Environment news

• Save the Bees? There's an App for That

  21-02-2017 14:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  New mobile app to help farmers protect pollinators.
  
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• ‘Jaw-dropping’: Super El Niño bursts through temperature record months ahead of peak

  21-09-2026 15:25 via theguardian.com
  The ‘Godzilla-level’ phenomenon is supercharging the climate crisis and will heavily impact communities across the worldThe “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months ahead of its expected peak.The latest data shows the temperature rise at the heart of El Niño in the Pacific ocean has now reached 3.05C. That is higher than the 3.02C set in late November 201
  
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• ‘Jaw-dropping’ El Niño bursts through temperature record months before peak

  21-09-2026 15:25 via theguardian.com
  ‘Godzilla-level’ phenomenon is supercharging the climate crisis and will have a huge impact on communities across the worldThe “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months before its expected peak.The latest data shows the temperature rise at the heart of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has now reached 3.05C. That is higher than the 3.02C set in late November 20
  
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• Millions of dollars in funding but still no plan: can Quebec save its caribou from extinction?

  21-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The Canadian government has committed C$25m to try to rescue the caribou in the province – but there is no agreement on how best to save the keystone speciesThe caribou of Quebec are at breaking point. The province, home to 15% of Canada’s population of woodland caribou, has seen numbers crash to about half of what they were a decade ago. For years, local First Nations people, researchers and environmental groups have criticised the provincial government’s lack of action on pro
  
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• ‘Incredibly encouraging’: healing the scars of traditional anchors in Dorset’s seagrass meadows

  21-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Eco-moorings help to restore seagrass in just five years, boosting sealife such as seahorses, eels and crabsOne of the UK’s most precious underwater habitats – Dorset’s seagrass meadows – is recovering thanks to “eco moorings” designed to prevent the seabed being ripped up, a study has revealed.Scars caused by traditional anchors in some areas of seagrass in Studland Bay have almost entirely vanished, which is boosting the number of seahorses that thrive in th
  
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• Weatherwatch: wildfires driven by global heating destroy UK bird habitats

  21-09-2026 12:58 via theguardian.com
  Hot and dry summer created conditions for fires in Scotland and England that tore through vital wildlife areasMajor wildfires this summer in the Cairngorms, along the Suffolk coast and in the New Forest have destroyed huge swathes of important bird habitats, affecting the populations of some of our most threatened and specialised species.The first to break out, in mid-July, destroyed much of the RSPB’s Abernethy reserve, home to declining species such as black grouse and capercaillie, as w
  
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• Tree vaccines and gene-edited butterflies among biotechnology projects funded by UK ‘invention agency’

  21-09-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: The tax-funded research aims to protect British wildlife from the human-caused climate crisisVaccines for ash trees, skin treatments for newts and gene-edited swallowtail butterflies are among 14 tax-funded projects from the UK’s “invention agency” aiming to accelerate nature’s ability to adapt to the climate crisis.The £54m accelerated adaptation programme from the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) – a public body that funds
  
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• How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports

  21-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’On her first day as an expert author on the world’s most important climate reports, Prof Julia Steinberger knew nobody else, so she sat down at a stranger’s table for breakfast.“Hi, I’m Julia. I’m from the University of Lausanne,” she said. The man across the table replied: “I’m Musta
  
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• Country diary: The biggest burst of partridges I’ve seen on the farm. We must be doing something right | Colin Chappell

  21-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Brigg, Lincolnshire: As my attention turns to drilling next year’s cash crops, I create a disturbance out in the fieldsSometimes a moment of surprise has years of experience behind it. Last week as I was out in the oilseed rape fields applying a cocktail of microbe food (molasses, humates and fish paste), I had quite a shock when up went a large flock of grey partridges, a covey of 26. Twelve would be considered large, with red-legged partridges only ever appearing in pairs, but I’ve
  
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• ‘The physical toll is visceral’: How Indonesia’s fire haze affects millions - visual guide

  21-09-2026 05:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Intensified by this year’s super El Niño, fires in Borneo and Sumatra are emitting toxic air for swathes of the population in Indonesia and its neighboursFor months, parts of Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra islands have been ablaze. The fires are sometimes lit illegally as a cheap way to clear land for plantations of oil palm, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer.So prevalent is the technique that it even has a special term: slash and burn. Continue reading.
  
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• What food items should you stock up on in case of an emergency?

  21-09-2026 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Extreme weather may be changing the way we need to shop, with the UK government urging people to stock up on canned goods.
  
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• Bear-y good neighbors: humans and animals are learning to live together in an expanding LA

  20-09-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  People are increasingly crossing paths with the wild animals as homes ring the outskirts of forests, sparking a new era of coexistenceEvery year, as summer draws to a close and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry.Black bears have long roamed the state, hunting for acorns, ants and pine nuts by the bucketload to pack on calories before hibernation. But increasingly, for every berry and root, there’s an even greater temptation: our trash and the detritus of human existence. Cont
  
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• ‘You could absolutely rip your bloody hand off’: competitors gather for England oyster shucking championship

  20-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The English have been eating oysters for thousands of years, and advocates say they are an important indicator of the health of coastal watersBeneath bunting in the middle of Mayfair, there was a feverish atmosphere as the finals of potentially the poshest sport in England began: oyster shucking, judged by actor Stanley Tucci.“The secret is not being scared of stabbing yourself in the hand,” says Quincy Coulter Young from Rocks Oysters, one of the fastest oyster shuckers in the count
  
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• ‘Do you have to be dead?’: US coalminers plead for benefits as black-lung disease cases surge

  20-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Trump says he digs coal – but pneumoconiosis cases are at a 50-year high, and sick miners are mired in benefit delaysFor 38 years, Josh Armes worked as a coal miner in West Virginia and Virginia.After retirement, Armes, 74, of Grundy, Virginia, was diagnosed with black lung disease, medically known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), caused by breathing in coal dust over long periods, which irreversibly damages the lungs. Continue reading...
  
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• China’s stranglehold on rare earths must be ended, says hopeful supplier to EU

  20-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Rafael Moreno, whose company has opened demo plant in Brazil, says market is ‘nervous’ as Trump-Xi summit loomsThe head of a mining company hoping to supply the EU with rare earths in two years’ time has said it is “paramount” to end China’s stranglehold on the supply of the raw materials used in everything from cars to wind turbines and military jets.As Donald Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, prepare to meet on Thursday in their second summit of
  
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• New £1m grant to help groups protect green spaces

  20-09-2026 08:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The cash can be used by local communities to protect threatened green spaces and wildlife sites.
  
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• 'You never quite know what you're going to pull out'

  20-09-2026 08:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The group is marking a decade of fishing everything from an inflatable doll to a Nintendo out of the harbour.
  
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• When did grey squirrels start posing a threat to reds?

  20-09-2026 08:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A pair of grey squirrels was reportedly brought to the United Kingdom by a Cheshire banker in 1876.
  
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• Trump says US will form 'AI Force' and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar

  19-09-2026 23:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The president said his administration "will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth" amid amid warnings about the emergent technology.
  
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• A coalmine on Trish’s Queensland farm has been abandoned. Will anyone clean it up?

  19-09-2026 22:00 via theguardian.com
  The state government is reviewing laws introduced to ensure taxpayers are not left footing the bill for rehabilitation, leaving one cattle farmer wondering: what happens next?Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen Trish Goodwin discovered this week that the Bluff coalmine – cut like a gaping wound into her cattle farm – had been officially abandoned, it came as no surprise.“I always said they’d
  
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• Nature reserve to double in size, thanks to gift

  19-09-2026 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Staffordshire Wildlife Trust acquires an area of wet woodland, marsh and pastureland due to the will.
  
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• Brazil’s wind farms have been a huge success. So why isn’t everybody reaping the benefits?

  19-09-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  While the country’s ambition is to be the ‘Saudi Arabia of green energy’,communities in the north-east are bearing the cost in diminished health and livelihoodsBeneath the power lines cutting across Antonio de Souza’s property in Serra do Mel, in north-east Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state, rows of cashew trees once stood – until the clean energy company ordered them to be cut down.De Souza cannot plant crops in the affected area and the tractor cannot be dr
  
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• Before-and-after images show effects of rain in drought-hit England and Wales

  19-09-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Much of the UK is still officially in drought after its hottest summer on record, but grasslands are slowly recovering their colourThe landscapes of southern England and Wales are slowly regaining their colour after this summer’s extreme heat.The UK’s hottest summer on record left the south of the country dried out and brown, making the impact of the drought particularly visual. Continue reading...
  
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• Hummingbird hawk moths and ivy bees: The insects thriving as temperatures rise

  19-09-2026 08:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hummingbird hawk moths - often mistaken for small birds - are being spotted in the West Midlands.
  
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• Spider season! Ten species you’ll see scuttling across Britain’s carpets and lawns this autumn

  19-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The world is suddenly full of webs and hairy legs. But why? And what do they belong to? Meet the spiders you’re most likely to encounter, from cardinals to false wolvesSummer is at an end, and suddenly spiders seem to be everywhere – in your house, in your garden, in your hair. Fresh webs hang from doorways, walls, shrubs and fence posts, creating invisible obstacle courses. Where do all these spiders come from, what kind are they and what, if anything, should we do about them?The sh
  
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• ‘Summer of truth’: will political leaders act as climate chaos comes knocking?

  19-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Amid record-shattering heatwaves and popular demand for climate action, why are politicians often timid or in denial?It was, according to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the “summer of truth”. Climate chaos ripped through Europe and the northern hemisphere, sending heat records tumbling, scorching crops in the fields, burning forests, emptying rivers and reservoirs, warping train tracks, melting roads and killing about 35,000 people in Europe alone.The EU has
  
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• How to flood-proof your home: from water-thirsty plants to deflated footballs

  19-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  After summer’s heatwaves, prepare for winter of storms and heavy rain, with millions of UK homes at risk of flooding The accelerating climate crisis and this year’s record-breaking El Niño mean that, although the summer’s heatwaves are still fresh in the memory, households in the UK are already being told to prepare for a potentially destructive winter of storms and heavy rain – leaving millions of homes at risk of flooding.Government action is needed to improve fl
  
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• Burning forests, emptying rivers, €180bn in damage: Europe’s politicians face reckoning after ‘summer of truth’

  19-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Amid record-shattering heatwaves and popular demand for climate action, why are politicians often timid or in denial?It was, according to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the “summer of truth”. Climate chaos ripped through Europe and the northern hemisphere, sending heat records tumbling, scorching crops in the fields, burning forests, emptying rivers and reservoirs, warping train tracks, melting roads and killing about 35,000 people in Europe alone.The EU has
  
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• Country diary: A lesson from my final diary after nearly 40 years – keep looking closely | Phil Gates

  19-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Stanhope, Weardale: I’ve realised in that time that beauty and fascination can lie in the most mundane of plants – in this case, broad-leaved dockAfter another exceptionally dry summer, there’s a nagging question lurking at the back of naturalists’ minds: which species will be the winners and losers in our evolving climate?Throughout summer’s heatwaves and drought, I watched a dense stand of broad-leaved docks, Rumex obtusifolius, thrive while surrounding fields tur
  
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• When a beloved tree began withering away, locals suspected a killer in their midst

  19-09-2026 00:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A neighbourhood’s fight to save a cherished ginkgo pits them against an unlikely foe.
  
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