Environment news

• Microplastic pollution found near summit of Mount Everest

  20-11-2020 17:00
  
  Humans now known to have polluted Earth from deepest ocean to highest peakMicroplastic pollution has been discovered in snow close to the peak of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. With plastic debris revealed in 2018 at the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, it is now clear that humanity’s litter has polluted the entire planet.The tiny plastic fibres were found within a few hundred metres of the top of the 8,850-metre mountain, at a spot known as the balcony. Micr
  
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• The Guardian view on the flamingo revolution: Albanians are standing up for their rights, as well as for nature | Editorial

  08-07-2026 19:25
  Plans for a mega-resort, backed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, have spurred broader questions about who politics is servingFor more than a month, thousands have taken to the streets of Tirana to protest against their government, in the biggest outbreak of unrest in Albania since the collapse of communism more than three decades ago. What began with environmental concerns about protecting a nature reserve and the more than 2,500 species it hosts has become the flamingo revolution, questioning
  
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• Datacentres are a ticking time bomb. We must make sure AI’s benefits outweigh the costs | Nicki Hutley

  08-07-2026 17:00
  They suck up energy and water, and blast out heat. Just who is better off from all this investment – aside from tech bros?The two great existential threats of our time – the climate crisis and AI – come hurtling together in the explosion of datacentres across Australia and around the world.You can hardly avoid hearing about them these days, either with awed reverence of the promised benefits to humankind or with fear and anger given the implications for the climate, inflation,
  
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• UK waters hit with extreme heatwave as global sea temperatures reach record levels

  08-07-2026 13:13
  
  Experts warn that some marine species are at risk of ‘mass mortality events’ in ever-warming oceansUK waters are being hit with an “extreme” marine heatwave, the Met Office has said, as scientists warn that high ocean temperatures globally could result in “mass-mortality events” for some species.The forecasters said these elevated temperatures have developed rapidly because of last month’s heat dome, during which most of Europe sweltered in its worst eve
  
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• ‘We won’t give up, we’ll keep fighting’: activists in Colombia vow to resist far-right push for fossil fuels

  08-07-2026 13:00
  
  As the newly elected president, Abelardo de la Espriella, pledges to exploit oil reserves, environmentalists prepare to defend climate progressIt is hard for Yuvelis Morales Blanco to pinpoint when her activism started. Now 25, she recalls getting involved in land rights and environmental issues in Santander, northern Colombia, from a young age. Living near water, she says, has always shaped her connection to nature. “My parents are fishers on the Magdalena, Colombia’s most important
  
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• The rise of blue-space therapy: how the sea is helping people deal with trauma, anxiety and addiction

  08-07-2026 11:00
  
  ‘Sea cures’ are not new but the idea that exposure to oceans, rivers and lakes can be medicine for the brain is gaining tractionWatching the waves break across the vast, roaring ocean in front of him, Dave Phillips felt out of options standing on the cliff’s edge in Cornwall several years ago. The former British army corporal had lost a number of loved ones in quick succession, and the compounding effects of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his military tour
  
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• The great carbon capture con: behold the wasted billions Burnham could claw back | George Monbiot

  08-07-2026 10:10
  There are far better ways to tackle climate breakdown, but successive governments have chosen to listen to the fossil fuel companies insteadThe new prime minister will be looking for money? Well, here’s £21.7bn lying on the ground. The government could cancel its deranged, disastrous carbon capture and storage (CCS) programme at no cost to public welfare: in fact, it would greatly reduce the harm we will suffer.Sorry, did I say £21.7bn? That’s the figure the government ha
  
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• Health risk fears for storks in Europe over ‘junk food’ from landfill

  08-07-2026 09:30
  Rubbish dumps can expose birds to contaminants, raising questions over whether landfill foraging helps or harmsStorks are gaining weight from a diet of literal junk, according to research that suggests the previously disappearing birds face potential health risks as a result of increasingly eating from rubbish dumps.Landfill offers what appear to be quick and convenient meals for white stork populations in Europe. But new research suggests they may be gaining a short-term energy boost at the cos
  
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• Birdwatch: A yellowhammer cheer squad on my cycle around Suffolk

  08-07-2026 07:00
  That characteristic song was an unexpected delight alongside the chiffchaffs, blackcaps and whitethroats tooWith hindsight, the late June heatwave was not the ideal time for my (very) old schoolmates and me to be cycling around Suffolk. Yet, despite the searing heat and the lateness of the season, the woods and hedgerows were still awash with birdsong.Chirping chiffchaffs, melodic blackcaps and warbling whitethroats were everywhere, while swallows twittered over fields and swifts screamed past r
  
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• Country diary: Following the flight path of a meadow brown | Kate Bradbury

  08-07-2026 06:30
  Barston, West Midlands: It’s been a strange year so far for butterflies, and I get my summer meadow brown moment beneath a roaring jumbo jetOn one of the longest days, my mum and I walk through Warwickshire countryside near her home beneath the flight path of Birmingham airport. The planes are loud enough that we have to pause our conversation as they thunder overhead. This is second nature to Mum but it’s jarring for me, especially as the landscape looks as if it might have remained
  
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• Low-cost loans for solar panels could save households hundreds on bills – thinktanks

  07-07-2026 11:00
  New Economics Foundation and Finance Innovation Lab suggest loan scheme backed by Bank of England could benefit up to 8m homesMillions of UK households could save hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills if the government were to approve low-cost loans for solar panel installation, research has found.Solar panels with batteries are one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity and reduce energy bills, but with an upfront cost of about £6,000 they are still beyond the reach of mos
  
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• Why would we show an optical illusion to a monkey or a sparrow? To learn how they experience time, of course | Ishan Singhal

  07-07-2026 09:00
  Animals may inhabit the same world as us, but new research shows how their perceptions of what is around them differsImagine standing in your garden. A bumblebee whizzes overhead too quickly to follow, a sparrow darts from the fence to the trees, and a snail lugs itself across the garden stones. Assume for a moment that each of these animals has a stream of experience – that the world for them unfolds over time. How does the world appear from their perspective? In short, do they experience
  
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• Do animals experience time the same way humans do? Here's one way to find out | Ishan Singhal

  07-07-2026 09:00
  Animals may inhabit the same world as us, but new research shows how their perceptions of what is around them differsImagine standing in your garden. A bumblebee whizzes overhead too quickly to follow, a sparrow darts from the fence to the trees, and a snail lugs itself across the garden stones. Assume for a moment that each of these animals has a stream of experience – that the world for them unfolds over time. How does the world appear from their perspective? In short, do they experience
  
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• Sun stoppers: seven ways to keep your home cool this summer

  07-07-2026 08:00
  You can keep temperatures down without the cost – or environmental price – of air conditioning. Here’s some tips and tricksThe best fans to keep you cool in 2026 – tried and testedIn the UK we are used to worrying about our homes being warm enough, but after struggling to cope with high temperatures in May and June the race is on to cool them down before the next heatwave hits.And while it might be tempting to swap your desktop fan for a portable air conditioner, there ar
  
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• Fuel on the fire: why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot

  07-07-2026 08:00
  The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase productionAs the world swelters in ever more dangerous heat, why are oil companies being allowed to turn up the gas instead of paying for the consequences of their greed?That ought to be the question on everyone’s minds amid baking heat domes over much of the northern hemisphere, temperature records being smashed day after day, children dying
  
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• Country diary: The return of wood warblers here is bittersweet | Mark Cocker

  07-07-2026 06:30
  Buxton, Derbyshire: What a fine sight it is to see one throwing its head back in song, especially after a 50-year absence. Yet this is a journey of vulnerabilityThe wood warbler is one of my signature birds, a highlight of schooldays when a pair bred annually in Lightwood five minutes from my house. They were also widespread at other local sites and while we took them in our stride, they were always special too. Seeing the bird was less frequent than hearing its song, which comes down from the h
  
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• What does China’s long-range missile test in the South Pacific mean for Australia? | David Vallance

  07-07-2026 02:44
  The timing – on the day the Ocean of Peace Alliance treaty was signed with Fiji – reads as provocation at best, coercion at worstChinese government tells critics not to ‘overinterpret’ missile test in Pacific as criticism growsAt 12.01pm on Monday, a People’s Liberation Army Navy submarine test fired a ballistic missile into the South Pacific nuclear-free zone. This is the second time China has conducted a ballistic missile test in the Pacific in two years.Coming on
  
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• Into the spider’s lair: how an Australian film-maker made an impossible documentary with AI

  06-07-2026 17:00
  Jodie Heenan says her award-winning short film Guardians of the Burrow ‘looks and feels’ real Scene: a dimly lit underground burrow. A giant Amazonian tarantula and a tiny dotted humming frog share the space, an unlikely duo captured in extraordinary detail.Except, they haven’t been. Guardians of the Burrow, a short “wildlife documentary” by the Australian digital content designer Jodie Heenan, is entirely AI generated. At the weekend it won a prize in the Omni inte
  
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• GB News co-owner ‘cashing in on climate chaos’ after leap in fossil fuel investments, critics say

  06-07-2026 16:00
  Exclusive: Campaigners argue news channel’s attacks on climate action ‘work in financial interests’ of Sir Paul MarshallThe hedge fund run by the co-owner of GB News almost tripled its investments in fossil fuel companies in the first quarter of 2026 to $2.8bn (£2.1bn), the Guardian can reveal.Critics have accused Sir Paul Marshall of “cashing in on climate chaos” and have claimed the news channel, which frequently attacks climate science and action, was &ldqu
  
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• ‘Why take those jobs away?’: the unionized workers decrying Trump’s war on wind

  06-07-2026 13:00
  Workers proud of their efforts to grow renewable energy say US president pursuing ‘personal vendetta’ at their expenseDonald Trump has blamed everything – from “national security” issues, the deaths of birds and whales, and cancer – in his decades-long campaign against windfarms. But as the Trump administration continues to undermine the industry, what worries workers most are their jobs.Since taking office for the second term, Trump has issued an executive or
  
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• Smoke, soot and toxic fumes: Nigerian families living in shadow of burning oil well six years after blowout

  06-07-2026 13:00
  Villagers in Awoye in the Niger Delta say the ongoing pollution is causing sickness and environmental destruction, while pleas for help go unansweredPerched on a narrow hospital cot across from her son, Bodunwa Orugbemi can hear the distant Atlantic Ocean and smell the stench of crude oil on the air drifting in from the shore. For days, her 21-year-old son has been lying in this hospital in the Niger Delta, swallowing small spoonfuls of food without being able to speak.Seventy‑year‑o
  
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• ‘Better safe than sorry’: Greece installs floating barrier to ward off toxic fish

  06-07-2026 11:00
  Climate crisis and warming waters have attracted long-toothed pufferfish to new parts of the MediterraneanFrom his deckchair, his arms thrown above his head, his feet sliding back and forth in the sand, Pavlos Beleyiannis watches his grandchildren bathe in his favourite bay. It’s an idyllic scene, infused with a serenity that the newly retired truck driver attributes squarely to a sense of security.For the first time, a floating barrier has been installed across the bay. Ducking, splashing
  
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• ‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre

  06-07-2026 09:00
  Suspicions grow in Lanarkshire that local people have been misled on supposed benefits of the huge developmentRevealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promiseWhat are Britain’s AI growth zones and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’?The promise was that a Scottish community would be transformed by massive investment and empowered to chase “the jobs of the future”. Instead, local people in Lanarkshire fear they may have to se
  
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• Country diary: A single act of care 40 years ago, and we have this splendid, rare colony | Sarah Lambert

  06-07-2026 06:30
  Ailsworth, Cambridgeshire: It’s hard enough to find the crested cow-wheat, it would be even harder were it not for one far-sighted wardenBefore 7am, the heat is already pressing down. I’ve come out early for my annual pilgrimage to a local colony of crested cow‑wheat, Melampyrum cristatum. On each side of the narrow path, orchids stand among the grasses, overtopped by the pale pink froth of common valerian flowers, whose scent always puts me in mind of sugared almonds. Stock do
  
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• Bomb the Arctic, dam the Mediterranean and build a second moon: five outlandish plans to remodel our climate

  05-07-2026 17:00
  Humans have long sought to geoengineer the Earth’s environment. Tim Flannery outlines a few of the wildest ideas from the 20th centuryAn increasing number of scientists think we have let the climate crisis fester for so long that our only hope to stave off ever-intensifying catastrophes is to use technological interventions. Cloud brightening, injecting sulphur into the atmosphere and the use of tiny mirrors in space – all of which might reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth&r
  
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• Why put solar panels on green space when we could put them over car parks?

  05-07-2026 15:00
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions considers a hot topic within renewable energyThis week’s replies: Are there places on Earth where humans haven’t been?I would like to know why we build solar farms over green space, when we could just put them over massive car parks as a popular current internet meme suggests. Chris, MiddlesbroughPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published n
  
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• Empty reservoirs, ladybirds and sunstroke: remembering the UK heatwave of 1976

  05-07-2026 15:00
  
  As Britain reached its hottest June temperature on record, readers recall the summer when temperatures hit 36CThe recent heatwave in the UK broke the previous June record of 35.6C, recorded during the 1976 heatwave.In Lingwood, Norfolk, a provisional temperature of 37.7C was recorded on Friday 26 June, breaking the previous record reached on 28 June 1976 and on 29 June 1957. Continue reading...
  
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• British swallowtail split from European cousins much earlier than thought, study finds

  05-07-2026 13:00
  Finding that Norfolk butterfly has been distinct subspecies for 200,000 years could transform conservation approachThe endangered swallowtail butterfly Papilio machaon britannicus, which is only regularly found breeding in Britain on the Norfolk Broads, has been a distinct subspecies for at least 200,000 years, according to a study.Smaller, darker in colour and much rarer than the continental swallowtail, britannicus was previously considered to have developed its distinctive form during its con
  
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• Not cool: the air conditioning scams offering fake deals in the heatwave

  05-07-2026 08:00
  By using websites copied from stores such as Aldi, fraudsters hope hot and bothered buyers will miss the red flagsWith the UK heatwave expected to increase temperatures over the next week, you decide to invest in an air conditioning unit. But they are expensive, and stocks are running out in the shops as everyone else has had the same idea.After a quick search, you see that there are other options online, and some from names that you recognise. Continue reading...
  
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• From ‘heat panic’ to ‘sacrificed at the altar’: Europe’s air conditioning culture wars heat up

  05-07-2026 07:00
  
  Cooling down has become political amid record highs, as experts say row is distracting from work of protecting livesAs the afternoon heat rose to a dizzying 41.7C (107F) in eastern Brandenburg on Sunday, taking German temperatures to unprecedented highs, Mario, 65, took precautions but did not panic. Two years ago, a fierce heatwave had prompted him to buy a powerful device that few Germans own: an air conditioning unit.“The summers are slowly getting warmer,” says the retired handym
  
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