Environment news

• Ancient fossil turtle had no shell

  22-08-2018 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists have found new evidence confirming that turtles once lived without shells.
  
  Read more

• Week in wildlife: a peek-a-boo fish, dunkin’ frogs and a white crow

  20-02-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The heat suffocates, the fires rage – even by Australian standards, this summer is brutal

  20-02-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: The south-east of the country is suffering through the worst heatwave since 2019’s ‘black summer’, while the government continues to back fossil fuel projects • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAustralians are no strangers to blistering weather – being a “sunburnt country” of “droughts and flooding rains” is baked into our national identity. But since the 2019-20 bushfires, whi
  
  Read more

• Wood burning pollution leads to 8,600 premature US deaths a year, study finds

  20-02-2026 07:00
  Wood is primary heating in 2% of homes but contributes to producing 21% ofcountry’s wintertime particle pollutionAir pollution from home wood burning is estimated to lead to 8,600 premature deaths in the US each year, according to research.Just 2% of US homes use wood for primary heating. Another 8% burn wood for pleasure, aesthetics or supplementary heating, but combined they produce 21% of the country’s wintertime particle pollution. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• How ‘smog capital of Poland’ saved 6,000 lives by cutting soot levels

  20-02-2026 07:00
  Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better healthAs a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.“It’s not that we have this fee
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Was this the fox version of a ‘come-hither’ smile? | Clare Stares

  20-02-2026 06:30
  Langstone, Hampshire: The vixen approached the male, her mouth slightly open, gave a brief shake of her head, then darted off againWalking the coastal path, I stopped to scan the flooded horse paddock for the kingfisher reported there in recent days. Three grey herons loitered along the fence line, hunchbacked and watchful. Where shallow pools had formed, teals dabbled and drifted in loose rafts, while a dozen little egrets fed on the margins, using their yellow feet to stir up the mud and flush
  
  Read more

• New drone unit to investigate illegal waste dumping across England

  20-02-2026 06:00
  Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4mA new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convi
  
  Read more

• Deer shooting to be facilitated in England to protect woodlands

  19-02-2026 23:30
  Government plans legislation giving landowners and tenants rights to cull deer to protect crops and propertyIt will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, plans to bring forward new legislation to give landowners and tenants legal rights to shoot deer to protect crops and property. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Guardian view on Merz and Meloni: an emerging Berlin-Rome axis is threatening the EU’s green deal

  19-02-2026 20:05
  The deregulation agenda being pushed by Germany’s chancellor and Italy’s prime minister is economically and ethically flawedWhen the European Union launched its green deal in 2019, putting into law the goal of climate neutrality by the middle of the century, it showed strategic foresight as well as global leadership. Russia’s war in Ukraine has starkly underlined the extent to which the continent’s energy security – and its future prosperity – is dependent on
  
  Read more

• ‘We’re not hippies’: why these Iowa farmers swapped pigs for mushrooms

  19-02-2026 13:45
  Faaborgs rail against oppressive industrial agricultural system with unexpected evolution into indie artisan food firmAs a sixth-generation Iowa farmer, Tanner Faaborg is all too aware that agricultural traditions are hard to shake. So when he set in motion plans to change his family’s farm from a livestock operation housing more than 8,000 pigs each year to one that grows lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms, he knew some of his peers might laugh at him. He just did not necessarily expe
  
  Read more

• ‘There has to be glitter’: can the Rio carnival give up its love of beach-polluting microplastics?

  19-02-2026 13:01
  A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shineWhether it is embellishing elaborate costumes, delicately applied as eye makeup, or smeared across bare skin, glitter is everywhere at Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in Brazil. The world’s largest party, which ended on Wednesday, leaves a trail of sparkles in its wake.At one bloco last weekend, a huge sound truck and dancers
  
  Read more

• Kyiv zoo braves blackouts and bombardment to keep animals warm

  19-02-2026 12:32
  Staff are using stoves and generators to keep lions, camels and Ukraine’s lone gorilla safe from winter and warEurope live – latest updatesKyiv zoo’s most famous resident lays on his back watching television. On screen: a nature documentary.For a quarter of a century, Toni has been the zoo’s star attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors. He is Ukraine’s only gorilla. At 52 – old by western gorilla standards – he needs warm conditions similar to
  
  Read more

• ‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics

  19-02-2026 11:00
  Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?Like many of us who are mindful of our plastic consumption, Beth Gardiner would take her own bags to the supermarket and be annoyed whenever she forgot to do so. Out without her refillable bottle, she would avoid buying bottled water. “Here I am, in my own little life, worrying about that and trying t
  
  Read more

• Twenty-five years ago: the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK

  19-02-2026 07:30
  22 February 2001: How the Guardian first covered the national crisis that unfolded as a result of the virus that spreads like wildfireAn outbreak of the highly infectious animal transmitted foot-and-mouth disease in the UK was one of the worst in the world. Roughly 6 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were culled, and mass funeral pyres became a striking image of the British countryside. Rural communities were shut off, tourism devastated, and movement across the countryside severely restricted. Th
  
  Read more

• How extreme flooding in Somerset has created birdlife winners and losers

  19-02-2026 07:00
  Wet fields drive away rodents, leaving barn owls without much prey, but gulls of all kinds are attracted by the waterThe Somerset Levels flood regularly – but this year, after very heavy winter rains, the fields and moors are overflowing with water. So what effect does this have on wintering birds?Like most extreme weather events, there are winners and losers. Huge flocks of gulls are gathering in the flooded fields to feed, with scarcer Mediterranean and little gulls joining the regular b
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Kneeling by the river, hoping the water is clean | Mary Montague

  19-02-2026 06:30
  Forth River, Ligoniel, north Belfast: A riverfly monitoring survey involves rapt focus on these tiny creatures, whose presence is an indicator of water healthI wish I’d worn kneepads. But then I hadn’t imagined that a riverfly monitoring survey would require this much genuflection. Like the followers of an undine creed, we kneel on the riverbank, bent over the Forth’s secrets. What is her message? How do we understand it?With me are Patricia Deeney and Geoff Newell, conservatio
  
  Read more

• Beef and lamb get 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, study finds

  19-02-2026 06:00
  Report says common agricultural policy provides ‘unfair’ levels of support to unhealthy, meat-heavy dietsBeef and lamb receive 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, a report has found, despite scientists urging people to get more of their protein from less harmful sources.Analysis by the charity Foodrise found the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) provides “unfair” levels of support to meat-heavy diets that doctors consider unhealthy and climate scientist
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s a catastrophe’: Wellington rages as millions of litres of raw sewage pours into ocean

  19-02-2026 04:42
  Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New ZealandA tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast da
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s a catastrophe’: Wellington rages as millions of litres of raw sewage pour into ocean

  19-02-2026 04:42
  Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New ZealandA tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast da
  
  Read more

• Environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion says FBI is investigating it for terrorism

  19-02-2026 00:58
  Extinction Rebellion says some members have been visited by agents claiming to be FBI amid Trump’s threats toward liberal groupsEnvironmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department polic
  
  Read more

• Environmental group Extinction Rebellion says it is under FBI investigation

  19-02-2026 00:58
  Activist group says some members have been visited by agents, including by agency’s terrorism taskforce Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department policy. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Plug-in hybrids use three times more fuel than manufacturers claim, analysis finds

  18-02-2026 19:41
  While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on averagePlug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while
  
  Read more

• Trump has done more than harm the government’s ability to fight global heating | Jamil Smith

  18-02-2026 16:00
  By repealing the EPA’s determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health, the president is denying reality itselfThe climate crisis is killing people. These deaths are measurable, documented and ongoing. Concluding otherwise is just playing pretend. Studies explain the mechanics, but lived experience supplies the truth. The people who suffer the consequences see the fire rising and water closing in. They need their government’s help.Despite that, the president of the United
  
  Read more

• Speeding, jaywalkers and imported ‘clunkers’: Romania in safety drive to improve EU’s deadliest roads

  18-02-2026 15:00
  Government has taken first serious steps to crack down on dangerous driving but pace of change is frustrating campaignersThe first time Lucian Mîndruță crashed his car, he swerved to avoid a village dog and hit another vehicle. The second time, he missed a right-of-way sign and was struck by a car at a junction. The third time, ice sent him skidding off the road and into two trees. Crashes four to eight, he said, were bumper-scratches in traffic too minor to mention.That Mî
  
  Read more

• Romania in safety drive to improve EU’s deadliest roads

  18-02-2026 15:00
  Government takes its first serious steps to crack down on dangerous driving but progress is slowEurope live – latest updatesThe first time Lucian Mîndruță crashed his car, he swerved to avoid a village dog and hit another vehicle. The second time, he missed a right-of-way sign and was struck by a car at a junction. The third time, ice sent him skidding off the road and into two trees. Crashes four to eight, he said, were bumper-scratches in traffic too minor to mention.That
  
  Read more

• US sanctions, power cuts, climate crisis: why Cuba is betting on renewables

  18-02-2026 14:00
  With Trump blocking Venezuelan oil imports and old power plants breaking down, the island – with Chinese help – is turning to solar and wind to bolster its fragile energy systemIntense heat hangs over the sugarcane fields near Cuba’s eastern coast. In the village of Herradura, a blond-maned horse rests under a palm tree after spending all Saturday in the fields with its owner, Roberto, who cultivates maize and beans.Roberto was among those worst affected by Hurricane Melissa, w
  
  Read more

• Plaid promises Welsh communities share of renewable energy profits

  18-02-2026 13:20 via bbc.com
  Plaid Cymru says renewable energy projects would have to hand over stakes of up to 25% to local communities.
  
  Read more

• Environmental groups sue Trump’s EPA over repeal of landmark climate finding

  18-02-2026 13:10
  Lawsuit from health and environmental justice groups challenges the EPA’s rollback of the ‘endangerment finding’More than a dozen health and environmental justice non-profits have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its revocation of the legal determination that underpins US federal climate regulations.Filed in Washington DC circuit court, the lawsuit challenges the EPA’s rollback of the “endangerment finding”, which states that the buildup of heat-t
  
  Read more

• Second wild beaver spotted living at Norfolk nature reserve

  18-02-2026 13:05
  Exclusive: Pensthorpe was believed to be home to just one individual but pair have been filmed grooming each otherNo one knows where they came from or how they ended up in Norfolk. But one thing is certain: now, there are two of them.Until last week, experts believed there was only one wild beaver living in Pensthorpe nature reserve, about 20 miles outside Norwich. But just in time for Valentine’s Day, two were caught on camera going for a late-night swim together and grooming each other b
  
  Read more

• Coffee-growing countries becoming too hot to cultivate beans, analysis finds

  18-02-2026 11:00
  Five countries responsible for 75% of world’s coffee supply record average of 57 extra days of coffee-harming heat a yearIn Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, more than 4m households rely on coffee as their primary source of income. It contributes almost a third of the country’s export earnings, but for how much longer is uncertain.“Coffee farmers in Ethiopia are already seeing the impact of extreme heat,” said Dejene Dadi, the general manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Co
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!