Environment news

• Net zero by 2050 'impossible' for UK, says Badenoch

  18-03-2025 19:17 via bbc.com
  
  The Tory leader says the target is impossible "without a serious drop in our living standards".
  
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• Green campaigners attempt citizen’s arrests of Thames Water executives

  18-03-2025 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Chris Weston and Alastair Cochran targeted by group who accuse them of causing a public nuisanceEnvironmental campaigners have attempted citizen’s arrests of the chief executive and chief financial officer of Thames Water on suspicion of causing a causing a public nuisance.The campaigners accuse Chris Weston and Alastair Cochran of five to seven counts of the offence, which is regularly used against protesters, including illegal discharge of sewage, mismanagement of customer funds and oper
  
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• A spring dance and a fish protest: photos of the day – Tuesday

  18-03-2025 15:59 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Victoria’s unique dolphin population threatened by legacy of ‘forever chemicals’

  18-03-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  New study finds dolphins, including critically endangered Burrunan, have among the world’s highest levels of chemicals banned decades agoGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt has been half a century since governments around the world, faced with overwhelming evidence, started banning early generations of what we now call forever chemicals. Industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and the notorious pesticide DDT had been widely used – D
  
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• Too many urban deer is ‘an impending disaster’ – still, we owe them an apology

  18-03-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Witnessing near-miss roadkill on a daily basis makes me wonder if we can be better neighbors to wildlifeHeart racing, I hold my breath and brace to witness the impact.The spindly fawn crosses first, tottering its way across the two-lane artery that borders my house. I watch a truck approaching in the opposite direction and wait for it to slow down. Will it? Continue reading...
  
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• I’m obsessed with cave diving. This is the closest environment we have to space

  18-03-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Some of the caves I dive in are hundreds of thousands of years old and the marine life is unique. But they can be very dangerous placesCave diving is like swimming through the history of the planet. There are remains of both humans and animals but also stalactites and stalagmites. These cannot form when the cave is flooded, so you can see when parts of it were submerged and when it was dry.Yet when I’m in a cave, time does not tick. There is no natural light, so the cave looks the same, wh
  
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• Hope for endangered penguins as no-fishing zones agreed off South Africa

  18-03-2025 12:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Deal will restrict fishing near colonies on Robben Island and Bird Island for 10 years, after long debate between industry and conservationistsEfforts to stop the critically endangered African penguin from going extinct took a step forward on Tuesday, after South African conservationists and fishing industry groups reached a legal settlement on no-fishing zones around six of the penguins’ major breeding colonies.Sardine and anchovy fishing will not be allowed for 20km around the penguin co
  
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• Did you catch that? On the boats with Cornish fishers – in pictures

  18-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Flying lobsters, cuttlefish ink and stargazy pie … Jon Tonks got on his kayak to spend 18 months photographing the incredible fishing communities around England’s south-west coast Continue reading...
  
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• Countries must bolster climate efforts or risk war, Cop30 chief executive warns

  18-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Ana Toni also criticises the UK’s plans to slash overseas aid to fund defence spendingCountries looking to boost their national security through rearmament or increased defence spending must also bolster their climate efforts or face more wars in the future, one of the leaders of the next UN climate summit has warned.Some countries could decide to include climate spending in their defence budgets, suggested Ana Toni, Brazil’s chief executive of the Cop30 summit. Continue reading...
  
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• Astronauts Butch and Suni begin journey home after nine months in space

  18-03-2025 07:07 via bbc.com
  
  The Nasa astronauts prepare to head to Earth after an eight-day mission turned into nine months.
  
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• Thames Water data reveals raw sewage discharges in rivers rose 50% in 2024

  18-03-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Almost 300,000 hours of raw effluent poured into waterways, figures show, up from 196,000 in 2023A record 50% more raw sewage was discharged into rivers in England by Thames Water last year compared with the previous 12 months, data seen by the Guardian reveals.Thames, the largest of the privatised water companies, which is teetering on the verge of collapse with debts of £19bn, was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of raw sewage pouring into waterways in 2024 from its ageing
  
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• Country diary: How can a bird appear so fast and so slow at the same time? | Mark Cocker

  18-03-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Blackclough, Derbyshire: Golden plovers are stunning to watch, and known for their sparkling appearance in flight – but they set the close observer a conundrum as wellBy 7.30am, the sun was up over Axe Edge and was coming down through a sky of pure starling-egg blue. The column of smoke arising from a far farmhouse chimney was the only sign of human presence, and in all that sunlit quietness the songs of displaying golden plovers – the first for the year and among the earliest I&rsqu
  
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• A mysterious millionaire and the quest to live under the sea – podcast

  18-03-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Before billionaires dreamed of setting up communities on Mars, the ocean was seen as the next frontier in human habitation. Reviving this dream is Deep, a project backed by an anonymous millionaire to the tune of more than £100m that aims to establish a ‘permanent human presence’ under the sea from 2027. Guardian Seascape editor Lisa Bachelor visited the project just outside Chepstow on the Welsh border, and tells Madeleine Finlay what scientists hope to learn about the ocean b
  
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• A ‘bridge to prosperity’? Guinea’s junta touts opening of mining megaproject

  18-03-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Vast Simandou complex has 2.8bn tonnes of iron ore deposits, but many worry about its environmental costDeep in the south of Guinea lies Simandou, an impressive mountain range with a lucrative underbelly: the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposits, amounting to an estimated 2.8bn tonnes.In 2013, it was at the centre of one of the biggest mining financial scandals in history, stemming from an ownership tussle over development licenses awarded in the 1990s during the regime of the west A
  
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