Environment news

• Forget coal wars, says Alan Finkel – look at emission outcomes

  14-10-2018 05:41 via theguardian.com
  Chief scientist says Australia must use all available technologiesAustralia’s chief scientist says the question facing the nation’s energy future is not about renewables versus coal but how best to create “a whole-of-economy emissions reduction strategy”.In a prerecorded interview with Sky released on Sunday, Dr Alan Finkel responded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report, which warned that greenhouse gas pollution needs to reach zero by 2050 if t
  
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• US voters want action on global heating. So why are midterm candidates ‘climate hushing’?

  16-10-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Polls show that Democrats and Republicans in battleground states want to hear more from candidates about the climate crisisMost Americans feel unease or alarm about the climate crisis and, in both red and blue states, want to know how political leaders are going to fix it. But in midterm election campaigns across the US, candidates have responded to this desire with near silence.People in the US have this year endured a record hot summer as well as soaring costs, equating to roughly $2,000 per h
  
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• EVs are holding value better than expected – and it has a lot to do with Australia’s cost of living

  16-10-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  The appeal of electric vehicles is financial as much as environmental for manydriversSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe electric vehicles were splattered after a concrete spray incident, but repairable. Eager to recoup their costs, insurers sent the 40 BYD vehicles to an auction run by asset sales company Pickles in late March.With fuel prices soaring in response to the US and Israel war on Iran, a bidding frenzy erupted. Continue rea
  
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• For restaurants Covid-19 was a crisis – pandemic loans are proving a disaster

  16-10-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Low-interest loans kept many eateries afloat. But the industry never recovered enough for them to repay the debtFor almost 20 years, Jai Mazumdar has served vegetarian curries, samosas, gulab jamun and other Indian delicacies at Spice N Curry, a cafe and grocery nestled inside a modest strip mall near Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. When the Covid-19 pandemic devastated his business, as it did with so many restaurants, Mazumdar took out a $370,000 economic injury disaster loan (
  
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• British food and drink exports to EU collapse by more than a third since Brexit

  16-10-2026 14:34 via theguardian.com
  NFU analysis of official data shows falls in exports to UK’s largest trading partner since 2019 include 70% for sugar and 74% for egg productsExports of British food and drink to the EU have collapsed by more than a third since Brexit with eggs, chicken and potato producers badly hit, new figures show.Analysis by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) of HMRC data shows a sharp fall in exports in the year to July compared with the same period in 2019, with sugar dropping the most, down 70
  
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• Sod’s law: what can two turf swaps 40 years apart tell us about Britain’s biodiversity crisis?

  16-10-2026 12:01 via theguardian.com
  In 1983, David Nash dug up a section of Kensington Gardens and swapped it with Welsh grassland. Four decades later, Mike Perry’s reverse swap revealed a striking reversal in the fortunes of urban and rural natureIn 1983, an open-topped truck unloaded an unusual cargo in Kensington Gardens: 83 hunks of turf cut from Cae’n y Coed, a wooded hillside in the Ffestiniog valley. The ring of turf measuring eight metres in diameter that was removed from the park beside the Serpentine Gallery
  
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• Iguazu Falls in South America hits record 10 times normal water flow – video

  16-10-2026 11:37 via theguardian.com
  Iguazu Falls, an Unesco world heritage site, has reached a record water flow after heavy rains across the river basin. El Niño weather patterns are said to have driven the water flow to hit 10 times the normal amount. Usually the water flow is 1.5m litres per second, but local government registered a flow of 15m litres of water per second.Argentina temporarily closes Iguazu Falls after El Niño-fuelled surge in water levels Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Clean air is not a favour’: Indonesia’s neighbours fed up with acrid haze as Singapore threatens to prosecute

  16-10-2026 10:34 via theguardian.com
  Companies behind fires in Indonesia threatened with legal action as region dogged by persistent, transboundary hazeSingapore is threatening to prosecute companies responsible for some of the worst fires in years in neighbouring Indonesia, as the region grows increasingly frustrated with a persistent, acrid haze that could result in diplomatic relations fraying.Lawrence Wong, the Singaporean prime minister, said his government was distributing masks to vulnerable citizens and working with countri
  
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• The week in wildlife: a penguin posse, a little leopard cat and a chonky squirrel

  16-10-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Revealed: VW, Ford and Tesla batteries linked to destructive deforestation of indigenous lands

  16-10-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Mines in supply chains of western carmakers linked to widespread deforestation of primary rainforest in nickel-rich lands inhabited by Tolaki people in IndonesiaVolkswagen, Ford and Tesla are among the electric carmakers whose batteries may contain nickel mined in indigenous woodlands plagued by deforestation, an analysis has found, highlighting the struggle to make vehicles that are free from environmental destruction.Corporate disclosures and trade flows from the last two years show mines in t
  
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• Four years after the promises of Cop15, our biodiversity targets are slipping away

  16-10-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  ​The world pledged to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, but as Cop17 delegates meet in Armenia next week the outlook is bleak and optimism has faded• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe world has lost its way on nature once again. Next week, biodiversity Cop17 begins in Yerevan, Armenia, and expectations are low. Very low.Almost four years ago, governments reached an historic agreement at the biodiversity Cop15 to halt the destruction of Earth’s
  
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• Like dinosaur eggs in the sand: the pterosaur museum built to thrive in the Gobi desert

  16-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  How architects worked with harsh environment to create sustainable building in location where fossils were foundViewed from afar, the silver-hued Hami Pterosaur Museum almost looks like a space base on Mars. Viewed from above, it resembles a collection of dinosaur eggs in the sand. Nestled in the Gobi desert, in north-west China, the new tourist attraction showcases hundreds of impressive fossils of pterosaurs, ancient flying reptiles related to dinosaurs. But far from reflecting its prehistoric
  
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• Commercial kitchen staff exposed to high levels of air pollution, study finds

  16-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  US research says nitrogen dioxide in restaurants that cook with gas can exceed WHO limits, which also affects dinersEach time we enjoy a meal out or order a takeaway, someone cooks for us in a commercial kitchen. In the UK, 3.6 million people work in catering and hospitality. In the US it is estimated at close to 16 million. A first-of-its-kind study in the US has found catering staff can experience high air pollution at work – and that this can affect diners too.Dr Drew Michanowicz, senio
  
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• Country diary: A three-day perambulation around my own parish | Simon Lockett

  16-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Golden Valley, Herefordshire: Even vicars can get stuck too much behind a desk, and the 800th anniversary of St Francis of Assisi’s death is a good excuse to strike out, and speak to local peopleI was sitting at my desk again, with the dull hum and the blue glow of the screen. It seems that every occupation traps people at their desk, and being a vicar is no different. But I wanted to resist, and it happened to be the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s death. With Jesus o
  
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• Severe drought declared in six areas of England as reservoirs run low

  15-10-2026 14:18 via theguardian.com
  Some reservoirs in south at critical levels as water companies call for extended restrictions that would affect golf clubs, private schools and car washesA severe drought has been declared in six areas of England, with some reservoirs at critically low levels, threatening public supplies.Parts of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex have moved into severe drought, and urgent measures are being taken to secure public supplies of water after the UK experienced its hottest
  
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• Severe drought declared in six areas of England as public water supplies under threat

  15-10-2026 14:18 via theguardian.com
  Some reservoirs in south-east and south-west at critically low levels as water companies call for non-essential user bans on businessesA severe drought has been declared in six areas of England with some reservoirs at critically low levels, threatening public supplies.Parts of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex have moved into severe drought, and urgent measures are being taken to secure public supplies of water after the UK experienced its hottest summer on record. C
  
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• The hidden costs of fracking: boom in Argentina linked to trail of sickness

  15-10-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Families in Vaca Muerta, the centre of Patagonia’s shale operation, report cancers, miscarriages and pollutionIn Allen, a small town in Argentine Patagonia, many people living on the same street ended up falling ill. For some, it was severe migraines, nausea or skin irritation. For others, cancers, congenital abnormalities, miscarriages or stillbirth seemed to affect foetuses or children. People say it all started 13 years ago – when a well was drilled near their homes to extract gas
  
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• ‘Like selling wolves from Yellowstone’: how protected US sharks are being sold off to foreign aquariums

  15-10-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  While anglers cannot take endangered sand tiger sharks, a loophole lets private firms catch the fish to sell abroad, profiting from Delaware Bay’s conservation successShortly after 12.45pm, what remains of a 300-metre line goes taut. Somewhere beneath the murky green surface of Delaware Bay, on the eastern US coast, a sand tiger shark has taken the bait of a mackerel chunk. Marine researchers at the University of Delaware haul the line towards a small boat as the shark’s grey-brown o
  
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• No timeline for lifting Land Registry paywall as ownership remains opaque

  15-10-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Defra promised in March to work towards free access to data on large plots in England and Wales The government has refused to say when the public will be able to freely access information about who owns large plots of land across England and Wales.Emma Reynolds, the previous secretary of state for the environment, announced in March that the paywall protecting large amounts of the Land Registry would be partly lifted. Continue reading...
  
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• Musk says US government may be behind slowdown of Ukraine drone speeds

  15-10-2026 06:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ukraine says Starlink access has improved but it is still facing speed limits which are disrupting its battlefield "missions".
  
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• Country diary: Thrilled by Darwin, and the wonder of worms | Lev Parikian

  15-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Downe, Kent: It’s hard not to feel the earth move by a visit to the great man’s house. He truly valued these creatures of the dirtThe garden beds are moistened by steady rain, but the ground is still unyielding. A blackbird hops across bare soil. A dart, a jab, and up it comes – a wriggling tube of pink flesh. A simple catch. But when I rummage in the dirt, my only reward is loam under the fingernails. Perhaps I should have brought a bassoon.I’ve come to Down House.
  
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• ‘I am still a child, it cannot be good to be married’: how drought forces Afghan families to sell girls as brides

  15-10-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  As climate breakdown pushes families to starvation, many feel forced to ‘sacrifice’ daughters to save siblings. Photographer Elise Blanchard travelled the country speaking to girls as young as eight, 10 and 14 who have been engaged or married to repay debts or pay for food‘I’m not happy about this,” says 11-year-old Khatira, who was sold into marriage to repay debts, sitting in her home in Qala-e-Naw, capital of Badghis province in north-west Afghanistan. “She
  
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• A perfect storm: how the super El Niño is devastating the fishing industry

  15-10-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Peru’s anchoveta have made up about a 10th of the entire global commercial fishing catch since 1970, more than any other fish. A combination of warming seas and decades-long overfishing spells disasterOn 10 June 2026, the government of Peru made a decision that it knew would hurt one of the world’s major fishing industries. It stopped all anchoveta fishing boats from going out to sea, suspending the fishing season. At first the order was temporary, but in mid-August, the suspension t
  
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• 'Nowhere to escape' - Indonesians share footage of orange haze blanketing towns

  15-10-2026 05:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thick orange smog descended on the Indonesian city of Palangka Raya as wildfires continue raging nearby.
  
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• Dog that hunts invasive 'sea vomit' honoured as animal of the year

  15-10-2026 01:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sgiath is thought to be the UK's first sea squirt-hunting dog and has been trained to sniff out the marine pest.
  
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• India and China aren't friends - but Nepal wants to unite them against climate threats

  15-10-2026 01:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Can Nepal bring the two regional giants together to confront a shared climate threat in the Himalayas?
  
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• Why is Starlink internet so important on the battlefield in Ukraine?

  14-10-2026 21:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  It is the "backbone of military communications in Ukraine" that provides vital high-speed internet to forces across the country.
  
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• For the future of green politics, look beyond the Green party | Zoe Williams

  14-10-2026 19:15 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists of all political hues must find the language and ideas that turn passion for climate action into impetusThe future of Green politics is under constant discussion after the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, but a much heavier clash – in meaning, symbolism and portent – happened earlier this summer, in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. The council declared a climate emergency in 2021, along with hundreds of others, and while it was under Conservative control. It is
  
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• Plan unveiled to increase share of land farmed organically in England to 10%

  14-10-2026 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Government says ambition for 2036 will be good for food and climate resilience, but concerns remain over fundingThe government has set an ambition to increase the share of English land farmed organically to 10% by 2036, but concerns remain over how the transition will be funded.Currently, just 3.4% of England’s agricultural land is farmed organically, one of the smallest shares in Europe. France, for example, farms 10.4% of its land organically, and aims to increase this to 18% by 2027. Co
  
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• Industrial fire linked to fish and eels' deaths

  14-10-2026 18:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chemicals from firewater runoff entered a brook and spread downstream where dead fish and eels were later found, the Environment Agency has confirmed.
  
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