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John Quiggin: To explain the latest 20% rise of electricity cost in Queensland, look no further than the free market reforms kickstarted in the 1990s

John Quiggin

Millthorpe, Derbyshire: There is an intangible sense of lost history here and the ghost of Carpenter is hard to shake off

Starting life, Millthorpe Brook tumbles off Flask Edge on the eastern fringe of Totley Moor and then buries itself in a deep-cut valley, travelling in a mile or so from austere grandeur to somewhere lush and secret.

Tucked away on the edge of Sheffield, Millthorpe still feels remote, even though the suburban tide pushed out by postwar construction ends just over the hill among the housing estates of Totley and Dronfield.

West of Fox Lane, past a familiar ash tree and into the oaks and beeches, I find the bluebells have hung on longer here, threaded with stitchwort and broken up with patches of garlic on the banks of the stream itself.

There is an intangible sense of lost history in this valley: a section of broken wall whose controlling purpose is now forgotten; a vast bank of rhododendrons under Smeekley Woods suggesting a horticultural masterplan run wild.

One Millthorpe ghost in particular is hard to shake, that of Edward Carpenter, early socialist philosopher, pacifist and vegetarian and a courageous gay rights campaigner, who lived just downstream of here, and must have walked this path many hundred times.

Other pioneers on the left largely discounted Carpenter for his mystical views and passion for sandals. Orwell dubbed him an "outer-suburban creeping Jesus". But on a day like today, it is quite difficult to disentangle the dry facts of material inequality from the warmth of the sun or the smell of bluebells and the moist earth.

Scrambling up through Bank Wood, I pause to catch my breath near a huge oak, anchored to steep ground above the brook, a landmark for all the birds getting on with the day's business.

In its shadow, a few feet from where I'm standing, is an old birch and I catch sight of a blue tit, bill crammed with grubs, whirring to a stop near its nest in the trunk. It pauses there, just for a fraction of a second, its black, impassive eye fixed on me, while its mate emerges from the nest on the next grub-run for chicks who must soon be gone.

• Sheffield
• Birds
• Wildlife
• Animals
• Rural affairs

Ed Douglas
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US policymakers love discussing it, but the debate on food aid reform is getting tedious. Emergency interventions will always be necessary, but it is time to shift our focus to long-term solutions

Since the global food price spikes of 2008-09 and the widespread riots that ensued, the world has begun to pay more attention to food security. The link between food and security is no longer a question.

There's been a lot of debate recently in the US about food aid reform, especially since the US Agency for International Development (USAid) proposed a shift toward more cash programmes and increased local and regional purchase of food aid. But what's lost in the lively discussion on the hows and whys of food aid is a sense of long-term focus.

While emergency intervention is all too often necessary, focusing on building capacity at the farm level offers long-term sustainability in addressing the root causes of food insecurity. Granted, this kind of market development work is difficult – it's a slog. It requires coaxing industry stakeholders – from the smallholder farmer to the government standards bureau, from financial service providers to input suppliers – into behaviour change. It can't be done in a mere 18 months as if it were a food aid programme, and capacity building get less air time than food aid, which often unfolds as compelling drama.

But building the capacity of smallholders and strengthening markets to sustain them is pivotal and sustainable, and can render food aid unnecessary in many, if not most, cases. We don't read about the food crisis that doesn't happen.

The recent debates on food aid remind me of two illuminating visits to the Horn of Africa. One was to Ethiopia about ten years ago in the midst of a drought that served to punctuate what had been practically perennial food crises. The EU had recently moved to an all-cash programme to allow for local purchases of emergency food aid and had been bemoaning the American reliance on US commodities for food aid that had to be shipped in. But at that moment, in the midst of the famine, there was no local food to be had on the local market, or even in nearby Uganda or Kenya. Externally sourced food aid was needed – in fact, it was the only option available. When the US ships docked and unloaded white bags of food – aid "from the American people" – it wasn't rejected but was acknowledged as lifesaving and very welcome.

Fast forward to 2011. I found myself in East Africa again. The next big drought had hit the Horn, and the aid and development community was bracing itself for the worst. But the drought didn't create famine in Ethiopia that year, nor in Kenya. When the crisis hit, rural economies were able to respond, and food moved from surplus areas to food-deficit areas. Drought-resistant seed and climate-smart farming techniques had helped to build smallholder farmers' resilience.

Well-conceived 21st century food aid programmes had helped create market systems that worked. Not for all though as, tragically, the drought still caused hunger. But in Ethiopia and Kenya conditions that year didn't spiral out of control as they had before. Unfortunately, in Somalia, where the dysfunctional government had prevented agriculture and development initiatives, the result was a famine that killed more than 250,000 Somalis, half of them children.

What did it take to build such resilience in Kenya and Ethiopia? It took government policymakers buying into the best practices outlined in the Comprehensive African Agricultural Plan and allowing private sector incentive-driven market development. It took 10 years of donor-supported strengthening of farmer and industry groups to make them able to articulate demands for services and accountability and to train their members in improved cultivation, handling, storage and marketing techniques. It took industry partners, telecommunications firms devising cellphone-based market information systems, and fertilizer and seed companies co-operating to distribute smaller-sized bags of inputs. It took improved relationships with traders and truckers who linked smallholder farmer groups to mills that were willing to pay for improved volumes and quality product. It was difficult, but lasting, holistic market development work.

Necessary food aid and deliberate long-term agricultural development aren't an either-or proposition. We will likely, unfortunately, always have urgent crises that require food aid. Having all tools available – more cash, increased local and regional purchase as well as donor country-sourced food aid – will enable smart and successful emergency interventions.

The reason food aid debates are so contentious are the implications for the agriculture sector in the donor country, but US agriculture, a strong constituency of current food aid, need not be wary of long-term development strategies. In fact, there's good data that international agricultural development helps our domestic agriculture. For an example, one need look no further than sub-Saharan Africa's rising incomes and growing urbanisation spiking imports of US soy for their budding animal feed industries. These growing economies are America's growing food markets.

I'm impatient with the tedious debate on emergency food aid reform. We'll always have another food crisis, and responding effectively will save lives. But the much more serious job, the most important and too often out-of-the-headlines job, is building the ability of those small African farmers to produce nutritious food in a sustained manner – so that when the next drought hits, and we know it will, they don't become the next food aid emergency.

Paul Guenette is senior vice-president at the US NGO ACDI/VOCA. Follow its tweets: @acdivoca

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• Farming and food security
• Policy and advocacy
• US foreign policy
• US politics
• United States
• Food poverty
• Poverty
• Food security
• Aid
• Agriculture
• Farming

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Downplaying the discussion of climate change and sustainability in education may be a mistake

On 11 June, England's education secretary Michael Gove revealed the draft new syllabus for the geography GCSE exam: it mentions climate change once. This adds to the news in March that the government plans to drop references to sustainability and climate change from the curriculum for under 14's.

According to UK Youth Climate Coalition, which opposes the changes, Gove is determined to restructure education on a more factual basis, without giving students the opportunity to explore wider issues like sustainability.

These developments have been met with objections, arguing that the subject of climate change and sustainability are crucial topics for the education of future generations. Experts worry that these changes to the curriculum risk diluting sustainable development in schools.

"The UK has been ahead with the sustainability school agenda, but I'm worried that they're now stripping back the work that we've spent 10 years developing with the schools," says Anna Birney from Forum for the Future, a non-profit group promoting sustainable development.

For years, charities and non-profits have been encouraging and helping schools integrate energy into education. One of their main strategies is using energy efficiency projects in schools to teach children about sustainability, by making it part of their learning experience.

"Putting solar panels on the roof of a school building can be a way to show children how much energy can be saved," explains Birney. "But teachers can also use it as an engagement tool for lessons in science and maths."

Schools don't have to create lessons dedicated solely to the environment and energy to teach them about these issues. The point is that this knowledge can be diffused in core subjects like maths, science and even literacy lessons. For example, students from Worcestershire and Warwickshire schools wrote letters to their local MP to voice their concerns about climate change and the environment as part of their literacy lesson.

Studies conducted by Ofsted have shown positive results from schools that integrated sustainability into their curriculum. In some cases, children were getting better marks and were seen as more positive about learning in general. According to Birney, children get excited to learn about real life issues and the prospect of making a change.

While some groups suggest that lessons on sustainability should be taught in higher education, it would appear that the ideal age to start engaging students in these issues is actually primary school. Mike Wolfe from CREATE, another non-profit dedicated to sustainable development, explains that interest on the subject peaks between the ages of 9-14. Later, students have less time to sacrifice as workload increases for GCSEs and A-levels.

Wolfe adds that interest in environmental issues then picks up again in young adults in their 20s. Surveys shows that both school children and university students value lessons in energy and the environment and appreciate that these issues are important for their future.

My next post will look at the psychology behind energy consumption. Why do we use more rather than less energy? The rollout for smart meters is scheduled for 2015, but are we ready to share information on our energy consumption?

• Katherine Portilla is a science journalism MA student at City University London and will be investigating issued related to energy consumption for her final project. In the next few weeks she will interview experts and explore various sectors related to the subject. She can be contacted via email on koportilla@gmail.com and on Twitter @katherine_op

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Mayor set to cross 'final recycling frontier' with city-wide plan to handle up to 100,000 tons of food waste a year

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is preparing to roll out a new composting plan for the city, aimed at diverting some of the 100,000 tons of food scraps that ends up in landfill every year.

Bloomberg, who is due to leave office early next year, has called food waste the "final recycling frontier". Now it appears New York is moving towards that line, testing pilot projects in some neighbourhoods in preparation for a city-wide composting plan.

The city has hired a composting plant to handle up to 100,000 tons of food scraps a year – or about 10% of the city's total food waste, according to the New York Times,, which first reported the story.

Last April, about 100 city restaurants joined a voluntary composting plan, the food waste challenge. By next year, 150,000 households will be on board along with 100 high-rise buildings and 600 schools. The entire city could be recycling food scraps by 2015 or 2016.

The composting programme will at first be voluntary. But a city official told the Times that after a few years New Yorkers who do not separate out their food scraps could be liable to fines – just as they would be now if they do not recycle paper, plastic or metal.

The composting plan will make up a big part of New York's efforts to divert up to 75% of its solid waste from landfills by 2030. Reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills also reduces greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Food waste from all sources makes up about a third of the 20,000 tons of trash the city generates every day.

New York spends $336m a year to send its trash to landfills in Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. A composting programme would save about $100m a year, Ron Gonen, the city official responsible for recycling and sustainability, told the paper.

Other cities, such as San Francisco, have composting programmes in place. New York had been seen as a challenge because of its population density.

• New York
• Michael Bloomberg
• Waste
• Recycling
• Landfill
• Food
• United States

Suzanne Goldenberg
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Sustainable growth is a priority for many putting together a city deal bid, but what's the best way to achieve it?

According to Environmental thinktank Green Alliance, the eight original city deal areas that won power from Whitehall are now stimulating low carbon growth in their areas. Green Alliance recommends that the second wave of city deals should be characterised by low carbon growth and incorporate low carbon opportunities across all aspects of their schemes.

Sustainability is a top priority for Tees Valley as we put together our city deal bid. We and our partner unitary authorities have a shared vision of a high value and low carbon economic future.

In the UK, sustaining our leading petrochemical and process industry is important. To do so, it is essential that we attract and retain investment and rebalance our business and employment mix, building on our emerging green technology sector.

The Tees Valley hosts the largest integrated heavy industrial area in Britain. More than 30% of the UK's process industry is situated here and £6.5bn is exported annually to Europe alone from the North East. With carbon intensive sites like petrochemicals, steel, renewable energy and biotechnology bases and a major port in the area, it is important to develop green energy strategies. We have been working on greening our city deal in the following ways:

Capturing waste carbon dioxide: Our city deal recognises the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS) investment, the process of trapping waste carbon dioxide, and looks at de-carbonisation opportunities. We want to develop a new integrated group of process and chemical manufacturing that produces no waste products, and operating in a way that enables excess heat from intensive industries to be channeled into large-scale district heating systems.

Encouraging green economic growth: We are learning from the first wave of city deals and focusing on the growth opportunities there are in the region. These include energy from waste specialism – the process of generating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste – requiring an integrated transport infrastructure. In order to be successful, it is vital to prepare suitable sites and find appropriate partners.

Working on a joined-up approach: In Stockton, we have developed a green vision, integrating environmental excellence with economic growth, creating opportunity and tackling social inequalities.

We recently signed the country's biggest fully-funded Green Deal to retrofit more than 5,000 private homes with external wall insulation. Added to our 2012 Community and Energy Saving programme, it brings £30m of investment into the borough, 500 new jobs, removes thousands of people from fuel poverty, and creates the opportunity to develop new skills and apprenticeships and transportable expertise for contractors and employees in a vast, new and growing sector.

There is still more to be done

A recent workshop event run by Green Alliance and Labour MP Alex Cunningham brought together our LEP, Tees Valley Unlimited – which is funded by the five councils and leads our city deal work – with leading businesses, politicians, senior council officers and environmental third sector organisations to look at greening the Tees Valley city deal.

I think we can do even more, including stimulating our underdeveloped small and medium-sized enterprise sector, better linking further education and skills to green businesses' needs, expanding innovative sustainable transport solutions, enhancing green spaces and the natural environment to help attract new workforces and widening Stockton's Electric Vehicle strategy.

We must encourage government to look at national energy and waste strategies. We have realised that we do not need a distinct new strategy for greening our city deal. We have a golden green thread running through it already – one that holds the key to the Tees Valley's economic future.

David Rose is Parkfield and Oxbridge ward councillor and cabinet member for environment at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

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• Sustainability
• Local economies
• Finance
• Practice
• Local government
• Green deal

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We know so little about fin whales. The resumption of whaling shows the global market prevailing over common sense

Last night, Hvalur 8 and 9, two whaling vessels owned by millionaire entrepreneur Kristjan Loftsson, left Reykjavik harbour in Iceland, bound on a north-westerly course for the open Atlantic. Hvalur 8 was last logged at 64 degrees latitude, 23 degrees longitude before it went out of range of commercially available data. Together with its sister ship, its mission is to resume the harpooning and killing of fin whales, the second largest animal (after the blue whale) on Earth.

For two years Iceland's fin whale hunt has been suspended – but only because the economic market for whale meat, Japan, was suffering the after-effects of its cataclysmic earthquake. In the terrible logistics of global economics, the whale meat market is open for business again – partly, it is claimed, to provide luxury dog food snacks.

Iceland has set itself a quota of 184 fin whales, potentially to be killed over the next few months. Thankfully, that is an optimistic target on the hunters' part. But the resumption of this cull raises once again deep political issues. Ironically, many Icelanders oppose whaling on economic grounds – the trade is bad for tourism, they say, since the whale-watching boats, which also operate out of Reykjavik, may find themselves witnessing the slaughter of the animals that their passengers have paid to see.

Conversely, Icelandic whalers – who killed their first minke whales of the season last month – have protested against new regulations forbidding them from operating in waters visited by the whale-watch boats – on the grounds that these are also the most fertile waters for their hunts. Meanwhile, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation charity claims that tourists are actually sustaining the whaling by eating whale meat in Icelandic restaurants, believing that they are taking part in an essential cultural expression of the island's traditional diet.

This Alice-in-Wonderland situation is only exacerbated by Iceland's current and pressing dilemma over whether it should join the EU – which would surely insist on new controls, if not a cessation, of whaling. However, strident noises made by the Obama administration in the US earlier this year – promising direct political action if the Icelandic fin-whale hunt went ahead – appears to have fizzled out.

Last night's sailing ought to challenge all those imponderables with the visceral, imminent and present threat: of the death of endangered animals (as they are classified on the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, "red list"). Fin whales, despite their size, remain mysterious creatures. Even in the second decade of the 21st century, we do not know where they go to breed – although they are the loudest animals on Earth. A fin whale on one side of the Atlantic can be heard by another fin whale on the other side. Unfortunately, we don't appear to be listening.

Until three years ago, we believed that fin whales lived to be less than 70 years old. But the necropsy of a stranded fin whale in Denmark – believed to be a juvenile – was found, in analysis, to be 140 years old. We know so little about these animals that whatever political, economical or environmental claims may or may not be made by humans in determining their fate, surely the basic fact of our own ignorance ought to count for something? Apparently not to Loftsson and his crew, currently sailing out into the Atlantic, bent on their bloody mission.

• Whaling
• Wildlife
• Conservation
• Animals
• Marine life
• Whales
• Iceland
• Europe
• European Union

Philip Hoare
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For May's assignment, we asked for your photographs of hedgerows and their wildlife

Henry Saragih heads what may be the world's largest political movement and he's ready to challenge the multinational institutions that he blames for poverty and inequality

Henry Saragih heads what may be the largest single political movement on Earth. As secretary general of La Via Campesina, the transnational peasant movement, he is the public voice of nearly 200 million small-scale producers, landless people, and farm and food workers in more than 180 organisations across nearly 90 countries. Yet he is not asked to sit at presidents' tables, nor is he courted by global bodies like the World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF). He can walk through the streets of his home town, take the bus and eat in restaurants without being recognised.

Saragih suggests that his low profile and the fact that he does not take the stage at places like Davos are testimony to the low regard – or even fear – in which elite economists and politicians hold the world's 2 billion peasants and small-scale food producers. But his profile, like that of La Via Campesina (which translates as "the peasants' way"), is growing as more agrarian groups link to the movement, which from lowly beginnings in Europe 20 years ago is emerging as a global intellectual and political force.

"In just 20 years, we have become the voice of the poor," says Saragih. "The world is facing a huge agrarian problem. We are seeing increasing hunger, poverty and inequality. If things do not change, there will only be more and more poor people, more environmental destruction and more inequality. We have no choice but to change the system."

Saragih, one of nine children, was born in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, where his parents worked on an oil palm plantation carved out of the forest by a large company. He studied politics at university, joined the student Islamic movement and, he says, "began to learn about the gap between rich and poor".

"After I finished university, I worked in rural areas 250km [155 miles] from my village in north Sumatra. We struggled against a giant paper company that polluted water, destroyed the forest and expelled indigenous people. They took a 125,000 hectares [about 309,000 acres] concession; the forest belonged to the government and local people. We protested against the deforestation and then moved to defend farmers," he says.

"Many companies [were] grabbing the land. We went from village to village, then we contacted other student movements in Java, East Timor, and all over Indonesia … We started building a peasant movement."

Their work to resist state-sanctioned land grabs and giant development projects led to the formation of SPI, the Indonesian peasant movement, which now has 700,000 members and works in most of the country's provinces. "We grew and grew, building farming organisations at province level and, because this was the [president] Suharto era, clandestinely. In 1993, we started communicating with international movements, then we made contact with the Assembly of the Poor [a peasant resistance movement in rural Thailand]," he says.

"We learned from below, not [from] theory, the everyday problems of people. We learned that land is the key struggle in the world, that the system is designed for the rich, and that what was happening in Indonesia was part of a global, structural problem."

Small-scale farming, often dismissed as inefficient by governments and industry but long regarded as "sustainable" in most societies, has traditionally fed most people in the world. But it has been devastated in the past 30 years by privatisation and trade liberalisation, which have forced millions of people off the land and into cities.

Saragih blames much of the rural poverty and inequality in Indonesia and elsewhere on the multinational institutions, which, he says, have encouraged a globalised trading and food system at the expense of the environment and people.

"It is clear that the World Bank and the IMF are driving privatisation. Their two instruments are water and resources. The policy in the north is to keep land expensive and exclusive, to make people depend on the food of other places. I call it 'corporate colonialism'. People who used to work on the land now have to work in other countries.

"They [the corporations] regulate land, water and seed through World Bank policies and the liberalisation of the market. They cut our forests and take our coal. But they are not building industry, just exporting. In Indonesia, we are not growing our industries so much as exploiting our natural resources. There is land-grabbing everywhere."

More than 10m hectares of Indonesian forest have been felled to provide palm oil, which is used in hundreds of supermarket products and increasingly for biodiesel around the world, but this has been at the expense of local food production.

The global system is dominated, Saragih says, by corporations working with governments and market institutions against small producers. The result is that 80% of hungry people live in rural areas and half of them belong to the peasantry.

He argues for "food sovereignty", the idea, coined by members of La Via Campesina in 1996, that asserts the right of people to define their own food systems. "It's the best hope we have. We have made food a major issue in social movements around the world and it is now on the political agenda of some countries like Venezuela and Bolivia. But no country in Europe has yet accepted this. We are pressuring governments. We must change the model of agriculture, change the relationship of people with the land. Ownership must become more equitable."

The failures of the market, he says, are hurting the poorest people most. "The price of palm oil is down so farmers are facing difficulties. Because they have been [encouraged] to grow palm oil for export, they don't have land to produce the food. The priority should be to grow food, not palm oil or export crops."

La Via Campesina has been lobbying in Geneva for a UN declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. This would better protect the human rights of peasants and workers, but it is strongly opposed by some European countries and the US. The declaration could take two or more years to negotiate and even then would not be a legally binding convention.

For Saragih, it is all part of La Via Campesina's growing influence. "We have globalised the struggle, made it an international issue. We are attracting people in cities, the homeless and jobless. The struggle of the peasant farmer is now the same as that of people in the city. But we admit, the challenge to change the system is very big."

• Food security
• Land rights

John Vidal
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Model of fracking platform at Liverpool's Fact gallery recreates sounds, tremors and flames of real hydraulic fracturing operation

It is one of the biggest, most polarising issues there is, but artists who have created an indoor fracking installation insist they are not trying to sway opinion either way.

"We want to create an emotionally engaging experience. People can then go away and come to their own conclusions," said Heiko Hansen, who with his partner, Helen Evans, has recreated the sounds, tremors and flames you would get from a fracking operation.

The process of fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – involves drilling a hole deep into the dense shale rocks that contain natural gas, then pumping in vast quantities of water mixed with sand and chemicals at very high pressure.

This opens up tiny fissures in the rock, through which the trapped gas can then escape.

Many shale deposits are buried under aquifers, and if the cement casing around the wellhole is not adequate, then the process of drilling and fracking can release the chemicals into the aquifer. Leaks of methane can occur, leading potentially to fires or explosions. Supporters of fracking say it is the only way of developing domestic gas supplies.

At the gallery space at Liverpool's Fact (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), there is a scale model of the mobile platform that would be used to drill down, and there is a pool of waste water nearby. The experience is eerie and almost otherworldly, and will, they hope, provoke debate.

"We decided to do fracking because it is a pressing issue," said Hansen.

It is particularly relevant in the north-west, where there are large reserves. Centrica has announced £160m investment in fracking fields around Blackpool.

"Everybody talks about fracking," Hansen said, but the iconographic image of it has not yet been found."

Hansen and Evans – who together are known as HeHe – say the installation is realistic.

"Some people today have asked if we're drilling or not. I'll leave it up to people's interpretation," says Hansen.

"You're always forbidden from going to see these things. There are always fences and barriers; you can't touch; you can't come close. It is like nuclear power stations and oil drilling rigs: these are the most sophisticated things ever built but we can't touch them or personally appropriate them. So there is a role for the arts to say: let's do it as a performance to bring people closer."

The Fact director, Mike Stubbs, said: "What struck is a how beautiful it is and how musical it is. It felt more like a fairground ride."

Fact is celebrating 10 years as a pioneering centre for new-media art, and the fracking installation is part of a project called Turning Fact Inside Out.

Elsewhere in the building, the Polish artist Katarzyna Krakowiak has turned the building into a giant listening device, gathering previously hidden sounds that she has put into an enormous chute.

The American artist Steve Lambert is showing a piece called Capitalism Works for Me! True/False in the UK for the first time. It is like a huge carnival sign, and people will be able to vote either way. Last Thursday, capitalism was losing 15 to 6.

Visitors will be able to pedal an installation and watch a screen that will give the impression of cycling around north Liverpool – and then Rotterdam and Madrid.

• Turning Fact Inside Out runs until 25 August.

• Art
• Shale gas and fracking
• Energy
• Fossil fuels
• Gas

Mark Brown
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A weedkiller study has opened a debate on the merit of research by campaign groups versus peer-reviewed science

Should we wait for conclusive scientific studies before becoming concerned about an issue? A report released last week by Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze poses this exact question.

The campaign groups were reporting the results of their small snapshot study that found traces of glyphosate, one of the most widely used weedkillers in the world, in the urine of 182 volunteers living in urban areas across Europe. Glyphosate is known under the brand name Roundup and produced by biotech giant Monsanto.

The study was basic, the sample size was small, the report was unpublished. But could it point to an important issue for further investigation?

Academics denounced the findings as "not scientific", saying the results could not be taken seriously and that campaign groups should submit their work to peer-reviewed journals to provide a "genuine contribution to the debate".

Other scientists refused to comment on the study, saying that without it having gone through the review process there was simply no way of commenting on the findings. There is much to be said for peer-reviewing – having been through it myself I know how rigorous it can be. Though I found the process excruciating for its rigour, ultimately the end result was a far better paper based on more solid science.

But charities and NGOs often don't have the resources or expertise to undertake full scientific studies and publish them in journals. Is it even their role to do so? By producing snapshot studies that simply point to an issue, as long they don't make any grand claims based on their findings, aren't they simply doing their job of raising awareness of issues that affect society and the environment?

Friends of the Earth think so. Vicki Hird, said: "This was never intended to be a scientific paper for peer review – it is a snapshot only and one intended to prompt those who do have the resources to do the necessary testing." She added: "These tests highlight a need for government authorities across Europe to carry out rigorous testing with far bigger samples to discover how widespread this issue is and whether there are any health impacts from low-level exposure."

Some might argue that groups like FoE are our eyes and ears, giving a voice to people, species and issues that could otherwise go unnoticed. They hold powerful companies such as Monsanto to account and stand up for justice in a world where the priority is usually profit. With no profit to be gained from studies such as testing for weedkillers and pesticides in human urine, who else would conduct them?

The role of such organisations is to point out the failings of the regulatory process, not to act as the regulatory process. This is the role of government.

It is also worth noting that anyone can publish studies of this nature to support their agenda, as is often seen with industry research. Research carried out by industry and campaign groups is similar in that there is always the possibility of bias and data being used to support a political position. Does it matter that the two groups are likely to differ in their motives, with one being focused on private profit, sometimes at the expense of the environment or society, and the other geared towards creating positive change for little or no private gain?

Many other reports, figures and statistics we are fed through the media and elsewhere are not peer-reviewed – government figures, industry reports, industry regulator information and even the Office of National Statistics data.

Campaign organisations are campaign organisations, not research organisations or thinktanks. Their job is to raise awareness of issues that affect society, so that action can be taken. However those organisations need to be very careful about what they are claiming based on their findings. And journalists need to be very careful about how they interpret the claims of organisations. But I believe they should be given a voice, not dismissed out of hand for lacking the scientific rigour demanded by professional scientists. I'd be very interested in your views.

• Kara Moses is a freelance journalist

• Controversies
• Agriculture
• Peer review and scientific publishing
• Activism

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Proposals will go before a commission next month to help protect thousands of species in Antarctic waters

An extraordinarily big thing might happen in the world of marine conservation next month at a meeting in Germany of a little known international commission.

And while you probably haven't read much about it, the outcome could see the creation of the two largest areas of protected ocean on the planet that would lock out fishing from more than 1.5 million square kilometres of ocean around the Antarctic.

The areas in question – the Ross Sea and coastal areas in East Antarctica – are almost untouched by the often-clumsy hands of human progress and give a home to thousands of marine species.

Across the two areas are about a million pairs of Adélie penguins, more than a dozen species of whale, more than a third of the world's population of emperor penguins, abundant krill and fish species and the Ross Sea region's top predator – the toothfish, which can grow to two metres weighing 200 kilos (they've evolved special anti-freeze like proteins to survive in the frigid waters). Not to forget a colossal squid species that grows to 14 metres long "with eyes the size of dinner plates".

The setting is a special meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) – a group with a voting membership of 24 countries plus the European Union.

Among the members are Australia, New Zealand, US, UK, Russia, China, Norway and France. Most have interests in the region through fishing or scientific research – or both.

When I say a "special meeting" it really is. This is only the second ever such gathering called by the group – the last one was in 1986. On the agenda from 11 to 17 July are two proposals to create what's called Marine Protected Areas (MPA) within which are allowed varying degrees of activity, from fishing and tourism under restrictions to areas known as "no take" zones.

One proposal comes from Australia, France and the European Union that would create seven MPAs in East Antarctica covering 1.63 million square kilometres.

The US and New Zealand have another proposal to create a single MPA in the Ross Sea of about 2.3 million square kilometres including a "no take" area of 1.6 million square kilometres (for comparison, the UK is 245,000 square kilometres, Texas 696,000 and Queensland and Alaska are both about 1.7 million).

To put these proposals into an ocean context, currently the largest single protected marine area on the planet was declared by Australia last year in the Coral Sea – east of the Great Barrier Reef - covering one million square kilometres.

CCAMLR was formed back in 1982 over concerns at unregulated fishing of krill – the small shrimp-like species that provides the backbone to the Antarctic's food web.

The group already exercises powers to restrict activities in the region, such as setting catch limits for certain species (such as the toothfish) and regulating the type of fishing methods and nets used.

CCAMLR is also a group that only passes "conservation measures" on consensus, which means if one member is against a proposal then the whole thing falls over. There may need to be compromises if either of the plans are to be put in force.

Steve Campbell, who will be at the meeting, is the campaign director at the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, a group bringing together more than 30 conservation groups including WWF, Greenpeace, Pew, Natural Resources Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Humane Society International.

He says "success is not assured" and that there will be a tough set of negotiations at the July meeting.

The main sticking points are likely to be the size of the areas, and how long they are established for. The Alliance believes that marine protection should be permanent and at a large scale.

This is one of the last great ocean wildernesses not completely altered my humanity, and should be protected anyway. The key threats are impacts from climate change including changes in temperature, sea ice, acidification, as well as the potential for increasing commercial fishing as fisheries in other parts of the world become over-exploited.

According to the latest UN Food and Agriculture statistics, almost 30 per cent of global fish stocks are overexploited, and around 57 per cent are fully exploited and only about 13 per cent are not fully exploited. The Southern Ocean contains some of the most intact marine ecosystems on the planet and should be protected.

While Australia obviously supports its own proposal in East Antarctica, its Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr said in March that Australia also supported the Ross Sea plan and he strongly encouraged other commission members to back it.

Australia says that as well as protecting the marine life and habitats in East Antarctica, its own proposal will also create "reference points" for studying the impacts of climate change.

The Antarctic ice sheet covering the continent's bedrock represents about 60 per cent of the world's fresh water. Understanding the behavior of ice shelves, which stretch out from the ice sheets like gigantic tongues over the water beneath, is key to understanding how ice sheets will behave in a warming world.

In turn, this helps scientists to estimate the contribution of melting ice sheets to rising sea levels.

A new study just published in the journal Science has calculate that ice shelves in the Antarctic are melting from beneath, losing 1.3 trillion kilograms of ice a year. Another one trillion kilograms of ice is lost when chunks break off to form icebergs.

One of the study's authors Eric Rignot, of NASA, says that "in a number of places around Antarctica, ice shelves are melting too fast, and a consequence of that is glaciers and the entire continent are changing as well."

Restricting fishing and protecting habitats in Antarctica is well within the reach of CCAMLR, even without these MPAs. Preventing the "untouched" continent from the far longer arm of human-caused climate change is another prospect entirely.

• Oceans
• Climate change
• Antarctica
• Fishing

Graham Readfearn
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A multi-storey home collapses into the overflowing river Ganga in Uttarkashi, a town in Uttarakhand, north India

Study finds improving the energy efficiency of your home through green deal scheme could substantially improve its value

Improving the energy efficiency of your home could increase its value by up to 38 per cent, according to new government figures to be released today.

A study of over 300,000 property sales by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has concluded that installing measures such as loft insulation or efficient boilers to raise a home's energy rating from band G to E could mean adding more than £16,000 to the sale price.

Moreover, the same improvement from band G to E can boost the price by over £25,000 for the average house in the North East and £23,000 in the North West, while London homes could experience a £41,000 uplift.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said the figures showed the "huge potential rewards" of the government's Green Deal scheme, which aims to improve the UK's draughty housing stock by providing financing packages to cover the upfront cost of refurbishments.

"Not only can energy efficient improvements help protect you against rising energy prices, but they can also add real value to your property," Barker said in a statement.

"The Green Deal is helping more people make these types of home improvements, reducing high upfront costs and letting people pay for some the cost through the savings on their bills. The Green Deal is a great option for anyone wanting to improve the look, feel and potentially the value of their home."

Around a third of the UK's emissions come from housing making it one of the most cost effective areas for targetted action to reduce emissions.

While the Green Deal is aimed at tackling the poor levels of energy efficiency found in many homes, the scheme has reportedly suffered relatively low take-up rates to date amidst criticism of the high interest rates attached to the financing packages.

Labour has warned that a household taking out a 25 year Green Deal package worth £10,000 at the standard 6.96 per cent rate of interest would end up repaying close to £21,000 over the course of the loan, potentially undermining some of the resulting increase in house prices.

Industry figures have also revealed a drastic slow down in the roll out of insulation improvements, as previous support schemes have been phased out and the Green Deal has so far failed to replace the demand that has been lost.

However, the government has maintained that interest in the Green Deal is building and has consistently argued that the combination of competitive interest rates and cash incentives makes the scheme an attractive proposition for many households.

• Green deal
• Property
• Consumer affairs
• Energy efficiency
• Energy

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There have been fleeting sightings of the insect since 1950, but no one can be sure it really exists in Britain's countryside

It was, joked Matthew Oates, a "lunatic fringe" mission. Scouring the hedgerows for the caterpillar of a butterfly that has been extinct for more than half a century might not be most people's idea of fun, but Oates, a National Trust naturalist, has spent 50 summers tracking down the most elusive British butterflies.

I joined him in the Isle of Wight this week on the trail of the large tortoiseshell, a powerful and mysterious butterfly which vanished from Britain in the 1950s. Ever since, like big cats or Yeti, there have been fleeting sightings of this secretive insect but no-one can be sure if it is really exists, once again, in our countryside.

For all Oates' joking, however, our journey to a fabulous National Trust wood and meadows by the estuary of Newtown, was not a completely crazy leap of faith. Butterflies are unpredictable creatures and something is stirring again on the Isle of Wight. On St George's day this year, butterfly lovers including Oates saw and photographed several large tortoiseshells in the countryside around Newtown.

They were tatty, which suggested they had hibernated on the island. More excitingly, Oates chanced upon two females. If they found the males, these butterflies would breed.

Almost every year over the past decade, one or two large tortoiseshells have been spotted on the Isle of Wight. Some sightings over the years have been captive specimens released by maverick butterfly breeders but others will have been genuine migrants, crossing the Channel from France. There is only one way to prove that this butterfly has returned to breed in Britain, however: find eggs, caterpillars or pupae.

The trouble, as Oates points out, is that our knowledge of this butterfly's lifestyle has been wiped out: the collectors who remember large numbers from the 1940s are long dead. No one knows what the caterpillar prefers to eat in Britain – it can be found on trees including elm, willow, aspen, cherry and fruit trees – and the chrysalis is almost invisible, resembling a dead leaf.

But if anyone in the country can find large tortoiseshell caterpillars, it is Oates. This is his 50th summer of butterflying and he has devoted his life to understanding some of our rarest insects, especially the purple emperor. I've been with him to hunt for their impossibly camouflaged caterpillars in the autumn and he finds them as if by magic.

We eased ourselves into our large tortoiseshell hunt by visiting Compton Bay, where the rare Glanville fritillary flies. We soon found 40 of this graceful creature.

Oates also demonstrated his caterpillar skills, by locating a Glanville caterpillar on its foodplant, ribwort plantain, which thrives on the fast-eroding cliffs of the island.

I'm passionate about butterflies but I just don't have the skills of someone like Oates, the last of a generation who grew up collecting and breeding butterflies as a boy. Like many whose love of nature was fuelled by a childhood roaming the countryside (reconnecting children with nature is a big theme for the National Trust this summer), Oates became a conservationist when he witnessed butterflies' disappearance from our fields and woods with the rise of industrial agriculture and the planting of conifers in the 1960s and 70s. This, and possibly Dutch elm disease, caused the extinction of the large tortoiseshell.

On the Isle of Wight, young elm is thriving in the hedgerows again and we began our hunt on Elm Lane, where Oates spotted a female large tortoiseshell this spring. We were looking for leaf damage caused by hungry caterpillars or, more dramatically, dirty grey "webs" spun by the large tortoiseshell, who live communally in groups of up to 100.

Next stop was Walter's Copse, the wood where the males and one female had been spotted this spring. "He was last seen here beating up a comma butterfly," said Oates. "Look for the silk web, like that spun by a small tortoiseshell or peacock but up there." He pointed his umbrella at the treetops. "We would pick it up instantly but it's just a question of where would they be."

I was not quite so confident – we had to check so many trees: elm, aspen all trembling in the wind, sallow, crab apple and random fruit trees which popped up in this lovely wood.

"Hello precious!" Oates was suddenly alert. There was a gobbet of white on the top of a sallow. Could it be a large tortoiseshell web? "Massive cuckoo spit. Very exciting," he said, without a trace of disappointment in his voice. "Good. That gets my blood up!"

Unfortunately we couldn't find any caterpillars in Walter's Copse. The next day we walked miles along the gorgeous tumbling hedges that line the tiny unspoilt meadows managed by the National Trust around the village of Newtown. Full of orchids, and the first meadow brown of the year, these fields were a remnant of the wildlife-rich countryside we have lost in the last half-century. "This is my childhood. Welcome to it," sighed Oates with delight.

My eyes felt quite strained by now and despite hedges full of elm, we drew a blank. But it didn't feel fruitless because it was such a joy to spend time in unspoilt countryside. And Oates was far from dismayed.

We had seen plenty of suitable habitat on other parts of the island that other butterfly lovers will hopefully search in the future. With more eyes trained on the island – and some decent weather – the large tortoiseshell may yet be conclusively found gracing our countryside once again.

"I'm convinced it's trying to get back," beamed Oates at the end of our search. "It's trying to come home."

• Butterflies
• Wildlife
• Insects

Patrick Barkham
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Commission report says evidence of rapidly changed climate has strengthened

Floods, bushfires and this year's scorching summer heatwave have raised awareness of the dangers of climate change, but an "infantile" debate over the validity of the science has cost Australia precious time, according to a key Climate Commission expert.

The commission, an independent body that advises the government on climate science, has updated its 2011 The Critical Decade study to analyse the latest findings on climate change and Australia's response to it.

The report is likely to be the Climate Commission's last major contribution if, as expected, the Coalition wins power at the 14 September election. Opposition leader Tony Abbott has signalled that he will scrap the commission , along with the carbon price, if he becomes prime minister.

The commission's updated analysis states that evidence of a "rapidly changing climate has continued to strengthen over the last two years", including, importantly, the link between climate change and extreme weather events.

"It is clear that the climate system has already shifted, changing conditions for all weather," says the study. "While extreme weather events have always occurred naturally, the global climate system is hotter and wetter than it was 50 years ago. This has loaded the dice toward more frequent and forceful extreme weather events."

In Australia, this has manifested itself in an increase in the duration and frequency of heatwaves, such as this year's .

The country is now also more prone to "extreme fire weather", especially in the densely populated south east, changing rainfall patterns and increased coastal flooding from sea level rises.

The report warns that this climate shift "poses substantial risks for health, property, infrastructure, agriculture and natural ecosystems", with Australia largely "ill-prepared to cope" with frequent extreme weather events.

However, the report states that the last two years has seen an increased understanding of the challenges posed by climate change and also the action, such as leaving the majority of buried Australian coal resources untouched, required to help the world stay below the internationally agreed temperature increase limit of two degrees above pre-industrial levels.

"Extreme weather events tend to focus the mind and change the narrative around climate change," Professor Will Steffen, of the commission, told Guardian Australia.

"The IPCC report that linked extreme weather events to climate change in 2012 was a breakthrough as previously scientists were loathed to link the two. I've certainly noted that when I go up to Queensland, people are fed up cleaning up a once in a 100-year flood and then doing it again next year. People are starting to ask what's going on."

Steffen said that Australia had made progress in its bid to reduce emissions but that vital time has been wasted in the questioning of the validity of climate science.

"I'd love for us to be at the point where Nordic countries are, where the science is accepted in a bipartisan way and the debate is around how to get emissions down," he said.

"I think we've lost valuable time with an infantile debate over the science, which has delayed the inevitable work of getting to the solution. There have been attempts to undermine the science. The science has been attacked and scrutinised and it's stood up."

"Australia is moving to the middle of the pack internationally in terms of what countries are doing on climate change. That's partly due to the carbon price, but also the renewable energy target, energy efficiency and the price of solar PV dropping so people are putting it up solar panels."

"But global emissions are still going up. There are positive signs in Australia but we make it clear in the report that we all need to do more and need to do it quickly."

The Climate Commission report states the best estimate for average annual land warming across Australia to be one degree by 2030, compared to the 1980 to 1999 average. However, with around 90% of the planet's extra heart soaked up by the oceans, rising sea levels and the impact on ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef will also prove significant.

• Australia
• Climate change
• Natural disasters and extreme weather
• Flooding
• Wildfires
• Sea level

Oliver Milman
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The photo is an earless lizard native to the area.  They are characterized by having no external ear openings, presumably to prevent sand from entering the body as they dig.  And yes, even without ears, they are able to listen.  Church was cancelled today so I worshipped with my other church family in Raytown, MO.  http://www.rivercentral.org/  Pastor John Wiley had a wonderful message about training yourself to prepare your heart to hear the Word of God...a habit worth working on.  He has much to offer if you learn to ask with all your heart and are able to listen for the answer. 

Proverbs 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.    

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found , call ye upon him while he is near:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish , neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.   

Open letter: Recent laws allowing hunting and logging in our parks are misguided. Our reserves protect biological diversity and shouldn't be used otherwise

Business and energy minister plans to announce initiative for raising further funds for sector at Paris air show on Monday

The government will vow to help Britain capitalise on fast-growing global demand for new aerospace technologies when it unveils plans for up to £25m of research funding at the Paris air show on Monday.

The funds mark the latest move by ministers to try to maintain Britain's position as Europe's leading aerospace manufacturer. Business and energy minister Michael Fallon will use the biggest event in the industry calendar, where manufacturers hope to secure billions of pounds worth of orders, to outline how companies can compete for funds.

As the government struggles to rebalance Britain's economy away from a dependence on the services and public sectors towards manufacturing and exports, it sees the aerospace sector as a crucial driver for long-term growth. The £25m is part of a government commitment of some £1.6bn over the next 10 years to back its industrial strategy.

Announcing the initiative, which will require matching funds from winning businesses, Fallon will emphasise the government's commitment to funding innovation in the sector. "If we are to get ahead of the game we must create the right conditions now that incentivise businesses to invest in the UK and develop new, exciting products," he will say.

"This new funding will help to do just that and also ensure a high level of quality projects receive the support they need to get off the ground."

The Paris air show is the largest aerospace industry event in the world, according to the organisers. It launched in 1909, featured its first flying displays in 1946 and was the venue for the unveiling of Concorde and the Boeing 747 in 1969.

Held at Le Bourget airport, where Charles Lindbergh landed on the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris in 1927, this week's show is the 50th and will bring together 2,215 exhibitors and 351,000 visitors.

Fallon is targeting small and medium-sized aerospace suppliers who will be invited later in the year to submit bids for a share of the fund. It is the first such call on the £2bn of joint government and industry funding pledged over seven years to create a UK Aerospace Technology Institute.

Among the institute's aims are safeguarding 115,000 jobs and the development of aircraft that are quieter and more energy-efficient.

• Michael Fallon
• Aeronautics
• Energy

Katie Allen
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Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 16 June 1913

An Oldham reader asks a simple question which is difficult to answer – where near Manchester can children gather a fair variety of flowers? It is mid-June, and there are flowers everywhere in variety and abundance just beyond the regions of brick and mortar; a short train or tram journey and the field and lanes are reached, and there are the flowers. Fields by the rivers Mersey, Bollin, or even Irwell, lanes in the Pennine foothills, the moors above them, the pastures and dales of Derbyshire, all have their characteristic and plentiful floras. The full foliage has lost its spring freshness, even the yellow tint of youth is fading on the oak; summer's maturity is deepening greens, replacing the delicate shades or bright gloss of adolescence. Some of the spring flowers have vanished, many of the autumn blossoms are not yet in bud, but the summer flowers – typical of maturity, like youths and maidens who have left youth behind – are everywhere. When grass is short and undergrowth scanty in wood and lane the first spring flowers are very noticeable but now, in wealth of summer leafage, indeed in their very abundance, we fail to appreciate the increase. Look at the grass field, where the oxeyes tower above the spurreys, buttercups, clovers, and flowering grasses themselves; look in the woods at the bugle and forget-me-not; on the short turf of the hillside, at the eyebrights, milkworts, cinquefoils, pansies, bedstraws, and saxifrages; at the nodding avens, hogweed, chervil, and ranunculus in the ditch; at the blue veronicas on the bank, with the pink tinged wild rose and sweet honeysuckle opening above the. Spring is joining hands with autumn, for the buds on the foxglove spike are showing colour before the last blue hyacinth had fruited or the white garlic vanished from the wood.

• Rural affairs
• Wild flowers

Thomas Coward
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