Environment news

• What does an air purifier do and can it help with wildfire smoke?

  16-07-2026 18:27 via theguardian.com
  As wildfires burn in Canada and parts of the US, air purifiers can be useful when the air outside is unhealthyWith smoke from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota spreading across the US, more than 20 states have issued air quality alerts. Local leaders urged people to stay inside as “unhealthy” air quality levels affected the US midwest and north-east.For several decades, air quality in the US was trending up by many measures. Data indicated that fine, inhalable airborne particulate ma
  
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• Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law

  16-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlifeEurope live – latest updatesNewly revealed documents from inside the most powerful farming lobby in Europe show how it delayed, gutted and overturned some of the most sweeping farming reforms in EU history, including a plan to cut pesticide use in half.Copa Cogeca describes itself as the voice of 22 million farmers across the continent, and enjoys unrivalled access to EU lawmake
  
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• Emergencies on planet Earth: images from the climate crisis – in pictures

  16-07-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  From fierce flooding and escaped pigs to birds that can’t fly due to the weight of plastic in their stomachs, mankind’s biggest challenges are on stark display at Summit Photo 2026 Continue reading...
  
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• How birds are coping in the heatwave

  16-07-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Birds are unable to sweat but they keep cool by seeking shade and bathingAs we humans sweltered in the record-breaking late June heatwave, we might not have spared much thought on how birds were coping.Unlike us, birds are unable to sweat, so instead they have evolved other ways to avoid overheating. These include seeking shade beneath trees, bushes and hedgerows, spreading their wings to allow cooler air to circulate around their body, and opening their bills to cool down, the same as dogs do w
  
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• Country diary: From the beech trees of home to the hot Surrey Hills | Virginia Spiers

  16-07-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  St Dominic, Cornwall, to Reigate: Along the way, this nervous passenger passes rolling downlands of cereals, Stonehenge, and of course, lorries loaded up with strawAt the start of the second heatwave, we visit Jack’s twin and her family in Surrey. From our landmark clump of beech loaded with mast, the car brushes through lanes of rampant deciduous growth woven with bedstraw, honeysuckle and incipient fruits of bramble. Our neighbour’s cut and cleared hayfield overlooks luminous flowe
  
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• Robots, AI and drones: how the Dutch navy is using tech to transform its sea defences

  16-07-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Uncrewed systems are the future for armed forces and the Netherlands is leading the way ‘to keep people out of danger zones’On each side of the target ship, a black vessel keeps a watchful distance. Defender 1 and Defender 2 are the eyes and ears of the navy – but they have nobody onboard, and their paths are controlled by a computer system.This is the future of the Royal Netherlands Navy, according to Capt Sjoerd Feenstra, head of the expertise centre for unmanned systems. He
  
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• How global heating supercharged floods in West Africa, displacing thousands

  16-07-2026 02:01 via theguardian.com
  Adaptation to frightening new normal and reducing emissions further and faster is critical, scientists warnDozens of people drowned, hundreds had to be rescued and thousands were displaced when floods struck the coasts of west Africa last month.Now scientists have concluded that the rains that caused the floods were supercharged by climate breakdown. Global heating, they say, turned what should have been a routine weather event into a climate catastrophe. Continue reading...
  
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