Environment news

• Air pollution: how does it affect you?

  12-05-2016 08:30
  
  With new WHO data shedding light on the severity of the problem, we want to hear from readers across the globe on their experiences of air pollution
  More than 80% of people living in urban areas where air pollution is monitored are exposed to air quality levels that excede World Health Organisation limits, according to the latest urban air quality data released by the agency.The data suggests populations in low-income cities are particularly under threat from the effects of air pollution. Contin
  
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• The environmental cost of datacentres is rising. Is it time to quit AI?

  14-03-2026 00:00
  As the QuitGPT movement gains momentum, should people concerned about the environmental impacts of AI consider opting out?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]’s only a few years on from the release of ChatGPT but the race to plug artificial intelligence into everything has sparked a surge in data
  
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• Who are the key figures in the sewage crisis, and where are they now?

  13-03-2026 13:00
  With anger stoked by Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business, we look at what has happened to some of the main playersWater companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been reve
  
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• Weather tracker: Southern France under yellow alert after severe thunderstorms

  13-03-2026 11:26
  US also experiences severe convective storms, while record-breaking heat recorded in parts of South AfricaOn Monday 9 March, severe thunderstorms affected parts of southern France, with several departments including Hérault, Var, and the Alpes-Maritimes put under yellow alert for heavy rain.Some of the heaviest rainfall totals came from a cell that passed over the Var department. Examples of high rainfall totals taken from some private weather stations come from the towns of Carqueiranne
  
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• ‘Massive boost of serotonin!’: How a dose of nature is treating mental illness

  13-03-2026 10:00
  A project in London is helping hundreds of people, providing a genuine alternative to traditional treatments“What you’ve got there from the sun on your face is a massive boost of serotonin!” says Alison Greenwood, founder of Dose of Nature, the charity successfully prescribing time outside as a treatment for mental health.Greenwood is striding round Pensford Field, a tiny patch of wildness tucked behind houses in south-west London. The bright day is illuminating the early black
  
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• Week in wildlife: a wet macaque, four little pigs and a stowaway fox

  13-03-2026 08:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• UK energy prices are soaring – and propagandists want to sell you a false reason why | George Monbiot

  13-03-2026 07:00
  The war on Iran has put fossil-fuel prices centre stage, but don’t believe those who tout ‘maximising the North Sea’ as our salvationThese are burning, smoking lies. As oil and gas prices soar, thanks to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, the UK’s opponents of climate policy become even shriller. Rightwing politicians, Tufton Street junktanks and the billionaire press tell us our energy security will be enhanced and our bills will fall if we abandon net zero polici
  
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• No drama, just wet feet: how the joy of puddles sums up UK weather

  13-03-2026 07:00
  We do not generally get epic tornadoes, sandstorms or avalanches, but we may get splashed by a bus on the roadPuddles, small and temporary pools of water typically formed by rainfall, hold a special place in British culture. They are the embodiment of the national weather’s tendency to produce mild inconvenience rather than drama. We do not generally get epic tornadoes, sandstorms or avalanches, but we do get wet feet, or splashed by a bus driving through a puddle.The story of Walter Ralei
  
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• Do we want to keep fixing the same issue? Unlearned lessons from the first big oil crisis

  13-03-2026 07:00
  As energy prices tripled in the 1970s due to Middle Eastern wars, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands sped up green transitionWhen Middle Eastern wars sparked an oil crisis in the 1970s, tripling energy prices and throwing economies into chaos, some countries looked beyond short-term solutions. The French made nuclear the pillar of their power system. Scandinavians insulated buildings and funnelled waste heat into homes. The Dutch built bike lanes where others wanted motorways. The Danes dev
  
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• Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

  13-03-2026 06:00
  Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlandsNearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.This article was amended on 13 March 2026 to make clear that the inaccessible trees are recorded by the Woodland Trust, but not neces
  
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• Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst?

  13-03-2026 06:00
  While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humansAs soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest wat
  
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• ‘Kast is more like Trump’: Chile’s environmentalists prepare to do battle for the country’s future

  12-03-2026 13:00
  Fears are growing that the new far-right president will slash environmental protections in favour of foreign investment In Chile’s most northerly region, Arica y Parinacota, Andrea Chellew, 62, relies on tourists for her cafe. They usually travel from the coastal city of Arica to the unique biosphere of the Andean highlands, which rise well above 5,000 metres and host nature reserves and wetlands.At 3,000 metres (9,800ft) above sea level, along Highway 11, she lives by the trade route that
  
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• Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb re-enters Earth's atmosphere

  12-03-2026 12:23 via bbc.com
  Much of the Van Allen Probe was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, though Nasa said there was a "low" risk of people being struck by surviving components.
  
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• London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution

  12-03-2026 10:00
  Cycle lanes, electric cars and other interventions have helped 19 global cities slash levels of pollutants by more than 20% London, San Francisco and Beijing are among 19 global cities that have achieved “remarkable reductions” in air pollution, analysis has found, having slashed levels of two airway-aggravating pollutants by more than 20% since 2010.The analysis found interventions such as cycle lanes, uptake of electric cars and restrictions on polluting vehicles had helped to driv
  
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• Greedy beaver caught twice in monitoring trap

  12-03-2026 07:11 via bbc.com
  Rangers in Northumberland say the beavers are doing well after they were caught and checked over.
  
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• March for Romans was a time to sow conflict as well as crops

  12-03-2026 07:00
  Rome did not only organise its agriculture in tune with the rhythm of the seasons, it also fought its wars that wayMarch is named for the Roman god Mars. He was among other things the god of agriculture, and the month was marked by ceremonies to protect new crops from bad weather.Mars was the god of war too, and better weather also meant the start of the campaigning season. The roles sometimes merged. In one of the oldest Roman ceremonies, the “leaping priests” of Mars, 12 young men
  
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• Country diary: Primroses turn a churchyard buttery yellow, heralding spring | Sarah Lambert

  12-03-2026 06:30
  Bainton, Cambridgeshire: Villagers gather each year on Palm Sunday to celebrate these scented flowersBeside the lichen-encrusted churchyard wall, a robin sings from the dark heart of a yew, its clear notes rising above the gruff calls of nesting rooks. Along the path, a bank of buttery primroses glows beside the bright stars of lesser celandine, offering early forage to the first pollen-dusted solitary bee. Across the gravestones, small points of colour are beginning to appear. St Mary’s c
  
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• ‘The last frontier’: how red globules of nickel ore are suffocating an island’s precious wilderness

  12-03-2026 06:00
  In the race to meet the demands of the energy transition, biodiversity hotspots such as Palawan in the Philippines are being increasingly mined for critical elementsHow nature is being sacrificed for mining across the world – a data visualisationMoharen Tahil Tambiling lowers himself from the fishing boat into the water and gingerly picks his way over the reef circling the bay. At low tide here in Brooke’s Point on Palawan, a long, rugged island in the south-west of the Philippines a
  
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• Why Namibia's green energy dream could be a red flag for penguins

  12-03-2026 01:04 via bbc.com
  A near pristine desert and coastal wilderness in Namibia could soon host a huge hydrogen production facility.
  
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• Harold ‘the Kangaroo’ Thornton: the extraordinary, forgotten life of the ‘greatest genius who ever lived’

  11-03-2026 15:00
  The Australian artist was a relentless self-promoter, prolific painter and pro wrestler. He loved a tall tale – but his true story was remarkableGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIf you checked out the Archibald prize finalists back in 1983, one painting in particular might have caught your eye. Taking up seven feet of wall space, Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz is a psychedelic portrait of the then Greens leader, Bob Brown, rendered in rich colours and filled with hidden detail
  
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• ‘Severe water stress’: why desalination plants are the Gulf’s greatest weakness

  11-03-2026 13:01
  Recent attack on plants led to fears of escalating strikes, but Iran knows drought has left it equally vulnerableMiddle East crisis – live updatesIn 1983, the CIA determined that the most crucial commodity in the Gulf was its desalinated potable water.Although the loss of a single plant could be handled, “successful attacks on several plants in the most dependent countries could generate a national crisis that could lead to panic flights from the country and civil unrest”. And
  
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• How Toronto's snow mountains hide a toxic secret – video

  11-03-2026 12:57
  The Guardian reporter Leyland Cecco visits an almost 100ft-tall snow mountain, one of six created in Toronto to store all the snow cleared from roads and paths across the city.Toronto has spent more than C$1bn dollars over a decade to successfully re-naturalise the mouth of the Don River. But this is at risk because the salt contained in the snow mountains is likely to end up in water systems, causing an 'ecological crisis'.More than 130,000 tonnes of salt were used during the winter's record sn
  
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• Peak interest: Toronto’s snow mountains that refuse to melt are a toxic hazard

  11-03-2026 12:00
  Reaching up to 100ft, these massive piles contain tonnes of salt that keep roads clear – but pose environmental risksMost mountains take tens of millions of years to form. Toronto’s newest mountain took just days.Towering atop the crowns of evergreens, it has no skeleton of limestone or granite. There are no spires, cornices or headwalls. It is simply piles upon piles of snow, mixed with a toxic cocktail of road salt, antifreeze, oil, coffee cups and lost keys. It is the final restin
  
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• ‘When I leave, part of me stays’: why Scarborough’s youth won’t turn their backs on the seaside town they love

  11-03-2026 11:00
  Hemmed in by the sea and poor transport links, many young people from the Yorkshire town feel trapped, but there is also a pride in the areaIt’s the morning after a wet and stormy day in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough. The waves, which the previous day had been crashing dramatically on the harbour walls, have calmed and a few brave souls have entered the water with surfboards. There is a man throwing a ball for his dog on the beach and a kayaker bobbing on the waves.Just up from
  
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• This is the story of Weda Bay – and how nature is being sacrificed for mining

  11-03-2026 08:00
  Analysis has found more than 3,000 mining operations within the most naturally precious areas of the planet, a much bigger footprint than previously thoughtWeda Bay is just one example of a global trend that could see the mining industry expand into some of Earth’s last areas of wilderness in search of minerals and materials to feed the global economy.Analysis produced for the Guardian by a group of academic researchers found more than 3,267 mining operations within key biodiversity areas
  
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• The Iran oil crisis has proved Ed Miliband right on green energy. But households still need more help | Mathew Lawrence

  11-03-2026 08:00
  Britain’s whole energy economy needs to be reformed – decarbonising the grid is only part of the mixBritain is once again paying the price of an energy system that is more effective at extracting profits than delivering security. Illegal war and geopolitical disruption are sending fossil fuel prices soaring – and because our electricity market turns volatile gas prices into higher electricity bills, families here risk paying the cost. The government is already unpopular. How it
  
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• How nature is being sacrificed for mining across the world – a data visualisation

  11-03-2026 08:00
  Analysis has found more than 3,000 mining operations within the most naturally precious areas of the planet, a much bigger footprint than previously thoughtWeda Bay is just one example of a global trend that could see the mining industry expand into some of Earth’s last areas of wilderness in search of minerals and materials to feed the global economy.Analysis produced for the Guardian by a group of academic researchers found more than 3,267 mining operations within key biodiversity areas
  
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• Toxic pet flea treatment chemicals found at 'damaging' levels in rivers

  11-03-2026 07:24 via bbc.com
  Scientists have found further evidence that pet flea treatments are widespread in rivers across the UK.
  
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• Ultrasound repellers could keep hedgehogs off roads, scientists hope

  11-03-2026 07:00
  Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deathsHedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers.Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades. Continue reading...
  
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• Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’

  11-03-2026 07:00
  Climate change committee finds move to renewable energy would also bring health, economic and security benefitsAchieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050 will cost less than a single oil shock and bring health and economic benefits while insulating the country against future costs, the government’s climate advisers have forecast.Eliminating the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels by adopting renewable energy and green technologies, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, would be t
  
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