More than 120 firefighters tackling blaze that started on Sunday after van caught fire near habitat rarer than rainforest'More than 120 firefighters are tackling a devastating" blaze on internationally protected heathland in the New Forest.The area hit by the blaze, which started after a van caught fire on the A31 near Ringwood on Sunday, is protected heathland that is home to a number of rare species, according to the New Forest national park authority. Continue reading...

Conservationists have created a coastal corridor' of ocean-based projects designed to preserve and nourish vulnerable marine lifeFrom disappearing manatees to bleached coral reefs, gender-changing turtles and oyster beds destroyed by hurricanes, no other state's marine life faces the magnitude of climate-related challenges than Florida's.Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook that has already proved successful on land. Continue reading...

Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes - and the danger isn't overPiles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.The scale of devastation from a historic wildfire season in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state. Continue reading...

Rainforest communities face a silent crisis as mercury from gold mining contaminates their food and water Continue reading...

Thousands of residents in British Columbia's wine and orchard region were ordered to evacuate on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire in western Canada nearly doubled in size overnight. The Bald Range fire was burning out of control across about 9,500 hectares, prompting evacuation orders in Summerland, Peachland and other districts west of Okanagan Lake

Environment minister says Australia has long and difficult journey' and says more mass mortality events likely

What a vibrant marketplace of ideas

Wildfires in and around Spokane have stretched ability of federal and local agencies to fight blazesWildfires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area while destroying at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said on Sunday.The fires in and around Spokane, the state's second largest city, burned about 8.2 sq miles (about 21 sq km), but they were among dozens across the western US that stretched the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. A total of about 390 sq miles have burned across the state, and some of the fires, including those in the Spokane area, have not been contained. Continue reading...

Fire department says two-person crew of one aircraft killed in incident during gale-force winds to west of capitalTwo firefighting helicopters have collided west of Athens, killing the two-person crew of one of the aircraft, as efforts to control a massive wildfire barrelling towards the outskirts of the Greek capital intensified.Footage showed one of the helicopters losing control in the face of gale-force winds that have pushed flames towards settlements on Athens' western fringes. Continue reading...

Farmers battle to salvage what they can of their crops as heatwave set to continueBritain could face shortages of certain foods after punishing drought in parts of England, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has warned as a heatwave was forecast to continue into next week.The UK's Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued heat health alerts for eight regions of England, with temperatures set to rise above 30C in parts of the country. UKHSA said rising temperatures may increase health risks, particularly for vulnerable groups. Continue reading...

Water is a vital shared resource, and privatisation has made a just transition harderCompared with rising heat-related deaths, and devastating wildfires in the Cairngorms and Suffolk,the announcement that the Royal HorticulturalSociety(RHS) is considering moving its hydrangea collection from Surrey to Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire might seem unimportant. But it points to geographical differencesin exposure to globalheating that have arguably never been more evident than this summer, with last month the driest on record. Seven areas of south and east England are officially in drought, along with the whole of Wales.A drought is less easily measured than a heatwave, which is declared by the Met Office when the maximum temperature exceeds a set threshold on three consecutive days. But the fact that drought is harder to quantify does not make it less damaging. Water shortages are exposing specific vulnerabilities and inequalities, as well as the UK's lack of preparedness for climate change overall. Continue reading...

Volunteers painstakingly gather plastic pellets washing up on beaches after ship collision on 19 JulyYou've got a local community that really cares about the coastline," said Alice Laverty, reflecting on the huge army of volunteers who had taken to crisis-hit beaches in north-east England with passion and only the most basic tools. They've all got a dustpan, a brush, a bucket, a kitchen sieve."On beaches from Cambois in Northumberland to Seaburn on Wearside, up to 2,000 dedicated volunteers have been painstakingly sifting through sand to find tiny, lentil-sized pellets of plastic. Continue reading...

August usually sends me into an anxious funk, but I think I've worked out how to handle 2026's terrifying heat and apocalyptic imagesUnfortunately for hairdressers, How's your summer going?" is a loaded question this year. Even basking lizards and barbecue obsessives are wavering in their sun worship as cataclysmic wildfires engulf our nearest neighbours (and threaten the UK), Wales and parts of England experience drought, and farmers issue dire warnings about our food supply in the near future. Rescue centres are filling up with dehydrated hedgehogs and the Environment Agency is having to rescue fish. Lazy, joyful, sunscreen-scented days are giving way to stifling, existentially terrifying ones spent skulking in the dark (assuming you don't need to be out in the extreme heat, as many workers do), sweatily scrolling through apocalyptic images.Vanity Fair has decreed it's a sad-girl summer", highlighting the female singer-songwriters soundtracking the myriad anxieties of an undeniably cruel" 2026 season, but it's not just the girlies who are sad - many of us are struggling and we still have August to survive. How? Continue reading...

Major incident declared, with Sizewell B power station monitoring blaze and RSPB nature reserve badly hitHundreds of people have been evacuated and a major incident declared after a wildfire spread over more than 80 hectares (200 acres) on the coast of Suffolk, just a few miles from the Sizewell B nuclear power station.The fire - which had been described by one witness as apocalyptic" - was said to be stabilising on Thursday night. The statement was posted by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, which said at least 12 fire crews were remaining overnight in the area.

Ferocious flames continue to rage in parts of France and Spain, with no sign of abating. We chart the destruction in graphics and picturesThe hellish infernos that have torn through parts of France and Spain have caused deaths, the evacuation of 330,000 people from their homes, widespread destruction and clouds of toxic smoke. Records have already been smashed and with the fourth heatwave of the European summer setting in, there are few signs of the waves of wildfires ending.France has already surpassed the worst previous year for the size of the area burned, with August, usually the hottest month, yet to come. Continue reading...

Analysis of samples collected from carcasses found traces of toxic chemical compound, says Kenya Wildlife ServiceThe recent deaths of 15 elephants near a park in southern Kenya in the past month were likely caused by the animals ingesting pesticides used on nearby tomato farms, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said.Erustus Kanga, the agency's director general, told Citizen TV that analysis of samples collected from the carcasses had found traces of cyanide, a chemical compound used in farming as a predator control poison and a pest fumigant, which has also been used by poachers. Continue reading...

Several councils to stop housing tenants in glass-fronted Britannia Point in London, where tenants were earlier told they could not use air conAs the fourth heatwave of the year hit the UK on Wednesday, Benice Bodah and her three teenage sons braced for more scorching temperatures inside their south-west London home. The two-bedroom flat has a built-in air-conditioning unit, but it has worked only intermittently in the almost three years since the family were placed in temporary accommodation at Britannia Point in Colliers Wood. It has not been easy, but what can we do?" said Bodah, 48.Several councils have now agreed to stop housing families in emergency accommodation in the glass-fronted block after the Guardian revealed they had been told they couldn't use the air-conditioning during heatwaves as it had not been offered as an amenity" for them. The 19-storey building is owned by Criterion Capital, set up by the billionaire property magnate Asif Aziz. The temporary tenancies can last from weeks to years and are managed separately by letting agencies, including the London-based Aura Assets Management. Continue reading...

The White House seems committed to ecocide. The EU should harness the power of the single market to force it to change courseAre we understanding it yet? As Europe burns in the west, the south and the north, are we grasping the fact that our economies, food systems, political stability and even our ability to plan for the future, will all be charred in a world on fire?Paris got a taste of what is in store for us Europeans when, weeks ago, fire ripped through Fontainebleau forest, a bouldering paradise and one of the world's first natural reserves. But the wildfires currently threatening Bordeaux and Madrid, which experts are calling the most extreme seen in Europe, are apocalyptic in comparison. In the Gironde region around Bordeaux, tens of thousands of hectares have burned, creating an unpredictable thunderstorm of fire" as the region's chief administrator called it. More than 200,000 people have been displaced in the largest peacetime evacuations in France's history. Only the bravery of firefighters, dozens of whom have been injured, is keeping the fires within mere kilometres of Bordeaux and its more than a million inhabitants.Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now Continue reading...

Ryder Williams, 16, saved a boy from drowning in Santa Cruz, California - the first rescue of his careerA rookie, teenage California lifeguard who saved a young boy from drowning amid massive waves - while a bystander recorded dramatic video - has spent his whole life preparing for such a moment, according to his father.Ryder Williams, 16, said he refused to let go of the child because he knew the boy would almost certainly die if he did, the lifeguard's father, Shane, recounted on Tuesday, three days after the pulse-pounding rescue. Continue reading...

Five years ago, I wrote an open letter asking climate scientists to speak out against fossil fuels. Now governments are in retreat, it is surely time to act

Biologists say cargo ships stranded in Gulf may carry highly potent invasive species around the world as trade resumes

French authorities order evacuation of almost 4,000 people from Lacanau resort amid return of heatwave

The Earth keeps getting hotter and experts fear this year's El Nino, nicknamed 'Godzilla' because of its predicted intensity, could raise global temperatures by up to 3.6C. Environment correspondent Damien Gayle spoke to climate scientists to understand how the weather phenomenon and the climate crisis pose a huge threat to the planet

Matthew Myerscough's remarkable find is one of many detailed in his new book. But his journey into fossil hunting began years earlier, when he was caught in an avalancheWhen Matthew Myerscough walks along a beach, he cannot help hunting for fossils. I think my fossil radar is always on - even if I'm not looking, it's hard sometimes to not see things," says the 40-year-old civil engineer, who has discovered thousands of fossils on British beaches.It was while he was not looking" on Lavernock beach near Penarth, south Wales, that he recently stumbled across the fossilised bone of an early type of plesiosaur, a marine reptile that roamed the oceans while dinosaurs stalked the land during the early Jurassic period. Continue reading...

From Afghanistan to Taiwan, unprecedented deluge highlights devastating impact of climate breakdownIt rained for 10 days and 10 nights, non-stop - I'd never seen anything like it," says Anar Gul, a construction worker who lives in the remote district of Dur Baba in eastern Afghanistan.The houses in his village are built from stone and mud, which makes them extremely vulnerable to heavy rains. After days of rain, Gul's kitchen collapsed and his neighbour, Sayed Afsar Sadat, saw a large part of his house completely destroyed. Rains like this are coming heavier and earlier each year," says Sadat. They are destroying the roads and washing away our crops. It's impacting us directly." Continue reading...

Coming days are absolutely critical' for firefighters before temperatures rise again this week, officials sayFirefighters in France and Spain are racing to bring huge wildfires under control before another heatwave this week that will complicate efforts to tame the flames.Spain's interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were absolutely crucial days" before temperatures rise again from Wednesday, prompting prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, to warn: We face difficult hours, complex hours" ahead. Continue reading...

The signs are there

Intensive nature of modern chicken farming creates ideal conditions for campylobacter, allowing bacteria to evolveIndustrial chicken farming is accelerating the spread of the world's most common bacterial cause of diarrhoea, scientists have found.The study found a dramatic increase in the exchange of campylobacter strains between wild birds and chickens as farming has intensified, creating the ideal conditions for the bacteria to mix, spread and acquire new traits. There has also been a rise in antimicrobial resistance traits in circulating strains, raising concerns that serious illness in people will be more difficult to treat. Continue reading...

Airports in England and Wales are likely to lose millions of passengers if third runway goes ahead, DfT economic paper showsExpanding Heathrow airport will take thousands of jobs from other regions of the UK, including almost 10,000 from the West Midlands alone, according to an analysis of the government's own forecasts.An economic paper published by the Department for Transport last month shows that airports in England and Wales are likely to lose millions of passengers if Heathrow builds a third runway, in a significant blow to regional jobs. Continue reading...

Blazes near Madrid coming under control but efforts to contain huge fire near Bordeaux hampered by windy conditions and another heatwave forecast

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Party says housing stock woefully unprepared' for extreme heat and new rules for builders must be setAll new UK homes should be built with air conditioning to cope with the effects of the climate crisis, according to the Liberal Democrats.The party says British homes are dangerously unsuited to rising temperatures, meaning passive cooling measures such as planting more trees in residential areas are necessary. Continue reading...

Temperatures of 95-105F (35-40C) are expected, spanning Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwestAbout 70 million people in the US are set to face excessive heat advisories as dangerously hot temperatures scorch much of the country's southern and central states.The third major heat dome" event to hit the US in the past month is gathering strength over the weekend, spanning a vast swathe of the country, from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest. Continue reading...

Footage shows the extent of the devastation caused by wildfires in Cenicientos, in the Madrid region of Spain, on Friday. Members of Spain's military emergency unit sought to contain the blazes in the Madrid region and in Cuevas de Canart in the country's north-east. In France, dozens of firefighters battled flames threatening homes around the towns of Saumos and Sainte-Helene in the south-west as a wildfire swept the nearby forest. The virulence of the wildfires, fuelled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of the climate crisis, caught fire crews and authorities off-guard in both countries

French evacuees using hundreds of mobilised boats or the only road linking the area with the mainland as evacuation also ordered in areas near Spanish capitalOver in France, it's not just the south-west that gets affected, but the country's south-east regions are also being hard hit, AFP noted.Dozens of fires flared up and are being fanned by the mistral wind around the historic village of Cotignac - officials saying around 25 houses had been destroyed since Tuesday. Continue reading...

The conditions for ferocious fires are expected to worsen as the planet heats up, putting more people at riskFierce wildfires after back-to-back heatwaves have forced tens of thousands of people across southern Europe to flee their homes, while powerful infernos across Canada and the US choke big cities with thick smoke. Continue reading...

Trump told Mark Carney you got to stop these fires from coming in' as experts say wildfires symptom of climate crisisScientists have reacted with incredulity after Donald Trump accused Canada of poisoning" the US's air with smoke billowing from a slew of forest fires and threatened sanctions upon the country's northern neighbor.The US president has said that he raised the issue of smoke wafting into the US from nearly 1,000 Canadian wildfires with Mark Carney, the country's prime minister, at the weekend's World Cup final. Continue reading...

A selection of the winners, runners-up and highly commended photos from the Mangrove photography awards, run by the Mangrove Action Project, which received 5,258 entries from 87 countries. In its 12th year, the awards continue to offer a window into landscapes viewers may otherwise never encounter Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Reporting from some of the poorest seaside towns revealed how young people have been left isolated - but remain resilient and full of hopeIf you were asked to summon up images of the coastline of England and Wales, you might think of sunny days, buckets, spades and carefree holidays. But for many young people growing up by the sea, decades of evidence tell a very different story. For them, rather than a picture-perfect horizon full of hope, the sea has become a boundary that swallows up opportunity.With a 73% decline in funding for youth services in England over the past 12 years, and a lack of opportunities that has led to nearly 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds not in work, education or training (Neet), the situation for young people, especially in places of deprivation, has never seemed more desperate. Continue reading...

Spain declares national emergency around Madrid, as marine heatwave sees some parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normalBrutal heat torching southern Europe has forced about 30,000 people to flee wildfires in France and Spain as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that Dantesque" scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen.A particularly intense" wildfire on France's southwestern Atlantic coast prompted the evacuation of more than 18,800 people, including thousands of tourists from campsites and holiday homes, as firefighters struggled to control the blaze. Continue reading...

Local people and tourists were evacuated from the Arcachon Bay area overnight into Thursday after a huge fire engulfed more than 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) of forest. Pushed by the wind, with flames reaching 10 metres high, the fire is still spreading towards the Cap Ferret peninsula. On Tuesday, two firefighters died battling another nearby fire close to Bordeaux airport

Sadiq Khan's heat-ready plan for London is a sensible strategy for adaptation that should provide a roadmap for other citiesOur ability to trust that our homes will keep us safe from the outside is under threat," the geographer Sam Johnson-Schlee writes in Hot House, his recent book on how heat has transformed domestic life. This summer, high temperatures have become inescapable. People have coped with makeshift solutions: keeping curtains drawn, placing foil over windows or - for those who can afford one - plugging in an air-conditioning unit. Planning experts warn that, with only about half of councils requiring new buildings to include cooling strategies, many homes will become death traps" as temperatures rise.Britain's homes weren't built to cope with this. The country's historically mild climate allowed developers to build houses without insulation, while industrialisation supplied plentiful coal to burn when temperatures dropped. Many homes are consequently drafty in winter and sweltering in summer. Unlike those in Mediterranean climates, British homes lack shutters and shaded communal spaces. While Ildefons Cerda, Barcelona's masterplanner, was designing housing blocks with cool courtyards and chamfered edges to allow breezes to flow, Britain's Victorian builders were throwing up rows of terrace houses - many without cross-ventilation - and giving little thought to the movement of the sun.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...

State's governor had declared a state of emergency for all 55 counties, and deployed 500 national guard membersPatrick Morrisey, the West Virginia governor, said at least two people were unaccounted for in Upshur county, after torrential rain caused flash floods in parts of the state.Speaking at a news conference, Morrisey said that during search-and-recovery operations state police found an overturned vehicle in Upshur county believed to be connected to two individuals who were reported missing". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysis of NHS England data reveals stark impact of air pollution in deprived areasChildren living in the poorest areas across England are 40% more likely to be admitted to hospital for respiratory infections, an analysis of NHS England data shows, with experts raising the alarm on the impact of air pollution on young people's health.The analysis, based on data obtained via freedom of information requests by the charity Impact on Urban Health, revealed 1,941 out of every 100,000 children living in the most deprived fifth of England were admitted to hospital for respiratory illnesses in 2024-25. Continue reading...

I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago on the streets of Cardiff - and it felt alarmingly wrongWhen the wind is warm, you know something is up. Naturally, I have been well aware of the awful reality of the climate crisis, but it has taken the warmth of the wind to really panic me. Not the endless 30C+ days, the desiccated garden, the tap slowing to a drip. No, it is the warm wind blowing on me. I can just about manage in punishing heat, even though it is particularly suffocating when the air is still. But I thought I had a tacit agreement with the British climate that at least when there was a breeze it would cool me down a bit. When a breeze warms me up, here in the UK anyway, it feels nothing less than un-British, and I wonder if we really are getting into the end of days.I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago on the streets of Cardiff. I turned a corner on St Mary's Street and there it was, a strong gust of properly warm wind, right in my face and down into my lungs. Reeling, gasping a little, I looked around for the idling bus that had surely generated this unpleasant blast of air. But this wind hadn't emanated from a bus's rear, for there was no bus in sight. It was the weather and it felt alarmingly wrong. Continue reading...

Decline in clearing of trees and shrubs offset by sharp jump in clearing of non-woody vegetation

Scientists recorded slower reduction over past 20 years, but study finds this was temporary rather than sustained'A previously recorded slowdown in Arctic sea ice decline has ended, according to a new study, with the largest year-to-year wintertime reduction ever recorded.In a study published last summer, researchers found that melting sea ice in the Arctic had slowed down over the past 20 years, with no statistically significant decline in its extent recorded between 2005 and 2024. Continue reading...

Bald eagle found hurt in California after fight with other birds, says group, as eagle called Jackie not seen on camerasA beloved female bald eagle missing for several days in California's Big Bear Lake is believed to have been found alive but injured after a fight with other birds, according to the advocacy group that operates a live, viral nestcam.Friends of Big Bear Valley said on Facebook on Sunday that observers first spotted the eagle on the ground last Thursday, then witnessed it involved a short ground altercation with two other subadult eagles" on Friday. Continue reading...

Air polluters try to ensure toxic emissions happen far from monitors - but the people who live nearby still feel itKimbrelle Kyereh lives just a few hundred feet from the massive chemical storage tanks in St Rose, in south-eastern Louisiana. Oily fumes sometimes drift into her home, bringing headaches, nausea and insomnia. On one such night, she grabbed her son at 3am and fled to an all-night Ihop.In 2023, after years of coping with the noxious odors, Kyereh began collecting air samples in her yard for a local environmental justice group. But soon after, Louisiana passed an industry-backed law that sharply restricted how that kind of data could be used.Ten of Louisiana's heaviest air-polluting facilities, based on self-reported data shared with the EPA, operate without a single public air monitor within five miles.This list includes Dow Chemical's plastics factory in Plaquemine, which is about eight miles from the nearest air monitoring station. The station measures only ozone even though the plant releases an array of toxic pollutants including ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen.No public monitors measure ammonia - despite the fact that CF Industries' Donaldsonville plant emits more than 7m lb of the hazardous chemical each year, according to EPA data.The three chemicals that researchers have concluded together account for the large majority of total cancer risk" in the area - ethylene oxide, chloroprene and formaldehyde - aren't monitored by the state at all. Continue reading...