Environment | The Guardian

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Sea Ranger Service will offer the chance to carry out maintenance work and climate research on sailing vesselsA social enterprise has launched offering people between the ages of 18 and 29 the chance to protect the seas around the UK while getting paid.The Sea Ranger Service (SRS) will offer young people the chance to sail out to sea and undertake vital work to conserve Britain's oceans. Continue reading...

Scientists call for urgent intervention, as bearded pig populations are devastated by the deadly virus on islands such as BorneoPopulations of wild pigs are crashing due to the spread of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on them for food, researchers warn.With a fatality rate of almost 100%, ASF has swept across Asia, Europe and Africa, devastating domestic and wild pig populations over the past 10 to 20 years. The impacts are especially significant in Borneo, in south-east Asia, where bearded pig numbers have declined by between 90% and 100% since it arrived on the island in 2021, researchers said. Continue reading...

Climate groups and MPs criticise proposals for consumers to foot bill to support biomass plant after existing scheme ends in 2027The government has proposed plans to offer the Drax power plant extra subsidies to burn trees for electricity, provoking a backlash from climate groups and green Tory MPs.Ministers have begun consulting on plans for bill payers to foot the cost of supporting Drax until the end of the decade once its existing subsidy scheme, which pays on average more than 500m a year, ends in 2027. Continue reading...

Regulator accused of massaging figures' by telling staff to pause inspections at poorly performing waste sites until JanuaryThe Environment Agency told staff in September to stop inspecting the most poorly performing waste sites until January in order to meet corporate compliance targets, it can be revealed.The regulator has been accused of massaging the figures", with an insider telling the Ends Report and the Guardian that a lack of resources means the body is failing to do its statutory duty in a timely manner". Continue reading...

Floods and extreme weather causing greater spread of seeds, buds and roots, while weed spraying interrupted by rain and wind

New renewable energy and battery projects will provide enough capacity when Australia's largest coal-fired power station closes, report finds

Fishing nets churn up carbon from the sea floor, more than half of which will eventually be released into the atmosphereScientists have long known that bottom trawling - the practice of dragging massive nets along the seabed to catch fish - churns up carbon from the sea floor. Now, for the first time, researchers have calculated just how much trawling releases into the atmosphere: 370m tonnes of planet-heating carbon dioxide a year - an amount, they say, that is too big to ignore".Over the study period, 1996-2020, they estimated the total carbon dioxide released from trawling to the atmosphere to be 8.5 to 9.2bn tonnes. The scientists described trawling as marine deforestation" that causes irreparable harm" to the climate, society and wildlife. Continue reading...

Study finds female chrysalises that develop at higher temperatures have fewer eyespots, making them harder to see in dry grassFemale meadow brown butterflies who develop in warmer weather sport fewer spots on their wings, in an unexpected adaptation to global heating.The discovery was made by University of Exeter scientists who found that females whose chrysalises developed at 11C had six spots on average, while those developing at 15C had just three. Continue reading...

Office for Environmental Protection report shows only four of 40 targets for England likely to be achievedThe government is failing on almost all of its environmental targets, risking an irreversible spiral of decline" in nature, a damning report by the environment watchdog has found.Dame Glenys Stacey, chair of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), has said in the report, published today, that if action is not taken England will fail to meet its goal of halting nature's decline by 2030, as well as a host of other vital nature targets. Continue reading...

Michael Mann alleges, in lawsuit first brought in 2012, that attacks on his work by climate denialists amount to defamationA lawsuit first instituted over 10 years ago, brought by an esteemed climate scientist over alleged defamation by a rightwing blogger and an analyst, goes to trial this week.The 2012 court case was brought by the University of Pennsylvania earth and environmental scientist Michael Mann, who is alleging that online attacks on his work amount to defamation. Continue reading...

California Forever, which bought 60,000 acres, has received fierce opposition from local officials and environmental groupsThe controversial plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a new city in northern California farmland could come before voters later this year.California Forever, the company that quietly acquired 60,000 acres of land in Solano county and recently revealed it planned to build a city there, announced on Wednesday it would submit a ballot initiative asking voters to clear the way for the project. Continue reading...

Scientists say sea level rises, flooding and extreme weather will accelerate release of arsenic into water supplyClimate breakdown will put tens of millions of people in Bangladesh at heightened risk of cancer from contaminated well water, according to research.Sea level rises, unpredictable flooding and extreme weather caused by the climate heating up will accelerate the release of dangerous levels of arsenic into the country's drinking water, say scientists. Continue reading...

Products and services billed as climate neutral, biodegradable or eco must provide proof, with carbon schemes banned as evidenceTerms such as climate neutral" or climate positive" that rely on offsetting will be banned from the EU by 2026 as part of a crackdown on misleading environmental claims.On Wednesday, members of the European parliament [MEPs] voted to outlaw the use of terms such as environmentally friendly", natural", biodegradable", climate neutral" or eco" without evidence, while introducing a total ban on using carbon offsetting schemes to substantiate the claims.Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features Continue reading...

Total is 20% higher than thought and may have implications for collapse of globally important north Atlantic ocean currentsThe Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought.Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of freshwater pouring into the north Atlantic might mean a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is closer to being triggered, with severe consequences for humanity. Continue reading...

TV presenter says he reported most recent threats to harm you and your family' to policeChris Packham has been given a bodyguard while filming the latest series of BBC's Winterwatch after specific threats" were made against him.The presenter has faced persistent abuse in recent years, including in 2011 an arson attack on his home. Continue reading...

A Derbyshire man who was caught on camera stealing peregrine falcon eggs has been jailed for 18 weeks. The footage was taken in April 2023 from a hidden camera put in place at a quarry near Bolsover by an investigations team at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Eggs from wild peregrine falcons can sell for tens of thousands of pounds overseas. Christopher Wheeldon, from Darley Dale, was seen abseiling down a cliff and stealing three eggs. He admitted to disturbing the nest and was sentenced in January Continue reading...

A Floodlight investigation found Alabama Power runs a news service and its foundation bought a Black newspaper. Neither reports on high electric bills or utility-related pollutionIn the more than a decade since Alabama regulators allowed a landfill to take in tons of waste from coal-burning power plants around the US, neighbors in the majority-Black community of Uniontown frequently complain of thick air so pungent it makes their eyes burn.On some days, it can look like an eerily white Christmas in a place that rarely sees snow. Continue reading...

Drought in Hwange national park was the cause of most of the deaths, and wildlife experts fear the climate crisis could make such events look normalAt least 160 elephants have died as drought conditions hit Zimbabwe, and with hot, dry weather likely to continue, conservationists fear there could be more deaths to come.The elephants died between August and December last year in the 14,651 sq km Hwange national park, which is home to endangered elephants, buffalo, lions, cheetahs, giraffes and other species. At least six other elephants have recently been discovered dead outside the park in suspected poaching incidents. Continue reading...

New system should help preserve art collection at Dorset country mansion by providing a steady, gentle heatOver the years Kingston Lacy, which was built to resemble a Venetian palace that has materialised in the English countryside, has been kept warm and dry with open fires and coal and oil boilers.Now a pioneering" ground source heat pump has been installed to protect the spectacular Dorset country mansion and its collection of paintings by masters such as Velazquez, Titian and Rubens. Continue reading...

More than 170tn plastic particles are floating in the world's oceans - and millions of them wash up on our shoresSquatting in the strandline as a storm brewed on the horizon, I combed through the debris with tweezers. I spotted my first nurdle almost immediately. Covered in sand, the pale plastic pellet blended almost perfectly into the background. Next to me, a woman scraped the top layer of sand away and plopped it in a bucket of seawater. As she stirred, several nurdles drifted to the surface.It's impossible to make a dent," I thought. Despite removing more than 3,000 pieces of microplastic during our cleanup, thousands more winked at us from the sand as we left Camber Sands beach. These tiny pre-production plastic pellets, called nurdles, are littering UK beaches in such numbers that beach cleanups can't keep up. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Documents released after Freedom of Information Act requests show repeated requests for plansPlans from the UK water industry to urgently" tackle the sewage pollution crisis have been delayed by four months, with no publication date in sight, the Guardian can reveal.Government ministers last year demanded water executives send them a plan for urgent change" to tackle outflows which spill untreated human waste into rivers and seas. Continue reading...

University of Sassari research suggests change in habits might expose animals to more predatorsGlobal heating is pushing mountain goats into a more nocturnal lifestyle that could expose them to more predators, scientists have found.A team of researchers at the University of Sassari, in Sardinia, used GPS collars equipped with motion sensors to track the activity of the Alpine ibex, a species of mountain goat, between the months of May and October from 2006 to 2019. Continue reading...

MPs find agency has reduced number of properties it aims to protect in England despite more new homes being built on floodplainsDeteriorating flood defences mean more than 200,000 homes in England are at risk of flooding, with MPs blaming Environment Agency budget shortfalls.A report by MPs on the public accounts committee said the EA had failed to meet a target of maintaining 98% of high consequence" flood defences. The agency has had to downgrade the number of properties it aims to protect by 2027 from 336,000 to 200,000. Continue reading...

Scheme to convert biomass units could become one of world's most expensive energy projects, experts sayDrax has received permission from the government to fit carbon capture technology to its wood-burning power plant, in a project that could cost bill-payers more than 40bn.The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, on Tuesday approved the project to convert two of its biomass units to use the technology. Continue reading...

In one of the world's oldest lakes, Hovsgol grayling, a species found only in these azure waters in Mongolia, are struggling to surviveWords and photos by Anne ReadelPine-studded mountains and snow-capped hills fringe Mongolia's ancient Lake Hovsgol. Wild flowers cascade down its steep banks, and its forests harbour wolves, moose and elk. Despite its remoteness, small towns, tourist lodges and pastoralists' gers - the traditional Mongolian circular felt tents - are sprinkled along the shore, along with herds of sheep, goats and yaks.Located in north Mongolia, a few miles from Russia, Lake Hovsgol is the country's deepest and largest lake by volume. It is known locally as the Blue Pearl for its translucent azure water, and is considered one of the most pristine lakes in the world. It is also one of the oldest, formed more than 2m years ago.Goats, horses, and yaks graze along the shore of Lake Hovsgol. Overgrazing and more frequent storms are degrading pastures used by herders, meaning many are turning to fishing to supplement their income Continue reading...

YouTube criticised for amplifying lies about the climate with disinformation videos watched by young peopleA third of UK teenagers believe climate change is exaggerated", a report has found, as YouTube videos promoting a new kind of climate denial aimed at young people proliferate on the platform.Previously, most climate deniers pushed the belief that climate breakdown was not happening or, if it was, that humans were not causing it. Now, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has found that most climate denial videos on YouTube push the idea that climate solutions do not work, climate science and the climate movement are unreliable, or that the effects of global heating are beneficial or harmless. Continue reading...

The UK's deer population is at its highest level for 1,000 years, and is growing exponentially. Now at roughly 2 million animals, the UK's deer stalkers need to cull at least 750,000 animals a year just for the population to stand still. There are also more food banks in the UK than ever. As the need for food grows, donations, especially those containing protein, become harder to find.

A farmer on the Gold Coast has captured video of fire ants forming floating rafts to survive flood waters in south-east Queensland. The footage was sent to Reece Pianta of the Invasive Species Council, who says the red imported fire ants (Rifa) only make rafts when they reach a certain density. The footage indicates there's been a surge in the population of the ants, which have infested about 700,000 hectares in Brisbane. "The concern we have is that if Rifa are floating on flood waters to lower-lying areas. They don't just inundate farmlands but wetlands and coastal habitats." Pianta says the rafting behaviour underlines the importance of properly funding the ant's eradicationSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Federal court has lifted temporary injunction preventing construction work on part of the pipeline route

Campaigners condemn decision as regressive, saying climate change affects whole world, not half of it'The organising committee for the Cop29 global climate change summit in Azerbaijan in December comprises 28 men and no women, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has announced.The decision was called regressive" by the She Changes Climate campaign group, which said climate change affects the whole world, not half of it". In contrast, 63% of the members of the organising committee for the Cop28 climate summit, held in the United Arab Emirates last month, were women. Continue reading...

Voracious predators' threaten honey production and pose risk to biodiversity, says Salvatore De MeoItalian MEPs are calling on the European Commission to crack down on Asian hornets, which are spreading across some EU countries and killing off bees.The yellow-legged hornets, native to south-east Asia, were first identified on the continent two decades ago, arriving in France before spreading to Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Italy, where after first appearing in 2012 they are causing havoc in the country's northern regions. Continue reading...

German farmers blocked the road leading up to the Brandenburg gate in Berlin in the latest wave of anger against efforts to protect Europe's nature from farming pollution. Government plans have included increasing taxes for farming solutions and cutting subsidies for agricultural products. Farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against greener policies, with protests in the Netherlands and Belgium. After previous protests in Berlin in December the government watered down plans to cut subsidies for diesel in farmyard vehicles, but lobby groups are calling for them to scrap them entirely

Estimated 30,000 protesters bring city centre to a standstill as they call on government to reverse decisionThousands of tractors have brought Berlin's city centre to a standstill as farmers from across Germany protested on parliament's doorstep over rising costs and a plan to phase out agricultural fuel subsidies.An estimated 30,000 protesters, including farmers supported by a wide range of representatives from other industries from fishing to gastronomy to logistics, blocked the streets around the government quarter on Monday with their vehicles, including lorries and forklift trucks, and even children's toy tractors. Continue reading...

Octopus Energy invests in scheme which recycles heat from computer data processing centresUp to 150 public swimming pools in the UK could be offered an innovative way to cut their energy bills by recycling heat from computer data processing centres after a 200m investment by Octopus Energy into a green tech firm.The tech startup Deep Green has already piloted using energy from processing centres to heat swimming pools, with the concept trialled last year in Exmouth, Devon. Continue reading...

Devon and Cornwall had months of hosepipe bans as parts of country almost ran out of water in 2022South West Water has been accused of not being honest with the government about its drought preparations after parts of the country almost ran out of water in 2022, it has emerged.The Environment Agency (EA) told the water industry regulator Ofwat that SWW was not honest" with regulators about the risk a drought posed to the company's water supplies and was inadequately prepared for the heatwave. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greenlife Resource Recovery co-director says company is cooperating with environmental watchdog's garden mulch investigation

Conservation groups target impossible dream' of eradicating invasive predators after success of East Anglia trialAmerican mink - the mustelids escaped from fur farms who have decimated populations of water voles and other native birds, fish and amphibians - have been eradicated from a swath of East Anglia.Until now, mink have never been successfully removed from any large area of Britain but the success of a trial using drops from the invasive predator's pungent anal scent gland to lure animals into hundreds of traps raises hopes that the species can be eradicated from the whole country. Continue reading...

For some farmers already struggling, paying for more of their pollution is a step too far. Germany is the latest country to see anger boil overThe columns of tractors that have blocked roads in Germany, causing chaos in cities and headaches for commuters, are the latest wave in a growing tide of anger against efforts to protect Europe's nature from the pollution pumped out by its farms.In recent years, farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against policies to protect the planet that they say cost too much. In the Netherlands, where the backlash has been strongest, a court ruling on nitrogen emissions in 2019 triggered furious and recurring protests over government efforts to close farms and cut the number of animals on them. In Belgium, similar fights led to convoys of tractors clogging the EU quarter of Brussels in March last year. In Ireland, which has seen smaller protests, dairy farmers angry at nitrogen restrictions marched with their cows to the offices of three government ministers last month. Continue reading...

Move by world's largest public relations company, uncovered by tax records, alarms climate advocatesEdelman, the world's largest public relations company, was among the Charles Koch Foundation's highest-paid vendors in 2022, a 990 tax disclosure form shows, alarming climate advocates.The PR giant has made numerous climate declarations over the past decade, including making a pledge to eschew projects promoting climate denial. Partnering with a part of the Koch network, which has long worked to sow climate doubt, calls those pledges into question, said Duncan Meisel, the executive director of Clean Creatives, a non-profit pushing creative agencies to cut ties with fossil fuel polluters. Continue reading...

Private operators are guaranteed faster journey times by the council in return for investmentOxford is launching an electric fleet that will make the city one of the UK's leading adopters of zero-emission buses.The 159 new battery-powered buses will give Oxford more electric buses per capita than other cities including London, Glasgow and Leicester, under a pioneering arrangement in which the council will guarantee private operators faster journey times in return for investment. Continue reading...

State Labor MPs are being polled by minister on controversial issue' after parliamentary inquiry recommending 2024 ban

The End We Start From, Megan Hunter's 2017 novel about a mother and her baby in a flooded city, seems increasingly timely. As the film is released, she reveals why she wanted a more female-centred take on disaster survival moviesAt an unknown point in the near future, a woman is giving birth. As her contractions start, her home in London is flooded and, as her baby is born, it becomes clear that a climate catastrophe of biblical proportions has begun. A sea of water invades the city as the woman takes her first postpartum, post-apocalyptic pee, then flees for higher ground with her newborn in a car seat.So begins the story of a new survival film starring the British actor Jodie Comer. The End We Start From goes on general release in UK and Irish cinemas from Friday and has a star-studded cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Fry, Gina McKee, Nina Sosanya and Mark Strong all appear alongside Comer. Continue reading...

Experts say short-term frustration for car buyers is preferable to the risk of a biosecurity breach

Hotter and wetter weather has led to populations of the region's most famous bird species to be halved in the last 30 yearsSome of Scotland's most famous bird species, including grouse and kestrels, are among those declining as aresult of climate change, a new report has found.The study, by public body NatureScot, charted the populations of Scotland's terrestrial breeding birds between 1994 and 2022. It found significant changes to the numbers and species of birds living in the country's urban, woodland, upland and farmland habitats, in large part due to hotter and wetter weather related to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Charity says new evidence shows how poultry farms are draining excrement into river systemThe Environment Agency faces new allegations of neglect of the River Wye after a project by a conservation group found effluent and contaminated waters at free-range egg farms flowing directly into watercourses.Of 47 sites visited in England and Wales in the Wye catchment, 19 had drains running from the poultry units to a nearby watercourse. Many of the farms had drains excavated within a few metres of the sheds. Continue reading...

Conservationists call for end to subsidies that make up 15% to 18% of industry's income and threaten to empty the ocean of fish'The government needs to urgently end polluting tax breaks for the UK fishing fleet that threaten to empty the ocean of fish", say conservationists, after a first-of-its kind study reveals diesel subsidies to be worth up to 1.8bn a decade.Without the tax subsidies, largely provided to the most fuel-intensive section of the fleet, many sectors would be unprofitable, according to the analysis by government environmental advisers. Continue reading...

From the north through the midwest all the way to the south, cold temperatures, rain and snow threaten communitiesA dangerous winter storm swept the northern US on Friday, with blinding snow in some places, freezing rain in others, and bitter cold temperatures and whipping winds across several states.The massive storm continues a week of strong winter weather for much of the US that has led to deadly avalanches and treacherous ice-covered roads. On Friday, a man was believed dead in an avalanche in the Idaho backcountry. A Wisconsin man died while snow-blowing his driveway. Continue reading...

Water shortages disrupt the Plaquemines parish as millions of gallons are used to construct Venture Global's LNG terminalKatie Mazarac just wanted to give her daughter a bath.It was late summer evening, and the small Louisiana fishing community where she and her then 18-month-old live had been plagued by water issues for months. Saltwater from the ocean had been creeping up the Mississippi River since June, making the water in her town undrinkable. At one point, Mazarac had resorted to bathing her daughter in a reusable tote bag, using gallons of bottled water. Continue reading...

Growing of sprouts, cauliflower, cabbages and leeks made harder by poor weather and floodingSupermarkets are agreeing to accept smaller than usual cauliflowers, sprouts, cabbages and leeks as farmers struggle to cope with poor weather and flooding around the UK.The move to keep fresh British produce on the shelves comes after heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding, which started in late autumn and continued through Christmas and the new year, affecting growers mainly in Lincolnshire, East Anglia, Cornwall and Scotland. Continue reading...