The Guardian

Helen Browning’s Organic says it is switching to Danish suppliers owing to bureaucracy, delays and costs

• How Brexit added layers of bureaucracy to meat exports

A UK food company whose products appear on the shelves of the country’s largest supermarkets has decided to stop using British pork in its sausages because of the post-Brexit complications of moving meat across borders.

After two disastrous attempts since January to send British pork to Germany, where it is made into 75 tonnes of organic sausages annually, the firm behind Helen Browning’s Organic says it has been forced to drop its support for UK farmers and switch to Danish suppliers.

Thinktank reports that northern UK cities are lagging behind on development of clean air zones

The delayed introduction of measures to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis will exacerbate the glaring health inequalities and entrench the north-south divide, according to a report.

Several local authorities in the north have scrapped or deferred plans to introduce clean air zones, regarded as the best way to tackle toxic air, while cities in other parts of the UK are pressing ahead with the schemes to limit dirty vehicles.

Once-in-a-century weather extremes could become commonplace by 2080 unless carbon emissions are curbed

Once-in-a-century weather extremes that pose the highest danger of wildfires could occur every year in parts of the UK as the climate changes, scientists warn.

A study led by the University of Reading aimed to predict how the danger of blazes taking hold would increase as a result of rising temperatures and less summer rainfall in the UK in the coming decades.

I was taught to use my head, not my heart. But acknowledging sadness at what is lost can help us safeguard the future

Over the course of my career, the climate crisis has changed from something only experts could see – reading clues trapped in frozen air bubbles or statistical patterns in long-term data sets – to something that everyone on Earth is living through. For me, it has gone from being something I study to a way that I see the world and experience my life. It’s one thing to publish a study on the hypothetical impact of increasing temperature on California’s people and ecosystems; it’s another to feel my stomach gripped by fear as my parents flee a catastrophic California wildfire cranked up by longer, hotter, drier summers.

Bearing witness to the demise or death of what we love has started to look an awful lot like the job description for an environmental scientist these days. Over dinner, my colleague Ola Olsson matter‑of‑factly summed up his career: “Half the wildlife in Africa has died on my watch.” He studied biodiversity because he loved animals and wanted to understand and protect them. Instead his career has turned into a decades-long funeral.

As a scientist, I was trained to be calm, rational, and objective, to focus on the facts, supporting my claims with evidence and showing my reasoning to colleagues to tear apart in peer review. I was trained to use my brain but not my heart; to report methods and statistics and findings but not how I felt about them. In graduate school, I was surrounded by brilliant, serious men who spoke in even, measured tones about the loss of California snowpack and crop yields; I tried to do the same.

I felt my credibility as a scientist was on the line, as was the respect of those who would sit on my future hiring committee and determine whether I would get a tenure- track job. I internalised the idea that scientists should be “policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.” I was not supposed to have a preference, much less an emotional attachment, to one outcome or another, even on matters of life and death; that was for “policymakers” to decide. (This reticence goes against the wishes of 60% of Americans, as expressed in Pew Research polling, that scientists take an active role in policy debates about scientific issues.)

My dispassionate training has not prepared me for the increasingly frequent emotional crises of climate change. What do I tell the student who chokes up in my office when she reads that 90% of the seagrasses she’s trying to design policies to protect are slated to be killed by warming before she retires? In such cases, facts are cold comfort. The skill I’ve had to cultivate on my own is to find the appropriate bedside manner as a doctor to a feverish planet; to try to go beyond probabilities and scenarios, to acknowledge what is important and grieve for what is being lost.

Tree-planting can also increase health risks if it focuses too narrowly on small number of species, paper says

Outbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas of deforestation and monoculture plantations, according to a study that suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines.

Land use change is a significant factor in the emergence of zoonotic viruses such as Covid-19 and vector-borne ailments such as malaria, says the paper, published on Wednesday in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Climate change is making wet seasons wetter and dry seasons drier. Australia must do its part to lower carbon emissions

A year ago I lived through the Black Summer. I had arrived in Sydney in mid-December 2019 to collaborate with Australian researchers studying the impacts of climate change on extreme weather events. Instead of studying those events, however, I ended up experiencing them.

Even in the confines of my apartment in Coogee, looking out over the Pacific, I could smell the smoke from the massive bushfires blazing across New South Wales. As I flew to Canberra to participate in a special “bushfires” episode of the ABC show Q+A, I witnessed mountains ablaze with fire. One man I met during my stay lost most of his 180-year-old family farm in the fires that ravaged south-east NSW near Milton.

Fast growth of plant-based alternatives means consumption of conventional meat will start to fall

The fast growth of plant-based alternatives to animal products could mean Europe and North America will reach “peak meat” by 2025, at which point consumption of conventional meat starts to fall, according to a report.

The study also forecasts that plant-based meats will match regular meat on price by 2023 and that nine out of 10 of the world’s favourite dishes – from pepperoni pizza to sushi – will have realistic alternatives by 2035.

Skye Neville’s campaign against throwaway toys spurs Waitrose into action

Some campaigns take years, even decades to achieve change. Not for Skye Neville, a 10-year-old from a Welsh seaside town who in November became outraged at the cheap plastic toys that came attached to her favourite magazines.

Four months on, her campaign against throwaway toys has won plaudits from politicians, environmental activists and children’s champions – and has now prompted action from Waitrose, which has vowed to stop selling children’s magazines containing “disposable” toys, crediting Skye with the inspiration.

To prevent catastrophe, governments must transform our resilience to climate breakdown, AI and engineered pandemics

It is profoundly difficult to grapple with risks whose stakes may include the global collapse of civilisation, or even the extinction of humanity. The pandemic has shattered our illusions of safety and reminded us that despite all the progress made in science and technology, we remain vulnerable to catastrophes that can overturn our entire way of life. These are live possibilities, not mere hypotheses, and our governments will have to confront them.

As Britain emerges from Covid-19, it could find itself at the forefront of the response to future disasters. The government’s recent integrated review, Britain’s taking of the G7 presidency and the Cop26 climate conference, which will be hosted in Glasgow later this year, are all occasions to address global crises. But in order to ensure that the UK really is prepared, we need to first identify the biggest risks that we face in the coming decades.

Cloud seeding involves adding small particles of silver iodide to clouds to spur rainfall – but will it work?

With three-quarters of the US west gripped by a seemingly ceaseless drought, several states are increasingly embracing a drastic intervention – the modification of the weather to spur more rainfall.

Related: Climate crisis: recent European droughts 'worst in 2,000 years'

Without a clear plan for what he wants to achieve, Boris Johnson risks becoming a bystander at a crucial world summit

In November Boris Johnson will host the most important global meeting ever to take place on UK soil. The outcomes of this UN summit on climate change, known as Cop26, will help shape the fates of billions of people for decades to come. For the UK it is also the first big stress-test of its new role in the world after leaving the EU.

Superficially the chances of success appear high. The US, China, EU, UK and 97 other countries have now stated that by mid-century their overall emissions of carbon dioxide will be zero. The economics are aligned: coal, oil and gas companies are increasingly poor performers, while renewables companies are booming. The escalating costs of climate emergency coupled with the increasingly obvious benefits of an energy transition are rapidly altering the calculus of what is possible.

Climate impact, such as use of biofuels, to be taken into account when calculating charges, says government

Sweden plans to charge airlines more at takeoff and landing if their aircrafts are more polluting, the government has said.

The measure is set to go into effect in July and means that newer and more efficient aircraft will benefit from the scheme while older planes will be hit with higher fees.

Bylaw supported by David Attenborough protects large area of seabed to allow kelp to regrow

Damaging trawl fishing has been banned in more than 100 square miles of seabed off Sussex to help once vast kelp forests recover.

A new bylaw has been approved to prohibit trawling year round over large areas along the entire Sussex coast closest to the shore, to help habitats regenerate and improve fisheries, Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) said.

Kate Fotheringham’s wedding plans didn’t include a natural disaster, but even that wasn’t going to stop the ceremony

When Kate Fotheringham promised her husband-to-be she wouldn’t be late to their wedding ceremony she could not have guessed a once-in-a-century flood might keep them apart.

On Saturday morning, Kate woke up to a nightmare when rising flood waters on the New South Wales mid-north coast left her trapped at her parents’ home just outside the regional town of Wingham.

Deep Branch aims to create protein that will replace the use of soy, which has been linked to deforestation

A UK company that turns carbon dioxide into protein to be used for animal feed has raised €8m (£6.8m) in funding as it seeks to displace the use of deforestation-linked soy by farmers.

Carbon and hydrogen are fed to a microorganism in a fermentation process similar to what you would see in a brewery. But rather than alcohol, the output is a high-value protein that can be dried and converted into pellets to feed animals.

Research in Australian bay shows absence of apex predators can exacerbate extreme climate damage

Sharks are critical in helping ecosystems recover from extreme climatic events, according to a new study.

The conclusions came after scientists were able to determine the importance of the apex predator to a unique ecosystem following an extreme marine heatwave in 2011, which wiped out a quarter of one of the world’s largest and most biodiverse seagrass meadows in Shark Bay, Western Australia.

Damning assessment of ‘disastrous’ scheme is a blow to plans for reaching net zero emissions

The UK government’s flagship home insulation scheme, intended to kickstart a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, has been botched, disastrous in administration, devastating in some of its impacts, and stands in urgent need of rescue, an influential committee of MPs has said.

Their outspoken criticism is a blow to the government’s plans for reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions, and comes as ministers prepare to host vital UN climate talks – called Cop26 – in Glasgow this November.

Report reveals more than 250 deals between high-carbon industries and leading sports teams

Polluting industries are pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into sports sponsorship in an attempt to “sports-wash” their role in the climate crisis, according to the authors of a report published on Monday.

The study reveals more than 250 advertising and sponsorship deals between some of the biggest corporate polluters and leading sports teams and organisation.

Three weather systems are colliding to cause extreme rainfall and flooding across New South Wales, with intense rainfall likely to continue until late on Tuesday.

The state’s mid-north coast is facing a once-in-a-century flood and residents are bracing for the worst.

Some areas of the northern NSW coast have had more than 70cm of rain since last Thursday.

• Follow all the latest updates on our live weather blog
• Residents evacuated after Sydney’s Warragamba Dam overflows – video

Arachnids join army of creatures scrambling to reach higher ground as waters rise on Australia’s east coast

• Follow the NSW floods liveblog
• NSW pounded by rain as residents along Hawkesbury brace for worst flooding in 50 years

A carpet of brown greeted Matt Lovenfosse as he pulled up to his home on Monday morning. “So I went out to have a look, and it was millions of spiders,” he told Guardian Australia.

The spiders were running ahead of flood water rising up from Kinchela Creek, pouring across the back of Lovenfosse’s property on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.