Environment | The Guardian

Exclusive: Independent testing of recycled soil fill finds two of four samples would not meet legislated thresholds and one contained asbestos

Warnings of possible flooding, travel delays and power cuts as Met Office issues yellow warningMore than an inch of rain could fall in one hour as thunderstorms lash parts of England and Wales, forecasters have warned.Slow-moving showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop on Sunday afternoon, with 20-30mm of rain predicted. There may also be hail and lightning strikes, with people warned to expect possible flooding, travel delays and power cuts. Continue reading...

Sydney Water says data shows men aged between 18 and 29 are biggest culprits when it comes to flushing rubbish down the toilet

A three-year study found that the spiny lobsters' urine scared off predatory worms and snails who snack on the delicate organismsAn unexpected champion has emerged in the increasingly grave battle to save Florida's imperiled coral reefs: spiny lobsters that urinate in the water and scare off predatory worms and snails seeking to feast on the delicate organisms.The finding is one of the more bizarre conclusions of a three-year study by scientists from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC), who are also warning it may already be too late for some species of coral to survive without significant human assistance. Continue reading...

Conservationist says for first time number of animals removed exceeds annual population growth

A football academy will be built on the site and campaigners say high court decision threatens other public parksPublic parks across London and beyond are being put at risk by a high court judgment in favour of Enfield council leasing a rewilded golf course to Tottenham Hotspur for a football academy, campaigners say.The court has ruled that Enfield council is allowed to hand over more than half of the 97-hectare (240-acre) Whitewebbs Park to Spurs, which has submitted plans to the council to build a new women's and girls' academy on the green belt site. Continue reading...

Demonstrators gathered outside Paris meetings of energy giant and Amundi, with some forcing their way into fund manager's tower blockThe head of TotalEnergies has told shareholders that new oilfields have to be developed to meet global demand, as the annual meetings of the French energy giant and one of its biggest shareholders were picketed by climate activists.Police said they detained 173 people among hundreds who gathered outside the Paris headquarters of Amundi, one of the world's biggest investment managers and a major TotalEnergies shareholder. Continue reading...

Literary event suspends' arrangement with Baillie Gifford after Charlotte Church and Nish Kumar joined performers pulling out

Smaller secondary systems that create hailstorms and tornadoes pack a punch that is causing billions of dollars in damagesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaborationThe rising cost of homeowner's insurance is now one of the most prominent symptoms of the climate crisis in the US. Major carriers such as State Farm and Allstate have pulled back from offering fire insurance in California, dropping thousands of homeowners from their books, and dozens of small insurance companies have collapsed or fled from Florida and Louisiana following recent large hurricanes. Continue reading...

Display at Chelsea flower show highlights work in UK and US to bring orchid habitats back to healthScientists are racing against the clock to save the world's orchids by discovering the soil fungi they need to thrive, breeding them and then, in a first for conservation, transplanting them into orchid habitats.Among the showy blooms at Chelsea flower show this week was a moss-covered exhibit, sprouting from which were the types of rare, native flowers one does not normally see at horticultural exhibits. Continue reading...

Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true embarrassing' environmental pictureThe head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is embarrassing".Philip Duffy, the body's chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were worried about revealing the true state of what is going on" with regards to the state of the environment. Continue reading...

PFAS contamination recorded in groundwater on Angus Fire site in Bentham, and includes chemicals with known health impactsA small North Yorkshire town has been found to have the highest concentration of forever chemicals" in the UK, it can be revealed.The market town of Bentham, which is home to 3,000 people and set on the banks of the River Wenning, is also home to the Angus International Safety Group - locally known as Angus Fire - which, since the 1970s, has been producing firefighting foams containing PFAS at a factory near the town centre. Continue reading...

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

Shishir Dholakia of the University of Southern Queensland's Centre for Astrophsics has identified Gliese 12b, a possibly temperate Earth-sized planet just 40 light years away. The student has been co-leading an international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrationsThe government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of confusing and opaque" anti-protest injunctions.The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest. Continue reading...

Two committees inquiring after reports of ex-president's offer to roll back dozens of regulations for $1bn campaign donationsPowerful Senate Democrats have launched an investigation into an alleged quid pro quo offer from Donald Trump to fossil fuel executives.At a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago home and club last month, the former president reportedly told oil bosses he would immediately roll back dozens of environmental regulations if elected, and requested $1bn in contributions to his presidential campaign. It would be a deal" for the executives because of the costs they would avoid under him, he reportedly said. Continue reading...

Factors including near-record warm ocean temperatures in Atlantic' lead to stark prediction from Noaa for June to NovemberThe 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal" amid very warm ocean temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted, prompting some scientists to warn of a summer of natural disasters caused by the powerful storms.Hurricane season, which takes place from 1 June to 30 November this year could be an 85% chance of an above-normal season", the federal weather agency said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Settlement for disaster that resulted in plumes of toxic chemicals in Ohio town includes funds for cleanup costsThe freight train company involved in a disastrous, pollution-spewing derailment in Ohio last year has agreed to a $310m settlement with the US government over the incident.Norfolk Southern will pay a $15m civil penalty for violating clean water laws and pay hundreds of millions more in cleanup costs in the wake of the derailment, which occurred near the town of East Palestine in February last year. Continue reading...

WeatherZone predicts no significant snowfalls for five major downhill ski resorts in NSW and Victoria before season kicks off on June long weekend

WWF says the government has breached the law without adequately assessing the consequences'One of the world's biggest environmental groups is suing the Norwegian government for opening up its seabed for deep-sea mining, claiming that Norway has failed to properly investigate the consequences of this move.WWF-Norway says the government's decision has breached Norwegian law, goes against the counsel of its own advisers, and sets a dangerous precedent". Continue reading...

Plaintiffs claim $38.7bn gas export project, which would triple state's greenhouse gas emissions, infringes constitutional rightsEight young people are suing the government of Alaska - the nation's fastest-warming state - claiming a major new fossil fuel project violates their state constitutional rights.The state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation has proposed a $38.7bn gas export project that would roughly triple the state's greenhouse gas emissions for decades, the lawsuit says. Scientists have long warned that fossil fuel extraction must be swiftly curbed to secure a livable future.This story has been updated to add comments from Taylor and Fitzpatrick. Continue reading...

Invitation-only meeting comes on heels of controversial dinner at Mar-a-Lago where Trump reportedly offered $1bn quid pro quoDonald Trump was continuing to ask fossil-fuel executives to fund his presidential campaign on Wednesday, despite scrutiny of his relationship with the industry.The former president attended a fundraising luncheon at Houston's Post Oak hotel hosted by three big oil executives.This article was amended on 23 May 2024 to clarify that the FTC did not accuse Occidental of collusion with Opec. Continue reading...

Action against Letzte Generation could have immense chilling effect' on climate protest, campaigners sayFive members of Letzte Generation, Germany's equivalent to Just Stop Oil, have been charged with forming a criminal organisation", a move civil rights campaigners say could in effect criminalise future support for the climate campaign.Mirjam Herrmann, 27, Henning Jeschke, 22, Edmund Schulz, 60, Lukas Popp, 25, and Jakob Beyer, 30, were charged under section 129 of the German criminal code. It is believed to be the first time the law has been applied to a non-violent protest group. Continue reading...

Agriculture is often seen as the enemy of biodiversity, but in an excerpt from her new book Sophie Yeo explains how techniques from the middle ages allow plants and animals to flourishThe Vile clings on to the edge of the Gower peninsula. Its fields are lined up like strips of carpet, together leading to the edge of the cliff that drops into the sea. Each one is tiny, around 1-2 acres. From the sky, they look like airport runways, although this comparison would have seemed nonsensical to those who tended them for most of their existence.That is because the Vile is special: a working example of how much of Britain would have been farmed during the middle ages. Farmers have most likely been trying to tame this promontory since before the Norman conquest. Continue reading...

After old rivalries between Dogon farmers and Fulani herders erupted into violence, exacerbated by Islamist rebels, thousands of the semi-nomadic pastoralists have fled to camps in towns, leaving their cherished animals and way of life. Many must beg to survive at sites lacking food and clean water, with no end in sight to the conflict Continue reading...

In Fort Mohave, Arizona, even Republican voters are fighting gas power plants as utilities try to lock in fossil fuelsRetirement was pretty idyllic for Mac and Debbie McKeever, who moved to Fort Mohave in Arizona for the desert views, starry nights and fresh air. The couple hosted cocktails by the pool and taco Tuesdays with their neighbors - an active bunch of Republican voting retirees with a penchant for gas-guzzling RVs and side-by-sides, and the unlikeliest environmental activists.However, in late November 2023, the McKeevers found out that the local government, the Mohave county board of supervisors, was about to vote on a zoning proposal for a gas fired peaker plant less than 1,200ft (0.2 miles) from their middle-class neighborhood Sunrise Hills. Continue reading...

Infrastructure firm raises 6.8bn to connect homes to renewable energy sources across US and UKNational Grid has tapped shareholders for nearly 7bn to fund a 60bn spending spree to upgrade its networks to cope with the switch to low-carbon energy on either side of the Atlantic.The energy infrastructure company announced a 6.8bn rights issue - where existing shareholders are offered new shares - to provide fresh funds for investment in thousands of miles of cables to connect homes with renewable energy projects in the UK and the US. Continue reading...

Conservationists say Barbara Creecy has failed to implement vital changes to stop fishing around colonies amid fears African penguins could be extinct by 2035It's 3.40pm on a Thursday and Penguin 999.000000007425712 has just returned to the Stony Point penguin colony in Betty's Bay, South Africa, after a day of foraging. She glides elegantly through the turquoise waters before clambering comically up the rocks towards the nest where her partner is incubating two beige eggs. She doesn't realise it, but a rudimentary knee-high fence has funnelled her towards a state-of-the-art weighbridge. When she left the colony at 6.45am this morning she weighed 2.7kg. Now, after a full day of hunting, she has gained only 285g.Eleanor Weideman, a coastal seabird project manager for BirdLife South Africa, is concerned. In a good year they come back with their stomachs bulging," she says. Penguins can put on up to one-third of their body weight in a single day of foraging. But there's just no fish out there any more." Continue reading...

The loss of the ecosystems, which are vast stores of carbon, would be disastrous for nature and people across the globe', says IUCNHalf of all the world's mangrove forests are at risk of collapse, according to the first-ever expert assessment of these crucial ecosystems and carbon stores.Human behaviour is the primary cause of their decline, according to the analysis by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with mangroves in southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives most at risk. Continue reading...

NSW Labor agreement with Origin to keep Eraring plant open for two more years to 2027 leaves environmental groups deeply disappointed'

Charity says tech problems and poor customer service mean millions in Great Britain missing out on promised benefitsThe number of gas and electricity smart meters that are not working properly is likely to be higher than government figures suggest - possibly 20% to 30% of the total - according to research from Citizens Advice.The charity said millions of households were missing out on the promised benefits from smart meters due to problems with technology" and poor supplier customer service. Continue reading...

As frozen ground below the surface melts, exposed minerals such as iron are giving streams a rusty color that pose a risk to wildlifeDozens of rivers and streams in Alaska are turning rusty orange, a likely consequence of thawing permafrost, a new study finds.The Arctic is the fastest-warming region in the globe, and as the frozen ground below the surface melts, minerals once locked away in that soil are now seeping into waterways. Continue reading...

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Jamie Raskin highlight decades-long efforts to sow doubts about climate crisisDemocrats from two powerful committees are urging Joe Biden's justice department to investigate the fossil fuel industry over its decades-long attempts to sow doubt about the climate crisis.We believe that there is adequate evidence that fossil fuel industry companies and trade associations may have violated one or more federal statutes," the Senate budget committee chair, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, wrote in a Wednesday letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland. Continue reading...

Projections of the size and scale of a future CCS industry should come with heavy doses of scepticism

Older adults face a shortage of affordable and accessible homes as climate change worsensFrom their hillside home above Barre, Vermont, Doug and Rhoda Mason thought they were safe. It was 11 July 2023, and record rains were flooding their small city.Then, just before 5am, a landslide crashed into the Masons' house. The mud hit with such force it pushed the structure 10ft off its foundation. Continue reading...

MP, not renowned for action on environment, chosen for efforts to tackle global deforestation and restore UK's wildlife habitatsTo the surprise of many, the Conservative Environment Network named their favourite MP as ... Chris Grayling.Despite not being renowned for his action on the environment, the former Cabinet minister was chosen as parliamentarian of the year by the network, which said it was honouring his efforts to tackle deforestation internationally and restore the UK's vital wildlife habitats. Continue reading...

As I report more, I've stopped thinking of UPFs as food at all - and I suspect corporations don't care how their products affect consumers

Five nature reserves will be created each year for next five years to celebrate coronation of King CharlesA temperate rainforest in the Lake District has been declared a national nature reserve in a move that will protect the rare ancient habitat for future generations.The Borrowdale rainforest is one of the few surviving examples of a mysterious and untouched" landscape that covers less than 1% of the UK. Continue reading...

Humid climate makes Texas city attractive to the insects, but with rainfall and major flooding, residents are forced indoorsAmid the severe weather that has battered parts of the country in recent weeks, particularly the US south, the city of Houston in Texas can add one more thing to their worries: mosquitos.Houston's usually humid climate already makes it attractive to mosquitos, but the additional rainfall and major flooding it is seeing makes it an ideal habitat for the bothersome insects. Continue reading...

Met Office issues amber warning for next few days, with persistent rain across much of the country

Winter downpours also made 20% wetter and will occur every three years without urgent carbon cuts, experts warnThe seemingly never-ending" rain last autumn and winter in the UK and Ireland was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global heating, a study has found.More than a dozen storms battered the region in quick succession between October and March, which was the second-wettest such period in nearly two centuries of records. The downpour led to severe floods, at least 20 deaths, severe damage to homes and infrastructure, power blackouts, travel cancellations, and heavy losses of crops and livestock. Continue reading...

Photographer Gideon Mendel has filmed and photographed floods around the world extensively. He travelled by boat through the historic town centre of Port Alegre, documenting the reflections across a city that had become a liquid landscape Continue reading...

Department of Conservation fines 50-year-old after seeing footage of stunt on social media, and described his behaviour as a blatant example of stupidity'The actions of a New Zealand man filmed jumping off a boat in what appears to be an attempt to body slam" an orca have been described as shocking" and idiotic" by the country's Department of Conservation.In a video shared to Instagram in February, a man can be seen jumping off the edge of a boat into the sea off the coast of Devonport in Auckland, in what appears to be a deliberate effort to touch or body slam" the orca, the department said. He leaps into the water very close to a male orca, as a calf swims nearby, while someone on board the boat films it. Others can be heard laughing and swearing in the background. Continue reading...

The New Zealand Department of Conservation has released vision of a man appearing to attempt to 'body slam' an Orca, describing the behaviour as 'shocking and stupid'. The 50-year-old Auckland man has been fined $600. Hayden Loper, a principal investigator at the department, says the man showed reckless disregard for his own safety and that of the orca. The video speaks for itself, it is shocking and absolutely idiotic behaviour."Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Report calls for curb on many activities and recommends making protest organisers pay towards policingProtest groups have condemned a long-awaited report on their activity that recommends a review of undercover surveillance of activists and making protest organisers pay towards policing.The 292-page report by John Woodcock, now Lord Walney, entitled Protecting Democracy from Coercion, calls for a curb on many activities, including a blanket ban on face coverings at protests and making it easier for businesses to claim damages from protesters who cause disruption. Continue reading...

High temperatures in Mexico have been linked to dozens and perhaps hundreds of deaths of howler monkeysIt's so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees.At least 83 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who battled to save them. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency says brownfield revitalization spending has quadrupled under Bipartisan Infrastructure LawThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $300m in new funding to clean up and redevelop 200 industrial sites across the country.Speaking on Monday from what was once an oil station in south-west Philadelphia's Kingsessing neighborhood, the EPA's administrator, Michael Regan, said his agency would allocate $2m to transform the site - which officials say is contaminated with lead and semi-volatile organic compounds - into a waterfront bike trail and office buildings. With this funding, Philadelphia will be able to work with this site and reconnect Kingsessing to the riverfront," Regan said. Continue reading...

First-time exhibitor Ula Maria scoops best in show for garden designed for muscular dystrophy charityA garden demonstrating the joys of forest bathing has won best in show at the Chelsea flower show.Designed by the first-time exhibitor Ula Maria, the garden was inspired by the ancient Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which means being calm and quiet among trees, breathing deeply and observing nature. Continue reading...

Eight of 21 cars tested underperformed against their marketed efficiency rates, Australian Automobile Association says

Report finds nuclear energy more expensive than renewable alternatives and calculates costs for large-scale reactors for first time