The Guardian

A buzzard, elephants and yellowbanded sweetlips

Greta Thunberg says Dublin decision to follow British MPs’ lead is ‘great news’

Ireland’s parliament has become the second after Britain’s to declare a climate emergency, a decision hailed by the Swedish teenage environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg as “great news”.

An amendment to a parliamentary report declaring a climate emergency and calling on the parliament “to examine how [the Irish government] can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss” was accepted without a vote late on Thursday.

Exclusive: industry tried to thwart policy that would increase use of recycled plastic

The trade body for the plastics industry has held last-minute meetings with government officials as part of a lobbying effort to water down a tax on single-use plastics, internal documents have revealed.

Members of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) met Treasury staff this week, the documents state, in their fight to persuade the government to row back on a key aspect of the policy to tackle plastic pollution.

Knowing that air pollution is affecting livestock may prompt farmers to help clean our air

Thousands of scientific papers tell us that air pollution harms our health and shortens our lives, but what about effects on other animals? Thirteen prize cattle at the Smithfield agricultural show were among the first victims of London’s coal-induced smog in 1952, and when industrial smog engulfed Belgium’s Meuse Valley in 1911 and again in 1930, farmers tried vainly to save their herds by driving them up hillsides above the pollution.

In the Netherlands, scientists have found possible links between modern air pollution and deaths of young cattle, mainly in summer when the animals graze outside. In Belgium, researchers examined the (non-slaughterhouse) deaths of 87,108 adult dairy cows. They compared air pollution when each one died with times when the cow was well. Their results also point to cattle being vulnerable to air pollution.

Social services statement backs Labor’s emissions reduction target as a minimum

Action on climate change should make polluters pay and include compensation for people on low incomes, according to the social services sector.

The Australian Council of Social Services and others have called for “at least” a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 coupled with regular indexation of the energy supplement to compensate welfare recipients.

Jury finds Roger Hallam not guilty of causing damage after spray painting building’s wall

The founder of Extinction Rebellion has been cleared by a jury of all charges relating to a protest against fossil fuels in what campaigners say is a historic moment for the climate justice movement.

Roger Hallam, 52, did not deny criminal damage worth £7,000 in an action to urge Kings College, London to divest from fossil fuels.

About 2.8 planets would be needed if rest of world followed suit, biocapacity data shows

Europe is using up natural resources so quickly that the planet’s ability to replenish itself over the year would be exhausted by this Friday if everyone consumed as much, a new analysis has found.

It would take 2.8 planets to extend the EU’s rate of consumption of fuels, food, fibres, land and timber to all the world’s people, according to data collected by WWF and the Global Footprint Network.

Ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Ghent to pipe greenhouse gas into vast under-sea cavities

Three of the largest ports in Europe – Rotterdam, Antwerp and Ghent – are to be used to capture and bury 10m tonnes of CO2 emissions under the North Sea in what will be the biggest project of its kind in the world.

The ports, which account for one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg region, would be used to pipe the gas into vast cavities about two miles (3km) below the seabed.

Our public space is increasingly out of reach for all but the fit, the brave, and those in motor vehicles

Almost 90% of cyclists experience a “close pass” – an overtake within 1.5m – at least weekly, and 70% say conditions on Britain’s roads haven’t improved in the last five years, according to a new damning survey from British Cycling.

Of 15,000 respondents, 66% said they were concerned about their safety while cycling on Britain’s roads, and almost 40% said they experienced a close pass daily.

Health food chain to replace all branded and own-label wipes with eco-friendly alternatives

Holland & Barrett is to become the first UK high street retailer to stop selling wet wipes, in a drive to reduce the environmental damage wreaked as a result of them blocking sewers and waterways.

The health food chain is removing all 34 branded and own-label products in its wet wipe range from its 800 UK and Ireland stores and – from July – replacing them with eco-friendly alternatives such as double-sided cotton cloths, unbleached cotton muslin cloths, cotton pads and exfoliating gloves. Its shops in other countries will follow suit by the end of September.

Gary Lineker and Paloma Faith among public figures ‘terrified at what climate crisis means’ for future

Parents including Gary Lineker, Paloma Faith and Juliet Stevenson have joined children in demanding governments declare a climate emergency and dramatically speed up cuts in carbon emissions.

“We are inspired by the young people who are striking for climate action, but we can’t leave it to our children to fix the mess that past generations have created,” said the 124 public figures who signed an open letter.

Exclusive: Former environment minister calls for creation of ‘war’ cabinet committee to plot transition to zero carbon

The former environment minister Peter Garrett has urged an incoming Labor government to convene a climate emergency summit to plot a transition to zero carbon, and create a super department aligned to Treasury, like the Department of Post War Reconstruction after the second world war, to implement the transition.

In a speech overnight in New Zealand, Garrett – a former environment minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments – said Bill Shorten should create a standalone “war” cabinet committee, charged with the responsibility of overseeing the new initiatives and ensuring Australia meets its emission-reduction goals.

Global sales of plastic and glass drinks bottles, cans and cartons are rising, report finds

People around the world are using almost 2tn plastic and glass drinks bottles, cans and cartons each year, according to research.

The findings, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), reveal that global sales of drinks containers are set to reach 1.9tn in 2019 – up from 1.6tn in 2015.

Environment Agency calls for urgent action to protect country from river and coastal floods

Entire communities might need to be moved away from coasts and rivers as the UK takes urgent action to prepare for an average global temperature rise of 4C, the Environment Agency warned.

The agency said on Thursday that difficult decisions would have to be taken in the coming years to make sure the UK was resilient amid flooding that would not be held back by higher land defences.

The marine behemoths, which can weigh more than 10,000 pounds, are returning in numbers not seen in decades

Giant basking sharks have reappeared off the coast of southern California in numbers not seen in decades.

“The sight just takes your breath away – it’s magic,” said Lotti Keenan, who saw nearly a dozen basking sharks while on a whale-watching cruise in April. Three of them circled the boat. “We knew this was such a rare thing. And people on the boat were screaming with excitement – it was like you were at a soccer game.”

Refundable charge to be added to glass and plastic bottles and drinks cans sold in any shop

Consumers in Scotland will have to pay a 20p deposit on every bottle or drinks can they buy from shops under an ambitious new scheme unveiled by the Scottish government.

The deposit return scheme, the first national scheme in the UK, will cover glass and plastic bottles, as well as aluminium and steel drinks cans, sold from any shop in Scotland.

Dams, levees, hydropower and habitat degradation behind fragmentation on huge scale, finds global assessment

Only a third of the world’s great rivers remain free flowing, due to the impact of dams that are drastically reducing the benefits healthy rivers provide people and nature, according to a global analysis.

Billions of people rely on rivers for water, food and irrigation, but from the Danube to the Yangtze most large rivers are fragmented and degraded. Untouched rivers are largely confined to remote places such as the Arctic and Amazonia.

Keen to lure the endangered creatures into gardens, some people are overfeeding them with competitive menus – and doing more harm than good

Name: The obesity crisis.

Age: Very modern.

Report finds popular parks such as Yosemite and Joshua Tree have pollution at levels that threaten visitors and wildlife

Millions of tourists will head out into America’s national parks this summer in search of fresh mountain air. But according to a new report they should instead expect dangerous levels of pollution; roughly 96% of the nation’s parks are struggling with significant air quality issues.

The report, released yesterday by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), found that some of the most popular parks, including Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Joshua Tree national parks and Mojave national preserve, were among the worst offenders. Last year, these parks recorded up to two months where ozone levels were considered dangerous –mostly in summer when visitation is at its highest.

Out of 23 countries, only Saudi Arabia and Indonesia had higher proportion of doubters

The US is a hotbed of climate science denial when compared with other countries, with international polling finding a significant number of Americans do not believe human-driven climate change is occurring.

A total of 13% of Americans polled in a 23-country survey conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project agreed with the statement that the climate is changing “but human activity is not responsible at all”. A further 5% said the climate was not changing.