Environment news

• Deaths in France surged 30% during hottest week of record June heatwave

  03-07-2026 18:52
  Public health authority says 2,025 excess deaths probably an underestimate and that it expects toll to rise furtherThe number of deaths recorded in France surged by nearly 30% during the hottest week of the record-breaking heatwave that scorched much of Europe last month, the public health authority has said, adding that it expected the toll to rise further.Public Health France said on Friday there had been “an increase of 29.1%, corresponding to 2,025 additional deaths compared with the p
  
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• Weather tracker: Heatwave breaks June temperature records across Europe

  03-07-2026 11:20
  UK provisional peak of 37.7C shatters previous record by huge margin, while Germany hits all-time high of 41.7CLast week’s heatwave across western Europe shattered national June records and set new all-time highs.The UK recorded a provisional high of 37.7C at Lingwood in Norfolk on Friday 27 June, smashing the previous June record of 35.6C, set in 1976. Such a margin is exceptionally rare: temperature records are typically broken by 0.1C or 0.2C, not a remarkable 2.1C. Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife: Neil the seal, a pink grasshopper and condors in love

  03-07-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• The battle for access to Jamaica’s billion-dollar beaches

  03-07-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: Activists are accusing the government of privatising the coastline to support the country’s thriving tourism industry, at the expense of locals• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereEvery year, millions of visitors from across the globe visit Jamaica to enjoy its gorgeous beaches, fuelling a multibillion dollar tourism industry. But, in recent years, its picture-perfect coastlines have become a battleground for access afte
  
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• Ruined utopias: the afterlife of the Amazon’s forgotten company towns – in pictures

  03-07-2026 08:00
  For decades, foreign firms established settlements in the Brazilian Amazon to support extractive activities, only to eventually abandon the buildings and workers. The remains show human resilience as nature reclaims the land Continue reading...
  
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• Weatherwatch: how thunder is made

  03-07-2026 07:00
  Sound of thunder varies depending on distance of listener from lightning as atmosphere muffles and absorbs sound A bolt of lightning heats the air almost instantly to as high as 30,000C, causing explosive expansion and a supersonic shock wave that becomes thunder. What that thunder sounds like to a listener depends largely on where they are.Nearby lightning produces a distinctive snap or crack, or a startling explosive boom. Large, complex lightning with multiple segments generates a peal of thu
  
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• ‘Scavenger’ dolphins increasingly rely on trawlers for food in overfished Adriatic, say scientists

  03-07-2026 06:00
  In one area 76% of fishing boats were followed, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parentsBottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic are increasingly following trawlers to scavenge for food, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parents, a study has found.“These days the easiest way to find [bottlenose dolphins] is to look for trawlers,” said Giovanni Bearzi, a co-author of the study and the president of Dolphin Biology and Conservation in Italy. “Many
  
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• Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years

  03-07-2026 06:00
  
  Guardian recreates audio landscape of past filled by loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lostImagine a deafening abundance of birdsong so loud it wakes your children at dawn; the chirrup of house sparrows, the chattering of starlings, the melody of the wren, and the clear high-pitched flute of blackbirds saturating the garden, reverberating around your local park, dominating your neighbourhood from early morning to evening twilight.So loud is the song of the thrush that the naturali
  
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• Wildfires sweep across France – in pictures

  03-07-2026 03:55
  Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in south-western France as the country swelters through a record-breaking heatwave. The fire started at a campsite, destroying dozens of mobile homes before spreading to the marina area, where thick, toxic smoke blanketed the boats. The fire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday Continue reading...
  
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• Race to control wildfires in southern France – in pictures

  03-07-2026 03:55
  Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in southern France as the country swelters through a record-breaking heatwave. The fire started at a campsite, destroying dozens of mobile homes before spreading to the marina area, where thick, toxic smoke blanketed boats. The fire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday [• This gallery’s headline and subheading were amended on 3 July 2026; an earlier version referred to south-western France] C
  
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• Race to control wildfires in south-western France – in pictures

  03-07-2026 03:55
  Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in south-western France as the country swelters through a record-breaking heatwave. The fire started at a campsite, destroying dozens of mobile homes before spreading to the marina area, where thick, toxic smoke blanketed boats. The fire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday Continue reading...
  
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