Environment news

• China fits final piece on world's largest radio telescope

  04-07-2016 10:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  China has fitted the final piece on what is set to be the world's largest radio telescope, the size of 30 football fields and worth $180m (£135m).
  
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• Indonesian wildfires threaten leading orangutan research site in Borneo

  15-09-2026 17:57 via theguardian.com
  Critically endangered Bornean orangutans flee forests as staff at Cabang Panti work round the clock to stave off blazeWildfires in Indonesia are sweeping through a critical research site for Bornean orangutans and are now threatening a celebrated research camp, home to one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild apes.In the past few days, the fires have burned within 200 metres of Rangkong research station, a satellite of Cabang Panti research station, which lies about four miles no
  
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• Thousands of sea turtles reach Mexico in yearly migration threatened by climate crisis – video

  15-09-2026 17:39 via theguardian.com
  More than 330,000 sea turtles arrived in southern Mexico in a mass nesting phenomenon known as an ‘arribada’.The sixth arribada of the season, which began in March, brought thousands of turtles to the beach in less than 48 hours to lay their eggs, according to officials at La Escobilla beach sanctuary in Oaxaca, Mexico.The olive ridley turtle plays a fundamental role in marine and coastal ecosystems by contributing nutrients to beach-dune systems and regulating populations of jellyfi
  
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• NSW bumper canola crops shine on – in pictures

  15-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Vibrant yellow fields of canola light up the landscape, as an ideal growing season sees crops flowering earlier than usual. in the south-west slopes and Riverina regions of New South Wales Continue reading...
  
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• The love of her life died at sea hunting shipwrecks. Now she’s taking the helm

  15-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  After Jennifer Sellitti lost her partner Joe Mazraani, she thought everything was over. Then she inherited his shipAfter Joe died, Jennifer Sellitti felt as though she were living underwater.Other people became murky, their words muffled. She slept constantly; unconsciousness was a blessing. On the worst days, memories bowled her over. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘It’s really taking off’: hedge revival as farmers rediscover ancient tools

  15-09-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Grant applications in England surge as interest grows in habitat that captures carbon and helps reduce flood riskThe ancient craft of hedge laying is experiencing a strong revival as farmers use techniques that peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries to boost wildlife, capture carbon and help tackle flooding.Hedge laying, which restores and revives mature hedges to keep them fresh, was among the four most popular categories of capital grants selected by farmers out of a total pot of £225m pr
  
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• Conservation ‘gateway drug’: farmers embrace ancient craft of hedge laying

  15-09-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Grant applications in England surge as interest grows in habitat that captures carbon and helps reduce flood riskThe ancient craft of hedge laying is experiencing a strong revival as farmers use techniques that peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries to boost wildlife, capture carbon and help tackle flooding.Hedge laying, which restores and revives mature hedges to keep them fresh, was among the four most popular categories of capital grants selected by farmers out of a total pot of £225m pr
  
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• Why unwanted fridges are piling up at recycling centres across England and Wales

  15-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Capacity has been overwhelmed by heatwaves that have pushed white goods to breaking point“In Oxfordshire, recycling centres are filling almost three articulated lorries with discarded fridges every week,” says Simon Perry of W&S Waste Management, which runs a recycling centre in Ardley.Together, those fridges would cover an area just under half the size of a football pitch. But the space to store them – in Oxfordshire and beyond – has become a growing problem after th
  
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• They’re the sopranos of the forest, so what’s silencing the gibbons’ morning chorus?

  15-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As human development and roads increasingly fragment their habitats, a study suggests traffic noise could be altering the animals’ wake-up callDawn has broken, and the air is cool and still. It’s at about this time that gibbons usually erupt into song, wa-oo-ing and wa-ing from the highest branches and filling the tree tops with rich melodies. But in this corner of Malaysian forest, bordered by housing and roads, the resident white-handed gibbons are quiet. All that can be heard is t
  
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• The incoming ‘super’ El Niño will create chaos around the world. And we are far from ready for it | Bill McGuire

  15-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  One of the biggest upheavals in a millennium is on its way, strengthened by the climate crisis. We need leaders who make things better not worseIf you think you have heard enough about the growing “super” El Niño, trust me, you are going to hear a lot more. What is happening in the equatorial Pacific is jaw-dropping and could well mark one of the biggest global weather upheavals in a millennium. It will spawn a string of weather catastrophes around our world in what remains of
  
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• Country diary: Goldfinches and grasses, together in an explosion of movement | Mark Cocker

  15-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Priestcliffe Lees, Derbyshire: What a sight – and sound – it was, this huge flock of juveniles, feeding as the wind thrashed the vegetation Stands of tufted hair-grass, some over a metre tall, burned beige by the summer heat, were churned by strong autumn westerlies. Over and through the vegetation’s swaying lather roved a flock of about 200 goldfinches, most of them this year’s young. They were intent on the hanks of thistle and knapweed seed which lay below the hai
  
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• Benedict Cumberbatch on his Earth-saving eco film: ‘We are in the last grab of the extraction era’

  15-09-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  From Obama’s chef to a big cat obsessive, the actor has gathered experts from Alaska, the Amazon and beyond for a film about how to heal our besieged planet. He talks about naysayers, elephant tusks – and the wonders of venisonBenedict Cumberbatch is dreading stepping outside. He’s speaking to me from his air-conditioned hotel room in Soho at the peak of the summer heat. Few doubt that climate breakdown was a major cause of those scorchers, with nature, farming and water suppli
  
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• Panama canal traffic to be cut again as drought from El Niño worsens

  15-09-2026 04:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Latest daily reductions will further choke one of the world’s most important shipping lanesThe Panama canal plans to again cut maritime traffic due to worsening drought caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, further choking up one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.The canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and about 40% of US container traffic; it is favoured by shippers because it usually reduces cost and transit times, especially for companies trading betwee
  
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• Europe’s summer emergency was a dire warning for Australia. What can be learned before it’s too late? | Nick Rowley

  15-09-2026 03:36 via theguardian.com
  Between 2000 and 2018, extreme heat caused more deaths in Australia than all our bushfires, floods, storms and cyclones combinedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBack in April 2004, in the shadow of the previous European summer, I started work at Downing Street advising the British prime minister on climate change. The 2003 heatwave had killed an estimated 70,000 people across Europe. Many were older people, in homes
  
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• A job that changed me: Working the pool kiosk in the summer of ’82, I was excited when older boys came by – but I learned that respect is better than attention

  14-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  My job made me the envy of the cool girls; it made me visible. Then Johnno, Stevo and Whack paid a visitIn the summer of 1982, at the age of 14, I was hired to work in the ticket office and kiosk at the Sale Memorial Pool in Victoria’s Gippsland region. The cool girls at school, who did not usually acknowledge me, were seething with jealousy. It was a sought-after job in a time before fast-food outlets and chain supermarkets.I was anxious because I didn’t look like the girls who usua
  
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• £100,000 boost for community eco-friendly projects

  14-09-2026 13:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Community groups and young people across the West Midlands are being invited to apply for a grant.
  
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• Zambians warned not to eat dead wildlife after anthrax kills dozens of animals

  14-09-2026 13:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  At least 12 people are being treated for anthrax after eating infected meat from wildlife carcasses.
  
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• Disaster insurance, datacenters, right to repair: meet the midterm candidates running on green policies

  14-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Some of the everyday struggles animating voters have a climate link lurking in the backgroundWhen Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a law erasing the words “climate change” from state statutes in May 2024 – colloquially known as the “don’t say climate change” law – Democrats were outraged. Just six months later, many liberal politicians began to go quiet on the issue themselves. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, mentions of the climate crisis
  
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• ‘Carbon fever’ threatens hard-won Indigenous rights in Bolivian Amazon

  14-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaders in Pando region denounce opaque deals over carbon credits as government and companies rush to monetise Amazon rainforest after 2024 rulingIn the village plazas of Pando, a remote northern Amazonian region of Bolivia, the main talk is no longer just about the next harvest. One pressing issue is the “invisible air” being sold to foreigners who regularly visit their communities.In June 2024, the country’s constitutional court struck down the ban on a funding mechanism link
  
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• The Hotspot | South Korea pushes for football season to make winter switch after unbearable summer

  14-09-2026 10:30 via theguardian.com
  Why fainting fans and perspiring players are a worry for the Asian league seeking to follow Japan and align with EuropeSouth Korean football is trying to find the goldilocks time to play the K-League. Winters have long been too cold and, increasingly, summers are too hot. This may be the Land of the Morning Calm but, for much of the time, the weather can be pretty extreme.Last week a survey revealed that more than 70% of 29 respondent coaches in Asia’s oldest professional league support a
  
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• ‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

  14-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Big manufacturers planning to produce more of the forever chemicals to meet demand from datacentresPfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned.Despite alarm over the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, a survey of the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production. Continue reading...
  
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• Conservationist honoured for protecting rare animals

  14-09-2026 07:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tullis Matson runs Nature's SAFE, a charity that has been freezing cells from some of the world's most endangered animals
  
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• How this summer may have been when climate change felt real

  14-09-2026 07:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  This summer has seen hot weather records broken, drought and major damage from fires.
  
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• Restored wetland becomes haven for rare birds

  14-09-2026 07:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Woolston Eyes, near Warrington, is home to the largest black-necked grebe population in the UK.
  
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• Kent's shark secrets discovered in new project

  14-09-2026 07:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The project involves sharks in Kent's waters being tagged so that scientists can gain vital data.
  
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• Country diary: Notice anything wrong with this ripe, succulent plum? | Claire Stares

  14-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Langstone, Hampshire: My garden is full of Victoria plums, but they’re not supposed to be crunchy insideThis summer has been challenging for the fruit trees in my garden, with intense heat and a lack of rain causing poor cropping, premature ripening and pre-harvest drop.While my dessert and cooking apples have produced just a handful of stunted, crab-apple-sized fruit, and my quince is bare, the Victoria plum growing next to the greenhouse is the exception. Its branches are
  
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• We greet the news that AI could extinguish us with a glazed indifference. What is the way out of this nihilism? | Brigid Delaney

  14-09-2026 05:49 via theguardian.com
  There are several answers, and none of them will be provided by tech. One thing we must do is identify the ingredients for human flourishingTo imagine the future as being almost entirely bleak has somehow crept into the collective this year.Last week I was having coffee with an old friend. He was telling me about what his kids wanted to study when they went to university, when he suddenly broke off, stared into the middle distance and said, “I wish I never had children.” Continue rea
  
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• The Himalayas are melting faster - and India's economy is 'at risk'

  14-09-2026 00:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new report warns Himalayan glaciers are melting faster, threatening India’s water, economy and communities.
  
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• Rabbits are the biggest threat to Australia’s native species. Why are their numbers booming again?

  13-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Scientists say good rainfall and growing resistance to viruses are to blame for increasing rabbit populations around the countryGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastJojo the rabbit-detecting dog is working eight days on, two days off, running up to 20 kilometres a day chasing rabbits in the south-west of Bon Bon Reserve in South Australia’s arid centre.“She’s being kept very busy,” says Dr Pat Taggart, an ecologist with Bush Heritage Australia, a con
  
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• Blankets of colour: Western Australia’s wildflower season bursts to life – in pictures

  13-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  On Wajarri Yamaji country in WA’s remote mid-west sits Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. This year, early winter rains have left the telescopes surrounded by a carpet of splendid native blooms Continue reading...
  
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