Environment news

• The North Carolina hog industry's answer to pollution: a $500m pipeline project

  11-12-2020 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Instead of implementing safer systems, activists say Smithfield Foods is seeking to profit from hog waste under the guise of ‘renewable energy’Elsie Herring of Duplin county, North Carolina, lives in the house her late mother grew up in, but for the past several decades her home has been subjected to pollution from nearby industrial hog farms.“We have to deal with whether it’s safe to go outside. It’s a terrible thing to open the door and face that waste. It makes y
  
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• Musk says US government may be behind slowdown of Ukraine drone speeds

  15-10-2026 06:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ukraine says Starlink access has improved but it is still facing speed limits which are disrupting its battlefield "missions".
  
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• 'Nowhere to escape' - Indonesians share footage of orange haze blanketing towns

  15-10-2026 05:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thick orange smog descended on the Indonesian city of Palangka Raya as wildfires continue raging nearby.
  
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• Dog that hunts invasive 'sea vomit' honoured as animal of the year

  15-10-2026 01:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sgiath is thought to be the UK's first sea squirt-hunting dog and has been trained to sniff out the marine pest.
  
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• India and China aren't friends - but Nepal wants to unite them against climate threats

  15-10-2026 01:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Can Nepal bring the two regional giants together to confront a shared climate threat in the Himalayas?
  
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• Why is Starlink internet so important on the battlefield in Ukraine?

  14-10-2026 21:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  It is the "backbone of military communications in Ukraine" that provides vital high-speed internet to forces across the country.
  
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• For the future of green politics, look beyond the Green party | Zoe Williams

  14-10-2026 19:15 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists of all political hues must find the language and ideas that turn passion for climate action into impetusThe future of Green politics is under constant discussion after the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, but a much heavier clash – in meaning, symbolism and portent – happened earlier this summer, in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. The council declared a climate emergency in 2021, along with hundreds of others, and while it was under Conservative control. It is
  
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• Plan unveiled to increase share of land farmed organically in England to 10%

  14-10-2026 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Government says ambition for 2036 will be good for food and climate resilience, but concerns remain over fundingThe government has set an ambition to increase the share of English land farmed organically to 10% by 2036, but concerns remain over how the transition will be funded.Currently, just 3.4% of England’s agricultural land is farmed organically, one of the smallest shares in Europe. France, for example, farms 10.4% of its land organically, and aims to increase this to 18% by 2027. Co
  
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• Industrial fire linked to fish and eels' deaths

  14-10-2026 18:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chemicals from firewater runoff entered a brook and spread downstream where dead fish and eels were later found, the Environment Agency has confirmed.
  
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• Mont Blanc, the ‘roof of Europe’, loses more than a metre of height in a year

  14-10-2026 17:33 via theguardian.com
  Peak of French mountain now 4,807 metres high and fluctuates year by year due to changes in Alpine climateEurope’s highest peak shrank by more than a metre last year, data has shown.Mont Blanc in France now stands 4,807.47 metres above sea level, a team of surveyors from the Haute-Savoie regional department said on Wednesday, putting “the roof of Europe” 1.29 metres lower than in 2025. Continue reading...
  
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• Is it really ‘madness’ to account for emissions from fossil fuels burned overseas? The Coalition sure thinks so | Temperature Check

  14-10-2026 16:14 via theguardian.com
  The emissions might occur elsewhere, but they generate global harm that scientists can now quantifySign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe Coalition has come up with the perfect solution to deal with the climate pollution from when Australian fossil fuels are burned overseas.We should either just pretend they don’t exist, or ignore the reason why people are concerned about them, even if those people include a majority of high court j
  
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• Is it really ‘madness’ to account for emissions from fossil fuels burned overseas? The Coalition sure thinks so |Temperature Check

  14-10-2026 16:14 via theguardian.com
  The emissions might occur elsewhere, but they generate global harm that scientists can now quantifyThe Coalition has come up with the perfect solution to deal with the climate pollution from when Australian fossil fuels are burned overseas.We should either just pretend they don’t exist, or ignore the reason why people are concerned about them, even if those people include a majority of high court judges or the international court of justice.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Ada
  
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• Burnham - Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas decisions coming 'shortly'

  14-10-2026 16:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has urged the prime minister to stop "faffing about" with the North Sea oil and gas fields.
  
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• I work for a major insurer. Much of my industry is fudging the numbers in the face of the climate crisis | Anonymous

  14-10-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Insurers are taking on more risk than they should. If – or when – a major disaster hits, the catastrophe will have far-reaching consequencesI work for a major insurer, assessing the risk posed by natural disasters on properties around the world, from family homes to schools, government offices and multibillion-dollar commercial centres. The world is facing greater risk than ever from extreme weather. We are not prepared – and that inaction could have profound consequences for t
  
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• From black soldier flies to mealworms: farming insects for food, fodder and fertiliser in Uganda

  14-10-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Cultivating the nutritious bugs means families can raise livestock and enrich their own food, while lowering pressures on the landA few minutes’ walk from his home in the Kyaka II refugee settlement, Kanane Bikanyale feeds black soldier fly larvae to chickens in a coop above a fishpond. The larvae disappear in a scrum of chickens. Nearby, more larvae grow in modified jerrycans, while adult flies are kept in netted boxes.Bikanyale kept chickens before he fled to Uganda from the Democratic R
  
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• Is the modern economic system broken? These urban beekeepers think so – and this is their solution

  14-10-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  At Bybi in Copenhagen, a dedicated group of staff and volunteers have built a community for all centred on the production of honey – much of which is given away for nothing. Could it be replicated elsewhere?The bees at Bybi, a collective of beekeepers in Copenhagen, live on the roof. Their home is a complex of Victorian buildings, right in the centre of the city, that looks like an idealised vision of the modern social enterprise, ennobled by the architecture of the past. It’s a plac
  
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• Wildlife photographer of the year 2026 winners – in pictures

  14-10-2026 09:41 via theguardian.com
  A selection of the winning images from this year’s competition across topics ranging from underwater to urban wildlife, and photojournalism to mammal behaviour. The overall winner is Federico Veronesi of Italy for his powerful image of an elephant carrying a dead calfThe winning photographs will be showcased at the Natural History Museum in London from 16 October 2026 until July 2027 Continue reading...
  
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• Scale back on hake and coley, seafood charity tells shoppers

  14-10-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Declining stocks and increased fishing pressure have led to lower sustainability ratings for two popular cod alternativesUK shoppers have previously been urged to avoid UK-caught cod and to buy European hake or coley instead – but now these fish are in trouble, too.The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), an environmental charity, publishes its Good Fish Guide to help consumers and businesses make sustainable seafood choices. It uses a traffic-light system to rate seafood according to the he
  
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• Pollinating insects flock to plants gardeners might think of as ‘weeds’

  14-10-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Citizen scientists on UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme recorded insect visits to flowers during 10-minute surveysUbiquitous urban plants often derided as “weeds” are the most attractive to pollinating insects.The autumn blooms of common ivy, rich in pollen and nectar, are the most visited by insects including bees and butterflies, according to an eight-year study. Continue reading...
  
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• Businesses could be barred from non-essential water use amid supply threat

  14-10-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Golf clubs, private schools and car washes may face tighter rules from water companies as England’s drought continuesThree water companies are seeking to impose severe restrictions on businesses as the drought continues across most of England, putting rivers and wildlife under huge pressure.Golf clubs and private schools could be barred from using mains water to irrigate playing fields and courses, and commercial car washes stopped from operating, under “non-essential use bans”
  
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• New team to save Antarctic port from climate change

  14-10-2026 07:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The mission aims to protect the base which is home to the world’s southernmost Post Office.
  
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• More tea? How Scotland's crops of the future could be set to change

  14-10-2026 07:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Experts are examining the ways Scotland's farmers might diversify and adapt to a changing climate.
  
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• World's oldest shipwreck found off coast of Turkey

  14-10-2026 07:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Archaeologists say the wreck is up to 4,700 years old, dating to the Early Bronze Age.
  
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• Birdwatch: the paradoxical puffin – a comical bird with a fighting spirit

  14-10-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Despite their size and gentle appearance, puffins will fight to keep their catch of sand eels from an opportunistic gullFew birds are as paradoxical as the puffin. It rivals the robin as Britain’s best-loved bird, yet most people have never seen one in the flesh. In spring and summer, they gather in large, noisy colonies to breed, but spend the autumn and winter far out to sea in the North Atlantic. And despite their small size, and gentle, clown-like appearance, puffins will fight to save
  
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• Country diary: This is Dorset’s worst-located stone circle – but Nine Stones is well worth a visit | Sara Hudston

  14-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Winterbourne Abbas: These bronze age megaliths have hosted rituals and seen off electricity pylons. Today they endure by the side of an A-roadThe Nine Stones at Winterbourne Abbas have an inglorious setting. Hard by the A35, there are only slim iron railings and a small ditch to shield the circle from the heavy traffic rumbling west. And for about six months of the year the ditch flows with water (the winter bourne), often overspilling and flooding the road.Yet the surroundings used to be e
  
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• Gales and heavy rain to impact UK as yellow wind warning issued

  14-10-2026 01:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for wind in north-west Scotland on Wednesday with 70mph gusts possible, as Ben Rich explains.
  
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• Pictured: Winning entries for Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026

  14-10-2026 01:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Striking images including an urban coyote and an elephant carrying a dead calf are among this year's winners.
  
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• 'Jellyfish' effect lights up US sky after SpaceX launch

  13-10-2026 20:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 'Jellyfish' effect lit up the sky in US after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch.
  
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• Check the waistband – and beware sneaky jargon: the expert guide to buying clothes that last

  13-10-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Should you look for French seams or overlocking? Is dry-clean only a red flag? And how do you spot quality when shopping online? We asked the pros• How to make your leather last a lifetimeTake a look at the outfit you’re wearing now: how many times have you worn each item? And how long have you had them? Just over 10 years ago, Eco-Age founder Livia Firth and journalist Lucy Siegle launched the 30 wears challenge to encourage people to buy clothes they would wear at least 30 times.The
  
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• Scientists deploy a 24-armed secret weapon to save California’s kelp forests

  13-10-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Team works to restore the sunflower sea star as 95% of these key underwater ecosystems have been decimated along the Pacific coast in past decadeOff the coast of Monterey, California, a team of researchers is gearing up for its first dive of the day into the cold and choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean.On the back deck of the boat, Ashley Kidd, a co-founder of the non-profit Sunflower Star Laboratory, gave the divers their final command: “Dive No 1 … stars in the water.” Contin
  
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