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Further steps have been taken to clean up beaches and seas in 2019 – but much more needs to be done

The beach at Muncar on the island of Java was revolting. The 400-yard wide, mile-long stretch of sand was feet deep in foul-smelling sauce sachets, shopping bags, nappies, bottles and bags, plastic clothes and detergent bottles. Bulldozers had cleared away and buried some of the huge mat of plastic and sand two years ago, but every tide since then had washed up more rubbish from the ocean, and every day tonnes more plastic was washed down the rivers from upstream towns and villages. Now it was fouling the fishing boats’ propellers.

“We fear for the future,” one elderly woman said. She remembered Muncar only a decade ago as one of the most picturesque towns in Indonesia and a tourist hotspot. “If it carries on like this we will be buried in plastic. We have no choice but to throw plastic into the rivers. Now we are angry. Something must be done,” she said.

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More people make ‘free returns’ each year, contributing to greenhouse-gas emissions – and many items end up in landfills

Millions of Americans will head post office this month, unwanted holiday gifts in hand. But while it may be convenient to return that ugly sweater from your mom, that ease comes at a huge cost to the environment.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) predicts that it will process a record 1.9 million returns on 2 January, which it has dubbed National Returns Day. More than half (55%) of Americans said they planned on returning unwanted holiday gifts within a month of receiving them, according to a survey published by the National Retail Federation.

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My brother-in-law Alan Christie, who has died aged 68 after suffering from a heart condition, was a proponent of corporate social responsibility and for many years the director of community affairs at Levi’s. He helped to pioneer work that set the tone for the way in which multinational businesses funded efforts to combat Aids.

At Levi’s from 1988 to 2004, he expanded the company’s grant funding programme to support early projects to beat Aids and to promote education about Aids/HIV, particularly in southern Africa.

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Scott Morrison acknowledged the link between reducing emissions and protecting environments against worsening bushfire seasons, but despite mounting criticism maintained his government's current policies struck the right balance. Speaking at his first press conference since 29 December, the Australian prime minister said he understood people's frustrations but urged them to remain calm

• PM Scott Morrison defends climate policies and asks Australians to be 'patient' over fires
  
• NSW state of emergency declared as 17 missing in Victoria bushfires – as it happened
  

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Britain’s milder weather is attracting exotic guests. While we may celebrate their arrival now it should also alert us to what’s ahead

Mediterranean egrets balancing on the backs of cows, multicoloured moths the size of a human hand, and impossibly exotic bee-eaters hawking for insects under English skies. All are here as a direct consequence of the climate crisis, which has allowed continental European species to extend their ranges northwards, and then make the leap across the Channel to gain a foothold in southern Britain.

Whenever I take a walk along the disused railway line across the Avalon marshes, near my Somerset home, I can’t help noticing these new arrivals. Tall and elegant, great white egrets first arrived here from France just a few years ago; now I encounter them every time I visit. Down the road, at the Somerset Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Catcott Lows, flocks of cattle egrets – the same species we see in wildlife films from Africa – gather to feed, perched appropriately on the backs of cattle. Elsewhere on the marshes, secretive night herons and little bitterns have also bred in recent years.

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An Australian magpie  has been caught on camera mimicking the sound of emergency vehicle sirens during the bushfire crisis affecting large parts of the country. Almost 400 homes have been confirmed as destroyed in New South Wales alone in the past week, with thousands of people told to evacuate coastal communities. The Australian magpie, voted bird of the year by Guardian Australia readers in 2019, is well known for mimicking the sounds it hears most frequently, such as dogs and car alarms.  

Australian bushfires: nine dead and hundreds of properties destroyed

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The town of Conjola Park on the south coast of New South Wales is in ruins after a blaze ripped through on 31 December. On Thursday, a major operation to reach thousands of people stranded in fire-ravaged south coast seaside towns was under way after deadly bushfires ripped through popular tourist spots and rural areas

• Latest updates: RFS warns south coast tourists to leave as Victoria bushfires continue

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A trial where hydrogen is added to natural gas raises hopes of a low-carbon heating revolution.

A former software analyst and rising opera star has penned a song for the Red Planet.

Exclusive: Concerns about groundwater security at Cherrabah overridden by Campbell Newman’s government

Queensland government experts raised repeated warnings about the long-term sustainability of groundwater extraction at a southern Queensland property which has since been approved to operate as a commercial water mine.

The approval for the 96m litre a year bottled water extraction operation at Cherrabah – in a severely drought-hit area where locals are on water rations and communities at imminent risk of running dry – has raised significant questions about the oversight and regulation of critical water resources in Queensland.

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Carbon Pulse is looking for a Climate and Energy Correspondent to help us bolster and expand our coverage of the EU ETS and other energy and environmental markets, as well as climate and energy policy at a national, EU, and international level.

The Senior Manager, Climate and Financial Regulation will support Ceres’ newly launched Financial Regulators strategy which is aimed at getting US market regulators to address climate change and other sustainability issues as a financial risk. 

The REDD+ and LEDS Specialist will support The Government of Malawi to implement and institutionalize key systems, tools, and technologies that will provide the requisite information base for improved forest monitoring; support REDD+ readiness and forest landscape restoration efforts; and inform sustainable wood fuel supply strengthening within targeted forest reserves.

The Program Officer is a technical role within the American Carbon Registry (ACR), contributing to all aspects of ACR services, including, but not limited to ensuring the highest level of quality for all ACR-registered projects and related offset credits issued by ACR.

Plans for a new mission come months after the Chandrayaan-2 failed to land on the Moon.

A Yorkshire village’s sense of community remains unbroken amid damaged homes, insurance battles and debris

Until November, Fishlake, a small and sleepy Doncaster village with only a couple of cafes, a pub and a church at its heart, was little known to most outside the area.

But after heavy rainfall brought parts of northern England and the Midlands to a standstill, it became the centre of a media frenzy. Approximately 140 of about 200 homes in the village were swamped in sewage-contaminated floodwater after the River Don burst its banks.

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Australia’s south-east devastated by fires that have left nine people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed since Christmas

• Australia’s bushfire towns battle on, despite what they have lost: supplies, power, houses, ‘the lot’

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Winning images from the year’s national and international wildlife photography competitions

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New rules introduced by International Maritime Organisation expected to reduce certain forms of air pollution

Sulphur will be cut drastically from global shipping transport fuels in 2020, in a move that should reduce some forms of air pollution, and may help towards tackling the climate emergency – but which could also lead to a rise in the price of flights.

From 1 January 2020, ships will only be allowed to use fuel oil with a very low sulphur content, under rules brought in by the International Maritime Organisation. This cut in sulphur content has been more than a decade in the planning, and almost all shipping around the world is expected to comply, or face penalties.

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Residents of Australia’s capital are told to stay indoors and brace for more smog in the coming days

Canberra has experienced its worst air quality on record, as bushfire smoke became trapped by atmospheric conditions and residents were told to stay indoors and brace for more smog in the coming days.

The ACT’s acting chief health officer, Dr Paul Dugdale, said the smoke was the worst since the 2003 bushfires and was “certainly the worst” since air quality monitoring started in the city 15 years ago.

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