13 h. ago It’s up to each of us to help save life on Earth – I love this challenge | Bob Brown

Taking action against species extinction can be risky but it’s better than surrenderExplore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this electionGet Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an emailExtinction. In 1844 Ketill Ketilsson won the race to grab the last pair of great auks. They were nesting on Iceland’s Eldey Island. Millions of these penguin-like birds had been slaughtered for feather-stuffed quilts to keep Europe’s burgeoning human population warm. Ketilsson strangled the two but tripped over and broke their egg. Never mind, he won the reward being offered by museums in Copenhagen for the final specimens.A perverse market rule on species had been established: the rarer a species gets, the more valuable it becomes. It came too late for those who killed the last dodo, moa or Steller’s sea cow – but look at the money now going into resurrecting mammoths and thylacines.Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton...

Politics

37 h. ago When sadness strikes I remember I’m not alone in loving the wild boundless beauty of the living world | Georgina Woods

Nature will reclaim its place as a terrifying quasi-divine force that cannot be mastered. I find this strangely comfortingExplore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this electionGet Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an emailAt times my work takes me to the big city and the tall buildings where people with power make decisions that affect the rest of us. While I am there, crossing busy roads, wearing tidy clothes and carrying out my duty, I think of faraway places where life is getting on without me.Logrunners are turning leaf litter on the rainforest floor, albatross are cruising the wind beyond sight of the coast. Why does thinking about these creatures, who have no idea that I exist, bring me such comfort?Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email Continue reading...

Events

61 h. ago Australia is in an extinction crisis – why isn’t it an issue at this election?

Some of the country’s most loved native species, including the koala and the hairy-nosed wombat, are on the brink. Is this their last chance at survival?Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this electionGet Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an emailMost parliamentarians might be surprised to learn it, but Australians care about nature. Late last year, the not-for-profit Biodiversity Council commissioned a survey of 3,500 Australians – three times the size of the oft-cited Newspoll and representative of the entire population – to gauge what they thought about the environment. The results tell a striking story at odds with the prevailing political and media debate.A vast majority of people – 96% – said more action was needed to look after Australia’s natural environment. Nearly two-thirds were between moderately and extremely concerned about the loss of plants and animals around where they live.Get Guardian Austral...

Politics

8 d. ago A Wisconsin state supreme court race will test whether abortion can still tip an election

Two years after the fall of Roe v Wade, it is no longer clear whether voters will show up for the singular issueThe United States on Tuesday will face its first major election of the Trump 2.0 era: a race for a single state supreme court seat in Wisconsin that could not only rewrite abortion access in the state, but test whether the issue of abortion rights can still drive voters to the polls.On Tuesday, Wisconsin residents will decide whether to elect liberal Susan Crawford or conservative Brad Schimel, two county judges, to the state supreme court, which is poised to weigh in on two major abortion cases. Abortion rights advocates are trying to use the threat to the procedure to convince people to head to the polls, but, more than two years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, it is no longer clear whether abortion can tip an election. Democratic candidates talked about outrage over Roe constantly during the 2024 election – and fell short, losing both the White House a...

Politics

1 week ago Australia to hold general elections with inflation and a housing shortage major issues

Australians will go to the polls in May with high costs of living and a shortage of housing key issues likely weighing against the government

Politics

1 week ago MAGA activist issues blunt response to Elon Musk after shock Democratic election win in Pennsylvania

Scott Presler earlier asked the tech billionaire for a ‘discussion’ amid calls for Republicans to support a tightly-run Pennsylvania state Senate race

Politics

3 w. ago Olympic candidate Coe backs athletes calling for climate issues to be a priority in global sports

IOC presidential candidate Sebastian Coe says the impact of climate change on the global sports calendar will be a priority issue if he wins the election next week

Sport

3 w. ago Will Putin derail Trump’s peace plan? – Today in Focus Extra

Donald Trump has shown that he can get Ukraine to back a deal, but what about Russia? Patrick Wintour and Pjotr Sauer reportAfter weeks of diplomatic tension, on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that Ukraine had signed up to a 30-day ceasefire agreement. As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, explains to Michael Safi, this deal would cover the whole of Ukraine and by accepting it, Ukraine will again receive military aid and intelligence sharing from the US. However, issues such as borders, elections and Ukrainian membership of Nato or the EU are not a part of this deal and will need to be finalised at a later stage.Having followed Russian negotiations during the Syrian civil war, Wintour describes the Russians as ‘masters at delay’ and on Thursday night at a press conference in Moscow, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, made it clear that while he supported the US attempt at a deal he could not sign up to it as is. Continue reading...

Politics