The controversial HS2 route slices through some of England’s most precious woodland. But standing in its way are father and son Larch and Seb Maxey. They explain why living 30ft off the ground in precarious treehouses has brought them closer together. By Patrick Barkham

he 30 years from 2020 to 2050 will be among the most transformative decades in all of human history. Collapsing ice sheets, the aerosol crisis, and rising sea levels will force more people to leave their homes than at any other point in human history. In some places, that means conflict is inevitable.

With Coronavirus affecting every person on the planet, discussing something seemingly trivial like veganism could be seen as insensitive. However, it may take a global disaster for people to finally realise the link between the exploitation of animals and human suffering.

Palm oil is an environmental scourge. Plant biology has a solution.

Plastic rain could prove to be a more insidious problem than acid rain.

In 2007, shortly after Democrats took back the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, meant to gather expert testimony and develop policy plans to address climate change. Until Republicans killed it in 2011, the select committee amassed an enormous body of knowledge, which it contributed to the 2007 energy bill, the 2009 Obama stimulus bill, and the ill-fated Waxman-Markey climate bill (which died in the Senate).

Black market fuel made from stolen oil in rudimentary “bush” refineries hidden deep in the creeks and swamps of the Niger delta is less polluting than the highly toxic diesel and petrol that Europe exports to Nigeria, new laboratory analysis has found. Shell, Exxon, Chevron and other major oil companies extract and export up to 2m barrels a day of high quality, low sulphur “Bonny Light” crude from the Niger delta. But very little of this oil is refined in the country because its four state-owned refineries are dysfunctional or have closed.

A team from Northwestern University has developed a highly porous smart sponge that can selectively soak up oil spills in water. With an ability to absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil, the sponge could be used to inexpensively and efficiently clean up spills without harming marine life. After squeezing the oil out of the sponge, it can be reused many dozens of times without losing its effectiveness.

Last fall, European Space Agency satellites detected huge plumes of the invisible planet-warming gas methane leaking from the Yamal pipeline that carries natural gas from Siberia to Europe.

Plans and early-warning systems are always a good idea

The South Pole has been warming at more than three times the global average over the past 30 years, a new study has found. That could have huge implications for the melting of Antarctic ice sheets, marine life in the region and the rising of global sea levels.

In 2013, an 18-month old boy got sick after playing near a hollow tree in his backyard, in a remote West African village. He developed a fever and started vomiting. His stool turned black. Two days later, he died. Two years and more than 11,000 deaths later, the World Health Organization put out a report saying the Ebola outbreak that likely emanated from that hollow tree may have been caused in part by deforestation, led by "foreign mining and timber operations."

Scientists discover hundreds of different fungi in Amazonian soil, thought to play a vital role in nature.

The coronavirus-related drop in greenhouse gas emissions during the March quarter will not be enough to set the nation on a trajectory it needs to meet Paris reductions commitments. During the year to the end of March, emissions fell by around 1.2 percent while emissions during the March quarter were about 3 per cent less than those of the previous quarter.

For the second year running, vital ecosystems are in flames. Several major fires in the Amazon have been spotted ahead of the rainforest’s typical fire season, and it seems likely that 2020 will see worse blazes than the ones which triggered international outcry last year.

Anyone who has stood at the base of a redwood or visited Sequoia National Park knows the beauty of giant, old trees. But future generations may not get to experience that same sense of wonder. We’ve already lost a minimum of 30% of the world’s old-growth forests since 1900, and as trees face a host of environmental threats, their forests may be made up exclusively of younger, shorter trees.

Researchers find that over 1,000 metric tons of microplastic fall on 11 protected areas in the US annually, equivalent to over 120 million plastic water bottles.

Making catalysts to convert waste carbon dioxide into useful industrial products has been expensive and complicated – until now. UNSW engineers show it’s as easy as playing with Lego.

In May 2012, Hanson and Michael Rowe noticed an overpowering smell, like rotten eggs, seeping from an abandoned gas well on their land in Kentucky. The fumes made the retired couple feel nauseous, dizzy, and short of breath.

The call came over Tony Manu’s police radio one March day in 2017: some sort of pipe had exploded in the hills outside Pocatello, Idaho and the son of a well-known local doctor was hurt, or worse. Manu, a long-time detective with the county sheriff’s office, was shocked. A pipe bomb in Pocatello?