Environment news

• Evolutionary engineer wins tech prize

  24-05-2016 14:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US biochemical engineer Frances Arnold takes the million-euro Millennium Technology Prize for pioneering 'directed evolution'.
  
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• Help a toad across the road – and five more ways to save these endangered amphibians

  09-03-2026 15:55 via theguardian.com
  Britain’s toads have begun their spring migration, putting them at even greater risk than usual. Here’s how – and why – we should look after themThere’s a touch of old magic about toads, those shapeshifters of myth, superstition and folklore. Charismatic creatures with the pleasing Latin binomial bufo bufo, common toads have astonishing copper- or gold-coloured eyes and rugged, textured skin. “People say they look warty, which I’ve always thought is a bi
  
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• Pay per view: Victoria wants to charge visitors to see the Twelve Apostles – will it become like Stonehenge?

  09-03-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Like Stonehenge, the Australian coastal landmark is first seen from a busy highway – and locals warn charging a fee for safe viewing could make existing congestion worseGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHow much is a view worth? The Victorian public is asking itself that question after the state government announced on Monday that it would impose visitor fees on one of its most spectacular landmarks, the Twelve Apostles.Bookings would be required and a fee payable
  
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• Countries can rewild borders to deter invasions, says EU environment chief

  09-03-2026 12:17 via theguardian.com
  Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to crossCountries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in
  
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• Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK

  09-03-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charityThe large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings.Britain’s list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, D
  
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• Yorkshire Water receives fresh funding despite sewage fines and pay row

  09-03-2026 09:29 via theguardian.com
  Private equity group EQT to take 42% stake as supplier faces scrutiny over environmental record and CEO’s payBusiness live – latest updatesA leading European investor will pump fresh funding into Yorkshire Water including helping to cover a £600m loan, despite recent heavy sewage fines and a scandal over executive pay at the utility firm.EQT, a Swedish private equity group, said on Monday it would take a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent company of Yorks
  
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• How the ‘Galápagos of west Africa’ is plundered by floating fish factories

  09-03-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  A Guardian investigation with DeSmog reveals thousands of tonnes of fish are illegally turned into fishmeal and oil off the coast of Guinea-BissauThe only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, is out of service. Local fishers, such as Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland, about 70km away – a six-hour round trip by boat.“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira says, as he pulls in his nets on the
  
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• Country diary: A riverside walk reveals the city’s history written in plants | Susie White

  09-03-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Lower Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne: Under boardwalks, in concrete, on window ledges, seeds borne by water and carried on feet surviveThe Ouseburn slides glassily, reflecting clouds, as it moves towards the Tyne. These lower reaches are tidal, once used for loading coal barges, here in the industrial heart of Newcastle. From glassworks, bottleworks, potteries and flax mills, the area is now transformed into waterside cafes, bars and housing. The burn flows through a variety of habitats: a wooded
  
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• ‘The smell wasn’t healthy’: the artist who wore 24 nappies to highlight sewage pollution – and fell ill

  09-03-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  zack mennell made a costume out of nappies and waded into filthy waterways saying: ‘I’m going to be the parasite.’ The performance artist’s project became more literal than originally intendedOn the Deptford foreshore, a ghoulish figure is sinking into the Thames. Performance artist zack mennell (who writes their name in lower case) wades to their belly button as a crowd watches on. DAs they dip down further, their mutant costume – sewn together from 24 adult nappie
  
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• The Guardian view on EV charging: China took the right lessons from Britain’s past | Editorial

  08-03-2026 18:25 via theguardian.com
  Megawatt fast EV charging reflects a coordinated grid strategy the UK once used. Privatisation and fragmentation now make that infrastructure far harder to buildThe future of electric cars arrived this week in China. The world’s biggest car seller, BYD, unveiled a new battery giving its latest electric models more than 600 miles of range. Remarkably, the Chinese motor-maker said 250 miles of range could be injected into its new batteries in just five minutes. If true, the last remaining ad
  
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• Sex and the sea snail: how a plucky marine lab brought a mollusk back from the brink

  08-03-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Once abundant in California, the white abalone had all but vanished. Now, thanks to an innovative breeding program, it’s staged a remarkable comebackOn a sunny January afternoon in Bodega Bay, some 70 miles north of San Francisco, the White Abalone Culture Lab is humming with activity.It’s spawning day. Alyssa Frederick, the lab’s program director, invites me into an industrial room full of troughs and tubs of bubbling seawater. The abalone program is tucked away in the UC Davi
  
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• How can we really protect Britain’s environment?

  08-03-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Well-intentioned laws designed to safeguard nature frequently have the opposite effectThe importance of protecting nature is not up for debate. One in six species in Britain is threatened with extinction. Since 1970, more than half our flowering plants have decreased in areas where they once thrived. In the 1950s, Britain’s hedgehog population was 30m strong. Now, it is believed to be under a million.All this demands action. The problem is that a lot of the action we’ve taken –
  
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• BrewDog sold Highland estate for knockdown price after abandoning its reforestation plans

  08-03-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Self-styled ‘punk’ beer company bought land in 2020, pledging to plant Scotland’s ‘biggest ever forest’The self-styled “punk” beer company BrewDog sold its Highland estate for a knockdown price after abandoning its efforts to plant Scotland’s “biggest ever forest” there.BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt claimed its Lost Forest project at Kinrara in the Cairngorms national park would cover a “staggering area” and capture
  
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• Campaigners push to better protect chalk streams

  08-03-2026 08:56 via bbc.com
  Campaigners say the eco-system rarity does not have enough legal protection.
  
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• Ancient hedge laying used to boost biodiversity

  08-03-2026 08:21 via bbc.com
  Bristol Water is using ancient hedge laying techniques to improve biodiversity near Blagdon lake.
  
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• Life on Kenya’s largest dump: the invisible workers sorting the world’s rubbish

  08-03-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Plastic, textiles, e-waste and more end up at the vast Dandora site, where waste pickers spend all hours sifting through toxic debris looking for recyclablesOn my journey documenting environmental stories in Kenya, I attended the Africa Climate Summit in 2023. It ignited a deeper exploration into the lives of waste pickers, revealing a glaring omission in global recycling narratives: the invisibility of these essential workers.Living and working in Nairobi, I immersed myself in Dandora, the larg
  
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• Wildlife trust buys land to create new reserve

  08-03-2026 07:45 via bbc.com
  In its 100th year, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust spends £4.6m on 336 acres of farmland.
  
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• Being an Essex girl never held me back, says spacecraft engineer

  08-03-2026 07:40 via bbc.com
  "I don't think stereotypes like that have ever bothered me," says 36-year-old Sian Cleaver.
  
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• Spectacular images reveal unique sea creatures and corals off Caribbean islands

  08-03-2026 02:38 via bbc.com
  Scientists discover underwater mountain ranges, golden towers of coral, and never-before-seen sea creatures.
  
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• Private buildings, public land: how Australia’s national parks became a battleground between conservation and commerce

  07-03-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Developers argue that eco-tourism helps ‘underfunded’ parks but former Greens leader Bob Brown says the idea of wilderness lodges is an ‘oxymoron’ When the Gardens of Stone in the Blue Mountains was declared a state conservation area in 2022, it should have been cause of great celebration for Keith Muir. Instead, the plans put forward by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for the nature reserve make him weep.“The geology is spectacular,” he say
  
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• Tim Peake leaves scouts starry-eyed at hut opening

  07-03-2026 11:23 via bbc.com
  Peake was the first Briton to set foot on the International Space Station.
  
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• The climate change course for people with learning disabilities

  07-03-2026 07:48 via bbc.com
  A training course on climate change has been specially developed for people with learning disabilities
  
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• UK must stockpile food in readiness for climate shocks or war, expert warns

  07-03-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Prof Tim Lang says country produces far less food than it needs to feed population and is particularly vulnerable The British government should be stockpiling food, according to a leading expert on food policy, as it is not prepared for climate shocks or wars that could cause the population to starve.Prof Tim Lang of City St George’s, University of London said the UK produced far less food than it needed to feed itself, and as a small island that relied on a few large companies to feed its
  
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• Country diary: Our patch of snowdrops is part of the family | Mark Cocker

  07-03-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Buxton, Derbyshire: Their ‘parents’ were planted 50 years ago by my late mother. Yet we all have a remarkable connection to these uplifting flowersI wonder if nature has found a way to compensate us for the dreariest winter I can recall, because the snowdrops this year have been unbelievable. I’m seeing them everywhere – along road verges, on village greens, with vast white sheets across churchyards and especially in old gardens with driveways and mature trees around thei
  
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• How green is your milk? We compare the environmental cost of dairy and plant-based options

  07-03-2026 00:00 via theguardian.com
  Many Australians are choosing oat, almond and soy over cow’s milk – but which choice is the most sustainable?Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] cap, skinny flat white, almond chai, soy matcha. Everyone has a different milk preference: cow, skim, lactose-free, oat, almond, soy, goat or ca
  
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• Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds

  06-03-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations such as El NiñoHumanity is heating the planet faster than ever before, a study has found.Climate breakdown is occurring more rapidly with the heating rate almost doubling, according to research that excludes the effect of natural factors behind the latest scorching temperatures. Continue reading...
  
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• Sheep are disappearing from our hills - and our dinner plates

  06-03-2026 12:57 via bbc.com
  Have we have passed "peak sheep" in the UK?
  
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• A century of care: Wildlife Trusts mark 100th birthday with woodland project

  06-03-2026 12:49 via theguardian.com
  First of the trusts, formed with 12 people in a Norfolk pub in 1926, buys swath of farmland to restore to natureThe place where Norton Wood once stood is now a vast field of decaying wheat stubble. The ancient wood was grubbed up during the second world war. No trace of it remains – on the surface, at least. This ghost in the landscape lives on only in the name of the local village: Wood Norton.But trees will soon be bursting upwards again and the wood will regrow after Norfolk Wildlife Tr
  
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• 3G pitch set to be approved despite pollution fears

  06-03-2026 11:43 via bbc.com
  A charity is worried about microplastics but a council says the plans follow environmental guidance.
  
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• The Scottish avalanche forecasters – photo essay

  06-03-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Murdo MacLeod patrols the snow with members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, which has for several decades published a vital daily avalanche forecast for mountain areasScottish avalanches are back. More than 200 have been recorded this winter, against the previous year’s record low of 42. The worst season for fatalities was 2012-13 when eight people died, four of whom were buried in deep snow when an avalanche struck without warning while they descended Glen Coe&
  
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