Environment news

• The Guardian view on the ‘spy cops’ inquiry: secrets and liars | Editorial

  20-11-2020 19:23
  
  The undercover policing inquiry was on shaky ground before it started, and victims are right to be concerned
  The abuse carried out by undercover “spy cops” working in two police units over 40 years took many forms. The deception practised by at least 20 officers who had sexual relationships with their targets – mostly women, at least three of whom had children as a result – was a gross breach of the women’s human rights, as the force acknowledged when it apologised
  
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• Why does hot weather put me in such a bad mood?

  09-07-2026 18:00
  Not everyone experiences heat the same way, and studies show aggression, violence and road rage increase on hotter daysRecently, my husband and I embarked on what should have been a pleasant spring errand: a stroll to the local farmer’s market. But a passing heatwave had made it unseasonably hot outside. I cut him off on the sidewalk and he snapped at me, so I snapped at him for snapping at me. We spent the rest of the excursion in sweaty, stony silence. When we were almost home, he said,
  
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• The fight against AI data centers is important – but it’s just a starting point | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders

  09-07-2026 17:00
  AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest riskOpposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and agree that communities need to evaluate whether any economic benefits these datacenters bring is worth their costs. Still, we worry
  
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• The brown huntsman timed as the fastest spider at a top speed of 3.59 m/s – video

  09-07-2026 17:00
  Brown huntsman spiders were filmed to measure their speed. The 2021 research has been included in new analysis of the speeds of more than 250 spider species by scientists in the UK and Germany, which concludes the brown huntsman, Heteropoda jugulans, has a top speed of 3.59 m/s, making it the fastest of all spiders measured. The study includes research supervised by Dr Christofer Clemente, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Continue reading...
  
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• Experimental bathtub: the remote lake island trying wave power to boost energy security

  09-07-2026 15:00
  Researchers on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, are trying to find a more reliable form of power using local resourcesBeaver Island sits in the middle of the northernmost end of Lake Michigan, about 70 miles from the maritime border with Canada. The forested island, just a little bigger than San Francisco in size, is a popular summer destination for tourists and home to about 600 permanent residents. Getting there requires a boat or plane ride.Getting electricity to the island is not as easy. Po
  
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• Species’ ingenious survival strategies no match for human destruction, red list reveals

  09-07-2026 14:20
  Newly endangered animals include desert frogs and snails in extreme ocean depths, both threatened by miningLife has colonised every corner of the planet by evolving ingenious survival strategies but these are increasingly being overwhelmed by destructive human activities, this year’s red list of endangered species has revealed.Many snails, limpets and clams have adapted to life at crushing depths in the oceans on hydrothermal vents where water temperatures can reach 450C (842F). But an ass
  
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• Great Britain’s grid operator issues fresh warning over power supplies in heatwave

  09-07-2026 09:48
  Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday nightGreat Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope wit
  
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• Great Britain’s grid operator issues another warning over power supplies in heatwave

  09-07-2026 09:48
  Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday nightGreat Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope wit
  
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• Low-e windows keep homes cool … but may set neighbours’ property on fire

  09-07-2026 07:00
  
  Low-emissivity windows also keep houses warm in winter, but use on bowed glass can have magnifying-glass effectLow-emissivity or low-E window glass is a useful green technology for keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer … but a rare side-effect can set the neighbours’ property on fire.The glass is coated with a thin layer of metal or metal oxide which lets visible light through but acts like a mirror in the infrared. Heat from the interior is reflected back in, retainin
  
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• Country diary: The field names here read like a history book | Eben Muse

  09-07-2026 06:30
  Ynys Enlli, Gwynedd: A stroll down this island’s one road provides clues to its past – and it has nothing to do with the 20,000 saints apparently buried hereIn 1938, the Welsh naturalist Ronald Lockley described Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) as a mountain “crudely cemented to a lowland valley, and the whole thing thrown into the middle of a violent tide-race”. Much has changed since then, but that vivid picture holds true, as I wander it today.Certainly there’s a love
  
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• Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify

  09-07-2026 06:00
  Temperatures across ravaged region 3C above average as scientists warn of risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructureRecord wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting costWestern Europe has been scorched by its hottest June on record, scientists have said, as the UK enters its third heatwave of the year and wildfires ravage France and Spain.Inflamed by carbon pollution, the deadly June heatwave helped push surface air temperatures for the region 3.06C above their average fr
  
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• ‘It makes your heart sing’: can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works?

  09-07-2026 06:00
  
  Intensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in protecting nature• The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to orderIn the silent countryside south of Grantham, three vast steel barns rattled in the breeze. Gathered in a loose circle beside them were 15 landowners, land agents and a couple of young investors; all expensively dressed
  
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• UK heatwave spreads further north and west as temperatures continue to climb

  08-07-2026 22:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  This year's third heatwave is one of the longest lasting heatwaves since the infamous year of 1976.
  
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• Amber heat health alerts in effect as UK set for one of longest-lasting heatwaves since 1976

  08-07-2026 20:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Temperatures are set to rise as high as 36C (97F) for parts of southern England this week.
  
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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 timebomb. 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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• 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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• 'Extreme' marine heatwave expected for parts of UK

  08-07-2026 16:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists fear that high sea temperatures could have wide-ranging consequences for marine life.
  
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• Jackdaw owner says gas field will 'not materially influence' climate change

  08-07-2026 14:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The new assessment was required by the industry regulator, after it found several areas had not been adequately addressed in a previous submission.
  
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• Have you heard of Flying Ant Day?

  08-07-2026 13:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sophia Herod explains how it isn't a single day, but something that happens through the summer.
  
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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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• A mountain of rubbish in Indonesia has been on fire for more than a week

  08-07-2026 06:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Environmental activists say the blaze is a symptom of the country's growing waste crisis.
  
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• 'The water just came so fast': Typhoon triggers floods and rare tornadoes in China

  08-07-2026 02:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Villagers whose families have been stranded told the BBC they are struggling to get food and help.
  
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• Rocket test flight could be attempted from Shetland in August

  07-07-2026 18:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  SaxaVord Spaceport has announced a five-week "window" for possible attempts.
  
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