Environment news

• The nature reserve where 'magical' glow worms thrive

  27-07-2026 07:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The nature reserve in Sussex is seen as a 'stronghold' for the near threatened glow worm.
  
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• ‘We have lost everything’: extreme rainfall across Asia brings flash floods and typhoons

  28-07-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  From Afghanistan to Taiwan, unprecedented deluge highlights devastating impact of climate breakdown“It rained for 10 days and 10 nights, non-stop – I’d never seen anything like it,” says Anar Gul, a construction worker who lives in the remote district of Dur Baba in eastern Afghanistan.The houses in his village are built from stone and mud, which makes them extremely vulnerable to heavy rains. After days of rain, Gul’s kitchen collapsed and his neighbour, Sayed Afsa
  
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• What do the heatwaves in Europe and North America tell us about our future? | Fiona Katauskas

  28-07-2026 02:54 via theguardian.com
  The signs are thereSee more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here Continue reading...
  
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• The prehistoric species fighting for survival in Lough Neagh

  28-07-2026 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Restrictions have been placed on fishing the critically-endangered European eel in Lough Neagh to try to restore the species
  
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• Is it time to stop using glue and labels on paper?

  28-07-2026 01:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labels and adhesives can prevent paper from being recycled but there's new tech aimed at changing that.
  
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• Gates smashed and crops destroyed as farmers threatened by gangs hunting hares

  27-07-2026 23:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Some barricade the entrances to their fields with concrete blocks and fallen trees.
  
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• Wildfire now nine miles from French city of Bordeaux, mayor warns

  27-07-2026 22:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thomas Cazenave says they are preparing if further evacuations are issued, as the mayor of a nearby town called the situation "catastrophic".
  
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• Wildfires 'stark reminder' of extreme climate challenge, says William

  27-07-2026 21:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The prince's warning comes as wildfires rage in parts of Europe and the UK during a spell of extreme heat.
  
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• The Guardian view on Europe’s wildfires: politics must catch up with the new reality | Editorial

  27-07-2026 19:30 via theguardian.com
  At a time when the quickening pace of global heating has never been clearer, climate policies are being deprioritisedA new and ominous word has entered the vocabulary of firefighters struggling to cope with the vast wildfire sweeping through south-west France. A pyrocumulonimbus is a fire-generated thunderstorm that can whip up winds in unpredictable ways, making the containment of a blaze and assessment of its likely course far more difficult. A known phenomenon in North America and Australia,
  
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• Ben Jennings on southern Europe’s wildfires – cartoon

  27-07-2026 19:06 via theguardian.com
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• Swathes of Cairngorms unrecognisable after 12 days of ‘cataclysmic’ wildfires

  27-07-2026 18:00 via theguardian.com
  With large areas still burning, damage from national park’s worst blaze could take decades, if not longer, to put rightIt is the jewel in the crown of the Highlands, one of Scotland’s most impressive natural landscapes, but 12 days on from the start of an enormous wildfire that is tearing through moorland and forest, the Cairngorms national park is unrecognisable.Hectares of blackened land were visible as low cloud cleared on Sunday, with smoke billowing into the air from large areas
  
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• Devastating European wildfires in maps - and how they're being tackled

  27-07-2026 17:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A blaze near Bordeaux has torn through more than 162 sq miles (420 sq km) in less than four days, while the Madrid region is seeing its worst fires ever.
  
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• When it comes to predicting the future, why are TV writers better than politicians? | Zoe Williams

  27-07-2026 17:32 via theguardian.com
  From BBC drama The Rapture on the climate crisis to Apple’s Criminal Record on the rise of the far right, culture often sees what politics fails toIn the BBC’s new apocalypse drama, The Rapture, the UK is engulfed in a terrifying heatwave. I watched a preview of the programme in May, while preparing to interview the lead actor Ruth Madeley. I thought at the time: “This will be much more frightening when it chimes with the real life weather, bad luck for them that it’s not
  
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• US environmental groups urge EPA to reject new Pfas to cool datacenters

  27-07-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s useA coalition of 17 environmental groups is demanding the Environmental Protection Agency reject a new Pfas that chemical giant Chemours is attempting to fast track for approval for use in cooling datacenters, and would almost certainly pollute regions around the facilities.In formal comments submitted to the agency, the groups accuse Chemours of using bad science to downplay the chemical&rsquo
  
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• ‘It came out of real frustration’: the 90s activist network that set fires to save a burning planet

  27-07-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Matthew Wolfe’s Fires in the Night examines Earth Liberation Front, a US eco-anarchist movement, and its legacy of radical environmentalismAre echoes of 1990s radical environmentalism returning louder or fading away? It’s a question posed by Fires in the Night, a new book on the history of the Earth Liberation Front (Elf), a loosely grouped band of US Pacific north-west activists that used economic sabotage and arson to protest environmental destruction.The members called themselves
  
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• UK's iconic Jodrell Bank telescope faces axe in science cuts

  27-07-2026 13:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.
  
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• How 'fire-generated thunderstorms' make wildfires more deadly

  27-07-2026 13:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Certain types of severe wildfire can create pyrocumulonimbus - something that Nasa calls the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds".
  
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• PM urged to uphold climate pledges made as mayor and ban new North Sea oil drilling

  27-07-2026 13:01 via theguardian.com
  Experts who helped Burnham draw up Manchester carbon neutral pledge say backtracking would send wrong message amid wildfires and heatwavesEurope wildfires – latest updatesLeading climate scientists who created Greater Manchester’s carbon neutral by 2038 commitment are urging Andy Burnham to unequivocally reject new drilling in the North Sea.In a letter to the prime minister they said he, as mayor of Greater Manchester, had unveiled one of the UK’s most ambitious local climate p
  
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• ‘The city isn’t built for heat’: how extreme weather puts London’s rough sleepers at risk

  27-07-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  As heatwaves make the capital increasingly dangerous, outreach workers warn that vulnerable people face barriers to finding water and cool spaces“You’ve just got to bear it. It’s like being in a hot country. It drains you,” said Tom*, a man in his 60s who has been homeless for a number of years. “I haven’t seen weather like this for as long as I’ve been outside.“I keep to my routines, but you need to find somewhere to sit down and rest. Either some
  
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• Volunteer scheme credited with changing man's life

  27-07-2026 07:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Michael Reynolds, 27, says the scheme helps him to "get away from day-to-day life".
  
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• 'Off the scale' haul of nitrous oxide cans found

  27-07-2026 07:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Litterpickers say they found 82 in a day, and normally find between three and 12.
  
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• Littering fines draw in almost £100k across county

  27-07-2026 07:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New figures reveal which councils in Cambridgeshire have issued the most fines for littering.
  
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• Country diary: I always dreamed of a safe, scenic footpath. Finally, my wish has been granted | John Gilbey

  27-07-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Comins Coch, Ceredigion: It took more than 30 years, but now I am walking it for the first time – and no hi-vis clothing is necessary. It will benefit the community for generations to comeWhere the lane heading north from the village joins the main road, a small, venerable stone barn used to stand. Like me, it had seen better days. I walked past it twice a day on my journey to and from work, hoping to catch a glimpse of the semi-resident barn owl that used it as an outpost. Sadly, the
  
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• Macron calls crisis meeting as wildfires threaten Bordeaux and heatwave looms

  27-07-2026 04:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Blazes are about 15km from Bordeaux, but the city's mayor says there are no plans to evacuate.
  
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• Ella Baron on the wildfires in France and Spain – cartoon

  26-07-2026 19:51 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Ed Miliband indicates development and climate will be at heart of UK foreign policy

  26-07-2026 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Foreign secretary to take up World Bank seat and play active role in shaping changes to global lender Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is to indicate he will put the climate crisis and overseas development at the heart of UK international relations by taking up the country’s seat on the board at the World Bank.The position, which is usually delegated to a junior minister, means Miliband will play an active role in shaping the changes to the World Bank that develop
  
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• Europe wildfires: ‘Difficult hours lie ahead’ in battle to contain fires, says Pedro Sánchez as more than 300,000 flee homes in France and Spain – as it happened

  26-07-2026 16:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in FranceMore than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and SpainAs my colleagues note in this story, scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.Spain’s environ
  
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• Europe wildfires: ‘Difficult hours lie ahead’ in battle to contain fires, says Pedro Sánchez as more than 300,000 flee homes in France and Spain

  26-07-2026 16:26 via theguardian.com
  Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in FranceMore than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and SpainAs my colleagues note in this story, scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.Spain’s environ
  
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• Pedro Sánchez says Spain is suffering effects of climate crisis as firefighters battle wildfires in France

  26-07-2026 14:56 via theguardian.com
  Blazes near Madrid coming under control but efforts to contain huge fire near Bordeaux hampered by windy conditionsAuthorities in France are battling to contain a huge wildfire near Bordeaux in the south-west as Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned Spain and the Iberian peninsula were suffering the effects of the climate emergency.Efforts to extinguish the blaze in the Gironde region of France – which has consumed an area four times the size of Paris and caused nearly
  
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• Firefighters in France battle to prevent huge blaze from approaching Bordeaux

  26-07-2026 14:56 via theguardian.com
  Efforts to contain wildfire that has consumed an area of four times the size of Paris impeded by windy conditionsEurope wildfires live – latest updatesAuthorities are battling to contain a huge wildfire near Bordeaux in south-west France that has consumed an area of land four times the size of Paris.Efforts to extinguish the blaze in the Gironde region, where nearly 220,000 people have been evacuated, were hampered by windy conditions on Saturday night. Continue reading...
  
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