Environment news

• 2.5-Billion-Year-Old Fossils Predate Earth's Oxygen

  02-12-2016 16:16
  
  Fossils of what may be the oldest sulfur-eating bacteria ever found have been discovered in rocks dating back a staggering 2.52 billion years. The fossils don't represent the oldest life on Earth by any stretch — there are fossils of microbes that are at least a billion years older — but they are the oldest of their type. Rather than using oxygen to survive, these bacteria would have turned hydrogen sulfide into sulfate (the oxidized form of sulfur), using the energy from that chemic
  
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• Four dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

  10-10-2026 21:08 via theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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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• 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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 live updates: hundreds of thousands without power as storm batters US Gulf Coast

  10-10-2026 13:30 via theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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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• Country diary: The house martins are gone for another year. But they’re not forgotten | Ed Douglas

  10-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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 theguardian.com
  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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• Cop31 host urges wealthy countries to spend ‘much more’ on climate than defence

  09-10-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘The climate issue is the security issue,’ says Turkish minister at Pacific pre-Cop summit in FijiWealthy countries should spend far more on dealing with the climate crisis than the 5% of GDP promised by Nato members for defence because “the climate issue is the security issue”, the host of the next UN summit has said.But, in comments that are likely to prove contentious, the Cop31 president-designate, Murat Kurum, hedged on whether the world’s countries should try
  
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• AI and the climate crisis pose existential risks. The law offers a way to reduce them | Robert Reich

  09-10-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Liability lawsuits have held tobacco, oil and pharma companies to account in the past. AI investors won’t ignore this threatThe most basic function of government is to protect people from harm. Two growing phenomena – the climate crisis and AI – pose escalating risks of extraordinary harm.The climate crisis is already causing floods, wildfires, drought and record heat. AI agents are already escaping super-secure environments to hack into systems they’re supposed to avoid.
  
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• Isaias strengthens to become first Atlantic hurricane of 2026 season

  09-10-2026 11:59 via theguardian.com
  Storm expected to make landfall on US’s northern Gulf coast with risk of flash floods and isolated river floodingIsaias has become the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, with wind speeds of 80mph and a minimum pressure of 975mb. It is expected to strengthen to a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the US’s northern Gulf coast on Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).As a result of the strong El Niño, it has been a notably q
  
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• Animals crossing: the simple solution to stop roadkill in the Amazon

  09-10-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Installation of eight canopy bridges in Alta Floresta has enabled 15,000 safe crossings by animals including spider monkeys and marmosets – and more bridges are planned elsewhereBy about 7am, with dense fog blanketing the landscape, Gabriel Falquetto had already come across several road-killed animals along the ES-164 highway in Brazil’s Espírito Santo state. The biologist was on his way to Kaetés private natural heritage reserve (RPPN) in the Atlantic Forest, where he
  
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• Week in wildlife: a friendly seal, a furious goldcrest and ‘the swanfather’

  09-10-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• How California is bracing for a winter of floods, fires and extreme storms all at once

  09-10-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The strongest El Niño recorded is expected to bring a cascade of hazards to a state still facing wildfire and heat risks, while budget cuts have weakened disaster response agencies• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereBefore this year, the US National Weather Service had never issued a September coastal flood advisory for the San Francisco Bay Area. In the past month, it has had to issue two.As flood water swallowed intersections and eroded beaches up a
  
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• Revealed: the ‘black box’ wastewater trade that rakes in millions for UK utility companies

  09-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Firms made more than £340m last year from processing industrial and commercial wastewater at sewage works that are unable to remove many chemical pollutantsWater companies in the UK made more than £340m in revenue last year by pouring billions of litres of industrial and commercial wastewater into sewage treatment works that experts say are not designed to remove most chemicals, leaving pollutants to pass into rivers, seas and farmland.Water companies are required by law t
  
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• Meet Japan’s mythical beast who appears in bolts of lightning

  09-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Raijū is normally docile but gets agitated in storms and leaps up to run among the clouds, according to folkloreThe Japanese raijū (thunder beast) is said to fall to Earth in a bolt of lightning. It is generally described as looking like a weasel, but is also compared to a cat, a wolf or a badger.According to folklore the raijū is normally docile, but becomes agitated during storms and leaps up to run among the clouds. Trees struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by i
  
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• Country diary: A passing osprey needs to eat – but the local terns won’t let it | Claire Stares

  09-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Chichester harbour, Hampshire: I witness a battle of wills as this magnificent raptor attempts to fuel up on sea bass, before it heads south on migrationThe autumnal sunlight gilded the sea as our boat drifted off Fowley Island, a small, uninhabited tidal saltmarsh between Thorney Island and Hayling Island. A colony of grey seals lay sprawled along the intertidal mudflats, their size and prominent, sloping Roman noses making them easily distinguishable from the more lithe, cat-faced common
  
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• How a plant selfie in Colombian jungle led to ‘jaw dropping’ giant waterlily find

  09-10-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Species with leaves large enough to be seen from space is already critically endangered – and plans are afoot to protect itA chance social media encounter has led to the race-against-time discovery of a new species of giant waterlily that has until now been hidden in the depths of Colombia’s jungle.But the plant, which is so huge it is visible from space, is already considered critically endangered. Continue reading...
  
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• Scientists discover 180,000 giant tortoises on one Seychelles island

  08-10-2026 22:20 via theguardian.com
  Free-roaming Aldabra population far exceeds human population of Seychelles after decades-long recovery programmeA survey of the world’s largest free-roaming giant tortoise population has discovered that the once endangered species is thriving.A population of Aldabra giant tortoises lives on an island in Seychelles called Aldabra Atoll. Continue reading...
  
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• 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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