Locally heavy rainfall' of 1-3in predicted as death toll from the Fourth of July flood rises to nearly 130 peopleTexas Hill Country was back under a flood watch on Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning of locally heavy rainfall" of 1-3in with isolated amounts close to 6in possible.The flood watch, which continues through Sunday evening, comes as the death toll from the 4 July flood continues to rise - now at nearly 130 people - and authorities continue their search for the 160 more who are missing. Continue reading...

Atypical expenditure' document suggests utility's costs over 12 months outstripped the 130m it paid in finesThames Water spent at least 136m on the effort to secure emergency funding over 12 months, according to a leaked document that suggests costs outstripped the 130m the struggling utility paid in fines.The law firms Linklaters and Akin Gump received 45m and 26m respectively during the financial year to March 2025, and another 10 firms were paid more than 1m, according to a document listing atypical expenditure" for the year, seen by the Guardian. It is the first time the fees paid by Thames Water have been detailed publicly. Continue reading...

Farmers are seeking ways to fend off birds who are stirring up soil in flooded paddy fields in Ferrara provinceAn unusual bird is ravaging crops and infuriating farmers in north-eastern Italy: the flamingo.Flamingos are relatively recent arrivals in the area, and have settled into the flooded fields that produce rice for risotto in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna. Continue reading...

Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to be proactive'England's reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place.In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer. Continue reading...

Visitors and staff at Arizona's Grand Canyon and Colorado's Black Canyon national park were evacuatedFire activity is increasing across the American west, as critically dry landscapes and spiking temperatures fueled blazes in 11 states on Friday.Evacuations were ordered at two national parks - Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as hot weather, low humidity and gusty winds pushed flames closer to recreation areas. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemn troubling' move that follows departure of six of largest US banks after Trump's electionHSBC has become the first UK bank to leave the global banking industry's net zero target-setting group, as campaigners warned it was a troubling" sign over the lender's commitment to tackling the climate crisis.The move risks triggering further departures from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) by UK banks, in a fresh blow to international climate coordination efforts. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis heightens concerns on whether the air around many large factories is, or will be, safe to breatheA Guardian analysis has raised fresh questions over the way regulators and corporations measure the air quality impact of planned factories that risk emitting dangerous levels of pollution.Between 2014 and 2024, air pollution permit applications in Michigan - designed to gauge if proposed industrial projects would cause regions to violate federal pollution limits - did not meet data collection rules or best practices over 90% of the time. Some measurements were taken more than a hundred miles away from sites. Continue reading...

Scientists say Perito Moreno, which for decades defied trend of glacial retreat, now rapidly losing massOne of the few stable glaciers in a warming world, Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, is now undergoing a possibly irreversible retreat, scientists say.Over the past seven years, it has lost 1.92 sq km (0.74 sq miles) of ice cover and its thickness is decreasing by up to 8 metres (26 ft) a year. Continue reading...

UKHSA warning came into effect at noon on Friday as temperatures predicted to reach 33C over weekendAmber heat health alerts have been issued across parts of England and hosepipe bans imposed in various locations as the third heatwave of the summer takes hold.The heat health warning announced by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) came into effect at noon on Friday and covers the East Midlands, West Midlands, south-east, south-west, east of England and London until 9am on Monday. Continue reading...

Campaigners say just 5.8% of irreplaceable habitat at publicly owned sites has been fully restored in 10 yearsForestry England needs to urgently step up its ancient woodland restoration before the irreplaceable habitat is lost for ever, campaigners have said.Findings by the campaign group Wild Card suggest that in the 10 most recently assessed years Forestry England, which is in charge of the country's woodlands, has fully restored just 5.8% (2,484 hectares/6,138 acres) of publicly owned plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS). Continue reading...

Exclusive: 110 of 117 bodies of water tested by Environment Agency would fail standards, with levels in fish 322 times the planned limitNearly all rivers, lakes and ponds in England tested for a range of Pfas, known as forever chemicals", exceed proposed new safety limits and 85% contain levels at least five times higher, analysis of official data reveals.Out of 117 water bodies tested by the Environment Agency for multiple types of Pfas, 110 would fail the safety standard, according to analysis by Wildlife and Countryside Link and the Rivers Trust. Continue reading...

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

I love a sale - but scrolling the list of Amazon's deals is overwhelming to the point of deliriumI'm a simple girl. My idea of fun is an annual event in which people are crushed in pursuit of half-price Christmas decorations. But those days have passed. Welcome to the era of the always-on sale.If you're into capitalist nightmares, you might like EOFY sales, Oh No We Forgot EOFY sales, SOFY sales, Father's Day sales, AFL grand final sales, and my boss doesn't want me to send this email" sales. Then we go headlong into Australia's Black Friday sales, which start around the beginning of November and last until January, as is tradition (though not ours). Continue reading...

The imperative ought to be to bear down on costs for consumers, starting with a more pragmatic approach to generation targetsThe chief executive of Ofgem, Jonathan Brearley, backed zonal pricing. Fintan Slye, the head of the National Energy System Operator, also supported a system that could have led to different parts of Great Britain charging different rates for their electricity. Chris Stark, the head of the mission control" unit within Ed Miliband's energy department, declared himself to be zonal curious".But it's not going to happen. After intense lobbying from both sides of the great philosophical divide in energy-land, Miliband has killed the zonal option. The policy wonks are now obliged to go back to fiddling with internal network charges - the fees paid by generators to access the transmission network - to calculate the sweet spots to encourage more renewable generation where it's most needed, while not stifling it completely in places where, for example, it is windy. That means yet more rounds of consultation. Continue reading...

Worst-case scenario of 4.3C of warming could result in fiftyfold rise in heat-related deaths, researchers sayMore than 30,000 people a year in England and Wales could die from heat-related causes by the 2070s, scientists have warned.A new study calculates that heat mortality could rise more than fiftyfold in 50 years because of climate heating. Researchers at UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine compared different potential scenarios, looking at levels of warming, measures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, regional climatic differences and potential power outages. They also modelled the ageing population. Continue reading...

Ecologist says the native fish is important for ecosystems as they are a food source for bigger fish and birds such as pelicans, cormorants and gulls

President raised $239m for inauguration - more than previous three inaugural committees took in combinedThe fossil fuel industry poured more than $19m into Donald Trump's inaugural fund, accounting for nearly 8% of all donations it raised, a new analysis shows, raising concerns about White House's relationship with big oil.The president raised a stunning $239m for his inauguration - more than the previous three inaugural committees took in combined and more than double the previous record - according to data published by the US Federal Election Commission (FEC). The oil and gas sector made a significant contribution to that overall number, found the international environmental and human rights organization Global Witness. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Ofwat subservient to industry and its rampaging pursuit of profit' after illegal sewage dischargesSouth West Water has agreed to pay a 24m penalty for illegal sewage discharges into the environment from its treatment works.The regulator for the water and wastewater sector in England and Wales, Ofwat, says the company, which has 1.8 million customers in Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset, is being penalised for dumping sewage in breach of its legal permit conditions. Continue reading...

Scottish Water boss says average Scot uses 40% more water than people in Yorkshire partly due to mistaken belief water is abundant in ScotlandScottish households are being urged to cut back heavily on their water use and instead treat it as a precious resource due to the growing threat to supplies from climate heating.Alex Plant, the chief executive of Scottish Water, said the average Scot used 40% more water than consumers in Yorkshire, partly because there was a widespread but mistaken assumption that water was abundant in Scotland. Continue reading...

Guardian makes legally mandated gold standard report widely available after administration deleted websiteThe future of the US government's premier climate crisis report is perilously uncertain after the Trump administration deleted the website that housed the periodic, legally mandated assessments that have been produced by scientists over the past two decades.Five national climate assessments have been compiled since 2000 by researchers across a dozen US government agencies and outside scientists, providing a gold standard report to city and state officials, as well as the general public, of global heating and its impacts upon human health, agriculture, water supplies, air pollution and other aspects of American life. Continue reading...

Terms like deglobalisation' have become commonplace, but what we need is true multilateralism. Erecting walls won't bring us peace and prosperity

Dr Christina Propst apologizes after Blue Fish Pediatrics said she was no longer an employee' because of postA pediatrician who is no longer working for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system after a social media post that wished voters in a Donald-Trump supporting county of central Texas get what they voted for" amid flash flooding that killed nearly 120 - including many children - has publicly apologized.I speak to you as a mother, a neighbor, a pediatrician, and a human being who is deeply sorry," Dr Christina Propst wrote after Blue Fish Pediatrics announced Sunday she was no longer an employee there because of a social media post that the clinic said did not reflect the value, standards or mission" of the chain. I take full responsibility for a social media comment I made before we knew that so many precious lives were lost to the terrible tragedy in central Texas. Continue reading...

High levels of Pfas stemming from the base have tainted water, damaged crops and poisoned cows in the areaThe state of New Mexico is suing the US air force over its refusal to comply with orders to address extremely high levels of Pfas pollution stemming from its base, which has tainted drinking water for tens of thousands of people, damaged crops and poisoned dairy cows.Though the military acknowledges Pfas-laden firefighting foam from Cannon air force base is the source of a four mile chemical plume in the aquifer below Clovis, New Mexico, it has refused to comply with most state orders to address the issue. Continue reading...

Critics say change in biodiversity protections would harm environmental recovery and make scheme ineffectivePlans to weaken environmental regulations for small housebuilders would allow developers in England to build on an area the size of the Yorkshire Dales in the next 10 years without replacing the nature they destroy, according to analysis.Labour wants to remove the requirement for small housebuilders - those whose sites are under a hectare (2.5 acres) - to replace the nature they destroy under existing rules known as biodiversity net gain. Continue reading...

Proposal to vary electricity charges in England, Wales and Scotland based on supply and demand dropped in favour of fair and affordable' single price

There's no shortage of ideas for how to make air travel greener. But it has to start within the industry - and with workers

Commercial pilots George Hibberd and Todd Smith grapple with the reality of their dream jobs, torn between childhood ambitions of flying and theimpact of their industry on the world beneath them. From the cockpit, they witness first-hand the climate crisis unfolding below and decide to take drastic measures. As part of Safe Landing, a community of aviation workers who want the industry to do better for the climate, they begin to transform their eco-anxiety and guilt into action. With an estimated 1.2 million passengers in the sky at any time, they ask when will society confront the urgent need to reimagine aviation - before it's too lateTo read more on how former Easyjet pilot George Hibberd thinks the aviation industry can be transformed, click here. Continue reading...

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island gives 300th climate speech on the US Senate floorThe Democratic party and the climate movement have been too cautious and polite" and should instead be denouncing the fossil fuel industry's huge denial operation", the US senator Sheldon Whitehouse said.The fossil fuel industry has run the biggest and most malevolent propaganda operation the country has ever seen," the Rhode Island Democrat said in an interview Monday with the global media collaboration Covering Climate Now. It is defending a $700-plus billion [annual] subsidy" of not being charged for the health and environmental damages caused by burning fossil fuels. I think the more people understand that, the more they'll be irate [that] they've been lied to." But, he added, Democrats have not done a good job of calling that out." Continue reading...

With forests under pressure from drought, heat, disease and deer, a study has found fewer trees across a range of species surviving to maturity. But scientists say there is still hopeTo the untrained eye, Monks Wood looks healthy and lush in the summer sun. Hundreds of butterflies dance on the edge of footpaths in the ancient Cambridgeshire woodland, which is rich with ash, maple and oak trees. Birds flit through the hedgerows as they feed. A fox ambles through a forest clearing, before disappearing into long grass.But for a number of years, it has been clear to Bruno Ladvocat and Rachel Mailes that something is missing. In 2022, Ladvocat, Mailes and their research team from Birmingham University were out sampling when they noticed that the small trees that typically cover the woodland floor were increasingly hard to find. Continue reading...

Record temperatures and seasonal downpours raise fears of a repeat of the devastating flooding in 2022Glaciers across northern Pakistan have been melting at an accelerated pace as a result of record-breaking summer temperatures, leading to deadly flash flooding and landslides.The floods and heavy monsoon rains have caused devastation across the country this summer, killing at least 72 people and injuring more than 130 since the rains began in late June. Continue reading...

Mayor urges people to exercise utmost caution as weather service says situation around Mediterranean is criticalMore than 15,000 residents of Marseille confined to their homes have been allowed out after a wildfire on the outskirts of France's second city was brought under control, but officials have warned the country faces an exceptionally high-risk summer.Fanned by gale-force winds and kindled by parched vegetation, several fires have burned swathes of southern France in recent days, including Tuesday's just north of the port city. The weather service has said the weeks ahead could be critical. Continue reading...

Greenery, shade and swimming spots won't solve the climate crisis, but they're becoming ever more criticalThree years ago, in Zurich for the first time, I crossed a bridge over the Limmat River and saw people floating down it in rubber rings on their way home from work, some casually holding beers. The Limmat is so clear that it almost begs you not only to jump in, but to drink it.Paris's Canal Saint-Martin has never produced either desire in me - but sweltering in last week's 38C heat, I wanted to close my eyes, pretend it was the Limmat, and leap. Others weren't so hesitant; there was a line of people going up one of the footbridges over the canal waiting for their turn to jump, dive, backflip or just belly-flop into the water.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Regulator and government accused of colluding with water industry to dump potentially toxic waste without oversight

With less congestion, less carbon pollution, less accidents, could it be a model for other US cities? Six months in, environmentalists say yesIt has faced threats and lawsuits and even had its death proclaimed by Donald Trump as he startlingly depicted himself as a king in a social media post. But New York City's congestion charge scheme for cars has now survived its first six months, producing perhaps the fastest ever environmental improvement from any policy in US history.New York vaulted into a global group of cities - such as London, Singapore and Stockholm - that charge cars for entering their traffic-clogged metropolitan hearts but also ushered in a measure that was unknown to Americans and initially unpopular with commuters, and was confronted by a new Trump administration determined to tear it down. Continue reading...

Mass lobby in Westminster is kicked off with giant image on cliffs of Dover stating 89% of people want climate action'More than 5,000 people from across the UK arrived in Westminster on Wednesday to meet their MPs and demand urgent climate action to protect their communities.The mass lobby is one of the largest to date. The constituents, including parents and pensioners, doctors, teachers, farmers and youth campaigners, have arranged to lobby at least 500 MPs, about 80% of the total. Continue reading...

At least 27 people died at Camp Mystic, but survivors credit coast guard swimmer and young staff with saving livesA US coast guard rescue swimmer on his first rescue mission as well as teenage counselors who helped shepherd cold and wet young campers to safety have been credited with saving dozens of lives at a flood-ravaged Christian summer camp on the banks of Texas's Guadalupe River.Their stories of heroism and fortitude - including the counselors' writing young campers' names on their arms and legs with Sharpies so that authorities could identify them if necessary - are among the first to emerge recounting the grim reality of the torrent of water that surged Friday through the all-girls Camp Mystic, where at least 27 campers and counselors are known to have died. Continue reading...

Fire has brought many of the city's services to a halt, with all flights cancelled at Marseille airportA fast-moving wildfire on the outskirts of France's second-largest city, Marseille, has destroyed homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate, as a heatwave and dangerous fire conditions grip the Mediterranean.Interior minister Bruno Retailleau said the fire around Marseille could be contained overnight if the gale-force winds fanning the flames weaken, as expected. So far, 400 people had been evacuated, around a dozen houses destroyed and 63 others damaged, he said. He added about 100 people had also suffered light injuries, including from emergency services. Continue reading...

UK ministers should update the public on the outlook for bills as the price of overhauling the system is adding upThe government's decision on zonal pricing for electricity - the issue that divides the energy industry like no other - is due any day. Whichever way ministers jump, it would be a good moment to update consumers on the outlook for their bills in the sprint" to decarbonise the UK's electricity system by 2030. Does the government still think cleaner energy means cheaper energy? If so, when and how?It deserves an answer for two reasons. First, because the costs of turning down gas-fired generation in favour of renewables are clearer than a year ago - and current trends, sadly, are not encouraging. Second, because promising consumers up to 300" off their bills by 2030 via clean energy, as Keir Starmer and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, have done, risks handing a political gift to anti-net zero opponents if the savings do not materialise. Continue reading...

Military Road on island's south is threatened by erosion, with some parts now less than 5 metres from steep cliffsIt is considered one of the most scenic routes in the UK, an 11-mile stretch of road that skirts the coastal cliffs and enjoys sweeping views of the Channel.The problem is that Military Road on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight is getting just a little too close to those plunging cliffs for comfort. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Defra warned three years ago of farmland contamination by water firms' sewage-derived productGovernment ministers have ignored Environment Agency pleas to tighten rules on the use of sludge fertiliser for three years, despite the regulator having said that water company attitudes towards the substance are akin to fly-tipping on to agricultural land", it can be revealed.Sludge, sometimes referred to as biosolids, is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process that is sold by water companies to farmers as a low-cost fertiliser. Continue reading...

The seaside resort has become a byword for coastal deprivation but its youth say there's a world of creativity bubbling under the surface

Maha' promised to tackle ultra-processed foods - but is it hijacking the food movement instead?Over the space of the last year, Robert F Kennedy Jr. has made the term ultra-processed foods" something of a household phrase.Once a term only used by nutritionists and food policy researchers to describe the most processed foods in the supply chain (think: chips and sodas, packaged bread, microwave dinners and even some yogurts), ultra-processing has become a calling card of the Make America Healthy Again" (Maha") movement. Continue reading...

We all need to be careful about how we get information and reach conclusions - especially nowWhy exactly so many people drowned in the terrible Independence Day floods that swept through Texas's Hill Country will probably have multiple explanations that take a while to obtain. But it's 2025, and people want answers immediately, and lots of people seized on stories blaming the National Weather Service (NWS).There were two opposing reasons to blame this vital government service. For local and state authorities, blaming a branch of the federal government was a way of avoiding culpability themselves. And for a whole lot of people who deplore the Trump/Doge cuts to federal services, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, the idea that the NWS failed served to underscore how destructive those cuts are. Continue reading...

Cuts and chaos instigated by Trump come as threat from extreme weather grows due to human-caused climate crisisThe deadly Texas floods could signal a new norm in the US, as Donald Trump and his allies dismantle crucial federal agencies that help states prepare and respond to extreme weather and other hazards, experts warn.More than 100 are dead and dozens more remain missing after flash floods in the parched area known as Texas Hill Country swept away entire holiday camps and homes on Friday night - in what appears to have been another unremarkable storm that stalled before dumping huge quantities of rain over a short period of time, a phenomena that has becoming increasingly common as the planet warms. Continue reading...

Restrictions to be brought in from Friday after region receives just 15cm of rainfall between February and June

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Girls summer camp Camp Mystic confirms 27 children and counsellors deadThe death toll from the flash floods that have wreaked devastation in Texas since Friday has passed 100 and is expected to rise further as more victims are found and more rain threatens to deluge the region.Camp Mystic, the girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, has confirmed that 27 children and counsellors died. Continue reading...

Hundreds of homes, bridges and roads washed away in north Indian state after unusually heavy rainfallIndia's mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh has been left reeling after it was hit by rainstorms, flash floods and landslides, with dozens of people reported missing.Hundreds of homes, bridges, roads and electricity pylons in the north Indian state were washed away after 23 flash floods and 16 landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall over the weekend. There were also 19 cloudbursts, in which an enormous amount of rain falls in a sudden deluge, according to a report by the Himachal Pradesh state government. Continue reading...

Across the Bangladeshi megacity, designers are adapting to the climate crisis Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts call for stricter regulation as current rules set in 1989 require testing for only a few heavy metalsMillions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste, and experts say the outdated current regulations are not fit for purpose.An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England's sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damaging rivers. Continue reading...