Environment | The Guardian

The Lib Dem leader is seeking a review of the laws to prevent the en masse' arrestsParents in England are skipping meals and turning to buy-now-pay-later services such as Klarna in order to afford school uniforms before the autumn term, according to a survey.Almost half (47%) of the 2,000 parents who took part in the poll said they were worried about uniform costs, which can run into hundreds of pounds due to expensive branded items, while more than a quarter (29%) said they had forgone food or heating to pay for uniforms. Continue reading...

Before It's Gone is a series about the climate crisis and water scarcity in Morocco by photographer M'hammed Kilito, who highlights the degradation of countless oases Continue reading...

Exclusive: Concentrations of faecal bacteria in the lake were found to peak in summer but there were high levels throughout yearBathing water quality across most of Windermere is poor throughout the summer, indicating high levels of sewage pollution, according to a comprehensive analysis of water quality in England's largest lake.High levels of bacteria found in human faeces - Escherichia coli (E coli) and intestinal enterococci (IE) - indicating sewage pollution, were found to be highest in the summer months, when Windermere is used heavily by holidaymakers for swimming and watersports. Continue reading...

After three years of negotiating, talks over a global plastics treaty came to an end in Geneva last week with no agreement in place. So why has it been so difficult to get countries to agree to cut plastic production? Madeleine Finlay hears from Karen McVeigh, a senior reporter for Guardian Seascapes, about a particularly damaging form of plastic pollution causing devastation off the coast of Kerala, and where we go now that countries have failed to reach a dealClips: Fox News, BBC, 7News Australia, France 24, DW News, CNA Continue reading...

Herring gulls and kittiwakes have learned the easiest meal comes from robbing humans rather than at seaIn a flurry of wings, the predator was off with its prize: a steaming pasty snatched from the hands of a day tripper from Birmingham. What do you want me to do about it?" her unsympathetic husband said. I can't fly."Such a scene has become an almost daily spectacle on the Scarborough seafront, said Amy Watson, a supervisor at the Fishpan restaurant, where hungry herring gulls lurk for their quarry. Continue reading...

New trial for Mylene Vialard after Minnesota judges find pervasive' prosecutorial misconduct in Line 3 protest caseThe controversial felony conviction of a peaceful climate activist has been overturned by an appeals court due to pervasive" prosecutorial misconduct.Mylene Vialard, 56, was found guilty of felony obstruction in 2023 for her role in trying to halt construction of a fossil-fuel pipeline through Indigenous territory in Minnesota, in a trial beset by irregularities. Continue reading...

Last year's floods have been followed by heatwaves. Ministers must throw their weight behind resilient, adaptable agricultureBritish farmers are, of course, not the only people who are suffering from the effects of this summer's heatwaves. Across Europe and the Middle East, record-breaking temperatures are threatening lives as well as livelihoods. France has experienced its largest wildfire since 1949, while across Europe an estimated 500,000 hectares of land have burned.But farmers are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather, which has a direct impact on crop yields. So reports of a second consecutive year in which food growers in parts of the UK are seeing dramatic falls in production should concern the British public. Access to food is frequently taken for granted in the world's wealthiest nations. But increased food insecurity is among the dangerous effects of the climate crisis, as well as being worsened by Trump's tariffs, and geopolitical instability including the war in Ukraine.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...

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Assessment suggests cost of project to store 700,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste could reach 54bnThe UK's proposal for a new underground nuclear waste dump has been described as unachievable" in a Treasury assessment of the project.Ministers have put new nuclear power at the centre of their green energy revolution. But the problem of what to do with 700,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste - roughly the volume of 6,000 doubledecker buses - from the country's past nuclear programme, as well as future waste from nuclear expansion, has yet to be solved. Continue reading...

Mike Wirth, CEO of company responsible for more greenhouse gases than any other independently owned entity, thinks Australia should adopt US policies to attract fossil fuel dollars

People returned to Palacios de Jamuz, a village in north-west Spain, after homes, crops and trees were badly burnt in recent blazes. Relentless heat and raging wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with a quarter of weather stations in Spain recording temperatures of 40C (104F) or above over the weekend

Fishing club chaired by singer threatens court action over abstraction it says is putting rare trout population at riskThe singer and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey is threatening to take the Environment Agency to court for draining a river that hosts the oldest fishing club in England and putting a rare population of brown trout at risk.The former Undertones frontman chairs the Amwell Magna Fishery, which has used the secluded stretch of the River Lea in Hertfordshire since 1841. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Public comments show that a crackdown on signs disparaging' Americans is not popularAs part of his administration's war on woke", Donald Trump has asked the American public to report anything negative" about Americans in US national parks. But the public has largely refused to support a world view without inconvenient historical facts, comments submitted from national parks and seen by the Guardian show.Notices have been erected at every National Park Service (NPS) site, which spans 433 national parks, monuments and battlefields, following an order from May entitled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", issued by Trump's department of the interior. The president had demanded a crackdown on any material that inappropriately disparages Americans". Continue reading...

Extreme temperatures exacerbated by carbon pollution fuel fires in southern Europe as green policies are rolled back

We can save water and help the environment just by clearing out our inboxes - so what am I doing with all these old takeaway receipts?Our worst water-wasting habit might not even feel slightly damp: we're now being told to save water by clearing out our inboxes. Deleting emails, unbelievably, makes a difference to the amount of water the country uses," Helen Wakeham, the Environment Agency director of water, told the World at One last week. Hoarding decades' worth of Your Amazon order is out for delivery" notifications in datacentres consumes not just energy but water for cooling, and tech companies are building those datacentres in some of the most water-scarce places in the world.Wakeham called an email cull something really tangible people might not think of that can make a difference", and I do want to make a difference. I don't use water-gobbling ChatGPT, I comply with the hosepipe ban (albeit swearing at Yorkshire Water as I slop washing-up water into my shoes transporting it to my dying plants) and my showers are so short they're basically pointless. So I checked my inbox: 39,674 emails dating back to 2009. Ugh. Continue reading...

The country's coastal communities have long lived with flooding but as climate change accelerates rising sea levels and reclamation projects reshape Manila Bay, residents now see their homes under water more often

There's been fury in Spain over the tragic death of a street cleaner. It's not hard to imagine something similar playing out in the UKMontse Aguilar was only 51 when she died. She lived in the El Poble-sec area of Barcelona - it translates from Catalan as the dry village" - where she cared for her 85-year-old mother and sang in a local choir. For three years, she had worked as a city street cleaner for an outsourcing company, wearing a lime-green uniform - made, her family later said, from 100% polyester ... a material used to make coats".On 28 June, her shift in the city's Gothic Quarter began at 2.30pm and ended seven hours later. The temperature that day had reached more than 35C, which left workers like her exposed: Spain has a clearer system of regulations covering heat and work than a lot of other countries, but it is still full of gaps.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Canada's response to the extreme weather threat is being upended as the traditional epicentre of the blazes shifts as the climate warmsRoad closures, evacuations, travel chaos and stern warnings from officials have become fixtures of Canada's wildfire season. But as the country goes through its second-worst burn on record, the blazes come with a twist: few are coming from the western provinces, the traditional centre of destruction.Instead, the worst of the fires have been concentrated in the prairie provinces and the Atlantic region, with bone-dry conditions upending how Canada responds to a threat that is only likely to grow as the climate warms. Continue reading...

After a historic land buyback by the US Forest Service, Tlingit crew members are demolishing culverts to restore streams, salmon runs and cultural history deep in the Tongass national forestThe morning begins with a sense of anticipation - the calm before 1,200lbs of explosives detonate a stream culvert buried 10ft in Alaska's Tongass national forest.Jamie Daniels, 53, and his crew of Tlingit forestry workers take cover in a glade of alders. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Study expected to confirm there are enough suitable sites to support bird of prey's returnAfter more than 150 years, golden eagles could be set to return to England, as a study is expected to confirm there are enough suitable sites to support the reintroduction of the UK's most iconic bird of prey.Golden eagles, which can have a wingspan of more than 2 metres, are occasionally seen in areas such as Northumberland. However, these birds come from a growing population in southern Scotland. A recent project to reintroduce the birds in Scotland is likely to be a model for any reintroduction in England. Continue reading...

I've often laughed at those who are voluntarily extremely frugal. But in a world of dwindling resources, aren't the real weirdos the ones throwing yacht parties and sending Katy Perry into space?Here's a silly season story for you: a 51-year-old woman in the German town of Spaichingen in Swabia is under criminal investigation on suspicion of filling watering cans from her neighbour's water butt. The total estimated value of the purloined water: 0.15.It's wonderfully daft. She allegedly hid behind a bin to evade detection and, according to reports, the police declared, with Solomonic gravity: Once it is in the barrel, [the water] no longer belongs to the heavens." Who knows what motivated this nano-crime: a moment of midlife madness? Some kind of grudge? But water is metered in Germany so there might be a kind of extreme parsimony at work (Swabian housewives are legendarily thrifty, apparently). Continue reading...

Photographer Jill Mead joins the crowds of people heading to the Kent seaside town in the summer heat Continue reading...

Near-disaster in Pauls is latest incident to show Spain's vulnerability to the effects of the climate emergencyOn Saturday, the people of Pauls will celebrate the feast of their patron saint, Sant Roc, with a mass, followed by a communal meal eaten at stone tables, jota folk dances and a profound and lingering sense of relief.Last month's wildfire - which turned the night skies a hellish orange, blackened the surrounding hills and devoured 3,300 hectares (8,154 acres) of land - was a near-disaster that stirred memories of the 2009 blaze in nearby Horta de Sant Joan that killed five firefighters. Continue reading...

Hurricane is predicted pick up steam toward Florida before veering away from the US mainlandA tropical storm sped up to become Hurricane Erin mid-morning on Friday, as it approached Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides on its way to becoming a major Atlantic hurricane.The huge storm was swirling across the Caribbean and is ultimately expected to head towards Florida, picking up speed over warm ocean water, before ultimately veering away from the US mainland. Continue reading...

Conservationists flag dangers of human interaction after Reggie' filmed playing with familyThe public has been warned to keep away from an injured dolphin that was filmed dancing and playing with swimmers off the coast of Dorset earlier this month.The Marine Management Organisation (MMO), a government-backed agency responsible for England's seas, said it was increasingly concerned about a lone dolphin spotted in Lyme Bay, Dorset, following multiple potential marine wildlife disturbance offences observed online and shared on social media". Continue reading...

A bottlenose dolphin surprised a family on their morning swim in Dorset this month, appearing to playfully engage with them.However, the UK's Marine Management Organisation has since asked the public to keep away from the injured creature, warning that such encounters 'can harm dolphins leading to injury, death or aggression'

Associated British Foods says 160 jobs will be lost at Vivergo site in Hull after ministers refuse to fund rescueThe UK's largest bioethanol plant is to close after being dealt a body blow by Keir Starmer's trade deal with Donald Trump.The owner of the Vivergo plant in Hull, owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), said it would close with the loss of 160 jobs, just hours after the government said it would not fund an industry rescue package. The first redundancies will be made on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Senator Adam Schiff suggests in letter that use of funds to alter outflow of lake for personal use may have been inappropriate

Temperatures did not drop below 36C in Sedom, Israel on Tuesday night, while several parts of Jordan stayed above 35C on MondayJordan and Israel have suffered through their hottest nights on record, with nocturnal temperatures in the Levant well above levels that scientists consider hellish".Temperatures on Monday night did not go below 35C (95F) in Ghor es-Safi and Aqaba in Jordan, while in the capital, Amman, they stayed above 31.8C. Continue reading...

The failure of UN talks in Geneva should anger us all. The increasing threat to our health, our environments and wildlife must be addressed.By ensuring the collapse of UN talks seeking the first legally binding agreement on tackling plastic pollution, blockers in Geneva have failed the next generation. Most states are willing, even determined, to act. But the US joined petrostates obstructing action. Their children too will live to regret that.To say that plastics are part of our lives from cradle to grave is an understatement: microplastics have been found in placentas, as well as blood and breast milk. While we can't yet be certain of the full impact of the substances, we know that many have been linked to health effects and that foetuses, infants and young children are highly vulnerable. Microplastics have been shown to damage human cells in laboratory experiments, and a review published this month documented how exposure is associated with increased risks of miscarriage, stillbirth, birth defects, impaired lung growth, childhood cancer and fertility problems as an adult. Continue reading...

Consumers are drinking less red wine than ever. Producers need to revive the fresher and lighter vintages that their medieval ancestors once harvestedThese are always anxious weeks in the Bordeaux vineyards, where 15% of France's wine is grown, including in celebrated places like Chateau Latour and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. In earlier years, this ritual anxiety among the region's winegrowers had a pleasingly folkloric quality. In the middle of August, the grapes would ripen and their colour start to turn. About 45 days from now, tradition dictates, it will be time to start picking the 2025 vintage. As the wine writer Edmund Penning-Rowsell put it: To pick or not to pick is the most momentous decision in the winemaking year in Bordeaux."This once timeless rhythm is now collapsing. Part of the problem is the climate crisis. Bordeaux still benefits from its moderate Atlantic climate. But south-west France is getting much hotter and drier. Even in the Gironde region, maximum temperatures have been close to 40C at times this past week. Adaptation, in theform of hardier grapes and greater crop diversity,feels unavoidable. Continue reading...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes billions of dollars in giveaways to fossil fuel companies and their executivesThe Republican lawmakers who voted for Donald Trump's anti-environment tax and spending bill have accepted more than $105m in political donations from the fossil fuel industry, a new analysis has found, raising concerns about their relationship with big oil.Signed into law last month, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes billions of dollars in giveaways to oil and gas companies and their executives, alongside provisions to scale back credits for clean vehicles, wind and solar which were enshrined by Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Continue reading...

NGOs say deadlock over legally binding deal to curb production and toxic chemicals is blow to multilateralism'Global talks to reach agreement on a treaty aimed at ending the growing scourge of plastic pollution have collapsed, with no deal agreed and no clear path forward.Countries worked beyond Thursday's deadline into the night and Friday morning, but remained deadlocked on the issue that has dogged talks since they were launched, amid fervent optimism, in 2022: whether to reduce exponential growth of plastic production and place global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. Continue reading...

Findings help decipher mechanisms through which forever chemicals' cause disease, aiding in treating health problemsNew research suggests exposure to some common Pfas or forever chemical" compounds causes changes to gene activity, and those changes are linked to health problems including multiple cancers, neurological disorders and autoimmune disease.The findings are a major step toward determining the mechanism by which the chemicals cause disease and could help doctors identify, detect and treat health problems for those exposed to Pfas before the issues advance. The research may also point toward other diseases potentially caused by Pfas that have not yet been identified, the authors said. Continue reading...

Scientists in Svalbard in race to study polar microbes as global heating threatens fragile glacial ecosystemsIt felt really scary ... like being in the middle of a burning city during a night raid." Dr Arwyn Edwards is not describing urban warfare but a recent hot and foggy day on a Svalbard glacier, where record-breaking summer heat turned his workplace into a cascade of meltwater and falling rocks.Edwards is a leading researcher in glacier ecology - the study of life forms that live on, within and around glaciers and ice sheets. Over two decades of polar research, he has always felt relaxed and at home" on ice. But the accelerating climate breakdown is beginning to erode that sense of security. Continue reading...

Tiebele's wavy-walled houses covered in geometric lines showing signs of disintegration amid erratic weatherA world heritage site that was once a famous tourist destination is suffering from signs of disintegration, as climate change affects weather patterns.The wavy-walled houses covered with singular geometric lines of the Royal Court of Tiebele in Burkina Faso, established in the 16th century, are recognisable all over the world. The paintings represent the thoughts, culture, and religion of the Kassena people, literally written on the walls. Continue reading...

There is no chance of Australia becoming more economic resilient if we don't have robust national laws that set clear environmental standards

People on popular pilgrimage route were washed away by flood waters triggered by cloudburst, officials sayAt least 56 people have died and 80 are missing after a sudden rainstorm in Indian Kashmir, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week.The incident in the town of Chashoti, Kishtwar district, occurred at a stopover point on a pilgrimage route. Days earlier, a flood and mudslide engulfed a village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Continue reading...

Talks continue amid warnings from environmental groups over being sold out' without meaningful or legally binding measuresTalks between nations to hammer out a plastics treaty to end plastic pollution continued behind closed doors in Geneva on Thursday, the final day of negotiations, as civil society groups urged countries to hold the line" to secure a strong agreement.With time running out to seal a deal between 184 countries, environmental groups expressed concern that frontline communities, Indigenous people and others suffering the worst impacts of the world's growing plastic crisis were being sold out" in an effort to secure a treaty, without meaningful or legally binding measures that would address the scale of the problem, at any cost". Continue reading...

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

Satellite imagery shows the impact on Europe after wildfires raged across the south of the continent

As insurer's shares hit highest level since 2008, CEO says green issues are also important for many of its clientsAviva's chief executive, Amanda Blanc, has reiterated the insurer's commitment to climate goals in the face of growing pushback against net zero ambitions in the US and UK.On Thursday Aviva's shares hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, with investors cheering a rise in profits, and fresh payouts for investors worth 13.1p a share. Continue reading...

Glencore says it is working with state and federal governments to minimise the impact of flora and fauna in the 680ha area west of Mackay

Cottontails seen in Fort Collins have mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which cannot be spread to other speciesA group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there is no reason to be spooked - the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus.The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns. Continue reading...

Deal for Europe's biggest facility for LNG imports comes as overall UK gas demand fell sharply last yearThe owner of British Gas has placed a 1.5bn bet on the UK's future reliance on fossil fuel imports after striking a deal to buy Europe's biggest gas import terminal.Centrica plans to partner with a US private equity firm to acquire the Isle of Grain terminal in Kent, which can import 15m tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year, even after Britain's gas demand fell last year to its lowest level since the early 1990s. Continue reading...

Greenpeace climbers attached a new work, titled Butchered, by the renowned artist Anish Kapoor on to a Shell platform in the North Sea - the world's first artwork to be installed on an active offshore gas site. After securing a 12-metre x 8-metre canvas to the structure, the activists hoisted a high-pressure hose 16 metres above sea level. They then pumped 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid that seeped into the fabric, creating a vast crimson stain. The work is a stark visualisation of the wound inflicted on humanity and the Earth by the fossil fuel industry, and aims to represent the collective grief and pain over what has been lost, as well as a call for reparation

Almost all of the sex discordant' birds were genetically female but had male reproductive organs, study finds

August is on track to be hottest on record, with temperatures hitting at least 110F (43C) nearly every dayMore than 400 people are suspected to have died from extreme heat in Maricopa county, Arizona, so far this summer, according to official figures, as the brutal current heatwave enters its 12th day.August is on track to be the hottest on record, with temperatures hitting at least 110F (43C) every day apart from one so far. As of 11 August, at least three daily records had been broken including an all-time monthly high of 118F (48C), as well as several night-time record temperatures, according to Isaac Smith, meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix. Continue reading...

PM says sustainable revenue for roads is needed as report shows nearly one in 10 new car sales are electric vehicles

Australia's biggest bank delivers bumper payout to shareholders as CBA vows to end lending to coal companies with no net zero plans