Environment news

• Starch-based bioplastic may be as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, study finds

  13-05-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Bioplastics, heralded for supposedly breaking down more quickly, can cause similar health problems to other plasticsStarch-based bioplastic that is said to be biodegradable and sustainable is potentially as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, and can cause similar health problems, new peer-reviewed research finds.Bioplastics have been heralded as the future of plastic because they break down quicker than petroleum-based plastic, and they are often made from plant-based material such as corn starch
  
  Read more

• I’m obsessed with protecting seals: ‘The flying ring toy was deeply embedded in her neck’

  13-05-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my lifeThere was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.It broke my heart. From that moment on, I became
  
  Read more

• Brontë country to become protected national nature reserve

  13-05-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The 1,274-hectare Bradford Pennine Gateway links eight nature sites and includes landscape that inspired sistersThe sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Brontë sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England’s biggest nature reserves.A huge new national nature reserve, to be called the Bradford Pennine Gateway, is being announced by the government on Tuesday. It will give Bradford, one of Britain’s largest and most nature-deprived cities, easier an
  
  Read more

• Country diary: The simple joys of pavement plant-spotting | Nic Wilson

  13-05-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hitchin, Hertfordshire: We have a local speciality here, the rue-leaved saxifrage, poking up in street cracks and wall crannies. It’s worth lying on the pavement forI’m a proud member of Happy (the Hitchin association of pavement plant yokels), so-called by my friend Phil, a fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll find us roaming the town centre, scanning brick walls and peering into paving crevices on the hunt for the tenacious species that thrive in these oft-overlooked habitats
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Tory energy spokesman claims UN climate experts are ‘biased’

  13-05-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Andrew Bowie says Kemi Badenoch could pull UK out of Paris climate agreementThe Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not b
  
  Read more

• Why the mighty Himalayas are getting harder and harder to see

  13-05-2025 03:20 via bbc.com
  Severe air pollution is obscuring visibility of the highest mountain peaks on Earth, hitting tourism hard.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!