Pioneering broadcaster recalls incident during discussion with royal about latest documentary, OceanSir David Attenborough almost drowned when testing a scuba-diving helmet for his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, the broadcasting veteran has revealed in a discussion with Prince William.Discussing his latest documentary, Ocean, the pioneering film-maker described the incident to the Prince of Wales. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Ransom note' requests would leave Environment Agency unable to prosecute company or managementLenders vying to take over Thames Water have demanded that the struggling company and its management be granted immunity from prosecution for serious environmental crimes as a condition of acquiring it, the Guardian can reveal.Creditors want the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to grant the water company extraordinary clemency from a series of strict rules covering everything from sewage spills to failure to upgrade its water treatment works. Continue reading...
by Gabrielle Canon on the Klamath River, California on (#6XTQ5)
Less than a year after four dams were removed from the river, life has blossomed along its banks, presenting new challenges and joys of recoveryBill Cross pulled his truck to the side of a dusty mountain road and jumped out to scan a stretch of rapids rippling through the hillsides below.As an expert and a guide, Cross had spent more than 40 years boating the Klamath River, etching its turns, drops and eddies into his memory. But this run was brand new. On a warm day in mid-May, he would be one of the very first to raft it with high spring flows. Continue reading...
Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communitiesConservationists have launched a campaign to revoke the Lake District's Unesco world heritage status, arguing that it promotes unsustainable sheep farming at the expense of nature recovery and local communities.In a letter to Unesco, the ecologist Lee Schofield argues that the designation promotes a false perception of farming, is not economically sustainable, is working against crucial efforts to restore the natural environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change, does not help sustain farming livelihoods, is not wanted by local people and is contributing to damaging overtourism." Continue reading...
NGO says Afghan capital's 7 million people face existential crisis that world needs urgently to addressKabul could become the first modern city to completely run out of water, experts have warned.Water levels within Kabul's aquifers have dropped by up to 30 metres over the past decade owing to rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown, according to a report by the NGO Mercy Corps. Continue reading...
Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent's legal status to protect its interestsCormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica". The vast frozen continent - home to emperor and Adelie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses - should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity at least equivalent to a country", says the environmental lawyer.And this week that dream became one step closer to reality as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions. Continue reading...
A little-known provision would open thousands of nearby acres to a foreign mining company, risking acid drainageThe story is co-published with Public Domain, an investigative newsroom that covers public lands, wildlife and governmentA little-known provision of Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill" would open thousands of acres of public lands at the edge of Minnesota's Boundary Waters wilderness to a foreign-owned mining company. Continue reading...
Exclusive: emissions from power-hungry warehouses at Lincolnshire facility expected to be 850,000 tonnes a yearA vast new datacentre to feed Britain's rising demand for artificial intelligence could cause more greenhouse gas emissions than five international airports.Elsham datacentre in Lincolnshire is on course to cost 10bn and its 15 power-hungry computer warehouses are projected to release five times the carbon dioxide of Birmingham airport, including from take-offs and landings. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Friends of the Earth tells Keir Starmer any major green cuts by Rachel Reeves will be challengedIf the decisions the UK government makes in its upcoming spending review are not in line with the net zero climate target it risks being taken to court again, campaigners have said.Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will set out her spending review for the rest of this parliament on Wednesday. Amid continuing economic uncertainty and Labour's promise to boost defence spending, many departments are facing deep cuts to dearly held commitments. Continue reading...
by Karen McVeigh and Richard Assheton in Saint-Malo, on (#6XSSS)
As delegates prepare for the global gathering, the president is caught between opposing sides in a row over bottom trawling in France's marine protected areasOn his trawler in Saint-Malo, one of France's most important ports for scallops and crabs, Laurent Mevel is fixing his nets. We really want to protect the seas," says the 60-year-old fisher. But we've got crews, we've got employees.If you don't fish any more, the fish will come from Ireland, from Scotland. Now the fish you buy from shops comes by plane. And costs less." Continue reading...
Call me a middle-class bobo', but inspired street art has nothing in common with sprayed-on assertions of me, me, me'Among the layers of life in Paris that energise me, I might list: peeling back the city's music scene all the way to figuring out where, and when, the musicians go to jam together; the unassuming flair of even a basic brasserie; the way one can pivot, in the span of a week, from an art gallery opening to a friend's concert to another friend's restaurant to discover his Corsican-influenced menu, and end it by lingering on a terrace, remaking the world" with others who challenge you - calmly - to see something a different way.Among the things about this city that exhaust me are the people who cram their way into the Metro without letting you step out first (seriously, what neurons are misfiring in the heads of these people?), and the sheer prevalence of tags. It's when you leave Paris for a bit and come back that you realise how many tags there are. How swaths of a city that is otherwise arrestingly beautiful look as if a giant toddler high on methamphetamines stumbled through them, scribbling on everything in sight with a giant Sharpie. Continue reading...
Sanctions, including for Thames Water CEO, announced as part of new government powers under Water ActBonuses for 10 water company executives in England, including the boss of Thames Water, will be banned with immediate effect over serious sewage pollution, as part of new powers brought in by the Labour government.The top executives of six water companies who have overseen the most serious pollution events will not receive performance rewards this year, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, said. Continue reading...
Cutting off the animals' horns more effective than traditional protection methods such as rangers and costs less, say expertsCutting the horns off rhinos causes a large reduction in poaching, according to a new study, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti-poaching techniques used to protect the African mammals.Poaching for horn is a significant threat to the world's five rhino species. The substance, which is similar to human fingernails, is commonly used for traditional medicine in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Dealers in the hidden market will pay tens of thousands of dollars for the horns, which are falsely believed to be effective at treating fevers, pain and a low sex drive in traditional medicine. Continue reading...
Parliament backs scheme for relatives of 123 men who died in worst disaster in Norway's waters since second world warForty-five years after the Alexander L Kielland oil rig capsized in the North Sea, Norway's parliament has voted to set up a compensation scheme for relatives of the 123 men who died in the worst disaster in Norwegian waters since the second world war.This is a historic day, the end of more than four decades of fighting for justice," said Mimir Kristjansson, an MP from the leftwing Red party. The chair of the victims' committee, Anders Helliksen, said the state had finally accepted its responsibility". Continue reading...
Region is experiencing an unusually warm spring, raising concerns of fierce wildfire season amid limited resourcesUnusually warm springtime temperatures have contributed to rapid reductions in snowpacks across the western US that rival the fastest rates on record, increasing concerns around wildfire season.The rapid snowmelt, in addition to reduced staffing and budget constraints initiated by the Trump administration, has set the stage for a particularly dangerous season across the west, according to an analysis of publicly available data by the Guardian and interviews with experts in the region. Continue reading...
John Morales told viewers he may be unable to warn viewers of hurricane dangers due to weather agency cutsA leading TV weatherman in Florida has warned viewers on air that he may not be able to properly inform them of incoming hurricanes because of cuts by the Trump administration to federal weather forecasting.John Morales, a veteran meteorologist at NBC 6 South Florida, told viewers on Monday night that Donald Trump's cuts to climate and weather agencies mean that forecasters will be flying blind" into what is expected to be an active hurricane season. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Tony Juniper, who will oversee nature restoration fund, says claims not fully backed by evidence'The government's leading environmental adviser has said ministers are wrong to suggest nature is blocking development.Tony Juniper, the chair of Natural England, is to oversee a national nature restoration fund, paid into by developers, which will enable builders to sidestep environmental obligations at a particular site - even if it is a landscape protected for its wildlife. Continue reading...
Researchers at Aussie Ark have found 10 Tasmanian devil joeys during the first pouch check of the endangered marsupial's 2025 breeding season, which runs from February to June each year. Continue reading...
Environment committee also wants to outlaw dredging and mining due to destructive effects on seabed and marine lifeMinisters must ban bottom trawling for fish in marine protected areas, an influential group of MPs has said, because the destructive practice is devastating the seabed and marine life.The UK parliament's environmental audit committee called for a ban to encompass dredging and mining as well as the bottom trawling of fish in the 900,000 sq km covered by nearly 180 marine protected areas. Continue reading...
World Meteorological Organization report says record heat in 2024 was driven by climate crisis and intersected with extreme weather eventsAlmost 40 million sq kilometres of ocean around south-east Asia and the Pacific - an area five times the size of Australia - was engulfed in a marine heatwave in 2024, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report has revealed.WMO scientists said the record heat - on land and in the ocean - was mostly driven by the climate crisis and coincided with a string of extreme weather events, from deadly landslides in the Philippines to floods in Australia and rapid glacier loss in Indonesia. Continue reading...
The Dorrigo Plateau was used for antimony mining until prices collapsed in the 1970s. Now exploration has begun again - but locals are concerned the heavy metal may impact the water supply
Coalition that includes SoCalGas, country's largest gas utility, has launched fierce campaign against transition away from gas-fired appliancesThis story is co-published with Floodlight.On a windy night in early January, Barbara Ishida, a second grade teacher, spotted the Eaton fire glowing in the hills behind her home in Altadena, California. Her mind turned to the deadly wildfires in Lahaina and Paradise and she thought, Let's get out - now." Continue reading...
by Helena Horton, Sandra Laville and Patrick Barkham on (#6XR4T)
Ministers understood to be drawing up amendments to bill to try to head off threatened rebellion by two dozen MPsLabour MPs are planning to rebel over the planning and infrastructure bill after constituents raised concern that it threatens protected habitats and wildlife.The Guardian understands that about two dozen Labour MPs are calling for ministers to force developers to build more than a million homes for which they already have planning permission before pushing through legislation that rolls back environmental protections for the most protected habitats in England. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6XQZZ)
Senior Tory to give speech in which he will criticise neo-luddites' on right for failing to embrace green technologyJames Cleverly has taken direct aim at Kemi Badenoch's decision to ditch net zero targets by criticising what he called neo-luddites" on the right who seem scared of using green technologies to protect the environment.The senior Conservative MP, who lost to Badenoch in last year's Tory leadership race, said it was a false choice to believe the UK had to choose between economic growth and protecting the environment. Badenoch has argued current net zero targets will harm the economy. Continue reading...
Exclusive: National Fire Chiefs Council warns of pressures, with callouts up 20% in a decade as firefighter numbers fallFire stations in England are falling apart", fire chiefs have warned, with funding plummeting by an estimated 1bn in the last decade as callouts have increased by a fifth.Fire and rescue must not become the forgotten emergency service", the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) urged, warning of mounting pressures that risk undermining public and firefighter safety", as it responds to more 999 calls with fewer firefighters. Continue reading...
Parliamentary committee raises concerns over suboptimal' workplace culture at ageing waste dumpMPs have warned about the speed and cost of cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear waste dump and raised concerns over a suboptimal" workplace culture at the site.Members of parliament's public accounts committee (PAC) urged the government and bosses at the sprawling collection of crumbling buildings in Cumbria to get a grasp on the intolerable risks" presented by its ageing infrastructure. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#6XQJD)
Pupils told to play indoors because of attacks by bird of prey, which follow strikes by hawk near LutonA buzzard called Brenda has been terrorising a 300-year-old primary school on the outskirts of London, sending children running for cover while neighbours have been dive-bombed as they put out the bins.Pupils at Dame Tipping Church of England primary school in the village of Havering-atte-Bower, in the London borough of Havering, have been told they cannot play outside while the bird remains a threat. Continue reading...
The judge wanted us to show remorse, but I can't apologise for fighting the climate disasterLast week, at Minshull Street crown court in Manchester, I was sentenced to two and half years in prison for conspiring to intentionally cause a public nuisance. The prosecution's case was that I intended to obstruct the public or a section of the public in the exercise or enjoyment of a right that may be exercised or enjoyed by the public at large" - in other words, that I was part of Just Stop Oil's plan to obstruct planes at Manchester airport. I did intend that - and I have a defence for my actions.The offence of public nuisance - which falls under the Criminal Law Act 1977 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 - was traditionally and frequently used to prosecute significant environmental offences. It punished big corporations causing real harm to the general public by poisoning water, polluting air, emitting dust and noise or dumping chemical waste. There is no irony lost in the fact that the same offence in statutory form is now being zealously deployed to prosecute environmental protesters.Indigo Rumbelow is co-founder of Just Stop Oil. She is serving a sentence in HMP Styal Continue reading...
Scientists puzzled by huge amounts of prickly sargassum suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to GuyanaA record amount of sargassum has piled up across the Caribbean and nearby areas in May, and more is expected this month, according to a new study.The brown prickly algae is suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana and beyond, disrupting tourism, killing wildlife and even releasing toxic gases that forced one school in the French Caribbean island of Martinique to temporarily close. Continue reading...
Controversial plans could see the slaughter of almost 200 black bears, about 5% of the state's estimated totalIt's tough to be a bear in Florida these days, where only a year ago a Republican state congressman was accusing the ursine population of shooting up crack cocaine and trashing people's houses.Then came a controversial new law that allows anybody to shoot and kill any bear perceived as a threat without fear of consequences, which animal advocates say could be bad news for any creature that inadvertently wanders into a back yard. Continue reading...
Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their summer encounters with natureOnce again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months, as the UK enters a new season, we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.The article needs to be about a recent encounter they've had with nature - whether it's a thriving rock pool, a day fruit-picking, or a compost heap full of bugs. Continue reading...
A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species' collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticidesDaniel Janzen only began watching the insects - truly watching them - when his ribcage was shattered. Nearly half a century ago, the young ecologist had been out documenting fruit crops in a dense stretch of Costa Rican forest when he fell in a ravine, landing on his back. The long lens of his camera punched up through three ribs, snapping the bones into his thorax.Slowly, he dragged himself out, crawling nearly two miles back to the research hut. There were no immediate neighbours, no good roads, no simple solutions for getting to a hospital. Continue reading...
Climate minister says greenlighting North West Shelf project until 2070 is not the leadership Pacific countries expect as Australia seeks to host summitVanuatu's climate minister has expressed disappointment over Australia's decision to extend one of the world's biggest liquefied natural gas projects and said it raises questions over its bid to co-host the Cop31 summit with Pacific nations.The UN is expected to announce which country will host the major climate summit in the coming weeks, with Australia pushing for the event to be held in Adelaide as part of a Pacific Cop". Continue reading...
Doug Burgum says Biden order that banned drilling in 23m-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska will be reversedMillions of acres of Alaska wilderness will lose federal protections and be exposed to drilling and mining in the Trump administration's latest move to prioritize energy production over the shielding of the US's open spaces.Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said on Monday that the government would reverse an order issued by Joe Biden in December that banned drilling in the remote 23m-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), the New York Times reported. Continue reading...
by Photos by Muhammad Fadli and others, text by Joan on (#6XPFH)
Using passive design and local materials such as ice cream buckets, these modern community spaces offer a respite from urban heat and hustle Continue reading...
The Emmy award winning comic teams up with renowned scientist Michael Oppenheimer for a new video campaignDavid Cross is many things: a famed comic, an Emmy award winner, and a New York Times bestseller. But he is not a climate scientist.That fact might make him the perfect person to communicate the urgency of global heating to mass audiences. Continue reading...
The president's funding cuts and bullying are about dividing Americans and tightening his grip on powerThe author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner called our national parks America's best idea".Certainly, these jewels - 85m acres of parkland throughout all the 50 states - are beloved by the public. So are America's public libraries, arts organizations and museums.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
National Weather Service offices are reeling from job cuts and a hiring freeze imposed by TrumpMore than a dozen National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices along the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico coast are understaffed as the US plunges into an expected active season for ruinous storms, data seen by the Guardian shows.There is a lack of meteorologists in 15 of the regional weather service offices along the coastline from Texas to Florida, as well as in Puerto Rico - an area that takes the brunt of almost all hurricanes that hit the US. Several offices, including in Miami, Jacksonville, Puerto Rico and Houston, lack at least a third of all the meteorologists required to be fully staffed. Continue reading...
Campaigners say the publication of key KPMG report must be a condition to MPs extending subsidies schemeThe owner of the Drax wood-burning power station should be forced to disclose full details of its tree consumption, campaigners have argued, as MPs review the billions in renewables subsidies the North Yorkshire plant receives.A delegated legislation committee will decide on Monday whether to pass the government's plans to extend billpayer-funded subsidies to the country's biomass power generators, of which Drax is by far the biggest. Continue reading...
Make UK tells government that prices threaten to derail industrial strategy as Energy UK calls for charges to be rebalanced'The UK government is being pressed to wipe billions from the energy costs facing households and heavy industry by reforming the high taxes levied on electricity bills.These policy levies mean the UK pays some of the highest energy bills in the world, and are simultaneously disadvantaging British industry and stifling the efforts of households to transition to lower-carbon heating systems, according to industry trade groups. Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian