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Governments, the oil industry and car makers are waking up to the profound changes battery-powered cars will bring

When Jaguar Land Rover followed in the tracks of Volvo last week with its shift to an electric-powered future, the car maker didn’t just talk about hybrids and batteries.

Its chief executive also showed that his company, like governments and oil firms, is finally waking up to the global shockwaves electric cars will bring about. They are far more profound than whether drivers top up via a pump or a plug.

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More than 6.5 million Floridians were under mandatory evacuation orders. But not all of them left. Those who stayed were bracing for a monster storm — or shrugging off another hurricane.

(Image credit: Meredith Rizzo/NPR)

Environmental lawyer James Thornton says China’s ‘ecological civilisation’ concept is the best response to the world’s environmental crisis

James Thornton’s specialty is suing governments and corporations on behalf of his only client – the Earth – and he’s very good at it. In his four decades of legal practice across three continents, he’s never lost a case.

Acknowledging this in 2009 the New Statesman named him one of the ten people likely to change the world; ClientEarth, the public interest environmental law firm he started in London in 2007 now employs 106 people.

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A café in Miami remained open on Saturday as customers prepared for the weather. The owners are praying for the best as this is the strongest storm they've seen in the two decades they've lived here.

(Image credit: Cassi Alexandra for NPR)

• Centre of storm to make landfall in Florida Keys in early hours of Sunday
• Governor: ‘If you have been ordered to evacuate, you need to leave now’
• Irma: Florida told to expect 15ft surges as storm closes – latest updates
  

More than 7 million people evacuated from the path of Hurricane Irma on Saturday as one the most powerful storms in history lined up a potentially catastrophic strike on Florida.

Related: A tale of two Irmas: rich Miami ready for tumult as poor Miami waits and hopes

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Animal rights campaigners claim strong support in the Midlands village that hosts a museum dedicated to the bloodsport

The fractious politics of hunting was far from the minds of Julian Smith and Becky Whitehead during a pleasant afternoon exploring Leicestershire’s only National Trust house – a 118-year-old cottage nestled in countryside just out of earshot of the M1.

Nevertheless their views were clear, before a landmark vote next month that could prohibit trust land from being used for trail hunting – where riders follow hounds in pursuit of a fox-based scent. “We would be very anti-hunting, to be honest, and very much in favour of the existing government ban on foxhunting,” said Smith, a trust member who had travelled from Nottinghamshire to visit old houses and walk in the Peak District.

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President Temer is courting the mining companies and their political backers by breaking into pristine rainforest

On 23 August it emerged that the president of Brazil, Michel Temer, had issued a decree abolishing the protected status of an immense area of the Amazon forest. The area is in the north of the country, beyond the Amazon river, going up to the frontiers with French Guiana and Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana). The estimated size is 4.5 million hectares, the size of Denmark or Switzerland.

The decree was shocking, but not entirely unexpected. Temer is in political difficulties, facing corruption charges and needing political allies. There are more than 30 registered political parties in Brazil, and to get anything done in Congress they form bancadas (“benches” or coalitions). One of the most powerful is the bancada ruralista, consisting of powerful, wealthy agribusiness interests (mostly cattle and soya) together with those who represent mining and other extractive industries. And, making things gloomier, the evangelicals attach themselves to this bancada.

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A lot of YouTubers have rightfully been on a rant lately about YouTube's new overly zealous politically correct algorithm that targets videos it deems "not suitable for all advertisers".  This began in early August after the ad-apocalypse that happened in March .  I just got the dreaded yellow dollar sign again on yesterday's upload.  This has happened on 4 of my videos now.  Two of them were released after I requested a manual review and my "skinning a rattlesnake" video is still barred from any further advertising revenue.  Every one of my videos is well within their Advertiser-friendly content guidelines  - but this new process has a twist to it.  Once a video is flagged by their system, they will not do a manual review (actually have a human assess the content) unless the video gets over 1,000 views in 7 days.  Hopefully, "how the day ends" will get reviewed and pass so I can make a few dollars off of it.  Stay tuned...  83,86,66,0,B

• Almost a third of Florida’s population under evacuation orders on Saturday
• Forty-two shelters open in Miami with city scheduled to impose curfew
• Irma: Miami braces as superstorm winds hit Florida coast – latest updates

Almost a third of the entire population of Florida was under evacuation orders on Saturday afternoon, as Hurricane Irma approached and authorities made a final push to drive more than 6 million people out of danger zones, off the streets and into shelters or on to high ground.

Related: A tale of two Irmas: rich Miami ready for tumult as poor Miami waits and hopes

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Wildfires are still raging in multiple states across America's western region. Fire historian Steve Pyne of Northern Arizona University says it's time to rethink land use, development and forest management in light of the increasing numbers of fires we are seeing each year.

Several of the Caribbean islands were badly hit by Hurricane Irma. NPR's Michel Martin chats with Anika Kentish, a journalist and resident of the island Antigua, about how the island is dealing with the aftermath.

People in Florida have been preparing for Hurricane Irma. Some have evacuated, while others are taking shelter. And some are even trying to go on with their vacations.

Florida is bracing for the full impact of Hurricane Irma. The eye of the storm isn't expected to come ashore along the Florida Keys until early Sunday, but rain bands are already pummeling the area.

In an extract from his book Ends of the World, Peter Brannen examines mass extinction events and the catastrophic outcome of rising temperatures for all the world’s population

Many of us share some dim apprehension that the world is flying out of control, that the centre cannot hold. Raging wildfires, once-in-1,000-years storms and lethal heatwaves have become fixtures of the evening news – and all this after the planet has warmed by less than 1C above preindustrial temperatures. But here’s where it gets really scary.

If humanity burns through all its fossil fuel reserves, there is the potential to warm the planet by as much as 18C and raise sea levels by hundreds of feet. This is a warming spike of an even greater magnitude than that so far measured for the end-Permian mass extinction. If the worst-case scenarios come to pass, today’s modestly menacing ocean-climate system will seem quaint. Even warming to one-fourth of that amount would create a planet that would have nothing to do with the one on which humans evolved or on which civilisation has been built. The last time it was 4C warmer there was no ice at either pole and sea level was 80 metres higher than it is today.

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Rapa Nui protection area, about same size as Chilean mainland, will protect up to 142 species, including 27 threatened with extinction

One of the world’s largest marine protection areas has been created off the coast of Easter Island.

The 740,000 sq km Rapa Nui marine park is roughly the size of the Chilean mainland and will protect at least 142 endemic marine species, including 27 threatened with extinction.

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As the hurricane approaches, the wealthy residents of Miami Beach can afford to play golf, their homes primed to withstand the wind and rain. In Liberty City, just a few miles away, they’re crossing their fingers

• Hurricane Irma: Florida evacuates millions - latest updates
  

This is a tale of two Irmas. First, there’s the Hurricane Irma facing Max Borges as he practised his short iron on a Miami Beach golf course just hours before one of the most powerful and deadly storms in modern times was scheduled to make landfall on the US mainland.

Related: Millions flee from Hurricane Irma's path as Florida prepares for deadly hit

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NPR's Scott Simon talks with Michael Brennan of the National Hurricane Center in Florida about the latest forecasts for Hurricane Irma.

As Irma approaches the U.S. and Jose spins in the Atlantic, many are wondering what hurricanes' connection to climate change might be.

A slew of Trump properties stand in the path of Hurricane Irma, and they could be underwater by the end of the century

Mar-a-Lago. Trump National Doral Miami. Trump Palace. Trump Royale. Trump International Beach Resort Miami. Trump Hollywood.

Related: Florida officials warn Irma will be 'storm wider than the state'

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Related: Hurricane Irma live updates: Florida evacuates millions as superstorm makes landfall in Cuba

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If you are planning to leave and do not leave tonight, you will have to ride out this extremely dangerous storm at your own risk.

Related: Irma's destruction: island by island

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