The Guardian

As the world’s biggest butterfly count gets underway we’d like to see pictures of what you’ve seen where you are

Butterflies can provide a fleeting moment of beauty as they flutter by in the garden, or even as you go about life in the city, but they are also a key indicator of the way our climate is changing.

Related: Sir David Attenborough urges British public to join butterfly count

A newly discovered bandy bandy snake species, jumping sweetfish and baby tarantulas in Derbyshire are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Abnormally hot temperatures continue to wreak devastation across northern and central parts of the continent

Farmers across northern and central Europe are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory strengthens its grip.

States of emergency have been declared in Latvia and Lithuania, while the sun continues to bake Swedish fields that have received only 12% of their normal rainfall.

It’s an improvement from 100% two years ago, but GOP climate denial is cracking too slowly

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on an anti-carbon tax Resolution. The Resolution was introduced by Steve Scalise (R-LA) with essentially the same language as he introduced in 2013 and 2016.

On those past versions, every Republican House member voted against carbon taxes. This time, six Republicans rejected the Resolution and one abstained, voting ‘Present.’ However, 97% of the House Republicans on the floor voted against carbon taxes.

Veteran broadcaster encourages people to take part in Big Butterfly Count and highlights mental health benefits of wildlife

Watching nature provides “precious breathing space” from the stress of modern life, Sir David Attenborough has said, as he urges people to take part in the world’s biggest butterfly count.

While the UK’s butterflies are basking in the best summer conditions in more than a decade, if the hot weather becomes a drought it could be catastrophic for the insects as plants wither and caterpillars starve.

Langstone, Hampshire: Crab spiders are ambush predators rather than web-spinners, and bees can often be their unsuspecting victims

I was cutting a bunch of antirrhinums when I noticed a dark shadow inside one of the nose-like flower capsules. When I pinched open the lobed petals, I was surprised to discover an entombed common carder bee. Honeybees often struggle to enter and exit these snap-jawed blooms, as they don’t have enough heft to cause the flower lip to open, but portly bumblebees have no trouble thrusting their bodies into the gullet of the flower and wriggling out backwards, so this pollinator’s demise was something of a mystery.

Households as well as factories in the UK are pushing volatile chemicals into the air, helping to create those long-lasting hazes

The recent hot weather has allowed us to enjoy life outdoors – afternoons in the park, evenings in the garden – but it comes with a downside. Summer smog has enveloped the UK, with southern England the worst affected. In south-east England air pollution was moderate or high on the government’s information system for 17 consecutive days. This was the longest run of summer smog for seven years.

Across Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside, smoke from moorland fires added to the air pollution cocktail.

It was a coal town, predicted to be wiped out by the closure of two ageing power plants. Now Port Augusta has 13 renewable projects in train

The largest solar farm in the southern hemisphere lies on arid land at the foot of the Flinders Ranges, more than 300km north of Adelaide. If that sounds remote, it doesn’t do justice to how removed local residents feel from what currently qualifies as debate in Canberra.

As government MPs and national newspapers thundered over whether taxpayers should underwrite new coal-fired power, mauling advice from government agencies as they went, residents of South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf region have been left to ponder why decision-makers weren’t paying attention to what is happening in their backyard.

Analysis suggests eating of meat will climb steeply and play significant role in increasing carbon emissions and reducing biodiversity

Rising global meat consumption is likely to have a devastating environmental impact, scientists have warned.

A new major analysis suggests meat consumption is set to climb steeply as the world population increases along with average individual income, and could play a significant role in increasing carbon emissions and reducing biodiversity.

Renewable energy installations will no longer benefit from feed-in tariff, ministers confirm

The renewables industry and green groups have accused ministers of striking a major blow against household solar power after the government said a green energy subsidy scheme would end next year without a replacement.

The closure of the feed-in tariff (FIT) to new applicants from next April marks the final chapter for the scheme, which has encouraged more than 800,000 households to install solar panels since it was launched in 2010.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

Morrisons leads league table of supermarkets analysed for the proportion of their packaging that can be recycled

Almost a third of plastic packaging used by UK supermarkets is either non-recyclable through standard collection schemes or difficult to recycle, according to a new analysis by a consumer group.

Which? is urging the government to introduce compulsory “clear and simple” recycling labelling on all plastic packaging as its new research reveals “huge inconsistencies” involving myriad different schemes and with some items not labelled at all.

Stanhope, Weardale: A watchful heron awaits his moment as the fish introduced to this former industrial landscape gorge on a rich supply of damselfly nymphs

In the heat of yet another cloudless summer afternoon the still air in Ashes quarry wobbled in the heat haze. Blasting, hewing and hauling of limestone ended here 60 years ago. Since then nature has reclaimed this peaceful mile-long scar in the fellside; today the loudest sound came from chirruping grasshoppers.

The prolonged drought is unlikely to dry up the flooded quarry floor, an olive-green oasis surrounded by parched, yellowing grasses growing in the thin veneer of soil on rock scree. Standing on the edge of the squelchy bog, among cotton grass shedding its gossamer seeds and head-tall reed mace, I listened to the croak of moorhens hidden in channels among the forests of water horsetail, and also heard a strange plopping sound.

Planning commission finds ‘uncertainty’ around the massive project’s emissions

A plan for a massive waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney has been blocked, after the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission ruled there was “uncertainty” over human health and environmental impacts.

The plant – the largest planned in the southern hemisphere – would have burned 552,500 tonnes of waste every year, generating enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.

Acting administrator said the ease of Obama-era rules, which pushes back deadline to close ash dumps, saves $30m annually

The Trump administration on Wednesday eased rules for handling toxic coal ash from more than 400 US coal-fired power plants after utilities pushed back against regulations adopted under former president Barack Obama.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting administrator Andrew Wheeler said the changes would save utilities roughly $30m annually.

Australians tried to do the right thing by recycling but then we discovered we’d been played for mugs

The announcement by China earlier this year that they would no longer purchase Australia’s contaminated waste plunged the local recycling industry into a crisis from which it has yet to recover.

But the consequences for public trust might be even more severe.

In central-western New South Wales, farmers are facing a crippling drought many are calling the worst since 1902

“It’s a pretty tough old time,” says Coonabarabran farmer Ambrose Doolan. “But if you’re working with your family and everyone is looking out for each other, you count your blessings.” In the central-west region of New South Wales, farmers continue to battle a crippling drought that many locals are calling the worst since 1902. In Warrumbungle shire, where sharp peaks fall away to once fertile farmland, the small town of Coonabarabran is running out of water. The town dam has fallen to 23% of its capacity and residents are living with level-six water restrictions. There are real fears the town will run dry.

Activist group Shoot’em with a Camera seeks to infiltrate a bear hunt by acquiring licenses they don’t intend to use

Jane Goodall, the renowned conservationist, and a group of wildlife activists are some of the unexpected entrants in a lottery to hunt up to 22 grizzly bears near Yellowstone national park.

Related: Alarmed conservationists call for urgent action to fix 'America's wildlife crisis'

Doctors urge ministers to act as 1,320 killed by asthma in England and Wales last year

A record number of people are dying of asthma, and experts have warned growing air pollution and a lack of basic care could be to blame.

In England and Wales 1,320 people died of asthma last year, a sharp rise of more than 25% over a decade, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Government-owned company has back-pedalled on its pledge to cycle-proof the line, say campaigners, locking out cyclists for generations to come

The company building the HS2 high speed rail line is accused of watering down commitments on cycle crossings along the route, in a move campaigners say will endanger lives and lock out cycling for generations to come.

The government-owned company, HS2 Ltd, was accused of back-pedalling on its legally-binding assurance that it would “cycle-proof” phase 1 of HS2, from London to the West Midlands, earlier this year by Cycling UK, the national cycling charity. The assurances, which became legally binding when they were incorporated into the High Speed Rail Act, stated HS2 Ltd would have a dialogue with the Cycle Proofing Working Group (CPWG), a government advisory body, with the assumption that they would include high quality design standards.