by Matilda Boseley, Sanjana Jose, Michael Wade, Berti on (#70HQM)
You can now vote in the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll. Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley explains how voting works, while remaining surprisingly neutral about her bird of choice
by Stephen Starr in Athens country, Ohio on (#70HES)
Over 80% of Wayne national forest classified as suitable for logging, drawing concern from localsIn the Appalachian foothills outside Athens, Ohio, more than 20,000 acres of forest land was mined for coal in the early 20th century, destroying miles upon miles of pristine woodlands.By the 1930s, the federal government had to step in, taking it out of private hands and establishing the Wayne national forest in an attempt to prevent further degradation. In the decades since, maple, oak and other hardwood trees have taken over, returning to nature a region previously better known for extraction. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Differences over changes to environmental and legal provisions to prompt economic growth hint at chaos at heart of governmentRachel Reeves is set to announce a round of planning changes before the budget as a way to kickstart Britain's sluggish economic growth, but ministers are at odds over how radical to be.The chancellor will announce a number of moves designed to make it easier for developers to build houses and infrastructure projects, in the hope that they will fill about 3bn of her estimated 30bn black hole. Continue reading...
Sunrise Movement, which led calls for a Green New Deal, will organize against Trump's attacks on universitiesAs the Trump administration cracks down on both environmental policies and progressive activism, the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate justice organization that popularized calls for a Green New Deal, is widening its mission to fight authoritarianism.Every day, Donald Trump is seizing power and shredding the Constitution," Sunrise's executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, wrote in an open letter to Sunrise members, funders and allies. What ordinary people do in the coming months will determine whether he and his billionaire cronies can cement their grip on power and turn this country into a playground for the rich and powerful." Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Damian Carrington in on (#70GZW)
Exclusive: Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and waterThe environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has told Swedish officials she is being subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody after her detention and removal from a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian.According to the correspondence, Israeli forces are also reported by another detainee to have taken photographs where Thunberg was allegedly forced to hold flags. The identity of the flags is unknown. Continue reading...
Some parks are closed, some are trying to function with a skeleton staff - and visitors and employees are frustratedKim Nachazel had been looking forward to a road trip to Mesa Verde national park in Colorado this week. Her husband had been mesmerized by the park since he read about it in high school, and she'd planned them a full day of adventure - two tours of famous cliff dwellings, a camping spot on BLM land, and even a spot for her pup at a dog-boarding place inside the park grounds.She knew about the government shutdown, but that didn't deter her. I had hope and optimism that this park wouldn't really be affected," she says, and that we would have an amazing day exploring." Continue reading...
Tech companies' use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters' climate impact is worse than previously thoughtDatacenters' electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US's transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them - Pfas forever chemical" pollution.Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often need datacenters to store servers and networking equipment that process the world's digital traffic, and the artificial intelligence boom is driving demand for more facilities. Continue reading...
Democrats and environmental groups slam move as sick political game' and say it will drive up energy billsThe Trump administration is cancelling $7.6bn in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year's presidential election.The move comes as Donald Trump threatens deep cuts in his fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown. Continue reading...
Royal couple's desire for more privacy means 2.3-mile perimeter exclusion zone and less public land for walkersFor almost two decades Tina has enjoyed early morning walks through Windsor Great Park's ancient-oak studded open fields with the freedom to let her dog off the lead.In recent weeks, however, she has noticed disturbing changes: fencing appearing around her regular route near Cranbourne Gate, trenches being dug, hedges planted and CCTV cameras erected. Continue reading...
by Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent on (#70GTP)
Shift raises food safety and welfare concerns as imports can bypass standards for domestic producersUkraine and Poland have overtaken other EU countries to become the UK's biggest egg suppliers, sparking warnings that imports of eggs from caged hens are slipping through the back door" despite welfare pledges.Freedom of information data from the Animal and Plant Health Agency shows that, while the Netherlands supplied a large proportion of UK eggs in 2022, its share has steadily fallen. By 2025, Ukraine and Poland together accounted for more than 15m kilograms, with Spain, Italy and other southern and eastern European countries also having increased their exports. Continue reading...
EVs rise nearly a third in September compared with a year earlier, as plug-in hybrids jump by 56%British electric car sales hit a record high in September as new taxpayer subsidies helped to attract buyers in the most important month for the market.Battery EV sales rose by nearly a third in September compared with a year earlier, to 72,800, according to preliminary figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Continue reading...
NZBA had nearly 150 members but banks began leaving when Trump was re-elected on promise to drill, baby, drill'The global banking industry's net zero target-setting group has announced it will shut down immediately, amid faltering climate commitments around the world.The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which was rocked by a wave of departures after Donald Trump's re-election, said its remaining members had voted to transition from a member-based alliance and to establish its guidance as a framework". Continue reading...
Gavin Newsom, who has vetoed environmental bills before, feeling push from industry and celebrity chefs on next stepsGavin Newsom, the California governor, is facing intense pressure from industry, and even some celebrity chefs, as he weighs whether or not to sign a bill that bans the sale of cookware made with Pfas or forever chemicals".The legislation, approved by the California legislature on 12 September, comes as Newsom contemplates a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, heightening the scrutiny of his decision. Continue reading...
by Graham Readfearn Environment and climate correspon on (#70FR5)
Of 200 fires in the past 44 years, half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were in the last decadeWildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, 12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion-dollar losses from wildfires have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures - fuelled by the climate crisis - that create tinderbox conditions. Continue reading...
Kemi Badenoch's plan to scrap the Climate Change Act is reckless. Ed Miliband offers a bolder, fairer vision. The future must be built on renewablesLet's scrap Britain's successful climate law so we can burn more gas, lose investment and have higher bills. Crazy as it might seem, that is the message of KemiBadenoch's new energy strategy. The Conservative leader proposes to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act in favour of a plan to maximise oil and gas extraction", and remove all legally binding carbon targets. It's pitched as pragmatism. But it's a lurch into ideological self-harm.Britain's energy problem isn't its climate legislation, which is admired globally, backed by industry and supported by the public. It's that this country remains too dependent on volatile fossil fuels. Emissions targets are not the reason for high bills. It is gas prices, which skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine. They set UK electricity prices. In Europe, they don't - that's why bills are lower there. Rather, Mrs Badenoch is choosing to follow DonaldTrump in rolling back climate goals and seeingelectricity prices in the US rise, not fall.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Latest disposal by punk' beer company follows 37m loss and closure of 10 pubsBrewDog has sold a Highlands rewilding estate it bought with great fanfare in 2020 after posting losses last year of 37m on its beer businesses.The company paid 8.8m for Kinrara near Aviemore and pledged it would plant millions of trees on 50 sq km of land, initially telling customers the project would be partly funded by sales of its Lost Forest beer. Continue reading...
Photographer Jem Cresswell spent five years documenting the southern hemisphere's humpback whales in the waters surrounding the Tonga Trench for his new book Giants, out now Continue reading...
The battle inside No 10 about whether the PM should attend an absolutely crucial climate summit in Brazil is ludicrous. He must assert himself - and goNo sooner has Keir Starmer reshuffled his cabinet, pronounced on Reform's racist policies and made his party conference speech, than another key decision comes hurtling towards him. But this one concerns the future of the world. The issue is whether the prime minister attends the UN climate summit in Brazil next month.You may think this would not require too much thought. Two years ago, Starmer attacked Rishi Sunak for not going to a much less significant climate meeting and said that, were he prime minister, he would definitely attend.Michael Jacobs is professor of political economy at the University of Sheffield and a visiting senior fellow at the thinktank ODI Global Continue reading...
by Patrick Greenfield, Phoebe Weston and Helena Horto on (#70FNF)
Barack Obama, Prince William and Tanzanian president among many to mark death of primatologist at age of 91World leaders, friends and former colleagues have been paying tribute to the primatologist Jane Goodall, who died in California on Wednesday, aged 91.Goodall devoted her life to studying chimpanzees and other great apes, and became a global champion for primates and for conservation, helping to challenge the idea that the primates were vegetarian and that only humans could use tools. She died in her sleep from natural causes while on a speaking tour in Los Angeles, according to her institute, leading to an outpouring of dedications from around the world. Continue reading...
Experts are finding new and more humane ways to protect the last 74 southern resident killer whalesNestled between the US state of Washington and Vancouver Island, the San Juan Islands are a vibrant haven for North American wildlife. Here, all of the world's remaining 74 southern resident sub-species of orcas find sanctuary, surfacing daily from the depths of the Salish Sea.Out at sea watching the whales is Dr Deborah Giles, an orca scientist, with her colleague, Eba. Eba is a brown and white rescue dog with a remarkable nose. Found as a cold, wet, five-month-old puppy on the streets of Sacramento, she has been detecting whale scat - or faeces - since the age of four. Continue reading...
The theme of this year's Women By Women exhibition, Rooted in Resistance, is to showcase images of women defending their land and communities from destruction - by powerful people and corporations or the climate crisis. The pictures, taken by female photographers from Nepal, Cambodia, Brazil and Nigeria, will be on show at the Oxo Gallery in London from 9 to 12 October Continue reading...
Tory leader says she would replace it with cheap energy' strategy, ending decades-long consensus on climateKemi Badenoch has vowed to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Conservatives win the next election, doing away with controls on greenhouse gas emissions and dismantling what has been the cornerstone of green and energy policy for successive governments.The Conservative party leader was already committed to scrapping the UK's net zero target but repeal of the Climate Change Act would go much further. It would remove the need to meet carbon budgets" - ceilings, set for five-year periods, on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted - and disband the Climate Change Committee, the watchdog that advises on how policies affect the UK's carbon footprint. Continue reading...
Nominee companies - paid to be listed as shareholders on behalf of unnamed investors - could be reducing accountability over financial support of industry
Pontiff laments that some ridicule those who speak of global warming', days after Trump's claims of con job'Pope Leo XIV has taken aim at people who ridicule those who speak of global warming" as he embraced Pope Francis's environmental legacy and made it his own in some of his strongest and most extensive comments on the subject to date.Leo presided over the 10th-anniversary celebration of Francis's landmark ecological encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be), at a global gathering south of Rome. The encyclical cast care for the planet as an urgent and existential moral concern and launched a global grassroots movement to advocate for caring for God's creation and the peoples most harmed by its exploitation. Continue reading...
Hours before the shutdown, NPS staff began preparations to close down some parts of popular US public landsOn Tuesday evening, in the final hours before the US government shutdown, the National Park Service (NPS) began preparations to close down parts of popular public lands across the country - while trails and other open-access areas remain open.The guidance for park leaders in advance of the federal shutdown had been uncertain as the impasse loomed, raising fears that the parks could be forced to stay open without anyone to staff them. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier) on (#70ECV)
Lucy Powell and Bridget Phillipson put their cases to party members at Labour's conference on WednesdayAt the Labour conference Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has just started his speech.Responding to the news that he will announce a total ban on fracking (see 9.19am), Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said:
Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their autumn encounters with natureOnce again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months, as the UK enters a new season, we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.The article needs to be about a recent encounter they've had with nature - whether it's a bug under some leaves, a rutting stag or a garden bird. Continue reading...
by Lourdes Medrano in the San Rafael Valley on (#70EMA)
The 30ft-high wall between the US and Mexico will cut through one of the last unbroken grasslands in the west, leaving residents alarmed over the potential impact on wildlife and water useOn a late summer day in September, the sound of cicadas pierced the profound silence in the sprawling grasslands and gently rolling hills of the San Rafael Valley in southern Arizona. But before long, the shrill buzzing gave way to the rumble of heavy machinery sculpting an unpaved road leading to the US-Mexico border.In the distance, a deer darted across the road and disappeared into a thicket of oak trees. A few miles later, a fenced-in worker camp came into view, next to a construction site full of trucks, bulldozers and cranes. Continue reading...
An alum of Noma in Copenhagen, Dan Giusti is on a mission to transform institutional cooking - but getting fellow chefs to buy in hasn't been easyAt the Dream Mott Haven charter school this summer, more than a hundred food-service professionals lined up in the cafeteria to enjoy a school lunch prepared by the culinary team from Brigaid.Some attendees giggled like schoolchildren as they carried fire-engine-red trays filled with plates of scratch-made pernil, fried plantains and arroz con gandules through the lunchroom, taking seats at the long cafeteria tables and commiserating with strangers like the first day of school. A kale caesar side salad and diced fresh watermelon ensured that the meal met US Department of Agriculture nutrition guidelines; according to a panel discussion before lunch, it also met strict budgetary guidelines - with ingredients totaling a mere $2.71 per meal. Continue reading...
Brown bear's nearly 100,000 votes leads him to victory despite suffering for most of season with broken jawThe merely chubby have been winnowed away," a naturalist intoned. We are left with a clash of titans."After a record-breaking week of public voting, Katmai national park and preserve in Alaska has announced the winner of its biggest Fat Bear Week yet". Continue reading...
The National Climate Risk Assessment is attacked in the Daily Telegraph, while wind turbines became a frightening obstacle for firefighting planes and solar panels a source of mountains of landfill waste
by Damien Gayle, environment correspondent on (#70E52)
Species' population has almost halved in a generation and urgent action is needed to protect it, analysis findsThey are an iconic part of Britain's natural world, inspiring myths, fairytales and at least one of its most-loved children's book characters. But the number of toads hopping through British grasslands, forests and gardens has almost halved in a generation.Vast numbers of toads are being lost every year," said Silviu Petrovan, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge, who was lead author on the study showing just how uncommon the common toad is becoming. Continue reading...
Efficiency employees reportedly told to avoid climate change' and similar terms in their work in latest clampdownThe US Department of Energy has told employees in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to avoid using the words climate change" in what seems to be the latest incident in a crackdown on discussing the climate crisis in the US government.Please ensure that every member of your team is aware that this is the latest list of words to avoid - and continue to be conscientious about avoiding any terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration's perspectives and priorities," says an email from an agency acting director seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...
Investors in talks about supporting up to 15 government-backed nature restoration projects in ScotlandPrivate investors are in talks about spending tens of millions of pounds on government-backed nature restoration projects in Scotland, the country's conservation agency has said.NatureScot said its so-called nature investment partnerships were on course to raise more than 100m for up to 15 projects, as it sought to fend off detailed criticisms of its fundraising efforts by an economics thinktank. Continue reading...
An image of a magnificent frigatebird silhouetted against a total solar eclipse by Canadian photographer Liron Gertsman was chosen from more than 25,000 images as the grand prize-winner in 2025's largest bird photography competition. Young bird photographer of the year was awarded to Tomasz Michalski Continue reading...