A new, purpose-built 150m viewing platform is giving visitors the chance to ‘connect with nature in the city’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGordon Watson, 85, remembers penguins living on the rocky breakwater at the end of the old St Kilda pier since he was a teenager. “I learned to sail with the St Kilda yacht club and I remember being with a group of three of us lads sailing around in a dingy going, ‘Oh look, there’s a penguin.’”Then, in the early 2000s, Watson and his late wife became volunteer guides with Earthcare St Kilda, helping to care for the little penguin colony and manage the public as visitor numbers increased. While “the majority of people were great” there were some “nasty moments” with some members of the public, Watson says. Continue reading...

There’s no such thing as a perfect legislative solution. It’s about finding one that’s workable – for the community, for the economy and for natureVictoria’s Healesville Sanctuary is helping to protect and restore the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot which is predicted to be extinct within five years.With only 50 known to be left in the wild, a major breeding program aims to release up to 20 pairs of the migratory birds annually.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

The tree-shaped badge on your next desk might certify the gold standard of forestry – or very little. Here’s how to tellSign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better thingsDurable, renewable and biodegradable, wood is an ideal material for everything from furniture to cutting boards. And as we grapple with the aftermath of synthetic materials, such as forever chemicals and microplastics, the humble material growing in our literal backyards is suddenly looking pretty appealing again. But how do you know it wasn’t clearcut from a rainforest?Figuring out logging practices, deforestation policies, impact on wildlife, pesticide use, and impact on indigenous communities “can be really challenging”, said Linda Walker, the director of corporate engagement for forests at the World Wildlife Federation, who has worked on sustainability issues in woodlands around the world. “You as an individual consumer can’t figure all that stuff out if you’re walking down the grocery store or retail store aisle,” Walker added. Continue reading...

Many waterways vulnerable to breaches and closures and face mounting maintenance costs, charity saysBritain’s network of canals and rivers is under strain from funding shortfalls and growing climate pressures, campaigners warn.Three-quarters of the country’s waterways face financial peril, according to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), an independent charity advocating for Britain’s canals and rivers, as the country braces for heavier winter rainfall and intensifying summer droughts. Continue reading...

Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and SpainBritain is one of the least “nature connected” nations in the world, according to the first ever global study of how people relate to the natural world.Britain ranks 55th out of 61 countries in the study of 57,000 people, which looks at how attitudes towards nature are shaped by social, economic, geographical and cultural factors. Continue reading...

Huge increase in tree-killing disease is result of climate crisis, experts sayA golden mushroom that grows in clusters and can attack and kill trees has increased by 200% in the UK in a year because of the hot summer and damp autumn.Recorded sightings of honey fungus are up by almost 200% compared with the same period last year, according to iNaturalist. Continue reading...

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 upWith 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. Continue reading...