Environment | The Guardian

Horticulture charity says climate breakdown is influencing trends, based on inquiries from gardenersFruits that thrive in hot weather and can now be grown in the ever-hotter UK summers, and weeds such as cow parsley to decorate borders, are among the 2024 garden trends predicted by the Royal Horticultural Society.Climate breakdown has influenced most of the trends predicted by the horticulture charity, which seeks insights from its more than 600,000 members to forecast which plants may be in fashion in the coming year. While its trends list used to be based on simply which blooms were in vogue, now it highlights the quirks of gardening in a changing climate amid collapsing biodiversity.Greening grey spaces Creative ways to green up grey urban spaces has become a major new trend as city gardeners are growing successfully in pots, growing up instead of out and using innovative ways of colonising indoor space, including terrariums.Grow your own The RHS gardening advice service and website continues to see growth in grow your own". The most popular plants are tomatoes, followed by cucumbers, courgettes, chillies and runner beans.Purple power Purple vegetables have traditionally been difficult for the home gardener but now breeders have begun introducing purple varieties that are easier to grow than traditional ones and avoid previous drawbacks, such as non-fruiting and limited purple colour, especially after cooking. Gardeners and chefs can anticipate purple carrots, cauliflowers, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, radish, French beans and lettuces.Climate change fruits Recent hot dry summers are ideal for certain fruits, grape vines being an outstanding example - but others include figs, almonds, apricots, melons, peaches/nectarines and watermelons.Local seed provenances and survivalist gardens After the temporary hiccup to the vegetable supply chain last spring, some gardeners now favour growing with more independence, including where they source their seeds.Going wild Plants traditionally seen as unwanted weeds such as herb robert and plantain are becoming popular. Cow parsley is now a desirable border plant and dandelions are recognised as being key to providing food for bees early in springtime.Gardening with nature The move away from classical, formal layouts towards naturalistic landscapes will continue to grow, with gardens making people feel that they are in a wild place and providing benefits to wellbeing, wildlife and ease of maintenance.Planet-friendly gardening Gardeners will be increasingly in tune with nature: inquiries to the RHS about wildlife gardening increased by more than 28% in 2023.Houseplants reach the next level - Tropical-looking plants and orchids which create a jungle vibe" have become popular, as has growing up instead of out. Favourites will include epipremnum, sedum morganianum, and old favourites such as string of hearts and spider plants.Succulents Driven by houseplants and sourcing drought-resistant bedding, interest in succulents is increasing, with commercial landscapers introducing the hardier ones into landscapes. New cultivars are also being released, including aeonium, cotyledon and crassula. Continue reading...

Senior hydrologist warns Israeli plan would constitute one element of the crime of genocideA potential plan by Israel to flood the Hamas tunnel network with seawater risks ruining the basic conditions for life in Gaza", one of the elements of the crime of genocide, a senior hydrologist has told the Guardian.Environmental experts have warned the strategy - which Israel has yet to commit to - risks causing an ecological catastrophe that will leave Gaza with no drinkable water and devastate what little agriculture is possible in the 141 sq mile territory. Continue reading...

Lib Dem analysis finds 4,574 hours of sewage has been spilled in festive swimming spots in the last yearLong-established Christmas seaside swimming locations have been flooded with sewage over the last year, prompting concern that swimmers could fall ill.They would not be able to claim compensation, as Tory MPs earlier this month blocked a Lib Dem amendment that would have allowed anyone who got sick as a result of illegal sewage dumping to claim from water companies. Continue reading...

Exemption under federal environment law to allow scientists to collect 25 of the critically endangered walking fish'Scientists in Tasmania will remove up to half of the island's emblematic" red handfish from the wild ahead of expected marine heatwaves deemed an existential threat to their survival.The critically endangered Tasmanian red handfish population has fallen to between 50 and 100 in the wild, due to the degradation of the seaweed habitat it needs to breed.Australian Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

Insiders fear further watering down of party's flagship economic policy could leave leader open to charges of flip-flopping' by ToriesLabour is considering scaling back ambitious plans to borrow 28bn a year to invest in green jobs and industry amid fears the Conservatives will use the policy as a central line of attack in the general election campaign.The Guardian understands that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will discuss the party's flagship economic policy next month, with senior Labour figures pushing to drop the 28bn commitment entirely while others want to retain key elements of the plan. Continue reading...

Sales surge as cities and states look to cut pollution from cars and improve options for Americans to get aroundAfter several years of false starts, electric bikes are finally entering the American mainstream, amid booming sales of a multiplying number of models on offer and as more states offer incentives for people to ditch their cars and shift to two, motor-assisted, wheels.This year could be considered the year of the ebike", according to John MacArthur, a transport researcher at Portland State University. Ebike sales in the United States leaped by 269% between 2019 and 2022, with the market size expected to have grown further in 2023, to be worth $2.59bn. Continue reading...

Warnings that slow-moving disaster' in North America raises chances of fatal mad cow-type disease jumping species barrierWhen the mule deer buck died in October, it perished in a place most humans would consider the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest road. But its last breaths were not taken in an isolated corner of American geography. It succumbed to a long-dreaded disease in the backcountry of Yellowstone national park, north-west Wyoming - the first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease in the country's most famous nature reserve.For years, chronic wasting disease (CWD), caused by prions - abnormal, transmissible pathogenic agents - has been spreading stealthily across North America, with concerns voiced primarily by hunters after spotting deer behaving strangely. Continue reading...

EVs made up just 2% of new car sales in May 2022, but now 8.3% of new car sales in 2023 are battery poweredThe climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has welcomed a boom in electric vehicle sales, revealing the number of fast-charging sites has nearly doubled in the last year.National strategies on electric vehicles are expected to more than double the number of charger stations again within three years, as the federal government seeks to incentivise the use of cleaner cars. New fuel efficiency standards, expected to be outlined in early 2024, are likely to further discourage the sale of higher-emitting vehicles, making electric cars more attractive.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

New role for former permanent secretary in energy department raises concerns over revolving door' between public and privateA former national security adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove is to join the Rolls-Royce-led consortium developing small nuclear reactors as chair of its board, raising concerns about the revolving door between the public and private sectors.The role, which has been approved by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), will begin in the new year. Lovegrove's background as a permanent secretary, the most senior civil servant, in the energy department from 2013-2016 are likely to prove valuable to the consortium. Continue reading...

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

Discarded shells from restaurants and hotels are being used to restore damaged oyster ecosystems, promote biodiversity and lower pollution in the city's baysEvery Thursday around noon, a brown minivan pulls up in the alley behind the glitzy Peninsula hotel at Victoria Harbour in Kowloon, Hong Kong. A porter rushes out to meet it from the back door of the hotel kitchen, lugging a large white rice sack. The driver weighs the bag on a handheld scale - it's 40kg (88lb) - then chucks it into the back of the vehicle with a surprising clank.The van takes the sack to a recycling facility just outside the city, and tips out the contents: not rice, but hundreds of oyster shells. They will lie in the sun for a year to ensure any rotting flesh and bacteria are destroyed, before being reintroduced into Hong Kong's bays as part of a series of restored oyster reefs. Continue reading...

Fishing nets abandoned or lost in the sea - known as ghost nets' or ghost gear' - have been called the most deadly form of marine plastic debris'. Dolphins, fish, whales, seabirds and turtles become entangled and die slow, painful deaths. But divers in Dakar are working to remove the threat Continue reading...

Exclusive: We need to listen to the scientists. Excessive pesticide use is killing our bees,' say company heads in letter to ministerThe UK government should stop ignoring the science and block a bee-killing pesticide from being used, business leaders have said.The neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB is used on sugar beet and is highly toxic to bees. It is banned in the EU but the UK has provisionally agreed to its emergency use every year since leaving the bloc. In 2017, the then environment secretary, Michael Gove, promised to use Brexit to ban all neonicotinoids. Continue reading...

Conservationists call for more action after reptiles, fish and birds added to list, including 10 species deemed critically endangeredSeventeen species, including two birds, two fish, several reptiles and the Lord Howe earthworm, have been added to Australia's list of threatened species.The sooty shearwater, known for its long-distance journeys, has been listed as vulnerable, while the red-tailed tropicbird, which breeds on Christmas Island, has been listed as endangered. Continue reading...

Steven Miles has delivered on two of the environment movement's most pressing concerns within a week of being sworn-in as premier

Outrage in Colaton Raleigh after trees felled by government agency without consulting communityNot much happens in the sleepy village of Colaton Raleigh, where almost half of the residents are retired. So local walkers were horrified when they woke up one morning to an act of environmental vandalism" that left behind the maimed stumps of 100 ancient beech trees.Residents in the east Devon community are grieving the loss of the beloved trees, which were located in a special conservation area and site of special scientific interest, home to lots of local plants and animals, after they were felled by a government agency without consulting the community or council. Continue reading...

Clean energy record set after windfarms generate 21.8GW in half an hour on Thursday morning

Further testing should be done to reduce the risk of local tank water being contaminated by mercury, expert says

Cloud seeding improves air quality in city of Lahore but experts say practice is not a sustainable solutionArtificial rain has been used in an attempt to lower pollution levels in Lahore, Pakistan.The capital city of the eastern province of Punjab, near the Indian border, has some of the worst air quality in the world and has become extremely polluted because of a growing population of more than 13 million people. Continue reading...

Utilities give rewards to house builders to install and promote gas appliances in homes - and enlist celebrity chefs to extoll the fossil fuelDozens of US gas utilities, serving more than 35 million customers, offer builders and contractors incentives to keep fossil fuels in buildings, the Guardian has found.Washington state's NW Natural offers builders $2,000 for each new single-family home they equip with gas appliances, while Texas's Corpus Christi Gas offers $1,000. And in Minnesota, CenterPoint Energy participates in a program that offers paid vacations to builders who outfit homes with gas. Continue reading...

Unexplored caves can be scary, home to crocodiles, huge eels or tarantulas, but we can also find incredible new life in thereThere is no darkness like being in a cave. I love turning off my headlamp to experience that. It probably sounds horrifying and disconcerting, but caves also have a peaceful quality to them - at least for me. It's like Earth giving me a little hug. I'm weirdly calm when I'm in a cave.As a professor and curator of fishes at Louisiana State University, I explore hidden corners of the world and find new species, which means going to places few people have been before. Continue reading...

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Shadow energy minister Ted O'Brien says report examines costs through an investment lens rather than a consumer lens, but Chris Bowen says nuclear crusade not viable

Blue Marine Foundation is challenging government for ignoring scientific advice on limits and giving a green light to overfishingThe UK government's decision to set catch limits for fish populations above those recommended by scientific advice is to be challenged in the courts by marine conservationists who accuse ministers of breaking their own post-Brexit rules.The legal challenge, expected to start in January, will argue that the government is illegally squandering" a public asset and going against laws aimed at improving sustainable fishing. Continue reading...

Estimates show small modular nuclear reactors would provide most expensive power and will not be available until 2030

Indigenous campaigners, human rights defenders and climate activists say they are being silenced by fear of reprisalsIncidents of harassment, surveillance, threats and intimidation are creating a climate of fear at UN events including the recent Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, experts have said.Indigenous campaigners, human rights defenders and environmental activists say they are increasingly afraid to speak out on urgent issues because of concerns about reprisals from governments or fossil fuel industries. Continue reading...

Phenomenon whereby moisture condenses around particles of pollution was noticed near Heathrow in JanuaryA rare phenomenon known as industrial snowfall" appears to have occurred near Heathrow airport earlier this year, according to a study.Satellite imagery shows three large, white bands on the ground in parts of Surrey despite relatively dry conditions in the area at the time. The snow, which was recorded on 23 January, was distributed near industrial facilities south-east of Heathrow airport. Continue reading...

The world has looked to offsetting schemes to protect forests, fund conservation and fight the climate crisis - but many fail to fulfil their promises. Here are five ways to keep our forests standingKeeping the world's remaining forests standing is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century. Humanity will not limit global heating to safe levels or stem the ongoing loss of wildlife without them. From the boreal forest that stretches around northern Europe, Siberia and Canada, to the Amazon, Earth's forests are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to species found nowhere else.Yet all too often, forests are worth more money dead than alive - despite promises from global leaders to halt deforestation. Their exploitation has pushed many plants, animals and fungi to the brink of extinction, while slowly degrading their ability to generate rainfall, sequester carbon and cool the planet. Continue reading...

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Regulators approve rules to let agencies recycle wastewater into drinking water for homes, schools and businessesWhen a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: an ice-skating rink in Ontario, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the central valley.And - coming soon - kitchen faucets. Continue reading...

Washington, Oregon and California have stringent laws to combat fossil fuel, but the approval of GTN Xpress could upend thatConstruction could start before the new year on a gas pipeline expansion through the Pacific north-west that state officials say will undermine the region's renewable transition and further fuel climate emergencies.The region is suffering from annual wildfires, deadly heat domes and drought. Lawmakers in Washington, Oregon and California have passed some of the country's most stringent laws to move away from fossil fuels, but they say the federal commission that greenlit the project threatens to undermine that progress. Continue reading...

Move aims to protect millions of old-growth trees, which are better at storing carbon, but its outcome depends on 2024 electionJoe Biden's administration on Tuesday announced a new proposal aimed at banning logging in old-growth forests, a move meant to protect millions of trees that play a key role in fighting the climate crisis.The proposal comes from an executive order signed by the president on Earth Day in 2022 that directed the US Forest Service and the land management bureau to conduct an inventory of old-growth and mature forest groves as well as to develop policies that protect them. Continue reading...

Marlena Fontes co-founded Climate Families NYC with six other mothers to create a space for families to take actionNew Yorker Marlena Fontes was working as a labor organizer and newly pregnant with her first child when a conversation with a co-worker about the climate crisis stirred something in her that would change her life.It was 2018 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had recently released a report warning that world leaders had only until 2030 to make the sort of dramatic emission cuts that would prevent mass harm around the globe. Continue reading...

Modelling shows huge area' in which waves and flood waters could have destroyed coral colonies

The Environmental Defenders Office says proposed legal changes will water down' protections against subsidence caused by gas wells

Tribunal found developers were paying into fund five times faster than the Biodiversity Conservation Trust was able to find required offsets

Eruption comes a month after nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik were evacuated when the area was hit by a 'seismic swarm' of more than 1,000 earthquakes in 24 hours.The Reykjanes peninsula in recent years has seen several eruptions in unpopulated areas, but the latest outbreak could pose a risk to Grindavik, authorities say.

Data also shows only one prosecution and follow-ups on one-third of 10,000 complaints made since January 2022There has been just one prosecution and three fines handed out for people using banned wood-burning stoves in England, data has revealed.Despite more than 10,000 complaints about wood being burned in populated areas since January 2022, local councils have not been enforcing the government's tough new restrictions" on stoves. Two-thirds of these complaints were not followed up, and only a handful led to any action. Continue reading...

Extra cash values firm at nearly $8bn, as it says it has greater share of home electricity market than British Gas

South African court dismisses huge class-action lawsuit over toxic legacy of mining at Broken Hill in Zambia between 1925 and 1974A South African court has thrown out a case brought against the multinational mining company Anglo American on behalf of 140,000 Zambian women and children, who allege they have suffered lead poisoning from one of its mines.The lawsuit, one of Africa's largest class-action cases, was filed in October 2020, accused Anglo American of negligence over its alleged failure to prevent widespread lead poisoning in the Zambian town of Kabwe, where its South African subsidiary is alleged to have played a key role in running a large mine from 1925 until 1974. Continue reading...

It was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill category two - but flooded streets and cut-off communities show an intensity that nobody saw comingA lifelong resident of Machans Beach, just outside Cairns, Euan Williams had seen plenty of cyclones before. Once ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper passed over the community on Wednesday last week as a category-two storm, that confirmed it. It wouldn't amount to much.Being locals, a cat two's sort of like a run of the mill cyclone," he said. Continue reading...

The next generation of wildlife photographers are showcased in the RSPCA Young Photographer awards 2023. Here's a selection of the winning entries, capturing the natural world around them Continue reading...

Finding out the percentage from consumer bills used to service debt is tricky. We worked with industry experts to shed light on the issue

Rain is finally easing, but emergency alerts remain for parts of the state's far north, with communities from Cooktown to Innisfail cut off by record flood waters

On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the Hunza valley in Pakistan's mountainous far north, Tariq Jamil measures the ice's movement and takes photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hour's hike downstream. His mission: to mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice Continue reading...

As Colombia announces it will host the next biodiversity meeting, there is cautious optimism about the progress made since Cop15Governments risk another decade of failure on nature loss if they do not implement a landmark agreement in full, the UN's acting biodiversity chief has warned, 12 months after the deal was struck.As anticipation begins for the next summit - which was confirmed last week to be hosted by Colombia - the legacy and implementation of the last, historic agreement remains uncertain. Continue reading...

Animals fight for survival in far north Queensland after ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper brings days of heavy rains, saturating parts of the region. The rain is forecast to continue over the next 24 hours, with some areas already hit with more than a metre and water levels expected to break 1977 recordsSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

The North Queensland Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal also reports crocodiles swimming through flood waters in the town's main street

Heavy rain has continued to fall across far north Queensland in the aftermath of ex-tropical Cyclone Jasper. Continue reading...

Santos marks key regulatory win for its $5.8bn Timor Sea Barossa project, but other court battles threaten to derail project