Environment news

• Austrian glaciers disintegrating due to climate change, say scientists

  13-03-2026 20:09 via bbc.com
  Scientists say nearly all of the significant glaciers in the Austrian Alps have shrunk.
  
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• Oil giant forced to pay £6m after major spill

  13-03-2026 17:37 via bbc.com
  A major incident was declared when a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco.
  
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• Who are the key figures in the sewage crisis, and where are they now?

  13-03-2026 13:00
  With anger stoked by Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business, we look at what has happened to some of the main playersWater companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been reve
  
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• Weather tracker: Southern France under yellow alert after severe thunderstorms

  13-03-2026 11:26
  US also experiences severe convective storms, while record-breaking heat recorded in parts of South AfricaOn Monday 9 March, severe thunderstorms affected parts of southern France, with several departments including Hérault, Var, and the Alpes-Maritimes put under yellow alert for heavy rain.Some of the heaviest rainfall totals came from a cell that passed over the Var department. Examples of high rainfall totals taken from some private weather stations come from the towns of Carqueiranne
  
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• ‘Massive boost of serotonin!’: How a dose of nature is treating mental illness

  13-03-2026 10:00
  A project in London is helping hundreds of people, providing a genuine alternative to traditional treatments“What you’ve got there from the sun on your face is a massive boost of serotonin!” says Alison Greenwood, founder of Dose of Nature, the charity successfully prescribing time outside as a treatment for mental health.Greenwood is striding round Pensford Field, a tiny patch of wildness tucked behind houses in south-west London. The bright day is illuminating the early black
  
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• Why US disaster response workers won’t miss the ‘singularly destructive force’ that was Kristi Noem

  13-03-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: In the wake of the DHS secretary’s firing, staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency share how her tenure has left the US less able to the respond to the climate crisisDonald Trump made his first cabinet-level firing last week when he expelled Kristi Noem. In her one year leading the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Noem sparked widespread criticism for overseeing inhumane immigration policies and avoiding questions about Immigration and C
  
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• Week in wildlife: a wet macaque, four little pigs and a stowaway fox

  13-03-2026 08:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• UK energy prices are soaring – and propagandists want to sell you a false reason why | George Monbiot

  13-03-2026 07:00
  The war on Iran has put fossil-fuel prices centre stage, but don’t believe those who tout ‘maximising the North Sea’ as our salvationThese are burning, smoking lies. As oil and gas prices soar, thanks to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, the UK’s opponents of climate policy become even shriller. Rightwing politicians, Tufton Street junktanks and the billionaire press tell us our energy security will be enhanced and our bills will fall if we abandon net zero polici
  
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• No drama, just wet feet: how the joy of puddles sums up UK weather

  13-03-2026 07:00
  We do not generally get epic tornadoes, sandstorms or avalanches, but we may get splashed by a bus on the roadPuddles, small and temporary pools of water typically formed by rainfall, hold a special place in British culture. They are the embodiment of the national weather’s tendency to produce mild inconvenience rather than drama. We do not generally get epic tornadoes, sandstorms or avalanches, but we do get wet feet, or splashed by a bus driving through a puddle.The story of Walter Ralei
  
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• Do we want to keep fixing the same issue? Unlearned lessons from the first big oil crisis

  13-03-2026 07:00
  As energy prices tripled in the 1970s due to Middle Eastern wars, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands sped up green transitionWhen Middle Eastern wars sparked an oil crisis in the 1970s, tripling energy prices and throwing economies into chaos, some countries looked beyond short-term solutions. The French made nuclear the pillar of their power system. Scandinavians insulated buildings and funnelled waste heat into homes. The Dutch built bike lanes where others wanted motorways. The Danes dev
  
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• Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

  13-03-2026 06:00
  Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlandsNearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.This article was amended on 13 March 2026 to make clear that the inaccessible trees are recorded by the Woodland Trust, but not neces
  
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• Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst?

  13-03-2026 06:00
  While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humansAs soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest wat
  
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