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How badger bombs and politics brought Lush sales of £500m

Cosmetics company Lush has managed to combine record sales with controversial campaigns. Don’t expect others to copy

Lush likes to cause a stink. As well as its smelly shops and package-free produce, a large chunk of the handmade cosmetics company’s time and money is spent on political activism.

Far from carefully choosing a few business-friendly good causes, Lush has backed a plethora of controversial causes from Guantanamo prisoners, to hunt saboteurs and the anti-fracking campaign. It does this through financial donations – totalling £5m a year in 2015 – and in-store products such as the May Day bath bombs, which supported activists opposed to the badger cull. It also supports groups in favour of peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Wildlife officers search for rare whale stranded on Victorian beach

Severe weather and dangerous swells hamper search for 2.5m pygmy or dwarf sperm whale found at Logans Beach

Wildlife officers are trying to find a small and rare whale that was found stranded at a Victorian beach on Monday evening, however their search efforts are being hampered by severe weather and dangerous swells.

The adult whale, about 2.5m long, was found at Logans Beach in Victoria’s south-west and rescuers believe it to be either a pygmy sperm whale or a dwarf sperm whale.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits

Six more islands have large swaths of land, and villages, washed into sea as coastline of Solomon Islands eroded and overwhelmed

Five tiny Pacific islands have disappeared due to rising seas and erosion, a discovery thought to be the first scientific confirmation of the impact of climate change on coastlines in the Pacific, according to Australian researchers.

Related: Sea levels set to ‘rise far more rapidly than expected’

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Unlikely heroes: how lithium mining could change the Pilbara for the better

Currently the world’s biggest producer of lithium, Australia is well-placed to take advantage of the lithium-ion battery solar storage boom

Out Western Australia way unlikely new environmental heroes can be found toiling in the red ochre dust of the Pilbara.

Until recently companies such as Altura Mining, which has a long rap sheet of coal projects to its name, weren’t exactly contributing to the effort to curb global carbon emissions, but that is about to change.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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New plant species discovered in 2015 – in pictures

A giant insect-eating plant and a 100-tonne tree were among the 149 species of plants and fungi described for the first time by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew last year. More than 2,000 species new to science were discovered worldwide the same year, but a new report warns that one in five of the world’s plant species is threatened with extinction

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Source: Guardian Environment

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One in five of world's plant species at risk of extinction

Global report highlights threat to food security and medicine supplies but also reveals 2,000 new species are discovered each year

One in five of the world’s plant species is threatened with extinction, according to the first global assessment of flora, putting supplies of food and medicines at risk.

But the report also found that 2,000 new species of plant are discovered every year, raising hopes of new sources of food that are resilient to disease and climate change. New finds in 2015 included a giant insect-eating plant first spotted on Facebook and a 100-tonne tree hidden in an African forest.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Australians crave change. But this election won't deliver it | David Marr

What lies ahead is a gruelling and expensive campaign that will leave the country much as it was before
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We’re off to the polls again. Australia has so much in abundance: coal, sunshine, iron ore and nine parliaments for 24 million people. There is always an election round the corner.

Yet for all this endless political activity, nothing much gets done.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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California drought: governor makes certain water-wasting bans permanent

As the drought persists Governor Jerry Brown has made some water conservation measures permanent, such as a ban on overwatering lawns

Governor Jerry Brown has ordered California to adopt permanent water conservation measures in response to a devastating five-year drought, including long-term bans on wasteful practices and mandatory reporting rules.

While the drought has become less severe in recent months – leading some communities and water agencies to abandon strict restrictions – Brown’s executive order on Monday made clear that the drought was not over and that California must transition its short-term emergency measures into a permanent conservation plan.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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People may be breathing in microplastics, health expert warns

Environmental health professor says microparticles of plastic, known to damage marine life, could be entering the air

People could be breathing in microparticles of plastic, according to a leading environmental health expert, with as yet unknown consequences on health.

Microplastics are known to be damaging to life in the oceans, with marine creatures mistaking them for food, and to be consumed by people eating seafood. But Frank Kelly, a professor of environmental health at King’s College London, told MPs investigating the issue that the particles could be being inhaled too.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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