Environment | The Guardian

Pollution has tamped population density by 99.5%, but scientists think cultural icon could aid in tissue repair and cancer recoveryEcologists from Mexico's National Autonomous University on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, a native, endangered fish-like type of salamander.The campaign, called Adoptaxolotl, asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny water monsters". Virtual adoption comes with live updates on your axolotl's health. For less money, donors can buy a virtual dinner for one of the creatures, which are relatively popular pets in the US. Continue reading...

Outdoor climbing has boomed in popularity worldwide but some experts say the pursuit can push vulnerable cliff-dwelling species to the brinkWhen Laura Boggess first visited the cliff face in Boone, North Carolina, she admired the colourful rock tripe covering the vertical surface, and the green moss mats perched on top.The crag was part of a rolling, mountainous landscape, sheer cliffs jutting above an enormous valley filled with trees of varying shades of green. It showcased the pristine, usually inaccessible natural beauty that draws so many climbers to the sport. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Duchy of Lancaster changes investment policy amid questions over how money collected from dead people is usedKing Charles's estate has announced it is transferring more than 100m, including funds collected from dead people under the archaic system of bona vacantia, into ethical investment funds after an investigation by the Guardian.The surprise announcement came amid growing pressure on the king over the Duchy of Lancaster's use of funds collected from people who die in the north-west of England with no will or next of kin. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must stop dawdling' and act before crucial summit in DubaiWorld leaders must stop dawdling and start doing" on carbon emission cuts, as rapidly rising temperatures this year have put everyone on the frontline of disaster, the UN's top climate official has warned.No country could think itself immune from catastrophe, said Simon Stiell, who will oversee the crucial Cop28 climate summit that begins next week. Scores of world leaders will arrive in Dubai for tense talks on how to tackle the crisis. Continue reading...

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg's pioneering research in the 1990s found increasing sea temperatures would damage the world's coral reefs, killing them faster than they could recover. Hoegh-Guldberg speaks with Guardian Australia about being labelled an alarmist while championing one of the world's richest ecosystems.Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTubeThis video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists - Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.

Study's author says we need to reduce exposure in order to ensure men who want to conceive are able to without interference'Exposure to several widely used insecticides probably decreases sperm concentration and may have profound effects on male fertility, new US research finds.The George Mason University paper analyzed five decades of peer-reviewed studies to determine if organophosphates and carbamate-based pesticides exposure correlated with decreased sperm concentration. Continue reading...

The Eurasian eagle owl has been living in Central Park since escaping the zoo, and just returned from a Lower East Side visitIs he back?" Russell Davis exclaimed, as he spotted a group of people looking up at a tree during his afternoon bike ride. Davis stopped in his tracks, dismounted and joined the onlookers admiring a statuesque owl with piercing orange eyes and unmistakable ear tufts. New York's Central Park has experienced a homecoming of sorts, perhaps even a minor Thanksgiving miracle - the return of the beloved celebrity bird known as Flaco.Since February, the Eurasian eagle owl had been living wild after fleeing the Central Park zoo, where he had been an exhibit for 13 years, after his enclosure was vandalized. Continue reading...

Global fall averaged 4.2% between 2010 and 2022 but would have been far more if vehicle sizes stayed sameEmissions from the motor sector could have fallen by more than 30% between 2010 and 2022 if vehicles had stayed the same size, a report has found.Instead, the size of the average car ballooned as the trend for SUVs took off, meaning the global annual rate of energy intensity reductions - the fall in fuel used - of light-duty vehicles (LDV) averaged 4.2% between 2020 and 2022. Continue reading...

More than 50 people dead in Tigray and Amhara regions while UN warns of crisis-level hunger or worse' in SomaliaThe regions of Tigray and Amhara in northern Ethiopia have continued to experience severe drought conditions with more than 50 people dead, as well as 4,000 cattle.While northern Ethiopia suffers from droughts, the southern and eastern parts of the country, along with Kenya and Somalia, have been hit by flooding. Somalia suffered the worst of the flooding, with 50 people reported dead. According to the Somali disaster management agency almost 700,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. Continue reading...

In 2017, 66 people died after fires ripped through eucalyptus stands around Pedrogao Grande. Restrictions on the highly flammable trees have provoked death threats, yet others feel they do not go far enoughPhotographs by Maria AbranchesThe grapevines were the first signs of life to re-emerge, Joao Duarte remembers. The green leaves appeared after months of living in a black landscape, burned by the inferno that killed two of Duarte's family. Next to return were the ferns, followed by the cork trees. Then came the eucalyptus, in greater numbers than before.I am a little afraid of the eucalyptus. I am not against them. People need money," says Duarte, a 57-year-old painter who is the gardener at the Pedrogao Grande town hall gardens in central Portugal. I live in a place surrounded by a green desert of eucalyptus. If another fire comes, it could be worse."Top: The fire, which broke out on 17 June 2017 in the Pedrogao Grande district. Above: Some of the damage caused by the fire. AFP/Getty, Miguel Vidal/Reuters Continue reading...

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

Letter says government pushing ahead with new fossil fuel projects while criminalising activists who raise alarmEmma Thompson, Stephen Fry and Ben Okri have joined the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and leading climate scientists to highlight what they describe as a collective act of madness" that is driving the destruction of life on Earth".A letter signed by more than 100 actors, authors, scientists and academics says the UK government is ignoring the scientific reality of the climate and ecological crisis, pushing ahead with new fossil fuel developments and criminalising peaceful protesters who raise the alarm. Continue reading...

Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more than double last decade's annual averageJust above this column on the weather page of the Guardian's print edition is the daily atmospheric carbon dioxide readings from Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the acid test of how the world is succeeding in combatting climate change. A week before the 28th annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention opens in oil-rich Dubai, it makes depressing reading.At the time of writing it is 422.36 parts per million. That is 5.06ppm more than the same day last year. That rise in 12 months is probably the largest ever recorded - more than double the last decade's annual average. Continue reading...

Bog oak' study finds more than 400 well preserved yews, which could help solve mystery of historic rapid sea level riseThe flat landscape of the East Anglian Fens is known for its vast arable fields and absence of trees. But just over 4,000 years ago, these lowlands were dominated by dense woods of ancient yew trees.A study of hundreds of tree trunks inadvertently dug up by fenland farmers has found that this woodland abruptly disappeared 4,200 years ago, probably because a rapid rise in the North Sea flooded the low-lying region with saltwater. Continue reading...

RSPB says figures distorted by failure to examine raptors caught in avian flu outbreak for signs of shooting or poisoningConfirmed incidents of the illegal persecution of birds of prey have fallen to their lowest levels for more than a decade, according to the latest RSPB Birdcrime report.But the conservation charity warned that the reduction in incidents to 61 in 2022 is distorted by a failure to examine dead raptors caught in the avian flu outbreak for signs of illegal killing. Continue reading...

Global conferences such as the upcoming Cop28 may seem like staid and ritualistic affairs. But they matterStare at a climate map of the world that we expect to inhabit 50 years from now and you see a band of extreme heat encircling the planet's midriff. Climate modelling from 2020 suggests that within half a century about 30% of the world's projected population - unless they are forced to move - will live in places with an average temperature above 29C. This is unbearably hot. Currently, no more than 1% of Earth's land surface is this hot, and those are mainly uninhabited parts of the Sahara.The scenario is as dramatic as it is because the regions of the world affected most severely by global heating - above all, sub-Saharan Africa - are those expected to experience the most rapid population growth in coming decades. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Southern Water outflows into protected wildlife site are an assault on the environment'Raw sewage has been discharged into Chichester harbour for more than 1,200 hours in the past month, in what campaigners described as an assault on the environment".The protected harbour in West Sussex, which is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), has been subjected to the discharges since 24 October. Continue reading...

None of the organic products sampled contained the chemicals, which present a dangerous health threat to babies, researchers sayNearly 40% of conventional baby food products analyzed in a new US study were found to contain toxic pesticides, while none of the organic products sampled in the survey contained the chemicals.The research, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit, looked at 73 products and found at least one pesticide in 22 of them. Many products showed more than one pesticide, and the substances present a dangerous health threat to babies, researchers said. Continue reading...

More and more enthusiasts have fallen in love with this relative of garden dwellers, and are helping ocean science while they're at itTwo years ago, Libby Keatley was diving off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland when she spotted something unusual. It was a sea slug - or nudibranch - whose transparent body had orange lines running through it and twiggy projections arranged along its back. It was quite distinctive and not like anything I'd seen before," she says.Keatley called over her diving buddy, Bernard Picton, a local marine biologist and pioneer in UK sea slug studies. He scooped it up in a plastic bag and, back at his lab, confirmed it was a newly discovered species. He named it in Keatley's honour: Dendronotus keatleyae. Continue reading...

Local celebrity spent weeks outwitting animal control officers and was praised by residents of West Orange for bringing town together'Residents of West Orange, New Jersey, have been left heartbroken after a wild turkey named Turkules", whose resilient nature and ability to evade capture brought the town together", was finally snared by state officials.Turkules, who was named by a local man, first took up residence in West Orange, 25 miles west of New York City, over the summer. The bird's fearless attitude towards traffic and disregard for authority soon made him a local celebrity, and his fame only grew as Turkules spent weeks outwitting animal control officers. Continue reading...

Isle of May's wildlife warden calls it soul-destroying' to discover birds he ringed as chicks washing up dead on the Scottish coastFor decades, as dusk drew in every evening, up to 700 shags would fly from their foraging grounds near Fife to the Isle of May to roost for the night. Some of the birds had been doing this trip twice a day for 20 years, returning to the same cliff ledge, squabbling over who sat where.On 31 October, Mark Newell sat on the rock, waiting for their noisy return. He saw nothing. Eventually, 25 exhausted-looking birds straggled back. They did not fly off when he approached. The soundtrack of honking and bickering had stopped. Continue reading...

A slower paced life with less work and more community focus - if enough people share the dream, we can make it happenFaced with the now undeniable impacts of climate crisis created by humans, political leaders in wealthier countries incline towards one of two competing responses. They either question the urgency and feasibility of meeting net zero targets and generally procrastinate (the rightwing tendency); or they proclaim their faith in the powers of magical green technologies to protect the planet while prolonging and extending our present affluent ways of living (a position more favoured on the left and centre).Common to both approaches is a wrongheaded presumption that we can carry on growing while managing to hold off the floods and fires of growth-driven capitalism. Both also take it for granted that the consumerist lifestyle is essential to the wellbeing of rich societies and the ideal to which less developed economies should aspire. Continue reading...

A sea of rats has been washing up dead on the beach, with others scurrying across boat ramps into garden sheds and homes

Study finds impact of heat on millions of people went unrecorded, highlighting limitations many African countries faceA record-breaking heatwave in Madagascar in October would have been virtually impossible" without human-caused global heating, a study has shown.The extreme temperatures affected millions of very poor people but the damage to their lives was not recorded by officials or the media. Many governments in Africa lack the capabilities to record climate impacts. The scientists behind the report said this lack of information made implementing measures to avoid deaths very difficult. Continue reading...

Albanese government's expansion of investment scheme is designed to attract financial investment in new wind and solar farms

Head of International Energy Agency says the industry faces a moment of truth' as Cop28 talks approachFossil fuel companies are investing twice as much in oil and gas as they should if the world hopes to limit rising global temperatures to avert a climate catastrophe, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).The world's energy watchdog said that the sector still had minimal" engagement with the global clean energy transition, and continued to contribute just 1% of clean energy investment globally. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Liberal and National parties agree to more ambitious interim target joining Greens who have criticised Labor for abandoning' 2035 goal

Environment department questions feasibility of Waratah Coal's claims about the use of carbon offsets, credits, and capture and storage

State's Minerals Council says campaign aims to educate the public - but its claims of responsible, low-emissions mining don't stack up

OBR analysis suggests higher energy prices and interest rates could reduce proportion of new cars sold that are electric from 67% to 38%Britain has downgraded its forecasts for the takeup of electric cars over the next seven years as higher financing costs and rising energy prices threaten to cut the incentive for drivers to replace combustion engines.The latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), released alongside the chancellor's autumn statement, said that just 38% of new vehicles sold in the UK in 2027 would be electric, down from the 67% it predicted in March. Continue reading...

French economist says class inequality must be at centre of climate response and calls for progressive carbon taxes Who are the polluter elite and how can we tackle carbon inequality?Questions of social and economic class must be at the centre of our response to the climate crisis, to address the huge inequalities between the carbon footprints of the rich and poor and prevent a backlash against climate policies, the economist Thomas Piketty has said.Regulations will be needed to outlaw goods and services that have unnecessarily high greenhouse gas emissions, such as private jets, outsized vehicles, and flights over short distances, he said in an interview with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Scientists on conservation frontlines publish concerns that the red list of threatened species is outdated and unreliableAlice Hughes found the strange reptile in March. It was hanging by its long, slender fingers from the limestone wall of a cave in northern Thailand: a grey-brown gecko she believes belongs to a species unknown to science.Hughes, a conservation biologist at the University of Hong Kong, is part of a group researching limestone systems, valuable arks of biodiversity pocked with deep caves that can shelter rare species. Many of those species are not known to science," she says. This was the group's second new discovery after a neon-green cave gecko found in Myanmar in 2017. Continue reading...

Industry experts say businesses could pay up to 20 times more tax if bill passes

Council becomes sixth in Queensland to oppose development of new wells after farmer concerns about sinking soil and water contamination

Lesley Hughes was one of the first scientists to warn that global heating could lead to species extinctions. Now one of Australia's most influential climate science advocates, Hughes speaks with Guardian Australia about the importance of hope in the face of a crisis.This video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists - Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Saving the industry means saddling consumers with ever more debt. The fumes of 2007 are in the airDuring lockdown in 2020, the local council in my neighbourhood of Levenshulme - a suburb of red-brick terraces in Manchester - proposed a low-traffic neighbourhood scheme. The plan generated substantial backlash among a segment of the community, leading to all kinds of rows and questionable behaviour on Facebook and elsewhere.A central claim of the objectors was that people such as me who generally supported the measures were middle-class hippies intent on disrupting ordinary, working-class people who needed their cars in their day-to-day lives. At times, it seemed to touch on conspiracy theory. Supporters were cast as canny gentrifiers", who saw the planters being proposed to block traffic flow as an opportunity to increase the value of their properties. Continue reading...

Zookeepers delighted after calf born during daylight, allowing for moment to be captured on filmA zoo is celebrating the birth of an eastern black rhino, one of the world's rarest mammals, with the moment captured on film.Chester zoo said Zuri the rhino and her female calf had been inseparable since the arrival. Continue reading...

Staff at Chester zoo filmed the moment an endangered rhino gave birth to a female calf. The eastern black rhino was born on 12 November, unusually in daylight hours. The zoo said the species is listed as critically endangered, with fewer than 600 of the rhinos remaining in the wild across Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda Continue reading...

North Carolina residents push back against environmental agency bringing 4m lbs of forever chemical' waste to regionThe federal US government has paused the importation of millions of pounds of toxic PFAS forever chemical" waste from the Netherlands following intense backlash from residents near a North Carolina facility that would receive the substances.Local media last month revealed the Environmental Protection Agency had quietly approved a permit for chemical manufacturer Chemours to import about 4m lbs of waste over the next year, sparking fears of further pollution in a region already thoroughly contaminated by the company's operations. Continue reading...

Group of 16 organisations says reduced funding means rewilding and conservation targets likely to be missedScotland will fail to meet its ambitious rewilding and conservation targets unless it reverses deep cuts in funding for the environment, leading charities have said.Nature and conservation funding in Scotland has been cut by tens of millions of pounds over the last decade, with ministers diverting the money to other policy areas, according to a group of 16 influential environment charities.Nearly 60% of Scotland's legally protected sites of special scientific interest - the most precious in the country - have not been assessed in more than a decade, with only 65% in favourable condition.Only half of the sites which make up Scotland's Atlantic rainforest" are in favourable condition.Scottish government funding for nature fell from 0.55% of its total budget to 0.25% between 2010/11 and 2022/23.Sepa's budget cuts have made it heavily reliant on so-called cost recovery" fees it charges to inspect private companies but those fees have not kept pace with inflation, falling by 14% in real terms. Continue reading...

Ecologist Stephen Williams says tropics at a real risk of losing the very things it was made a world heritage area to protect'

Advertising Standards Authority says Hilux poster and video condone driving that disregards impact on nature'The UK advertising watchdog has banned two Toyota adverts for condoning driving that disregards its environmental impact in a landmark ruling, stating that the SUV ads had been created without a sense of responsibility to society".It is the first time the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has blocked an SUV advert on the grounds of breaching social responsibility in an environmental context. Continue reading...

A 67-mile long line was closed last Thursday after after an estimated 1m gallons of crude oil was releasedThe US Coast Guard said on Tuesday it is still seeking the source of a leak from a pipeline linked to a Houston-based firm, off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico which it estimated has released more than 1m gallons of crude oil.The 67-mile long undersea pipeline was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) last Thursday after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish, south-east of New Orleans. Continue reading...

Zoo says it is caring for the 25th and 26th kittens to end up rescued there, and calls for more wildlife crossingsThe two sisters are tiny - only five and a half pounds, and about two months old. They have giant eyes and mottled patches on their fur. Found in a backyard five days after their mother was hit on Highway 280 in northern California, the mountain lions headed to a new home at the Oakland zoo last week.The sisters, now named Willow and Maple, were hungry and tired after not eating for five days. The cubs were visibly dehydrated, and underweight, and were checked for parasites and viruses by veterinarians, zoo officials said. Continue reading...

The expensive appliances claim to eliminate kitchen food waste by turning it to instant compost. But experts are skepticalMichelle Cehn, founder of the popular Instagram account @vegan, built her reputation around her love for the planet - but food waste was something that she struggled with. I've been wanting to compost, but I've always been really overwhelmed by an outdoor compost pile," she said in a voiceover of a recent post that showed her picking fresh vegetables from the vine. And so this year I started composting indoors with the Lomi electric composter." In the short video, Cehn went on to explain how she simply dropped food scraps into the small electric bin on her countertop, pressed the button, and was left with nutrient-rich plant food" a few hours later that she could use in her garden.Lomi, the device Cehn was hyping, is just one of a new cohort of gadgets claiming they can eliminate kitchen food waste that are starting to gain traction, alongside brands like Mill, FoodCycler and Airthereal. Often marketed as electric composters", these appliances, which look a little like trash cans, dry and grind food waste into a mixture that some manufacturers claim can be used as a fertilizer and soil amendment, much like compost. Continue reading...

Northvolt says new lithium-free sodium-ion battery is cheaper, more sustainable and doesn't rely on scarce raw materialsEurope's energy and electric vehicle industries could reduce their dependency on scarce raw materials from China after the launch of a breakthrough" sodium-ion battery, according to its Swedish developer.Northvolt, Europe's only large homegrown electric battery maker, has said it has made a lower cost, more sustainable battery designed to store electricity which does not use lithium, nickel, graphite and cobalt. Continue reading...

The Guardian led the way in taking the climate crisis seriously and is still, arguably, the only outlet that truly recognizes the urgency of this moment

The winners and finalists of this year's contest celebrate the blue planet but they also draw attention to the many environmental challenges to marine life and ecosystems - from a warming climate to human development and tourism. The winning images are on show until May 2024 at the Australian National Maritime Museum Continue reading...

Survey also found wide support for a fuel efficiency standard, believing it would save them money

Internal emails show pressure from industry lobbyists and politicians led Trump-era agency to change position on aldicarbThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering approving a pesticide for use on Florida oranges and grapefruits despite the fact that agency scientists have repeatedly found the chemical does not meet safety standards designed to protect children's health, internal agency records show.EPA emails indicate how for years, agency scientists have wanted to deny new uses of aldicarb, but appear to have not done so because of persistent pressure from chemical industry lobbyists, politicians and political appointees.This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group Continue reading...