Environment news

• Brazilian city in Amazon declares emergency after huge sinkholes appear

  21-02-2025 23:08 via theguardian.com
  
  In Buriticupu, about 1,200 people risk losing their homes, and residents have seen the problem escalate in 30 yearsAuthorities in a city in the Brazilian Amazon have declared a state of emergency after huge sinkholes opened up, threatening hundreds of homes.Several buildings in Buriticupu, in Maranhão state, have already been destroyed, and about 1,200 people of a population of 55,000 risk losing their homes into a widening abyss. Continue reading...
  
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• Labor hasn’t delivered on more effective nature laws. It’s not just embarrassing, it’s calamitous | Tim Winton

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As Ningaloo reef bleaches and an election looms, we must hold to account those who stand in the way of our safety – the small cohort profiting from fossil fuels, and the politicians who protect themLate last spring, I was part of an expedition to Scott Reef, a magnificent coral atoll nearly 300 kilometres off the Kimberley coast. And while it was a privilege to be in such a remote and wonderful place, watching rare and endemic sea life drifting past, the moment I tipped from the boat in my
  
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• Outcry as Trump withdraws support for research that mentions ‘climate’

  21-02-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  US government stripping funds from domestic and overseas research amid warnings for health and public safetyThe Trump administration is stripping away support for scientific research in the US and overseas that contains a word it finds particularly inconvenient: “climate.”The US government is withdrawing grants and other support for research that even references the climate crisis, academics have said, amid Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg upon environmental regulations and clean-ener
  
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• As the UK prepares its next carbon budget, what needs to be included?

  21-02-2025 12:02 via theguardian.com
  Expert recommendations will influence plans for energy, housing, transport industry and farming for decadesLabour will next week be confronted with stark policy choices that threaten to expose the fault lines between the Treasury and the government’s green ambitions, as advice for the UK’s next carbon budget is published.Plans for the energy sector, housing, transport, industry and farming will all be called into question in a sweeping set of recommendations for how the UK can meet t
  
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• Weather tracker: Winds batter South Africa as Storm Coral blasts parts of Med

  21-02-2025 11:40 via theguardian.com
  
  In Europe and large parts of the US it has been a week of plunging temperatures and heavy snowSevere weather hit South Africa this week, with intense thunderstorms, flooding and reported tornadoes. The South African weather service issued warnings for provinces across central and eastern parts of the country, covering the risk of torrential downpours, strong winds, hail and lightning.One tornado, in Pretoria North on Tuesday, damaged hundreds of homes, vehicles and buildings and uprooted trees.
  
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• Rolling back on climate actions may spell rise in preventable illness – study

  21-02-2025 10:40 via theguardian.com
  Net zero policies would result in fewer deaths saving UK billions, say researchersCountries that weaken or stop their net zero and climate actions may be consigning their populations to decades of preventable illness.Gains from net zero are often presented as global benefits and mainly for future generations. But less fossil fuel use also means less air pollution which results in local health gains right away. Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife: slimy capybaras, mating frogs and a rescued monkey

  21-02-2025 09:10 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Seals, sharks and spiny squat lobsters: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 – in pictures

  21-02-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The annual competition draws thousands of entries from across the world and brings together images from below the water’s surface that show the diversity and challenges of subaquatic lifeAll photographs courtesy of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: A copious display of lichen – how did it get here? | Phil Gates

  21-02-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Tunstall Valley, Weardale: It is tempting to believe that this pastel profusion is due to the arrival of a single moth last springAt last, meteorological spring is almost within touching distance. For most of February I’ve found myself searching for reassurance that it’s on the way; the first snowdrop, recklessly early hazel catkins, a precocious celandine. Then yesterday reminded me of the folly of wishing winter away, of being blind to the subtle beauty of the season.I’d
  
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• ‘To say there’s no future is counterproductive’: metal megastars Architects on grief, climate and hope for humanity

  21-02-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Consumed by anger and still mourning a brother and bandmate, the British quartet have written their masterpiece. They explain how they’re fighting self-loathing and trying to age responsiblyIn a world of low royalties and short attention spans, not many bands make it to 11 albums, much less have their 11th be their masterpiece. But over the course of 20 years, the metal quartet Architects have inched towards this milestone. The Sky, the Earth & All Between sets out its scale in its tit
  
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• Dark side of bright nights taking toll on forgotten invertebrates

  21-02-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From bats to moths, species working the night shift are suffering as light pollution soarsWhen we think about invertebrates, most of us picture bees, butterflies, worms, crabs or perhaps even a jellyfish. But did you know that at least two-thirds of invertebrates are active at night, meaning many are unlikely to be seen? Invertebrates carry out many of the same functions as their daytime counterparts, in some cases doing so with greater efficiency and variety.For centuries, artificial light has
  
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• 'Oldest horse' thrives on linseed cake and light exercise

  21-02-2025 05:22 via bbc.com
  
  Roana has recently celebrated her 46th birthday and is believed to be the oldest horse in the UK
  
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