Environment news

• This is how your world could end

  09-09-2017 20:00
  In an extract from his book Ends of the World, Peter Brannen examines mass extinction events and the catastrophic outcome of rising temperatures for all the world’s populationMany of us share some dim apprehension that the world is flying out of control, that the centre cannot hold. Raging wildfires, once-in-1,000-years storms and lethal heatwaves have become fixtures of the evening news – and all this after the planet has warmed by less than 1C above preindustrial temperatures. But
  
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• Why it has not been so easy being green for the white van in the UK

  24-01-2026 15:00
  Electric van sales are behind government targets, but those fleets that have switched are seeing a real differenceSwinging a fully laden electric van around a training centre in Bishop’s Stortford feels easy, with instant acceleration that belies the racks of heavy equipment in the back. Perhaps too easy, as the sudden shriek of its proximity sensor suggests the Guardian was a whisker away from a bill for some new paintwork.The van in question belongs to Openreach, BT’s fibre broadba
  
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• Young country diary: A winter surprise – wood ants busy on their nest | Meg

  24-01-2026 12:00
  Devon: We saw massive mounds of soil and pine needles where ants were hibernating – but not all of themWe pulled into the frosty car park just as the sun was rising. It was early in the morning and I was still a little bit sleepy, but the sharp winter air woke me up. The tall oak trees that surrounded the car park looked like they were crying icy tears. Everything was silent. We set off into the cold, solemn woods with our dog charging ahead.That’s when I saw it! Further on down the
  
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• RHS unveils plans to protect UK gardens from future water shortages

  24-01-2026 09:00
  Environmental charity to prioritise water capture and storage as it urges gardeners to prepare for ‘new normal’The Royal Horticultural Society has unveiled emergency plans to protect its gardens from major water shortages in the future.The environmental charity, which owns and operates five renowned public gardens in England, said on Saturday it will invest in more water-capture and water-management projects in 2026 after severe droughts last year. Continue reading...
  
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• From scorpions to peacocks: the species thriving in London’s hidden microclimates

  24-01-2026 07:00
  An extraordinary mosaic of wildlife has made Britain’s urban jungle its homeLondon is the only place in the UK where you can find scorpions, snakes, turtles, seals, peacocks, falcons all in one city – and not London zoo. Step outside and you will encounter a patchwork of writhing, buzzing, bubbling urban microclimates.Sam Davenport, the director of nature recovery at the London Wildlife Trust, emphasises the sheer variation in habitats that you find in UK cities, which creates an ama
  
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• ‘We cannot say for sure these wolves come from Russia’: Finns try to fathom cause of record reindeer deaths

  24-01-2026 06:00
  Wolves killed more than 2,100 reindeer in Finland last year, and herders are blaming the Ukraine warJuha Kujala no longer knows how many reindeer will return to his farm from the forest each December. The 54-year-old herder releases his animals into the wilderness on the 830-mile Finnish-Russian border each spring to grow fat on lichens, grass and mushrooms, just as his ancestors have done for generations.But since 2022, grisly discoveries of reindeer skeletons on the forest floor have disrupted
  
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• Everything but the kitchen sink: how to get rid of cooking oils and liquid waste without pouring them down the drain

  24-01-2026 00:00
  Oil, out-of-date milk and even roast dinner residues contribute to the growth of fatbergs, a sticky problem for sewerage systemsChange by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] are a sticky problem for sewerage systems – blocking pipes, spawning poo balls, and even forcing the cancellation of a Bryan A
  
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• Canadian backpacker’s death poses question for Queensland’s K’gari: can dingoes and tourists coexist?

  23-01-2026 23:19
  Coroner is yet to determine the cause of death of Piper James, a 19-year-old Canadian woman found surrounded by dingoes on MondayIn the early hours of Monday morning, a young woman’s body was found being mauled by a pack of dingoes near a shipwreck on a windswept stretch of white sand beach on an island off the east coast of Australia.The island was K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, in southern Queensland, home to about 150 human inhabitants and a population of dingoes genetic
  
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• 'The world's ugliest lawn' isn't really that ugly, according to its Australian owner – video

  23-01-2026 22:29
  Jarno Coone, the winner of the international 'world's ugliest lawn' competition, says he doesn't let his garden grow wild to annoy his neighbours in the regional Victorian town of Kyneton. He says he is 'proud to get the message out there for water conservation and living more harmoniously with nature'. 'I really do believe it is better for the environment,' he says Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I’ve never watered it’: how an Australian groundskeeper achieved the world’s ugliest lawn

  23-01-2026 15:00
  Neighbours might look askance at Jarno Coone’s unkempt yard, but the local birds, bees and bats aren’t bothered by the aestheticsWhen they moved in about 13 years ago, there was plush green lawn out the front. Nowadays the grass is so high that neighbours fear it could be harbouring snakes. Even the meter reader is a bit wary.“I’d love to have snakes in the front yard. But they need water. And so they stay down by the river, which is a couple of blocks away,” says J
  
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• New filtration technology could be gamechanger in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’

  23-01-2026 14:00
  Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systemsNew filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale. Continue readin
  
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• New filtration technology could be game-changer in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’

  23-01-2026 14:00
  Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systemsNew filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate than previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale. Continue r
  
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• Week in wildlife: a proud eagle, an adorable axolotl and a goofy seal

  23-01-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Thailand’s endangered ‘sea cows’ are washing ashore – pointing to a crisis in our seas

  23-01-2026 08:00
  The Andaman Coast has one of the largest concentration of dugong in the world, so why are numbers falling dramatically and what can they tell us about a biodiversity warning cry• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThailand’s Andaman Coast is home to one of the largest dugong populations in the world, with 273 of the plump marine mammals, sometimes called sea cows, estimated to be living there as of 2022. In recent years, though, more and more dead or st
  
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• Particle pollution in the Balkans is the highest in Europe, research finds

  23-01-2026 07:00
  Study also says Balkan levels are often higher than in Beijing – and sometimes among the highest in the worldWhen we think of the world’s most polluted cities, images of Delhi or Beijing come to mind, but new data has revealed acute pollution problems close to the heart of Europe.Prof Andre Prevot, of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland, explained: “In winter, the particle pollution in the Balkans is the highest in Europe. Particle pollution levels are often higher
  
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• Dramatic rise in water-related violence recorded since 2022

  23-01-2026 07:00
  Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflictsWater-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks, experts have said.There were 419 incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from 235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute, a US-based thinktank. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Mammoth and bear, replaced by mattress and beer can | Michael J Warren

  23-01-2026 06:30
  Grays, Essex: I visit an unassuming gorge where a wealth of ice age fossils was once found, telling us about Britain’s megafauna – and NeanderthalsYou wouldn’t know the Lion Pit was there. This overgrown gorge exists quietly, without the sensation its name implies, below a housing estate, by Lakeside shopping centre and within earshot of the M25, wedged on all sides as tightly as the newbuilds that line its cliffs. This is industrial West Thurrock, far south Essex, where t
  
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• Indonesia takes action against mining firms after floods devastate population of world’s rarest ape

  23-01-2026 06:00
  Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped outThe floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe.For weeks, investigators searc
  
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• European cold snap may increase bird migration to UK

  23-01-2026 06:00
  This year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which begins on Friday, could reveal ‘some surprise migratory visitors’The chances of spotting a fieldfare or redwing in 2026 have risen, thanks to cold and unsettled weather in Europe, prompting a bumper year in birds migrating to the UK.The RSPB highlighted the trend on the eve of the Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual event that constitutes the world’s largest garden wildlife survey, which will take place between 23 and 25 January. C
  
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• ‘An environmental nuclear bomb’: documentary examines fight to save Great Salt Lake

  23-01-2026 01:15
  Sundance film festival: A cautionary new film, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, warns of the devastating consequences if the Utah lake continues to disappearThe Sundance film festival kicked off its final edition on Thursday in Park City, the Utah ski enclave that has housed the independent film hub for more than four decades. Beginning in 2027, the festival will move to Boulder, Colorado, after a multi-year selection process that many assumed would end in Salt Lake City.Utah’s lar
  
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• MPs ask Serious Fraud Office to investigate UK home insulation sector

  23-01-2026 01:01
  More than 30,000 households left with defects after ‘catastrophic failure’ of Tory government schemesMembers of parliament have called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the UK’s home insulation sector, after thousands of householders suffered ruined homes, big financial losses and months of disruption from the “clear and catastrophic failure” of two Conservative government schemes.More than 30,000 households were left with defects, some of them severe, inc
  
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• New wood-burning stoves to carry health warnings in UK plan

  22-01-2026 14:56
  Pollution from wood burners kills thousands but proposed emissions limit would cut toxic particles by 10%New wood-burning stoves will carry a health warning highlighting the impact of the air pollution they produce, under UK government plans.Ministers have also proposed cutting the limit on the smoke emitted from wood burners by 80%. However, the measure would only apply to new stoves, most of which already meet the stricter limit. The new limit would cut the annual toxic emissions from wood bur
  
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• A bid to clean up shipping industry intensified a coral bleaching event on Great Barrier Reef, study says

  22-01-2026 12:00
  The removal of sulphur from shipping fuels caused ‘a lot of extra sunlight’ to get through atmosphere and hit reef in 2022Steps to clean up the shipping industry by removing sulphur from fuels intensified a major coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef by allowing more of the sun’s energy to hit the oceanic wonder, according to a new study.Sulphur pollution can cause respiratory problems for humans and cause acid rain, but it also has a shading effect and can make clou
  
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• Blind, slow and 500 years old – or are they? How scientists are unravelling the secrets of Greenland sharks

  22-01-2026 11:00
  Described by one researcher as looking ‘already dead’, the enigmatic creatures are one of the least understood species on the planetIt looks more like a worn sock than a fearsome predator. It moves slower than an escalator. By most accounts, it is a clumsy and near-sightless relic drifting in the twilight waters of the Arctic, lazily searching for food scraps.But the Greenland shark, an animal one researcher (lovingly) said, “looks like it’s already dead”, is also o
  
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• What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out | Aditya Chakrabortty

  22-01-2026 07:00
  It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed droughtYou get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the baby, neither tea nor coffee, no easy way to do the dishes or the laundry. Dirt accumulates; tem
  
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• Schools, airports, high-rise towers: architects urged to get ‘bamboo-ready’

  22-01-2026 07:00
  Manual for building design aims to encourage low-carbon construction as alternative to steel and concreteAn airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it’s time we took it seriously as a building material, too.This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be “bamboo-ready” as they published a manual for designing permanent b
  
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• Half the world’s 100 largest cities are in high water stress areas, analysis finds

  22-01-2026 07:00
  Exclusive: Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro among worst affected, with demand close to exceeding supplyHalf the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 39 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exace
  
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• Country diary: Meet the kelo tree – dead, but refusing to fall | Paul Evans

  22-01-2026 06:30
  The Marches, Shropshire: Without its bark, this Scots pine’s life cycle has slowed, allowing it to stand tall in death for hundreds of years“The clown passeth by thee and heedeth thee not, / But thou’rt a warm source of reflection for me” wrote John Clare in To a Dead Tree. This clown has passeth an old dead tree in Attingham Park – at Atcham, near Shrewsbury – many times without much heedeth, but today, warmed by bright sunlight after weeks of cold weather, i
  
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• Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels for EU power generation in 2025, report finds

  22-01-2026 00:01
  Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politicsWind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy.Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%. Co
  
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• Green spaces should be the norm for all new housing developments in England, guidelines say

  21-01-2026 19:23
  Experts say big flaw is the lack of mandatory requirements, meaning developers could ignore the guidanceHousing where shops, schools, public transport and possibly pubs are close by, with green spaces and access to nature, and where heritage is preserved, should be the norm for all new developments, according to guidelines set out by the government.King’s Cross in London, for example, where industrial buildings have been converted into shops, restaurants and public spaces, and where school
  
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