Environment | The Guardian

In a little understood quirk of nature foresters have been putting the aspen tree under duress to promote floweringOn a nature reserve deep in the Scottish Highlands there is a polytunnel which houses a small forest of slender grey aspen trees. It is known as the torture chamber".The aspen is one of the UK's scarcest but most valuable trees. And to produce the tiny, delicate aspen seeds being harvested by the charity Trees for Life, these 104 specimens are deliberately made to suffer. Continue reading...

Campaigners say consumption such as travel, gifts and food are destroying planet and the meaning of ChristmasWhether out of poverty or virtue, many of us spend much of the year reining in our appetites to save our pennies and our health. But at Christmas many of us put our worries aside and go wild in an orgy of lavish gifting, extensive travel and a gluttonous feeding frenzy.This carnival of consumption has a cost: not just to our wallets and our waistlines, but also to the climate. Continue reading...

More than 160 Chinese nationals were found living in degrading' conditions and working excessive hours

Government to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars but will relax rules that force firms to sell more electric vehicles every year

Conservationists and scientists in New Zealand were astonished to find the world's rarest whale washed ashore in the South Island in July. As only the seventh spade-toothed whale identified, and with none ever seen alive, this month saw the first dissection of a complete specimen Continue reading...

Prosecution of three companies and one director relate to 26 sites, including Rozelle parklands. They have denied the alleged offences

President Nayib Bukele pushed for the legislation that will grant government sole authority over mining activitiesEl Salvador's legislature has overturned a seven-year-old ban on metals mining, a move that the country's authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, had pushed for to boost economic growth, but that environmental groups had opposed.El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban all forms of metals mining in 2017. Bukele, who took office in 2019, has called the ban absurd. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK's biggest water company assessed risks before cutting back on cost of environmental work, investigation showsThames Water intentionally diverted millions of pounds pledged for environmental clean-ups towards other costs including bonuses and dividends, the Guardian can reveal.The company, which serves more than 16 million customers, cut the funds after senior managers assessed the potential risks of such a move. Continue reading...

The reptile, who later became Australia's answer to Paul the octopus, passed away peacefully' in DarwinBurt, the giant crocodile that featured in hit Australian comedy Crocodile Dundee, has died.Crocosaurus Cove, an aquarium and exhibition space in Darwin, Australia, where Burt was housed, announced the news on social media, saying that the crocodile passed away peacefully" and was estimated to be over 90 years old". Continue reading...

Palestinians accuse UK firm of breaching human rights laws by piping oil allegedly used by Israeli armyPalestinian victims of the war in Gaza are taking legal action against BP for running a pipeline that supplies much of Israel's crude oil.The claimants have sent the British oil company a letter before claim, alleging it is breaching its stated commitments to human rights under international law. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Aceh in 2004. Now warning systems are in place, but some feel more could be doneIt was just before 8am on Sunday 26 December 2004 when the earthquake struck. Abdul Rahem, 47, a fisher, was strolling along the beach, enjoying the morning breeze near to his home in Lam Awe, a sleepy fishing village on the coast of Aceh in Indonesia. He retreated to paddy fields when the violent shaking and swinging stopped. But it wasn't until he heard the cries of neighbours that he realised something was seriously wrong. People were shouting: The water is coming."Rahem raced home to get his elderly father, and supported him as they tried to flee along the broken road, which had been twisted and torn by the quake. His father urged him to go ahead and leave him, but Rahem refused. I said, No, no, no, if we die, we die together.'" Continue reading...

For ecologists restoring the vast bogs of remote Karelia, wild reindeer are not just part of the environment but entwined with the ancient culture of the boreal forestsThe Finnish folk musician Liisa Matveinen lives in a mustard-coloured house in Ilomantsi, 12 miles (20km) from the Russian border. Large books of folk songs line her walls. Sitting in her kitchen, Matveinen sings about a humble hunter going into the woods to find reindeer.The song tells us how they were honoured" providers of food, clothing and a sense of place, says Matveinen, who is recognised as a doyenne of Finnish folk music. Continue reading...

For the past decade, the Barcelona-based visual artist Xavi Bou has devoted his work to revealing the hidden beauty of natural movement". His initial focus was birds; now he's moved on to insects. In collaboration with US entomologist Adrian Smith he's created an eye-popping series that captures - by merging multiple frames into a single image - the rhythmic flutterings of butterflies and chaotic leaps of spittlebugs and treehoppers. As well as their beauty, Bou was struck by the crucial role that insects play in ecosystems, even as their numbers plummet - it's estimated that the biomass of flying insect species has decreased by 75% over the past 27 years. We need to move beyond seeing insects as mere nuisances," says Bou. They are fascinating, essential creatures, and we owe them a great deal."

Rosetta's Kitchen in North Carolina now dishes up donated animal products to weather steep losses and feed people in need - but not all are happy with the changeOne day in October, a trailer with an unusual delivery pulled up outside Rosetta's Kitchen, a beloved vegan restaurant in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.The contents: 1,500lbs of donated frozen meat, destined for area residents eating free meals at the restaurant after Hurricane Helene battered the region in late September. Continue reading...

Researchers in North Carolina used underwater sonar to map a system created by enslaved people centuries agoAs a former deputy state underwater archaeologist, Mark Wilde-Ramsing can't help but look down. While rowing around North Carolina's Eagles Island, at the tip of the Gullah Geechee corridor, he noticed signs of human-made structures, visible at low tide. Though he'd retired, he was still active in the field and knew his former agency hadn't recorded the structures - which meant he had come across something previously undocumented. The next step was figuring out exactly what he'd found.Wilde-Ramsing knew the area had once been full of rice fields. His neighbor, Joni Osku" Backstrom, was an assistant professor in the department of environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington whose specialty was shallow-water sonar, and he had the skills and technology to explore the area. Using a sonar device, the duo detected 45 wooden structures in the river, and the remote sensing tool allowed Backstrom and Wilde-Ramsing to acoustically map the canal beds. Continue reading...

Ministers set out plans for outlawing neonicotinoids but considering application by farmers to use Cruiser SBBee-killing pesticides are to be banned by the UK government, as ministers set out plans to outlaw the use of neonicotinoids.However, the highly toxic neonicotinoid Cruiser SB could be allowed for use next year, as ministers are considering applications from the National Farmers' Union and British Sugar. Continue reading...

From break dancing to nude bathers and the country's best mullets, here's a selection of our photographers' finest work Continue reading...

State's energy and carbon management commission said fraudulent pollution data was reported for at least 344 wellsOil and gas companies operating in Colorado have submitted hundreds of environmental impact reports with falsified" laboratory data since 2021, according to state regulators.Colorado's energy and carbon management commission (ECMC) said on 13 December that contractors for Chevron and Oxy had submitted reports with fraudulent data for at least 344 oil and gas wells across the state, painting a misleading picture of their pollution levels. Consultants for a third company, Civitas, had also filed forms with falsified information for an unspecified number of wells, regulators said. Continue reading...

Forty people, aged 22 to 58, incarcerated for direct actions on climate and Gaza actions amid crackdown on dissent You won't find the real criminals here': a Just Stop Oil activist in jail at ChristmasA record number of people who have taken part in protests will be in prison in the UK this Christmas, raising concern about the ongoing crackdown on dissent.Forty people, aged from 22 to 58, will be behind bars on Christmas Day for planning or taking part in a variety of protests relating to the climate crisis or the war in Gaza. Several of them are facing years in prison after courts handed down the most severe sentences on record for direct action protests. Continue reading...

Labour seems gripped by a form of denialism. The danger is real and incremental change won't avert it

Survey finds post-1992 universities leading the way on sustainability and ethicsMore universities are banning fossil fuel companies from recruitment fairs in a sign of the sector's shrinking social licence among young people.The annual survey of sustainability and ethics in higher education found there has been a 30% rise in the number of institutions stopping fossil fuel companies taking part in graduate fairs this year. Continue reading...

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

New research comes as dozens of small potential fields have received some form of license from the governmentPotential new North Sea oil and gas fields with early stage licences from the UK would emit as much carbon dioxide as British households produce in three decades.The finding has led to calls to the government to reject demands from fossil fuel producers for the final permits needed to allow their operations to go ahead. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Queensland mine given go-ahead this week is a new development, not an extension of an existing mine

Member for Hinkler says he and David Littleproud have very different views' and implies net zero would have zero impact on the temperature of the planet'

French president promises food, water and to rebuild as emergency services search desperately for survivorsDistraught and angry inhabitants of Mayotte shouted out their grievances to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as he visited the island, five days after it was devastated by a cyclone.High on their list was the lack of water and food, and the fear of looting. Continue reading...

Regulator says it will claw back 131m in unjustified' payments as it announces companies can increase bills by 36% by 2030

Exclusive: While risk of H5N1 pandemic in humans is low, it's really important to think about vulnerable populations', Melbourne researcher says

Outage comes as customers hear they will face the highest bill increases in England and WalesTens of thousands of homes in Hampshire are without water because of a technical fault at a Southern Water supply works.About 58,000 homes in Southampton, Romsey, Eastleigh, Totton and parts of the New Forest have outages after a problem at the Testwood water supply works prevented water from leaving the site. Continue reading...

Call for additional precautions as captive species including lions, tigers and cheetahs are killed by virusDozens of rare animals including tigers, lions and cheetahs are dying as bird flu infiltrates zoos, with potentially grave implications" for endangered species, researchers have warned.As a growing number of zoos report animal deaths, scientists are concerned that infected wild birds landing in enclosures could be spreading it among captive animals. In the US, a cheetah, mountain lion, Indian goose and kookaburra were among the animals that died in Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix, according to local media reports last week. San Francisco Zoo temporarily closed its aviaries after a wild red-shouldered hawk was found dead on its grounds, and later tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAIV). A rare red-breasted goose died at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, causing aviaries to close and penguin feeding for visitors to be suspended in November. These cases follow the deaths of 47 tigers, three lions, and a panther in zoos across south Vietnam over the summer. Continue reading...

Hastened reviews of compounds as industry ramps up could increase pollution from likely toxic chemicalsThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is quietly fast-tracking approval of new PFAS forever chemicals" for use by the semiconductor industry at the same time the agency is publicly touting increased scrutiny of new PFAS and other chemicals.As US semiconductor production ramps up, the hastened reviews could sharply increase pollution containing little-studied PFAS that are likely toxic, accumulative in the environment and contribute to climate change. Continue reading...

President formally files new plans under Paris agreement and hails boldest climate agenda in American history'Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US's carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a capstone" on his legacy on the climate.With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement - the global climate treaty from which Trump has vowed to withdraw. Continue reading...

Tanya Plibersek says projects in NSW and Queensland produce coal for making essential steel as critics say move opposite of climate action'

Popular in Victorian times, they are sustainable, a good source of protein and brilliant for biodiversity, say those championing the bivalvesA splash of white wine, a handful of basil leaves and a few minutes preparation are all it takes to transform mussels that 24 hours ago were filtering seawater off the south Devon coast, into a delicious starter.At the training kitchen in London's oldest fish market, Billingsgate, in Poplar, we learn that fresh mussels require two vital preparation steps that the vacuum-packed, cooked variety don't: debearding" or pulling off the byssus" thread that attaches the shell to rocks and other substrate, and the discarding of any with broken or open shells Continue reading...

Court rules in favor of 16 young people who said their health and prospects were being imperiled by climate crisisMontana's top court on Wednesday held that the state's constitution guaranteed a right to a stable climate system and invalidated a law barring regulators from considering the effects of greenhouse gas emissions when permitting new fossil fuel projects.The Montana supreme court upheld a landmark trial court decision last August in favor of 16 young people who said their health and futures were being jeopardized by climate change, which the state aggravates through its permitting of energy projects. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Long-awaited decision by water regulator Ofwat falls short of utility's requested 59% riseTroubled Thames Water will be allowed to increase customer bills by just over a third by 2030 after a decision by the industry regulator, the Guardian has learned.Ofwat is poised to announce on Thursday that the heavily indebted company, which serves 16 million consumers in London and the Thames Valley area, will be permitted to raise bills by just over half the level the company had demanded. Continue reading...

Powerful storm in drought-hit region confirmed to have killed 45 people in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi

EPA agreed to grant the state's requests and permit similar proposals from other states, a step Trump has vowed to undoThe Biden administration granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in a move that Donald Trump is expected to roll back immediately.The Environmental Protection Agency said it would grant California's request for the waivers to allow the state to enforce the proposed rules, the agency announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...

In 2019, scientists published a climate-friendly food plan. I've long wondered: could it work for most Americans?

We want to hear how you manage to eat a planet-friendly diet despite soaring food prices and lack of access

Gone are the pleasures of licking the foil cover on yoghurts and soft cheese. Plus no one consulted me about this dismal change to my home routinesAll I want for Christmas is the return of yoghurt pot lids. And not just for me, for everyone. In this season of goodwill, I want everyone to get a share of the joy. The lids disappeared very suddenly, without so much as a goodbye. It didn't seem right. And it wasn't just yoghurt pots, either. Creams, buttermilk, cottage cheese, you name it, were suddenly minus their lids, hatless, naked.For me, this was a blow. I've always taken my plastic pot management very seriously. I have strict rules. Not for me pulling back the foil cover, leaving it attached to the tub, and then replacing the lid on top of it. No, not neat. The foil would be removed completely, possibly licked, and discarded.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...

Climate-vulnerable pair add weight to proposed treaty seeking transition from coal, oil and gas in equitable wayPakistan and the Bahamas have joined a growing bloc of climate-vulnerable countries seeking to broker a global pact to phase out fossil fuels in an equitable way, the Guardian can reveal.The Bahamas is the 15th nation to fully endorse the proposed fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would provide a binding global roadmap to explicitly halt expansion of coal, oil and gas in a fair way - with wealthy nations responsible for the highest emissions transitioning first and fastest. Continue reading...

National Grid, SSE and ScottishPower submit five-year plans amid shift from fossil fuels to clean electricityEnergy companies have promised to spend up to 77bn over five years to help rewire to Great Britain's electricity infrastructure in the global race to shift from fossil fuels to clean electricity.The companies that own the high-voltage power system - National Grid, SSE and ScottishPower - have submitted the spending plans to the regulator Ofgem for the period from 2026 to 2031, which could support about 100,000 jobs. Continue reading...

Trade can help protect species - and real skins are often more sustainable than synthetic alternatives, say conservationistsConservation experts have criticised a decision by London fashion week to ban exotic animal skins from its 2025 shows as ridiculous", warning that it is ill-informed and could harm the protection of many snakes, crocodiles and reptile species.Last month, the British Fashion Council's deputy director for policy and engagement, David Leigh-Pemberton, told parliament that next year's fashion shows would prohibit the use of skins from alligators, snakes and other animals. In a statement, the council said the ban was part of a wider range of standards to promote sustainable practices in the fashion industry. Continue reading...

Researchers find winds affecting emissions from incinerators play role, though diet still thought to be largest factorToxic chemicals in breast milk have been identified in mothers living near waste incinerators in the UK, a study has found.The study looked at complex chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins. These are found in the fumes from burning waste and can persist in the environment for a long time. They can also accumulate in the fat in our bodies, with more than 90% coming from food. Continue reading...

Spike in fossil fuel use a result of global gas crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of UkraineThe world's coal use is expected to reach a fresh high of 8.7bn tonnes this year, and remain at near-record levels for years as a result of a global gas crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.There has been record production and trade of coal and power generation from coal since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine inflated global gas market prices, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Continue reading...

Critics and opposition parties vow to oppose major projects they fear could damage the environmentA new law that could see controversial mining and infrastructure projects fast-tracked for approval across New Zealand has sparked protests in parliament and vows from critics and opposition parties to stop proposals that they fear will wreak havoc on the environment.The coalition government's Fast-Track Approvals legislation passed into law on Tuesday, despite thousands of public submissions opposing it. Continue reading...

Researchers from St Andrews found rise in nitrogen dioxide exposure associated with higher admissionsExposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of hospital admission for mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.The research, involving more than 200,000 people in Scotland, found an increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide in particular was associated with a higher number of people being admitted to hospital for behaviour disorders and mental illnesses. Continue reading...

New study shows LNG exports risk raising greenhouse gas emissions, hampering efforts to curtail climate crisisThe Biden administration has released a long-awaited analysis on the economic and environmental effects of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, concluding any further expansion would drive up costs for domestic consumers and hamper efforts to curtail the climate crisis.In January Joe Biden paused the Department of Energy's approvals of fossil gas exports to big consumers in Asia and Europe in order to conduct the review, in a move welcomed by climate scientists, environmental justice advocates and public health experts but decried by the oil and gas industry. Continue reading...