Environment news

• Can hope save the planet? An endangered parrot that is beating the odds can help us find out | Helen Pilcher

  08-10-2026 17:05 via theguardian.com
  A new global biodiversity report strikes an encouraging note. But we cannot rest on our laurels – and resilience is keyThe new Living Planet Report is out. Published every two years, it assesses the health of the natural world and, historically, it’s made for gloomy reading.Take 2024’s report, which showed global wildlife populations had plummeted by 73% in 50 years and that ecosystems were being pushed toward collapse. Continue reading...
  
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• As monarch butterflies migrate for the fall, meet the Chicago woman trying to protect them

  08-10-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Claudia Galeno-Sánchez has turned her home into a sanctuary for the insects by planting native milkweed and wildflowers – and sharing her experienceAlong the concrete streets of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, a vividly colored home stands out among the rest.Over the past few years, Claudia Galeno-Sánchez has transformed her modest family home, which she shares with her husband and two children, into a sanctuary and educational space dedicated to the monarch butterfly.Ga
  
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• Britons kept in dark about scale of climate crisis, say viewers of ‘first-of-its-kind’ emergency briefing

  08-10-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Nine out of 10 people felt motivated to act after watching film outlining threats to food security, economy and public healthThe British government must be honest about the scale of the threat posed by climate and nature breakdown, researchers have said, after nine out of 10 people surveyed after watching a briefing on the issue felt more motivated to act.Last November, in the “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing”, nine experts gave stark assessments in Westminster Hall in
  
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• How a scientist used Britpop to reach Mars

  08-10-2026 07:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Colin Pillinger died believing that Beagle 2 had not landed, and now his work is being celebrated around the UK.
  
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• Wonky wych elm in County Down crowned Tree of the Year

  08-10-2026 07:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  It is the first time a tree in Northern Ireland has won the national title since it was launched in 2014.
  
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• Why are there so many mushrooms around this year?

  08-10-2026 07:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The RHS says the hot, dry summer followed by autumn rain could lead to record sightings.
  
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• Margaret Hamilton, whose software helped land Apollo 11 on the Moon, dies at 90

  08-10-2026 07:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Pioneering computer scientist led the development of the software for Nasa's Apollo mission and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  
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• 'The wood is alive': Ranger retires after 38 years

  08-10-2026 07:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  William McLaughlin leaves a "lasting legacy" of care at Bourne Woods in Lincolnshire, bosses say.
  
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• UK bluefin tuna comeback shows nature can recover, says WWF

  08-10-2026 07:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The tuna is one of several wildlife recoveries highlighted in a major new report from WWF.
  
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• Stockpile food – and wash your hands: is that really how to prepare for environmental catastrophe? | George Monbiot

  08-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The UK state is dumping its responsibilities on our doorsteps, while green-lighting policies that lead us closer to crisisWould you mind fixing the NHS? And while you’re at it, could you please build an anti-missile system in your garden? Then regulate the banks, replace the water mains, tax the very rich and use the proceeds to rebuild our schools. Well, come on people: what are you waiting for?I exaggerate, but this isn’t very far from the approach taken by the government’s P
  
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• Country diary: The changing face of stubble fields, those shortcuts of my youth | Nicola Chester

  08-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Linkenholt, Hampshire and Wexcombe, Wiltshire: Even to the untrained eye, traditional ones and modern, regenerative ones look very differentStubble fields, those post-harvest acres of short straws, seem to be lasting longer into the season, as farmers respond to changing practices. I have a wistful attachment to stubble fields: for so long a kind of temporary commons where, for a few redundant weeks before autumn or winter ploughing, you could shortcut across them, the dew-filled straws flicking
  
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• This is one of Norway’s most pristine fjords. So why is it being used as a dumping site for mine waste?

  08-10-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  The Norwegian government has given a permit to a mining company to release waste into Førde fjord despite a 17-year battle by campaigners and a supreme court ruling against itShortly after the Norwegian stock market closed on 17 June 2026, a few dozen local people from the small west coast town of Vevring crowded around a laptop in a school. Surrounded by children’s drawings and windows looking out over Førde fjord, they listened as news arrived from Oslo. Norway’s supr
  
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• Comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and sea turtles prove nature loss can be reversed, scientists say

  08-10-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  A landmark report reveals that the world must change the way it produces food to avoid a biodiversity collapseConservation comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and green​ sea turtles prove that global nature loss can be reversed, ​scientists have said. ​But a report warns food production must be the next ​“positive tipping point​” if the world is to avert biodiversity collapse.The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) analysed nearly 36,000 animal populations and more th
  
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• Bendy elm still standing against all odds crowned UK tree of the year

  08-10-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Hundred-and-fifty-year-old Wych elm in Newcastle, Co Down has grown sideways owing to strong windsThe “astonishing and bizarre” Bendy Tree in Northern Ireland has been crowned the winner of this year’s tree of the year competition.The wych elm tree, located in Newcastle, County Down, owes its name to its near horizontal trunk, which has grown sideways owing to the strong seaside winds coming off the Irish Sea. Continue reading...
  
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