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Hell's Backbone Grill is an acclaimed restaurant founded nearly 20 years ago at the edge of the Utah monument. Now, amid controversy, its owners are battling Trump's plans to downsize the land.

(Image credit: Ace Kvale)

The 100th meridian has long divided the U.S. into an arid West and more humid East. Research suggests a warming climate is pushing that boundary east, shaking up agricultural economies along the way.

While we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground, America is giving the fossil fuel industry billions to extract more

Imagine that instead of taxing cigarettes, America subsidized the tobacco industry in order to make each pack of smokes cheaper.

A report from Oil Change International (OCI) investigated American energy industry subsidies and found that in 2015–2016, the federal government provided $14.7bn per year to the oil, gas, and coal industries, on top of $5.8bn of state-level incentives (globally, the figure is around $500bn). And the report only accounted for production subsidies, excluding consumption subsidies (support to consumers to lower the cost of fossil fuel use – another $14.5bn annually) as well as the costs of carbon and other fossil fuel pollutants.

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So I am torn today...  I noticed this morning that my YouTube channel was suddenly getting a lot of new subscribers.  It wasn't until this afternoon that I learned why.  One of my "Facebook friends" notified me she saw my video "the birthday brushing" on a wackjob conspiracy website she subscribes to.   I went to their YouTube channel and there was my video with over 4,000 views and over 100 comments so far today.  I also noticed that while they had given me credit for the video, they had monetized the views it gets for their channel.  Their wackjob conspiracy site has almost 400,000 subscribers (there are A LOT of conspiracy nuts out there).  I sent them a message that while I appreciated the share - I did not appreciate the fact that they did not contact me first and that they were getting income from views of my video on their channel.  So here is the dilemma.  Do I allow them to make money off my video in return for more subscribers?  The problem is - wackjobs are not really my target audience and most of their channel content is complete bullshit conspiracy nonsense.  What I decided to do was notify them that they are welcome to share my video, but they have to remove monetization.  If I don't get a response within 24 hours, I will file a copyright infringement notification with YouTube to have it removed from their channel.

Proverbs 19:5  A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape  

Which? says people often don’t understand various symbols found on packaging

A confusing array of symbols on household packaging is leaving consumers in the dark about what can be recycled, research reveals.

Nearly half of respondents to a survey carried out in the UK by consumer group Which? thought that products stamped with the so-called green dot (a circle of two intertwined arrows) were recyclable, when in fact it means only that a manufacturer has paid into a scheme that supports recyclable packaging and systems.

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US president’s broken promises have ruined a fragile dune system in Aberdeenshire

The spectacular dunes system picked by Donald Trump for his golf resort in Aberdeenshire has been “partially destroyed” as a result of the course’s construction, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.

Scottish Natural Heritage, which has been under pressure for years to speak out on the issue, now acknowledges that serious damage has been done to the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) at Foveran Links on the Menie estate, north of Aberdeen, since the course opened in 2012, the documents show.

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Exclusive: Minister floats proposal to win states’ sign-off on Neg mechanism before a second meeting to discuss emissions targets

Josh Frydenberg has flagged a two-stage process with state and territory ministers in an attempt to maximise the government’s chances of achieving sign-off for the national energy guarantee in August.

State sources have told Guardian Australia the commonwealth has floated a proposal where ministers would sign off on the detailed design of the Neg mechanism, including the emissions reduction components, at a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments energy council long scheduled for 10 August.

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Jeffrey Henderson warns against Chinese state-owned firms playing a decisive part in one of our most strategically important industries

While we need to be concerned about China’s growing presence in Britain’s electricity generation (Nuclear power: China’s move into UK hints at scale of its wider ambitions, July 27), we should be asking searching questions of our government. They seem not to understand (or don’t care about) the nature of the companies they are dealing with.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are not like EDF or the German, Dutch and French state-owned firms that run our railways. They are dramatically different because China is governed by a Leninist state. Consequently, Chinese state firms are ultimately controlled not by the State Council’s State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, but by the Communist party.

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Delay in sale of consortium behind plant leads Toshiba to lay off 100 UK project staff

Doubts have been raised over the fate of a new nuclear power station planned for Cumbria after it emerged that most of the project’s 100 UK staff had been laid off.

Toshiba has been trying to sell the NuGeneration consortium behind the Moorside plant since it had to write off billions of dollars because of problems with its US nuclear business last year.

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While it's difficult to attribute individual events to climate change, scientists say global warming makes extreme weather more common.

(Image credit: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain won’t be unscathed by global warming. You can’t run from climate change and you can’t hide

Over the course of Britain’s sweltering summer, the landlord of the building inhabited by the Observer periodically informs us that our air conditioning is undergoing an “automated controlled shutdown” because the weather has become so hot and humid that the system is at risk of damaging itself. So just when you really need cooling air, you can’t have it. One to be filed under: you couldn’t make it up.

This is not uncommon. The offices, factories, homes, roads and railways of Britain were designed on the assumption that it is a country of blessedly temperate conditions, immune to extremes of heat and cold. When people say that Britain is not built to withstand a sizzling summer, this is more literally true than they may know.

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As more of the world logs on, the company is nearing saturation: so now it is spending on rebuilding its reputation

What’s bad for Facebook’s market cap might be good for society. That, at least, is what the company would like investors to take away from its disastrous second-quarter results, which triggered a fall in its stock-market valuation of almost $120bn (£92bn), the largest single loss of value in Wall Street history.

At its core, the collapse is due to three negative trends: a stagnant user base, shrinking revenues and growing costs. The first, Facebook argues, has been visible for years; the second is a blip as advertisers get used to new formats; and the third is a reflection of the significant sums the company is spending to fix the problems that have plagued it in the press over the past year.

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The massive wildfire in Shasta County that's forced the evacuations of at least 38,000 people is only 5 percent contained. In Yosemite, the Ferguson Fire has killed a second firefighter.

(Image credit: Noah Berger/AP)

My latest silver work brought it a couple of ring commissions.  Details and video soon...   92,97,70,0,B

Oil company criticised for its findings on animals and plants at planned Narrabri coal seam gas project

Conservationists have said the oil company Santos has not addressed questions about how its proposed 850-well Narrabri coal seam gas project in New South Wales would affect threatened species.

Two new reports, including one by a former ecologist for the NSW environment and heritage office, say the company had not adequately responded to submissions which raise concerns about animal and plant surveys Santos conducted for its environmental impact statement.

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Farmers’ representatives and government officials meet to tackle impact of the prolonged dry weather

Farmers are to meet with Whitehall officials this week for an emergency drought summit amid fears that the heatwave could have a serious impact on the UK’s food supply.

What the National Farmers Union describes as “tinderbox conditions” have severely reduced grass growth and depleted yields for many crops, leading to concerns that there will be a shortage of feed for livestock and dairy farmers later in the year. Concerns about the fragility of the UK’s food chain come at a sensitive time after the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, admitted last week that the government was taking steps to ensure that there were “adequate” supplies for Britain in the event of a no-deal departure from the European Union. The revelation led to speculation that the UK might be forced to start stockpiling food.

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As technology finds innovative ways to recycle, waste products are being used in an unlikely range of goods in high street stores

First it was “bags for life”, chunky doormats and, more recently, clothing such as fleeces, swimwear and pack-away macs. Now towels made from recycled plastic bottles are to go on sale in the UK for the first time in August – the latest initiative in the war against single-use plastics and the result of a technological breakthrough that has produced a fabric deemed soft and fluffy enough to use on human skin.

The new range of eco-friendly bath towels will go on sale online and at 18 branches of John Lewis in the last week of August, after nearly two years of extensive testing and work with suppliers. The polyester from the recycled plastic bottles accounts for 35% of their content, while the rest is regenerated cotton.

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Killer whale is one of just 75 in an endangered group off the coast of Washington state and Canada

A grieving mother orca near Vancouver Island has been carrying her dead calf for four days, after refusing to leave her baby behind when the rest of her pod left.

The mother killer whale, named J35 by researchers, gave birth Tuesday in what was initially a hopeful moment. Mother and female calf were seen swimming together that morning near Victoria, British Columbia, according to the Washington state-based Center for Whale Research.

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