The Guardian

Energy efficiency and changing economy cut generation by 1% in 20018 as renewables supplied record 33% of electricity

The output of British power stations fell this year to levels last seen almost a quarter of a century ago, while renewables achieved a record share of the UK electricity supply.

Electricity generation in 2018 was the lowest since 1994, when Tony Blair became the leader of the Labour party.

Human reactions to shark attacks have fascinated Fiona Adolph for more than a decade. Here she examines a global hotspot, Western Australia

On a whisper-still January dawn, the most terrifying day of Allan Oppert’s life began unremarkably and with a feeling of deep calm.

Like most Sundays, he woke to a knock on the door from his friends Dan and Dave. At Allan’s neat house in the small seaside town of Binningup, in the south-west corner of Western Australia, the three men drank strong coffee before towing Allan’s boat to a nearby ramp where three friends were launching another vessel. The two groups were heading out on the ocean together, a familiar arrangement aimed at ensuring safety.

‘Reverse vending machines’ receive 311,500 bottles to date, says supermarket Iceland

Shoppers have received the equivalent of more than £30,000 in total for recycling plastic bottles in the first supermarket trial using “reverse vending machines” installed to reduce littering.

The machines, introduced last year by the Iceland chain at five UK sites, reward consumers with a voucher worth 10p for every deposit of a bottle purchased at the shops.

As we reflect on a year of extreme weather and ominous climate talks, Guardian environment writer Fiona Harvey explains why 2019 could see some much-needed breakthroughs

Extreme weather hit the headlines throughout 2018, from the heatwave across much of the northern hemisphere, which saw unprecedented wild fires in Sweden, drought in the UK and devastating wildfires in the US, to floods in India and typhoons in south-east Asia.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, last year was the fourth hottest on record and confirms a trend of rising temperatures that is a clear signal that we are having an effect on the climate. Droughts, floods, fiercer storms and heatwaves, as well as sea level rises, are all expected to increase markedly as a result.

Multiple officers arrive at home to find Perth man with ‘serious fear’ of arachnids ‘trying to kill a spider’

Police in Western Australia have confirmed they sent multiple officers to an emergency call that turned out to be a screaming man with a “serious fear” of spiders.

A concerned passerby was walking outside a house in suburban Perth when they heard a toddler screaming and a man repeatedly shouting “Why don’t you die?”

Winning images from the year’s national and international wildlife photography competitions

Human feces, overflowing garbage and damaging behavior reported as staff hampered over busy holiday period

Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the American west’s most popular national parks on Monday, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.

Related: Trump 'ready and willing' to make a deal as shutdown chaos continues

I reject the suggestion that the capital’s action plan contains nothing new

Two weeks ago, the mayor of London and I spent a morning cycling with the leader of Enfield council looking at their excellent new protected cycleways and secure bike parking hub at Edmonton Green station. Together we unveiled Transport for London’s new cycling action plan, which aims to make London the world’s best big city for cycling and to double the number of cycle journeys in five years.

The launch follows the publication of this year’s TfL business plan, in which Sadiq Khan demonstrated his continuing commitment to cycling by not only protecting the record level of funding for cycling, but increasing it from an average of £169m to £214m a year. This commitment is despite central government’s complete withdrawal of the £700m annual operating grant, which has left TfL in a tough financial position, compounded by the delay and increased cost of Crossrail.

Alarming sight greets family as thousands of the invasive pest are flushed out by rising waters in Kununurra

A huge storm in Australia’s north on Sunday flushed out a sight which either fascinated or horrified those who saw it – 10 cane toads riding the back of a 3.5m python.

Paul and Anne Mock were at home with their daughters in the remote West Australian town of Kununurra, when a large storm dumped almost 70mm of rain into their dam.

Wildlife Trusts report comeback of rare seahorse breed and nudibranch slugs but plastic pollution still poses grave risk

A rare kind of seahorse and a rainbow-coloured sea slug with a titillating name are among the creatures making a comeback in UK waters, according to an annual conservation review.

The coast around Britain is now home to more than 100 species of nudibranchs – brightly hued, soft-bodied marine molluscs that appear nude because of their lack of external shells. The Wildlife Trusts credited a big conservation push around the coast for their proliferation.

Pilot will redistribute surplus food, with aim of stopping waste going to landfill by 2030

The government has appointed a food waste champion to tackle the problem of 250m meals being thrown away in the UK each year.

Ben Elliot, a philanthropist and co-founder of the lifestyle group Quintessentially, will aim to help the government eliminate food waste going to landfill by 2030.

• Billionaire and retiring California governor demand action
• America’s year of extreme weather – in pictures

Michael Bloomberg slammed Donald Trump’s inaction on climate change on Sunday and said any candidate for president in 2020 – he himself might be one – must have a plan to deal with the problem.

Related: Trump unmoved on border wall demand as shutdown enters ninth day

Exclusive: environmental group calls plan to protect black-throated finch an ‘elaborate hoax’

Adani has set aside a “conservation area” for the endangered black-throated finch at the same site earmarked for the massive Clive Palmer-backed Alpha North coalmine.

The environmental group Lock the Gate said the land-use conflict meant the Adani plan to protect the black-throated finch – which is one of two crucial management plans for the Carmichael mine yet to be approved by the Queensland government – amounted to an “elaborate hoax”.

Carrier bags are easy to replace and milk can come in glass bottles. But what about deodorant, toothbrushes and clingfilm?

Bettina Maidment hasn’t emptied the kitchen bin since the beginning of November. The time before that was in August. “You can reduce your rubbish a lot,” she insists, pointing to her recycling and food compost bins. “I have two kids and they’re pretty anti-plastic – I am their mother after all – but it is do-able.”

Maidment, 38, is the founder of Plastic Free Hackney, a campaign to rid the east London borough of single-use plastic and has been serious about committing her family to plastic-free, zero-waste living for two years now. First to go was milk cartons. “That was an easy switch, we got a milkman.”

• First sighting of season for critically endangered species
• No newborns were reported in previous calving season

Florida conservationists have reported a sighting of a right whale calf off the Atlantic coast.

Related: Facing extinction, the North Atlantic right whale cannot adapt. Can we? | Philip Hoare

The idea, central to Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, aims to eliminate greenhouse gas pollution – but lacks key political support

Most US voters would support a “Green New Deal”, for the country to transform its infrastructure with a rapid shift to clean energy. But while the idea is gaining attention on Capitol Hill, it lacks key political support.

First global coastline survey shows 16% of tidal flats lost between 1984 and 2016

Coastal development and sea level rise are causing the decline of tidal flats along the world’s coastlines, according to research that has mapped the ecosystems for the first time.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Queensland used machine-learning to analyse more than 700,000 satellite images to map the extent of and change in tidal flats around the globe.

Move is part of a series of regulations pursued on behalf of coal interests, decisions scientists say are detrimental to public health

The Trump administration will reconsider the reasoning for restrictions on toxic mercury pollution from coal plants that is linked to developmental delays in children, it was announced on Friday.

Nathan Rogers was dragged along by fishing boat for five miles before it crashed in Newlyn, Cornwall

A fisherman survived falling overboard after he clung on to nets on the side of his boat for more than an hour.

Nathan Rogers was dragged along by his fishing boat for five miles before it crashed into the south pier in Newlyn, Cornwall, on Thursday afternoon.

Wormwood moonshiners live on one rare plant and only emerge at night. A battle is on to save them

The smell of aircraft fuel wafts on the wintry breeze as torches flit across rough grassland. A patch of derelict-looking ground beside densely packed housing and Mildenhall US airbase is an unlikely place to find one of Britain’s rarest species.

But this little Suffolk meadow used mainly by dog walkers is the only known place in Britain where the wormwood moonshiner lives, an elusive beetle which emerges one hour after sunset to devour the seeds of a virtually extinct plant.