Environment news

• Chris Grayling: Heathrow expansion the right decision for Britain – video

  25-10-2016 13:31 via theguardian.com
  
  The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, praises the approved expansion of Heathrow airport on Tuesday. Grayling says the move shows that, following the Brexit referendum, the UK remains open for business, adding that the committee thought long and hard about the decision before settled on a third runway at Heathrow. He adds that Heathrow’s third runway is best for the whole country and offers another step ‘that works for everyone’ Heathrow expansion decision condemned by senio
  
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• Trump wants to put a $75m coal terminal in this liberal California city. Residents aren’t having it

  15-06-2026 17:01 via theguardian.com
  Residents of West Oakland, which suffers from toxic waste and high pollution rates, rally against a coal export facilityWest Oakland, a California neighborhood known for its rich history of Black activism from the Pullman Porters’ union to the Black Panthers, might not seem like the site of the country’s next great coal project.But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is pushing for – with the injection of $75m to build a sprawling coal export terminal in the near
  
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• ‘Like a horror movie’: Coogee’s regulars think twice about swimming after shock shark attack

  15-06-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Saddened, stunned, surprised and haunted’ is how one surfer describes the mood at the popular Sydney beach two days after Leah Stewart was bitten by a great whiteGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastUnder a clear blue sky on a Monday morning, Coogee beach in Sydney’s east is quiet.A few swimmers have ventured into the ocean pools at the northern and southern ends of the beach. Most others sit on the sand, looking towards the water. Continue reading...
  
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• Backlash against ‘short-termist’ UK plans to weaken EV sales targets

  15-06-2026 14:40 via theguardian.com
  Charging industry and electric vehicle manufacturers say measure could cost jobs and harm UK automotive sectorThe UK government’s plans to further weaken electric car targets have provoked a furious backlash from the charging industry and the electric car brand Polestar, which would lose out from the changes.The Labour government is expected to dilute rules known as the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Government sources have said it will reduce a target for pure electric cars from 80%
  
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• Weather tracker: Saharan heat to send temperatures soaring across Europe

  15-06-2026 10:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Heatwave conditions build over much of continent, while mild start to winter continues in parts of AustraliaHot weather is expected across Europe this week as heatwave conditions build over large swathes of the continent.A mass of hot air from the Sahara has settled over the Iberian peninsula and spread into southern and western France, pushing temperatures widely into the low- and mid-30s celsius. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘The Antarctic is the last frontier’: the quest to save Shackleton’s Endurance

  15-06-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Amid fears the wreck will be more accessible to explorers – and new species – as the climate warms, conservationists want to create the region’s first underwater protected areaThe harsh temperatures, treacherous currents and shifting pack ice of the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, which crushed and sank his ship, Endurance, in 1915, led Ernest Shackleton to describe it as the “worst portion of the worst sea in the world”.For more than a century, the inhospitable cond
  
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• Country diary: Our island’s wandering wallabies come at a cost | Tim Earl

  15-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Ballaugh, Isle of Man: As I discover, spotting one of these marsupials isn’t hard. The problem is how to manage themWalking through Ballaugh Curraghs, a marshland in the north of the island, I’m taking part in a favourite island pastime: spotting red-necked wallabies. Creeping through the stands of willows, I soon see a grey shape with beady eyes and pricked up ears watching me, unafraid. Another appears and I check for the ultimate sighting … a joey poking out from a pouch, b
  
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• Fears dogs to blame for drop in little tern numbers

  14-06-2026 17:09 via bbc.com
  
  It has been the worst year for dogs getting too close to the nesting birds, a wildlife trust says.
  
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• ‘People start connecting the dots’: why an investment fund is rewilding a North Yorkshire estate

  14-06-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Rebalance Earth is investing in Broughton Sanctuary to generate financial, environmental and social returnsFrom a high point on the hill, the North Yorkshire landscape unrolls below. The moorland above gives way to grassland, trees and then pasture, divided by the region’s traditional dry stone walls.The view may be idyllic, but it belies the condition of parts of this land, belonging to the sprawling 1,100 hectare (2,500-acre) Broughton Sanctuary estate, near Skipton. Continue reading...
  
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• Jamaica’s beach access crisis: ‘We shouldn’t be forced to fight for what is already ours’

  14-06-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Activists argue business model is ‘plantation tourism’ designed to benefit elite and disadvantage most JamaicansCampaigners go to court to fight privatisation of Jamaican coastDevon Taylor remembers when the Mammee Bay shoreline in St Ann, Jamaica, was filled with children frolicking in the ocean after school, fishers haggling with locals over the price of their daily catch and craft vendors carving souvenirs under almond trees.“I grew up on Mammee Bay,” Taylor says. He r
  
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• Jamaican beach access campaigners go to court to fight privatisation of coast

  14-06-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Activists are challenging colonial-era law and demanding ‘free, legal, unfettered, forever rights’ to use beachesJamaica’s beach access crisis: ‘We shouldn’t be forced to fight for what is already ours’Campaigners in Jamaica are heading to court next week to try to prevent the government from cutting off access to more of their beaches.They argue that ceding their shorelines to big hotel chains enriches private investors and benefits tourists and outsiders whi
  
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• ‘It’s going to be extremely hot’: workers imperiled as sweltering World Cup temperatures are forecast

  14-06-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It could top 90F in several cities hosting World Cup games – and workers could pay the price with their healthAs the World Cup kicks off, labor advocates and scholars warn that the workers making the tournament possible could face serious heat-related risks.“It’s going to be extremely hot, and you just cannot leave people unprotected or you’re going to deal with a lot of injuries,” said Jonathan Alingu, co-executive director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice, whi
  
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• Amoc collapse could change Europe’s climate 10x faster than expected. We aren’t ready | Penny Holliday, Femke de Jong and Sjoerd Groeskamp

  14-06-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The system of ocean current that moves heat in the Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in regulating climate. Today’s monitoring of it may be discontinuedImagine we detect a large asteroid heading straight for Earth. We are able to intervene and prevent disaster, but instead we cut the funding needed to track it. A few million dollars, it was argued, was too expensive to have a chance to save society.While this scenario isn’t real, the metaphor is alarmingly accurate. In Europe, we spend
  
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• Amoc collapse could change Europe’s climate 10x faster than expected. We aren’t ready

  14-06-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The system of ocean current that moves heat in the Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in regulating climate. Today’s monitoring of it may be discontinuedImagine we detect a large asteroid heading straight for Earth. We are able to intervene and prevent disaster, but instead we cut the funding needed to track it. A few million dollars, it was argued, was too expensive to have a chance to save society.While this scenario isn’t real, the metaphor is alarmingly accurate. In Europe, we spend
  
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• How forgotten voyages helped track El Nino

  14-06-2026 09:35 via bbc.com
  
  A century ago, research ship William Scoresby left Hull for pioneering work in the southern oceans.
  
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• Rare butterfly find drives conservation research

  14-06-2026 08:11 via bbc.com
  
  Gareth Tilley is credited as being the first to discover the elusive black hairstreak in Surrey.
  
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• Illegal dump becomes ‘symbol of north-south divide’ at heart of Makerfield byelection

  14-06-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Failure to clear up rotting, rat-infested site is a key issue for local people as they weigh up politicians’ promisesA mountain of rubbish sits behind a metal fence in the village of Bickershaw, where it has remained for more than 20 months. For many residents, it is a physical manifestation of the north-south divide as well as a rotting, rat-infested symbol of a broken system in which organised criminal gangs make millions while communities endure the toxic impact of their trade.The 25,00
  
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• I was a hardcore twitcher. I understand why the Cocos booby has Australia’s birders in a frenzy | Andrew Stafford

  13-06-2026 22:00 via theguardian.com
  Twitchers can be the subject of derision but they have greatly expanded our understanding of birdlife in the age of extinctionThe discovery of a black-headed gull in Geraldton, Western Australia, has put Australian birders in a bit of a flap. Normal people might wonder why, considering it is abundant in the northern hemisphere – it is the ubiquitous resident seagull in London. But twitchers, the bucket listers of birding, are proudly not normal.As a semi-reformed, semi-retired twitcher, yo
  
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• ‘Flamin’ cockatoos’ have lost much of their habitat to bushfires. Can the species survive?

  13-06-2026 22:00 via theguardian.com
  Two fires in 12 years wiped out all but a handful of the mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld national park, a key breeding ground for endangered pink cockatoosGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAt the entrance to Wyperfeld national park, in north-west Victoria, more than a dozen pink cockatoos are sprinkled across a hedge row of pine trees like Christmas decorations. These are Aleppo pines, not the native conifers that the birds rely on for nesting habitat a
  
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• Denial is back in vogue. As Australia leads climate talks, it’s beyond time we took the issue seriously

  13-06-2026 22:00 via theguardian.com
  It is unlikely that many voters are flocking to Pauline Hanson for her scientific insights – but that is where they are lining up, regardlessWant to get this in your inbox when it publishes? Sign up for the Clear Air Australia newsletter herePolitics is disconnecting from long-held assumptions at historic speed and no one knows where the great unhinging will take us. On the climate crisis, denial is back in vogue – depending on what the algorithm feeds you.One Nation’s surge in
  
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• Calls to restore chalk grassland for rare insects

  13-06-2026 15:01 via bbc.com
  
  Buglife says the project aims to restore more than 30 hectares of the vital ecosystem.
  
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• Freedivers, leftover cables and bits of clay: Cuba gets inventive to save its pristine reefs amid US blockade

  13-06-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With limited resources and sanctions tightening, conservationists are forced to find new ways to protect the coral reefs of Ciénaga de Zapata national parkAt 8am, scuba divers gather to collect plastic and drinks cans from the sea at Cuba’s Ciénaga de Zapata national park. Amid a power crisis that has virtually paralysed the country’s economy, they use an electric trailer to move to a designated spot. In only a few hours, they have collected five sacks of cans and waste
  
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• How a new arrival could help save rare giraffe

  13-06-2026 12:03 via bbc.com
  
  Three-year-old Stanley will be critical to helping the Wiltshire safari park conserve his species.
  
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• Tropical heron spotted in UK for first time as more exotic birds arrive to thrill birdwatchers

  13-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Appearance of a western reef heron in north Wales is unlikely to be the last, as heating temperatures mean species can survive Britain’s winter, say expertsIt is a tropical bird typically encountered between west Africa and India, but last week a western reef heron arrived in north Wales in what is believed to be the first ever sighting in the UK.The heron was first spotted in Foryd Bay at the weekend before flying to nearby Caernarfon harbour where it fed among the boats. Continue reading
  
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• ‘Fast-track’ regulation could expose Britons to harmful chemicals, say campaigners

  13-06-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Fighting Dirty taking legal action against government over proposal it says could import weaker standardsAn environmental campaign group is taking legal action against the government over proposals that it claims could fast-track chemical hazard classifications from other countries with lower standards into UK law.Fighting Dirty claims proposals to change the classification and labelling of potentially hazardous chemicals could result in the UK weakening standards on cancer-causing su
  
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• Country diary: It’s a painted lady summer, the stuff of lepidopterists’ legend | Phil Gates

  13-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wolsingham, Weardale: These stunning butterflies are here in incredible numbers this year, yet what’s most remarkable is their multigenerational migrationThere’s a painted lady basking on the footpath. Her orange, black-tipped, white-spotted wings, a little worn after her long journey, blend with shadows and sun-flecks on heatwave-baked mud, so she’s almost under our feet before she takes flight. And here’s another, nectaring on a dandelion; and another; then several more
  
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• Trees may store less planet-heating carbon than hoped, study suggests

  13-06-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Photosynthesis does not always result in wood growth, a key factor in carbon dioxide sequestrationTrees may not be able to store as much planet-heating carbon as hoped, a study suggests, with researchers finding photosynthesis does not always lead to wood growth.Scientists studied 137 sites across the US and found trees stopped growing months before the point in the year at which photosynthesis stopped. Continue reading...
  
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• Elon Musk's stratospheric rise to trillionaire status - in charts

  13-06-2026 01:05 via bbc.com
  
  The BBC breaks down how the tech mogul's fortune has grown.
  
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• Elon Musk gets public trading of SpaceX under way from Texas

  12-06-2026 17:56 via bbc.com
  
  SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he gave the company "less than a 10% chance of succeeding at all" when it first started, and it is now going public "with the largest IPO ever".
  
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• What is the super new Moon?

  12-06-2026 17:30 via bbc.com
  
  A super new Moon is coming. While you won’t be able to see it, it's still going to have an impact. But, what exactly is it and what does it have to do with the tide?
  
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