Amid Japan’s surge in bear attacks, a torrent of AI-generated videos is adding to anxiety

Videos show schoolgirls fighting off animals, while others show people feeding bears, with some so realistic that users struggled to distinguish between fact and fiction If a record number of fatal bear attacks wasn’t terrifying enough, experts say a torrent of AI-generated videos in Japan purporting to show people in close encounters with the animals … Read more

Protesters blockade Cop30 summit over plight of Indigenous peoples

Munduruku people demand to speak to Brazil’s president, saying they are never listened to Protesters blockaded the main entrance to the Cop30 climate conference for several hours early on Friday morning, demanding to speak to Brazil’s president about the plight of the country’s Indigenous peoples. About 50 people from the Munduruku people in the Amazon … Read more

Hochul enrages environmentalists with shift to ‘all of the above’ energy policy

Democrats are focusing on affordability over climate goals as midterm elections loom. Gov. Kathy Hochul once blocked two gas power plants and championed New York’s trailblazing effort to combat climate change. But as she prepares for what’s expected to be a tough reelection battle next year, Hochul (D) has steered a monumental pivot on energy … Read more

The artist Luke Jerram on the tree-planting project he’ll never see finished

It may be a midlife crisis, says the man behind seven-metre installations of the Earth, moon and Sun who has planted 365 trees in a 100-year project in Somerset Luke Jerram, whose art installations have travelled the world, is philosophical about his latest project bearing fruit beyond his time on Earth. Known for his Play … Read more

Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?

From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push … Read more

Amazon lakes hit ‘unbearable’ hot-tub temperatures amid mass die-offs of pink river dolphins – study

Droughts and heatwaves causing water in some areas to reach 41C, killing fish and endangered dolphins, say researchers Amazonian lakes are being transformed into simmering basins hotter than spa baths as severe heatwaves and drought grip the region, research shows. The temperature of one lake exceeded 40C (104F) as water levels plummeted under intense sunlight … Read more

‘Trump is against humankind’: World leaders at climate summit take swipes at absent president

Some of Thursday’s speeches reflected anger and dismay at U.S. policies but could not hide the ambivalence that many countries feel about this year’s climate talks. Donald Trump isn’t at the global climate summit in Brazil. But he was on the minds of some of his fellow world leaders Thursday, who used their time on … Read more

Misleading UK adverts for ’very low emission’ wood-burning stoves banned

ASA action won approval of clean air campaigners, who said some ‘seriously misleading myths’ had been debunked Adverts claiming that wood-burning stoves are “very low emissions” have been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency for being misleading and not substantiated. The claims were made on the website of the Stove Industry Association, which represents the … Read more