The Guardian

Pandemic stress can be relieved by cultivating greenery, which makes people happier and more relaxed

The essayist Jia Tolentino wrote last year about people being in the grip of “houseplant fever”; ads for houseplants called “Ken” or “Pippa” pop up on the internet; a Zoom call isn’t complete without a plant somewhere in evidence; and social media abounds with tips and pictures. It should surprise no one that greenery offers an antidote to pandemic anxiety.

Caring for a living object and creating a tranquil indoor sanctuary can be soothing activities in an uncertain and stressful time. The Royal Horticultural Society reported a 23% rise in plant sales in July compared to 2019. Rare plants are sold on eBay and traded on Facebook. Many come from overseas and might look green in a living room but leave a large ecological footprint. Before the pandemic, in the US, getting paid to style houseplants was becoming a career. We are nowhere near the levels of mania that led to tulip bulb prices soaring and then collapsing in the 17th century. Still, today’s rarity-chasers will pay £4,000 for a four-leaf variegated minima – and such high prices pose a temptation to others: a variegated monstera, a cutting of which might fetch £1,500, was stolen last month in New Zealand.

Operation involving 1,000 firefighters backed up by military is focused on Roya Valley area

French and Italian rescue services have stepped up search efforts after floods cut off several villages near the two countries’ border, causing widespread damage and killing two people in Italy.

Eight people remained unaccounted for on the French side of the border after storms, torrential rain and flash floods battered the area, washing away roads and houses and triggering landslides.

Populations of mountain ringlet in Lake District face being wiped out as cooler habitats disappear

The diversity and resilience of cold-loving butterfly species is threatened by global heating which will destroy genetically unique populations, according to a study.

Native mountain-dwelling butterflies such as the mountain ringlet, the bright-eyed ringlet and the dewy ringlet will have to be translocated to higher altitudes as their cooler habitat disappears to avoid extinction.

Variety has only ever been found in Caribbean more than 4,000 miles across Atlantic

Europe’s rarest fern has been discovered in Killarney, Ireland, leaving botanists baffled over how it remained undetected for so long.

The neotropical fern, Stenogrammitis myosuroides, has only ever previously been found in the mountainous cloud forests of Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic – more than 4,000 miles across the Atlantic.

Green economists will never get the public on their side until they factor in the cost to lower-income households

In those glorious pre-pandemic days we only had climate change to worry about. Post-pandemic, we’ll need to get right back to worrying about it – and actually doing something about it.

On the “doing” front, economists like the idea of carbon taxes to help reduce our emissions. And recent research shows that such taxes can work. Sweden was one of the first countries in the world to implement a carbon tax in 1991, having extended VAT to petrol the previous year. The result was 11% lower transport fuel emissions compared with similar OECD countries.

Exclusive: Number of people living with illegal pollution levels has fallen by 94% since Sadiq Khan became mayor

Air pollution in London has plunged since Sadiq Khan became mayor, with a 94% reduction in the number of people living in areas with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide. The number of schools in such areas has fallen by 97%, from 455 in 2016 to 14 in 2019.

Experts described the reductions as dramatic and said they showed the air pollution crisis was not intractable. More than 9,000 people in the capital were dying early each year due to dirty air in 2015.

Government has nominated ‘clean hydrogen’ using gas and CCS but for many countries ‘clean’ already means without fossil fuels

“Green hydrogen” made with wind and solar electricity could become the cheapest form of what the Australian government has described as a “transformative fuel” much faster than expected, analysts believe.

Chinese manufacturers have reported making systems to create hydrogen with renewable energy for up to 80% less than official Australian estimates from just two years ago.

While the US closes the doors on climate migrants from abroad, it must acknowledge that the problem has already come home

In November 2018, I traveled with a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants as they marched across Mexico towards the US border. While some were seeking refuge in the US from gang violence or political persecution, many others were looking to escape something much more subtle: climate change. The Trump administration decried these climate migrants as “invaders” and attempted to build a wall to keep them out.

But today, as much of the western US burns, and the country looks on in horror as San Francisco suffocates in an orange cloud of ash, we see that the US way of life is also gravely threatened by climate change. More than 8,100 wildfires have burned over 3.9m acres in California this year. The fires have killed 30 people, destroyed more than 7,500 structures, and displaced thousands in the state. Meanwhile in Oregon, half a million people were put under an evacuation order.

The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris celebrates the magic of British wildlife

Their last book of poems about everyday wildlife became an international cultural phenomenon. Now Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, the creators of The Lost Words, have produced a new book conjuring up the magic of British wildlife in a time of ecological crisis.

The Lost Spells, which celebrates barn owls, swifts, gorse and foxes through poems and artwork, is already being adapted for music and film projects and live performances, including a concert to be livestreamed from the Natural History Museum early next year.

The financial system is what’s driving the climate emergency. It needs a complete structural overhaul

It’s been a year of considerable blows to the fossil fuel industry. Thursday’s announcement that Cambridge University’s will divest its endowment fund from fossil fuel corporations is another considerable win for campaigners, who have spent many years doggedly demanding change from an institution that – despite being a global leader in scientific research and education – has been obstinate about severing its many ties to the fossil fuel industry, including significant research funding from Shell and BP.

Of course, serious questions will doubtless be raised about why a full decade is needed to shift money out of direct fossil fuel investments, and until 2038 to arrive at a “net-zero portfolio”. And the absence of a commitment on cutting the university’s close research ties with fossil fuel companies is also sure to draw some ire.

Environment Agency says pollution from nine companies at worst level in five years

Water companies operating in England were responsible for the worst levels of environmental pollution in five years in 2019, leading to condemnation from ministers and the Environment Agency.

In its annual assessment of the nine privatised water and sewerage companies, Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the EA, said their performance continued to be unacceptable.

Woods that inspired Beatrix Potter and John Constable in danger after hot, dry spring speeds up disease

Woods that inspired Beatrix Potter and John Constable could be lost because of a surge in a disease affecting ash, the National Trust has warned.

The conservation charity said it faced its worst year on record for felling trees owing to ash dieback, in part due to one of the warmest and driest springs on record. Increased prolonged hot and dry conditions driven by the climate crisis were putting trees under stress and making them more susceptible to disease, dramatically speeding up the impact of ash dieback, the trust said.

To survive the challenges we must reinforce respect for science and nature, sensible public policy and the interconnected world

From early on in the Covid-19 pandemic, a common refrain has been, “At least maybe now we will get serious about addressing climate change.” One can certainly see the logic behind this thinking. The terrible toll the pandemic has taken should remind us of the importance of three things that are also necessary to tackle global warming: science, public policy, and international cooperation.

We should therefore listen to the scientists who have been warning for decades that unchecked greenhouse-gas emissions would have severe environmental consequences. The fact that some of these consequences – including wildfires, cyclones, and even a plague of locusts in Africa – have dramatically appeared in the same year as Covid-19 would seem to reinforce the message.

Miner also discussed environmental law reform with government officials on at least four occasions, documents show

Rio Tinto wrote to the Morrison government last year urging it to act quickly to transfer environmental approval powers to the Western Australia government, before a major review of national environment laws was complete.

The move came 10 months before the Coalition announced it planned to change the laws to set up “one-stop shops” at state level for environmental approvals, starting with Western Australia. The legislation was introduced in August when the review of the laws, by former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel, was still under way.

• Satellites record 61% rise in hotspots over September 2019
• Scientist warns: ‘It could get worse if the drought continues’

Fires in Brazil’s Amazon increased 13% in the first nine months of the year compared with a year ago, as the rainforest region experiences its worst rash of blazes in a decade, data from space research agency Inpe has shown.

Satellites in September recorded 32,017 hotspots in the world’s largest rainforest, a 61% rise from the same month in 2019.

Freedom of information request shows dramatic fall in number of inspectors and 30% rise in whistleblower complaints

The safety of US meat plant workers is at risk, workers and campaigners believe, because of a triple whammy of increased line speeds, higher turnover and fewer workers due to coronavirus.

Authorities, meanwhile, are failing to keep up with the problem. A freedom of information request to the US government shows a dramatic decrease in the number of plant inspectors, while the number of whistleblower complaints has increased by 30% over the past year.

Documents show BP, Shell and Equinor had several meetings with government officials

Fossil fuel firms have held a series of private meetings with UK government officials in an attempt to be part of next year’s crucial global climate talks, which are to be held in Scotland.

Documents show that some of the world’s biggest polluting corporations have been lobbying the government, offering money in return for exposure at Cop26 and in one case saying they could act as an intermediary between UK officials and other governments around the world.

Uncontrolled release of birds for shooting threatens UK’s only venomous snake, expert warns

The adder, Britain’s only venomous snake, could become extinct across much of Britain within 12 years because of the uncontrolled release of millions of game birds, according to an expert.

The warning comes at the start of the pheasant shooting season, during which 47 million non-native pheasants and 10 million partridges will be released into the countryside by estates and shoots across Britain.

Big is beautiful in the public vote for the brown bear piling on the most pounds before hibernation in Alaska’s Katmai national park

Deep into a tumultuous and often harrowing year, it will be a relief to many that America has now finally arrived at a cherished annual highlight: fat bear week.

Related: US government issues bear advice: friends don't let friends get eaten

Scientists look forward to data from tags tracking captive-bred white storks at a West Sussex farm

Marge, a white stork released onto a rewilded farm in West Sussex, is shedding light on the birds’ unpredictable migratory habits by flying to Morocco for her first winter and spending the summer in Spain.

Scientists are using satellite tags to track white storks released onto the Knepp estate to learn what migratory habits the captive-bred birds will develop.