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Those dedicated to going plastic-free wonder how to dispose of cat litter or buy cleaning products sans packaging. Share your problems – and solutions

• Going plastic-free is as easy as calico bags and reusable coffee cups
  

Plastic has become an environmental disaster. Microplastic pollution has been found in our waterways, fish stocks, salt, tap water and even the air we breathe. Reducing our reliance on plastic by refusing it wherever possible has never been more important, especially as Australia’s recycling system is in crisis.

Yet there are conundrums that continue to defeat even those dedicated to going plastic-free. From bin liners to takeaway containers, Guardian Australia has tried to solve them. And we want to hear from you: share your plastic conundrums and the solutions. We’ll round up the best ideas for a follow-up article.

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Larger-than-expected population in Africa gives hope for species survival, scientists say, but animal remains critically endangered

There are far more gorillas left in the world than previously thought, according to a landmark new survey, with numbers as much as double earlier estimates.

However, their populations are continuing to fall fast, down 20% in just eight years, leaving them critically endangered. Furthermore, 80% of the remaining gorilla troops do not live in protected areas, leaving them vulnerable to the threats the researchers summarise as “guns, germs and [felled] trees”.

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Low-lying atolls around the world will be overtaken by sea-level rises within a few decades, according to a new study

Hundreds of thousands of people will be forced from their homes on low-lying islands in the next few decades by sea-level rises and the contamination of fresh drinking water sources, scientists have warned.

A study by researchers at the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Deltares Institute in the Netherlands and Hawaii University has found that many small islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans will be uninhabitable for humans by the middle of this century. That is much earlier than previously thought.

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Fourteen galaxies pile into a small region of space... only one can emerge.

A European space telescope measures the precise positions and distances to over one billion stars.

A new study says dozens at the Oland island fort were killed and left to rot where they fell.

EU carbon prices are not rising to more elevated levels fast enough, France said on Wednesday after meeting with a small group of member states, reiterating its call for a bloc-wide carbon price floor starting with Europe's power sector.

Monthly revenues from EU carbon allowance auctions have for the first time topped the €1 billion mark, providing a major funding injection for governments as EUA prices hold near seven-year highs.

The French president received more than one standing ovation in his remarks to Congress on climate change.

Things are unusually quiet in Oklahoma and Kansas this year as 2018 could see the latest start to the tornado season on record.

German-based energy exchange EEX increased turnover from its European environmental markets business by more than 50% in financial year 2017 after posting a sharp rise in secondary market CO2 trading volumes.

The UK is looking at its own sat-nav system if the EU locks it out of Galileo because of Brexit.

This is a senior role, working closely with colleagues in Sales, Software Development and Programme Management, and reporting to the CEO. The role combines team management with significant client-facing responsibilities associated with the planning and delivery of outputs, plus support to sales and client relationship development.

EU carbon prices lifted to their highest levels so far this week as recent auction weakness appeared to dissipate following a spate of bearish sales.

China and the EU on Wednesday launched the three-year second phase of their emissions trading cooperation programme, a €10-million EU effort to help the world’s biggest-emitting nation to develop and launch its national cap-and-trade system.

Could the carbon credit scheme help to save rural and degraded landscapes?

Over 600 NAS members called out ‘the Trump Administration’s denigration of scientific expertise’

Anyone who has read this column over the past five years knows that I tend to be unfettered in my criticism of people who lie and distort climate science to further their political ideologies. At the same time, I believe that the majority of climate sceptics are not willfully wishing to damage this precious Earth that we call home. I believe that there are common areas we can all agree on to take meaningful action to protect the Earth’s environment and build a new energy future; even for people who do not understand climate change or climate science.

But with the election of Donald Trump and his ushering in people who are openly hostile to the planet and future generations, my position has been strained (to say the least). We have had more than a year to observe President Trump’s efforts to roll back Obama-era regulations on pollution from coal plants, weaken pollution standards for motor vehicles, become the only country in the world to reject the Paris climate accord, and gut our climate science budget so that we become blind to what is actually happening.

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Royal Dutch Shell wants to cut its own climate emissions in half by 2050 - a target wiped out by burning one month’s worth of their fossil fuels

If you’re a millennial, the global oil and gas company Shell will have been most pleased if you’d seen one their #makethefuture music videos.

Twice now Shell have lined up superstars including Jennifer Hudson, Pixie Lott and Yemi Alade to sing about solar panels, hydrogen cars, clean cooking stoves and lights powered by a bag of rocks and gravity.

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Friends of the Earth says countryside would be industrialised with a new well fracked daily until 2035

More than 6,000 shale gas wells would be needed to replace half the UK’s gas imports over a 15-year period, according to a new report.

The nascent UK fracking industry has argued that growing reliance on gas from Norway and Qatar necessitates developing home-produced supplies in addition to North Sea output.

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Exclusive: The prime minister says the UK leads the world on climate action, but Foreign Office officials dedicated to the issue have plunged since 2016

The number of full-time officials dedicated to climate change in the Foreign Office has dropped by almost 25% in the two years since Boris Johnson became foreign secretary, according to data released under freedom of information (FoI) rules.

Johnson has also failed to mention climate change in any official speech since he took the office, in marked contrast to his two predecessors.

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