Environment

Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021

Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.

The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021.

A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissions

Last week the Irish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Ireland will miss its 2020 international emissions target by a wide margin. The goal is 20% cuts on 2005 levels; in reality we’re on track for 1%.

By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.

Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight plastic shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.

But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be?

Summer tourists cause a 40% spike in plastic marine litter in the region, new figures reveal

Tourists are being urged to reduce their use of plastic as new figures reveal holidaymakers cause a 40% spike in marine litter in the Mediterranean each summer.

Nearly all the waste created by the surge in tourism over the summer months in countries like Italy, France and Turkey is plastic litter, says WWF in a new report.

This week marked World Environment day and World Ocean day, both of which highlighted plastic global pollution as the most urgent problem facing our planet. So as a parody of our popular Week in wildlife gallery, from dead pelicans to trapped turtles and garbage-eating cows, we bring you ... the Week in plastic.

Windfall of $1bn shows state remains reliant on resources even amid renewables push

Surging coal prices will help to underwrite the upcoming Queensland budget. The state is expected to announce it has earned about $1bn more than initially forecast from royalties.

The windfall will help the Palaszczuk Labor government pay for infrastructure spending and handouts in next week’s budget, and will likely speed up the state’s projected return to surplus.

8 June 1961: A light-buoy, or beacon, which derives its power from the sun is being developed with some success

A striking mark of faith in the British climate has been made by the engineers of Trinity House, who are developing with success a form of light-buoy or beacon which derives its power from the sun.

Dan Wenk is being used as an example to undermine culture of conservation, say former park service workers

The superintendent of Yellowstone national park says he has been forced out of his job by the Trump administration over his wildlife advocacy.

“It’s a hell of a way to be treated at the end of four decades spent trying to do my best for the park service and places like Yellowstone, but that’s how these guys are,” said Dan Wenk, referring to the US interior department. “Throughout my career, I’ve not encountered anything like this, ever.”

Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey

The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder.

The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “new tourism experiences” to compensate for lost visitors and the likelihood of further damage to the climate-threatened reef.

Agriculture minister says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’

The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we first tilled the soil in Australia” and he does not care whether the change is due to human activity or not.

The lava entered Green Lake at 10 a.m. local time and had evaporated all the water by 3 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

(Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey via AP)

A community of Mexican nuns have formed an unlikely partnership with British conservationists to save an endangered amphibian species. Achoques once thrived in Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third largest lake, but they are now close to extinction due to introduced fish species and deforestation.  The nuns, who use the lizard-like animal to create a special cough medicine, have been breeding them in their convent. The sisters are part of an official breeding network that includes Chester zoo in the UK and the Michoacana University of Mexico

Simon Crump, Benoit Compin and Fran Grace walk free after contempt of court ruling relating to city tree felling

Three tree campaigners have avoided jail after being found in contempt of court for demonstrating against tree-felling work in Sheffield.

Simon Crump, Benoit Benz Compin, and Fran Grace were taken to court by the city’s council as part of a long-running dispute over the city’s plans to fell up to 17,000 trees.

There’s a lot of fear around abandoning an industry that has been an economic driver for decades – yet the rest of the world is moving on

Today, I will gratefully accept an honorary degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. This is special to me, as it’s where I spent some of my early years as a scientist and kicked off my career in broadcasting.

The university is in the heart of Canada’s oil country, and the degree has stirred controversy. But it has little to do with the degree itself or my views on the oilsands, and everything to do with how difficult it is to have an honest, respectful, science-based discussion about Canada’s energy future.

Researchers find the daily migrations of brine shrimp is strong enough to mix ocean waters

When we think of global warming and climate change, most of us ignore the impacts that animals have on the environment. Climate affects animals, but is the reverse true? Can animals affect the climate?

I don’t know how to answer that question definitively, but I was fortunate enough to read a very recent paper from a top fluid dynamics research team from Stanford. The team, led by Dr. John Dabiri, is well known for their work on bio-inspired flow. Part of what they study is the influence of living organisms on fluid flow, especially flow of water in the oceans.

From the birth of cyclotourisme to moon landings and the rise of 1990s mountain biking these mechanical marvels have played a small but crucial role

If your bike has gears, the chances are it also has derailleurs. These mechanical marvels which move the chain when you move up or down a gear may be a small part of the bicycle, but the myriad designs reveal a lot about the history of cycling. Over the nearly 40 years I’ve spent working in bike shops, I have collected about 1,400 rear derailleurs. Here are just 10 of the most influential, interesting or just plain weird.

Le Chemineau, France, 1912

Researchers are genetically engineering plants to produce the sex pheromones of insects, which then frustrate the pests’ attempts to mate

“Sexy plants” are on the way to replacing many harmful pesticides, scientists say, by producing the sex pheromones of insects which then frustrate pests’ attempts to mate.

Scientists have already genetically engineered a plant to produce the sex pheromones of moths and are now optimising that, as well as working on new pheromones such as those of the mealybugs that plague citrus growers.

The eagles – and four other protected species – are alleged to have been poisoned

More than 100 wedge-tailed eagles have been found on a farm in eastern Victoria, prompting a criminal investigation.

Officers from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) found the carcasses on a property at Tubbut, which is on the edge of the Snowy River national park near the New South Wales border in East Gippsland.

Environment groups condemn legislation protecting feral horses in national park

Australia has become a “global laughing stock” after the New South Wales parliament passed legislation to protect the heritage of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, environment groups say.

The Berejiklian government, with support from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and the Christian Democrats, passed the Kosciuszko wild horse heritage bill 2018 through the NSW Legislative Council late on Wednesday.

Nation’s two largest Islamic organisations will call on network of 100 million followers to reduce plastic waste and reuse bags

Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest marine polluters, has decided to get religious – literally – about reducing plastic waste.

Related: Antarctica: plastic contamination reaches Earth's last wilderness