Environment news

• Coca-Cola U-turn could help UK catch up on can and bottle recycling

  28-02-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  European countries using deposit return schemes, such as Estonia, have recycling rates far better than the UKMore firms are expected to announce bottle deposit return services after Coca-Cola unexpectedly came out in favour of the idea.Pepsi, Nestlé, Unilever and M&S have already committed to producing more eco-friendly bottles by using plant-based materials or less plastic, and an uptick in that trend could now be on the cards. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Week in wildlife: a squirrel with a splint, hungry hyenas and a great white shark

  12-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The underwater wonders I saw on my once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galápagos

  12-06-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  In this week’s newsletter: Joining a research team on the Darwin and Wolf Islands off the Ecuadorian coast revealed how critically endangered species are reacting to their rapidly changing ocean environment• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereDarwin and Wolf Islands in the Galápagos archipelago are the kinds of places scuba divers and marine biologists dream of visiting, myself included. I even wrote a children’s book imagining a team of sc
  
  Read more

• Emergency hospital admissions fell after introduction of London’s T-charge and Ulez, study suggests

  12-06-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Imperial College scientists analysed health records before and after introduction of air pollution reduction zonesLow emission and clean air zones attract controversy whenever they are proposed, but there is growing evidence that they work in improving air quality. The Bradford zone was followed by a reduction of about 25% in GP visits for heart and breathing problems and survey data shows that the central London zone was followed by a reduction in the likelihood of a person taking sick leave.No
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Country diary: The grisly beauty of an otter postmortem | Gwyneth Lewis

  12-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Cardiff: I still remember my first otter sighting, on a bog in the mid-90s. This, in a lab on a stainless steel table, is something elseOtter No 4,888 was found at the side of the road near the River Cefni on Anglesey in November 2024. The collector froze her body and sent it, as every dead otter in the UK should be, to Cardiff University’s Otter Project for a postmortem. The vast majority of the 200 or so animals dissected here annually are roadkill.On one of the hottest days of the
  
  Read more

• Britain’s favourite butterfly revealed – and it’s a familiar backyard beauty

  12-06-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  More than 20,000 votes cast in Butterfly Conservation’s poll of 60 native species to find nation’s favourite for first timeThe votes are in on Britain’s favourite butterfly, and it is one of the most ubiquitous yet spectacular backyard beauties that has flown to victory.With its lavender, yellow and maroon eye spots and luscious rusty red and black colouration, the peacock butterfly is both beautiful and commonplace, flying throughout spring, summer and autumn in all corners of
  
  Read more

• Natural history GCSE to teach teenagers to plant wildflower-friendly gardens

  11-06-2026 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Long-awaited course to examine human effects on natural world and explore everyday ways to aid biodiversitySchool pupils will learn how to plant a wildflower-friendly garden, according to long-awaited plans announced on Thursday for a natural history GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.Campaigners have for more than a decade called for the study of biodiversity loss and global heating to be introduced as a dedicated subject in classrooms across the country, but despite a curriculum being
  
  Read more

• Scientists reveal surprising mechanism behind Venus flytrap’s rapid snap

  11-06-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Intricate tests show hair-trigger detection causes cells on outer surface of leaf to soften, prompting closureThe Venus flytrap is one of nature’s most impressive predators, luring insects with the intoxicating scent of nectar before capturing them with a snap of its jaw-like leaves.Now, scientists have revealed the mechanism that allows the carnivorous plant to react with lightning speed, resolving a problem that stumped Charles Darwin and many researchers after him. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Millions of homes in London, Essex and Kent at risk of sinking as climate crisis worsens

  11-06-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Analysis pinpoints areas most vulnerable to hotter, drier weather causing ground to shrink and drag foundations downMillions of homes are at risk from climate-related subsidence, according toan analysis by the British Geological Survey (BGS).As hotter, drier summers driven by global heating become more frequent, the ground under houses can shrink and drag down a property’s foundations. The most vulnerable areas include London, Essex, Kent and a tranche of land from Oxford up to the Wash on
  
  Read more

• Country diary: A tiny orchid with mighty powers of deception | Oliver Southall

  11-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wolstonbury Hill, West Sussex: The fly orchid looks like no fly I’ve ever seen – its target insect is a wasp. Even more strange is that neither I (nor Charles Darwin) have ever seen one being pollinated Many British orchids are named for their animal or humanoid appearance. List some and you have all the characters for a nursery-rhyme tale of transformation and trickery: lady, frog, man, fly and spider. Today’s protagonist is the fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera), a subtle c
  
  Read more

• Four days of rain slashed population of world's rarest orangutans, study says

  11-06-2026 05:50 via bbc.com
  
  Climate change-induced weather events are pushing orangutan populations to extinction, says a study.
  
  Read more

• Record winter temperatures in Antarctic raise fears over speed of climate breakdown

  10-06-2026 20:32 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures above 15C ‘very strange’ say scientists, as snow melts and rain falls on glaciers in usually frozen regionTemperatures in the Antarctic climbed above 15C this month, shattering the previous winter heat record for the usually frozen region and raising concerns about the speed of climate breakdown.The new winter peak temperature was logged by the Argentinian Esperanza base on the Trinity peninsula on 6 June amid a protracted heatwave, when the maximum daily temperature exc
  
  Read more

• 'Worrying' pollution in Cotswolds river - volunteers

  10-06-2026 20:11 via bbc.com
  
  Volunteers record high phosphate and nitrate levels and call on the Environment Agency to investigate.
  
  Read more

• The fight to stop animals dying in fishing nets

  10-06-2026 19:17 via bbc.com
  
  Thousands of sea mammals and birds are killed as a result of fishing nets every year.
  
  Read more

• Rare butterfly population increases by 9000%

  10-06-2026 18:53 via bbc.com
  
  A record number of Duke of Burgundy butterflies were recorded in Kent last year, a charity says.
  
  Read more

• Four days of extreme rain in Indonesia killed 7% of world’s rarest great apes, study finds

  10-06-2026 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan population falls after heavy rain and landslides, fuelled by climate crisis, in North SumatraExtreme rainfall and landslides fuelled by the climate crisis killed 7% of the remaining population of the world’s rarest great ape, a study has found, prompting fears for the species’ survival.The research suggests 58 out of the remaining 800 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) were killed after more than 1,000mm (39in) of
  
  Read more

• Toby Carvery to fund orchard replanting as settlement for felling ancient oak

  10-06-2026 17:30 via theguardian.com
  Enfield council in north London took legal action against restaurant chain after outrage over damage to treeThe UK restaurant chain Toby Carvery has settled a legal dispute over taking a chainsaw to an ancient oak tree without permission, by agreeing to pay to restore a lost orchard.The unauthorised partial felling of the 500-year-old oak next to a Toby Carvery car park in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, north London, in April last year, prompted widespread public outrage and questions in parliament.
  
  Read more

• Deepest and most extensive whale graveyard discovered in Indian Ocean

  10-06-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Some remains found in Diamantina fracture zone date back more than 5m years and reveal species and ecosystems unknown to scienceThe oldest, deepest and most extensive whale graveyard yet discovered has been found in the south-eastern Indian Ocean, with fossils dating back more than 5m years.Whale falls – the term for dead whales that sink to the ocean floor – are not uncommon, but most have been found at depths of less than 4km (2.5 miles). By contrast, the newly discovered necropoli
  
  Read more

• ‘Every day it’s more barriers’: how the US is shutting out climate refugees

  10-06-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  As the US shuts its doors to most refugees, there’s little hope of a new system to help those forced from home by climate impactsTrump targets migrants from countries hit most by climate shocksMillions of people around the world are having their lives upended by floods, storms and heatwaves worsened by the climate crisis. Those forced to flee their home countries, however, are finding that the door to the US is more firmly shut than ever.Neither US nor international law recognizes environm
  
  Read more

• The rightwing campaign to control how US judges view the climate crisis

  10-06-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  US energy secretary Chris Wright featured in seminars to judges when he was a fracking executiveAs cities and states sue big oil for billions in damages over allegations that it covered up the dangers of its products, rightwing organizations are attempting to discredit the wave of litigation. They claim the lawyers behind it are teaming up with an environmentally focused legal education non-profit to bias federal judges against oil companies.But it is actually fossil fuel-backed organizations th
  
  Read more

• Big agriculture is killing our bees. We’ll all pay the price | Jennie Durant

  10-06-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  We’re thinking about the crisis facing pollinators all wrong. And we’ve come to a crucial momentLast winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies – their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we’ve been thinking about bee losses wrong.The real culprit is our industrial food system. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Rare tiger cub from litter of four dies

  10-06-2026 10:29 via bbc.com
  
  These Sumatran tigers are the first of this breed to be welcomed at the animal park in Kent.
  
  Read more

• Pollinators in peril: scientists reveal the hidden human health costs of the world’s disappearing bees

  10-06-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Crops and flowers rely on them for survival, but wild bees are declining – andcrucial nutrients will go missing from our diets as a resultThere are few ways in and out of Nepal’s Jumla district. The Karnali highway, considered one of the world’s most dangerous roads, provides the only land link, splicing through the Himalayas to connect Jumla’s terraced valleys to the rest of the country. As such, the 120,000 people that live there are almost entirely self-sufficient, wit
  
  Read more

• Nothing says stupidity like Reform's obsession with destroying British jobs | George Monbiot

  10-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The net zero economy is booming, so claims that prosperity depends on oil and gas are bunkum – unless you’re a Reform backer with fossil fuel interests, of courseReally? You want to destroy a million jobs? Vote Reform UK for mass unemployment: is that your pitch? Hammer these questions home whenever you meet a supporter of the party. Or, for that matter, a Conservative, as their party now takes an almost identical line.The figures are stark. They were compiled not by Just Stop Oil or
  
  Read more

• A question for Nigel Farage – why is your nationalist party so obsessed with destroying British jobs? | George Monbiot

  10-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The net zero economy is booming, so claims that prosperity depends on oil and gas are bunkum – unless you’re a Reform backer with fossil fuel interests, of courseReally? You want to destroy a million jobs? Vote Reform UK for mass unemployment: is that your pitch? Hammer these questions home whenever you meet a supporter of the party. Or, for that matter, a Conservative, as their party now takes an almost identical line.The figures are stark. They were compiled not by Just Stop Oil or
  
  Read more

• More than half of clean energy schemes needed for Labour’s 2030 target offered grid connection

  10-06-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The 700 projects include wind and solar farms, battery storage, gas and hydro plansMore than half the renewable energy projects needed to meet the government’s clean power targets by 2030 are now able to plug into the electricity grid after years of delay, according to the system operator.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has offered more than 700 clean energy projects in Great Britain a grid connection date since the start of the year, after a two-year process to unblock a bottle
  
  Read more

• Women prepare for 'space jobs that don't exist yet'

  10-06-2026 07:21 via bbc.com
  
  Hundreds of women attend the annual AeroWomen women event in Yeovil.
  
  Read more

• Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says

  10-06-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissionsUltra-wealthy people zooming across the world on their private jets, lounging on yachts and conspicuous by their Instagrammable consumption are among the most easily identified individual culprits when it comes to the climate crisis – but new research argues that it is not just their heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts.Through their ownership of companies and priv
  
  Read more

• Country diary: A late-night nightingale serenade | Nic Wilson

  10-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Strawberry Hill, Bedfordshire: After an evening round the campfire, we head into the wonderfully, chaotically alive scrub, to hear the headline act“Now I walk in beauty / Beauty is before me”. Earlier this evening we learned the simple melody to this Navajo prayer, and sang it as a round in the hawthorn clearing, adding our voices to the chorus of chiffchaff, blackcap and garden warbler. Afterwards we sat for a few moments, listening, newly aware of the beauty before us. Across the m
  
  Read more

• Bycatch has ‘shocking’ toll on British marine life, first-ever analysis reveals

  10-06-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Conservationists say cherished creatures such as whales, dolphins and seabirds are being killed in large numbers by fishing tackleThousands of Britain’s most charismatic and protected marine wildlife, including whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals and seabirds are being killed as “collateral damage” by fishing vessels every year, according to the first-ever analysis of bycatch data.The analysis, by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of voluntary conservation groups, r
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!