The Guardian

Government’s top climate adviser warns policymakers will be judged harshly by future generations if they don’t act now

The government’s official climate change adviser says politicians and policymakers are failing to rise to the challenge of a rapidly warming planet and will be judged harshly by future generations unless they act now.

Lord Deben, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), said “anyone who read the news” could see mounting evidence of alarming trends – from melting polar ice to record heatwaves and rising sea levels. He called on politicians to “make the connections” between these events and act with more urgency.

But global warming will.

Eleven teams participated in a recent Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) project, examining the economic and environmental impacts of a carbon tax. The studies included “revenue recycling,” in which the funds generated from a carbon tax are returned to taxpayers either through regular household rebate checks (similar to the Citizens’ Climate Lobby [CCL] and Climate Leadership Council [CLC] proposals) or by offsetting income taxes (similar to the approach in British Columbia).

Among the eleven modeling teams the key findings were consistent. First, a carbon tax is effective at reducing carbon pollution, although the structure of the tax (the price and the rate at which it rises) are important. Second, this type of revenue-neutral carbon tax would have a very modest impact on the economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). In all likelihood it would slightly slow economic growth, but by an amount that would be more than offset by the benefits of cutting pollution and slowing global warming.

Baby spiders were abandoned in pots and RSPCA says witness saw parents scuttling away

Two tarantulas may be on the loose in a village after three of their babies were found abandoned in a car park.

The RSPCA said it had rescued the baby Brazilian bird-eating spiders after they were found discarded in pots in Derbyshire.

Amount of rubbish burned by local authorities triples while household recycling rates stall

England is on the brink of burning more of its rubbish in incinerators than it recycles for the first time, according to a new analysis.

The amount of waste managed by local authorities and sent to incinerators, or energy-from-waste plants, tripled between 2010-11 and 2016-17. By contrast, household recycling rates have stalled since 2013.

19 July 1918 Clean-edged oblongs and circles cut from leaves are used to build the cells of their nests

On two or three occasions I have referred to the wonderfully neat work of the leaf-cutter bee, and I have just received some Marechal Niel rose leaves from Rock Ferry from which clean-edged oblongs and circles have been nibbled out. The leaf-cutter bees are not unlike our honey bees to look at, but their habits are very different. The pieces cut from the leaves are used to build the cells of their nests, and very wonderful cells they are. The cells lie end to end, and are packed into a tunnel or burrow, in some species in the ground, in others in woodwork or timber, or in a hole in a wall. The long fragments are folded one upon the other to form a thimble-shaped tube with a convex base; the round bits form the door, which is concave. The end of one cell fits into the door of the next. Each cell is half filled with pollen as food for the future grubs, an egg is laid upon this, and then the door is sealed up; the grub hatches and lives upon the food until it pupates and emerges as a perfect bee.

Related: The leafcutter bee: Country diary 100 years ago

Aigas, Highlands: The weasel may be tiny, but this fierce predator can dispatch and drag off a full-grown rabbit 25 times its size – and has a stare that even humans can find unnerving

If I asked you to name Britain’s most savage wildlife killer, you might say fox or peregrine or goshawk, or perhaps even the golden eagle or the Scottish wildcat if you knew about such exciting rarities. But I think you would be wrong. Savage and killers they all are, no question, but in my book none comes close to the smallest UK mustelid, the weasel, Mustela nivalis, so tiny that its skull can pass through a wedding ring.

A few days ago I watched one hunting. It vanished into a rockery and emerged a few seconds later with a vole dangling from its jaws. Voles, rats and mice, as well as small birds, are a weasel’s staple, but a male will take much larger prey such as a full-grown rabbit, up to 25 times its own weight, kill it, and, incredibly, drag it away into cover. No other British predator does that.

With more funding and product stewardship, the recycling crisis could turn into an opportunity

There’s nothing like a crisis to spur on the search for a solution.

Since January, when China stopped accepting our contaminated recycling, Australia has been struggling with a waste crisis. While some local councils have tried to adapt their processes, some have been stockpiling recycling while others are sending it straight to landfill. And there’s still no long-term solution in place.

The ship that has now going to be called the RRS David Attenborough slid into the River Mersey on Saturday, ahead of its official naming ceremony in November. 

The 92-year-old broadcaster described the decision to name the ship after him as the 'greatest of honours' and called it 'a key to the future salvage of our planet'

Exclusive: Australia Institute modelling reveals the best way to protect coal jobs in other regions is to stop Galilee developments

Developing new coalmines in the Galilee Basin would cost 12,500 jobs in existing coalmining regions and replace only two in three workers, modelling by the Australia Institute shows.

Job creation has long been an aggressive rallying call for supporters of Adani’s Carmichael megamine and other proposals in the untapped Galilee Basin, which combined would produce 150m tonnes of thermal coal each year.

Hull of research vessel officially known as RRS David Attenborough launches into the River Mersey

The vessel popularly known as Boaty McBoatface will make its debut on Saturday in Liverpool, where the hull will be launched into the River Mersey before shipbuilders get to work finishing the ship in wet basin.

RRS Sir David Attenborough – the boat was officially named after the naturalist after the internet poll’s top suggestion was rejected – will be used by the British Antarctic Survey for polar research from next year, when it is expected to be completed.

Data from Nasa satellites has been matched with weather station information to reveal a chilly new low

Where is the coldest place on Earth? Antarctica; yes, but where exactly?

On 23 July 1983, the thermometer at the Vostok station, high on the East Antarctic plateau on recorded the lowest measured air temperature on Earth: a frigid -89.2C. But, in recent years, satellite data has revealed it can get even colder.

The Inconvenience Store in Melbourne is providing fresh produce to people doing it tough

A man places his shopping bag on the counter filled with canned goods, fruit, vegetables and a loaf of bread. He passes it to a woman, who weighs the bag, while her colleague makes a note on a clipboard. Then they wish him luck.

“Come back soon,” 19-year-old Vincent Hui tells him. No money changes hands. Asked why he had come to the shop, the man tells Guardian Australia: “Some days are just tough.”

The workspace company gave environmental reasons for banning meat from all budgets, including their upcoming festival

WeWork, the real estate company that rents out and manages office space, has announced that they will no longer hold any staff events that include meat, and that staff will not be able to expense any meals that include poultry, pork or red meat.

In an email to staff, WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey also said that WeWork’s upcoming Summer Camp event, a music and food festival which is only open to WeWork members, will not serve any meat options. Tickets to the event cost as much as $409 (£309) – a high price based, in part, on the free food available once on site.

From Europe to Africa, extreme and widespread heat raises climate concerns in hottest La Niña year to date on record

Record high temperatures have been set across much of the world this week as an unusually prolonged and broad heatwave intensifies concerns about climate change.

The past month has seen power shortages in California as record heat forced a surge of demand for air conditioners. Algeria has experienced the hottest temperature ever reliably registered in Africa. Britain, meanwhile, has experienced its third longest heatwave, melting the roof of a science building in Glasgow and exposing ancient hill forts in Wales.

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

Thousands of schools across the country are taking measures such as closing roads and setting up park and stride schemes

Schools across the country are moving to ban the school run amid growing concern about the devastating impact of air pollution on young people’s health.

The Guardian has found that thousands of schools in cities and towns – from Edinburgh to London, Manchester to Ellesmere Port – are taking measures to try to deter parents using their cars. These include closing roads, setting up “park and stride” schemes, walk-to-school initiatives and “playing dead” protests.

Pacific walruses, Tapanuli orangutan twins and a moon bear are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Wholesale prices soar by more than 30% and farmers have to renegotiate with supermarkets

Lettuce is being imported from the US, Spain and Poland as soaring temperatures increase demand but hit crops in the UK.

The airline IAG Cargo said it had flown 30,000 heads of lettuce from Los Angeles to the UK in the past week alone.

Traditional farming shows its benefits as stone barns and hedgerows provide cattle with relief from the heat

Sunscreen and waiter service for cows, and a renewed appreciation for traditional countryside structures such as stone barns and hedgerows, are some of the modern and ancient ways in which farmers are trying to cope with the heatwave.

Record temperatures and a lack of rainfall have drawn comparisons with 1976, the UK’s biggest drought in living memory. Forecasters say the hot weather is set to continue, probably for weeks.

Three African American hikers describe fears and stereotypes they have faced – and why they love hitting the trails