Keir Starmer is taking the lead on tackling the climate crisis. With the US backing away, now is the moment when other nations must step up
With the once-familiar pillars of the old world order crumbling and the US stepping away from action on climate crisis, it falls to others to assume global environmental leadership. Those leaders who understand the urgency should seize the opportunity afforded by Brazil hosting Cop30 this month to build a coalition of committed countries determined to turn back the climate deniers.
Many now see China – the most successful manufacturer of solar, wind, battery and electric vehicle technologies – as the global low-carbon powerhouse. But its national emission goals, recently submitted to the UN, are underwhelming and it is unclear whether China is willing to take up the mantle of climate leadership.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/01/2025 - 01:00
10/31/2025 - 23:00
The threatened Jillaga Ash (Eucalyptus stenostoma) was spotted 90m down a cliff in Wadbilliga national park, in southern New South Wales
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Two horticulturalists have undertaken a daring abseiling mission to rescue gumnuts from an endangered tree on a 300m cliff face.
Stan Wawrzyczek, a threatened flora ecologist at the Threatened Species Conservancy, spotted an endangered tree, Eucalyptus stenostoma (Jillaga Ash), 90m down the cliff in Wadbilliga national park in southern New South Wales.
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10/31/2025 - 21:45
Policy position diverging from senior Coalition partner expected to be formalised at Nationals partyroom meeting on Sunday morning
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The Nationals’ grassroots members have voted to ditch net zero, setting the scene to formally scrap the target at a meeting on Sunday morning.
“We believe in reducing emissions, but not at any cost,” the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, told the party’s federal council on Saturday.
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10/31/2025 - 12:24
Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action
The Trump administration has confirmed that no high-level representatives will be sent by the US to upcoming UN climate talks in Brazil, underscoring the administration’s hostile stance towards action on the climate crisis.
The US has always sent delegations of various sizes to UN climate summits over the past three decades, even during periods under George W Bush and in Donald Trump’s first term, where there was scant desire to address the global heating crisis.
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10/31/2025 - 11:00
It could eventually cut down on the production of traditional chocolate, which degrades soil and requires much fertilizer and pesticides
Tell us: have you fallen in love this year?
Would you eat lab-grown chocolate?
I requested a sample from California Cultured, a Sacramento-based company. Its chocolate, not yet commercially available, is made with techniques that have previously been used to synthesize other bioactive products like certain plant-derived pharmaceuticals for commercial sale.
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10/31/2025 - 08:26
Trio argued orange powder protest day before 2024 solstice was justified because of focus on climate emergency
Three Just Stop Oil protesters have been cleared over a protest at Stonehenge during which orange powder was sprayed on to the prehistoric circle.
Rajan Naidu, 74, Niamh Lynch, 23, and Luke Watson, 36, targeted Stonehenge the day before last year’s summer solstice.
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10/31/2025 - 06:23
At least two people died on Thursday in flooded basements after record rainfall in parts of New York City that also deluged some streets and subway stations. Preliminary reports showed 45.7mm (1.8in) of rain fell in Central Park, which exceeded its record of 41.7mm set in 1917, the National Weather Service said. LaGuardia airport recorded 50mm of rain, which broke the hub's 1955 record of 30mm
Two found dead in flooded basements as New York hit by rainstorm
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10/31/2025 - 05:00
Indiana Jones star calls US president one of history’s greatest criminals for attacks on science and boosting of fossil fuels
Harrison Ford has said that Donald Trump’s assault upon measures to address the climate crisis “scares the shit out of me” and makes the US president among the worst criminals in history.
In a blistering attack upon the president, Ford told the Guardian that Trump “doesn’t have any policies, he has whims. It scares the shit out of me. The ignorance, the hubris, the lies, the perfidy. [Trump] knows better, but he’s an instrument of the status quo and he’s making money, hand over fist, while the world goes to hell in a handbasket.”
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10/31/2025 - 04:00
Modern life is waging a war against ecosystems around us and inside us. Keeping our own microbes healthy is another reason to demand action to preserve the natural world
Read more: The luxury effect: why you’ll find more wildlife in wealthy areas – and what it means for your health
Human bodies are like cities, teeming with microcitizens – vast communities of viruses, fungi and bacteria that live all over our skin and inside us. Unsung public servants help us digest food, regulate our immune system, defend against pathogens, and keep hormones in check. Together, they make up what we call the human microbiome.
Most people have probably heard of the gut microbiome, but different microbes thrive all over our bodies – in our nostrils, on our feet, in our eyes. They are slightly different, like boroughs are composed of different communities of people. Ninety per cent of cells in our body are microbes, and “clouds” of bacteria come off someone’s body as they enter a room. We are all walking ecosystems, picking up and shedding material as we move through life.
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10/31/2025 - 03:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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