Environment news

• ‘It’s horrible’: one month in, the Birmingham bin strike is causing a real stink

  01-04-2025 18:12 via theguardian.com
  Locals are feeling the impact of the more than 17,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish in the city’s streets “I’m afraid to open my front door, they’re everywhere,” said Mary Dore, eyeing the ground outside her house in Balsall Heath suspiciously. “They run out from under the cars when you get in, they’re going in the engines. They chewed through the cables in my son’s car, costing him god knows how much.“There’s one street I can’t w
  
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• The invertebrate of the year competition is here. Who will you vote for? – video

  01-04-2025 17:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Invertebrates may be the unsung heroes of the planet but they have received a lot of love and recognition from Guardian readers. A dazzling array of nominations have flown in for insects, arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals and many more obscure creatures for our invertebrate of the year competition. Natural history reporter Patrick Barkham reviews this year’s shortlist of 10Vote for the beast that may be as ruthlessly predatory as us – the fen raft spider Continue reading...
  
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• A gentle giant: the shy wētāpunga is adept at living in the shadows

  01-04-2025 17:13 via theguardian.com
  
  New Zealand’s docile, solitary and elusive ‘god of ugly things’ does wonders for the forest-floor ecosystemAre you sick of throwing yourself on the altar of unrealistic beauty standards? Do you long to celebrate the delightfully monstrous, to give the spiny stuff of shadows their day in the sun? Then consider the mighty wētāpunga – an endemic New Zealand insect so revered for its unconventional beauty its name means “god of ugly things”.This forest b
  
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• ‘Is it “woke” to care about the environment?’: how Trump’s cuts are dismantling global conservation work

  01-04-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Hundreds of projects supported by USAID have been thrown into doubt, as fears grow of an increase in crimes such as poaching and traffickingWhen the guns finally fell silent in 1992, little was left alive in Gorongosa national park. During the 15 years of Mozambique’s civil war – in which more than a million people died – the country’s wildlife also paid a terrible price. Poaching for meat and ivory was so intense that the small surviving elephant population rapidly evolv
  
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• ‘The ice is not freezing as it should’: supply roads to Canada’s Indigenous communities under threat from climate crisis

  01-04-2025 12:18 via theguardian.com
  Northern Ontario is seeing a ‘shorter window’ on only overland routes for vital deliveries to remote First NationsAt first there was no answer on the satellite phone. But on the third call, Donald Meeseetawageesic heard his sister’s voice. “We need somebody to come and tow us out,” he told her.It was a warmer-than-normal night in early March and Meeseetawageesic, the elected band councillor for Eabametoong First Nation, was stranded in a 4x4 truck on the dark winter
  
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• Average person will be 40% poorer if world warms by 4C, new research shows

  01-04-2025 09:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts say previous economic models underestimated impact of global heating – as well as likely ‘cascading supply chain disruptions’Economic models have systematically underestimated how global heating will affect people’s wealth, according to a new study that finds 4C warming will make the average person 40% poorer – an almost four-fold increase on some estimates.The study, by Australian scientists, says average global GDP per person will be reduced by 16% even if
  
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• ‘The ultimate circular economy’: how coral holobionts conjure magnificence from nothing

  01-04-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  These creatures evolved over millenia to create nature’s finest circular economy, but are now struggling to surviveThere’s no preparing for a first encounter with a thriving coral reef: your attention ricochets between dramas of colour, form and movement. A blaze of fire coral, darting clown fish, crimson sponge, electric blue ray … a turtle! Your heart soars, your head spins. Nowhere else will you encounter such density and diversity of life.Corals are the architects of all t
  
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• Outback Queensland inundated by worst flooding in 50 years – video

  01-04-2025 07:03 via theguardian.com
  The flood-affected area in outback Queensland has grown to double the size of Victoria after experiencing its worst deluge in 50 years. Water broke the banks of a makeshift levee in Thargomindah in the state's south-west, forcing the evacuation of 100 residents. Stock losses are expected to be catastrophic and more rain is forecast for the coming weekOutback deluge pushes Queensland towns to the brink: ‘Out here it’s drought or floods’Rain records to fall in Queensland with Tow
  
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• RHS develops ‘robust lawn’ that works for people, pollinators and pets

  01-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Full of clovers and dandelions, with a hard-wearing rye grass, the approach is environmentally friendly and usableIs there a perfect formula for a hard-wearing flower lawn that is good for pollinators, dogs and people?The immaculately mowed green has fallen out of favour in recent years owing to its lack of support for biodiversity. But there have also been complaints about the tall wildflower meadows that grow during “no mow May” and are less usable for humans and pets. Continue rea
  
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• Country diary: The twittering and squalling of redwings speak only of spring | Mark Cocker

  01-04-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wincle, Cheshire: These UK winter visitors herald their departure by tuning their voices to the flock’s exuberant tuneless wanderingsOn the path to Wincle Minn, I heard redwings singing from the treetops. It was notable because, while 700,000 of them winter in these islands, barely 50 stay to breed. Yet the birds migrating back to Iceland or Scandinavia, lulled by increases in day length and temperature, start to tune up until the whole flock catches this pre-song habit. The
  
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• ‘Playing gods with the cradle of life’: French Polynesia’s president issues warning over deep-sea mining

  01-04-2025 01:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Moetai Brotherson fears environmental risks of controversial practice and says independence from France must not be ‘rushed’Read more Pacific leaders: in their wordsFrench Polynesia’s president has issued a stark warning over the risks of deep-sea mining, saying it will be allowed in his territory “over my dead body” as he argues the potential for environmental damage outweighs any benefits.Moetai Brotherson’s comments to the Guardian come as countr
  
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