Abnormal climatic phenomena resulted in 2010 being the hottest, wettest, and in many cases also the driest and coldest in recorded history Photograph: Adek Berry/AFP
To mark the lowest daytime tide in five years, London waterways charity Thames21 led a clean-up volunteering event along the Thames in March 2010 Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian
Often derided as ugly and a blot on the landscape, wind turbines can also be surprisingly beautiful and awe-inspiring. Here is our round-up of images that show the beauty of wind power – the technology which the UK is banking on to meet its renewable energy targets Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Botanists from the Natural History Museum's new Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity crawl over Juliette Jowit's garden to identify some of England's 55,000 species of flora and fauna Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian
Green Patriot Posters: Graphics for a Sustainable Community, by Dmitri Siegel and Edward Morris, is a book of 50 detachable, read-to-hang posters on the theme of sustainability by some of the world's most prominent graphic designers and artists, including this image, by Banksy Photograph: Green Patriot Posters/Thames & Hudson
John Vidal travels on a climate change journey from the Himalayan glaciers of Nepal to the Bay of Bengal Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Shots and a commentary on the disaster by the 2009 Prince's Rainforest Project award-winning photographer, who covered the oil spill for Greenpeace Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace
Africa's most spectacular water system comes brilliantly to life in a new book, Okavango Delta: Floods of Life, which likens the complex way the river and delta work to an ever-changing natural organism similar to the human body itself Photograph: Beverly Joubert/NGC/Corbis
Lying at the northern edge of the Lake District national park in Cumbria, the Ennerdale valley is home to some of the district's most vibrant natural environments and one of the first re-wilding projects in the UK Photograph: Joe Cornish/The National Trust
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion on 26 April, 1986, few were prepared to endure the massive radiation levels and document the disaster, but Russian photographer Igor Kostin did. In the years that followed, he continued to monitor the political and personal stories of those impacted by the disaster, publishing a book of photos called Chernobyl: Confessions of a Reporter. His images of a deformed boy even led to adoption of the 'Chernobyl Child' in UK Photograph: Igor Kostin/Corbis
Environmental group Greenpeace warns that China is producing toxic coal ash at an alarming rate, destroying surrounding villages and agricultural land Photograph: Zhao Gang/Greenpeace
Photographer Toby Smith talks about his pictures documenting the illegal logging trade in Madagascar, which he helped bring to the world's attention by going undercover with environmental groups Photograph: Toby Smith/Getty Images
With rhino horn in demand in south-east Asia for its supposed medicinal purposes, South Africa and its neighbours are fighting an increasingly gruesome battle against poachers, including armed security guards and electronic tagging Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
The Sundarbans, a network of islands that spans the mouth of the Ganges delta from eastern India to Bangladesh, are sinking rapidly. The seas around the islands in the Bay of Bengal that support a unique mangrove ecosystem are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth, and the lives and livelihoods of more than 4 million residents are under threat from rising waters and a greater number of cyclones. Photographer Peter Caton documented the situation in an exhibition, Sinking Sundarbans - climate voices Photograph: Peter Caton
Tarnished Earth is a dramatic street gallery of photographs telling the story of the destruction of Canada's boreal forest - a continuous belt of coniferous trees separating the tundra to the north and temperate rainforest and deciduous woodlands to the south Photograph: Jiri Rezac/Greenpeace
The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse (HB-SIA prototype) had its maiden flight at the military airport in Payerne, Switzerland in April 2010 Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AP
Our picture editor, Eric Hilaire, selects the best shots from the 2010 wildlife photography awards Photograph: Steve Young/British Wildlife Pho/PA
Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, by the photojournalist Ed Kashi, documents the consequences of 50 years of oil extraction in the Niger delta Photograph: Ed Kashi/Corbis
Nine new watercolours by one of the UK's most innovative artists, Jamie Hewlett, featured in a exhibition organised by Oxfam, in October 2009 Photograph: Jamie Hewlett/Oxfam
The Warrington Cycle Campaign's book of Crap Cycle Lanes is notorious among cyclists. From amusing and pointless to downright dangerous lanes, the book catalogues 50 of the worst examples of cycle facilities in Britain Photograph: D Richards/Warrington Cycle Campaign/Eye Books
George Monbiot wants to help save the planet by eating only fish he has caught himself. Here, he shows you how to catch and eat the red-clawed signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), a large, aggressive American species that has wiped out almost 95% of the native white-clawed species (Austropotamobius pallipes) since it was introduced to the country in the late 1970s Photograph: George Monbiot/Guardian
Writer John Harris and Guardian photographer Martin Argles shadowed the former energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, for 40 hours during his trip to an intergovernmental meeting in Copenhagen ahead of the main conference there in December 2009 Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian
A Greenpeace report has called on the Chinese textile industry to clean up its processes after finding high levels of pollution in the southern industrial towns of Xintang – the 'jeans capital of the world' – and Gurao, a manufacturing town 80% of whose economy is devoted to bras, underwear, and other clothing articles Photograph: Lu Guang/Greenpeace
Belgian photographer Roger Job has documented some of the worst humanitarian crises in Africa, including the civil war in Liberia and Sudan and the trauma of Congo. His latest project follows the Turkana pastoralists of Kenya, who are already feeling the impact of climate change. With difficulty accessing water points and pastures for their cattle, their nomadic way of life that has been largely intact for some 6,000 years is likely to be destroyed Photograph: Roger Job
The Aysén region of Chilean Patagonia is threatened by a plan to build five dams on the Baker and the Pascua rivers – two of the wildest in the world. The Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (Rave), an initiative of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), was set up to address the challenges of modern conservation, and it visited the area in February 2010 to assess what impact the dams would have on the surrounding area and its way of life Photograph: Bridget Besaw/iLCP
