Vast tract of park that is home to 114 mammal species, including critically endangered black rhino, affectedNamibia has begun deploying hundreds of soldiers to fight a fire that has burned through a third of the vast Etosha national park, one of Africa's largest game reserves, officials said.The park in the north of the largely desert country is home to 114 species of mammals, notably the critically endangered black rhinoceros, and is a major tourist attraction. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#70BYP)
Two years after the tree was cut down, the National Trust says it wants to turn a sense of loss into a sense of hope'Artists are being asked for ideas to create a nationally important" work from the wood of the illegally felled Sycamore Gap tree which, organisers hope, will be galvanising and inspiring.The National Trust has revealed details of a huge creative commission, offering the chance for artists, organisations or creative agencies to use half of the tree's timber to produce something incredible. Continue reading...
From supermarkets to restaurants, rising meat costs amid tight supply and strong demand are hitting Americans hardIf beef is what's for dinner, expect to pay more for it.The classic combination of tight supply and strong demand has pushed US cattle and beef prices to record highs, and there is little end in sight with farmers reluctant to expand their herds and selling off high-priced heifers to dig them out of debt. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#70BMH)
Concerns over whether gas generators are making fair profits are prompting fresh proposals to reform the systemTravel 18 miles north of London and the grey bulk of a gas power plant comes into view near Rye House railway station in Hertfordshire.Rye House power station has generated electricity since 1993, making it Britain's longest-serving such power plant still in the market. But it also produces some of the most expensive electricity in the country. Continue reading...
Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissionsFood and agriculture contribute one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions - second only to the burning of fossil fuels. And yet the vast majority of media coverage of the climate crisis overlooks this critical sector, according to a new data analysis from Sentient Media.The findings suggest that only about a quarter of climate articles in 11 major US outlets, including the Guardian, mention food and agriculture as a cause. And of the 940 articles analyzed, only 36 - or 3.8% - mentioned animal agriculture or meat production, by far the largest source of food-related emissions. Continue reading...
Humans have helped save the great apes from extinction, but are now the biggest threat to their survival as they compete for land in east Africa's Virunga mountains Photographs by Badru Katumba for the GuardianIt is sunrise on mount Muhabura, an inactive volcano on the Ugandan-Rwandan border, and Dr Benard Ssebide is in a rush to find a family of mountain gorillas before the tourists arrive. A mass of ferns, vines and thistles encroaches on the path, and the guides hack through brambles with machetes. Above, the forest whistles in the wind, glowing in the morning light.The higher you go, the more the mountain pushes back," Ssebide says, pausing for breath. Continue reading...
Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide - and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all lifeA landless people and a peopleless land: these, it appears, are the aims of the Israeli government in Gaza. There are two means by which they are achieved. The first is the mass killing and expulsion of the Palestinians. The second is rendering the land uninhabitable. Alongside the crime of genocide, another great horror unfolds: ecocide.While the destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza is visible in every video we see, less visible is the parallel destruction of ecosystems and means of subsistence. Before the 7 October atrocity that triggered the current assault on Gaza, about 40% of its land was farmed. Despite its extreme population density, Gaza was mostly self-sufficient in vegetables and poultry, and met much of the population's demand for olives, fruit and milk. But last month the UN reported that just 1.5% of its agricultural land now remains both accessible and undamaged. That's roughly 200 hectares - the only remaining area directly available to feed more than 2 million people.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnistDo 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...
Plant in Beckton has run only five times and has been beset by multiple problems since it was builtLondon's desalination plant has cost more than half a billion pounds since 2010 and has run only five times, delivering 7.2bn litres of drinking water, roughly seven days of London's typical daily demand. Now Thames Water is planning a new 500m project to tackle drought in the capital.The Thames Gateway desalination plant at Beckton, built for 270m and now largely mothballed, has racked up an estimated 200m in debt interest, about 45m in idle upkeep and about 3m in operating costs, according to Thames Water figures. That puts the lifetime bill at about 518m, or about 7p for every litre the plant has ever produced, which is 28 times more than customers usually pay for their water. Continue reading...
Response from leaders and key climate figures comes after PM's aides advised non-attendance over concerns Reform may attack himLeading climate figures and Labour MPs have urged Keir Starmer to attend the crucial Cop30 climate summit this November, after aides advised him not to attend for fear of attracting the ire of the Reform party.Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, said: Cop30 is where leaders are expected to come and roll up their sleeves, make deals to help their nation's economy transition faster, creating more jobs, and guide the world on what next steps we take together." Continue reading...
Forest is remarkably resilient to climate change', but remains under threat from fires and deforestationThe biggest trees in the Amazon are growing larger and more numerous, according to a new study that shows how an intact rainforest can help draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it in bark, trunk, branch and root.Scientists said the paper, published in Nature Plants on Thursday, was welcome confirmation that big trees are proving more climate resilient than previously believed, and undisturbed tropical vegetation continues to act as an effective carbon sink despite rising temperatures and strong droughts. Continue reading...
Beloved specimen triumphs in Woodland Trust contest over King of Limbs' oak in WiltshireA much-loved ash tree in the heart of Glasgow has won the annual tree of the year competition organised by the Woodland Trust.While many trees that have featured in the competition are located in the remote British countryside, the Argyle Street ash is on one of the city's busiest roads. Continue reading...
Many eateries in the North Carolina city now welcome tourists after navigating complex insurance rules to surviveCurate, a Spanish tapas restaurant and one of the best-known eateries in Asheville, North Carolina, sat empty for two days after Hurricane Helene last September.Then co-owner Katie Button reopened it alongside World Central Kitchen to provide meals for many community members who were without electricity and running water. To do so, Curate installed a tank and brought in clean water at the cost of $1,000 a day, racking up $30,000 in water, tank rental and delivery fees. Continue reading...
University of California, Berkeley, study found that those who experience severe effects will see upto a $1m in costsThe climate emergency is significantly increasing costs for California households in the form of rising utility bills, lost wages and growing healthcare expenses, worsening the state's affordability crisis, according to a sweeping new report.The average American born in 2024 will likely face up to $500,000 in additional lifetime costs from climate crisis, and those who experience more severe effects will see up to $1m in costs, the Costs of Climate Change: Financial and Economic Impacts on California report states. Continue reading...
Petition says that US government's protection of fossil fuel interests has put people in harm's wayBy continuing to fund and support a fossil fuel-based energy system, the US is violating international law, a group of young people have argued to an international human rights body.The petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), filed late on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, says the government's actions have violated the petitioners' human rights. Continue reading...
Super Typhoon Ragasa has caused widespread flooding and damaged roads in Hong Kong, which resumed international flights on Thursday but kept kindergartens and some schools closed. Ragasa, the strongest storm so far this year, killed 14 people in Taiwan and 11 in the Philippines, according to officials. More than 100 people were injured in Hong Kong
Disaster relief agency reportedly didn't answer two-thirds of calls after criticism for slow response during devastationThe US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema)'s acting administrator, David Richardson, was largely unreachable after deadly flooding swept through Texas in July, according to a new report.That meant the agency could not deploy search-and-rescue resources as quickly as possible. The federal agency had already faced criticism for its slow response to the disaster in which more than 130 people died. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey, Jillian Ambrose and Severin Carrell on (#709PF)
Exclusive: Energy secretary examining ways to allow oil and gas exploration without breaking manifesto promiseEd Miliband is planning to encourage drilling in the North Sea despite a manifesto promise not to grant new licences on new parts of the British sea bed.The energy secretary is looking at ways in which the government can allow companies to look for and produce more oil and gas without breaking Labour's pre-election pledge not to issue new licences on new fields. Continue reading...
Better water management and efficient irrigation required to tackle issue, which can increase risk of wildfiresDroughts have occurred throughout history, but in recent years meteorologists have discovered a new and distinct form of this old threat: flash droughts.Flash droughts came to prominence in the 2010s, with Prof Jason Otkin of the University of Wisconsin proposing a formal definition in 2018: a period of less than three weeks in which the moisture level in the top 40 centimetres of soil drops severely enough to affect vegetation. Continue reading...
From August until October the wildflowers of Western Australia put on a vibrant show, much to the delight of photographer Pamela Jennings, who has been shooting them annually for almost a decade. She says some reappear each year, other patches are new - each spring is different
Environmental groups mark 10 years since Mark Carney's short-term horizons' speech with plea to act while there's still time'A coalition of 10 campaign groups is calling on the Bank of England to do more to tackle the climate crisis, a decade after the then governor Mark Carney warned of the tragedy of the horizon".Carney, now prime minister of Canada, argued in a speech at Lloyd's of London in September 2015 that the short time-horizons of politicians and policymakers made it difficult to tackle the climate emergency, despite the threat it posed to the global financial system. Continue reading...
The planet is nearing dangerous limits. Yet progress on clean energy shows what's possible. With political will, cooperation can still avert the worst of the climate crisisAll is not lost, Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, told the Guardian last week. But the latest planetary health check from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a brutal reminder of how close the Earth is being pushed beyond repair. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are now breached, with ocean acidification added to the danger list. Yet the world has proved that cooperation works: the ozone layer is healing, air pollution controls are working. A decisive test looms at the end of the month, when governments must file new climate pledges, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This is no time to ease off: the fossil-fuel era must end, and the cleanenergy transition must accelerate.There is real concern that big emitters, including Australia and the EU, will fall short of what is needed to avoid extreme heating. The EU is set to miss this month's NDC deadline, while most fossil-fuel producers plan to cut emissions at the margins instead of phasing out production. Since Donald Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, the US will make no fresh commitments at all. At the UN, MrTrump trotted out the same stale oil-industry talking points he's been peddling for years.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...
Chris Wright attacks Joe Biden's Green New Scam agenda' and says climate accords have not lowered emissionsThe US energy secretary, Chris Wright, on Wednesday announced that his department will return to the treasury billions of dollars set aside for green projects, while dodging questions about affordability and grid reliability and claiming international climate policy has not lowered emissions.The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become," Wright said. That lowers people's quality of lives and reduces their life opportunities." Continue reading...
Leaders unveil new targets to cut planet-heating pollution after Trump called climate crisis a con job'World leaders have unveiled new targets to cut planet-heating pollution at the United Nations, in a bid to spur fresh impetus to the beleaguered climate effort a day after Donald Trump called the crisis the greatest con job ever perpetrated upon the world".A total of 120 countries and the European Union announced new goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in New York on Wednesday. The pledges most notably include one from China, the world's leading emitter, which said it would cut emissions by 7-10% from its peak level by 2035. Continue reading...
Faroese firm Bakkafrost wants to ban campaigner Don Staniford from going within 15 metres of its fish farmsOne of Europe's largest salmon farmers has been accused of attacking the civil rights of environmental campaigners by asking for sweeping restrictions on their freedom to investigate alleged animal rights breaches.The Faroese company Bakkafrost, which produces about 20% of the UK's farmed salmon, has asked a judge to consider banning the campaigner Don Staniford from going within 15 metres of any of its fish farms, boats and barges. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani climate justice reporter on (#7092Z)
Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island nation said the step was on behalf of everybody'Vanuatu is working on securing a UN vote to turn a landmark ruling on the climate crisis by the international court of justice (ICJ) into concrete political action that will fight the influence of the fossil fuel industry and protect the globe from environmental catastrophe.In an effort spearheaded by the tiny Pacific island nation, the ICJ issued a rare unanimous advisory opinion in July, which clarified that all states are required under international law to protect the climate, prevent further harms and have a duty to cooperate. Continue reading...
New interactive map tracking PM2.5 air pollution reveals 900m people in path of super-emitting' industrial facilitiesFossil fuel burning is not just damaging the world's climate; it is also threatening the health of at least 1.6 billion people through the toxic pollutants it produces, data shows.Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, does not directly damage health, but leads to global heating. However, coal and oil burning for power generation, and the burning of fossil fuels in industrial facilities, pollute the air with particulate matter called PM2.5, which has serious health impacts when breathed in. Continue reading...
by Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor, with graphics by Al on (#708VT)
US president's offshore wind crackdown targets nine projects, threatening jobs, homes and the clean energy transitionDonald Trump has jettisoned Republicans' long-standing all of the above" approach to energy by using the US government to aggressively stamp out clean energy projects - particularly offshore wind turbines.The scale of the intervention is remarkable - a total of nine already permitted offshore wind projects that were set to provide electricity to nearly 5m households and create around 9,000 jobs in the US are under investigation or have already been paused by the Trump administration. Continue reading...
by Sandra Laville Environment correspondent on (#708RP)
Exclusive: CPRE study suggests housebuilding targets can be met without encroaching on green belt landAlmost 1.5m new homes could be built on brownfield sites in England to avoid encroaching on green belt and meet the government target for housing growth by the end of this parliament, new figures suggest.But despite the scale of brownfield land available, developers are pushing to build on green land, including increased housebuilding on and adjacent to areas of outstanding natural beauty. Continue reading...
Groundswell of support for ban propels campaign of Tabby Fletcher, 17, from her island home on Jura to parliamentTabby Fletcher, a 17-year-old from the Isle of Jura, off the west coast of Scotland, lives in what many people would probably assume is a pristine wilderness. Yet she regularly sees dead birds, their bodies entangled in plastic, among piles of waste washed up on the island's beaches after powerful storms.In January, we had Storm Eowyn," she says. Huge storm surges brought piles of plastic on to the beach close to my house. I saw dead birds wrapped in plastic. It was obvious from little bits inside their decomposing bodies they had eaten plastic. Continue reading...
After animal was sedated, wardens used an excavator to gingerly lift it out of 9ft-deep hole on family's acreageA bull moose that fell into an abandoned well in Maine was pulled to safety during an elaborate five-hour rescue.The operation happened on Wednesday after Cole Brown, whose family owns the forested land in the northern Maine community of Pembroke, spotted a pair of antlers. He heard a noise and initially thought it was turkeys but, upon, closer inspection, realized it was something a lot bigger. Continue reading...
Rabble-rousing of far-right demagogues is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought aloneIf it were not clear already, the biggest far-right protest in UK history is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought solely in the silos of science or environmentalism.That may be a source of dismay for anyone who still believed the argument for a cleaner, safer, more equitable future can be won by reason alone. But there is also an upside to the alarming scenes recently witnessed in London: the alliance between billionaires, thugs and other opponents of change has come out of the shadows. Continue reading...
Australia's emissions are only about 1.1% of the global total. But it is scientifically wrong to say half a billion tonnes of CO don't matter, experts say
Species index fell by 4% between 2019 and 2024 - although data shows woodland populations beginning to stabiliseWild bird species face an accelerating decline in the UK, figures show, with some species heading for local extinction.Bird numbers have plummeted since the 1970s, and government data shows that trend continuing; between 2019 and 2024 the species index declined in the UK by 4% and England by 7%. Continue reading...
As Trump calls for more nuclear power, Piketon, the site of an enrichment facility, knows first hand its ill effectsThree years after starting work as an electrician at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Vina Colley started getting sick.The huge facility in the foothills of Appalachian Ohio was opened in 1954 to enrich weapons-grade uranium for the military as America's cold war with the Soviet Union ramped up, and later, for commercial purposes. Continue reading...
Agroforestry systems in Latin America practised by local communities are a boon to biodiversity, according to researchAs a seven-year-old, covered head to toe with only her eyes and nose exposed, Dilmer Briche Gonzalez used to pick the long, fat fruits from the cacao tree and place them in a big pile. Imagine a forest where giant mosquitoes abound," Briche Gonzalez, now 53, recalls of her childhood on her family's ancestral farm.Her grandfather, uncle and grandmother would cut each cacao fruit open, and Briche Gonzalez would join her grandmother in removing the pulp and seeds from the shell, which would then be used as fertiliser.A village in Ecuador where, along with Brazil, Colombia and Suriname, there are formally recognised Afro-descendant lands. Photograph: Conservation International Continue reading...
Humpbacks are thriving in the warm waters off the coast of Manhattan but maritime restrictions have not kept paceIt is the beginning of August and a crowd is gathered on the deck of the American Princess cruise boat waiting for one thing - and they are not disappointed. Suddenly, a juvenile humpback whale, known as NYC0318 in local records, bursts through the surface of the water, engulfing thousands of small, oily fish.For those onboard the 29-metre (95ft) vessel, the scene is a thrill to watch, in part because it is taking place not far out at sea but just off the coast of Manhattan, New York. Among the tourists watching is Chris St Lawrence, a naturalist and the communications director of Gotham Whale, a volunteer-run marine research organisation in the city. He is not just looking out for the whales, he is watching for danger around them. Continue reading...
Growth rate slightly lower than previous first-half years but sector still strong and resilient, experts sayInvestment in renewable energy has continued to increase around the world despite moves by Donald Trump's White House to cancel and derail low-carbon projects.In the first half of 2025, investment globally in renewable technologies and projects reached a record $386bn, up by about 10% on the same period last year. Continue reading...
Near-ideal conditions have led to high yields at some of the country's best loved orchards and walled gardensThe nights may be drawing in and the days becoming chillier, but there is cheering news from some of the UK's best loved orchards and walled gardens: a bumper crop of apples and pumpkins.Fruit and squashes have ripened weeks earlier than normal in many places and yields are higher thanks to near-ideal conditions, including 2024's wet weather followed by a warm and dry spring and plenty of summer sun this year. Continue reading...
The winners of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 have been revealed. The competition, presented by Oceanographic and Blancpain, showcases breathtaking images that celebrate the ocean's beauty and highlight the urgent need to protect it Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian