Environment | The Guardian

Extinct in central Europe for 300 years, 36 northern bald ibis are following an ultralight aircraft on their long-forgotten migration route from Austria to SpainThe northern bald ibis was extinct in central Europe for 300 years. Now, it has returned - and scientist foster parents" aboard a tiny plane are teaching the birds to fly their long-forgotten migration routes.Thirty-six of these endangered birds are now following an ultralight aircraft 1,740 miles (2,800km ) from Austria to Spain, on a trip that could take up to 50 days to complete. Continue reading...

The country needs more gas in the short term because of our sluggish transition to renewables - but at worst the shortfall may lead to some rationing

Windell Curole built a vast levee to protect his district from disappearing into the ocean - despite federal resistance to his plan. Had he listened to officials, he says, we wouldn't have a community'On 29 August 2021, as Hurricane Ida made landfall on Louisiana's Gulf coast, 69-year-old Windell Curole sought refuge with others at the three-story Lady of the Sea hospital in Galliano, located 90 minutes south-west of New Orleans.As Curole looked out the window, watching Ida's rain hammer the grass, a question tormented him: would the levees that encircled his community be tall enough to hold back the water that was surging toward them? Continue reading...

Food prices have increased 22% in last four years and people are feeling the pinch. Readers share their strategies to copeBack in 2019, $100 worth of groceries may have lasted a week for a household of two. Today, that same $100 will probably only buy enough groceries to stretch for a couple of days.In the last four years, food prices have increased a whopping 22%, and consumers are feeling the pinch. Continue reading...

Toymaker hopes to bring down oil-based plastic it uses by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin to encourage productionLego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Experts say trend is because of failure by successive governments to approve releases despite promisesBeaver bombing", covertly releasing beavers into the countryside, is increasing in England because successive governments have not fulfilled promises to permit some planned wild releases, conservationists are warning.Beavers now live freely on river systems across swaths of southern England, and conservationists are calling on Labour to allow official releases of free-living beavers and produce a national strategy to maximise the biodiversity and flood alleviation benefits delivered by the industrious mammals. Continue reading...

We want to hear from people across the US who have been affected by the volatility of the home insurance marketWe know the industry is in an enormous state of flux amid the climate crisis and increasingly severe wildfires, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters. Companies have been raising premiums, cancelling or refusing to issue policies, and pulling out of entire markets. The Guardian US has reported on the crippling effects for homeowners in Florida, California, Louisiana and beyond.We want to hear from people from all parts of the country caught up in this. Have you lost your policy, and what did you do? Has the cost of insurance influenced where you chose to live or your decision to buy a home? Have you been forced to recover from a natural disaster without insurance? Tell us your story. Continue reading...

Records of Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz instill hope that progress under Biden could be extendedPublic health advocates are optimistic that a Kamala Harris win in the November presidential election in the US would lead to further regulation of PFAS toxic forever chemicals", on which the Biden administration has already taken unprecedented regulatory action.In part that is based on past actions. Last year, Harris's running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, signed bold legislation prohibiting the use of toxic PFAS across a range of common consumer goods from menstrual products to food packaging - a measure that is considered by public health advocates to be among the strongest bans in the world". Continue reading...

Reusable varieties unlikely to dent environmental impact of e-cigarette waste, even as they curb battery waste

Why have politicians outsourced the most important issue of our time to private agencies and individuals? We can't do it all - this way lies disasterThere are several services and assets I would like to see nationalised. But at the top of my list is neither water, nor trains, nor development land, much as I'd like to see them brought under national or local public ownership. Above all, I want to see the nationalisation of my own business: environmental persuasion. I love my job. But I'm not very good at it. None of us is.We face the greatest predicament humankind has confronted: the erosion and possible collapse of our life-support systems. Its speed and scale have taken even scientists by surprise. The potential impacts are greater than any recent pandemic, or any war we have suffered. Yet the effort to persuade people of the need for action has been left almost entirely to either the private or voluntary sectors. And it simply does not work. Continue reading...

The cameras that made the falcons a social media phenomenon are rolling again for a new breeding season, capturing a new female falcon incubating an egg atop Melbourne's Collins Street skyscraper. There are high hopes for this season after last year's eggs were unable to hatch after the female stopped incubating, likely due to a territorial dispute

Activists say Kennedy may have committed felony violation for allegedly driving with whale skull strapped to car roofHis independent White House campaign has fizzled, but the flow of bizarre stories of Robert F Kennedy Jr's unorthodox handling of the carcasses of wild mammals has experienced no similar suspension.An environmental group is calling for a federal investigation into the former presidential candidate for an episode in which he allegedly severed the head of a washed-up whale with a chainsaw - and drove home with it strapped to his car's roof. Continue reading...

Moisture from crops drives up already high humidity in areas where 55 million are under extreme heat alertsYou won't believe your ears, but corn is making the extreme heat the US midwest is battling feel more intense, according to experts.The moisture - or sweat" - that corn and other crops release in high temperatures is contributing to the humidity in the air in the midwest US, where 55 million people have been under alerts for extreme heat in recent days. The increase in moisture pushes up dew points, making it harder for water vapor to condensate - and for it to feel cooler. Continue reading...

More than 21,500 US deaths over last two decades were connected to heat, top medical journal findsAs record-breaking heatwaves continue across parts of the US, a new report shows that heat-related deaths in the country rose by 117% between 1999 and 2023.The report, released on Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama), found that from 1999 to 2023, there have been more than 21,500 heat-related deaths recorded in the US. Continue reading...

The cameras that made the falcons a social media phenomenon are rolling again for a new breeding season

Open letter to Labour energy secretary from 41 groups says wood-burning biomass plants are putting forests and biodiversity at risk

Michael Dourson receives funds from chemical makers and plans to develop and publish studies that benefit firmsScientists with financial ties to industry and histories of producing controversial research to derail chemical regulations are mobilizing to attack strict new federal drinking water limits for toxic PFAS, or forever chemicals", documents reviewed by the Guardian reveal.In July, Michael Dourson, a contentious toxicologist who receives some funding from chemical makers, sent an email to scientists, consultants and lawyers detailing a plan to develop and publish peer-reviewed science for chemical companies to wield as evidence against PFAS limits. It went out just after industry groups mounted a legal challenge to the restrictions. Continue reading...

Location of recently found sample of Britain's rarest plant kept secret to protect it from enthusiasts and poachersBritain's rarest plant, a holy grail" orchid, has been rediscovered for the first time since 2009, and scientists are now working to protect it from slugs, deer - and poachers.The ghost orchid was discovered earlier this month by Richard Bate, a dental surgeon, orchid lover and member of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI).Herefordshire and Shropshire: Found flowering in only five years between 1854 and 1910, followed by a 72-year gap until 1982, and then a 27-year gap until the last sighting in 2009.Oxfordshire: Discovered by a schoolgirl in 1924, the ghost orchid was found flowering in about a dozen years between 1924 and 1979.Buckinghamshire: First found in 1953, the ghost orchid was recorded in bloom in 25 of the years between 1953 and 1987. Continue reading...

It's paper straws and compostable cups for the masses, space travel and $600m weddings for their overlords. No wonder everyone who can afford it wants a doomsday bunkerJesus, if I remember correctly, usually travelled by donkey or by foot. Today's corporate saviours, however, have more elevated tastes. Last week Starbucks made headlines after it was revealed its new CEO, Brian Niccol - who has been described as the messiah" the ailing coffee company had been searching for - will be commuting to the office via private jet. Niccol, you see, is generously going to abide by the company's policy of being in the office three days a week. But since he lives in California and the Starbucks HQ is more than 1,000 miles away in Seattle, a corporate jet is really the only way to go.Did anyone at Starbucks sit down with a cup of coffee and ponder the optics of this before sealing the deal? Because the optics are terrible. Back in 2018 the company made a lot of noise about how it was getting rid of plastic straws and working towards a recyclable and compostable cup solution". What's the point of that posturing if you're then going to stick your CEO on an emission-spewing private jet a couple of times a week? As environmental groups and plenty of angry people on the internet have pointed out, this supercommute makes a mockery of Starbucks' supposed green agenda". Continue reading...

Millions of sharks are killed every year, but a population in the island paradise could hold clues to where they breed and give birth, enabling better protectionsWithin minutes the sharks, with their characteristic stripes and sharp, jagged teeth, appear from the depths of the Indian Ocean. They follow the scent of fish blood and oil coming from tuna heads a research team has hidden under a pile of rocks in a shallow sandy area.The tiger sharks, perhaps eight or nine and up to four metres long, circle the divers, at times only an arm's length away. All are females, two with bite marks on their flanks and fins, indicating recent mating. Some have remarkably fat bellies.Tiger sharks circle at the Tiger Zoo dive site Continue reading...

Australian study of guppies shows that pharmaceutical pollution could threaten species' long-term survivalContamination of waterways with the antidepressant Prozac is disrupting fish bodies and behaviours in ways that could threaten their long-term survival, new research has found.As global consumption of pharmaceuticals has increased, residues have entered rivers and streams via wastewater raising concerns about the effects on ecosystems and wildlife. Continue reading...

Speaking during the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga, the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said fossil fuels must be phased out and all G20 countries must pursue a 'drastic reduction of emissions'. Asked whether he believes it is acceptable for a country like Australia to be continuing to approve new coal and gas projects, Guterres said the 'situation of different countries is different' but there should be no 'illusion'. 'Without a phase-out of fossil fuels in a fair and just way, there is no way we can keep the 1.5 degrees alive,' Guterres said in a reference to the Paris climate agreement goal of holding temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels

Education campaigns to change human behaviour and relocation of problem reptiles are better ways of managing risk, researchers say

Antonio Guterres calls for a massive' increase in finance and support for the countries most vulnerable to rising sea levelsPacific island nations are in grave danger" from rising sea levels and the world must answer the SOS before it is too late", the UN chief has warned during a visit to Tonga.The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, urged the world to look to the Pacific and listen to the science" as he released two new reports on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum, the region's most important annual political gathering. Continue reading...

One report says 150-200 people missing after heavy rain led to Arbaat dam giving way in area already hit by civil warSurging waters have burst through a dam in eastern Sudan, wiping out at least 20 villages and leaving at least 30 people dead but probably many more, the UN has said, devastating a region already reeling from months of civil war.Torrential rains caused floods that on Sunday overwhelmed the Arbaat dam, which is 25 miles (40km) north of Port Sudan, the de facto national capital and base for the government, diplomats, aid agencies and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Continue reading...

Search for more survivors of cave collapse that killed one called off as records show 23 not 25 people were on tourAfter a 17-hour, 200-person rescue operation in which first responders used chainsaws and ice picks to cut through a collapsed ice cave to track down two missing tourists, police in Iceland have called off the search and said they now believe that no one had ever been missing.Officials in Iceland said on Monday that after examining tour operator records, they had concluded that 23 people were on the tour, not 25 as had been previously reported. Continue reading...

Data shows people living alone were more likely to die in recent periods of unusually intense heat around the worldThe dangers of extreme heat can be amplified by social isolation, experts have warned, with those living alone found to be most likely to suffer.Heatwaves are deadly," Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at New York University who studies climate disasters, once said. Cold societies make them far more lethal." Continue reading...

Donation from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment will be used across country's more than 400 national park sitesThe official non-profit organization of the US national park service is set to receive the largest grant in its history, a $100m gift the fundraising group described as transformative for the country's national parks.The National Park Foundation, which Congress created in the 1960s to support national parks, will receive the donation from the Indianapolis-based foundation Lilly Endowment Inc. The park foundation described the gift on Monday as the largest grant in history benefiting US national parks.This article was amended on 26 August 2024. An earlier version referred to Yellowstone in Montana, but it is mostly in Wyoming. Continue reading...

Much of the land near the atomic bomb's birthplace was converted to recreational areas, but toxic waste remainsSoil, plants and water along popular recreation spots near Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, are contaminated with extreme concentrations" of plutonium, a new study has found, but calls for the federal government to act have been dismissed.Michael Ketterer, a Northern Arizona University scientist and lead researcher on the project, said the plutonium levels in and around New Mexico's Acid Canyon were among the highest he had ever seen in a publicly accessible area in the US during his decades-long career - comparable to what is found in Ukraine at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. Continue reading...

From the merveille du jour to the burnished brass, Britain's 2,500 species of moths are all special in their own way

Incident happened as tour group of 25 was visiting Breiamerkurjokull glacier in south-east of countryAt least one person has died and two others are missing after an ice cave partially collapsed as a group of tourists was visiting a glacier in southern Iceland.

Major report released at 4pm on Friday with no media release or a press conference from Tanya Plibersek

Dion George says avoiding extinction of African penguin is his objective, and settling case aimed at stopping fishing around major colonies will helpSouth Africa's new environment minister has said he wants to stop African penguins from going extinct by taking measures including settling a case brought by two environmental charities to stop fishing around the birds' major colonies.BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCOB) said they want an extension of no-fishing zones around six beaches and islands where the penguins breed, after failing to reach an agreement with fishing industry groups demanded by the previous minister. Continue reading...

Countries hope big emitters will take more financial responsibility for emergency relief and damage claimsThe outcome of an international court case on climate change obligations could strengthen the legal position of Caribbean islands claiming damages from developed countries after natural disasters, lawyers say.Brought to the international court of justice (ICJ) by the UN general assembly, the case seeks clarification on what states can be held liable for in relation to climate change. Continue reading...

The International Whaling Commission has become a zombie' and should vote to disband itself, insists Peter BridgewaterPeter Bridgewater has a clear message for the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that he once led. The organisation - which played a critical role in ending whale hunting in the 1980s - has become a zombie institution that should vote to disband itself at its meeting next month.The commission did great work, but that was last century," Bridgewater told the Observer last week. Today it has - like so many other international conventions or organisations - outlived its useful life and should be quietly disbanded." Continue reading...

Australia must urgently halt new fossil fuel projects and scale up investment in renewable energies such as solar and wind

From Starbucks to local cafes, Petaluma's reusable cup project aims to cut down on rampant plastic wasteA line of purple, plastic cups grows longer on the counter at Avid Coffee as Sam Gearhard takes orders at the Petaluma, California, store on a recent weekday morning.The cups might seem unassuming, but they're part of a groundbreaking new scheme that has the community buzzing. Instead of the single-use paper or plastic cups that Gearhard would usually line up for the barista slinging espresso, he's passing over shiny new reusable cups that bear the slogan Sip, Return, Repeat". Customers who need their lattes to go can take the purple cups with them, then return them to one of 60 bins scattered across downtown Petaluma when they've finished. Each cup comes with a trackable QR code to help monitor results. Continue reading...

The Chips and Science Act has led to a production boom but experts say it could generate huge amounts of toxic wasteProducers of PFAS chemicals and semiconductors, a key part of most electronics, have formed a group that develops industry-friendly science aimed at heading off regulation as the facilities release high levels of toxic waste, documents seen by the Guardian show.The group, called the PFAS Consortium, was formed during a boom in domestic semiconductor production spurred by the Chips and Science Act that has led to $825bn in investment aimed at shoring up the industry. Continue reading...

Nearly 300,000 people forced to flee after monsoon rains, which have killed 42 people in India and BangladeshNearly 300,000 Bangladeshis are taking refuge in emergency shelters from floods that inundated vast areas of the country, disaster officials said.The floods were triggered by heavy monsoon rains and have killed at least 42 people in Bangladesh and India since the start of the week, many in landslides. Continue reading...

Charity is considering removing some of the water and there is also concern over the sediment on the canal floorWhen sodium cyanide leaked into a Walsall canal this month, leading to major incident being declared and miles of the waterway closed off, the Canal & River Trust was working in uncharted territory.The charity is used to fighting pollution in the waterways that crisscross the country, but this type of chemical - and the extreme risk to public health that came with it - was not something it had tackled before. Continue reading...

Freshwater Habitats Trust is asking citizen scientists to help find ponds that support declining speciesMore than one in five ponds in the UK could be designated as priority habitats" but only about 2% have been identified so far, experts say.Priority ponds are recognised as being the highest-quality water spaces for freshwater wildlife, often providing a last refuge for plants and animals that have been lost from surrounding areas. The designation can help preserve ponds threatened by proposed construction and other landscape changes. Continue reading...

I see looming political and environmental threats - and too few willing to address them. Where is the urgency?The world is on fire. At no time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 has the world looked so dangerous, nor has an end to its 56 conflicts - the highest number since the second world war - seemed so distant and so difficult to achieve.

Forecasts suggest June-to-August output will exceed the high recorded in 2022 despite relatively poor weatherGreat Britain is on track to generate record levels of solar power this summer, according to expert forecasts, as the government pushes forward plans to triple the country's solar energy capacity by the end of the decade.Solar power output between June and August is likely to climb by almost a quarter compared with the same period last year. Continue reading...

Stings needing medical attention surge by 41% as rising sea temperatures due to the climate crisis boost reproductionCosta Brava resorts in Spain's north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and drive species farther north.Between May and August almost 7,500 people on the Catalan coast sought medical attention for jellyfish stings - a 41% increase on last year. The stings are painful and can have unpleasant consequences for anyone with compromised immunity. Continue reading...

The mining magnate does away with the constraints of arithmetic, simultaneously demanding lower taxes and more public spendingA striking feature of the age of billionaires in which we now live is that billionaires are more and more inclined to give us the benefit of their opinions. In the past year alone, we've had Marc Andreessen's retro-futurist Techno-optimist manifesto", Mark Zuckerberg's pronouncements on the future of media, and, most recently, a cosy chat between Elon Musk and Donald Trump (whose billionaire status is often touted but remains questionable). In most cases, the main effect has been to demonstrate that, however good they are at making money, billionaires are no smarter than the rest of us when it comes to politics or the ordinary business of life.Australia's richest billionaire by far is Gina Rinehart, who has massively multiplied the already substantial fortune she inherited from her father, the late Lang Hancock (Rinehart claims she inherited more debts than assets). Like Hancock, who spent decades on the rightwing fringe of Australian politics, Rinehart has never been shy about expressing her opinions. Continue reading...

New male baby of near-threatened species born at Werribee open range zoo to be named in public competition in coming weeks

Type of microplastics used in skin exfoliators and banned in UK and US found in 45% of Indian products studiedIndia should consider a ban on microbeads in personal care products, in line with many other countries in the world, say researchers.Microbeads are a type of microplastic used in cosmetic products to exfoliate the skin. After a public uproar when the plastics were highlighted in Europe a decade ago, they were banned in the Netherlands in 2014, with many other countries following, including the US in 2015 and the UK in 2018. Continue reading...

For all the initial noise against low-traffic neighbourhoods, most people like them and they can benefit the public purseHere are four words you might not expect from me, as a former Conservative aide, so make the most of them: Louise Haigh is right. Half right, anyway. Labour's new transport secretary has taken some flak - though not, interestingly, a vast amount - for interviews this week stating that councils that create low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), 20mph zones and bike lanes on their roads will have my full support".An abdication of responsibility," huffed the Sun. Labour declares war on drivers," announced GB News, though no one was actually quoted to this effect - the shadow transport spokesperson, Helen Whately, said only that Labour seems unable to take a common sense approach".Andrew Gilligan was transport adviser to Boris Johnson in Downing Street, and cycling commissioner for London 2013-16. Continue reading...

For centuries, having a pigeon as a pet was seen as a status symbol - now a new wave of fans are praising them as loving, smart and sort of chill'Pidge is a New York City It Girl. Over 50,000 followers tune into her TikTok to learn her beauty routine or see her posing on the subway. She's invited to book launches, where she mingles with other influencers. She loves statement bags: her newest is brat green.Oh, and Pidge is short for Pidgey, as in pigeon - she's a bird. Continue reading...

Turnout gear sold in Massachusetts and Connecticut must be free of toxic forever chemicals' by 2027 and 2028Massachusetts and Connecticut are the first two states in the US to ban the use of toxic PFAS forever chemicals" in protective gear worn by firefighters.Turnout gear, including jackets, pants, boots, gloves and other protective equipment that firefighters wear is treated heavily with PFAS that makes it resistant to water and heat, and helps the textiles breathe. Continue reading...