Jefferson Currie II is at war with flies.

Spotted flypaper dangles from the ceiling of his home in North Carolina’s Scotland county. He shows off a two-quart jar trap, marketed as an outdoor pest control solution for farms, full of flies he’s caught indoors. On Zoom meetings for his job as the Lumber Riverkeeper with the non-profit Winyah Rivers Alliance, he mutes himself and goes offscreen to avoid distracting others with the heavy thunk of his pump-action, salt-shooting plastic fly gun.

The flies are here, said Currie, because North Carolina’s poultry industry has given them the perfect feeding grounds: massive piles of feces, urine and sawdust bedding, cleared from industrial-scale chicken barns. These heaps of waste are left exposed to the elements for days on end before being worked into agricultural fields as fertilizer. He lives half a mile from a facility with 16 such barns and within a mile of a dozen more, which grow birds on a contract basis for companies such as Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms and Mountaire Farms.

“I come outside some mornings, and with my cup of coffee I get a nice mouthful of chicken litter,” Currie said with a rueful grimace. “Chicken manure in the mouth: It just tastes good, smells good, feels good.”

Large “dry litter” poultry operations like those of Currie’s neighbors have swelled across North Carolina in recent decades. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the state sold over 972 million meat birds in 2022, up from about 663 million in 1997. Nearly three-quarters of those birds came from farms averaging over 918,000 chickens each per year.

That growth has probably stemmed, at least in part, from North Carolina’s uniquely permissive regulatory regime. Dry litter facilities are exempt from the waste permitting requirements that apply to industrial swine or cattle operations. State law forbids local governments from zoning land to restrict poultry barns. Concerned communities have practically no way to slow the spread of poultry production or demand mitigation of its harms.

While the state department of agriculture and consumer services gathers details about poultry farm locations, which could help assess the industry’s collective impact in a given area, it will not share any data with researchers or regulators, citing a law that keeps identifiable farmer data secret. No other state, including larger producers like Alabama and Georgia, places such lax requirements on industrial poultry growers.

A joint investigation in 2022 by the Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer in Raleigh estimated that North Carolina’s poultry operators generate about 2.5bn pounds of manure each year, creating substantial pollution. (Bob Ford, executive director of the North Carolina Poultry Federation, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.)

The industry’s rise has acutely affected rural counties like Scotland (22.4 million broiler chickens sold in 2022, compared with 7.7 million in 1997) and neighboring Robeson (52.9 million in 2022, 16.9 million in 1997). The region includes some of the state’s densest populations of Black, Latino and Native residents, among them Currie, an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

With few state-level avenues for regulatory relief available, Currie and fellow Lumbee activist Donna Chavis, together with the non-profit Friends of the Earth, took their case to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Last April, they partnered with the environmental justice clinic at the Vermont Law and Graduate School to file a formal complaint against the North Carolina department of environmental quality (NCDEQ) under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination in federally funded programs.

The complaint alleges that NCDEQ is “abdicating its responsibility” to regulate an industry with proven environmental impacts in North Carolina and beyond, including nutrient leaching into waterways and ammonia emissions into the air. Currie said he had personally observed high bacteria levels, algal blooms and fish kills, all tied to runoff from poorly managed chicken waste.

Because these impacts disproportionately fall on communities of color, the complaint continues, Title VI empowers EPA officials to require tighter state rules as a condition of future support. The agency is a major funder, allocating almost $291m to North Carolina’s environmental regulator in the 2022-23 fiscal year alone.

“When you have a state like North Carolina disregarding its public protection mission in favor of an entrenched industry, the legal tools under the big environmental statutes are limited,” said Christophe Courchesne, a Vermont Law professor and attorney who helped file the complaint. He says environmental justice groups have increasingly turned to Title VI as a creative legal strategy, including in North Carolina, where a 2018 settlement over another complaint against NCDEQ led to stronger monitoring of swine facilities.

In the few instances where North Carolina has put restrictions on poultry farms, advocates say, the state rarely punishes violations. For example, explained David Caldwell, Broad Riverkeeper with the non-profit MountainTrue, regulations prevent farmers from leaving piles of chicken waste standing uncovered for more than 15 days, but that rule is often ignored.

Caldwell has partnered with the non-profit SouthWings to conduct aerial monitoring of poultry farms and document uncovered litter piles. “I remember one particular pile of waste as big as my house, and it was never covered up – I probably flew over it 10 times,” he recalled.

On another occasion, Caldwell conducted three flyovers of his watershed’s biggest poultry facility within a 16-day period, documenting the same uncovered litter piles on each occasion. He shared that evidence with NCDEQ, asking the state to require a cleanup; instead, he said regulators just visited the site and asked the operator to cover the piles.

Other riverkeepers told the Guardian that the state refuses to consider their photographs of uncovered waste as evidence of violation, even as it commits few of its own resources to monitoring poultry. Without NCDEQ keeping a close eye on these facilities, said Caldwell, non-profit water protectors are one of the few groups trying to hold the industry accountable.

Josh Kastrinsky, a NCDEQ spokesperson, declined to comment on the Title VI complaint, and a public records request filed on 24 January seeking the department’s internal communications on the matter remained unfulfilled as of press time.

“To date, the department does not have statutory permitting authority for dry litter poultry waste management systems,” Kastrinsky said. “These operations are deemed permitted under [state administrative code] and must comply with certain restrictions and record-keeping on storage and transfer of dry litter.”

Although NCDEQ is the Title VI complaint’s target, North Carolina’s legislature shares much of the blame for the current situation, said Brooks Rainey Pearson, a lawyer with the non-profit Southern Environmental Law Center who was not involved in the filing.

She’s been lobbying for greater oversight of the poultry industry in the capital of Raleigh since 2012 and says the Republican-dominated general assembly hasn’t allowed any progress. House Bill 722, the poultry waste management bill she helped the Democratic representative Pricey Harrison introduce in the last legislative session, was immediately buried by the Republican-led House rules committee.

“We have a legislature that is catering to factory-farm interests. They’re very strong lobbies,” Rainey Pearson said. And legislators from impacted areas often have ties to the poultry industry; Republican representative Jarrod Lowery, who represents Robeson county and serves on the state House’s agriculture committee, was previously a spokesperson for Mountaire Farms and sat on the North Carolina poultry federation board. (He also did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

It’s unclear if the Title VI appeal to the EPA will be any more successful than efforts at the general assembly. While federal standards call for the agency to determine whether it will consider the complaint within 90 business days of receipt, the matter was still listed as “under jurisdictional review” as of 20 March, 11 months after its filing. EPA officials did not acknowledge the Guardian’s requests for an update.

Meanwhile, on 23 January, Louisiana won a US district court case to limit the scope of the agency’s Title VI application in that state. Blakely Hildebrand, another Southern Environmental Law Center attorney who has filed a different civil rights complaint against NCDEQ, called that decision “very concerning” and said its impact on pending cases elsewhere in the country remained to be seen.

Back in Scotland county, Currie is determined to keep up his fight. He’s motivated by the flies that the underregulated poultry industry attracts to his home, but much more important to him is its impact on the surrounding waterways. The Lumber River gives the Lumbee their name, and he said its swamps offered the community shelter during the expansion of European settlement.

“I want the water to be something that is sacred and important and held in the kind of respect that I hold it. And I think other tribal members do as well,” said Currie. “I want us to do better as a state, as a country, because we can do better.”

The World Bank must take a “quantum leap” to provide new finance to tackle the climate crisis or face “climate-driven economic catastrophe” that would bring all the world’s economies to a halt, the UN climate chief has said.

Simon Stiell warned that there were just two years left to draw up an international plan for the climate that would cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.

“There’s no room now for half measures,” he warned, referring to the global heat that has surpassed records for the past 10 months. “Averting a climate-driven economic catastrophe is core business.”

But Stiell held out a promise of global economic renewal, for the developed and developing world, if countries shift to a low-carbon economy.

“Bold new national climate plans will be a jobs jackpot and economic springboard, to boost countries up that global ladder of living standards,” he said. “[They will] increase food security and lessen hunger. Cutting fossil fuel pollution will mean better health and huge savings, for governments and households alike.”

Governments will meet next week for the annual spring meetings of the World Bank, with its fellow taxpayer-funded development banks from around the world and the International Monetary Fund. These institutions will play a key role in determining whether developing countries gain access to the finance they need to cut emissions and adapt to the effect of the climate crisis.

“For many countries, they will only be able to implement strong new climate plans if we see a quantum leap in climate finance this year,” Stiell said.

He called for reform at the development banks that would enable the governments that fund them to provide much more climate finance to the developing world. This would involve greater pledges of overseas aid and debt relief for those labouring under the heaviest burdens, but most importantly changes to the banks’ lending practices that would give poor countries greater access to finance.

Leaders of developing countries, including Mia Mottley of Barbados and William Ruto of Kenya, have said such reforms could unlock hundreds of billions of dollars of finance. At present, lending practices are rooted in conservative estimates of developing countries’ economic capabilities and are not geared towards tackling the climate crisis.

“We can’t afford a talkfest [at the spring meetings] without clear steps forward, when there is an opportunity to make real progress on every part of the new climate finance deal all nations need,” Stiell told an audience of geopolitical experts at the Chatham House thinktank in London on Wednesday afternoon.

Ajay Banga, the new president of the World Bank, was installed last June after the resignation of the Donald Trump appointee David Malpass, after a series of gaffes that suggested he did not take the climate crisis seriously. Banga will be under pressure at the spring meetings, the core business of which takes place next week in Washington DC, to show that he is willing to address the climate crisis.

Stiell called for the World Bank and governments to “step up the pace” on climate finance, including by addressing new sources of funds. These could include a frequent flyer levy and taxes on the carbon emissions from shipping.

Stiell also warned of the impacts of the “global cancer of inequality”, which he said was worsening and was impeding efforts to make the deep cuts in emissions, and the investments in adapting to the impacts of extreme weather, that are necessary to avoid catastrophe.

“Business as usual will further entrench the gross inequalities between the world’s richest and poorest countries and communities that unchecked climate impacts are making much worse,” he said. “These inequalities are kryptonite for cooperative global climate action, and every economy, every country and its people pays the price of that.”

Stiell is executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1992 parent treaty to the 2015 Paris agreement. Under the Paris terms, countries have until early next year to present new national plans – called nationally determined contributions, or NDCs – to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the target of holding temperature rises to “well below 2C” above preindustrial levels, while “pursuing efforts” to limit them to 1.5C.

Current NDCs, most of which run to 2030, are inadequate to cut emissions to the extent needed. The UN is pinning its hopes on a revision of NDCs, to run beyond 2030, that would require much deeper cuts. At the Cop29 UN climate summit in Azerbaijan this November, countries are expected to set a new finance goal to enable the new rounds of NDCs due to be submitted next spring.

Many scientists believe that the 1.5C limit is already well beyond reach, pointing to the past 10 months of record temperatures on land and at sea.

However, the Paris agreement cannot be said to be breached based on the temperatures of one year alone, and many other scientists, heads of global institutions, political leaders and experts argue that the world must keep aiming for a 1.5C limit in order to galvanise action. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the gold standard of global climate science, has found that 1.5C is still possible, though an overshoot of temperatures is likely and some form of removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is also likely to be needed.

Tunnellers, fliers, crawlers: your nominations for the UK invertebrate of the year have been pouring in, paying tribute to these wonderful creatures and testifying over and over again to the wonder and awe that they inspire.

We still have a few days till the voting starts, and we haven’t yet worked out which of your many, many suggestions will be added to the list – but the love and enthusiasm for the UK’s invertebrates has bowled us over, so we thought we’d round up some of the tributes to your favourite spineless creatures here.

Please keep sending us your thoughts, and get ready to vote this weekend.

Hummingbird hawk-moth

The first time I saw one up close I couldn’t believe my eyes. So weird and beautiful. It was when I had been made redundant from a job I hated and was trying to figure out what to do next. My neighbour’s children were transfixed by the hawk-moth and I took delight in their curiosity. That’s when I decided to go into teaching. I still only see one very occasionally, they are quite rare. Inspirational insects deserve recognition. Kate Jannaway, 51, works in SEND support for an FE college, Brighton

Red-tailed bumblebee

I’d like to posit that the humble bumblebee deserves this accolade for one simple reason: it brings joy. Regardless of one’s age, it is hard to not see a bumblebee and experience a moment of glee; this tiny, fuzzy, creature, flying around with what seems like little consideration of any of its surroundings, has the capability to make anyone smile. At a time when conservation of wildlife is becoming more and more pressing, I think it is important to highlight the everyday species that often inspire children to explore the field into adulthood. Ronnie Matczuk, 24, bar operations manager, London

Common woodlouse

They are little troopers of the insect world, doing so much for us, which most are not aware of. Highly evolved from the oceans (which is why they like it a little damp) to be on land with us, cleaning our soil, recycling dead matter, curl up when scared like a pangolin, and the moms even have a little pouch to keep their babies in! They live for a long time compared to others their size, love being with each other, do so much for the environment and yet are still so humble. Love them so much. Kathleen Woodward, 45, works in a museum, Derby

Dark-edged bee-fly

These characterful little insects are early emergers and their appearance gives real hope that spring is close. They look fantastic with furry ginger bodies and an outrageously long proboscis and have a fascinating lifestyle. This includes spinning display flights and territorial disputes amongst the males and the female coating her eggs with sand or soil before flicking them into the nest holes of solitary bees. What’s not to love? Nick Morgan, 63, accountant, North Yorkshire

Common cockchafer

Cockchafers (known also as maybugs – though they’re not true bugs, they’re beetles) are such delightful, characterful things. As their nickname suggests, adults are abundant in late spring/early summer – they’re often spotted bumbling along or flying into things (for those who do mothing, they can be a lovely surprise as they quite often find their merry way into traps). Though the adults live for only five to six weeks, in which time they reproduce and females lay their eggs, their larvae remain in the soil for up to two years, chomping on plant roots. As well as being very friendly-looking beasts, they’ve also had a great cultural impact – including as emblems of queer zoology. An 1896 drawing of two male cockchafers copulating by the French naturalist, Henri Gadeau de Kerville, is thought to be the first rendering of same-sex sexual behaviour in a non-human animal. Cockchafers have also caused their fair share of aggravation in the agricultural world; a 15th-century French court actually placed the beetles on trial for crop destruction. Though then they were deemed “irrational and imperfect creatures”, I plead the contrary. Biliana Todorova, 23, doctoral candidate, Oxford

Rhinoceros beetle

Out for a walk along Kerridge Hill, I was startled when a big black beetle landed on my hand … My instinctive reaction was to instantly slap it off my hand – but fortunately I was holding my camera in that hand, and I just managed to stop myself and take a look at what it was first. I’m glad I did! The female rhinoceros (the males have a horn) was so delicate and obliging I managed to swap her over to my left hand and snap a few portraits of her beautiful glossy armour before we went our separate ways. Despite the scary appearance she seemed curious, and moved very slowly and tickled my hand as she walked daintily around, exploring this strange new landscape. Why is our first reaction to a strange insect usually to immediately try to kill it? Anthony Skellern, semi-retired graphic designer, Bollington

Common sexton beetle

What a marvellous clear-up job they do for us. I used to wander in the countryside all the time, and one day I spotted a red squirrel tail lying among the dead leaves on the ground. I tugged at it and up came a whole red squirrel, to my astonishment. It seems it would be the food supply, for some time, for the larvae of this beetle. Without that help the world would be covered in tiny smelly corpses, with flies hovering about and their own larvae feeding on them. I have often felt guilty about my action, rendering the industrious beetle with an arduous repeat burial. Hilary Kirkby, 77, retired, south of France

Manx shearwater flea

The Manx flea is one of the only insects found exclusively in the UK. It is threatened with extinction and listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. It is found only on the windswept Isle of Rùm, off the west coast of Scotland within a single colony of Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus), which serve as its hosts. So often invertebrate advocacy focuses on charismatic groups like bees and butterflies, but this year we have the opportunity to highlight one of the “small majority” of invertebrates overlooked by most people because they aren’t as appealing. The Manx flea is as British as Stonehenge, symbolises the plight of many threatened parasites, and is an incredibly unique insect worthy of a place to compete for UK invertebrate of the year! Mackenzie L Kwak, 30, academic, Japan

Harvestman

A class, not a species. But I’m referring to one of its members: what many people call “daddy long legs”. An amazing arachnid that thrives despite eating (apparently) nothing. I’ve never seen one eat anything – and I share my house with these creatures (as well as their annoying cobwebs) all the time. It looks impossibly, wondrously frail, its gossamer legs a marvel of articulation. They sit in corners, motionless. Never seen them outside. Where would they live without humans? I don’t know. Wonderful, mysterious survivors. Simon Jones, 68, book translator, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

Devil’s coach-horse

It’s possibly the most ferocious beetle there is in the UK: a fearsome predator that’s mega aggressive, eats other invertebrates, and has scorpion-like pincers. It terrifies and delights people bug spotting in equal measure, but is not well known about (although common) as active at night. The name alone lets you know how vicious it can be, and they wouldn’t be afraid to bite humans either! Like a honey badger in beetle form. Jess Richards, Staffordshire

Medicinal leech

The European medicinal leech was overused in past centuries for medical purposes and although they’re considered near threatened, they are endangered in the UK. They are still used in medicine because of their incredible saliva, which has uses as an anticoagulant and has its own anaesthetic effect! These creatures have been used by humans for thousands of years and we’re only now fully understanding their amazing physiology, as we’ve pushed them to the brink of extinction in some countries. They’ve got three jaws and a hundred teeth, they’re slimy and a little creepy, but they’re incredible little creatures who we owe it to save. Avery Kilmarnock

Common garden snail

I used to enjoy getting out into the natural world, but now my disability is so limiting that I’m rarely able to leave home. I so love the way that whenever it rains our garden is suddenly alive with snails, all rushing about (at a snail’s pace) to make the most of what to them is perfect weather. It’s fascinating to watch a life form so unimaginably different from us getting on with its daily business as if we weren’t here. Lois Pass, 59, Southend-on-Sea,

Strawberry spider

If people say we have dull-looking invertebrates in this country then they have never seen this spider. Its common name is the strawberry spider and with the bright colour and markings you will see why it gets its name. It’s a favourite because it not only builds an awesome orb web, but then weaves two leaves together to make a bell shape and hangs that in the top of the web as a retreat. It took me five years to find one of these spiders and I was so pleased to see and photograph it.

So when you next see a spider around maybe salute him or her for the good they do. Or at the very least if you have one in your home and you’re not keen just try and help it back outside. It’s important to remember it’s not just our planet, and everything from the largest to the smallest deserves our respect and its place on this sphere we call home. James Chisnall, 44, engineer, West Sussex

Bumblebee

Best. Invertebrate. EVER. As the Bumblebee Conservation Trust puts it: “Bumblebees are large, furry and charismatic four-winged insects.” And with a Latin name of “Bombus” – which perfectly describes them – how can you not adore them! Fluffy bums, hard-working and so very lovely. From early spring to late autumn and sometimes even into early winter, they give me such joy and hope to watch them – which I do for hours, every year! A vital part of the ecosystem and of our lives – definitely my No 1. Vicky, Hampshire

The US Environmental Protection Agency has set legally enforceable drinking water limits for a group of the most dangerous PFAS compounds, marking what public health advocates hailed as “historic” rules that will dramatically improve the safety of the nation’s water.

PFAS, known as “forever chemicals”, are ubiquitous in the environment and thought to be contaminating drinking water for over 200 million people across the US. Any exposure to some highly toxic varieties of the compounds is considered a health and cancer risk.

The agency’s action marks the first time in 27 years it has put in place new drinking water limits for contaminants, and the rules are part of the Biden administration’s broader effort to rein in PFAS pollution.

“Americans have been drinking contaminated water for decades, but today’s action will finally get these toxic chemicals out of our water,” said Melanie Benesh, vice-president for government affairs at Environmental Working Group, which tracks PFAS water pollution across the globe, in a statement.

Officials said the rules will reduce exposure for 100 million people and help prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancers. Michael Regan, the EPA administrator, said the rule is the most important action the agency has ever taken on PFAS. “The result is a comprehensive and life-changing rule, one that will improve the health and vitality of so many communities across our country,” said Regan, who will announce the rule in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 15,000 chemicals often used to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, and are linked to cancer, liver problems, thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease, decreased immunity and other serious health problems.

After years of issuing health advisories, the EPA on Wednesday set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), which are the highest level at which a contaminant can be in water. Critics say PFAS’ dangers have been known for years and the EPA has been slow to respond.

Between 2016 and 2022, the EPA’s advisory health limit was set at 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA, two commonly produced compounds used for decades.

Last year, after science showed no level of exposure to the two chemicals in drinking water is safe, the EPA set non-enforceable advisory health limits of 0.02 ppt and 0.004 ppt for PFOA and PFOS, respectively.

“This reflects the latest science showing that there is no level of exposure to these contaminants without risk of health impacts, including certain cancers,” the EPA wrote.

The new enforceable limits for PFOA and PFOS are four ppt each, the lowest level at which water-testing technology can reliably obtain readings. The EPA noted in a release that the law requires it to consider feasibility and water treatment costs in addition to health risks.

It also set limits of 10 ppt for any combination of three other PFAS compounds, including PFNA, PfHxS, and HFPO dimer acid, more commonly called GenX. For any combination of those three compounds and PFBS, the agency set a variable limit.

EPA scientists calculated that the new limits will result in thousands of fewer birth-weight related infant deaths, kidney cancer deaths, bladder cancer deaths, and deaths from cardiovascular disease.

Though the rules only address several PFAS compounds, the technology water utilities are installing will address many of the compounds. However, the technology does not address some of the newly discovered “ultra short chain” PFAS that are not well studied. Public health advocates say the problem highlights the need to regulate PFAS as a class and prohibit their non-essential uses.

Water utilities have long opposed the rules because they did not want to have to pay for upgrades, which they say will cost billions of dollars and lead to increased bills for customers.

The proposed limits established early last year contributed to a wave of utility lawsuits aimed at PFAS producers such as 3M, DuPont and Chemours. The companies settled some class actions, agreeing to pay up to $15bn to help fund upgrades to municipal water filtration systems.

However, more lawsuits are playing out as water utilities or well owners not covered by the class actions sue. The Biden administration also made billions of dollars available though the Inflation Reduction Act, but the cost to upgrade the nation’s water systems could be as much as $400bn. In part citing the regulatory and legal environments, 3M announced last year it would stop making PFAS.

Over the last year, EPA has periodically released batches of utility test results for PFAS in drinking water. Roughly 16% of utilities found at least one of the two strictly limited PFAS chemicals at or above the new limits. These utilities serve tens of millions of people. The Biden administration, however, expects about 6-10% of water systems to exceed the new limits.

Water providers will generally have three years to do testing. If those test exceed the limits, they’ll have two more years to install treatment systems, according to EPA officials.