Environment news

• HelloFresh to offset entire carbon footprint

  06-08-2020 10:17
  
  Meal kit provider HelloFresh has announced its intention to offset 100% of carbon emissions from internal operations and offices, corporate travel and deliveries.
  
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• ‘Freedom is a city where you can breathe’: four experts on Europe’s most liveable capitals

  24-12-2025 16:23 via theguardian.com
  From Copenhagen’s cycle lanes and Vienna’s shared parks to Barcelona and London’s unfulfilled potential, better living is close at handThe angry rumble of a speeding SUV. The metallic smog of backlogged traffic. The aching heat of sun-dried neighbourhoods baking in an oven of concrete and asphalt.For most people, the mundane threats that plague our environments are likely to annoy more than they spark dread. But for scientists who know just how dangerous our surroundings can be
  
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• White Christmas ‘unlikely’ but health alert issued amid falling UK temperatures

  24-12-2025 15:05 via theguardian.com
  Christmas Day expected to be dry and bright, with low temperature warnings posing greater risk to vulnerable peopleChristmas Day will bring bright weather in much of the UK, but a cold health alert has been issued warning of a “greater risk to life of vulnerable people”.While the prospect of a white Christmas is “highly unlikely”, according to forecasters, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a yellow cold health alert from 6pm on Christmas Day to noon on 27 D
  
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• Country diary: A winter walk means only one thing – mud | Man in the Woods

  24-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Dursley, Gloucestershire: We have to embrace these darker months and get outside, but there’s also only so much wind and sludge I can takeWinter is tiring. The footpath is a gully of slop, and each step forwards is a little slip backwards. The north-facing slope was OK – the frost hadn’t been thawed by the sun, and crunchy ground is better than slippy ground. But the rest of Gloucestershire has turned into slurry.It’s just as well that I enjoy it; I do
  
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• Crayfish, weevils and fungi released in UK to tackle invasive species such as Japanese knotweed

  24-12-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Scientists working for government breed biological control agents in lab to take on species choking native wildlifeCrayfish, weevils and fungi are being released into the environment in order to tackle invasive species across Britain.Scientists working for the government have been breeding species in labs to set them loose into the wild to take on Japanese knotweed, signal crayfish and Himalayan balsam, and other species that choke out native plants and wildlife. Continue reading...
  
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• Barracuda, grouper, tuna – and seaweed: Madagascar’s fishers forced to find new ways to survive

  24-12-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Seaweed has become a key cash crop as climate change and industrial trawling test the resilient culture of the semi-nomadic Vezo peopleAlong Madagascar’s south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits.Coastal villages around Toliara, a city in southern Madagascar, host tens of thousands of
  
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• The Guardian view on animal welfare: a timely reminder that cruelty is wrong | Editorial

  23-12-2025 19:25 via theguardian.com
  New protections for hares, and more humane conditions on farms, should be welcomed by allLooking after wildlife and improving the lives of farm animals and pets are the related but distinct aims of the government’s new animal welfare strategy for England. Its launch is timely: more than 1 billion chickens and around 8 million turkeys are reared each year – with many of the latter slaughtered in the run-up to Christmas. Winter is also peak season for pet abandonments, with animal char
  
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• Ministers raise inheritance tax threshold for farms after backlash

  23-12-2025 13:53 via theguardian.com
  U-turn lifts limit from £1m to £2.5m after protests and warnings that family farms were at riskMinisters will increase the threshold for taxing inherited farmland from £1m to £2.5m after months of pressure from campaigners and MPs representing rural areas.In a statement slipped out just before Christmas, the environment department announced the U-turn which will apply from April when the tax is due to kick in. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘We finally have a tool to at least shave some tenths of a degree off’: author Bill McKibben on the promise of renewable energy

  23-12-2025 13:51 via theguardian.com
  The activist and author of Here Comes the Sun discusses rapid advances in solar and wind power and how the US ceded leadership in the sector to its main rivalBill McKibben’s book The End of Nature, published in 1989, warned early of the dangers of climate changes and he has been campaigning and writing ever since. His most recent book, Here Comes the Sun, takes a look at the soaring potential of renewable energyIs your latest book a more optimistic take on this world? Continue reading...
  
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• ‘This is the Costco of energy, man!’: author Bill McKibben on the promise of renewables

  23-12-2025 13:51 via theguardian.com
  The activist and author of Here Comes the Sun discusses rapid advances in solar and wind power and how the US ceded leadership in the sector to its main rivalBill McKibben’s book The End of Nature, published in 1989, warned early of the dangers of climate changes and he has been campaigning and writing ever since. His most recent book, Here Comes the Sun, takes a look at the soaring potential of renewable energyIs your latest book a more optimistic take on this world? Continue reading...
  
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• Something gnawed your oak tree? Sink hole in your road? How Zurich’s beaver hotline is reassuring residents

  23-12-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  As the number of the semi-aquatic creatures soars so can tensions. But the Swiss have a tried and tested system to calm the neighbours and restore harmony“I hate beavers,” a woman tells the beaver hotline. Forty years ago she planted an oak tree in a small town in southern Zurich – now at the frontier of beaver expansion – and it has just been felled: gnawed by the large, semi-aquatic rodents as they enter their seasonal home-improvement mode.The caller is one of 10 new p
  
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• Forecasters say 2025 ‘more likely than not’ to be UK’s hottest year on record

  23-12-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Met Office says temperatures are tracking ahead of 2022 after year of heatwaves and drought, though late cold spell could yet interveneForecasters say 2025 is “more likely than not” to break the record for the hottest year in the UK since records began, after a summer of heatwaves and drought followed by a mild autumn.According to the Met Office, the official forecaster, the mean temperature for 2025 is tracking well ahead of the previous highest year, set in 2022. However, a colder
  
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• Country diary: Welcome to the woods where bomber aircraft once hid | Jennifer Jones

  23-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Speke, Merseyside: Walking through Stockton’s Wood today, you’d never know it played such a vital role in the second world war For most visitors, the Tudor house of Speke Hall, with all its rich history and magnificence, is the star of the show here. But right next door, Stockton’s Wood has a history all of its own.Today, on a chilly winter day, there’s no escaping that right now this ancient woodland is an important “deadwood” site. It’s rich
  
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• Country diary: These woods have a secret – the bomber aircraft that once hid here | Jennifer Jones

  23-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Speke, Merseyside: Walking through Stockton’s Wood today, you’d never know it played such a vital role in the second world warFor most visitors, the Tudor house of Speke Hall, with all its rich history and magnificence, is the star of the show here. But right next door, Stockton’s Wood has a history all of its own.Today, on a chilly winter day, there’s no escaping that right now this ancient woodland is an important “deadwood” site. It’s rich i
  
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• The best of the long read in 2025

  23-12-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Our 20 favourite pieces of in-depth reporting, essays and profiles from the yearVictor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? Continue reading...
  
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• Muddy eruption at Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone national park – video

  22-12-2025 16:45 via theguardian.com
  Video shared by the US Geological Survey on social media shows mud spraying up and out from the Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone national park. Other recent eruptions have mostly been audible but not visible because they happened either at night or when the camera was obscured by ice. The agency said the Black Diamond Pool was previously the site of a hydrothermal explosion, in July 2024, that sent rocks and mud flying hundreds of feet into the air and damaged a boardwalk. It prompted the closu
  
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• Fatberg weighing 100 tonnes discovered in east London sewer

  22-12-2025 16:33 via theguardian.com
  Mass of congealed fat, oil and grease 100 metres in length found blocking sewers in Whitechapel area of capitalA “fatberg” weighing an estimated 100 tonnes has been discovered blocking sewers in east London, officials have said.The mass of congealed fats, oils and grease measures about 100 metres long (328ft) and weighs about a third more than the heaviest of the British army’s battle tanks. It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 to
  
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• Organ-tuning books in English churches provide notes on a warming climate

  22-12-2025 13:05 via theguardian.com
  Researchers have realised the records are a ‘goldmine’ to study changes in environmental conditionsYangang Xing had never heard of organ-tuning books, but his colleague Andrew Knight often played the pipe organ at churches as a teenager.When the pair, who are researchers at Nottingham Trent University, set out to study how environmental conditions in churches had changed over time, Knight explained that all over the country many organs had notebooks full of data tucked away in their
  
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• ‘Unashamedly capitalist’ rewilders claim ‘Moneyball’ approach could make millions – but experts sceptical

  22-12-2025 12:26 via theguardian.com
  Rich Stockdale says model of ‘regenerative capitalism’ would maximise profits by planting trees, restoring peatlands, and installing windfarms across its estatesThe founder of an investment firm buying large estates across Britain to restore woods and peatland has said it is “unashamedly and proudly” capitalist, and plans to make tens of millions of pounds in profit.Rich Stockdale, the chief executive of Oxygen Conservation, said his model of “regenerative capitalis
  
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• US farmers say Trump’s $12bn package not enough to undo damage from tariffs

  22-12-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Thousands of farms set to go bankrupt as grain farmers in particular hit by trade disruptions caused by price hikesDonald Trump, having promised to “NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN”, appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year.While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a “big part” of his plan to lower grocery pric
  
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• Trump’s shuttering of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is Stalinist | Michael Mann and Bob Ward

  22-12-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  This is the latest in the relentless purge of climate researchers who refuse to be co-opted by the fossil fuel industryThe Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin would no doubt have understood and even appreciated the latest attack by the Trump administration on climate researchers and their work.The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, is to be dismantled after more than 50 years at the forefront of global research on climate science and monitoring.Professor Michael Mann is the
  
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• 2025 is ‘year of the octopus’ as record numbers spotted off England’s south coast

  22-12-2025 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Milder weather led to a bloom in the invertebrates in south Cornwall and Devon, wildlife charity saysRecord numbers of sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates over the summer have led the Wildlife Trusts to declare 2025 “the year of the octopus” in its annual review of Britain’s seas.A mild winter followed by an exceptionally warm spring prompted unprecedented numbers of Mediterranean octopuses to take up residence along England’s south coast,
  
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• Country diary: A seal so close I can see its nostrils flaring | Tom Allan

  22-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  River Dart, Devon: It probably came here for the shoals of grey mullet, but just for a second, it’s more interested in me and my paddleboardThere’s a lull between the storms, and for the first time in days it’s calm enough to take out my stand-up paddleboard. It’s 7.30am, and on this sheltered tidal creek on the River Dart, the water is barely moving: a gentle pulse in the scum line along the beach is the last gasp of the tide’s energy.When I join the main course of
  
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• Forget elf on the shelf – these Aussie birds are perfect for the festive season | Jess Harwood

  22-12-2025 04:13 via theguardian.com
  Magpie on a mince pie anyone? Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Miracle’ of Zealandia: chick is born to rare takahē pair thought to be infertile

  21-12-2025 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Unexpected arrival is a boon for birdlife in New Zealand, where there are only 500 takahē leftA pair of rare native New Zealand takahē birds who were believed infertile have stunned staff at the world’s largest urban eco-sanctuary, after hatching a “miracle” chick.The roughly seven-week old chick was discovered inside Zealandia, a fully fenced eco-sanctuary 10 minutes from Wellington’s city centre, in November, but its arrival has been a closely guarded secret t
  
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• Do prawns feel pain? Why scientists are urging a rethink of Australia’s favoured festive food

  21-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Studies show crustaceans can learn, remember, solve problems and form relationshipsMore summer essentialsSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereCrustaceans are a festive season staple for many families, particularly in Australia where an estimated 18.5m kilograms of prawns and more than 150,000 lobsters are eaten over Christmas and New Year.Globally, trillions are caught and consumed each year. Australia is a major producer, with prawn, lobst
  
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• Sea change: the drive to restore millions of oysters on the Norfolk coast

  21-12-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  The first ever mass deployment of mother reef bricks aims to rebuild habitats – and could reshape the North SeaAllie Wharf’s career unfolded amid conflict. As a senior foreign producer for Newsnight, she reported on Iraq and Afghanistan. Just two years ago, she was filming mass graves in Ukraine.But burnt out by wars, and after a detour farming ducks in Tanzania, Wharf has now settled on the quiet north Norfolk coast. Here, alongside her life and business partner, Willie Athill, she
  
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• The plants that thrive in salt: could halophytes help save coastal farming?

  21-12-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  As rising seas salinise the soils of the Venice lagoon, scientists and chefs are turning to long-forgotten wild herbsOn the scrubby banks of the rural swathes of the Venice lagoon, an evening chorus of cicadas underscores the distant whine of farmers’ three-wheeled minivans. Dotted along the brackish fringes of the cultivated plots are scatterings of silvery-green bushes – sea fennel.This plant is a member of a group of remarkable organisms known as halophytes – plant species t
  
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• Winners of the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2025 – in pictures

  21-12-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The winners and runners-up of this year’s RSPCA Young Photographer Awards have been announced with an image of a stag lit up in the darkness by Thomas Durrant, 17, from London, named the overall winner Continue reading...
  
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• ‘The anxiety never disappears’: Monmouth businesses recover from severe flooding

  21-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Restaurants, bars and shops are happy to be back after Storm Claudia – but there are fears for the future“It was heart-wrenching,” says Andrea Sholl, recalling the Friday night last month when flood waters started rising inside Bar 125, the restaurant she and her husband, Martin, own in the Welsh border town of Monmouth.The Sholls and a couple of colleagues were still clearing up after a busy evening serving diners when the building started to fill with water at about 1am. Cont
  
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