Environment news

• Floreana giant tortoise reintroduced to Galápagos island after almost 200 years

  20-02-2026 22:00
  Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendantsGiant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thou
  
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• Weather tracker: heavy snow brings transport chaos to Romania

  20-02-2026 16:31
  Winter storm dumps more than 40cm of snow on the capital, while in France, Storm Pedro follows hot of heels of Storm NilsWhile the days are lengthening and meteorological spring is just a couple of weeks away, Romania has been firmly in the grip of winter.A storm brought blizzard conditions and heavy snowfall across much of the south-east of the country, with the capital, Bucharest, receiving 40cm of snow – far above the February average of 11cm. Continue reading...
  
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• Floaters: the coming-of-age novel inspired by the UK’s sewage crisis

  20-02-2026 12:56
  C M Taylor’s book, which will raise funds for charity, follows teenagers whose favourite swim spot is contaminatedA water company discharges sewage into a river with impunity and the government fails to stop them. The story may sound familiar, but this one is different: there’s a satisfying comeuppance all round.The ongoing saga of sewage being pumped into the Thames has inspired a new YA (young adult) novel, Floaters – and when its limited first edition is published later this
  
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• There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hume

  20-02-2026 12:00
  Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worsePlanetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere – stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI – with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for th
  
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• There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hulme

  20-02-2026 12:00
  Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worsePlanetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere – stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI – with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for th
  
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• The true cost of Ecuador’s perfect roses: how the global flower trade poisons workers

  20-02-2026 12:00
  Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communitiesThe fertile high valley near La Chimba trembles with sounds. The rhythms of brass bands and cumbia music clash like weather fronts, each playing its own beats in the Andean rain. A rainbow spans the slopes and white plastic greenhouses, protecting the region’s treasure: roses bred for beauty, shipped abroad, blooming far from home.Amid the drizzle, Patricia
  
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• Fly-tipping dog caught on CCTV in Sicily – video

  20-02-2026 11:34
  A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump rubbish bags by the roadside in an attempt to outsmart anti-fly-tipping cameras, municipal police have said. The 'canine courier' was caught on newly installed surveillance footage, prompting officers to post the clip on the city’s official Facebook page with a pointed message: 'Inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility.' The owner has since been identified and fined.Illegal dumping is a chronic problem across Italy, particular
  
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• Week in wildlife: a peek-a-boo fish, dunkin’ frogs and a white crow

  20-02-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• The heat suffocates, the fires rage – even by Australian standards, this summer is brutal

  20-02-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: The south-east of the country is suffering through the worst heatwave since 2019’s ‘black summer’, while the government continues to back fossil fuel projects • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAustralians are no strangers to blistering weather – being a “sunburnt country” of “droughts and flooding rains” is baked into our national identity. But since the 2019-20 bushfires, whi
  
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• Wood burning pollution leads to 8,600 premature US deaths a year, study finds

  20-02-2026 07:00
  Wood is primary heating in 2% of homes but contributes to producing 21% ofcountry’s wintertime particle pollutionAir pollution from home wood burning is estimated to lead to 8,600 premature deaths in the US each year, according to research.Just 2% of US homes use wood for primary heating. Another 8% burn wood for pleasure, aesthetics or supplementary heating, but combined they produce 21% of the country’s wintertime particle pollution. Continue reading...
  
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• How ‘smog capital of Poland’ saved 6,000 lives by cutting soot levels

  20-02-2026 07:00
  Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better healthAs a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.“It’s not that we have this fee
  
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• Country diary: Was this the fox version of a ‘come-hither’ smile? | Clare Stares

  20-02-2026 06:30
  Langstone, Hampshire: The vixen approached the male, her mouth slightly open, gave a brief shake of her head, then darted off againWalking the coastal path, I stopped to scan the flooded horse paddock for the kingfisher reported there in recent days. Three grey herons loitered along the fence line, hunchbacked and watchful. Where shallow pools had formed, teals dabbled and drifted in loose rafts, while a dozen little egrets fed on the margins, using their yellow feet to stir up the mud and flush
  
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• New drone unit to investigate illegal waste dumping across England

  20-02-2026 06:00
  Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4mA new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convi
  
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• Nasa boss says Boeing Starliner failure one of worst in its history

  20-02-2026 02:44 via bbc.com
  The agency released a critical report that puts the Starliner incident at same mistake level assigned to the fatal Columbia and Challenger shuttle disasters.
  
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