Environment news

• Despair after 200-year-old ‘grandmother’ tree toppled for Trump’s border wall: ‘It crushes your heart’

  10-10-2026 22:57 via Environment | The Guardian
  Protesters spent months occupying an ancient cottonwood. Then a tense standoff with US border patrol came to a headA 200-year-old cottonwood tree near the US-Mexico border, known as the “grandmother”, has been destroyed to make way for the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall, despite a months-long effort by protesters trying to save it.In late July, land defenders began a tree-sit in the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona, taking turns occupying a platform high in the tree&r
  
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• Four dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

  10-10-2026 21:08 via Environment | The Guardian
  Some of deaths came from falling trees as nearly a million people are without power and rain and flooding remain a concernHurricane Isaias latest updates – liveAt least four people were reported dead on Saturday amid Isaias after it made landfall late on Friday on Florida’s panhandle as a category 2 hurricane, according to authorities.The storm also took down trees, knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands and flooded highways – but as Saturday evening approached, the
  
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• ‘We cannot accept foxes as part of our landscape’: the plan to save Australia’s threatened wildlife

  10-10-2026 21:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Draft national strategy accepts the wily invasive species can’t be eradicated but outlines steps to protect native animals most at riskSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThey dart across playgrounds on dainty paws, sneak into back yard coops to eat suburban chickens and kill more than a million native animals every day.The European red fox – a wily invasive species – is “one of the most impactful threats” for
  
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• Still wielding a chainsaw at 85: the Australians restoring nature in retirement

  10-10-2026 21:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  For a growing band of older Australians, retirement has become an unlikely second act, spent rewilding mountains, counting sea slugs and coaxing damaged country back to lifeGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhen Susan Downes stepped into the hallway of an old farmhouse for sale in York, Western Australia, she felt an oddly certain sense of knowing. “Oh, this is my house,” the retired GP remembers thinking. There was just one problem: it came with 200 hectares.Widowed and wit
  
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• Two dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

  10-10-2026 16:34 via Environment | The Guardian
  Deaths came from falling trees as nearly a million people are without power and rain and flooding remain a concernTwo people have died amid Isaias after it made landfall late on Friday on Florida’s panhandle as a category 2 hurricane, according to authorities.Both of those deaths occurred after trees fell on homes, one in Escambia county, Florida, and another in Birmingham, Alabama, as the storm moved in inland, local officials said. Continue reading...
  
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• Hundreds protest over data centre plans

  10-10-2026 15:40 via BBC News
  
  Placard-waving opponents highlight concerns about a data centre development on the local landscape.
  
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• Marina Silva on Flávio Bolsonaro: He will try to finish his father’s ‘perverse project’ to destroy the Amazon

  10-10-2026 15:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Exclusive: Former Brazilian environment minister warns of destruction as far-right scion favourite to become presidentThe former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva has said that if Flávio Bolsonaro becomes president he will seek to finish the “perverse project” of rampant rainforest destruction initiated by his jailed far-right father.The Amazon was thrown into chaos during Jair Bolsonaro’s 2019-2022 presidency, when Brazil’s environment and Indigenous pro
  
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• How a South African billionaire is turning a corner of Somerset into ‘one man’s estate’

  10-10-2026 15:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Koos Bekker’s Newt estateencompasses luxury hotels, pubs and high street business, with local concerns including floodingWhen South African billionaire Koos Bekker bought an old country estate in a sleepy corner of Somerset to turn it into a luxury hotel, residents thought it was a sign their area was on the up.Walking through his peaceful manicured gardens, which feature a maze of apple trees twisted into perfect shapes using the espalier method, it’s easy to feel that all is well i
  
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• Hurricane Isaias live updates: warning of ‘spinoff tornadoes’ as hundreds of thousands without power

  10-10-2026 13:55 via Environment | The Guardian
  First Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season makes landfall in the USFull story: Hurricane Isaias hammers Gulf coastSign up for the US Breaking News emailIf you’re just joining us, here are the main developments:Hurricane Isaias has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, after it made landfall in Florida and lashed the US Gulf Coast with heavy rain and fierce winds.The category 2 hurricane hit the coast near Destin, Florida, late Friday
  
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• Hurricane Isaias downgraded after making landfall in Florida

  10-10-2026 13:55 via BBC News
  
  Hundreds of thousands of households are without power in Florida and Alabama as Isaias continues its path across south-eastern US.
  
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• Hurricane Isaias live updates: hundreds of thousands without power as storm batters US Gulf Coast

  10-10-2026 13:30 via Environment | The Guardian
  First Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season makes landfall in the USFull story: Hurricane Isaias hammers Gulf coastSign up for the US Breaking News emailOne significant effect of the stronger El Niño is fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic. In the 30 years to 2020, on average the first hurricane arrived by 11 August, the second by 26 August and the third by 7 September. Isaias’s October arrival marks a stark contrast from this trend.Right now, we are worried about strong winds, heavy ra
  
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• Tourism expansion v turtle nests: the dispute dividing communities in one Tobago resort

  10-10-2026 13:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Plans for a 200-room project on an unspoiled beach have pitted developers against the conservationists fighting for smaller-scale schemes to protect the island’s habitatVisitors to Rocky Point in south-west Tobago are drawn to its sandy beach, fringed by coral reefs and dark rock formations and carpeted with the fruit-bearing trees found on Caribbean coastlines – almonds, sea grapes, coconuts, and the poisonous manchineel. The beach is part of Back Bay, a 500-metre swathe of land, an
  
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• Dozens injured and buildings damaged as tornadoes hit Sicily

  10-10-2026 13:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Marsala on island’s west coast badly affected after powerful storm approached from MediterraneanTwo tornadoes have struck the coastal town of Marsala in western Sicily, injuring dozens of people, damaging buildings including a school, and overturning cars.A series of videos began to circulate on Friday morning showing two waterspouts approaching the Sicilian town from the sea as people braced for their arrival. Continue reading...
  
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• Don’t rebuild the dam: Ukrainian experts urge Unesco to protect site uncovered by Russian sabotage

  10-10-2026 12:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  As archaeologists find treasure trove along new floodplain, conservationists say another Nova Kakhovka would be ecocideOn a warm September day, a group of underwater archaeologists and researchers were boiling water for tea on their campfire on the banks of the Dnipro River, tents pitched on the sandy shoreline. They were three weeks into an archaeological expedition of the waters around Khortytsia – a rocky island 12.5km long and 2.5km wide that lies just downstream of the city of Zaporiz
  
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• How drones are hunting fires hidden beneath the Cairngorms

  10-10-2026 11:31 via BBC News
  
  Dramatic flames from the huge Cairngorms wildfire in July have disappeared - but hot spots can continue to burn beneath the earth.
  
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• Asbestos mystery leaves beloved beach closed

  10-10-2026 08:16 via BBC News
  
  With Mount Batten Beach fenced off since July, residents and campaigners are demanding answers.
  
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• Chemicals at former fuel depot 'have been removed'

  10-10-2026 08:13 via BBC News
  
  Barrels of forever chemicals left at a development site have been removed, a developer has said.
  
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• Country diary: The house martins are gone for another year. But they’re not forgotten | Ed Douglas

  10-10-2026 06:30 via Environment | The Guardian
  Lockerbrook, Derbyshire: Last week they were here, now they are not. Yet the details of their epic migration are still a mystery to usThe sudden absence of something, even though you know it’s coming, can dent the heart a little. The Japanese, inevitably, have a phrase for it: mono no aware, the pathos of things – and by things, in this case, I mean house martins.Last week I had stood in the same spot, looking across the same valley. The weather then was much the same as it was today
  
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• Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in Florida and hammers Gulf coast

  10-10-2026 05:56 via Environment | The Guardian
  Governors of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida declare states of emergency as a downsized Fema faces first major testHurricane Isaias crashed into the US Gulf coast on Friday as a dangerous category 2 storm, hammering communities in Alabama and the Florida panhandle with damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding and life-threatening storm surges.The first hurricane of the Atlantic season made landfall near Destin, Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (
  
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• Climate crisis is coming to crush many of world’s best surf breaks, study warns

  10-10-2026 05:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Changing tide levels, shifting sands and hardened shorelines put waves at risk, affecting more than just surfersThe climate crisis is coming for some of the world’s greatest surf breaks, submerging some as sea level rises and wiping out others as classic breaks get crushed against coastal developments.Analysis of dozens of famous waves in world surfing reserves (WSR) found more than three-quarters were at high risk because of changing tide levels, hardened shorelines and shifting sands. Co
  
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• Powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Panama and triggers panic in capital

  10-10-2026 02:13 via Environment | The Guardian
  The quake caused buildings and roads to collapse but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deathsA magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the ⁠earthquake hit at a depth of ⁠12.6km (7.8 miles), with an ​epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200km (124 miles) from the capit
  
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• Don’t go the extra mile: is local food better for the environment?

  10-10-2026 01:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are connected to food production. Does where you buy your fruit and vegetables still matter?Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] miles – the distance between farm, factory and plate – gained prominence in the early 2000s. The idea was that
  
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