Environment | The Guardian

Bladder cancer risk increased 33% and colorectal cancer by 15% in using chlorine to disinfect waterChlorinating drinking water at levels common in the United States and European Union probably increases the risk of several cancers, a new analysis of recent research from across the globe finds.The process of disinfecting water with chlorine creates trihalomethane (THM) byproducts, which are found in virtually all public drinking water systems across the US and EU - nearly 300 million people in the US have concerning levels in their water, by one estimate. Continue reading...

Researchers say the animals could keep red deer numbers under control, leading to storage of 1m tonnes of COReintroducing wolves in the Scottish Highlands could lead to an expansion of native woodland, which could take in and store 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, researchers have suggested.A study led by researchers at the University of Leeds said that reintroducing the species into the Cairngorms, as well as the south-west, north-west and central Highlands could help curb the problem of red deer eating tree saplings, which stops natural woodland regeneration. Continue reading...

Those supporting the deal hope it will raise billions to help poor countries deal with climate breakdownBrazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit.The proposed levy on carbon dioxide emissions from shipping will be discussed at a crunch meeting of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that begins on Monday. Those supporting the deal, including the UK, the EU and Japan, are hoping the levy will raise billions of dollars a year, which could be used to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate breakdown. Continue reading...

The Eaton fire destroyed nearly half of the Black households in Altadena, wiping out businesses and wealthA memorial service early this month for three Black victims of the Eaton fire was marked by simmering anger at Donald Trump's choice not to visit Altadena, a suburb with a historic Black community disproportionately affected by the disaster.It's one of many decisions that have left residents of Altadena, a racially and economically diverse suburb of Los Angeles, worried about political and financial neglect in the aftermath of the fires. Continue reading...

Robert Taylor recently lost his wife to a long-term illness he linked to chemicals produced by a nearby plant, and now the Trump administration is preparing to scrap pollution reforms in the areaIt is only February and already Robert Taylor is facing his second seismic life event of the year.Both are wrapped in grief and angst, tied indelibly to the land that surrounds his home in the community of Reserve, Louisiana. Continue reading...

Mountain communities in southern Appalachia begin rebuilding after climate crisis-fueled disasterIt's hard to picture what Barnardsville looked like before Hurricane Helene converted the calm creek that meanders through this North Carolina mountain holler into a roaring river that engulfed the community.More than 50 homes including an entire trailer park were destroyed when Ivy Creek flooded in late September after three days of unprecedented rainfall and hurricane-force winds uprooted thousands of trees - and this close-knit community's sense of safety. Continue reading...

Harmful algae bloom off south-west coast blamed for deaths of marine life and poses threat to beachesEnvironmentalists in Florida are calling on the governor, Ron DeSantis, to declare an emergency as a worsening red tide" algae bloom off the state's south-west coast threatens popular tourist beaches and is being blamed for the deaths of wildlife including fish and dolphins.Several counties have issued health alerts in response to the outbreak, which scientists say began in the Gulf of Mexico last year when Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore up nutrient-rich waters that feed the algae. Continue reading...

The US president has scrapped paper straws because they allegedly explode' - a bit like the PM's reputation if he keeps refusing to confront him on the big issuesIt's difficult to know whether to set any store by Donald Trump's bleak and yet also often banal pronouncements, which read as if handfuls of offensive concepts have been tossed into the air by a monkey, read out in whatever order they landed and then made policy. Until it's clear they can't work. At which point, the monkey must toss again.But this month, Trump, whose morning ablutions increasingly appear to consist of dousing himself in sachets of the kind of cheap hot chocolate powder I steal from three-star hotels, like a flightless bird stuck in the machine that glazes Magnum lollies, declared he wanted to build his hotels on the mass graves of Gaza. Hasn't Trump seen The Shining? It won't end well. Pity those whose children have the misfortune to die next to a monetisable stretch of shoreline. And hope humanity's next wave of mass killings happens somewhere uneven and way inland that hopefully wouldn't even make a decent golf course.Stewart Lee tours Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf this year, with a Royal Festival Hall run in JulyDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

A councillor's alleged attempt to blow up a bird-prowling moggie reveals the pet-loving divide runs deepThe resignation last week of James Garnor, a parish councillor in Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, may look like further proof of the maxim, established by the infamous Jackie Weaver lockdown meeting, that low-level politics produce high-level emotions. However, the cause of his undoing was nothing as trivial as democratic principles; it illustrates a far more profound question that, sooner or later, we all confront: are you a cat or a dog person?Garnor, we may safely conclude, is not a cat person. He quit following allegations that he rigged up a bird table with a firework device so that it exploded when a cat paid a visit. The consequences of this shocking but non-lethal incident, which took place back in 2023, have only now come to a head, but it's fair to say that, as anti-cat statements go, a remote-detonated IED is at the extreme end of things.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Malabar wastewater plant discharges 5.4bn to 120bn microplastic particles each day, CSIRO report says, prompting calls for more advanced treatment processes

As the supermarket vows to introduce electrical stunning for its farmed prawns, campaigners call on others to follow suitThey are a popular staple for office lunches, barbecues and takeaways, but prawns often suffer an unpleasant death before reaching our plates.Animal rights campaigners say billions of prawns farmed each year deserve better welfare protection and are targeting what they describe as atrocious" practices of eyestalk ablation" and suffocation in ice slurry. Continue reading...

As wildfires, floods, droughts and record-breaking temperatures have shown, the post-climate change era has arrived. Now we need honesty and action from our leadersNot yet a quarter of the way into this century and global average temperatures are already 1.75C above the preindustrial average. January 2025 was the hottest on record and has also set a record for the highest yearly minimum global surface temperature, and likely the highest minimum in the past 120,000 years. It is part of a clear pattern. Last year's global average was 1.6C above the preindustrial - a sobering reality check, given that, only three months ago at the UN Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, leaders were still declaring that limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C was within reach.We are firmly in the post-climate change world now, and the serious implications of this demand honest acknowledgment. The reality is that we are living now in a time of continual disasters that are unfolding alongside our slower, planetary scale disaster. In this riskier time, we need to prepare. Continue reading...

Adrian Simancas encountered a humpback off Chile's coast - but scientists say he was never at risk of being swallowedAdrian Simancas had been paddling for two hours in the calm but icy seas of the Strait of Magellan, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, when something massive emerged from the water and dragged him under.I saw dark blue and white colours before feeling a slimy texture brush against my face," the 24-year-old told the Guardian. I closed my eyes to brace for impact, but it was soft, like being hit by a wave." Continue reading...

Prime minister tells Salmon Tasmania of promise to change legislation and allow sustainable' farming to continue

Residents in Sierra Madre begin cleanup effort after strongest storm of year sweeps through southern CaliforniaResidents of a southern California mountain community near the Eaton fire burn scar dug out of roads submerged in sludge on Friday after the strongest storm of the year swept through the area, unleashing debris flows and muddy messes in several neighborhoods recently torched by wildfires.Water, debris and boulders rushed down the mountain in the city of Sierra Madre on Thursday night, trapping at least one car in the mud and damaging several home garages with mud and debris. Bulldozers on Friday were cleaning up the mud-covered streets in the city of 10,000 people. Continue reading...

The former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, with the help of the British naturalist Martyn Stewart, has produced Wild Concerto, a collaboration between nature and music'. The album fuses sounds of nature, such as the call of Arctic terns and the howling of wolves, with traditional instruments. Stewart hailed the environmental theme of the work, explaining that most of the species represented were endangered

Developers must now offset damage to nature by achieving a 10% biodiversity net gain - but is buying up pockets of land and rewilding them the answer?To most people driving through the waterlogged fields of West Sussex, a patch of muddy land dotted with scrubby trees would not warrant a second glance. But this former farmland is being given a new lease of life as part of a government scheme to boost wildlife.Ardingly habitat bank is one of the pilot sites for the biodiversity net gain (BNG) scheme. Under legislation that came into force in February 2024, new roads, houses and other building projects must achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity if nature is damaged on a site. So if a forest is bulldozed to make way for a block of flats, the developer must recreate a similar habitat, plus 10%. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Firms outnumber green groups at environmental talks, with related events sponsored by fossil fuel companiesAviation industry delegates outnumbered those from green groups by 10 to one at the previous conference of the UN's committee on aviation environmental protection (CAEP), an analysis has found.Other recent meetings held by CAEP's parent body, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), were sponsored by large fossil fuel companies and airlines, including Saudi Aramco and Etihad. Critics accuse the ICAO of having been captured by the industry, resulting in slow efforts to tackle the climate crisis by reducing the carbon emissions from aircraft. Continue reading...

It's not just eggs, but coffee, orange juice and bacon, making life especially hard for diners, bakeries and brunch spotsMost menu items at the popular Philadelphia breakfast chain Green Eggs Cafe are - true to its name - made with eggs.Its co-owner Stephen Slaughter said that about 90% of its dishes depend on eggs, ticking off a short list: Our French toast, our pancake batters, our hollandaise sauce, obviously eggs and omelets." So when his vendors started charging $8 for a dozen eggs, all six Green Egg Cafe locations felt the pinch. Continue reading...

No, it isn't a leftwing plot, it's a proposal I authored for the Conservatives in 2021. And it could be brilliantly transformative for EnglandLast week saw the launch of what could be - if done right - the most important political policy in a generation. You may not have heard about the new land use framework, but if you did hear something, chances are it wasn't good. National suicide!" declared the shadow farming minister, Robbie Moore, who described the policy for good measure as food lunacy".I should confess that I am the original author of this lunacy. It was one of the key recommendations of the 2021 National Food Strategy - an independent review I was commissioned to write by the then Tory government. The purpose of the land use framework was - is - sane enough. It is intended to inform and streamline planning decisions and steer other government incentives, to ensure that areas of land are used in ways they are naturally well suited to. Continue reading...

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

Forecast for rising global electricity use likely to stoke fears of rising costs and stalled efforts to fight climate crisisThe world's electricity use will grow every year by more than the amount consumed annually by Japan because of a surge in electric transport, air conditioning and datacentres, according to the world's energy watchdog.The International Energy Agency has raised its predictions for the world's rising demand for electricity, pegging the growth at almost 4% a year until 2027, up from its previous forecast of 3.4% year. Continue reading...

Research shows move to electric vehicles may not be enough to enable pollution from cars to be eradicatedMicroscopic particles emitted from brake pads can be more toxic than those emitted in diesel vehicle exhaust, a study has found.This research shows that even with a move to electric vehicles, pollution from cars may not be able to be eradicated. Continue reading...

Parts of the Midwest have seen temperatures 15-30C below the climate average, while Australia temperatures hit almost 50CDisruptive weather has continued to affect the US this week, with a mixture of winter hazards, heavy rainfall and extreme temperatures across the country. Extreme cold warnings have affected more than 90 million people, with parts of the midwest seeing temperatures about 15-30C below the climate average.Temperatures fell to about -35C earlier this week across states including Montana and North Dakota, with maximum daytime temperatures reaching -15C. Continue reading...

Green politicians describe plan as a historic attack on Norwegian nature'The Norwegian parliament has voted to open up protected rivers to hydropower plants, prompting fury from conservation groups who fear for the fate of fish and other wildlife.The bill allows power plants bigger than 1MW to be built in protected waterways if the societal benefit is significant" and the environmental consequences acceptable". It was voted through on Thursday as part of measures to improve flood and landslide protection. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Future of further projects uncertain after Rosebank and Jackdaw licences were found to have been unlawfully grantedThirteen more oil and gas licences could be cancelled as ministers decide new guidance for fossil fuel extraction after a landmark court case, the Guardian has learned.The admission that many more licences may ultimately be unlawful comes on the back of cabinet tensions over the future of two major oil and gas fields - Rosebank and Jackdaw - whose licences were last month found to have been unlawfully granted. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rupert Lowe recently fitted panels on his farm, it emerges, as Reform claims renewables are more expensive

Fears grow for endangered species as the US president sets about dismantling basic laws to protect them to make way for oil and gas drillingDonald Trump has already begun dismantling parts of the envied US endangered species protections in his quest to boost oil and gas drilling, in part using a panel with an ominous name: the God squad.A slew of early actions by the Trump administration has set about throwing open more land and waters for the fossil fuel industry, triggering the reversal of regulations that strengthen the Endangered Species Act, the country's landmark 1973 conservation bill, including a rule that protects migratory birds from unintentional killing. Continue reading...

Call for means-tested grants or loans to cover upfront costs that prevent poorer households from benefitingPoorer households could cut their energy bills by a quarter if solar panels were installed on their rooftops, a report has found.However, the upfront costs mean that those who stand to benefit most from decreased energy bills are prevented from getting panels installed, according to the Resolution Foundation thinktank. Continue reading...

Bogs and swamps are a colossal carbon store but their continued destruction would blow climate change targetsThe world's peatlands are dangerously underprotected" despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned.Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world's forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India. Continue reading...

The technology is new, chargers are expensive and regulations hard to navigate - but all that could soon changeOur cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there's another step you could take. If you have a bidirectional charger, you can set it to sell power back to the grid when demand is high.Fewer than 10 people across Australia actually do this, because the technology - known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) - is very new. To date, it only works with a single car model (Nissan Leaf) and a single charger (Wallbox Quasar 1). We've estimated the number of users based on sales of this charger. The chargers are expensive and there's a thicket of regulations to navigate.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best readsYou originally think of it as a car you can also use to power your house. [But actually] it's a house battery you can drive around. Continue reading...

Kathleen Sgamma to oversee Bureau of Land Management, agency that manages quarter-billion acres of public landDonald Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states.Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based oil industry trade group Western Energy Alliance, was named Bureau of Land Management director, a position with wide influence over lands used for energy production, grazing, recreation and other purposes. An MIT graduate, Sgamma has been a leading voice for the fossil fuel industry, calling for fewer drilling restrictions on public lands that produce about 10% of US oil and gas. Continue reading...

Program is meant to help the endangered northern spotted owl - and it's only C$5! - but rat lovers are not amusedRevenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And for an endangered owl breeding program in Canada, it's also a dish best served dead.For the price of a coffee, spurned and disgruntled lovers can revel in the satisfaction of having a dead rat named after an ex, before it is fed to a northern spotted owl. Continue reading...

Critically endangered bird detected after analysis of tens of thousands of hours of song meter recordings

Crackdown on climate' predicted as oversight enacted over agency staffers' email and meetings with foreign nationalsThe US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has placed onerous new restrictions on its scientists that people within the agency say could hamper the quality and availability of the world's weather forecasts, among other key services.The new requirements have created a sense of unease within the agency, according to current and former high-level Noaascientists and officials the Guardian spoke with, and alarmed partners at European agencies. Continue reading...

Greenpeace protest draws attention to worsening typhoons and demands accountability from major pollutersFor two days and two nights, Ronalyn Carbonel and her four children clung to the roof of their home as a huge storm raged around them. With the wind battering her village of Rizal, about 10 miles east of Manila in the Philippines, and water swirling through the rooms below them, they had no choice but to wait, hoping that someone would come to rescue them and hundreds of their neighbours.We did not have shelter, we did not have food ... we just had to wait for the government for two days," Carbonel said. It is not easy, no electricity, no light, we just wait for the sun to rise. The children were scared, we had never experienced anything like this." Continue reading...

Surge in solar, wind and battery capacity comes as president pledges to halt federal support for clean powerThe US had record-breaking growth in renewable-energy capacity last year, new research shows, but the future of the sector is uncertain amid threats from Donald Trump's administration.The country brought online 48.2 gigawatts of capacity from utility-scale solar, wind and battery storage in 2024, according to a report from the research organization Cleanview; the report is based on an analysis of federal data. That surge in capacity - enough to power some 3.6m homes - was 47% larger than the increase the US saw in the previous year. Continue reading...

Claim over the 2019 Rennell Island disaster, which saw more than 300 tonnes of fuel leak into the water, filed in the Solomons High courtThe companies allegedly responsible for the one of the worst environmental disasters in Solomon Islands' history are being sued over the catastrophic oil spill that caused harm to an ecologically sensitive island.The claim over the 2019 Rennell Island disaster was filed in the Solomons high court last week, just days before the statute of limitations expired. Continue reading...

Airport's chief executive to formally spell out expansion plans in speech at British Steel plant in ScunthorpeHeathrow will submit third runway proposals to the government this summer, pledging to use UK steel and boost growth, the airport has confirmed.Its chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, will formally spell out plans for a third runway to follow a multibillion-pound upgrade of the London airport's existing terminals and facilities, in a speech at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Animals suspected of being illegally left in extremely harsh' environment near where lynx were found last monthA herd of feral pigs believed to have been illegally released in the Cairngorms have been successfully corralled by estate workers who are now attempting to trap them.The animals were first spotted near the Uath Lochans area, close to the village of Inch and only 5 miles from where four lynx were illegally released last month. Continue reading...

Renters are not only facing an escalation in rent prices but also pressure to evict apartments from landlordsWendy Lopez, a single mother of three from Guatemala, received an eviction order the day before wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades, where she worked as a caregiver for people with disabilities.The crisis only escalated the eviction process, Lopez said. The landlord for her rent-stabilized Mid City apartment has sent her threatening letters nearly every day. On 1 February, he raised her monthly rent from $1,320 to $1,430, exceeding the 4% legal rent increase limit. Moving is not an option, she said, because rent for similar housing elsewhere has doubled since the fires. Continue reading...

Mowi to give fishers 36 per fish after loss from farm in what campaigners say is a disaster for wild salmon'The global seafood company Mowi is offering a bounty to fishers who catch escaped salmon after an estimated 27,000 fish went missing from a farm off the Norwegian coast in what campaigners said was a disaster for wild salmon".The world's largest farmed salmon producer is offering a reward of 500 kroner (36) per salmon caught after it said a quarter of its 105,000 salmon population escaped from a cage in Troms, north-west Norway. Continue reading...

A wave of incidents threatens the survival of the species in the country, say conservationistsInside the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, in Islamabad, two taxidermists work on a leopard skin. They scrape away at the remaining flesh and sprinkle the underside with boric acid powder. It's difficult to look away from the two holes where the leopard's eyes should be.We ask conservation groups, if they find any dead specimen, to relay it to us so that we can preserve it and make it available to young researchers," says Muhammad Asif Khan, the museum's director of zoological science. This particular leopard died from gunshot wounds in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region," he says.Clockwise from main image: taxidermists at the Pakistan Natural History Museum work on a leopard specimen that was shot in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region; Asif Khan holds a piece of shot; a bullet hole or shot wound can be seen in the pelt Continue reading...

If Starmer and Reeves really want a greener, cleaner, wilder nation, then why attack vital state bodies that are already on their knees?This might sound astonishing, but the UK government's core programme now appears to be the same as Donald Trump's: dismantling the administrative state. There's less theatre, but the results could prove harder to contest. Absurd? Consider the evidence.Take the government's brutal expulsion of the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, Marcus Bokkerink. His crime, it seems, was to take his role seriously, seeking to prevent the formation of corporate monopolies. He has been replaced with the former manager of Amazon UK, a company widely accused of monopolistic practices. This is pure Trump: kick out the regulator and insert someone from a company they were seeking to regulate. Continue reading...

Order rolls back Biden policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastic as Trump calls it a ridiculous situation'

Government cranks handle again for group owning Yorkshire power plant because cheaper generating capacity not in place

Pesticide-backed proposed law that opponents call Cancer Gag Act' pits Iowa farm groups against each otherPesticide company efforts to push through laws that could block litigation against them is igniting battles in several US farm states and pitting some farm groups against each other.Laws have been introduced in at least eight states so far and drafts are circulating in more than 20 states, backed by a deluge of advertising supporting the measures. Continue reading...

Secondhand market thrived as sales of new EVs also reached highest levels to date, SMMT trade body says

North Yorkshire power plant has been criticised for burning wood pellets sourced from US and Canadian forests

Insurers blame significant and consistent bad weather' after year of 12 named stormsInsurers paid out a record 585m for weather-related damage to homes and possessions in Britain last year, after record-breaking rain and storms hit the country.The data, from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), revealed that claims for damage to homes from windstorms, flooding and frozen pipes in 2024 surpassed the previous record in 2022, for the same types of claim, by 77m. The figure is 127m higher than the weather-related claims payouts for 2023. Continue reading...