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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Qikiqtaruk, off Canada's Yukon coast, scientists are wielding virtual-reality cameras, 3D models and digital archives to protect the island's history and culture before it disappearsIt was early July when the waters of the Beaufort Sea crept, then rushed, over the gravel spit of a remote Arctic island. For hours, the narrow strip of land, extending like the tail of a comma into the waters, gradually disappeared into the ocean.When Canadian scientists on Qikiqtaruk (also known as Herschel Island), off the coast of Canada's Yukon territory, surveyed the deluge, they saw a grimly comical scene unfold. Continue reading...

Storm brings hail to Harden in NSW - video Continue reading...

Elementary schoolers in the San Francisco Bay Area are embarking on tasting journeys of fruits and vegetablesOn a crisp winter morning in San Francisco, a team of six-year-olds declare that their favorite fruits and vegetables are peaches and broccoli - but then again, they have yet to venture out into the farmers' market where produce they have never tried before awaits them. With handfuls of tokens, they will purchase persimmons, pomegranates, Asian pears, purple potatoes, kale and more from the farmers who grew them - then embark on a tasting journey, featuring new and familiar spices.The first-graders are visiting the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market - a Bay Area institution that draws more than 100 farmers to San Francisco's waterfront three days a week - with 22 of their classmates from Lincoln elementary. That morning, the children had ridden the subway from their school in Oakland's Chinatown into the city with parent chaperones and their teacher, Kitty Chen. Continue reading...

There's no point trying to make plans around the whims of Trump. The PM instead needs to turn to EuropeTo Elon Musk, I say this! To perform one Nazi salute at Donald Trump's inauguration, while simultaneously offering full support to European neo-Nazis, might be considered a misfortune. To perform two Nazi salutes at Donald Trump's inauguration, while simultaneously offering full support to European neo-Nazis, begins to look like carelessness.I didn't write that joke. I have cannibalised it from one by the gay Irish Victorian Oscar Wilde, a typical diversity hire who would have achieved nothing had his work not been promoted by the famously woke 19th-century British establishment. Luckily, Wilde was dead long before he had the opportunity to emigrate to the US and take an air traffic controller job from a more deserving straight white male, where his gayness would have caused planes to crash.Stewart Lee tours Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf this year, with a Royal Festival Hall run in JulyDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Heading off the environmental crisis and growing the economy are not at odds. They are two sides of a coin - as our politicians should realiseIf you care about the world we are handing on to future generations, the news on Thursday morning was dramatic. This January was the warmest on record; temperatures in 18 of the past 19 months have exceeded pre-industrial averages by 1.5C. There can be no comfort that the epoch-changing climate crisis is 20 or even 10 years away. It is already upon us.Temperatures should have been moderated this winter by cooler air over the Pacific; it did not happen. Scientists are bewildered and scared. James Hansen, doyen of climate crisis research, believes that, unless this pace of deterioration is reversed, warm ocean waters flowing from the southern to the northern hemisphere will be trapped as vast sea currents cease. Sea levels will rise to impose a civilisational threat. It is a global imperative to dial down the rate of carbon emissions. Continue reading...

David Crisafulli says infrastructure to be replaced after floods needs greater ability' to withstand natural disasters

Sometimes a branch grows so low and bushy that it blocks access to my room. I diligently cut it back

The party's agenda is about energy security, lower bills, economic growth and good jobs

On 10 January, as fires raged across Los Angeles, local portrait artist Asher Bingham made an offer via an Instagram reel: To anyone that has lost a home in the #LAfires I will draw [it] for free." She had already drawn the house of a close friend that had burned down; by offering her services more widely, she hoped to help others grieve for what they'd lost. She wasn't prepared for the response. So many people sent in photos - 1,300 and counting - that she had to recruit volunteers to keep up with demand. For Bingham, it's all about the small details: wind chimes, potted plants. Anywhere I can see people put love into their home, I draw it," she says. I'm trying to recreate a memory that only lives in their minds of the beautiful time they lived there."

Scotland's botanic gardens suffer unimaginable' loss of rare specimensFor more than a century, whenever winter came to Scotland, they stood tall against the wind and rain and snow. But last month, battered by Storm Eowyn, hundreds of rare and historic trees in the living collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh were lost.The charity has four sites in Scotland. Its tallest tree in Edinburgh, a 166-year-old Himalayan cedar, fell during Eowyn's gusts of up to 80mph, while Benmore Botanic Garden on the west coast has suffered unimaginable" devastation. Continue reading...

The Siau Nation in South Dakota is building community and climate resilience through traditional foodsOn a Wednesday summer evening on the Rosebud Reservation, members of the Siau Nation arrange 12 tables to form a U in the parking lot of a South Dakota Boys & Girls Club. The tables at the Siau Harvest Market are laden with homemade foods for sale: tortillas, cooked beans, pickles and fresh-squeezed lemonade.The market is one of many ways the non-profit increases access to traditional and healthful foods that also happen to come with a low climate impact. The Lakota, of which Siau is one of seven nations, were traditionally hunters and gatherers, but today, the Siau Co non-profit is building on both new and old traditions to fulfill its mission. Continue reading...

President said he will sign an executive order next week despite global plastics crisisDonald Trump has said that he will reverse Joe Biden's plan to phase out plastic straws across the US government, complaining that paper alternatives don't work and that a move is needed to go BACK TO PLASTIC!"Trump said in a Truth Social post that he will sign an executive order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don't work. BACK TO PLASTIC!" The US president added in a separate post that Biden's mandate" for paper straws was now dead: Enjoy your next drink without a straw that disgustingly dissolves in your mouth!!!" Continue reading...

Nine in ten traditional orchards in England have been lost since the second world war. Farmers and cider makers are now fighting for their survivalThey are a symbol of the bucolic English countryside and a staple of the West Country landscape, but since the second world war, 90% of traditional orchards have disappeared.Defined as a collection of five or more fruit trees planted in permanent grassland and managed in a non-intensive way, traditional orchards have suffered from neglect, been razed for development and converted to intensive bush orchards or alternative crops. Continue reading...

Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump's return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoilThe vast majority of governments are likely to miss a looming deadline to file vital plans that will determine whether or not the world has a chance of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown.Despite the urgency of the crisis, the UN is relatively relaxed at the prospect of the missed date. Officials are urging countries instead to take time to work harder on their targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and divest from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysis suggests development in flood regions result of Labour push for 1.5m new homes in five yearsMore than 100,000 new homes will be built on the highest-risk flood zones in England in the next five years as part of the government's push for 1.5m extra properties by the end of this parliament, Guardian analysis suggests.Building on areas with the highest risk of serious flooding is supposed to be discouraged. Experts say development should be avoided unless absolutely necessary because there is a significant chance of regular deluges, which will flood the properties, cause hundreds of millions of pounds of economic damage and make homes uninsurable. Continue reading...

Residents living near the Sarandi have long complained about pollution in the areaA small river in greater Buenos Aires was dyed a deep and worrying shade of red on Thursday after what is thought to have been a leak of dye from a nearby factory.The violent hue of the Sarandi, which runs through the municipality of Avellaneda, six miles (9.6km) south of the Argentinian capital, alarmed local residents, who have long complained about industrial pollution in the area. Continue reading...

Musk believes Tesla's rivals are more vulnerable to Trump's moves against electric vehiclesDonald Trump's attempts to slash incentives for electric cars would cause sales of the vehicles to plummet, with this effort cheered on by a seemingly confounding supporter - Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla and erstwhile champion for action on the climate crisis.Trump has said that he will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American auto workers". Continue reading...

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

We are the post-pandemic flaneurs: stepping out of social media silos to meet people and connect with the world around usWhen I moved back to London from Rome just before the second lockdown in 2020, I found a city that was hardly welcoming, with shops closed and an atmosphere of silent apprehension. Young, single people like me were only socialising online with existing friends, and opportunities to make fresh connections were rare.When I met Irenka from Poland at a literary festival, she looked as thirsty for new friends as I was. As we started complaining about the difficulties of mingling she introduced me to an app that allows people to find new pals on organised walks. I quickly downloaded it. Continue reading...

Billions of pounds from energy bill payers to run out in 2027 but could be extended as soon as MondayGreen campaigners fear ministers are poised to award billions of pounds in fresh subsidies to Drax power station, despite strong concerns that burning trees to produce electricity is bad for the environment.Drax burns wood to generate about 8% of the UK's green" power, and 4% of overall electricity. This is classed as low-carbon" because the harvested trees are replaced by others that take up carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. Continue reading...

Researchers have found a pattern indicating certain words' are used more often than others - but humans won't be speaking whale any time soon

Greenpeace says PM has swallowed industry spin whole' after plans unveiled to expand in England and WalesKeir Starmer has channelled his inner Donald Trump and promised to build, baby, build" in his push for more nuclear power stations, despite warnings from environmental groups about the industry's record for soaring costs and long delays.A day after the prime minister unveiled his plans to revamp planning rules to bring in a series of small modular reactors (SMRs) across England and Wales, Greenpeace said Starmer had swallowed the nuclear industry spin whole", and Friends of the Earth described the plans as overblown, costly hype". Continue reading...