Environment news

• Food supplements could help bees cope with climate crisis, research suggests

  15-07-2026 20:00
  Insects in study fared better in cold when given a probiotic and prebiotic mix alongside their usual sugar dietFood supplements for honeybees could help the insects better withstand temperature stresses linked to a changing climate, early research suggests.Scientists found that worker bees fed a mixture of probiotics and inulin, a plant-derived prebiotic, survived prolonged cold exposure better than bees given an ordinary sugar diet. Continue reading...
  
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• My neighbours and I were left with no water this week. Why was I the only one who seemed annoyed?

  15-07-2026 18:23
  A burst pipe left me high, dry and desperate to wash my hair. But around me, everyone seemed stoic and unsurprised - no rolling of eyes, tutting or, God forbid, speaking ill of the water companyOn Monday morning, the water coming out of my tap was but a dribble. Disappointing. I checked the water company website and there was something about some problem somewhere that was being resolved. It was sorted. Then Tuesday evening, uh-oh, not even a dribble. Not again, surely. Back to the water company
  
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• Wildfires in Ontario make Toronto air quality worst in world

  15-07-2026 18:08
  Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellowSmoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US.Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir, the Swiss technology company that racks glo
  
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• Australia has a love-hate relationship with cats – but under all the emotion is a fascinating history | Jodie Stewart

  15-07-2026 17:00
  We got our first feline hero in 1971 when Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his pet Trim was discoveredIn 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year after London’s Crystal Palace debuted its first show. By 1885, “cats were seldom treated very well” in Australia, according to a writer in the Victorian Almanac that year – but they were pleased to report that Australians were starting to appreciate them more.The colonial newspapers were also be
  
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• ‘I’ve never worked with so many conservatives’: the Texans fighting the Big Bend border wall

  15-07-2026 15:00
  Residents across party lines say Trump’s proposed wall threatens their homes, livelihoods and wilderness along the Rio GrandeLast February, 41-year-old Molly Walker posted an Instagram story: a photo of herself standing in the desert, sunglasses hooked over the front of her shirt, jeans slung low beneath her exposed midriff. She held a protest sign fashioned from a pizza box, a hand-drawn heart framing the words “Border Cultura”, with “NO WALL” scrawled beneath.The
  
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• Extreme temperature warnings in place as ‘heat dome’ bakes US

  15-07-2026 15:00
  Americans warned to be on alert for heat-related illness as parts of country experience record high temperaturesExtreme heat warnings are in place for large swaths of the United States this week, as an unusual weather pattern eclipses record temperature highs.In Billings, Montana, residents experienced a sweltering 111F (43.9C) on Sunday, the hottest day in its history. Salt Lake City in Utah also hit an all-time record high on Sunday at 109F (42.8C). Boston has seen more 90F (32.3C) days than a
  
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• The battle over peat: why do some gardeners still insist on using it?

  15-07-2026 14:00
  Peat bogs are essential to the environment, holding twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. But in the UK, 80% are damaged, most of what is extracted is used in horticulture – and some campaigners fear the problem is getting worse‘I don’t see how I can possibly do my job and eat mushrooms,” says Sally Nex, a campaign advocate for the Peat-Free Partnership. “An awful lot of the food you buy in the supermarket is grown in peat: field mushrooms and littl
  
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• Surviving extreme heat increasingly boils down to this: access to air conditioning | Mark Wolfe

  15-07-2026 14:00
  The next great climate divide will be between countries that have the resources to adapt and those that don’tThis summer, much of the media’s attention has focused on record temperatures across Europe and the United States. Television coverage has been filled with familiar images: heat maps shaded deep red, schools closing, rail lines slowing, wildfires spreading and emergency rooms treating growing numbers of people with heat-related illnesses.Public officials have responded with eq
  
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• As Europe’s heatwaves get more dangerous, here are four ways we can protect ourselves and others

  15-07-2026 13:03
  In the newsletter: From avoiding flights to checking on vulnerable neighbours, there are steps we can all take to fight the effects of extreme heat• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereFrom the comfort of a friend’s air-conditioned car last weekend, I watched a dozen sweaty men on a “beer bike tour” chug booze while pedalling through Berlin, as the city broke its temperature record with 39.2C heat. Few wore hats, and their tender pink necks s
  
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• Blockades, marches and human shields: Bolivia’s farmers resist as land opened up to industry

  15-07-2026 12:00
  Indigenous groups organised mass protests over a series of deals by the president, Rodrigo Paz, that prioritise agribusiness and mining interestsFrom her home in the Bolivian Amazon, Vivian Palomequi walked for a month and more than 560 miles (900km) to the capital, La Paz. She arrived in late April to protest over a law she fears would open the door to accelerated deforestation and land privatisation. “We declared a state of emergency and started marching,” says Palomequi, who leads
  
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• Shipwrecks of Shackleton and Scott recreated in 3D digital form after deep sea expedition

  15-07-2026 10:00
  Canadian scientists visit remains of polar exploration vessels in ‘golden era for shipwreck investigating’Moments after devouring the final glimmers of light, the seafloor offered nothing but darkness and silt. Then the bow appeared.More than 1,000ft (305 metres) below the surface of the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Canada, the skeleton of the final ship used by the famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton appeared in its silty grave. Continue reading...
  
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• England risks building new ‘death traps’ as experts warn of overheating crisis

  15-07-2026 08:00
  
  Vulnerable people more at risk as research finds only half of local authority plans require cooling strategiesEngland risks constructing a new generation of “death trap” buildings that can fatally overheat unless the government tightens standards and prioritises climate safeguards, planning experts have said.Fears are growing about the plight of vulnerable people in heatwaves, with research this week suggesting that 2,700 people had died in the May and June heatwaves in England and W
  
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• Drivers charging electric cars handed shock parking fines

  15-07-2026 08:00
  
  EV owners were sent hefty PCNs but say some signs in private car parks fail to warn of fees to park and recharge carDoes refuelling your car class as parking? The answer appears to be yes if it’s an electric vehicle. Guardian Money has been contacted by several readers who were fined after charging their cars away from home.The motorists report being caught out by signs that fail to make clear that charging points are subject to parking tariffs or to store opening times. Also, they ha
  
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• Plantwatch: Beware a tasty mushroom with a powerful hallucinogen

  15-07-2026 07:00
  Anyone eating Lanmaoa asiatica could have visions for days of tiny people running and jumping aroundLanmaoa asiatica is a bolete mushroom, prized for its delicious taste and hugely popular in Yunnan province, China, where it is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. But anyone eating the mushroom needs to be careful because it also gives hallucinations of lots of tiny people about 2cm tall wearing brightly coloured clothes, all jumping, running, climbing and being generally p
  
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• Country diary: The rewards of sloping off down an old railway line | Derek Niemann

  15-07-2026 06:30
  Frome, Somerset: I feel like a walking carriage, trundling down Colliers Way, glimpsing hedgerows and hayfields and, best of all, one of the original tracksIf there is such a thing as a level playing field in the Mendip Hills, I have yet to find it. Not one street has “Rise” in its name, for nigh on every road has a rise (and fall). Folk here walk, run and cycle up the steepest of climbs. The former Guardian journalist Matthew Engel once interviewed an elderly yet sprightly man in a
  
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• ‘Unprecedented’ changes in UK climate are normalising extremes, report says

  15-07-2026 01:01
  
  Annual State of the UK Climate analysis finds last four years in UK are in top five hottest on recordThe UK’s climatic extremes are becoming increasingly normal, a report has found, with last year the hottest on record and further “unprecedented changes” likely to break the record again soon.Data stretching back to 1884 shows the UK has never experienced a year as hot as 2025, according to the annual State of the UK Climate report, with temperatures pushed to dizzying heights b
  
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• Seven Britons among 12 foreign nationals killed in Spain’s deadly wildfires

  15-07-2026 00:38
  Fire broke out last Thursday in the southeastern province of Almería, which is home to many foreign residents
  Seven Britons are among 12 foreign nationals killed in wildfires in southern Spain, authorities said.Officials said 12 of the 13 victims were foreign nationals after completing postmortem examinations after the fires that swept through Andalusia. Continue reading...
  
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