Environment news

• ‘A symbol of hope’: environmentalists choose their favourite invertebrates

  27-03-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Politicians, campaigners and charity workers make the case for their top picks, from bumblebees to blue beetlesInvertebrates are hugely important for ecosystems and the general health of our planet and there is a dizzying array of beautiful examples, from fluffy bees to glow-in-the-dark woodlice. But which do you prefer? We asked the great and good on the UK conservation scene to name their favourite invertebrate:Steve Reed, UK environment secretaryBetween 24 March and 2 April, we will be profil
  
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• ‘The nation is watching’: sewage dumps in Windermere must end, says activist

  27-03-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Ministers urged to do more after United Utilities discharged raw sewage into Unesco site for 6,327 hours last yearCelebrated by William Wordsworth, Windermere has long epitomised the natural timeless beauty of the Lake District, with millions of tourists drawn to the shores that inspired the poet. But today England’s biggest lake is, some campaigners say, a shadow of its 19th century self: its waters blighted by algae and its wildlife threatened by pollution, in a symbol of all that is wro
  
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• Small but feisty: the clever cuttlefish that changes colour to bedazzle predators

  27-03-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The flamboyant cuttlefish flashes patterns and psychedelic colours and waves its arms in a hypnotic displayMore fantastic invertebrate nominations hereIf you love a feisty rebel, look no further than the flamboyant cuttlefish, on the 10-strong shortlist for the Guardian’s invertebrate of the year 2025. It is small, smart, capable of spectacular displays and has fought against the odds to become the deadliest of its kind.This creative creature is small for its class of cephalopods, which in
  
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• First days of spring in London – in pictures

  27-03-2025 13:44 via theguardian.com
  As life starts to return to the capital’s parks and woodlands, photographer Sarah Lee has been capturing daffodils and budding plants, walkers, buskers and joggers out in the sunshine. She says: ‘Everything feels so dark right now, it’s good to know the light is coming back’ Continue reading...
  
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• England sewage spills hit record 3.6m hours last year

  27-03-2025 13:13 via bbc.com
  
  Sewage spilled into England's waterways for a record number of hours last year, the Environmental Agency says.
  
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• How countries cheat their net zero carbon targets – video

  27-03-2025 12:54 via theguardian.com
  Net zero is a target that countries should be striving for to stop the climate crisis. But beyond the buzzword, it is a complex scientific concept – and if we get it wrong, the planet will keep heating.Biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield explains how a loophole in the 2015 Paris climate agreement allows countries to cheat their net zero targets through creative accounting, and how scientists want us to fix it Continue reading...
  
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• How countries cheat their carbon targets – video

  27-03-2025 12:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Net zero is a target that countries should be striving for to stop the climate crisis. But beyond the buzzword, it is a complex scientific concept – and if we get it wrong, the planet will keep heating.Biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield explains how a loophole in the 2015 Paris climate agreement allows countries to cheat their net zero targets through creative accounting, and how scientists want us to fix it Continue reading...
  
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• US could see return of acid rain if pollution rules are quashed, says scientist who first discovered it

  27-03-2025 12:30 via theguardian.com
  Gene Likens, who first identified acidic rainwater in 1960s, said the Trump administration’s ‘rollbacks are alarming’The US could be plunged back into an era of toxic acid rain, an environmental problem thought to have been solved decades ago, due to the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of pollution protections, the scientist who discovered the existence of acid rain in North America has warned.A blitzkrieg launched by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (
  
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• US could see return of acid rain due to Trump’s rollbacks, says scientist who discovered it

  27-03-2025 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Gene Likens, who first identified acidic rainwater in 1960s, said the Trump administration’s ‘rollbacks are alarming’The US could be plunged back into an era of toxic acid rain, an environmental problem thought to have been solved decades ago, due to the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of pollution protections, the scientist who discovered the existence of acid rain in North America has warned.A blitzkrieg launched by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (
  
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• Just Stop Oil to ‘hang up the hi-vis’ after three years of climate action

  27-03-2025 12:25 via theguardian.com
  Final gathering in April will mark end of street protests although campaign to continue ‘in courts and prisons’Supporters of the climate group Just Stop Oil have announced that, after three years of disruptive protests, they are ending their campaign of civil resistance.Hannah Hunt, whose speech on Valentine’s Day 2022 marked the beginning of the campaign, made the announcement outside Downing Street in London. Continue reading...
  
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• Dying fish, polluted water and a terrible stench: the French firm accused of dumping toxic waste in Colombia’s wetlands

  27-03-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A controversial landfill near Barrancabermeja has polluted protected wetlands, causing harm to people and the environment, claim local campaignersAs a small fishing canoe darts across the still waters of the San Silvestre wetlands in central Colombia, Wilson Díaz leans over and dips his hands overboard. He cups some water and brings a palmful to his face, inhaling deeply. “It smells foul,” he says.Díaz, president of a fishing union in his home town of Barrancabermeja, k
  
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• Nearly 4m hours of raw sewage dumped in England’s waters last year

  27-03-2025 11:57 via theguardian.com
  Duration of spills by water companies up on previous year, in data described by environment secretary as ‘disgraceful’Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and coastal waters in England for almost 4m hours last year, with waterways that have the highest environmental protections subjected to days of pollution.Data released by the Environment Agency on Thursday revealed water companies discharged untreated effluent for 3.62m hours, a slight increase on last year. Continue reading...
  
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• Fears 19th Century canal could start to run dry in days

  27-03-2025 07:07 via bbc.com
  
  The operators of a 225-year-old canal warn of an "urgent" water shortage without imminent rainfall.
  
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• Weatherwatch: Could global heating wreak havoc on Earth’s satellites?

  27-03-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Changes to the thermosphere caused by climate crisis could lead to increase in collisionsChicken Licken warned that the sky was falling down, and now the climate crisis might be making that come true. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are cooling and contracting the upper atmosphere, even though these same gases warm the lower atmosphere.A new concern is now up in the thermosphere at around 125-620 miles (200-1,000km) above Earth, where the International Space Station and about 11,900 sa
  
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• Country diary: Meeting a frog at close quarters | Paul Evans

  27-03-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The Marches, Shropshire: It has been a strange road to spring this year, and full of omensThere’s a frog in the watering can. Like a genie in a lamp or a spectre banished to a vessel, the surprise at seeing the frog makes them feel more real than the object that encloses them; they’re ominous.Maybe the frog hopped into the watering can by accident and can’t get out, but now they have appeared there is a connection between us. Like the 19th-century idea of abiogenesis – th
  
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• In the hills of Italy, wolves returned from the brink. Then the poisonings began

  27-03-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Strict laws saved the country’s wolves from extinction. Now conservationists believe their relaxation could embolden vigilantesHigh on a mountain pass near the town of Cocullo in central Italy lay six black sacks. Inside were nine wolves, including a pregnant female and seven youngsters – an entire pack. They had eaten slabs of poisoned veal left out a few days earlier, dying over the hours that followed, snarls of pain fixed on their faces.Three griffon vultures and two ravens were
  
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• Is there something fishy about Labor’s environmental amendments? | Fiona Katauskas

  27-03-2025 01:59 via theguardian.com
  
  It doesn’t pass the sniff testSee more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here Continue reading...
  
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• Fake dolphins and frantic digging: the army of helpers learning to rescue New Zealand’s stranded whales

  27-03-2025 01:05 via theguardian.com
  A vast network of volunteers leap into action to save beached creatures in New Zealand, a global hotspot for strandingsOn a blustery March day in Wellington, a group of would-be whale rescuers wearing wetsuits and hi-vis vests are waist deep in the chilly waters of Scorching Bay. Between them, a two-tonne replica of a pilot whale gently rocks in the swell.On the sand, another group pours buckets of water over a replica dolphin, while some dig away the sand from beneath its fins. Occasionally, a
  
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