Ruling means Boca Chica Beach, located near sprawling Starbase site, likely to close during future rocket launchesA Texas beach can be closed during rocket launches by Elon Musk's SpaceX after the state's supreme court ruled unanimously against a bid by environmental organizations to sue over preserving public access.The court's decision that the organizations did not have legal standing upheld a trial court's dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice, preventing the groups from filing the case again with revisions. Continue reading...
Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the countryThe Lebanese marine activist Mona Khalil, who became a beloved figure in the country for a decades-long effort to protect a nesting site for turtles near her home, has died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike.Khalil, 76, ran a sanctuary called the Orange House Project near the Mediterranean city of Tyre. She hosted volunteers in her house to clean and monitor a mile-long beach and welcomed tourists to stay and learn about conservation. Continue reading...
The reconstruction of the vaquita, whose numbers barely reach double figures in the wild, is designed to help research and conservation effortsScientists have created a digital reconstruction of the world's most endangered marine mammal, preserving its anatomy in three dimensions to aid research and conservation efforts as the species teeters on the brink of extinction.The project digitised the skeleton of a female vaquita, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's northern Gulf of California, using a combination of medical imaging, ultra-high-resolution micro CT scans and photography. Continue reading...
Lanchester Wines in north-east England uses heat from a disused coalmine to maintain wine temperatures and with 23,000 flooded mines in the UK, there's huge potential for more businesses and homes to follow its leadShove them in a fridge, stash them in a cellar - this is how most people store their favourite bottles of wine. But if you have warehouses full of thousands of vintages, you have to think a little differently.For the last eight winters, Lanchester Wines has used heat from a disused coalmine to maintain ideal storage temperatures at its facilities in the north-east of England, helping to prevent freezing or spoilage. Continue reading...
Supplier Agratas sacks its main building contractor on the government-backed project amid a budget mismatchJaguar Land Rover faces the risk of delays to the first deliveries of electric car batteries from a 5.2bn government-backed factory in Somerset after construction problems.The British carmaker is planning to rely on the Agratas factory in Bridgwater, Somerset, to supply the batteries for its new electric models. Agratas and JLR are owned by the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata. Continue reading...
As datacenters' connections to electric grids are held up, big tech is forced to throw money at producing its own powerDatacenters are driving unprecedented growth in the US clean energy industry, paradoxically boosting a sector that was sputtering before the artificial intelligence boom even as AI's rollout creates immense environmental challenges.However, observers caution that while the centers are propelling wind, solar, and other clean energy companies, datacenters remain a climate nightmare. Continue reading...
by Raymond Pierrehumbert, Julia Slingo, Michael Mann on (#76DX1)
Do we really want to play dice with our planet?A series in the Guardian recently declared it's time to talk about geoengineering." So let's talk about it. And let us start with some simple truths about this cluster of techno-optimistic quick fixes" which purport to somehow offset our slow progress towards zeroing out planet-warming carbon emissions.Solar geoengineering proposals - reducing sunlight - have received the most attention, but a host of desperate schemes have been proposed in an effort to fix" the disruption of climate caused by the growing burden of carbon dioxide human activities add to the atmosphere. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington in Cambridge Bay, Canada on (#76BXC)
Sea ice is melting fast, worsening the climate crisis, but a bold attempt to rethicken it is showing early signs of successThis would have been a wild dream a year ago," says Andrea Ceccolini, standing on Arctic sea ice just a 4-mile snowmobile ride from the Inuit town of Cambridge Bay, northern Canada. To his left are sky blue ponds of meltwater created in the last few days by a sun that no longer sets in the high north summer. To his right, the sea ice is still a brilliant white, the light dusting of snow on top continuing to sparkle.It's incredibly different, the boundary - I mean, you can point to it," he says. The difference is the result of a bold geoengineering experiment being conducted by Ceccolini's company, Real Ice, funded by the UK government. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Sources say Defra's policy on livestock fails to distinguish between ponies and sheepNatural England and MPs are urging the government to change its livestock rules to stop ponies on Dartmoor from being culled.Semi-wild ponies have roamed Dartmoor for more than 4,000 years and have become uniquely suited to the boggy landscape, providing a charming sight for those who visit the national park. Continue reading...
The short-tailed roundleaf bat was feared extinct until scientist Iroro Tanshi found one in Afi sanctuary in Nigeria, and set out to protect the only confirmed roosting colonyJust after sunrise, a cacophony of whoops and chatter can be heard over the verdant forests of the Afi mountain wildlife sanctuary. Nestled within the Cross River rainforest in south-east Nigeria, and spanning an area about the size of central Paris, the steep sanctuary is a haven for endangered gorillas, drill monkeys, the grey-necked rockfowl - and the short-tailed roundleaf bat.The Nigerian biologist Iroro Tanshi remembers the moment she first spotted the endangered bat in 2016, during a field expedition for her PhD research. We were trapping near a roost that night, so we caught a lot of bats," says Tanshi. But, she adds: This looked very, very different. Big-eared." She promptly turned to her identification guide, which revealed that the tiny furry creature she was holding between her fingers was Hipposideros curtus, better known as the short-tailed roundleaf bat, last recorded in the wild in the 1970s. Continue reading...
A five-year-old girl was swept away and a woman was pulled into the water, prompting authorities to urge precautionMassive waves, coastal flooding and dangerous rip currents are roiling the California coastline this week as authorities advise people to take precautions while visiting beaches following two deaths last week.Turbulent waters swept a five-year-old girl, who was walking with her mother and brother, out to sea from the shore of Treasure Island Beach in Orange county in southern California on Tuesday. Bystanders were able to rescue the mother and son, but the girl was not found and her body was recovered on Thursday. Continue reading...
The 12 finalists will be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery during Beaker Street festival from 6 to 17 August, including images of newborn fish, a native wasp and satellite trails across the night sky
The Global Justice Report offers a hopeful bargain: tax extreme wealth and replace consumer excess with social and economic security for allHumanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival, the Guardian reported last week. In an age of ecological dread, that is a bracingly hopeful claim. The optimism came courtesy of the Global Justice Report, produced by Thomas Piketty's World Inequality Lab.It arrives against the grain of the times. Antimigrant demagoguery, fossil-fuel revivalism, attacks on multilateralism and billionaire capture all militate against the redistributive state capacity that the report requires. Yet Prof Piketty's team insists that decarbonisation, sufficiency" and equality can meana good life for most people.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment saysThe world's oceans are under severe and accelerating" pressure from human activities, with the rate of sea-level rise double that of a decade ago, according to a damning assessment from the United Nations.The intensifying" stressors, which include pollution and large-scale industrial fishing, are cumulative, said the report, resulting in widespread biodiversity loss and putting ocean systems under severe strain". Continue reading...
We cannot afford to make the same mistake as we did with gas. If tech companies are going to use our land, energy and water for AI, they must pay their fair share of tax
Footage captured by a diver shows a rare sighting of a great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea, spotted between Tunisia and Sicily.The sighting happened during a mission, organised by the NGO Healthy Seas Foundation in partnership with Ghost Diving and the Society for Documentation of Submerged Sites, to remove abandoned fishing nets in the strait of Sicily.Healthy Seas, which removes rubbish from seas, said the video was believed to be the first underwater footage captured of an adult great white shark in the Mediterranean in its natural habitat. The species has come close to extinction in the region, thought by Healthy Seas to be due to threats such as overfishing. Continue reading...
Annual killing of infant gannets has been carried out on a remote Scottish island for at least 400 yearsAnimal welfare campaigners have called for talks on phasing out the inhumane" hunt for infant gannets known as guga, which are killed by hunters on a remote Scottish island once a year.OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports said it should be slowly phased out in dialogue with the Hebridean islanders who see the hunt, which has been carried out for at least 400 years, as a cultural pursuit and as sustainable food harvesting. Continue reading...
Wildlife department says drought conditions and water released from dam led to major fish kill' at San Carlos LakeArizona officials have indefinitely closed a popular lake to visitors after its entire population of fish died recently.The recreation and wildlife department that maintains San Carlos Lake said in a Facebook statement on Friday that drought conditions as well as water released from a dam there resulted in a major fish kill affecting approximately 100% of the fish population". Continue reading...
Exclusive: Labour's Makerfield byelection candidate advocates public ownership of water companies as he prepares for potential leadership bidThames Water should be nationalised, Andy Burnham has said, revealing public ownership of water companies would absolutely be an option" under his potential leadership of the Labour party.Burnham, Labour's candidate in the Makerfield byelection, has previously called for greater public control" over the companies. In an interview with the Guardian, he has confirmed this could mean nationalisation. Continue reading...
The bipartisan Roadless Rule is under fire. It's just one way Trump could make our public lands unrecognizableModern roads in the United States will last for decades. And yet the damage they cause in our national forests is immediate.Since 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected more than 58m acres of national forests from development, barring road construction and timber harvests. The policy came to be with huge bipartisan support; almost 2 million people submitted comments on it, the majority of whom championed the protections.Charles F Sams III (Cayuse and Walla Walla) was director of the National Park Service from 2021 to 2025. He is now director of Indigenous programs at the Yale Center for Environmental Justice Continue reading...
Experts say dismantling the ocean observation system will severely degrade' the accuracy of weather predictionsThe Trump administration's plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would severely degrade" the accuracy of weather predictions and El Nino forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month. Continue reading...
Migrant insects have been seen in large numbers along east coast thanks to heatwave and benign southerly windsIf you've spotted a pale orange butterfly dashing at frenetic pace through streets, fields or gardens, you've noticed the new migrants that will add colour to the summer in record-breaking numbers.What is expected to be the largest arrival of painted lady butterflies in Britain for 17 years is under way after heatwaves and favourable winds ushered thousands if not millions of the insects northwards. Continue reading...
Within the last few days, a camera trap caught images of three mule deer using structure for the first timeA trio of mule deer have already scuttled across a not-quite-finished $20m wildlife bridge in Siskiyou county, marking a triumph for the California department of transportation (Caltrans).The bridge with its accompanying fencing over Route 97 in Siskiyou county is the first wildlife crossing constructed over a major highway in California. The project promises to both improve driver safety and reduce mortality for migrating mule deer, elk and other animal species. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Local authority asked what steps it is taking after hordes of splashing revellers seen disturbing nesting birdsMinisters have written to the City of London demanding it stop people from swimming in a protected pond on Hampstead Heath, after disturbing scenes of cygnets and eggs being disrupted went viral on social media.Swans and their 12-day-old cygnets were disturbed by hordes of splashing revellers in the north London park on Monday as temperatures reached a record 35C in the capital. In one video, a swan was seen poking an unhatched egg with its beak after it fell into the water during the chaos. Continue reading...
Despite government pledges, more than 20 authorities will not allow gullies, citing safety, legal and parking concernsThe energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said charger gullies to connect electric cars parked on streets will help cut costs for drivers, yet millions of UK households may be unable to use the simple technology because their local councils will still not allow charging cables to cross the pavement.Despite government promises to slash red tape" and make it easier to put in gullies, more than 20 local authorities appear to be holding out against them. Continue reading...
Survey shows 44% increase on RSPB reserves of bird that almost became extinct in England in the 60sMore than half a century after the Dartford warbler almost vanished from the English countryside, the charismatic heathland bird appears to be staging a comeback.A survey has revealed the highest number of Dartford warblers ever recorded on reserves run by the bird conservation charity RSPB, with 264 pairs counted in 2025, a 44% increase in five years. Continue reading...
The 15-week-old triplets get their first swimming lesson from their mum, Bonita, and dad, Manu. The two boys, Uca and Yali, are named after an area of the Amazon rainforest and the second largest region in Peru. The female pup is named Yara, which means river spirit' in Brazilian folklore. Endangered giant otters face an uncertain future as conservationists estimate that only a few thousand remain across South America. The pups have been born as part of the international conservation breeding programme in European zoos that is working to safeguard them from extinction Continue reading...
Installing solar panels to offset electricity costs helps farms during financial strain. But the House version of the farm bill would limit their useTwelve years ago, George Hunt needed a new roof on his cow barn in Orange, Massachusetts. Solar was hot" back then, Hunt said, thanks to federal and state commitments to increase renewable energy supplies.When Hunt crunched the numbers, he found that adding solar panels to that roof would be a financial boon to his struggling dairy. He applied for a Rural Energy for America Program (Reap) grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which covered about a third of the cost; he borrowed the rest and mostly paid that loan off with a solar energy credit he received from the state of Massachusetts. After that, we didn't have an electric bill for a decade," Hunt said. It was wonderful." Continue reading...
Conservation groups warn slashing Darwin Initiative will put species and habitats in jeopardy, and set back efforts to halt decline in natureOne of the UK's longest-standing funds for global nature protection is being drastically cut back, the Guardian has learned.At least 89 countries will lose eligibility for funding for biodiversity projects under the Darwin Initiative, in a round of cuts that conservationists warned would put species and habitats in jeopardy, and set back global efforts to halt the precipitous decline in nature. Continue reading...
London authority's new Tory-led administration delivers significant blow to Labour's flagship housebuilding schemeEnfield council in north London has withdrawn from the government's new towns programme, in a significant blow to Labour's flagship housebuilding scheme.The move by the new minority Conservative-led administration could present one of the first tests of Rachel Reeves's planning changes, designed to curb the use of judicial reviews against new infrastructure. Continue reading...
Clean power remains essential. But until it arrives, Britain must stop LNG made scarce by the Iran war setting gas and electricity pricesThe US-Israel war on Iran will drive household energy costs in Britain to their highest level in two years over the summer. This has given fresh impetus to calls for the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, to change course. The cabinet minister is vulnerable because he promised cheaper bills if Britain embraced his clean, green power plan.Critics, including Labour's former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, are circling. Yet Mr Miliband ought to ignore the naysayers. Until global carbon emissions, including Britain's, are reduced to net zero, the planet will continue to fry and temperature records will continue to be broken.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Water company blames increased demand in extreme heat, but customers want answers about lack of storage reservoirsSpitting, fuming, angry and powerless" is how Pat Prestage describes her emotions after a water outage that has affected thousands of homes in Kent during the heatwave.On Wednesday, 8,000 South East Water customers in Whitstable lost water, with 14,000 more in Tankerton, Ashford, and its surrounding areas facing an intermittent supply or low pressure. South East Water's incident manager, Matthew Dean, said on Thursday that 22,000 people had had water supply problems. Continue reading...
As summers become hotter, air conditioner sales are booming. If you're looking to invest, here's what to considerWhen a heatwave struck the UK this week, Jon Connorton, a software developer, began monitoring temperatures inside his east Hampshire terrace house. With some rooms reaching close to 40C, it was time to deploy the air conditioner. We just wheel it out in emergencies," he said. We were having trouble sleeping."Connorton and his wife have a portable air conditioner. These plug-in devices cool interior air by removing heat from it and blowing that heat outside, typically via a large hose slung from a window or door. Continue reading...
Bodies of two teenagers recovered by emergency workers following separate incidents in Kent and OxfordThe number of water-related deaths during the UK's recent heatwave has risen to 11 after the bodies of two teenage boys were recovered in Kent and Oxford.Emergency workers recovered the body of a 14-year-old boy from the River Thames near Donnington Bridge, Oxford, at about 5.30pm on Wednesday. Thames Valley police said the boy's family had been informed and that his death was being treated as unexplained but not suspicious". Continue reading...
For those of us working in Aboriginal health, the outbreak doesn't come as a surprise. We must invest in housing that keeps remote communities safeThe diphtheria outbreak should shock Australia. Not simply because a disease once considered virtually eradicated has returned, but because of where it is spreading and why.More than 220 cases have been recorded in 2026, primarily across the Northern Territory and northern Australia. The overwhelming majority of patients are Aboriginal people, including those living in remote and very remote communities. Continue reading...
In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food - but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it backBill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can't help himself. I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually," he says softly. Really quite amazing."Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US's leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country. Continue reading...
Investigators are still searching for what caused the recent deaths of a mother and her calf, but conservationists say the animal's shrinking habitat may be the first place to lookThe two elephants were found dead in the Indonesian province of Bengkulu, in an area of production forest" in southern Sumatra. The mother and her calf were lying side by side with their tusks still intact.Unlikely to be poachers, the cause of their deaths - and that of a tiger nearby - at the end of April is still being investigated but conservationists say this is not an isolated case. It is estimated that seven wild elephants have died in Bengkulu since 2018. Continue reading...
by Damien Gayle Environment correspondent on (#75T6J)
Authorities are cracking down on rights activists fighting for Indigenous people threatened by authoritarianism, extractivism and climate breakdownThe operation began at 9am Moscow time, but took place across all of Russia's 11 time zones. Almost simultaneously, agents of the federal security service (FSB) raided the homes and workplaces of 17 Indigenous rights activists.Officers carried out searches, confiscated laptops and phones, and arrested and interrogated activists about participation in international forums. Most were let go; many have since left the country. Others remain in Russia, but will no longer speak up. Continue reading...
What does a surge in ocean temperatures, compounded with El Nino, bode for the summer?An enormous marine heatwave off the US west coast is ringing alarm bells among ocean and atmospheric scientists as new data shows its ecological and environmental effects are intensifying.The unusual area of warm water has persisted since peaking in size during September 2025 and still stretches thousands of miles from the California coastline - more than halfway across the Pacific - affecting a vast triangle-shaped region of oceanic habitats from Hawaii to British Columbia and southward to Mexico. Continue reading...
by Zoe Wood Consumer affairs correspondent on (#75T6K)
Greater working from home and hot summer temperatures believed to be driving increase in ownershipAn estimated 4m homes in the UK now have air conditioning, double the figure from three years ago as Britons complain of unliveable" conditions during high temperatures.Portable units with power ratings around 1kW are slightly more common than the more powerful built-in versions that can guzzle 2.7kW of power - more than an electric oven. Continue reading...