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As Donald Trump calls climate change a ‘con job’ and Reform UK weaponises net zero, Starmer faces pressure to hold the line on commitments
This week, the world’s most powerful man claimed that climate change is a “con job”. Speaking at the UN general assembly, Donald Trump told global leaders – including Keir Starmer – that “all of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong”.
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success,” the US president said. “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
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Forest is ‘remarkably resilient to climate change’, but remains under threat from fires and deforestation
The biggest trees in the Amazon are growing larger and more numerous, according to a new study that shows how an intact rainforest can help draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it in bark, trunk, branch and root.
Scientists said the paper, published in Nature Plants on Thursday, was welcome confirmation that big trees are proving more climate resilient than previously believed, and undisturbed tropical vegetation continues to act as an effective carbon sink despite rising temperatures and strong droughts.
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Beloved specimen triumphs in Woodland Trust contest over ‘King of Limbs’ oak in Wiltshire
A much-loved ash tree in the heart of Glasgow has won the annual tree of the year competition organised by the Woodland Trust.
While many trees that have featured in the competition are located in the remote British countryside, the Argyle Street ash is on one of the city’s busiest roads.
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Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way
“Hitting a green wave? It’s the best feeling, especially when you’re in a hurry,” says actor Samuel Traum, unlocking his bike by a Copenhagen intersection thronged by two-wheeled commuters. “The opposite, a red wave, is the worst.”
For those of us who do not live in cycle-friendly Copenhagen, the green wave that Traum describes is a system started by the city authorities 16 years ago: in order to encourage bike travel, they synchronised traffic lights on several key roads so that a rush-hour cyclist travelling at about 20km/h (12.4mph) could catch green lights all the way.
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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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Wellington, Somerset: A little drama on the community farm, but, most important, we walked away laden with the fruits of our labour, hard-won in a difficult year
Harvest open day at the community farm. The team has everything ready: the gazebos are up, the tea urns ready, scones and cakes laid out, and in the field the crops are ready to be gathered.
The apps say heavy rain, but apps ain’t always right, and farmers more than anyone are used to the whims of the weather gods. Rose and Ruth, the farm’s chief growers, decide to keep calm and carry on.
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Peak winds of 165mph bring 17 deaths in Taiwan, while Storm Bualoi threatens to strengthen into typhoon on its way to the Philippines
Super Typhoon Ragasa pounded Taiwan, Hong Kong and China before moving into Vietnam on Thursday night, though as a much-weakened storm.
At its peak Ragasa had mean wind speeds of 165mph as it moved to the south of Taiwan, where it brought significant heavy rain resulting in 17 deaths as a barrier lake burst.
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In this week’s newsletter: from the red goshawk to the tawny frogmouth, the poll reveals the richness of Australia’s birdlife and the risks it faces
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Lots of us around the world probably need just a little joy mixed in with the ever-troubling biodiversity and climate crises.
Here in Australia, we’ve found a way to mix our conservation concerns with a bit of healthy competition and a lot of joy. It’s our bird of the year poll, and anyone can vote, no matter where you are in the world.
Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows
‘A defining moment’: Trinidad and Tobago at a crossroads as oil runs out
How Bill Gates is playing both sides of the climate crisis – video
‘Mind-blown’: scientists discover sex reversal in kookaburras and lorikeets with cause unknown
‘A last resort’: is culling foxes the only way to save Britain’s vanishing curlews?
Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’
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Petition says that US government’s protection of fossil fuel interests has put people in harm’s way
By continuing to fund and support a fossil fuel-based energy system, the US is violating international law, a group of young people have argued to an international human rights body.
The petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), filed late on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, says the government’s actions have violated the petitioners’ human rights.
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Better water management and efficient irrigation required to tackle issue, which can increase risk of wildfires
Droughts have occurred throughout history, but in recent years meteorologists have discovered a new and distinct form of this old threat: flash droughts.
Flash droughts came to prominence in the 2010s, with Prof Jason Otkin of the University of Wisconsin proposing a formal definition in 2018: a period of less than three weeks in which the moisture level in the top 40 centimetres of soil drops severely enough to affect vegetation.
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