The Guardian

Introduced with the right safeguards and a well-publicised countryside code, freeing up access to green space can reset our relationship with nature

During a recent House of Commons debate on public access to nature, MPs on both sides of the aisle seized the opportunity to indulge in a spot of bucolic lyricism. William Wordsworth, John Keats, Laurie Lee, John Constable and Beatrix Potter were among those mentioned in dispatches. But the most significant intervention was made by the then shadow minister for nature, Alex Sobel.

A future Labour government, said Mr Sobel, would introduce Scottish-style right-to-roam legislation in England, vastly expanding access to woods, rivers and grasslands. Labour would offer people “the right to experience, the right to enjoy and the right to explore”. In a country where the right to roam currently applies to only 8% of land, this was an approach that was true to the party’s long tradition of campaigning for wider access to the countryside. It is also one which has huge popular support.

Increasing infestation in the Italian capital blamed on city’s refuse problem and high temperatures

Andrea Velardi had just settled down to dine on the terrace of his friend’s apartment near Campi de’ Fiori in central Rome when he felt an excruciating pain in his foot.

It was nearing sunset on a sweltering day in mid-August, and his friend had valiantly tried to kill off the unusually large wasps that had been swarming around the terrace before the guests arrived. “He wanted to protect us,” said Velardi. “But one on the ground beneath the table was still alive … the pain was tremendous, and my foot swelled up so much I couldn’t walk. I knew straight away that this wasn’t a normal wasp sting.”

Health bodies demand all governments immediately cease expansion of new fossil fuel infrastructure and production

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Global health bodies are demanding international governments urgently phase out fossil fuels and fast-track renewable energy as health professionals increasingly see patients suffering from harm caused by climate change.

The world’s leading GP and health bodies, representing more than three million health professionals worldwide, will deliver an open letter on Saturday calling for urgent action against climate change to protect the health of communities.

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It’s durable, resilient and lower-maintenance than natural grass – but there’s still many downsides and unknowns to artificial turf

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Two years ago the Northern Beaches council replaced the worn-out synthetic turf from a council oval, replacing natural grass with the product sometimes known as astroturf. The council had included in its contract a requirement that it be recycled and not sent to landfill – but federal legislation passed in 2020 meant that it was more difficult to export plastic waste to overseas facilities.

A permit was not granted, so the rolls of old turf sat for nearly 18 months until they were removed earlier this year. They are now in a container in a railway siding, awaiting the completion of a recycling plant capable of separating the various components that make up the product.

Derbyshire and South Yorkshire MPs say agency ‘not up to the task’ after people received warnings too late

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MPs in areas of England worst hit by Storm Babet have called for a review of Environment Agency (EA) failings after reporting that some residents received flood alerts only after their homes were flooded.

Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, said some people at Tapton Terrace in the Derbyshire town, where 83-year-old Maureen Gilbert was found dead in flood water, only received a phone call from the early warning system after their houses had been deluged.

Rather than racing to extract natural gas, those who caused the climate crisis should help Africa harness its wind and sun

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It’s official: we’re about to reach peak fossil fuels. New figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that the shift to renewable energy is now unstoppable – and that demand for oil and gas should begin to decline by the end of this decade. This decline is not fast enough to prevent our climate warming irreversibly, but it is a death knell for fossil fuels.

In response, leaders of rich countries will be showing off wind turbines on their coasts and pointing to shiny electric cars on their streets. But they’ve spent the past few years persuading African countries to increase their gas expansion instead. There’s $245bn of gas infrastructure planned in Africa, and gas-rich countries such as Mozambique have faced an onslaught of foreign companies fishing for contracts to extract their gas.

California otter known for harassing Santa Cruz surfers and eluding capture, seen floating with her baby laying on her belly

A sea otter who captured hearts and surfboards this past summer has become a mother, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

The sea otter known as 841, rose to national prominence this past summer after reports and photos of an aquatic mammal harassing surfers and swimmers became national news. Now, she’s making headlines again as images of her floating on her back with a small otter laying on her belly are circulating.

Researchers say discovery of at least 11 new kinds of PFAS in water near Chemours plant indicates more contamination than thought

At least 11 new kinds of PFAS “forever chemicals” are polluting the water around a North Carolina Chemours plant that manufactures the toxic substances, new research finds.

The discovery, made by researchers using a novel testing method, is evidence that the environment around the plant is more contaminated with PFAS than regulators have found, the researchers said.

Document used to target top EU officials over environmental and health policies but climate experts view it as propaganda

A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal. The statement has been used to target top EU officials against environmental and health policies and has been endorsed by the EU agriculture commissioner.

The “Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock” says livestock “are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry” and calls for a “balanced view of the future of animal agriculture”. One of the authors of the declaration is an economist who called veganism an “eating disorder requiring psychological treatment”.

Exclusive: campaigners fear less rigorous methods could lead to more pollution in rivers and waterways

The UK government is to diverge from the EU’s standards for monitoring water quality in England, it can be revealed.

Campaigners fear the change of approach could lead to more pollution in England’s rivers and waterways if the new measuring methods are less rigorous.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a sandwich-eating bear, an unexpected aerial invasion of the pitch at the cricket World Cup, and the rarest ape in the world

The operator Tepco says the workers came in contact with the wastewater when a hose came off accidentally and have been taken to hospital as a precaution

Four workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials, with two of them taken to hospital as a precaution, according to the plant operator.

The incident, which took place on Wednesday, highlights the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant. The reactor was knocked out by an immense tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst atomic disaster since Chornobyl in 1986.

NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe says ‘threatened native species are in danger of extinction’ after authorising aerial cull

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Feral horses in Kosciuszko national park will be shot from the air following a public consultation process, with the New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, declaring it essential for protecting the park’s threatened wildlife and ecosystems.

Sharpe said the decision to amend the park’s management plan to allow aerial culling of feral horse populations came after 82% of 11,002 submissions from stakeholders supported the measure in addition to other existing control methods.

Scientists say it is first evidence of non-human primates living substantial post-reproductive life

Female chimpanzees in the wild undergo the menopause and live for a lengthy period afterwards, researchers have found, suggesting the phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought.

Quite why some female mammals have a long period of life once reproduction is off the table has long puzzled experts: not only was it previously thought to be confined to humans and five species of whale, but its purpose has also been highly debated.

Secrecy and lax oversight mean illegal loggers and miners in Amazon can park billions in real estate and other assets

Secrecy and lax oversight have made the US a hiding place for dirty money accrued by environmental criminals in the Amazon rainforest, a report says.

Illegal loggers and miners are parking sums ranging from millions to billions of dollars in US real estate and other assets, says the report, which calls on Congress and the White House to close loopholes in financial regulations that it says are contributing to the destruction of the world’s biggest tropical forest.

Children are particularly vulnerable to climate crisis yet have little say politically or legally in most of world

Young climate activists should be able to fully take part in legal cases that affect them, say campaigners.

As governments and organisations around the world submit formal comments on climate breakdown to the world’s top courts, experts have condemned children’s inability to fully participate in the legal process in almost all jurisdictions.

Newspaper endorses CEO Meg O’Neill’s position the company’s gas is needed to keep the state’s lights on but doesn’t mention the climate crisis

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Who needs to pay for newspaper advertising? Not the fossil fuel company Woodside in its home state of Western Australia, based on recent evidence. It can place its message unchallenged in Perth’s local daily without the inconvenience of having to pay for it.

Last Friday the West Australian went big with an opinion piece by Meg O’Neill, Woodside’s Perth-based chief executive – not once, but four times.

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German company points to ‘intense price competition’, which it sees as unsustainable

Mercedes-Benz has said the electric car market is “brutal” for carmakers as heavy competition forces them to cut prices.

Sales of electric cars are soaring in Europe and China, with the US further behind, but the rush of new launches is putting pressure on European manufacturers in particular, who are struggling to compete with cheap models coming from China.

Exclusive: North Sea Transition Authority under fire for using lawyers to argue against publication of environmental impact

The UK’s oil and gas regulator is coming under fire from environmental groups for using lawyers to try to prevent the publication of five key documents relating to the environmental impact of Shell’s activities in the North Sea.

At a hearing in December, a legal representative for the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is expected to argue against the publication of documents that contain details about the risk of pollution as a result of decommissioning the Brent oilfield, which was operated by Shell for more than 40 years. It says it opposes publication “on a matter of process basis”.

The intelligent birds, thought to be a nuisance by some, learn from consequences and can recognize resemblance between objects

A new study has found that the way pigeons problem-solve matches artificial intelligence.

Often overlooked as a nuisance, pigeons are actually highly intelligent animals that can remember faces, see the world in vivid colors, navigate complex routes, deliver news and even save lives.