Environment news

• David Cobham obituary

  27-03-2018 18:45 via theguardian.com
  Wildlife film-maker, author and conservationist best known for Tarka the Otter, which was voted one of the greatest family films of all timeDavid Cobham is best remembered for his classic films on British wildlife, including the 1979 cinema feature Tarka the Otter and his 1972 TV programme The Vanishing Hedgerows, the first explicitly environmental film broadcast by the BBC.Cobham, who has died aged 87, made The Vanishing Hedgerows for the corporation’s prestigious strand The World About U
  
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• Here’s why US household energy bills are soaring – and how to fix it | Mark Wolfe

  03-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Trump has prioritized fossil fuel companies over consumers, hitting the lowest-income families hardestDonald Trump promised to cut energy prices by 50%. Instead, average electricity prices over the past year have risen by about 6.7%, while natural gas prices have increased by 10.8%. Energy prices are influenced by many factors beyond any president’s direct control, including market conditions, weather-driven demand, regional infrastructure constraints, and the rapid growth of energy-intens
  
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• Landslides on one side, floods on the other: the Costa Rican village desperate to escape the climate crisis

  03-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  With government action stalled and living in ‘inhumane’ conditions, families in San José are making plans to relocateIn Emilio Peña Delgado’s home, several photos hang on the wall. One shows him standing in front of a statue with his wife and oldest son in the centre of San José and smiling. In another, his two sons sit in front of caricatures from the film Cars. For him, the photos capture moments of joy that feel distant when he returns home to La Carpio,
  
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• Human-made materials make up as much as half of UK beaches, study finds

  03-02-2026 14:56 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say sediment changes due to waste dumping and coastal erosion intensified by climate breakdownAs much as half of some British beaches’ coarse sediments consist of human-made materials such as brick, concrete, glass and industrial waste, a study has found.Climate breakdown, which has caused more frequent and destructive coastal storms, has led to an increase in these substances on beaches. Six sites on the Firth of Forth, an estuary on Scotland’s east coast joining the Riv
  
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• Human-made materials found in up to half of some UK urban beaches’ coarse sediments

  03-02-2026 14:56 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say changes to make-up of coarse sediment are due to waste dumping and climate breakdownAs much as half of some British beaches’ coarse sediments consist of human-made materials such as brick, concrete, glass and industrial waste, a study has found.Climate breakdown, which has caused more frequent and destructive coastal storms, has led to an increase in these substances on beaches. Six sites on the Firth of Forth, an estuary on Scotland’s east coast joining the River For
  
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• Plan to allow fishing around Chagos Islands alarms conservationists

  03-02-2026 13:08 via theguardian.com
  Chagossian people would be allowed to fish in area that has teemed with life since ban was introduced in 2010One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government’s deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people’s return to the i
  
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• Environmentalists decry ‘crushingly disappointing’ Pfas action plan for UK

  03-02-2026 08:56 via theguardian.com
  Ministers’ proposals to tackle ‘forever chemicals’ fail to match tougher stance taken in Europe, say expertsEnvironmental campaigners have criticised a “crushingly disappointing” UK government plan to tackle “forever chemicals”, which they warn risks locking in decades of avoidable harm to people and the environment.The government said its Pfas action plan set out a “clear framework” of “coordinated action … to understand where t
  
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• Country diary: Succumbing to the serpent of shining green | Mark Cocker

  03-02-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Priestcliffe, Derbyshire: The limestone walls in this parish are festooned with luminous mosses, in a variety that’s often beyond our comprehensionThe word bryophyte refers to a group of plants that may have colonised terrestrial Earth almost half a billion years ago. They need water to reproduce sexually and they love rain. So it’s hardly surprising that Britain is an important archipelago for them, with the two main groups, liverwort and mosses, represented by nearly 300 and 770 sp
  
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• Riverford sales rise 6% as UK organics market enjoys biggest boom in two decades

  03-02-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Sector bounces back as consumers focus on provenance and healthy eating, but is still well behind EuropeConsumers searching for healthy food from trusted sources have fuelled the UK organic market’s biggest boom in two decades, according to vegetable box seller Riverford.The delivery business, which sells meat, cheese, cookbooks and recipe boxes alongside vegetables, recorded a 6% increase in sales to £117m in the year to May 2025, as the UK organic food and drink market grew by almo
  
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• From Dorset to the world: wave of donations helps to secure Cerne giant’s home

  03-02-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Support from more than 20 countries propels National Trust to its target to protect chalk figure and local wildlifeIt feels like a very British monument: a huge chalk figure carved into a steep Dorset hillside that for centuries has intrigued lovers of English folklore and legend. But an appeal to raise money to help protect the Cerne giant – and the wildlife that shares the landscape it towers over – has shown that its allure stretches far beyond the UK.Donations have flooded in fro
  
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• Race to contain suspected bird flu outbreak among Thames Valley swans

  02-02-2026 13:59 via theguardian.com
  Volunteer workers say increasing case numbers and dozens of dead birds raise fears spread is wider than recordedMembers of the public and charity volunteers are working to contain a suspected outbreak of bird flu among swans in the Thames Valley, amid signs that confirmed cases are continuing to rise.Since October, 324 cases of bird flu in swans have been recorded by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha), which is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). O
  
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• Is Trump winning or losing his war on offshore wind power?

  02-02-2026 13:30 via theguardian.com
  The US president tried to kill offshore wind projects – now four are back under constructionConstruction has resumed on four offshore wind mega-projects after they survived a near fatal attack by Donald Trump’s administration thanks to rulings by federal judges. These are being seen as victories for clean energy amid a wider war being waged on it by the Trump administration.The wind farms are considered critical by grid planners as America faces an energy affordability crisis. Togeth
  
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• Weather tracker: Cyclone Fytia in Madagascar kills several people and floods homes

  02-02-2026 13:25 via theguardian.com
  Island’s first tropical storm of season may bring 150mm of rain – meanwhile, eastern Europe freezes with possible night-time lows of -30CAt least three people have died and nearly 30,000 people have been affected by flooding after Madagascar’s first tropical storm of the season hit over the weekend.Tropical Cyclone Fytia formed to the north-west of Madagascar over the northern Mozambique Channel on Thursday. Continue reading...
  
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• Is tyre pollution causing mass deaths in vulnerable salmon populations?

  02-02-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  A US judge will decide if, as research suggests, a chemical tyre additive is harming endangered fish speciesLast week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States. Continue reading.
  
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• ‘Nothing is sacred to them’: the race to save rare plants as Russian troops advance

  02-02-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  With some of Ukraine’s most valuable biodiversity sites and science facilities under occupation, experts at Sofiyivka Park in Uman are struggling to preserve the country’s natural historyIn the basement laboratory of the National Dendrological Park Sofiyivka, Larisa Kolder tends to dozens of specimens of Moehringia hypanica between power outages. Just months earlier, she and her team at this microclonal plant propagation laboratory in Uman, Ukraine, received 23 seeds of the rare flow
  
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• Country diary: A dramatic day in the grip of Storm Chandra | Sara Hudston

  02-02-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Bridport, Dorset: Paths became streams and new islands appeared as the River Brit burst its banksWe were warned that rain was coming – and so it did, barrelling down all night, falling through the darkness on to ground that was already saturated. By the time it was light, the rivers through Bridport had risen and spread across the floodplain, splicing into a broad, brown rope of water twisting to the harbour at West Bay.Contemptuous of its banks, the River Brit was running noisily across m
  
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• The Guardian view on risks from biodiversity collapse: warnings must be heeded before it’s too late | Editorial

  01-02-2026 18:25 via theguardian.com
  Inadequate food supplies and collapsing rainforests must be recognised as national security threats – not pigeonholed as green issuesEcosystems and national security used not to be mentioned in the same breath all that often – unless environmental campaigners were doing the talking. For years, climate and nature experts have struggled to get across the message that species extinctions, dead rivers and deforestation are an existential threat to people as well as animals and plants. As
  
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• Mexico moves to combat pollution following Guardian investigations

  01-02-2026 18:08 via theguardian.com
  After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tacticsThe Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.Those stories
  
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• ‘It sounds apocalyptic’: experts warn of impact of UK floods on birds, butterflies and dormice

  01-02-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Events such as Storm Chandra take a terrible toll on ecosystems, but nature can be part of the solution for mitigating flood waters“The flood waters are only good for scavenger species,” says Steve Hussey, searching hard for a silver lining to last week’s deluges brought by Storm Chandra. When the waters recede, crows and ravens will feast on the carrion of hedgehogs, dormice and other small animals unable to escape the rising water, he says.“It sounds very apocalyptic, d
  
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• Fossil fuel firms may have to pay for climate damage under proposed UN tax

  01-02-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation could also force ultra-rich to pay global wealth tax Fossil fuel companies could be forced to pay some of the price of their damage to the climate, and the ultra-rich subjected to a global wealth tax, if new tax rules are agreed under the UN.Negotiations on a planned global tax treaty will resume at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, with dozens of countries supporting stronger rules that would make polluters pay for the impact of the
  
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• Australia’s best photos of the month – January 2026

  31-01-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Bushfires, marches and a summer of sport – Guardian Australia’s best photos from around the countryPrayers, vigils and mitzvahs on the national day of mourning for Bondi beach terror attack victims – in picturesDrag racing at Sydney’s weekly street meet offers a change of pace for all walks of life Continue reading...
  
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• Musk's SpaceX applies to launch a million satellites into orbit

  31-01-2026 17:19 via bbc.com
  The firm wants to create a network of "orbital data centres" to power artificial intelligence.
  
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• ‘Justice is optional’: why Trump’s pardon of Honduran ex-president scares nature defenders

  31-01-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries for environmentalists – and the release of Juan Orlando Hernández has reinforced its ‘crisis of impunity’, say criticsWhen Donald Trump announced that he would pardon the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, only the second world leader to be convicted of drug trafficking, Anna*, an environmental defender, was shocked.In 2022, Hernández, also known as JOH, was extradited to the US and later convic
  
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• Snow and blizzards move into US east coast as 85 dead from last week’s storm

  31-01-2026 16:36 via theguardian.com
  About 190,000 are still without power in the south-east as states scramble to prepare for more winter weatherDozens of people have died in the teeth of a severe winter storm across the US south, with further freezing temperatures, snow and blizzards set to assail the east coast on Saturday.At least 85 people have died across multiple states, according to an Associated Press tally, with frigid conditions and icy roads causing car crashes, hypothermia and other fatal incidents. Continue reading...
  
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• The rise of ‘beef days’: why even meat lovers are cutting back

  31-01-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Inspired by YouTube creators, some people are limiting beef to a handful of ‘feast days’ a year to cut their climate impact“I love beef,” says Vlad Luca, 25. But unlike most other self-proclaimed steak lovers, Vlad eats it only four times a year, on designated “beef days”.The “beef days” phenomenon has been popularised by the brothers John and Hank Green, known collectively as vlogbrothers on YouTube. John, 48, is better known for his YA fiction, i
  
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• How winter storms are rapidly reshaping our coastline

  31-01-2026 08:31 via bbc.com
  Why the coastline is eroding fast - after Storm Ingrid strips beaches in height and exposes homes.
  
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• ‘Humanity’s favourite food’: how to end the livestock industry but keep eating meat

  31-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Bruce Friedrich argues the only way to tackle the world’s insatiable but damaging craving for meat is like-for-like replacements like cultivated and plant-based meatFor someone aiming to end the global livestock industry, Bruce Friedrich begins his new book – called Meat – in disarming fashion: “I’m not here to tell anyone what to eat. You won’t find vegetarian or vegan recipes in this book, and you won’t find a single sentence attempting to convince you
  
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• Electric ​cars ​go ​mainstream as ​adoption ​surges ​across ​rich and ​developing ​nations

  31-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  A wave of affordable Chinese-made EVs is accelerating the shift away from petrol cars, challenging long‑held assumptions about how transport decarbonisation unfolds• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereLast year, almost every new car sold in Norway, the nature-loving country flush with oil wealth, was fully electric. In prosperous Denmark, which was all-in on petrol and diesel cars until just before Covid, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) reache
  
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• ‘Homes may have to be abandoned’: how climate crisis has reshaped Britain’s flood risk

  31-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  As rivers swell and homes are cut off, scientists say UK winter rainfall is already 20 years ahead of predictionsWhen flooding hit the low-lying Somerset Levels in 2014, it took two months for the waters to rise. This week it took two days, said Rebecca Horsington, chair of the Flooding on the Levels Action Group and a born-and-bred resident. A fierce barrage of storms from the Atlantic has drenched south-west England in January, saturating soils and supercharging rivers. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Purple catkins light the way towards spring | Oliver Southall

  31-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex: Look out for the alders – they’re remarkable trees and one of our first to come to life as winter recedesA few wet weeks have left the ground here sodden, making walking a challenge. It doesn’t help that my wellies have sprung a leak. On the rainiest days, I find my range reduced to a few splashy circuits of the village fields, the nearby Downs receding into hanging cloud.Nevertheless, there are signs of drier times to come. Today, my eye is drawn b
  
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