Latest environmental news, opinion and analysis from the Guardian.
Nurses, medical experts and green campaigners reject party deputy leader’s dismissal of efforts to reach net zero Reform’s deputy leader has been accused of spreading misinformation after he dismissed efforts to tackle the climate crisis and urged British people to enjoy the warmth of the recent heatwaves. Richard Tice prompted a backlash from nurses, medical experts and green campaigners on…
Study finds older adults could face harmful heat stress at just 1.5C of warming above preindustrial levels People aged 60 and over face dangers to their health from exposure to heat at much lower temperatures than previously thought, research has found. Older adults will bear the brunt of increasingly frequent sustained spells of extreme heat globally as the world continues to warm up, according…
Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide drought Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests. French vegetable production is down by “a very…
Belgium wildfire creeps closer to German border, as 104 firefighters and 36 vehicles from France help with Spain wildfire effort As flagged earlier, Belgium’s King Philippe is now visiting the emergency coordination centre looking after the firefighters tackling the major fire in the eastern part of the country ( 9:39 ). The European Commission has deployed assistance to Belgium and Spain as part…
From Aboriginal rock art to colonial encounters, sharks have been a figure of fear and fascination throughout the long human history of this continent Is there a more primal fear among beach-goers than the shark? Although many more Australians drown each year at the beach than are killed by these creatures, it’s sharks that inhabit the jagged edges of our collective consciousness. After a…
Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, near death on Welsh beach in 2023, is thriving in Houston despite lingering pneumonia A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle native to the Gulf of Mexico is largely thriving after he was found nearly dead on a beach in Wales in late 2023, nursed back to health and then flown to Houston recently to continue recovering – though scans revealed signs that the creature has been grappling…
As warming seas push native species to cooler waters farther north, once-rare visitors have become more common ‘It sounds silly but I thought it was a person in the water waving,” says Kurt Lander, skipper of the Yellowfin charter boat, based out of Brighton. But when he grabbed his binoculars, he realised the fluttering movement he had noticed in the middle of the Channel shipping lane was a pair…
Hurricane Lala downgraded after skirting Big Island as one person dies and 183,000 still without power Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn’t done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly 3ft (1 meter) was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and…
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Famous raptor helped livestream viewers in difficult moments, and inspired a conservation project at her lake home The bald eagle Jackie made her home on the shore of southern California ’s Big Bear Lake for most of her 14 years. But her death earlier this week drew international attention. The Los Angeles Times described her as “arguably the world’s most famous bald eagle”. For years, millions of…
Loggerhead turtles abound this season but rollback of Endangered Species Act protections could threaten future Wildlife groups in Florida are celebrating record numbers of sea turtle nests this season, but experts warn Donald Trump’s recent gutting of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could reverse decades of their recovery from the edge of extinction. With more than two months of the summer…
Nurses collapsing, builders with heatstroke, bus drivers in cabs that reach 44C. The new PM wanted to spend the summer talking about the cost of living – he should change his plans I don’t think I have ever written before about a British strike directly related to the climate emergency. But that’s exactly what began late last week in north London, with a zeitgeisty connection to Andy Burnham’s…
Ahead of Fat Bear Week, avid fans are glued to the spectacle of brown bears devouring salmon at Brooks Falls in Alaska One of this summer’s biggest onscreen hits has had big beasts, great escapes and choppy waters, but it’s not Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey – it’s a livestream of Alaskan brown bears catching salmon. The Brooks Falls bearcam at Katmai national park in the US was watched 7.3m…
National Weather Service reports that more than 11in of rain fell over a two-day period in some areas At least five people are dead after devastating floods that swept through Indiana this week, officials said, as storms continued to batter the state on Saturday and first responders used boats to rescue more people from rising waters in neighborhoods along the White River in Indianapolis. The…
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Massachusetts beaches have become a ‘hotspot for mass stranding of sea turtles’, so an annual rescue effort has grown Sea turtle #471 gasped audibly, as veterinarian Kathy Tuxbury palpated the surgical scar on the animal’s left flipper. The turtle – lovingly renamed “Lucky” by the huge network of conservationists, interns and volunteers working to save its life – is one of the last patients of the…
Heavy machinery seen operating in famous Santa Elena Canyon amid outcry over new wall infrastructure in beloved Texas park Bulldozers have begun plowing up ground at the mouth of Big Bend national park’s famed Santa Elena Canyon as part of the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar “smart wall” expansion on the US-Mexico border, according to new footage taken by activists who have been…
With the UK experiencing the driest summer on record, we look at how the weather is affecting the pitches and courses across the country Continue reading...
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
Bat experts were shocked at how fast white-nose syndrome had reached Canada’s northernmost colonies from the US. Now, the race is on to find a cure before species disappear Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white…
Days of rain has caused widespread flooding across the Philippines capital, Manila, and filled the city’s waterways with debris. A massive cleanup operation involving teams of workers and heavy machinery is under way Continue reading...
As a controversial Spanish plan for sustainable meat on an industrial scale is dropped, it has revived the ethical debate over farming these intelligent wild animals In 2022 Nueva Pescanova, Spain’s largest fisheries business, announced it was investing €65m (£56m) in the world’s first industrial octopus farm and processing plant near the Canary Islands’ port of Las Palmas. Despite the creatures…
The gigantic aquatic acrobats are exciting Brazil’s tourists as numbers recover from whaling. But some marine biologists question how booming tourism and conservation can coexist The anticipation is palpable onboard the Boaventura II as the yacht sets off from Rio de Janeiro at sunrise. Once beyond the Cagarras Islands, rocky outcrops just three miles off Ipanema beach, the group gathers at the…
The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became…
While there are fears that people harvesting their food could put pressure on habitats, some ecologists suggest responsible foraging can boost conservation and biodiversity Angus Morton crouches behind a cricket pavilion in a London park to snip stinging nettles from an unkempt patch of greenery. “They’re so abundant and they’re so good,” says Morton, a regenerative gardener who pops out once a…
The 3,500 population is divided over the venture, which would bring investment and jobs, but critics claim the environmental cost would be too high It is among the world’s last pristine wildernesses, with unique coastal waters rich in krill and squid that attract sea lions, elephant seals, dolphins and whales, and where penguins, of which there are five different species locally, outnumber people.…
Experts say layoffs, reduced disease surveillance and Medicaid cuts have made the foodborne parasite more difficult to track and contain As soon as Michigan detected the first sign of cyclosporiasis cases in late June, health officials swung into action, notifying federal agencies and releasing a notice on 1 July ahead of the holiday weekend alerting home cooks and commercial kitchens alike to the…
Dozens of projects are in development across US despite concerns over environmental and health risks The plan to bury carbon under remote Indiana farmland is supposed to be a slam dunk for the climate, according to its supporters – all generously funded by US tax dollars. But as far as Melissa Harrison and some other residents of Clymers, Indiana, are concerned, it just might be the end of their…
As bird flu reshapes agriculture, small farms operate under strict rules. Just a single case could tank their business Joshua Beebe often starts his day by cleaning the tires of trucks and cars entering his poultry farm. “We spray them off and scrub them with a brush. It’s a precaution; the goal is to eliminate as many potential avenues for a pathogen to enter as possible,” said the owner of…
Okra holds a special place in many African-descended communities, and a Canadian farmer with Jamaican roots is growing a very old variety When Nicole Austin was growing up in Oshawa, Canada , her Jamaican family couldn’t find the foods they enjoyed back on the island. No callaloo, garden eggs or okra. Austin’s grandmother grew certain things in her backyard, but only if she had the necessary…
New Farm Bill places caps on non-US foods; nutritionists say it restricts availability of healthy meals for kids School nutrition workers and advocates have “lots of concerns about bananas”, said Erin Ogden, policy associate for federal child nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Bananas are nutrient-dense foods that many children like. That makes them popular…
Marcos Orellana, a special rapporteur, found lax environmental standards and lack of oversight allowed pollution to accumulate Revealed: Mexico’s industrial boomtown is making goods for the US. Residents say they’re ‘breathing poison’ Mexico is facing a “toxic crisis” and has become a “garbage sink” for the US, exposing Mexican communities to dangerous pollution, a UN expert has warned. In an…
After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tactics The Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system,…
Polluting facilities in Monterrey, which has close ties to the US, are pumping toxic heavy metals into the city’s air and threatening residents’ health Leer en español en Quinto Elemento Lab An industrial boom in a US manufacturing hub in Mexico is contributing to a massive air pollution crisis that is threatening residents’ health, according to new research by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento…
