Environment news

• Hostels to high-end: the Australian hotels embracing renewable energy

  14-11-2016 01:36
  
  Hospitality operators are realising sun, wind and water can do more than just attract tourists – they can power the resorts themselves When it comes to the carbon impact of holidays, the focus has long been on the journey, not the destination.Yet a growing stable of accommodation providers in Australia are on a mission to change that, switching over en masse to renewable energy in a bid to attract eco-conscious holidaymakers. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘My shirt was wringing’: National Express bus drivers speak out on 40C conditions

  20-07-2026 15:51
  Drivers in West Midlands say buses ‘unbearable’ during heatwaves, raising employee and passenger safety fearsBus drivers in the West Midlands have spoken out about the “horrendous” working conditions they have experienced during heatwaves, which led to 40C temperatures in their cabs.The UK was hit by high temperatures and dry weather in three successive heatwaves, with temperatures topping 37C last month when the country recorded its hottest ever June day. Last week, the
  
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• On a Colorado farm, solar panels bring shade for plants, power – and cash: in pictures

  20-07-2026 14:00
  
  More than 3,000 solar panels power Jack’s Solar Garden, cool the land and help it turn a profitThe Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian’s coverage is editorially independent Continue reading...
  
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• Weather tracker: Flooding and landslides hit large parts of Asia

  20-07-2026 11:46
  Torrential rain has battered Vietnam, southern China and South Korea, leading to multiple deathsLarge parts of Asia were hit by devastating flooding and landslides last week, leading to multiple deaths, as torrential rain battered Vietnam, southern China and South Korea.According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological forecasting in Vietnam, the Phuc Than weather station recorded 206mm of rain in 24 hours, from last Thursday into Friday, which caused homes to be swept away, power cuts a
  
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• ‘It’s total devastation’: inside the Amazonian war against illegal gold mining

  20-07-2026 07:00
  The Guardian goes on the ground with Brazilian forces fighting to eradicate mining that has destroyed protected areas of Indigenous landThe jerry-built bordello at the foot of Vila Cururu, an illegal gold-mining settlement at the heart of Brazil’s most desecrated Indigenous territory, was a hive of depravity until just a few weeks ago.Inebriated prospectors huddled around wooden tables, swigging beer and Scotch whisky, and ogling pole-dancing sex workers before going with them to shacks be
  
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• Country diary: Beaver-style flood defences take root amid a hosepipe ban | Kate Blincoe

  20-07-2026 06:30
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Underfoot the ground is as hard as metal, while the council’s ‘leaky dams’ are set for the next delugeCatkins fall from the sweet chestnut trees like long yellow streamers from a party. More than 20 wasps fret over the bonnet of my car, feeding off something – maybe sticky tree sap or dead insects.The hay crop is in. No high yields, but better than last year. Two red kites hunt over the coumarin-sweet cut meadows and the swallows glide low. The
  
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• Al-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk

  20-07-2026 06:00
  Experts warn increase in enhanced photos on birding platforms creating fake sightings, threatening credibility of tool used by scientistsFor many birdwatchers, recording a species outside its normal range is the holy grail. In the UK, the discoveries often make national headlinesThe western reef heron, for example, usually found in Africa and southern Europe, spotted in a seaside town in north Wales in June, which was widely celebrated on birding forums.But a new scourge is threatening to disrup
  
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• AI-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk

  20-07-2026 06:00
  Experts warn increase in enhanced photos on birding platforms creating fake sightings, threatening credibility of tool used by scientistsFor many birdwatchers, recording a species outside its normal range is the holy grail. In the UK, the discoveries often make national headlinesThe western reef heron, for example, usually found in Africa and southern Europe, spotted in a seaside town in north Wales in June, which was widely celebrated on birding forums.But a new scourge is threatening to disrup
  
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• ‘When I get home, my whole body aches’: extreme heat saps health and wages of India’s poorest workers

  20-07-2026 05:00
  Exclusive: Outdoor workers losing up to 9% of income as weather becomes ‘poverty multiplier’, research saysExtreme heat is pushing some of India’s poorest workers further into poverty, with income losses of up to 9% for outdoor workers, new research has found.Analysis done by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that extreme heat is acting as a “poverty multiplier” for hundreds of million
  
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• ‘Liberate the lidos!’ Who will win the war over Italy’s private beaches?

  19-07-2026 13:00
  Almost all of the sandy stretches on the country’s 8,000km of coastline are run for profit. Now ‘free beach’ campaigners are fighting back against the mafia, the military and those profiteering from sun loungers and cocktailsWalking along Italian beaches is like strolling through a rainbow. The sand will be subdivided into colours: for 50 metres or so the perfectly spaced parasols and deck chairs will be all red, then they become orange, then yellow, green and so on.These
  
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• How Trump and his administration have mired the US in multiple crises

  19-07-2026 13:00
  From manufactured election insecurity to an outbreak of ‘explosive’ diarrhea, Americans are bearing the brunt of harmful policiesBetween widespread cuts to vital government agencies, various disease and illness outbreaks, and new environmental disaster vulnerabilities, the United States is facing a convergence of crises with widespread repercussions.Yet the Trump administration has hamstrung the federal government from addressing these crises – and in some cases is actively fan
  
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• Sex-loving hookworms and other peculiar parasites: one man’s mission to champion nature’s villains

  19-07-2026 08:00
  Award-winning entomologist Dino Martins, known for his work on pollinators, shows in his latest book that even the most gruesome creatures have vital roles to playDino J Martins has never been able to resist the small things. The renowned entomologist and evolutionary biologist spent his formative years in biodiversity-rich western Kenya with his foster parents, Joe and Sarah Ellen, looking at birds, flowers and insects on Mt Elgon, and in Kakamega forest and Kerio valley.He was especially trans
  
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• Burnham risks Labour backlash if he reverses ban on new oil and gas drilling

  18-07-2026 18:26
  Party manifesto pledged to honour existing North Sea exploration licences but not issue new onesAndy Burnham risks his first confrontation with Labour MPs if he announces new oil and gas drilling licences when he becomes prime minister, insiders have warned.Speculation is rife that Burnham will unveil fresh plans for drilling in the North Sea after he is installed in Downing Street. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘They car-bombed my house – there’s not much more they can do’: the astonishing podcast taking on illegal bloodsports

  18-07-2026 14:00
  After 20 mutilated animal corpses were left outside a rural primary school, the creators of award-winning podcast Buried began investigating – with a little help from Chris Packham. It plunged them into organised crime, the dark web and Line of Duty-esque rumours of police corruptionIn 2024, a village in Hampshire woke up to something truly disturbing. A mound of dead animals had been dumped outside a school, and blood oozed out on to the streets before children’s classes started for
  
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• Water firms in England and Wales ‘leak five times what hosepipe ban would save’

  18-07-2026 11:22
  Greenpeace UK says 2.87bn litres lost daily, a fifth of all water pumped through networkWater companies are wasting five times more water through leaky pipes than even a nationwide hosepipe ban could save, environmental campaigners say.Research by Greenpeace UK found that 2.87bn litres of water a day seep from leaky pipes in England and Wales. That is enough to fill 1,150 Olympic-sized swimming pools and amounts to a fifth of all water pumped through the network. Continue reading...
  
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• London Underground users should know about toxic dust risk, whistleblower says

  18-07-2026 08:58
  Former tube network cleaner says tribunal vindicated his health concerns, including about asbestos, that could affect publicA London Underground worker who was unfairly sacked after whistleblowing about his concerns over exposure to asbestos and other toxic dust has said he wants all tube passengers to know about the potential hazards his case has revealed.Micky Steeds, a former professional boxer from Aveley in Essex, started working for London Underground in 2018 cleaning up decades of dust fr
  
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• ‘It’s only going to get worse’: wildfires forcing firefighters to make impossible choices

  18-07-2026 07:00
  As the climate crisis fuels more intense blazes, pushing them to new parts of the world, those tackling them are forced to ration resources and decide which to fightCésar Alcaraz had only just become a firefighter in the late 1990s when he found himself ambushed by a fast-moving blaze. Barely able to breathe and with no more water left in his truck, he and his colleagues fled an inferno ravaging Spain’s Montgó mountain region, wishing their bosses had sent more support.But ne
  
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• Country diary: Breeding ferrets is a wonderfully chaotic business | Michael White

  18-07-2026 06:30
  Cranbrook, Kent: Right now the young are hellbent on seeking adventure, much to the dismay of their mothersProgression through the country year here is not marked by numbers on paper or buzzing phone notifications, but by the burning chill of a first frost in the nostrils, the scent of southern climes on our native breeze or, sometimes, a barely perceptible squeal emanating from my shed. I heard the plaintive mewing in early May this year and knew immediately that the first of my ferrets had giv
  
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• The rising cost of Australian ski resorts: ‘It was like throwing $100 bills out the window as we drove up the mountain’

  17-07-2026 17:00
  Australia experienced a boom in beginner-friendly skiing in the 1980s and 1990s. But have global heating and rising lift prices ended that run?Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMount Hotham was like a second home to Dan Burke. In the 1980s, his family stayed in the communal lodges, back when the lifts were run by the Schumann family, who lived in Harrietville at the mountain’s base and knew regulars by name. He’d sneak into nightclubs with the teenagers who w
  
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• Southern Water fined £7m after illegally dumping sewage off Kent coast

  17-07-2026 16:56
  Firm pleaded guilty to 13 offences over discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stationsSouthern Water has been fined more than £7m after illegally dumping sewage off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021.The company, described by the judge as having a “record of criminality” that was “an exceptionally serious aggravating factor”, pleaded guilty to 13 offences at Medway magistrates court last April over sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wa
  
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• Help, my sofa is killing me! The toxic chemicals hiding in your home – and how to avoid them

  17-07-2026 16:00
  From mattresses to saucepans, scientists offer tweaks to help detoxify your spaceThe problem Whenever we burn anything inside our homes, we cause indoor air pollution, whether we’re cooking using gas, frying bacon, lighting a wood burner, an open fire, a cigarette or incense, or ruining the toast. “ We spend 80-90% of our time indoors,” says Prof Francis Pope, chair of atmospheric science at the University of Birmingham. “And there is potential to have quite high co
  
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• Biodiversity fears as human-bred hybrid fish integrate into Philippines lake

  17-07-2026 16:00
  Escaped flowerhorn cichlids are causing concern for native species and about parasites capable of infecting humansEscaped ornamental aquarium fish have integrated into a local ecosystem in the Philippines, but scientists say they may be threatening the native biodiversity of the lake.Flowerhorn cichlids – human-bred hybrid fish prized for their bright-gold colour and prominent head humps – are believed to have escaped from breeding facilities into Lake Sampaloc, which sits in a volca
  
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• Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 direct full-time jobs, documents show

  17-07-2026 14:30
  Campaigners say field will bring minimal benefit for UK economy, as industry lobbies Burnham for go-aheadMore people can fit on to the top deck of a standard London bus than will be directly employed on the new Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, industry documents show.Only 27 direct full-time jobs would be created by Jackdaw, one of the biggest gasfields remaining in the North Sea, according to an environmental impact assessment filed publicly by its owner, Adura, a joint venture between Shell
  
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• California braces for its sharkiest summer in a decade – but experts say don’t panic

  17-07-2026 12:00
  
  Young great white sharks are returning in large numbers, but researchers say humans are not on the menuSurfers, swimmers and fishermen across California will be sharing the waves with an influx of visitors this summer: young great white sharks.Juvenile white sharks are already appearing along the coastline, fleeing warmer than usual waters in Mexico during what’s expected to be an incredibly strong El Niño. Continue reading...
  
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• Weather tracker: Thunderstorms strike across Europe amid record heatwave

  17-07-2026 10:35
  
  Storms are typical during intense heat but this week’s have been extreme. Plus, deadly monsoon rains in BangladeshHailstones the size of golf balls have been seen in French villages as, on top of the exceptional European heatwave, thunderstorms have struck across parts of Europe.While thunderstorms are typical during and after a period of extreme heat, the storms across countries such as France, Germany and Poland have been particularly severe, bringing flooding, strong winds and heavy sho
  
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• Week in wildlife: a stuck raccoon, a hardy mouse and a well-camouflaged wildcat

  17-07-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Forever chemicals’ – the national cancer scandal brewing in a Lancashire town

  17-07-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: residents living near a chemical factory are the latest community concerned about the health and environmental impact of Pfas contamination• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereResidents within a kilometre of the AGC Chemicals Europe factory in Thornton-Cleveleys in the north of England, have found themselves at the centre of what is quickly becoming a national scandal.In 2024, the UK Environment Agency and the local authority
  
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• Country diary: A magical encounter with a ‘fairy bird’ not seen here for 30 years | Mary Montague

  17-07-2026 06:30
  Annagh Marsh, County Mayo, Ireland: I hold my breath as I watch a red-necked phalarope darting about, tweezering food. Without habitat restoration, it wouldn’t be hereOn a sunny morning a few weeks ago, Dave Suddaby, the reserves manager with the conservation organisation BirdWatch Ireland, led me across the machair to where the fairy birds were nesting in Annagh Marsh. “Fairy bird” is the name given to the red-necked phalarope by the Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger after
  
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• As the UK and Europe battle deadly wildfires, what lessons can Australia offer?

  17-07-2026 06:00
  Knowledge learned over more than a century in Australia is being tested by worsening fires. It’s a familiar narrative around the worldThe violent hot red flames of deadly wildfires across the UK and Europe and scenes of panicked communities fleeing homes could not, at least geographically, be further away for Jan Harris.But sitting in her new home at Reedy Swamp in rural New South Wales in Australia, the 67-year-old has found herself in tears. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘We are waiting with bated breath’: experts alarmed as BoM says gathering El Niño could be strongest on record

  17-07-2026 01:56
  Most Australian capital cities have at least 80% chance of unusually warm and dry spring as climatologists watch developing system with increasing alarmFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe El Niño climate phenomenon linked to record global temperatures and now locked in place in the Pacific Ocean could develop into the strongest on record, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.Climatologists are
  
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