from a protest because he does not consider himself an Australian citizen.

Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta says he wants to highlight the destruction of forests and issues of Indigenous sovereignty.

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A bad forecast for the fruit harvest in Brazil could have knock-on effects on the price of Aussie breakfast beverages and beyond

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Oranges – and all the things we can make from them – are big business. But the industry is facing a severe crisis.

About 50m tonnes of oranges are grown each year, 34% of them in Brazil. Brazil is also the world’s biggest exporter of orange juice by far, producing about 70% of global supply.

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The Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), the proud custodian of more than 3,860 photographs, is holding a fundraising auction in Melbourne, with the proceeds of the sales shared equally with the contributing artists