Environment news

• Self-imposed lockdowns, surveillance fears and forced separations: life for California’s undocumented farmworkers

  28-07-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Undocumented migrants form the backbone of the ‘salad bowl of the world’ – Trump’s crackdown has led to hyper-vigilanceDriving into the Salinas valley, about two hours south of San Francisco, hand-painted signs fly by, advertising cherries, pistachios, avocados and garlic.From above, the valley looks like a quilt stitched together out of a thousand shades of green – the fields of lettuce, spinach and strawberries that give the region its nickname, “the salad b
  
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• I was terrified of bees – until the day 30,000 of them moved into my house | Pip Harry

  28-07-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Two huge swarms have made themselves at home inside author Pip Harry’s house – but learning to live together revealed bees can be excellent housematesGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAs a child, I was allergic to bees. Just one sting on my fingertip could swell my whole arm. I was allergic to most things – dust, cat hair, pollen – and was always clutching an inhaler, sniffling into my sleeve and keeping a safe distance from stinging insects.As an adult, when my
  
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• Tilting at windmills? Trump’s claims about turbines fact-checked

  28-07-2025 14:21 via theguardian.com
  
  The US president has taken a swipe at wind power as the blades visible from his Turnberry golf course turnThe wind turbines visible from Donald Trump’s Turnberry and Menie golf courses have long enraged the president. At a press conference at his Ayrshire resort announcing a trade deal with the EU this weekend, Trump launched into an unprompted tirade against windfarms, instructing European countries to get rid of theirs. He was visiting Turnberry for the first time since the nearby onshor
  
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• The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you

  28-07-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Microplastics have been found in the placentas of unborn babies, the depths of the Mariana Trench, the summit of Everest and the organs of Antarctic penguins. But how do they travel through the world, and what do they do to the creatures that carry them? Here is the story of how plastic contaminates entire ecosystems – and even the food we eat. Illustrations by Claire Harrup Continue reading...
  
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• Weather tracker: Cooldown in sight for south-east Europe after scorching heatwave

  28-07-2025 11:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Refreshing northerly airmass to bring abrupt end to extreme heat, offering respite for residents and firefightersAfter enduring a relentless stretch of searing temperatures, relief is finally in sight for south-east Europe. The Balkans, which have been scorched by a brutal heatwave over recent weeks, have seen daily maximum temperatures soar, culminating in a peak on Saturday with widespread temperatures of 40C (104F) and above across Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and neighbouring regions.Turkey als
  
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• ‘We want Starlink’: from isolation to integration – what happened to the Korubo people after contact?

  28-07-2025 10:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Once cut off in Brazil’s Javari valley, communities are increasingly turning to the trappings of the outside world – from the internet to solar power and biscuits – with as yet unknown effects on their health, culture and futureRead more on this story: ‘A computer, a radio, a drone and a shotgun’: how missionaries are reaching out to Brazil’s isolated peoplesXuxu wants a metal cooking pot big enough to hold a whole monkey. Not long ago, his people, the Korubo,
  
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• ‘Climateflation’ could push up UK food prices by more than a third by 2050, report says

  28-07-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Increasingly extreme weather a threat to production and supply chains in Britain and elsewhere Britain is at risk of a worsening “climateflation” crisis amid the fallout from increasingly extreme weather that could drive up food prices by more than a third by 2050.Sounding the alarm over the financial impact for UK households, the Autonomy Institute thinktank said that climate-induced price increases for everyday food items risked pushing almost 1 million people into pover
  
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• Country diary: Some bats need a little help to get through the night | Kate Blincoe

  28-07-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: My week of nursing a long-eared bat back to health ends with me planting evening primrose in my gardenI remove a crumpled leaf from the lawn, but it moves as I touch it, soft and solid, not dry and brittle. I yelp. It’s a bat. I grab a gardening glove and pick it up, noting the huge, gossamer-thin ears, each nearly as long as its body. A brown long-eared bat, mouth open, tiny little teeth showing. It makes a buzzing noise at me.The bat needs safety, so I fi
  
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• Poison in the water: the town with the world’s worst case of forever chemicals contamination – podcast

  28-07-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When a small Swedish town discovered their drinking water contained extremely high levels of Pfas, they had no idea what it would mean for their health and their children’s future.By Marta Zaraska. Read by Myanna Buring Continue reading...
  
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