Environment news

• Microplastics in soil pose global threat by acting like ‘Trojan horse’ to deliver toxins

  16-09-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Plastic surfaces form hotspots with an increase of antibiotic-resistant genes, study findsMicroplastics act like a “Trojan horse” delivering pollutants, pesticides and bacteria through the soil, a five-year multinational research project has found.The EU-funded project, which has so far resulted in 22 peer-reviewed studies, found microplastics in the soil of all 227 agricultural fields it tested across 11 European countries. The researchers said this poses a global threat,
  
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• Datacenter rush will create ‘tsunami’ of discarded electronics, report says

  16-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Global push will triple toxic e-waste annually in 25 years, filling enough shipping containers to circle globe six timesThe ongoing campaign to build thousands of massive datacenters for AI will create a “tsunami” of discarded electronics, putting the world on a course to triple its annual generation of toxic e-waste in the next 25 years, a new report projects.The electronic trash AI generates in the next 25 years could fill enough shipping containers to encircle the globe six times,
  
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• ‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season

  16-09-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  US grapples with federal firefighter shortage as crews say they’re spread thin and lack resources during unrelenting year of fireFirefighters battling enormous wildfires in the United States say the federal government is failing them at a time when supercharged blazes have made their jobs exponentially more dangerous.While the US continues to grapple with a critical shortage of federal firefighters – with especially large gaps in essential management positions – the Trump admin
  
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• Company behind failed Surrey oilfield project sells site at massive loss

  16-09-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  New owners apply for permission to extract oil in Horse Hill despite landmark ruling from supreme court in 2024After years of trying to dig for oil in Surrey, the company behind the drilling project that was turned down in a landmark supreme court ruling has sold off the site for a fraction of the money it spent on it, and rebranded as a clean energy company.Meanwhile, the new owners, who picked up the site for £1m, are applying, once again, for permission to dig. Continue reading...
  
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• Record heatwaves bring Britain’s second-best butterfly season in 16 years

  16-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Volunteers counted almost 1.4m common butterflies and moths, with painted ladies up 335% on last yearThe recording-breaking heat of 2026 delivered the second-best British butterfly season of the past 16 years, according to the Big Butterfly Count.The largest insect count in the world, in which more than 100,000 volunteers counted almost 1.4m common butterflies and day-flying moths, confirmed what many people experienced – a noticeable profusion of butterflies during the five-heatwave summe
  
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• Plantwatch: The insect-eating alpine plant that proves Darwin was right

  16-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Study shows Saxifraga candelabrum traps and digests midges – just as the evolutionary biologist predicted back in 1875In 1875, Charles Darwin predicted that Saxifraga candelabrum, a small alpine plant, could eat insects.Its leaves, petals and stems are smothered in tiny, sticky hairs and – just as the evolutionary biologist suspected – the sweet glue on the hairs can lure and trap midges before digesting them with an enzyme. Continue reading...
  
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• People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

  16-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin AmericaNature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities
  
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• Drama on the trail cam – this is Somerset’s version of the snow leopard | Derek Niemann

  16-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Frome: We’ve been trying to help out struggling hedgehogs, and finally we have a sighting. But how long should we intervene for?Deep into the night, and out of our sight, tiny claws rake over plastic. The animal skitters halfway through a pipe, then stops. A hunter five times its weight is on its tail, but it is safe from harm, and not just because the tunnel is too narrow for the hunter to enter. Curiosity killed the cat’s predatory thoughts with a face full of prickl
  
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• Country diary: Drama on the trail cam – this is Somerset’s version of the snow leopard | Derek Niemann

  16-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Frome: We’ve been trying to help out struggling hedgehogs, and finally we have a sighting. But how long should we intervene for?Deep into the night, and out of our sight, tiny claws rake over plastic. The animal skitters halfway through a pipe, then stops. A hunter five times its weight is on its tail, but it is safe from harm, and not just because the tunnel is too narrow for the hunter to enter. Curiosity killed the cat’s predatory thoughts with a face full of prickl
  
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• The rubbishscapes of Essex: why our buried trash is back to haunt us – podcast

  16-09-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2023: Landfill sites have swallowed many a beauty spot along the Thames estuary in the past 50 years. Now, as those dumps start to disgorge tonnes of mouldering detritus into the river, it truly feels like the Age of ConsequencesBy Tim Burrows. Read by Sam Swainsbury Continue reading...
  
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• Airlines should pay for CO2 removal if Heathrow expands, say climate advisers

  16-09-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions Heathrow airport should be allowed to expand only if airlines pay for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the government’s climate advisers have said.Building a third runway and new terminals, as some in government want to do, would breach the UK’s carbon budgets and make reaching net zero by 2050 impossible, on current policies, according to the
  
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• The women saving Borneo: battling fire, patriarchy and super El Niño on Indonesia’s peatland frontlines

  16-09-2026 03:18 via theguardian.com
  Fire threatens Kalimantan’s rainforests. On the peatland frontlines, a group of local mothers is defending their community. Words and Photography: Garry LotulungIrma puts on her heavy rubber boots as she prepares for a volunteer firefighting shift in her village of Sungai Putri, on the Indonesian side of Borneo island.Dressed in full safety gear she heads into fire zones on her motorbike, the air thick with toxic smoke. Continue reading...
  
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