Environment news

• The Guardian view on Labour’s climate plans: they should be central to the party’s purpose | Editorial

  27-01-2025 19:57 via theguardian.com
  An economic shift raises alarming questions about government vision, priorities and commitment to transformative policies To hear Labour’s economic message, one might wonder if Downing Street has developed an unlikely admiration for Liz Truss. Given its focus on growth through cutting planning regulations, reducing welfare budgets and removing dissenting bureaucrats, some believe Labour is in danger of echoing not just the spirit but the substance of Ms Truss’s brief, ill-fated tenur
  
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• Human case of avian flu detected in England as virus spreads among birds

  27-01-2025 18:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Second human case of H5N1 bird flu caught on farm in West Midlands but risk to public remains very low, says UKHSAA human case of highly pathogenic bird flu has been detected in England, authorities have said, as bird flu cases escalate across the country.It is only the second symptomatic human case of H5N1 bird flu recorded in the UK, after the first was detected in 2022, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. Continue reading...
  
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• Dangerous temperatures could kill 50% more Europeans by 2100, study finds

  27-01-2025 17:01 via theguardian.com
  Net increase of 80,000 deaths a year projected in hottest scenario, with milder winters failing to redress balanceDangerous temperatures could kill 50% more people in Europe by the end of the century, a study has found, with the lives lost to stronger heat projected to outnumber those saved from milder cold.The researchers estimated an extra 8,000 people would die each year as a result of “suboptimal temperatures” even under the most optimistic scenario for cutting planet-heating pol
  
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• Guardian investigation fuels class action lawsuit against petro giant

  27-01-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Marathon Petroleum said a massive fire at its Louisiana refinery caused ‘no offsite impacts’. Reporting by the Guardian and Forensic Architecture raised doubts about this claimThe huge US toxic fire shrouded in secrecy: ‘I taste oil in my mouth’Oil giant Marathon Petroleum is fighting an expanded class action lawsuit fueled by an investigation by the Guardian and Forensic Architecture, which examined a massive toxic blaze at the company’s sprawling refinery in south
  
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• Is black plastic really bad for you? Six things you should know

  27-01-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  A study identified black spatulas as a source of chemical leaks in food – but miscalculated the dosage. So how concerned should you really be?Sign up for our free Detox Your Kitchen newsletterThe black spatula was recently identified as an unexpected source of danger. A slew of coverage followed a research paper suggesting that toxic flame retardants in recycled black plastic could be leaching into food at hazardous levels. Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, one new
  
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• Sandeels vs the EU: how the puffin’s favourite food sparked first post-Brexit courtroom trade battle

  27-01-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This week the EU will argue the UK’s ban on catching the tiny fish, celebrated by conservationists, amounts to discrimination against Danish fishers“We did it!” These were the words uttered by the RSPB last year when, after 25 years of campaigning, the UK government banned fishing for sandeels in the North Sea and Scotland. The small eel-like fish might not seem a likely species to inspire a decades-long fight – but they are the treasured food of one of Britain’s ra
  
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• Notorious US chemical plant polluting water with toxic PFAS, lawsuit claims

  27-01-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Complaint says Chemours factory dramatized in Hollywood movie Dark Waters continues to pollute West Virginia river The chemical giant Chemours’s notorious West Virginia PFAS plant is regularly polluting nearby water with high levels of toxic “forever chemicals”, a new lawsuit alleges.It represents the latest salvo in a decades-old fight over pollution from the plant, called Washington Works, which continues despite public health advocates winning significant legal battles. Cont
  
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• Songbirds being killed by pesticides found in pet fur flea treatments

  27-01-2025 10:30 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Chemical in treatment for pet fleas and ticks is found in nests of blue and great tits, killing chicksSongbird chicks are being killed by high levels of pesticides in the pet fur used by their parents to line their nests, a study has found.Researchers surveying nests for the harmful chemical found in pet flea treatments found that it was present in every single nest. The scientists from the University of Sussex are now calling for the government to urgently reassess the environmental
  
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• Pet fur found in songbird nests contains high levels of pesticides, study finds

  27-01-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Chemical in treatment for pet fleas and ticks is found in nests of blue and great tits, killing chicksSongbird chicks are being killed by high levels of pesticides in the pet fur used by their parents to line their nests, a study has found.Researchers surveying nests for the harmful chemical found in pet flea treatments found that it was present in every single nest. The scientists from the University of Sussex are now calling for the government to urgently reassess the environmental
  
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• Country diary: Divers, porpoises and otters – this is a kinetic wildlife spot | Sean Wood

  27-01-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Luing, Inner Hebrides: I’ve been coming here for 50 years and you can get surprise appearances even on the two-minute ferry from the mainlandI’m two weeks into a trip to Luing – pronounced “Ling” – in the Firth of Lorn in Argyll and Bute. From my “office” on a slate beach of the best skimmers in the world, I’ve witnessed beautiful sunsets, wild storms, snow and horizontal rain. Beneath me are thousands of sea-worn slates of all sizes, spoil f
  
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• ‘Rare and threatened’: the bid to save Grampian flowers after fire disasters

  27-01-2025 00:00 via theguardian.com
  Royal Botanic Gardens scientists are heading to the Victorian national park in search of plant survivors amid the charred landscapeThe Grampians globe-pea, a critically endangered wiry shrub, had finished flowering and was fruiting when fires tore through its home in the Grampians national park, in western Victoria. The spiny plant with vibrant orange and yellow flowers is extremely rare and restricted to a handful of sites, including areas within the 76,000 hectares that burned over December an
  
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