The Guardian

Discovery of pollution in snowfall from the Arctic to the Alps leads to call for urgent research on potential human health impacts

Abundant levels of microplastic pollution have been found in snow from the Arctic to the Alps, according to a study that has prompted scientists to warn of significant contamination of the atmosphere and demand urgent research into the potential health impacts on people.

Snow captures particles from the air as it falls and samples from ice floes on the ocean between Greenland and Svalbard contained an average of 1,760 microplastic particles per litre, the research found. Even more – 24,600 per litre on average – were found at European locations. The work shows transport by winds is a key factor in microplastics contamination across the globe.

Climate activist begins voyage from Plymouth to Trump’s US with father and two-man crew

On white-crested swells under leaden skies, the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has set sail from Plymouth on arguably her most daunting challenge yet.

A two-week crossing of the Atlantic during hurricane season in a solar-powered yacht is the first obstacle, but it is unlikely to be the toughest in an odyssey through the Americas over many months.

Bristol Museum to highlight biodiversity crisis after children demand true stories of exhibits

One of Britain’s largest natural history collections is to shroud its exhibits of extinct and endangered species in black mourning veils to highlight the global biodiversity crisis.

Related: Trump officials weaken protections for animals near extinction

Researchers say boom in shale oil and gas major contributor to climate emergency

The boom in the US shale gas and oil may have ignited a significant global spike in methane emissions blamed for accelerating the pace of the climate crisis, according to research.

Scientists at Cornell University have found the “chemical fingerprints” of the rising global methane levels point to shale oil and shale gas as the probable source.

As England’s pheasant egg imports double in three years, campaigners condemn lack of laws regulating rearing and breeding for shooting industry

Pheasants whose chicks are destined to be shot in the UK are having their septums pierced in order to attach plastic masks to their beaks, according to an undercover film released by activists this week. The method of restraint is illegal in the UK.

The video, shot on a farm in Poland, also appears to show the birds being fitted with “breeding aids” and confined in small boxes to repetitively mate. The farm exports ready-to-hatch eggs to the UK for eventual shooting. Animal rights campaigners renewed calls for an end to the “factory farming” of game birds.

Fish stocks are stable and reef health improving, in part thanks to Belize’s substantial ‘no-take’ zones. Now greater legislation is needed to secure progress

Across the turquoise water by the mangrove, forest ranger Allan Halliday spots a fishing skiff. “We’re going over to say hello,” he says, before abruptly changing the boat’s direction. But his real task is to check the couple on board have the licence to fish in this part of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, one of nine designated zones in Belize.

“We aren’t complaining but others do,” says Alonzo Reymundo, of the rules that now restrict Belize’s 3,000 commercial fishers to two geographic areas each. He and his wife Anselma have been fishing off southern Toledo for 30 years and their boat is laden with 50 or so pounds of shrimp – more than enough, he says, flashing his licence. Today’s catch will be sold as bait and fetch around 330BZ$ (£135), he says.

New government analysis on electric vehicles suggests Labor’s election policy was not out of step with path country is already on

Half the new cars sold in Australia in 2035 will be electric vehicles even if there is no policy support to drive change, a new government analysis forecasts.

It will reinforce the expert view that Labor’s election pledge to set a target of 50% new car sales being electric by 2030 would not have been that significant a shift from a path the country is already on.

Despite the prime minister’s pledge, there are plenty of challenges facing the country’s waste recovery efforts

Scott Morrison has vowed to take action on Australia’s recycling crisis, flagging creating a domestic industry and an end to exporting waste.

The prime minister is concerned that only 12% of the plastic that Australians put into their kerbside bins is being recycled, and is “angry” the public is being let down.

George Monbiot is grossly unfair to describe as “pathetic” the new IPCC special report on climate change and land (Here’s the true cost of eating meat. It’s worse than you think, 9 August). There was no fear of the farming industry, nor any other pressure to suppress the science. Furthermore, the “not mentioned” Nature paper on carbon opportunity costs is cited twice in chapter 5 of the report, and the considerable climatic advantages of reducing meat and dairy are explicitly assessed. Nevertheless, the priority must be to halt emissions from fossil fuels and deforestation, to avoid immediate carbon release. The recovery of carbon stocks through environmental restoration and dietary change are also highly desirable, yet are slower processes, with the former jeopardised by continued temperature increase.
Dr Phillip Williamson
University of East Anglia

• I’m fed up with George Monbiot and many others continually spouting about the evils of meat and dairy and the virtues of a plant-based diet. We can’t all do it, George!

Black squirrel result of interbreeding between grey and fox squirrels – and they both carry virus

In popular myth they are an aggressive new “super” species pushing out the grey squirrel just as it has displaced the red squirrel.

But the black squirrels seen scampering through southern England are a form of grey squirrel created by wild interbreeding between greys and fox squirrels in North America, according to research.

Report finds 2018 was the fourth-warmest on record since the mid-to-late- 1800s and sea levels were the highest on record

The gases heating the planet in 2018 were higher than humans have ever recorded, according to an authoritative new report from the American Meteorological Society and the US government.

Greenhouse gas levels topped 60 years of modern measurements and 800,000 years of ice core data, the study found. The data used in the 325-page report is collected from more than 470 scientists in 60 countries.

About 450 overseas pests have been introduced to US forests, a climate crisis resource, due to international trade and travel

About 40% of all forests across the US are at risk of being ravaged by an army of harmful pests, undermining a crucial resource in addressing the climate crisis, new research has found.

Tree-damaging pests have already destroyed swathes of US woodland, with the American chestnut virtually wiped out by a fungal disease and elms blighted by Dutch elm disease. About 450 overseas pests that damage or feed on trees have been introduced to US forests due to the growth in international trade and travel.

Australian Council of Recycling warns 4.5m tonnes of waste could end up in domestic landfill without investment

Australia’s recycling industry has said the “nice words” of a government agreement on recycling must be backed up with funding and action to be “transformative” to the sector.

The Australian Council of Recycling welcomed a Council of Australian Governments deal to end recycling exports, but warned the 4.5m tonnes of waste could instead end up in domestic landfill without major public investment in the recyclables industry.

Under a policy that promised to put a limit on industrial pollution, Anglo American was given the green light to increase annual emissions

An Australian coal mine has nearly doubled its greenhouse gas emissions in two years without penalty under a Coalition climate policy that promised to put a limit on industrial pollution.

Mining company Anglo American was given the green light to increase emissions at its Moranbah North mine, in central Queensland, twice since 2016, according to documents released under freedom of information laws.

Changes to how Endangered Species Act is implemented come as world scientists warn biodiversity crisis will put humanity at risk

The Trump administration is scaling back the US government’s latitude to protect species nearing extinction, as world scientists warn that a biodiversity crisis will soon put humanity at risk.

The changes to how the government implements the Endangered Species Act, lauded by industry, will make it harder to protect the most vulnerable creatures.

University of London college will also seek to limit single-use plastics

A university has banned the sale of beef in campus food outlets in order to help tackle the climate emergency.

Goldsmiths, University of London, is also attempting to phase out single-use plastics and installing more panels to power its buildings in New Cross, as part of a move to become carbon neutral by 2025.

Bright Blue calls for zero VAT on electric cars and rewards for reporting idling vehicles

Vehicle fuel taxes should rise to combat the air pollution crisis in the UK, with an extra charge on diesel, according to the conservative thinktank Bright Blue.

A report calls for VAT to be abolished on electric cars and for citizens to be able to report idling vehicles and receive a share of fines levied. It also proposes that the speed limit in all urban areas is cut from 30mph to 20mph and that local authorities should be able to profit from pollution charging schemes to fund clean-air projects.

Appalachia’s main industry is dying and some workers are looking to a new economic promise after Trump’s proves empty

Set in a wooded valley between the Tug Fork river and the Mate creek, Matewan, West Virginia was the site of the 1920 Matewan Massacre, a shoot-out between pro-union coal miners and coal company agents that left 10 people dead and triggered one of the most brutal fights over the future of the coal industry in US history.

The coal industry in Appalachia is dying – something that people there know better than anyone. Some in this region are pinning their hopes on alternative solutions, including rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

For the threatened and endangered native animals in breeding programs at the Aussie Ark wildlife sanctuary at Barrington Tops, New South Wales, the weekend’s unusually cold snap proved quite a curiosity. The sanctuary is home to Tasmanian devils, eastern quolls, parma wallabies, brush-tailed rock wallabies, long-nosed potoroos, rufous bettongs, southern brown bandicoots and Manning river turtles

Party points to environmental impact of driven shooting as well as £3m a year subsidy to largest moors

Labour has called for a formal review into driven grouse shooting to examine its environmental and economic impacts, as well as possible alternatives such as simulated shoots and wildlife tourism.

Under such shoots, beaters drive the birds towards the shooters in an organised way. With a four-month season starting from the “glorious 12th” of August, it is a highly managed commercial process.