Environment news

• Time for some straight talking on the cost of clean energy. It isn’t a free lunch | Nils Pratley

  08-07-2025 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  UK ministers should update the public on the outlook for bills as the price of overhauling the system is adding upThe government’s decision on zonal pricing for electricity – the issue that divides the energy industry like no other – is due any day. Whichever way ministers jump, it would be a good moment to update consumers on the outlook for their bills in the “sprint” to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2030. Does the government still think cleaner
  
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• ‘Like fly-tipping’: ministers ignoring pleas to cut sludge fertiliser use

  08-07-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Defra warned three years ago of farmland contamination by water firms’ sewage-derived productGovernment ministers have ignored Environment Agency pleas to tighten rules on the use of sludge fertiliser for three years, despite the regulator having said that water company attitudes towards the substance are “akin to fly-tipping on to agricultural land”, it can be revealed.Sludge, sometimes referred to as biosolids, is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process that is
  
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• ‘If you hear your town is scum all the time that sinks in’: the young people in Blackpool refusing to be written off

  08-07-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The seaside resort has become a byword for coastal deprivation but its youth say there’s a world of creativity bubbling underPhotographs by Polly BradenMichael knows exactly how he feels about his home town of Blackpool. “It’s just brilliant,” he says. Walking along the beachfront past people soaking up the sunshine on benches and kids playing in the sand overlooked by Blackpool Tower, he throws out his arms with a huge grin. “For me, it has been an amazing place to
  
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• As the flood risk rises around the world, what can we do to adapt?

  08-07-2025 14:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of people are killed each year by floods – and climate breakdown is making them more likelyDeluges of water are washing away people, homes and livelihoods as extreme rains make rivers burst their banks and high seas help send storm tides surging over coastal walls. How dangerous is flooding – and what can we do to keep ourselves safe? Continue reading...
  
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• Did National Weather Service cuts lead to the Texas flood disaster? We don’t know | Rebecca Solnit

  08-07-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We all need to be careful about how we get information and reach conclusions – especially nowWhy exactly so many people drowned in the terrible Independence Day floods that swept through Texas’s Hill Country will probably have multiple explanations that take a while to obtain. But it’s 2025, and people want answers immediately, and lots of people seized on stories blaming the National Weather Service (NWS).There were two opposing reasons to blame this vital government service.
  
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• ‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees

  08-07-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts scrambling to understand losses in hives across the country are finally identifying the culprits. And the damage to farmed bees is a sign of trouble for wild bees tooBret Adee is one of the largest beekeepers in the US, with 2 billion bees across 55,000 hives. The business has been in his family since the 1930s, and sends truckloads of bees across the country from South Dakota, pollinating crops such as almonds, onions, watermelons and cucumbers.Last December, his bees were wintering in
  
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• Country diary: As I cycle along, it feels as if each yellowhammer is handing me on to the next | Ed Douglas

  08-07-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Kelso, Roxburghshire: It’s rare I hear this delightful bunting at home, but here in the Borders their numbers suggest farmers are doing the right thingsStaying still and attentive are thought to be essential to appreciate nature. Whereas I, cycling west on quiet lanes outside Kelso, was neither. Somewhere to my left was the Tweed. Somewhere further left lay the Cheviot Hills. Far to my right were the Lammermuirs. Between these ranges lies some of the best arable land in the Borders, land w
  
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• Farmers turned soldiers, fields full of mines and a rural exodus: how Russia is punishing Ukraine’s countryside

  08-07-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Agriculture is woven into Ukrainian culture, but daily attacks, a loss of workers and land contamination are tearing the industry apartIn a field outside the eastern Ukraine city of Sumy, Mykola Mondrayev, 55, is moving the wreckage of a Russian drone. A pickup truck stands nearby, mounted with a gun, the only defence against the deadly unmanned aerial devices.Three days a week, Mondrayev serves with a territorial defence unit. The other days he works his fields. Continue reading...
  
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• Melting glaciers and ice caps could unleash wave of volcanic eruptions, study says

  08-07-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Research in Chile suggests climate crisis makes eruptions more likely and explosive, and warns of Antarctica riskThe melting of glaciers and ice caps by the climate crisis could unleash a barrage of explosive volcanic eruptions, a study suggests.The loss of ice releases the pressure on underground magma chambers and makes eruptions more likely. This process has been seen in Iceland, an unusual island that sits on a mid-ocean tectonic plate boundary. But the research in Chile is one of the first
  
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