Environment news

• A ‘floating university’ and a pink mosque: Dhaka builds for a wetter future – in pictures

  07-07-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Across the Bangladeshi megacity, designers are adapting to the climate crisis Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Millions of tonnes of toxic sewage sludge spread on UK farmland every year

  07-07-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Experts call for stricter regulation as current rules set in 1989 require testing for only a few heavy metalsMillions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste, and experts say the outdated current regulations are not fit for purpose.An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England’s sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damag
  
  Read more

• ‘A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming

  07-07-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Sludge used as fertiliser on farmland contains harmful chemicals that scientists suspect are entering food chainFor decades, sewage sludge has been quietly spread across Britain’s farmland, marketed as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. But insiders and scientists warn that hidden within it is a mix of household and industrial chemicals such as Pfas (“forever chemicals”), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormone-damaging chemicals and microplastics, threatening the long-term health of the
  
  Read more

• Brics summit in Brazil tries to reinvent collective approach to world’s problems | Jonathan Watts

  07-07-2025 14:23 via theguardian.com
  
  President Lula rebukes wealthy countries for retreating on climate and trade but bloc is divided and unbalancedAs the US retreats from the international stage, the most powerful political alliance in the global south has come together in Brazil this week to try to revive and reinvent a collective approach to the world’s problems.The summit of the Brics group of nations at the Museum of Contemporary Art on the edge of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro is both a dress rehearsal for the Bel&eac
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Floods are swallowing their village. Trump’s EPA cut a major lifeline for them and others

  07-07-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The administration has wiped over $2.7bn in climate grants, hitting underserved communities across the US the hardestThis story was originally published by FloodlightAcre by acre, the village of Kipnuk is falling into the river. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Poem of the week: Honey Hunters by Rachel Bower

  07-07-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Humanity’s ancient relationship with bees is tracked from our earliest times through a history of ‘woman’s work’ to our collective peril todayCuevas de la Araña (Spider Caves), Valencia, Spain, circa 6,000 BCE Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• ‘We’re told we won’t amount to anything’: is it possible to change the fortunes of young people living in England’s coastal towns?

  07-07-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Young people living by the sea are often in some of the most deprived areas of the country, but they say they want the chance to thrive. The Guardian is embarking on a year-long series to tell their storiesYoung people in the UK: share your experiences of living in a coastal townOn the beach in Weston-super-Mare, on the south-west coast of England, there is a hint of a chilly breeze in the air but the sun is out and the clouds are faint, whispy streaks across a pleasantly blue canvas. A couple o
  
  Read more

• Politicians are retreating from net zero because they think the public doesn’t care. But they’re wrong | Rebecca Willis

  07-07-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our research shows people are strongly in favour of measures to tackle the climate crisis. They just need to be listened toRebecca Willis is professor of energy and climate governance at Lancaster UniversityThere’s not much that unites our fractured House of Commons at the moment. But on one issue, politicians from all parties seem to agree: the great British public don’t really want ambitious action to meet net zero goals. They may concur on this – but they are wrong.On the ri
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Weather tracker: supercharged storms hit Texas’s ‘Flash Flood Alley’

  07-07-2025 09:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Storms that led to deadly flash floods were heightened by moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm BarryTexas was hit by catastrophic flash floods on Friday after powerful thunderstorms unleashed torrential rainfall across the region. Kerr County, in the south-central Hill Country, received more than 300mm of rain in just a few hours.As of Sunday evening, at least 68 people had been confirmed dead, and 28 girls were missing after flood waters tore through a summer camp. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Ocean current scientists are very upset and you should be too | First Dog on the Moon

  07-07-2025 08:41 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s bad news for the Antarctic sea ice and everyone who relies on it being there (everyone)Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Bird cherries, caterpillar silk and a beautiful dead hedge | Susie White

  07-07-2025 07:21 via theguardian.com
  Allendale, Northumberland: How better to use a reluctantly felled tree than to turn it into a wind-filtering wildlife habitat, practical barrier and cost-free fence?A ghost tree shines silver against the greenery of the hillside wood. Sheathed in silk from its trunk to the tips of its branches, this bird cherry has been completely defoliated by caterpillars. These are the overwintered larvae of bird cherry ermine moths, Yponomeuta evonymella, which, having spun their protective webbing, can devo
  
  Read more

• Starwatch: Venus will pass through the ‘golden gate’ of two star clusters

  07-07-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The brilliant planet will move across the invisible line between the pair and appear 3 degrees away from the star AldebaranThis week, Venus will pass through the so-called Golden Gate of the Ecliptic. Although the name has risen to prominence with science popularisers in recent decades, its exact origin is unknown.It references two star clusters in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. The Hydes and the Pleiades lie on either side of the ecliptic, which is the plane of the solar system. As such, t
  
  Read more

• Young people in England’s coastal towns three times more likely to have a mental health condition

  07-07-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  They are suffering disproportionately and without help, say researchers, and unless they are given a voice, problems will continue to mount upRead more: ‘We’re told we won’t amount to anything’: is it possible to change the fortunes of young people living in England’s coastal towns? Young people living in the most deprived stretches of England’s coastline are three times more likely to be living with an undiagnosed mental health condition than their peers inla
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!