The Guardian

Exclusive: Researchers find 61% of fresh waters in the UK contain high levels of phosphate and nitrate

The UK’s rivers contain a cocktail of chemicals and stimulants including caffeine, antidepressants and painkillers from water company sewage releases, polluting freshwaters at levels which can pose a risk to aquatic life, testing has found.

Results from three days of testing in rivers by 4,531 volunteers for the environmental research group Earthwatch showed that, in addition to the chemical mix in rivers, 61% of fresh waters in the UK were in a poor state because of high levels of the nutrients phosphate and nitrate, the source of which is sewage effluent and agricultural runoff. England had the worst level of poor water quality in rivers, with 67% of freshwater samples showing high levels of nitrate and phosphate.

Of the 91 samples already analysed, 100% contained caffeine, with levels in 80% of these samples presenting some risk to aquatic life, said Woods.

Nicotine was found in 25% of samples, with concentrations that present some risk to aquatic life found in 7% of samples. The antidepressant venlafaxine was found in 30% of samples analysed, with 13% of samples containing levels that posed a risk to aquatic life.

The antibiotic trimethoprim was found in 10% of samples, all at concentrations that posed some level of risk to aquatic life.

Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was in 11 % of samples, all of which showed some level of risk.

In 5% of samples, the fungicide tebuconazole was present as a result of agricultural runoff.

The neonicotinoid acetamiprid, used for pet flea treatment, was present in 19% of samples, all showing some level of risk to aquatic life.

Earthwatch said the results showed the strong contribution that citizen science played in presenting a clearer picture of the health of rivers.

Ruth Davis named special representative for nature ‘to put climate and nature at the heart of our foreign policy’

The government has appointed the UK’s first envoy for nature, a role that a former campaigner called “the environmentalist’s environmentalist”, who will be charged with forging global agreement on halting the precipitous decline of species.

Ruth Davis, the new special representative for nature, is in Colombia for the start of two weeks of vital talks that will decide the global response to the biodiversity crisis. The UK has played a leading role in such efforts in the past and Davis helped draw up a global pledge on deforestation that was one of the main outcomes of the UN Cop26 climate summit hosted in Glasgow in 2021.

It has been a nightmare season for farmers, with England said to have had its second-worst harvest on record

Giant orange pumpkins with ghoulish grins have become a Halloween doorstep tradition but this year trick-or-treaters may be greeted with even spookier green-tinged jack-o-lanterns after a nightmare season for growers.

In Asda, pumpkin displays have signs telling shoppers “don’t worry if I’m slightly green, I will ripen at home and turn orange”.

We need to deal with the climate effects of global capitalism the way we deal with inflation – by applying the brakes

The impact of the climate crisis is evident everywhere. Finance ministers meet in Washington DC this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of two devastating hurricanes in the US within a month. Parts of the Sahara have been flooded for the first time in half a century.

Scientists attribute the growing number of extreme weather events to a planet that continues to get hotter as the result of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to human activity. Global temperature records are being broken with every year that passes and the idea that this can continue indefinitely is a fantasy.

Experts say UN event will be critical for world’s declining wildlife population as host nation pushes for inclusivity

World leaders, environmental activists and prominent researchers have begun to arrive in Cali, Colombia, for a biodiversity summit that experts say will be decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations.

The host nation is also hoping that the summit, which formally opens on Sunday evening, will be the most inclusive in history.

Toxic emissions, health risks and leaching pollution – better management of landfill sites is a matter of urgency

Last summer, people living around the perimeter of Pilsworth South landfill in Bury, Greater Manchester, couldn’t open their windows because of the elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide in the air. Referred to as “sewer gas”, its rotten-egg stench can be particularly unbearable at night. Even driving past with the windows closed on the M66, as I do regularly to drop my child at a local play centre, I have gagged at the overpowering smell.

Including Pilsworth, there are 15 odorous landfills across the UK. Hafod landfill in Wrexham is the latest to hit the headlines. Another in Northern Ireland was so noxious before its decommissioning that it was subject to a supreme court ruling and now an appeal. Meanwhile, several others have breached their licences through overtipping, odour issues or poor management, forcing them to undertake engineering solutions to rectify the problems. These remedial works can make things worse in the short term, with smells created when rubbish is disturbed.

World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power

In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.

Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.

Government accused of ‘shocking’ choice to dilute protection standards in first animal welfare policy

Labour is using its first animal welfare policy since entering government to dilute standards by legalising the harmful practice of carrying chickens by their legs, charities have said.

European transport regulation 1/2005, which still applies in the UK, prohibits lifting chickens by their legs on farms and during loading and unloading, but the government is going to change the law to permit the widespread but illegal method, according to the Animal Law Foundation.

Ed Miliband seems happy to see the landscape blighted. We value townscape – everywhere else has to fend for itself

Does Labour believe in beauty? The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, celebrated his arrival in office this summer by permitting three of the largest solar panel arrays in Britain. One, a Suffolk array covering nearly 2,800 acres, was described by a county councillor as “the poorest infrastructure application that I have ever dealt with”.

Now Miliband is demanding a procession of pylons filling the glorious Amber Valley in the Derbyshire uplands. Another parade of 420 pylons, each nearly as tall as Nelson’s column, will run down the east of England from Grimsby to Walpole, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk. The government also wants to allow the return of onshore wind turbines, overriding local objections.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

High blood concentrations of ‘forever chemical’ compound PFOS linked to problems falling asleep and waking up

Some of the most common types of PFAS may cause sleep disorders in young adults, new research finds, and the study’s authors for the first time identified how the chemicals probably impact the brain to cause disruptions.

The peer-reviewed University of Southern California (USC) study looked at PFAS levels in the blood of adults between 19 and 24 years old, and found those in the highest one-third slept an average of about 80 fewer minutes nightly than those in the lowest third.

Exclusive: Data on number and nature of wildfires at odds with claims of landowner seeking to ban wild camping

Wild camping is not a significant fire risk on Dartmoor, data shows, despite claims by a wealthy landowner who has been trying to ban the practice.

The supreme court is deciding on a case brought by the hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall, who is seeking to remove the right to camp on Dartmoor without landowner permission.

Hail swath estimated at 120 miles damages crops in western Victoria as winds break windows and rip tiles from roofs

On Wednesday, the Australian state of Victoria was hit by thunderstorms. The town of Casterton was particularly badly affected, receiving 21mm of rain in just 30 minutes, followed by large hailstones.

Vehicles and properties were severely damaged, with reports of broken windows and tiles blown off roofs due to strong winds.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Thinktank says government should set up arm’s-length company to buy Harland & Wolff site, which is in administration

The UK government should set up an arm’s-length company to buy the Harland & Wolff naval shipyard in Belfast as part of a drive to repurpose arms manufacturing towards producing green infrastructure, according to a report.

The study from the thinktank Common Wealth is launching what it describes as a “Lucas Plan for the 21st century” setting out how the UK’s military industrial capacity can be transformed into a supply pipeline for green energy, benefiting workers, communities and the environment.

Survey of young people aged 16-25 from all US states shows concerns across political spectrum

The overwhelming majority of young Americans worry about the climate crisis, and more than half say their concerns about the environment will affect where they decide to live and whether to have children, new research finds.

The study comes just weeks after back-to-back hurricanes, Helene and Milton, pummeled the south-eastern US. Flooding from Helene caused more than 600 miles of destruction, from Florida’s west coast to the mountains of North Carolina, while Milton raked across the Florida peninsula less than two weeks later.

Spider eyes, butterfly wing scales, truffle spores and slime mould come under the spotlight in the 50th anniversary of the Nikon Small World photomicrography competition. The award celebrates photography through the light microscope, capturing the breathtaking beauty of a world hidden from the naked eye

• A year in focus: Walkley award photographic finalists 2024 – in pictures

Some of Sydney's most popular swimming spots including Coogee and Gordons Bay beaches will remain closed after thousands of mysterious balls washed ashore. Preliminary test results identified the dark spheres as 'tar balls' – which are formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water, usually as a result of oil spills or seepage. Addressing reporters on Thursday, Randwick council mayor Dylan Parker said the beaches will stay closed while further investigations are carried out by government agencies. Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches had also closed 'out of precaution', Waverley council said in a statement on Thursday

• Mysterious tar balls washing ashore force closure of seven beaches in Sydney including Bondi

Supermarket will buy almost two-thirds of the energy generated by the new £450m Cleve Hill solar park in Kent

Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent.

The £450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia.

Forest Alliance of NSW report says current regulations are a ‘licence to kill’ endangered species in four state forests where logging is scheduled

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Forest campaigners are demanding an immediate moratorium on logging in endangered greater glider habitat in New South Wales after their surveys detected more than triple the number of gliders than what was recorded by the state-owned forestry agency.

The Forest Alliance of NSW said current regulations are a “licence to kill” the species, whose populations have already plummeted in the aftermath of the black summer bushfires.

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Landmark review says urgent action needed to conserve resources and save ecosystems that supply fresh water

More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is taken to conserve water resources and end the destruction of the ecosystems on which our fresh water depends, experts have warned in a landmark review.

Half the world’s population already faces water scarcity, and that number is set to rise as the climate crisis worsens, according to a report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water published on Thursday.