Every autumn, Corvo Island in the Azores turns off its public lighting for a few key days to help fledgling Cory's shearwaters as they attempt to fly to the ocean guided by the starsOnce a year, Corvo, the smallest and most northerly island of Portugal's Azores archipelago, goes dark. Since 2019, the island's 450 or so inhabitants have chosen to switch off the lights every autumn for five nights to tackle the disastrous effects of artificial light on Cory's shearwaters, a seabird endemic to the Atlantic Ocean.It began in 1991 when the community noticed huge numbers of deaths among young shearwaters.A newborn Cory's shearwater chick Continue reading...
Fresh deluge of wet weather comes after Storm Austen brought strong winds to many regions on FridayAmber weather warnings have come into force as the worst of Storm Boelo could be set to hit parts of the UK.Storm Boelo's winds will peak from Saturday evening, leaving areas in the warning zone, including Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland and the far north of England, braced for gusts of 60-70mph and even 80mph in exposed coastal spots, the Met Office said. Continue reading...
This foolish decision undermines hopes that this government will take the necessary steps the climate crisis demandsWhen the news broke that the UK government had approved the Jackdaw gasfield, I was at a Guardian climate event at the Royal Geographical Society. Appropriately, the theme suggested by readers was what can the public actually do in the face of what feels like paralysing climate doom?There is so much going on that is hopeful: biodiversity tracking, river protection, rewilding. Shruti Suresh, from the independent watchdog Global Witness, told those in attendance that if they wanted to effect change, they should protest against Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield project. The message was so well understood that it didn't need labouring. The mood in the room when the news came in was one of audible dismay. People had just watched the minister for climate transition declare that she could see the challenges ahead and was ready for them. The Jackdaw announcement will face immediate protest and legal challenge, but it sends a very clear signal from the government: we don't mean what we say about ending emissions.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, thanked the prime minister for backing Jackdaw after the Tories approved it in 2022. But Burnham said he made a decision on something the Tories messed up, and the government had made a bridge to the future and the transition to clean energy
by Kiran Stacey Jessica Elgot and Fiona Harvey on (#796Z6)
Exclusive: Officials say Miatta Fahnbulleh minded not to give approval in victory for climate campaignersMiatta Fahnbulleh is leaning towards rejecting the giant Rosebank oilfield, the Guardian understands, in what would be a blow for the North Sea energy industry and a major victory for climate campaigners.Officials say the energy secretary is minded to refuse approval for the field, which would be one of the biggest in the North Sea. Fahnbulleh approved the smaller Jackdaw gasfield on Wednesday, prompting protests from some in the green movement. Continue reading...
At a gathering in Texas, near where floods killed 136 people last year, survivors are united on the need for urgent actionIt may be a club none of its members actually want to be in, but the growing number of people in the US affected by extreme weather disasters are starting to organize into a political force.Severe wildfires, floods storms and other calamities now touch the lives of huge numbers of Americans - about half of all people in the US by one estimate - as the climate crisis supercharges extreme events. Some survivors are now coalescing to push for improved disaster response and even action on the politically contentious issue of global heating. Continue reading...
Planting cover crops or perennial plants can protect soil amid potential flooding. Congress must act to protect these practicesAs forecasters warn that this year's El Nino could become the strongest on record, concerns are growing about its effect on agriculture and food security.The United States will not be hit nearly as hard as Central and South America, the Caribbean, and southern Africa, but severe weather could cause significant crop loss in some parts of the country.Liz Carlisle is associate professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara. She is the author of Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming and co-editor of Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods Continue reading...
At least four deaths linked to storm amid warnings of flash flooding that could stretch into AppalachiansAs what was left of Hurricane Isaias moved north on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region, nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts. Continue reading...
Heat and humidity have led to one of the worst mosquito years in recent history, with West Nile virus at a decade highLos Angeles might be best known for blue skies, beaches and film premiers - but for the last several years it's held another, unenviable distinction: the most mosquito-infested city in America.And this year has been especially nightmarish, thanks to a series of heatwaves and an extra-powerful El Nino. Locals have called it a summer of living hell" as clouds of mosquitoes swarm backyards and leave diners at open air patios scratching their ankles. Continue reading...
John Mitani spent years studying a huge community of chimpanzees in Uganda. But then things took a dark turn - and his findings stunned the scientific worldJohn Mitani can still remember the first time he set foot in Uganda's Kibale national park. The old-growth east African rainforest enveloped him, its canopy stretching to heights of 40 metres. Fruit trees bowed under the weight of African star apples and bountiful Ficus mucuso figs. And then there were the chimpanzees. Furry black blobs darted through the jungle, their raucous calls often deafening.It was the summer of 1995, and Mitani, a primatologist from northern California, had just come from working with the chimps living in the Mahale mountains of Tanzania. At the time, Mahale was home to the largest known population of chimps, with about 100 individuals. But there were rumours that this section of Kibale - only accessible via a 12-hour drive from the capital, Kampala - might host an even more unusual abundance of apes. Continue reading...
Tories plan to scrap low-carbon housebuilding, Greens back new nuclear reactors, and Labour put oil-drilling decisions on holdNew homes could be built without solar panels, heat pumps and high-grade insulation, leading to higher household bills if the Conservative party wins the next general election.Kemi Badenoch made scrapping the future homes standard (FHS) one of the central planks of her bid to become the next prime minister at the Tory party conference this week. Continue reading...
by All photographs by Michelle Grace Hunder on (#7908H)
The annual month-long festival takes place at a flower farm in the Victorian town of Silvan when tulips and other springs flowers are at their most vibrant Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#78Z1G)
Changing tide levels, shifting sands and hardened shorelines put waves at risk, affecting more than just surfersThe climate crisis is coming for some of the world's greatest surf breaks, submerging some as sea level rises and wiping out others as classic breaks get crushed against coastal developments.Analysis of dozens of famous waves in world surfing reserves (WSR) found more than three-quarters were at high risk because of changing tide levels, hardened shorelines and shifting sands. Continue reading...
The climate issue is the security issue,' says Turkish minister at Pacific pre-Cop summit in FijiWealthy countries should spend far more on dealing with the climate crisis than the 5% of GDP promised by Nato members for defence because the climate issue is the security issue", the host of the next UN summit has said.But, in comments that are likely to prove contentious, the Cop31 president-designate, Murat Kurum, hedged on whether countries should try to repeat a previous agreement to transition away from fossil fuels" - the primary cause of the climate crisis - when they meet in Turkey next month. Continue reading...
Liability lawsuits have held tobacco, oil and pharma companies to account in the past. AI investors won't ignore this threatThe most basic function of government is to protect people from harm. Two growing phenomena - the climate crisis and AI - pose escalating risks of extraordinary harm.The climate crisis is already causing floods, wildfires, drought and record heat. AI agents are already escaping super-secure environments to hack into systems they're supposed to avoid.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK Continue reading...
Storm expected to make landfall on US's northern Gulf coast with risk of flash floods and isolated river floodingIsaias has become the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, with wind speeds of 80mph and a minimum pressure of 975mb. It is expected to strengthen to a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the US's northern Gulf coast on Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).As a result of the strong El Nino, it has been a notably quiet Atlantic hurricane season. The first hurricane of the season has not formed this late since 8 October 1905, which pre-dates the satellite era (1960s) for tracking hurricanes that has allowed for more non-landfall hurricanes to be discovered. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#78YA2)
Exclusive: Badenoch's flagship conference policy document cites 957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers' dataKemi Badenoch's flagship party conference policy document overestimated the cost of net zero by nearly 500bn, seemingly after someone accidentally double-counted figures on a spreadsheet.The apparent error appears in a chapter on net zero in The Right Way, a 100-page policy document produced for the Conservative conference in Birmingham. Badenoch repeatedly used the phrase in her main speech. Continue reading...
A new global biodiversity report strikes an encouraging note. But we cannot rest on our laurels - and resilience is keyThe new Living Planet Report is out. Published every two years, it assesses the health of the natural world and, historically, it's made for gloomy reading.Take 2024's report, which showed global wildlife populations had plummeted by 73% in 50 years and that ecosystems were being pushed toward collapse. Continue reading...
Claudia Galeno-Sanchez has turned her home into a sanctuary for the insects by planting native milkweed and wildflowers - and sharing her experienceAlong the concrete streets of Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, a vividly colored home stands out among the rest.Over the past few years, Claudia Galeno-Sanchez has transformed her modest family home, which she shares with her husband and two children, into a sanctuary and educational space dedicated to the monarch butterfly.Galeno-Sanchez painted her home with the help of neighbors, her kids, and the renowned muralist and painter Hector Duarte. Continue reading...
Devastating blaze near Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk among a record 624 wildfires in July this yearThis July was the worst on record for wildfires in England, provisional data shows, with England experiencing a clear upward trend in the total number of wildfires recorded.This summer has been a stark reminder of the vulnerability of the UK to climate breakdown, after punishingly hot and dry weather turned large parts of the countryside into a tinderbox. Continue reading...
Nine out of 10 people felt motivated to act after watching film outlining threats to food security, economy and public healthThe British government must be honest about the scale of the threat posed by climate and nature breakdown, researchers have said, after nine out of 10 people surveyed after watching a briefing on the issue felt more motivated to act.Last November, in the first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing", nine experts gave stark assessments in Central Hall in Westminster of the scale of the changes needed in the UK to adapt to the rapidly changing climate and ecological landscape. Continue reading...
The UK state is dumping its responsibilities on our doorsteps, while green-lighting policies that lead us closer to crisisWould you mind fixing the NHS? And while you're at it, could you please build an anti-missile system in your garden? Then regulate the banks, replace the water mains, tax the very rich and use the proceeds to rebuild our schools. Well, come on people: what are you waiting for?I exaggerate, but this isn't very far from the approach taken by the government's Prepare campaign. Crucial functions, way beyond the scope of individual action, are dumped on our doorsteps while those in power fail to act. As a result, our national resilience is arguably lower than at any time since the second world war. At the Labour conference last week, Andy Burnham promised a Britain where people feel the country has got their back again". To make good on that pledge, he will have to change almost everything.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Four native species selected after consultation, but which one adorns which note is yet to be decidedBees, barn owls, puffins and hedgehogs have been picked to feature on the next generation of banknotes, the Bank of England has announced.The quartet of creatures were selected after a large-scale consultation settled on wild animals as the theme, with members of the public then asked to pick their favourites out of 18 options divided into three categories. Continue reading...
The Norwegian government has given a permit to a mining company to release waste into Forde fjord despite a 17-year battle by campaigners and a supreme court ruling against itShortly after the Norwegian stock market closed on 17 June 2026, a few dozen local people from the small west coast town of Vevring crowded around a laptop in a school. Surrounded by children's drawings and windows looking out over Forde fjord, they listened as news arrived from Oslo. Norway's supreme court had ruled against its government: a permit to release mining waste directly into the fjord two miles upstream was illegal, the court said.The moment marked the end of a 17-year fight, one of Norway's most protracted environmental battles in living memory. In Oslo, Ingvild Fonn Asmervik, the project leader for Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway), compared the joy she felt to giving birth to her child. For Anne-Line Thingnes Forsund, a third-generation fisher living on the banks of the fjord in Vevring and a volunteer for the charity's local branch, it was more of a relief. Like a mountain lifting off her shoulders, she said. Continue reading...
An international symbol for the city, the sign is also hallmark of the region's environmental richnessAtop Mount Lee, in the heart of Los Angeles, the wind is quiet. Two red-tailed hawks sail above, barely flapping as they coast the thermal air like surfers on a wave. Standing beside the giant letters of the Hollywood sign, the city seems peaceful. On a clear day, blocks and blocks of homes unfold beneath and the skies reveal sights all the way to Catalina Island - 10 miles out, across the Pacific.That's the beauty seen from the Hollywood sign. Continue reading...
Italian police say Maltese citizen under investigation for smuggling after animals found packed in carA Maltese man is facing animal cruelty charges after allegedly attempting to transport 300 tortoises and 77 parrots from Sicily to Malta.The animals were found packed into a car near the boarding area for a Malta-bound catamaran during an inspection at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, the local unit of Italy's financial police squad said on Monday. Continue reading...
Court starts new term hearing Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil's attempt to stop lawsuits at state levelThe US supreme court begins its new nine-month term hearing arguments Monday in a high-stakes case in which big oil companies are attempting to strike a fatal blow against lawsuits that seek to hold them accountable for the climate crisis.In Suncor Energy versus the County Commissioners of Boulder County, local officials in Boulder are suing Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil in state court to force the companies to share a portion of the costs that climate change has imposed on local taxpayers. However, Exxon and Canada-based Suncor are arguing that federal law prevents state courts from hearing Boulder's climate change lawsuit. Continue reading...
Temperatures in US state forecast to hit high 30s celsius this week, while regions in Indonesia grapple with wildfiresThe National Weather Service in the US has issued extreme heat warnings for parts of southern California, including Los Angeles, until Thursday, as temperatures are expected to hit the high 30s celsius. Burbank, a suburb north of Los Angeles, recorded 39C on Saturday, a few degrees shy of the October record for the region set in 1987. A persistent area of high pressure will remain in place this week, leading to further hazardous hot weather and increased fire risk.Parts of Indonesia are in the midst of an extreme wildfire season, which has peaked over the past month. Western Kalimantan (Borneo) and southern Sumatra have been particularly badly affected. The lack of rainfall has dried the usually water-logged tropical soils, meaning that fires have been able to spread quickly, above and below the surface. Indonesia's soils are also extremely rich in peat, meaning that the smoke produced from the fires contain higher levels of toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Cities in surrounding areas and as far as Malaysia and Singapore have experienced reduced air quality in recent weeks as a result. Drought and wildfires are more common in this part of the world during El Nino events owing to suppressed thunderstorm activity. Continue reading...
As trawlers compete with Greenland sharks for halibut and cod, conservationists and fishers clash over what to do about misunderstood speciesWhen I accidentally catch a shark, I bring it to my dogs," Henrik Jensen, a 27-year-old from Greenland's west coast, says casually. I don't let it back down because [the sharks] bully me and cut my lines."Jensen has fished for halibut in Ilulissat, Greenland's third largest town, for a decade. He works an hour north of the town's main iceberg-laden fishery, which sustains the livelihood of nearly 400 fishers. There, the halibut are bigger and more plentiful, but so are the Greenland sharks. Continue reading...
by Neal Morton of the Hechinger Report on (#78THF)
A statewide initiative pairs climate-focused coursework with community service - and is spreading to other statesAs a student at a high school not far from Denver's main airport, Anthony Munoz wondered whether the jet fuel from airplanes flying above his campus was harming living things.An avid gardener, Munoz partnered with a local university to create a garden on the campus of his charter school, Vista Academy, filling it with native plants that could detect ground-level ozone pollution. He also worked with climate scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federal office in nearby Boulder, who directed Munoz on what data to collect, what the condition of leaves reveals about air quality and why milkweed matters for monarch butterfly migration. Continue reading...
As the midterms approach, Americans' digestive health has become a bizarre talking pointDonald Trump seems to spend an unusual amount of time thinking about toilets.Back in 2019, he bizarrely claimed: People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once." He repeated this claim at a Michigan rally the following year. Ten times, right, 10 times," Trump complained. Not me, of course not me, but you," he added while pointing at an unfortunate audience member. Continue reading...
Records show Vineland facility in New Jersey emitted health-harming pollution before regulators stepped inDataOne, the Microsoft-linked New Jersey datacenter recently hit with a $1m fine for running unpermitted generators, emitted large amounts of health-harming air pollution for nearly a year before state regulators stepped in, according to public records obtained by Floodlight.The Vineland facility's 62 gas-fired generators became public in August after a Floodlight/Guardian visual investigation found them operating without permits. The New Jersey department of environmental protection last week fined the company over the fleet but did not disclose how long the generators had been operating nor how much air pollution they had released into the surrounding community over the past year.This story is from Floodlight, a non-profit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action. Sign up for Floodlight's newsletter here Continue reading...
Gavin Newsom says Trump is a gift' to the climate cause for dispelling notions of fossil fuel energy securityOf all the epithets hurled at Donald Trump since he became US president, perhaps the most unusual was delivered last week - that he is, in fact, some sort of environmentalist.Trump is the greatest gift" to the environmental movement, argued Gavin Newsom, California's governor, due to the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran. Continue reading...
Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their autumn encounters with natureOnce again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.The article needs to be about a recent encounter they've had with nature - whether it's a hedge full of berries, a beetle on the move, or a nervous deer. Continue reading...
Some rivers are receiving more rain than before but have lower water flow, according to a studyMore rain and snow equals more water in rivers, right? Not necessarily. A new study shows that, despite receiving more rainfall than they used to, river water levels are falling because of changes in climate.Global heating is intensifying the hydrological cycle, making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier, but how is this affecting river flow? Researchers from the Pennsylvania State University, in the US, have analysed precipitation and river flow records in more than 10,000 rivers between 1951 and 2020. In nearly one-third of rivers, they found that flow trends did not match with the changes observed in rainfall and snow. Continue reading...
Alpine regions in Europe experiencing extreme glacier collapse due to heat-trapping effects of fossil fuel pollutionSwitzerland has lost almost one-fifth of its ice in just five years, research has found, in a dramatic reshaping of the Alpine country whose big white glaciers have been reduced to moonlike rock deserts, scientists say.Swiss glaciers shrank by 5.5% in the first eight months of 2026, according to an annual monitoring report, after a summer of scorching heatwaves that followed a winter with little snow. The reduction in ice volume falls just shy of the record set in 2022 and brings the total loss of glacier ice since 2021 to 19.4%. Continue reading...
There is no greater treachery than this failure to face up to the climate crisis. How can we now fend off despair?The Independent Planning Commission's published reasons for approving the largest coalmine in New South Wales history in the context of mounting death, disaster and despair brought on by global heating reads like a hostage statement.In its decision, the commission accepts that the extension of the Hunter Valley Operations' mine for a further 19 years - resulting 809m tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution - will materially worsen global warming. The panel members cite CSIRO's finding that climate change is having a growing effect on the lives and livelihoods of all Australians and that the severity of that impact will depend on the speed at which global greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced". They reject the idea that keeping HVO's coal in the ground would make no difference to global warming. Continue reading...
by Sara Sneath in New York and Oliver Milman on (#78HTE)
Prime ministers of Australia and Iceland discuss effects on their countries even as some shy away in face of war and inflationWorld political leaders are descending on New York for the UN general assembly and some of them are putting the climate crisis on the agenda as they spoke on Monday at the start of the city's annual Climate Week.This year's Climate Week - which runs alongside UNGA - comes after months of extreme heat in large parts of the world including Europe and the US, wildfires in Africa, flash flooding in Asia and a record-breaking El Nino. Continue reading...