Much of country from Minnesota to Maine under heat advisory as temperatures expected to pass 100F this weekTens of millions of people across the midwest and east braced on Sunday for another sweltering day of dangerously hot temperatures as a rare June heatwave continued to grip parts of the US.Most of the north-eastern quadrant of the country from Minnesota to Maine was under some type of heat advisory on Sunday. So were parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. Continue reading...

Britain faces rising climate threats, yet lacks a country adaptation plan. Urgent, coordinated investment is needed to protect lives and infrastructureBritain's four-day heatwave - made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis - is expected to claim about 600 lives. Researchers say high temperatures from Thursday to Sunday would lead to a sharp rise in excess mortality, especially among older people in cities such as London and Birmingham. They forecast the deadliest day as Saturday, with temperatures above 32C and about 266 deaths. These are not abstract figures, but lives cut short by a threat we understand, yet remain unprepared for.Young people seem to grasp this. In a YouGov poll last week, roughly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds said they hoped there would be a heatwave - while more than two-fifths of older people welcomed the sunshine. That generational split isn't just cultural. It reflects an entirely rational anxiety: younger people face a future living in a climate emergency. The generation that caused and benefited from the conditions driving global heating will be gone long before the worst costs - financial, environmental, social - have to be paid. Continue reading...

400m to be set aside for on-street charging points instead of motorways after RCF was mired in delaysLabour ministers have scrapped a promise by the previous government for a 950m fund for installing electric car chargers near motorways, instead setting aside a smaller sum mainly for on-street charging points.The rapid charging fund (RCF) was first announced in 2020 by Rishi Sunak, then Conservative chancellor, with the aim of supporting upgrades to the grid so that more electric vehicles could be rapidly charged at the same time. Continue reading...

Creditors owed 13bn say ministers should prioritise environmental betterment over punitive enforcement'Lenders trying to take control of Thames Water are attempting to thwart environmental campaigners by asking the government to block them from pursuing high court claims.Creditors owed 13bn by Britain's biggest water company want ministers to order the Environment Agency (EA) to prioritise environmental betterment over punitive enforcement" - which they believe would significantly mitigate" the risk of campaigners bringing judicial reviews or private prosecutions. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Agriculture minister Julie Collins and Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy expressed concern over Sturt Plateau pipeline's construction

The evidence against the Drax power station is damning, yet the government wants to continue its massive public fundingHow green is this? We pay billions of pounds to cut down ancient forests in the US and Canada, ship the wood across the Atlantic in diesel tankers, then burn it in a Yorkshire-based power station.Welcome to the scandal of Drax, where Britain's biggest polluter gets to play climate hero. The reality is that billions in public subsidies has enabled Drax to generate electricity by burning 300m trees. Now the government is trying to force through an extension that would grant Drax an estimated 1.8bn in public subsidies on top of the 11bn it has already pocketed, keeping this circus going until at least 2031.Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaignerDo 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.

Research suggests longest day is a cue for beeches and other species to launch their growth strategiesFor millennia, the summer solstice has marked a pivotal moment in the human calendar - a turning point steeped in mythology, when the oak king is said to yield to the holly king, and the days begin to shorten.Now, science is increasingly revealing that trees really do respond to this celestial shift, with changes in their growth and reproductive strategies occuring immediately after the calendar's longest day. A study gives fresh insights into why this happens, with implications for how forests might adapt to changing climates. Continue reading...

Residents of a Portuguese rural idyll where four vast mines are planned are among those who feel they will pay too high a cost for the energy transitionFilipe Gomes had been craving fresh air and quiet routine when he and his partner quit the chaos of London's catering industry for the fog-misted hills of Covas do Barroso, the sleepy Portuguese farming village in which he was raised.But his rural idyll has been disturbed by miners drilling boreholes as they push to dig four vast lithium mines right beside the village. The prospecting has sparked resistance from residents who fear the mines will foul the soil, drain the water and fill the air with the rumbling thunder of heavy trucks. Continue reading...

Temperatures at or above 100F expected as extreme hot air and humidity are trapped in atmosphereScores of millions of people across the central and eastern US will swelter under the summer's first heat dome" beginning this weekend and extending through the end of next week as extreme hot air and humidity get trapped in the atmosphere.The arrival of the heatwave coincides with Friday's first day of summer and will bring temperatures at or above 100F (37.7C) to numerous cities as it moves to the east of the US in the coming days, forecasters say. Continue reading...

A cinematic immersive experience and stampeding animal puppets are bringing the climate emergency into the cityAs parts of the UK swelter, this week brought yet more alarming reports of increasing temperatures, extreme weather events and dwindling chances of meeting the global 1.5C target. It was the UK's warmest spring on record and its driest in more than 50 years.Communicating the urgency of our predicament without provoking despair and hopelessness is an intractable challenge, especially when it comes to children. But two trail-blazing theatre experiences are bringing the breakdown of the natural world into urban metropolises, and raising the alarm with such immediacy that even those of us fortunate enough to live in places that have so far been relatively unaffected by the climate crisis must pay attention. Continue reading...

Court votes to back challenge to state waiver that allows it to set tougher car emission standards than federal limitsFossil fuel companies are able to challenge California's ability to set stricter standards reducing the amount of polluting coming from cars, the US supreme court has ruled in a case that is set to unravel one of the key tools used to curb planet-heating emissions in recent years.The conservative-dominated supreme court voted by seven to two to back a challenge by oil and gas companies, along with 17 Republican-led states, to a waiver that California has received periodically from the federal government since 1967 that allows it to set tougher standards than national rules limiting pollution from cars. The state has separately stipulated that only zero-emission cars will be able to sold there by 2035. Continue reading...

Residents of Bille and Ogale in Niger delta are suing Shell and subsidiary, but company denies liabilityResidents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027.Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the Renaissance Africa Energy Company. Continue reading...

One plant produces more arsenic pollution than any other in US, and the other has been slated for closure since 2021The Trump administration is moving to keep open two Michigan coal plants that emit about 45% of the state's greenhouse gas pollution, which opponents say is an indication of how the US president plans to wield his controversial national energy emergency executive order.Already, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has ordered the JH Campbell coal plant on Lake Michigan to remain open beyond its 31 May closure date, while the administration is expected to prolong the life of the Monroe power plant on Lake Erie, currently scheduled to begin closing in 2028. Continue reading...

Four ducklings add to safety-net population of African species that is estimated to be down to 5,000 in the wildChester zoo has successfully hatched one of Africa's rarest species of duck for the first time.It said the successful breeding of four maccoa ducklings formed part of growing efforts to safeguard Africa's most threatened species. Continue reading...

Hundreds are being released across the country to reverse 98% decline in mating pairs since the 1970sHundreds of turtle doves are being released this summer as conservationists race against the clock to save the species from extinction in England.The cooing doves, which mate for life, are the fastest-declining bird species in the country. Just 2,000 pairs are left, a decline of 98% since the 1970s. This is because their habitats in scrubby areas have been destroyed and thousands are shot on their migratory route across Europe. Continue reading...

Heatwave and an invitation to name storms created record-breaking opportunities to indulge nation's favourite pastimeThe best descriptions of summer heat, in my view, come from Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding, a novel in which, the world seemed to die each afternoon and nothing moved any longer ... like a silent crazy jungle under glass." Or Muriel Spark, in her short story The Seraph and the Zambezi, set in southern Africa in 1946, where the heat distorted every word" and sound, writes Spark, reached my ears a fraction behind time". Of a bunch of white settlers enjoying pink gins on the terrace, she writes, the glasses made a tinkle that was not of the substance of glass, but of bottles wrapped in tissue paper. Sometimes, for a moment, a shriek or a cackle would hang torpidly in space, but these were unreal sounds as if projected from a distant country." Continue reading...

Let the echidna discourse begin!

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

High temperatures likely to cause deaths and will worsen in future as global heating intensifies, scientists warnThe dangerous 32C heat that will be endured by people in the south-east of England on Saturday will have been made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis, scientists have calculated.Global heating, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is making every heatwave more likely and more intense. The 32C (89.6F) day forecast on Saturday would have been expected only once every 2,500 years without the climate crisis, the researchers said, and June heatwaves are now about 2-4C (3.6-7.2F) hotter than in the past. Continue reading...

School leaders call for action on adaptation measures as DfE research warns of potential impact of climate crisisChildren in England face prolonged lost learning" caused by extreme heat and flooding at school, according to research on the potential impact of the climate crisis on education.School leaders and teachers said the scenarios published by the Department for Education made for grim reading and urged ministers to move quickly to improve school resilience. Continue reading...

Michael Shanks says guidance brings clarity' to approval process as analysis finds UK will be almost fully dependent on foreign gas by 2050 even if sites get green lightMinisters have opened the door to approving drilling at two controversial North Sea oilfields, as new guidance on how energy firms should account for future emissions was released.Michael Shanks, the energy security minister, said on Thursday the guidance would offer clarity on the way forward for the North Sea oil and gas industry", after a supreme court ruling in 2024 that blocked drilling. Continue reading...

People will see that we're making progress on it,' treasurer Daniel Mookhey tells Guardian Australia

UKHSA warns of risk to people aged 65 and over as temperatures of up to 33C expected until MondayAmber heat alerts have been issued in England as the UK experiences its hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 32.2C recorded at Kew in west London.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the warningd on Thursday, and stated there could be a rise in deaths" across all nine English regions, with those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions" particularly at risk as the temperature is expected to rise sharply. Continue reading...

Environmental group says adding levies to airline tickets would help ease financial burden on poor countriesAdding a levy to airline tickets could raise more than 100bn a year to pay for the damage done by climate breakdown, research has found.Flying is the most carbon-intensive means of travel, but is artificially cheap as airline fuel is often not taxed, and the environmental impacts are not paid for. Continue reading...

Government accused of making secret exchange deal' with fossil fuel companies to compensate for tax hikeThe chancellor, Rachel Reeves, told a fossil fuel company the industry would receive a quid pro quo" in return for higher taxes on its windfall profits, it can be revealed.In a meeting with the Norwegian state energy company Equinor on 27 August, Reeves suggested that the government's carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) subsidies were a payoff for oil firms being hit with a higher tax rate. Continue reading...

More than 120 years after billions of the trees were wiped out, blight-proof seeds are being plantedIt was in New York City that a mysterious fungus was first spotted on an American chestnut, a blight that was to rapidly sweep across the eastern US, wiping out billions of the cherished trees. Now, 120 years later, there is fresh hope of a comeback for chestnuts, spurred not only by scientists but also eager New Yorkers planting blight-proof seeds in their back yards and local parks.The American chestnut was once found in vast numbers from Maine to Mississippi and known as the redwood of the east due to its prodigious size. But 4bn trees were killed off in the first half of last century by a blight introduced from Asia to which it had little defense, spread by spores carried by the wind, rain and animals. Continue reading...

Royal College of Physicians also says poor air quality costs country more than 500m a weekAir pollution in the UK is costing more than 500m a week in ill health, NHS care and productivity losses, with 99% of the population breathing in toxic air", doctors have said.Dirty air is killing more than 500 people a week, with health harm to almost every organ of the body caused by air pollution, even at low concentrations, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said. Continue reading...

Many in Kassel have embraced the animal but the EU classes it as an invasive species and ecologists are divided about what to do nextIn Kassel, everyone has a story about raccoons. Some struggle with a family of them that moved into their roof and simply will not leave. Others recount how a picnic in the park turned into an ambush as gangs of the black and white animals, known in Germany as Waschbaren, raided the food. Almost everyone seems to have a neighbour who feeds them, to the annoyance of the entire street.We are the raccoon city. They are everywhere," says Lars, a Kassel resident, as he tends his allotment by Karlsaue park in the fading light. Continue reading...

Michigan wildlife experts surprised by the bear's ability to eat and sleep despite the uncomfortable accessoryMichigan wildlife experts finally were able to trap a black bear and remove a large lid that was stuck around his neck - after two years.It's pretty incredible that the bear survived and was able to feed itself," Cody Norton, a state bear specialist, said on Wednesday. The neck was scarred and missing hair, but the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be." Continue reading...

Breaching threshold would ramp up catastrophic weather events, further increasing human sufferingThe planet's remaining carbon budget to meet the international target of 1.5C has just two years left at the current rate of emissions, scientists have warned, showing how deep into the climate crisis the world has fallen.Breaching the target would ramp up the extreme weather already devastating communities around the world. It would also require carbon dioxide to be sucked from the atmosphere in future to restore the stable climate in which the whole of civilisation developed over the past 10,000 years. Continue reading...

With climate policies under siege by the Trump, young climate activists are intensifying their campaignThe youth activists who put the Green New Deal on the political map are launching a new campaign to villainize big oil" which will push for the industry to pay for climate action so the costs don't fall on ordinary people.Seven years ago, the Sunrise Movement captured headlines when its members stormed the office of the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, demanding the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels and creation of good jobs. Continue reading...

A new study investigates possible ties to pesticides, nitrates and other farm-related risksSix months ago, Alex Hammer was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 37. Dianne Chambers endured surgery, chemotherapy and dozens of rounds of radiation to fight aggressive breast cancer, and Janan Haugen spends most days helping care for her 16-year-old grandson, who is still being treated for brain cancer he developed at the age of seven.The three were among a group of about two dozen people who came together last week in a small town in central Iowa to share their experiences of cancer. They are part of a new research project investigating potential environmental causes for what the American Cancer Society's advocacy arm calls a cancer crisis". Continue reading...

We won a high court case against Shropshire council's plans for a new polluting poultry unit. Now a precedent has been set

An Unearthed and Greenpeace investigation found garments by UK brands on a rubbish dump in a protected wetland in Accra, Ghana. The reporters found items from Next, George at Asda and Marks & Spencer washed up near the dump, which is believed to have emerged in the past year. UK consumers discard about 1.5m tonnes of used textiles every year and Ghana received more discarded clothes than any other country. As the rubbish accumulates, new dump sites are springing up beyond urban areas, and in conservation areas that are vital for wildlife, the investigation found

British Antarctic Survey finds one breed of seal has declined by 54% since 1977Antarctic seal populations are drastically declining as the sea ice melts around them, new research has shown.Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have been monitoring the seal population in the sub-Antarctic since the 1970s, looking in particular at three different seal species in the sub-Antarctic on Signy Island: Weddell seals, Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals. Continue reading...

Experts say risk of 40C has almost trebled since 2000, with 50/50 chance of hitting that mark in next 12 yearsThe UK has a 50/50 chance of seeing temperatures soar to 40C again in the next 12 years as the risk of extreme heat rises with the climate emergency, the Met Office has said.The meteorological experts also warned that far higher temperatures of 45C (113F) or more may be possible" in today's climate, while heatwaves could go on for a month or more. Continue reading...

Activism comes in many forms. I hope, in some small way, my writing is part of itTime, it seems, is moving in strange ways for many of us. A colleague recently said, mourning, reckoning and activism all seem to require different speeds," and I'm grateful to her for that. I've often thought that the gear-shift" between my paid work and the unpaid beautiful work of mothering feels like a rusty old manual car that I don't quite understand how to drive. Lurch. Clunk. Add to that combination of work and parenting the imminent collapse of the world one was raised in, and there is a lot more grit than just clunky gears.The thing is, the world isn't changing: our illusions about the west" are finally being pulled down, and with it, our perceptions of time. Continue reading...

Gas companies can be sent multimillion pound fees to generate electricity when wind and solar power is in short supplyMore UK gas plants will be in line for windfall payments to help keep the lights on this winter after generators received multimillion-pound payouts last winter.Britain's energy system operator expects the UK's winter power supplies to reach their highest level in five years, in part due to a rising number of gas plants willing to generate electricity during the colder months. Continue reading...

Solar panels on defunct surface mines could put land to productive use for renewable generation, report saysTurning recently closed coalmines into solar energy plants could add almost 300GW of renewable energy by 2030, converting derelict wastelands to productive use, according to a new report.In a first of its kind analysis, researchers from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) identified 312 surface coalmines closed since 2020 around the world, and 134 likely to close by the end of the decade, together covering 5,820 sq km (2,250 sq miles) - a land area nearly the size of Palestine. Continue reading...

Half of foreign-born workers in green jobs would not have been allowed in under new rules, thinktank saysTough rules announced in the government's immigration white paper could jeopardise the UK's net zero mission by causing labour shortages, a report has warned.Labour's white paper released last month included plans to raise the minimum qualification for skilled worker visas from A-level equivalent to degree and to maintain the higher salary threshold of 38,700 introduced by the outgoing Conservative government last year. Continue reading...

The plant medicine hayakwaska (ayahuasca), marketed as a mystical shortcut to healing and enlightenment, is an example of what the Indigenous storyteller Nina Gualinga, sees as commodification and extractivism in the Amazon. Nina is from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, Ecuador, and she speaks with the memory of her shaman grandfather about the ongoing cultural appropriation, environmental destruction and marginalisation of her people, questioning our very relationship to the Earth and the quest for healing Continue reading...

From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild

Datacentres, which do not have to report amount of water used to cool servers, leave Environment Agency with no idea of shortfallsThe artificial intelligence boom means the Environment Agency has no idea how much water England will be short of in future decades, as datacentres do not have to report how much they are using to cool their servers.England's public water supply could be short by 5bn litres a day by 2055 without urgent action to future-proof resources, the government environment regulator has warned, with a shortfall of a further 1bn litres a day for farming, energy generation and powering emerging technologies. Continue reading...

Extreme events such as floods and droughts are becoming more frequent, longer-lasting and more severe, study saysNew data from Nasa has revealed a dramatic rise in the intensity of weather events such as droughts and floods over the past five years.The study shows that such extreme events are becoming more frequent, longer-lasting and more severe, with last year's figures reaching twice that of the 2003-2020 average. Continue reading...

Board expresses support for offer but deal depends on regulatory approvals and treasurer's tick-off

Exclusive: Wensum and Tone found to have high concentrations of chemicals that are toxic to aquatic lifeDangerous modern pesticides used in agriculture and pet flea treatment have been detected for the first time in English rivers, research has found.Scientists have called for stricter regulation around high-risk farming pesticides and flea treatments for pets because of the deadly effects they have on fish and other aquatic life when they make their way into rivers. Continue reading...

Bill that aims to reduce plastic packaging by 30% in 12 years faces staunch opposition by some business interestsThe oil and petrochemical lobby is attempting to fend off a New York state proposal to slash plastic waste by arguing that it will disproportionately burden people of color, advocates and assembly sources say, despite widespread evidence that the plastic supply chain poses serious health risks to Black and brown communities.In New York state, advocates are fighting to pass a wide-ranging bill to reduce plastic packaging by 30% in 12 years while dramatically boosting recycling rates and phasing certain toxic compounds out of packaging. The packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure bill would place a fee on large businesses that distribute plastic packaging, with revenue benefiting taxpayers - a scheme called extended producer responsibility. Continue reading...

Nearly 13 years after Hurricane Sandy flooded lower Manhattan, the first section of East River Park, designed to withstand storm surges, opens Continue reading...

Six-year-old among dead as officials say they have never seen anything like this' amid heavy rains in north of stateFlash flooding caused by torrential rains killed at least six people - including a six-year-old child - in northern West Virginia, and rescue crews were searching for missing people on Sunday, while authorities were assessing damage to roads, bridges, natural gas lines and other infrastructure.Officials said 2.5-4in (6-10cm) of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio county within about a half-hour on Saturday night. Continue reading...

Nature and farmers' groups cautiously welcome spending review as there were fears Treasury wanted bigger cutsLabour is cutting the farming budget in England by 100m a year, spending review figures show.Despite the decrease, the budget has been cautiously welcomed by nature and farming groups, as there were fears the Treasury had wanted to reduce the funding further. Continue reading...