The Guardian

State found guilty of ‘non-respect of its engagements’ aimed at fighting global warming

A Paris court has convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

In what has been hailed as a historic ruling, the court found the state guilty of “non-respect of its engagements” aimed at combating global warming.

Vicious circle of cheap but damaging food is biggest destroyer of nature, says UN-backed report

The global food system is the biggest driver of destruction of the natural world, and a shift to predominantly plant-based diets is crucial in halting the damage, according to a report.

Agriculture is the main threat to 86% of the 28,000 species known to be at risk of extinction, the report by the Chatham House thinktank said. Without change, the loss of biodiversity will continue to accelerate and threaten the world’s ability to sustain humanity, it said.

Antarctic bergs travelling north spark changes in ocean circulations and affect composition of our atmosphere

How does an ice age start? We know that changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun alter the amount of solar energy reaching our planet, but it has long been a mystery as to how this triggers such a dramatic change in the climate. A study shows that Antarctic icebergs may be responsible for tipping the balance.

Aidan Starr, from Cardiff University, and his team analysed sediments recovered by the International Ocean Discovery Program from the ocean floor south of South Africa. Within those sediments were tiny fragments of rock dropped by melting Antarctic icebergs. By studying the chemistry of the tiny deep-sea fossils found throughout the sediment core, the scientists were able to show that when climate conditions enabled icebergs to travel this far north they made the North Atlantic fresher and the Southern Ocean saltier.

The Oakey Coal Action Alliance, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, wins long-running legal case

Activists have had a victory in the high court, which has upheld an appeal to have the expansion of the New Acland coalmine in Queensland’s Darling Downs reassessed by the state’s land court.

The Oakey Coal Action Alliance, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, won its long-running legal case in a judgment handed down on Wednesday.

African wild dog pups are a dim black and look ancient, like old bronze, like the Capitoline Wolf

The African painted dog – also known as a wild dog or painted wolf – has ears that look as though they have been stitched together by a mad old toymaker. They are huge, bristly black disks – stretched upwards slightly and delicately pinned so that they form shallow bowls. At their bases are tufts of white bristles, for luck.

As a child in South Africa, I was forced more than once to watch – on a large pull-down projector screen in the school hall while it rained outside – Paljas, a uniquely, skin-crawlingly kitsch film set in a dusty railroad town that is visited by a travelling circus.

A continent-wide rail renaissance can play a vital part in the battle to meet net zero climate targets

The avant garde German band Kraftwerk understood perfectly the special pleasures of cross-border train travel. The spare lyrics to their 1977 classic Trans-Europe Express celebrated the frissons that come with being stylishly on the move: “Rendezvous on Champs-Élysées / Leave Paris in the morning with T-E-E / In Vienna we sit in a late-night cafe / Straight connection T-E-E.”

Cool, sleek and, in its day, ineffably modern, the Trans Europe Express stopped running in 1995. Scores of other international rail links have gone the same way, priced out of the market by low-cost air travel. There is no longer, for example, a direct train route between Paris and Berlin. To travel the 600km between Madrid and Lisbon requires three changes and can take 11 hours. In Britain, the possibilities provided by the Channel tunnel have been underexplored for the same reason: rock-bottom short-haul air fares have turned continental rail travel into an eccentric and expensive pleasure for romantics with deep pockets.

Collapse of wall at Mogden treatment works on Friday led to wastewater entering Duke of Northumberland’s River in Isleworth

An MP is calling for Thames Water to compensate residents in west London after part of a wall in one of the largest sewage works in the UK collapsed, and homes and gardens were flooded with untreated sewage.

Residents living along the Duke of Northumberland’s River in Isleworth had gardens and homes flooded as foul-smelling water poured down the waterway on Friday.

Danish team predict possible 1.35m rise by 2100 and highlight issues with previous modelling

The rise in the sea level is likely to be faster and greater than previously thought, according to researchers who say recent predictions are inconsistent with historical data.

In its most recent assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the sea level was unlikely to rise beyond 1.1 metre (3.6ft) by 2100.

Waste policy, climate adaptation and reform of conservation laws top government agenda, letter reveals

The Morrison government has nominated waste policy, climate adaptation and reform of national conservation laws as its environmental priorities for 2021, prompting criticism that it is not focused enough on improving the plight of the country’s declining wildlife and threatened species.

In a letter to her state and territory counterparts, the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, said the prime minister had written to her suggesting “three critical priorities” for the year. She asked her counterparts for their feedback.

Protesters told to immediately stop tunnelling under London station and give details of people down there

An emergency application to the high court by environmental protesters to stop HS2 evicting them from a tunnel close to Euston station because of safety concerns has been rejected by a judge.

Mr Justice Knowles ordered that Larch Maxey, a protester who lodged the application on Monday night, should immediately stop tunnelling and give details about the layouts of the tunnels and how many people were down there.

Six hundred trees to be planted as part of nationwide initiative to bring more precious woodland into cities

A scrap of ground, the size of a tennis court, beside a river in Bristol is being transformed into a “tiny forest” featuring 600 trees as part of a nationwide initiative to bring more precious woodland into cities.

The area, on a plateau next to the River Trym in Southmead, will be one of a string of such projects across the UK featuring trees ranging from mighty oaks to birch, elder, blackthorn and guelder rose.

Campaigners welcome fishing restrictions to help restore habitats including Dogger Bank, but say government must go further

Government proposals to ban destructive bottom trawling fishing in the Dogger Bank, announced on Monday, marked a “really big day” for Britain’s seas, conservationists said.

Under proposed bylaws put out for consultation by Britain’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO), bottom trawling, which involves weighted nets being dragged over the sea bed, would be prohibited in the Dogger Bank special conservation area, alongside three other English marine protected areas (MPAs). There are 40 MPAs in England and 76 in the UK.

Patrick Murfet says he tried to import bees via Northern Ireland but was told they would be destroyed

A beekeeper trying to bring 15 million bees into the UK says he has been told they may be seized and burned because of post-Brexit laws.

Patrick Murfet wants to import the baby Italian bees for his Kent business and to help farmers pollinate valuable crops. But new laws that came into effect after the UK left the single market mean bringing bees into the country is banned.

Every single American has a right to live and work in a safe environment. President Biden can help ensure we can

In his first 100 days, President Biden is racing to secure comprehensive reforms that both address the immediate challenges of today’s concurrent crises and make our economy and society more resilient for the future. Next month, he’ll unveil the second part of his recovery plan which is expected to focus on infrastructure investment and job creation. It is crucial that this plan includes an emphasis on protecting the health and safety of communities that are consistently failed – and often seriously harmed – by ageing infrastructure. Biden has already put equity and justice at the center of his climate plans, but he’ll need to do the same for any infrastructure plan he puts forward.

Related: Flint review – a humanitarian disaster doc for toxic times

Survey shows bird species that vanished from UK in 17th century is making a successful comeback

Cranes, which became extinct in the UK 400 years ago, have continued their recent comeback with a new high of 64 pairs recorded in a survey.

The common crane, which stands about 120cm (4ft) tall and is famous for its dancing courtship displays, vanished from Britain in the 1600s as a result of hunting and a decline in their wetland habitat.

Landmark report says GDP should be ditched as measure of wealth and nature valued to protect wildlife and humans

“Our economies, livelihoods and wellbeing all depend on our most precious asset: nature. We are part of nature, not separate from it.” These are the opening lines of a newly published landmark review of the economics of biodiversity.

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history and the review aims to create a new economic framework, grounded in ecology, that enables humanity to live on Earth sustainably. “Our demands far exceed nature’s capacity to supply us with the goods and services we all rely on. We would require 1.6 Earths to maintain the world’s current living standards,” says Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta in the review, which was commissioned by the UK Treasury.

New measures of success needed to avoid catastrophic breakdown, landmark review finds

• What does the UK’s biodiversity review recommend?

The world is being put at “extreme risk” by the failure of economics to take account of the rapid depletion of the natural world and needs to find new measures of success to avoid a catastrophic breakdown, a landmark review has concluded.

Prosperity was coming at a “devastating cost” to the ecosystems that provide humanity with food, water and clean air, said Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta, the Cambridge University economist who conducted the review. Radical global changes to production, consumption, finance and education were urgently needed, he said.

One year ago Jessica Hamilton divested from fossil fuels. Here’s what she has learned since

This time last year I changed my banking and superannuation, and I did it out of climate anxiety. Was it a smart financial decision? At the time, I had no idea. But as I sat inside in a city clouded by bushfire smoke, I decided that even if only $1 of my money was invested in coal, oil or gas – the leading drivers of the climate crisis – that was still $1 too much.

That same climate anxiety drove my friend Ash and I to find an answer to the question that plagues so many of us: what the heck can everyday people like us do in the face of the climate crisis that will actually make a difference?

Hunting and recreation found to have greater impact than urbanisation and logging

Human activity is fundamentally altering the distances the world’s animals need to move to live, hunt and forage, according to a study that examined the impact on more than 160 species across six continents.

All activities changed the behaviour of animals, but the study found destructive activities such as urbanisation and logging affected the movement of animals less than sporadic endeavours such as using aircraft, hunting and recreation.

Rigs burn off enough unwanted gas to heat 1m homes, UK regulator said last year

The UK’s North Sea oil rigs release as much carbon dioxide as a coal-fired power plant every year by deliberately burning unwanted gas into the atmosphere as giant flares, according to research.

A report has revealed that almost 20m tonnes of CO2 was released into the atmosphere in the five years to the end of 2019 by “flaring and venting” the extra gas released from oil wells.