Environment news

• How can you treat your pet for fleas without harming nature?

  18-02-2025 18:11 via theguardian.com
  
  With studies showing flea treatments can damage rivers and kill baby birds, experts suggest other optionsThe chemicals used in standard flea treatments are polluting waterways and having a drastic effect on wildlife in the UK, killing songbird chicks.Vets usually advise owners to treat their pets every month or so, even if they do not have fleas, but scientists are now urgently calling for the government to reassess the environmental risk of pesticides used in the treatments and to restrict them
  
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• ‘It feels enveloping and calming’: the London house wrapped in cork

  18-02-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Designer Nina Woodcroft has created an energy-efficient family home that is also a useful conversation starterFor most homeowners a request from a passerby to touch the exterior of their house would probably raise eyebrows. But for the owner of Nina’s House, which is covered with unusual and striking cork insulation panels, it is not only a common occurrence but is welcomed.The conversations may start with curiosity but much of the time lead to lengthy, passionate discussions on how to mak
  
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• Jon Davis on how the UK government is tackling the climate crisis – cartoon

  18-02-2025 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
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• ‘Triangle of death’: will Italy finally tackle mafia’s toxic waste dumping?

  18-02-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Cancer rates have soared in Casalnuovo di Napoli, Italy, where burying or burning of waste has poisoned water and landSoon after her son, Antonio, was born, Marzia Caccioppoli moved to Casalnuovo di Napoli, a town surrounded by countryside on the outskirts of Naples, to get away from the chaos and pollution of the sprawling southern Italian city.“Antonio was a strong and healthy boy, but I wanted him to grow up in a place where he could breathe clean air,” she said. Continue reading.
  
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• ‘An unprecedented situation’: EPA plan for LA wildfire cleanup stirs protests over toxic dangers

  18-02-2025 15:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Demonstrators have protested against an expedited cleanup process that would involve using a beloved beach as a toxic waste sorting site This weekend, more than a hundred demonstrators protested against a new plan by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use a local beach as a toxic waste sorting site, to process debris from the Palisades fire. They waved signs saying “Save Our Beaches” and “Sort Toxics at the Burn Site” as they walked up and down the path along Wi
  
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• Early warning system for climate tipping points given £81m kickstart

  18-02-2025 14:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Ambitious UK project aims to forecast climate catastrophes using fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection, patterns of plankton blooms and moreAn ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping points will combine fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection and the patterns of plankton blooms with artificial intelligence and the most detailed computer models to date.The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), which backs high-risk, high-reward projects, has aw
  
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• ‘The path forward is clear’: how Trump taking office has ‘turbocharged’ climate accountability efforts

  18-02-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Make polluters pay’ laws, led by blue states AGs, and accountability suits will be a major front for climate litigation for the coming yearsDonald Trump’s re-election has “turbocharged” climate accountability efforts including laws which aim to force greenhouse gas emitters to pay damages for fueling dangerous global warming, say activists.These “make polluters pay” laws, led by blue states’ attorneys general, and climate accountability lawsuits w
  
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• I’m obsessed with fish that clean other fish: they remember their clients, much like a hairdresser

  18-02-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I’m campaigning for legal protection for cleaner fish, because no one has done a proper assessment of the impact of removing them from Scottish reefsI was in my 50s when I first became aware that cleaner fish existed, when I met a fisher who sold them to Scottish salmon farms. Each year, around the world, such farms use more than 60 million cleaner fish to eat – or “clean” – parasites off other fish. But the natural habitat of the cleaner fish is the reef.On a reef,
  
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• There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here’s how to survive if that happens | George Monbiot

  18-02-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers – the rest of us will have to fend for ourselvesThough we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal government by Donald Trump and Elon Musk could trigger a series of converging and compounding crises, leading to social, financial and industrial failure.There are several possible mechanisms.
  
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• Sunscreen’s impact on marine life needs urgent investigation, study finds

  18-02-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The chemical compounds that block UV rays may lead to bleaching of coral and a decrease in fish fertilityUrgent investigation is needed into the potential impact sunscreen is having on marine environments, according to a new report.Sunscreens contain chemical compounds, known as pseudo persistent pollutants, which block the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and can lead to bleaching and deformity in coral or a decrease in fish fertility. Continue reading...
  
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• Fossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions

  18-02-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lobbyists argued it was unfair for their industry to be treated the same as others as end product – oil and gas – inevitably produced emissionsExperts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries.The government is embroiled in a row over whether to allow a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, to go ahead, with some cabinet members arguing it cou
  
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• Country diary: Each tree here is a story in ancient harmony | Mark Cocker

  18-02-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Deep Dale, Derbyshire: Hazels are a local speciality, but my favourites are the hawthorns, which are smothered in vegetation from trunk to tipThe bottom part of this Plantlife reserve, where it meets Monsal Dale, has some of the finest trees I’ve found in the Peak District. Not for their age or massive size, but for what you might call their entangled condition. A recent find is an old pollarded horse chestnut whose sinuous limbs wave wildly, and every one of them is completely moss-a
  
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