Environment news

• Delhi imposes 'emergency' measures to combat hazardous smog

  06-11-2016 12:29
  The Delhi government on Sunday put all construction projects on hold, shut down schools and advised residents of the Indian capital to stay indoors as part of an "emergency" plan to deal with dangerous levels of air pollution. Hundreds of people, including children, on Sunday staged a protest in New Delhi over the worsening air quality, demanding immediate and effective steps from authorities. New Delhi's chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who has called the city a "gas chamber", said all construc
  
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• White storks to make historic return to London in 2026

  08-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Species extinct as breeding birds in Britain since 1416 to be reintroduced in Barking and Dagenham as part of rewilding effortAbove the roar of traffic, the rumble of the tube and the juddering construction noise of a towering new datacentre in Dagenham, east London, will soon rise a beautiful and unlikely melody: the bill-clattering of white storks.The birds will next year make a historic return to the UK capital as part of an ambitious rewilding effort to bring charismatic nature into busy cit
  
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• ‘I’m a prisoner of hope’: Olafur Eliasson on using art to bring us together to save the world

  08-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Inside Presence, the Icelandic-Danish artist’s epic new show in Brisbane, what you see changes based on where you stand or how you look – crucial when it comes to tackling the climate crisisI gasp as it comes into view: an enormous sun looming above, its surface roiling with what looks like thousands of tiny atomic explosions. It seems to notice me as well: when I stop, it stops too. It’s both awe-inspiring and unnerving.In the mirrors around the glowing orb, I spot Icelandic-D
  
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• Canada’s environmental ‘realism’ looks more like surrender | Tzeporah Berman

  08-12-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  At a time when the UK and other countries are finally taking bold steps for climate, Canada is preparing a new oil pipelineLast week, the United Kingdom did something all too rare: it chose leadership by backing science and prioritizing public safety. The Labour government announced it would ban new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, strengthen a windfall tax and accelerate phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies.These are not symbolic gestures. They are an acknowledgment that the global energy
  
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• Weather tracker: Atmospheric rivers to bring heavy rain and snow to Pacific north-west

  08-12-2025 13:05 via theguardian.com
  Flood and weather alerts in place across western half of region as parts of Iraq and Iran also face significant rainWeather alerts are in effect across the Pacific north-west this week as a series of atmospheric rivers are forecast to deliver multiple rainfall events and heavy mountain snow from western British Columbia in Canada, to Washington and Oregon in the US.More than 200mm (8ins) of rainfall is expected across the western half of Washington state and north-west Oregon by Friday, with bet
  
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• The one change that worked: I started bringing my own takeaway box to every meal – and sparked a mini movement

  08-12-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Every year, 1bn tonnes of food are wasted. I value my meals and the work that has gone into them, so I am now always prepared and ready to take home delicious leftoversI’ve always loved catching up with friends and family over a meal out. Not only is it a chance to find out the latest gossip and what everyone’s up to, but it’s also an opportunity to try out new foods and share that experience together.But looking back, I’ve realised that I’ve been guilty of contribu
  
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• ‘Zombie’ electricity projects in Britain face axe to ease quicker grid connections

  08-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Backlog delaying ‘shovel-ready’ ventures will be cleared with aim of building virtually zero-carbon power system by 2030Britain’s energy system operator is pulling the plug on hundreds of electricity generation projects to clear a huge backlog that is stopping “shovel-ready” schemes from connecting to the power grid.Developers will be told on Monday whether their plans will be dismissed by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) – or whether they will be pr
  
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• Country diary: Time for a Christmas cut of holly – and we’ve both come armed | Susie White

  08-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Allendale, Northumberland: Every winter I return to it with my secateurs, but hollies certainly know how to protect themselvesIt has become an annual ritual, the cutting of branches from this shapely holly for a winter wreath. A mixture of the wild and of things garnered from my garden, I push twigs and vines into a metal frame packed with moss from drystone walls. Resinous rosemary and pine, silver seedheads of clematis, trails of ivy, lichens, ferns, honesty – each year is different with
  
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• Zipcar’s demise means people such as me are back in the slow lane – and stuck needing their own costly car | Phineas Finn

  07-12-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The impending collapse of UK carsharing is an embarrassment for a government attempting to curb the dominance of carsZipcar, the world’s largest carsharing club, is leaving the UK. The company, which operates about 3,000 shared vehicles in Britain, has announced plans to shutter its UK operations at the end of the month. The news comes as a bitter blow to the hundreds of thousands of Britons who regularly rely on carsharing, and is a major setback in efforts to reduce emissions and traffic
  
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• Canada may approve a new oil pipeline. First Nations tribes fear another ‘worst-case scenario’

  07-12-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Mark Carney is considering lifting a tanker ban that has protected coastal communities for 53 years The distress call went out to the Canadian coast guard station after midnight on an October night. The Nathan E Stewart, an American-flagged tugboat, sailing through the light winds and rain of the central British Columbia coast, had grounded on a reef.The captain tried to reverse, moving the rudder from hard over port to hard over starboard. The boat pivoted but did not move, and the tug repeated
  
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• Canada may approve a new oil pipeline. First Nations fear another ‘worst-case scenario’

  07-12-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Mark Carney is considering lifting a tanker ban that has protected coastal communities for 53 years The distress call went out to the Canadian coast guard station after midnight on an October night. The Nathan E Stewart, an American-flagged tugboat, sailing through the light winds and rain of the central British Columbia coast, had grounded on a reef.The captain tried to reverse, moving the rudder from hard over port to hard over starboard. The boat pivoted but did not move, and the tug repeated
  
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• The loggers and ranchers are closing in but still Brazil’s Kawahiva people wait for protection

  07-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Bureaucratic delays and funding shortages stall plans to carve out a forest reserve for the uncontacted Indigenous group on the southern fringe of the Brazilian AmazonIn 2024, agents of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) walked more than 60 miles through rainforest on the southern fringe of the Brazilian Amazon on a mission to monitor and help protect a group of Indigenous people who had no contact with the modern world.What they found was a small basket freshly woven from le
  
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• ‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years

  07-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Cameras capture lone creature collecting materials for its lodge in riverside nature reserveA wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.It was filmed dragging logs and establishing a lodge in a “perfect beaver habitat” on the River Wensum at Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk for 400 years

  07-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Cameras capture lone creature collecting materials for its lodge in riverside nature reserveA wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.It was filmed dragging logs and establishing a lodge in a “perfect beaver habitat” on the River Wensum at Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk. Continue reading...
  
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• Environment Agency faces landfill tax bill worth millions to clear illegal waste

  06-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: ‘extremely unhelpful’ policy seen as deterrent to clearing thousands of dump sites across EnglandMillions of pounds in landfill tax owed to the government has to be paid by the Environment Agency (EA) if it clears any of the thousands of illegal waste dumps across the country.Of the £15m that taxpayers are paying for the clearance of the only site the agency has committed to clearing up – a vast illegal dump at Hoad’s Wood in Kent – £4m is lan
  
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• Country diary: Lapwings are birds of my childhood – finally they have returned | Kate Blincoe

  06-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: I have memories of seeing them at night, on our pyjama-clad safaris round the farm, but they haven’t been here for a decadeThere’s a shimmering in the sky and I can’t work it out. Driving, I can only snatch glimpses of flickering light. I pull into a lay-by near home. Now I can make out five or six broad-winged birds, flying in a loose flock. They are black and white and their motion reflects the low sun, flashing light and contrasting dark, like a&n
  
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• How many spiders and pseudoscorpions does it take to make one of the world’s greatest taxonomists?

  06-12-2025 00:00 via theguardian.com
  Former Perth curator Mark Harvey is one of the few people on Earth to have described 1,000 new species, many of them arachnids. Colleagues say his legacy is ‘unquantifiable’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFor most people around the world, 16 August 1977 was memorable because it was the day Elvis Presley died.“We turned the radio on when we got back in the car and that was the headline. Elvis was dead,” remembers Dr Mark Harvey. Continue reading.
  
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• Just not that into ewes: ‘gay sheep’ escape slaughter and take over a New York catwalk

  05-12-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Designer Michael Schmidt’s 36-piece collection was made from the wool of rams who have shown same-sex attractionWhen a ram tips its head back, curls its upper lip, and takes a deep breath – what is known in the world of animal husbandry as a “flehmen response” – it is often a sign of arousal. Sheep have a small sensory organ located above the roof of the mouth, and the flehmen response helps to flood it with any sex pheromones wafting about.Usually, rams flehmen whe
  
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• The dream that grew into the GreenWay – a car-free corridor from Sydney Harbour to the Cooks River

  05-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Plans that evolved over more than two decades are about to become reality as a 6km cycling, walking and nature corridor opens through Sydney’s inner westGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAbout 25 years ago, Bruce Ashley was walking beside the Hawthorne canal in Sydney’s inner west when he stopped to chat with two men planting native species next to the footpath.Ashley, an environmental planning consultant, had been thinking about how to link paths and scraps
  
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• Streets named after birds in Britain on rise as species’ populations plummet

  05-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  RSPB says growing trend for honouring species that are in decline is not matched by action on conservationBritain’s street names are being inspired by skylarks, lapwings and starlings, even as bird populations decline.According to a report by the RSPB, names such as Skylark Lane and Swift Avenue are increasingly common. Using OS Open Names data from 2004 to 2024, the conservation charity found that road names featuring bird species had risen by 350% for skylarks, 156% for starlings and 104
  
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• Fir or faux: which Christmas tree is best for the environment?

  05-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Using an already existing artificial tree until its bedraggled end will be more environmentally friendly than buying a felled pine every year, but the answer isn’t clearcut Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] it might be difficult to imagine the yuletide without one, Christmas trees are a rel
  
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• Nature recovery plan in England hit by clause allowing contracts to end with a year’s notice

  05-12-2025 12:51 via theguardian.com
  Conservationists say changes, coupled with underfunding, will curb take-up and leave less land protected for natureUK politics live – latest updatesAn ambitious scheme to restore England’s nature over coming decades has been undermined after the government inserted a clause allowing it to terminate contracts with only a year’s notice, conservationists have said.The project was designed to fund landscape-scale restoration over thousands of hectares, whether on large estates or a
  
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• Weather tracker: Heavy snow blankets parts of US as winter storms hit

  05-12-2025 11:20 via theguardian.com
  Snowfall moves south-east over Wyoming and Colorado and combines with dense fog in some areasA cold spell continued to grip parts of the US this week. After a winter storm brought 20-30cm of snow across Wisconsin, and even up to 35cm in places last weekend, the focus of the winter weather hazards shifted elsewhere early this week.A storm system moving south-east over Wyoming and Colorado brought a continuous period of snowfall until Thursday morning. Central Colorado and northern New Mexico bore
  
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• Week in wildlife: a studious deer and a partying raccoon

  05-12-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Deep-sea mining tests impact over a third of seabed animals - scientists

  05-12-2025 09:00 via bbc.com
  The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment.
  
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• What I saw reporting on the American lives cut short by killer heat

  05-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  In this week’s newsletter: Coroners can’t agree on how to count heat fatalities – and the dismantling of climate investments is leaving fragile communities exposed• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereDonald Trump’s decision to boycott Cop30, withdraw the US from the Paris agreement and illegally terminate a slew of investments in renewable energy will not change the reality of climate breakdown for Americans.In what has become an annua
  
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• ‘We can tell farmers the problems’: experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yields

  05-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Soilsmology’ aims to map world’s soils and help avert famine, says not-for-profit co-founded by George MonbiotGeorge Monbiot: Over a pint in Oxford, we may well have stumbled upon the holy grail of agricultureA groundbreaking soil-health measuring technique could help avert famine and drought, scientists have said.At the moment, scientists have to dig lots of holes to study the soil, which is time-consuming and damages its structure, making the sampling less accurate. Continue
  
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• Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot

  05-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover ProgramReport: Experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yieldsIt felt like walking up a mountain during a temperature inversion. You struggle through fog so dense you can scarcely see where you’re going. Suddenly, you break through the top of the cloud, and the world is laid out before you. It was that rare and remarkable thing: a
  
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• 60,000 African penguins starved to death after sardine numbers collapsed – study

  05-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research findsMore than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found.More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period
  
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• 60,000 African penguins starve to death after sardine numbers collapse – study

  05-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research findsMore than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found.More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period
  
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