Environment news

• Three studies from UTA's clear lab detect harmful pathogenic bacteria in Texas groundwater near natural gas extraction sites

  21-11-2017 19:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Three new research studies from the University of Texas at Arlington have found harmful pathogenic bacteria in Texas groundwater near unconventional natural gas extraction sites.
  
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• Readers reply: If all car tyres were filled with CO2, would this cut atmospheric carbon significantly?

  31-08-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions considers a change that might help the environmentThis week’s question: Would equal pay create a better society?If all the vehicles on the planet had their tyres pumped up with CO2, would this lock up enough carbon to lower the amount in the air significantly? Would there be other issues, such as the carbon cost of trapping it all into the tyres? Chris Coldwell, LancasterSend new questions to [email protected].
  
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• How a South African town cleaned up its polluted river using stones, wood and sand

  31-08-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Scientists say system to treat contaminated wastewater offers a model for ensuring food security in a fast-warming climateAll it took to turn the murky, heavily polluted waters of South Africa’s Stiebeuel River into a resource clean enough for irrigating a community’s vegetable plots was a collection of stones, heat-treated wood and sand.Without chemicals and using renewable energy, researchers from the University of Cape Town are cleaning 36,000 litres of water, polluted by sewage,
  
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• It’s time to get shirty about the short life of the football top

  31-08-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  With millions of club shirts going to waste every season, a radical recycling rethink is neededWhen Joanna Czutkowna buried a Manchester United jersey, a cotton T-shirt and a wool-cotton jumper in her Lancashire farm and dug it up a year later, the video went viral. The T-shirt had disappeared, apart from the seams (sewn with polyester thread), the jumper was 80% gone, but the United shirt remained – grubby but indestructible. (Insert joke here)The big reveal was not a surprise, certainly
  
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• Bhutan hosts first ‘conscious food summit’ amid threats to global supplies

  31-08-2026 10:38 via theguardian.com
  Organisers say people must revive spiritual relationship with food amid double threat of climate crisis and conflictMending the broken food system under the threat of climate-driven weather extremes will require more than economic fixes and intensive agriculture, according to the organisers of a pioneering summit this week, who say the world must revive its spiritual relationship with food.Delegates from more than 60 countries and the UN will gather for the next five days in Paro in the tiny Him
  
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• Weather tracker: Warm Yellow Sea strengthens storms in South Korea

  31-08-2026 09:57 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 200mm of rain forecast in parts of South Korea, while parts of southern Europe to be 10C above averageSouth Korea’s prime minister, Han Seong-sook, met officials to prepare for heavy rain expected this week, with rainfall totals across central and northern parts of the country forecast to exceed 200mm in some areas.South Korea was battered by heavy rainfall earlier this month and some areas were particularly hard hit. Over the weekend further thunderstorms pushed into the region
  
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• ‘Breakthrough’ as Turkmenistan starts fixing ‘mindboggling’ methane mega-leaks

  31-08-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gasTurkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough.Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, be
  
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• The Nepal floods seem a world away – but make no mistake, climate breakdown will affect us all | Nesrine Malik

  31-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Richer countries might have more resources to deal with catastrophe, but this problem grips the entire planet, however much leaders may want to deny itClimate breakdown is happening on one Earth, but two different worlds. In one, its impacts increasingly encroach on everyday life; longer periods of discomfort and shorter periods of sharp pain. Endless, hotter summers, and within them sudden wildfires, evacuations, homes burned to cinders in a matter of hours. In another, catastrophe. This summer
  
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• 'A giant leap forward': Nasa launches powerful new space telescope

  30-08-2026 20:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US space agency's telescope is starting a multi-year mission to create a new map of the universe and learn more about dark energy and dark matter.
  
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• The datacenter backlash is bringing the entire political spectrum together – against Big Tech billionaires

  30-08-2026 18:08 via theguardian.com
  The movement against datacenters is uniting Americans because they perfectly illustrate how a few individuals hold all the power to control decisions that impact our livesBryce Gustafson has been knocking on doors in Indiana for more than a decade. The lead organizer with Citizens Action Coalition (CAC), a consumer and environmental organization, he usually encounters a mix of reactions when he’s out canvassing; whatever issue he’s talking about, there’s always at least a few p
  
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• Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump, fossil fuels and climate disaster – cartoon

  30-08-2026 17:36 via theguardian.com
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• The datacenter fight could permanently transform US politics. Which party will seize advantage?

  30-08-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The movement against datacenters are uniting Americans because they perfectly illustrate how a few individuals hold all the power to control decisions that impact our livesBryce Gustafson has been knocking on doors in Indiana for more than a decade. The lead organizer with Citizens Action Coalition (CAC), a consumer and environmental organization, he usually encounters a mix of reactions when he’s out canvassing; whatever issue he’s talking about, there’s always at least a few
  
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• Flooding devastated swathes of Indiana but response is hampered by politics

  30-08-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Record inundations wrecked homes and took seven lives but Trump has not approved emergency aid and the state has cut funds for environmental agenciesIt’s been 10 days since the floodwater receded from Cambridge City’s main street and yet signs of disaster are all around.Abandoned cars, toilets and bathtubs are strewn across parks and side streets on a recent visit to the city. Garages have been lifted from their foundations and moved by the rushing water. Dumpsters up and down the st
  
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• Charity thanks inmates for work to save hedgehogs

  30-08-2026 08:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Prisoners in HMP La Moye make feeding and nesting boxes for Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group.
  
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• ‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollution

  30-08-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Checking for sewage spills has become as normal as checking the weather forecast, say swimmers on East Sussex beachesSouth West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows“I’m furious,” says Jo Armstrong, 75, sitting on Brighton beach with her daughter and granddaughter.Armstrong lives in Lewes, a town 8 miles from Brighton, and usually goes swimming in nearby Seaford in East Sussex every day. But over the past week the water there has been too polluted to s
  
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• South West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows

  30-08-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollutionSouth West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six cate
  
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• Nature reserves spot rare species during heatwaves

  30-08-2026 07:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A wildlife trust says unusually hot weather and increased monitoring has led to interesting finds.
  
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• Australia usually hosts the world's biggest cuttlefish mating event - not this year

  29-08-2026 20:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  According to official figures only 1,811 cuttlefish turned up to mate this year, down 97% on last year.
  
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• The race to stop England running out of water

  29-08-2026 16:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Who is to blame for the summer drought, and can England future-proof its water supplies?
  
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• ‘The world needs to pay attention’: Nepalis and Tibetans in New York respond to the Himalayan disaster

  29-08-2026 15:43 via theguardian.com
  Half the world away, a Himalayan diaspora reacts in sorrow and pitches in to help victims in their home countriesGeeta Tamang was getting ready for bed when her aunts shared news that upended her world.“My aunts came into my room and told me what had happened,” said Tamang, a 24-year-old computer science student at Queens College. She lives in Jackson Heights, home to one of the largest Nepali and Tibetan communities in New York City. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘The world needs to pay attention’: Nepalis and Tibetans in New York City respond to the Himalayan disaster

  29-08-2026 15:43 via theguardian.com
  Half the world away, a Himalayan diaspora reacts in sorrow and pitches in to help victims in their home countriesGeeta Tamang was getting ready for bed when her aunts shared news that upended her world.“My aunts came into my room and told me what had happened,” said Tamang, a 24-year-old computer science student at Queens College. She lives in Jackson Heights, home to one of the largest Nepali and Tibetan communities in New York City. Continue reading...
  
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• Islanders asked to report sightings of rare eel

  29-08-2026 13:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Nature Commission asks people to record sightings of the critically endangered eels.
  
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• Thunderstorms and gusty winds set to continue into Bank Holiday Monday

  29-08-2026 12:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Cooler and showery conditions will continue across the weekend and into Monday, bringing a record-breaking summer to a rather damp close as Matt Taylor explains.
  
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• How the weather in space can affect us on Earth - and the team trying to protect us

  29-08-2026 08:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The weather in space has the potential to impact our lives here on Earth in a fundamental way.
  
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• Death cleaning, downsizing and decluttering. How do we learn to live with less stuff?

  29-08-2026 02:00 via theguardian.com
  Many of us are overwhelmed by the sheer number of our belongings, but can we change our consumption habits? And is there a more sustainable way to declutter?Change 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] you call it decluttering, death cleaning or a clear out, many of us face the onerous task of paring back
  
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• Trump administration pushing to hand parcel of Yosemite land to private developer – report

  28-08-2026 20:38 via theguardian.com
  Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital seeks to acquire land to construct private road to development outside parkThe Trump administration is reportedly pushing to give a parcel of land inside Yosemite, the country’s first national park and one of its most popular, to a Nevada-based private developer.Staff with the National Park Service have been exploring how the agency can give a quarter-mile parcel to a company operated by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, the news outlet Notus reported on Frida
  
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• 'Our parents were crossing the border an hour before the flood hit'

  28-08-2026 19:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Authorities say nearly 2,000 people are missing, including more than 100 Americans and Canadians, as families await word on loved ones after the Nepal flash floods.
  
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• The Guardian climate pledge 2026

  28-08-2026 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Each year, the Guardian reaffirms its commitment to the environment – both in our reporting and how we operate as a business. From critical tipping points to war in Iran, this is how the last 12 months have lookedSupport the Guardian’s environment coverageThe Guardian climate forum 2026Today marks the end of the Guardian’s annual climate support campaign. Each year, during the campaign, we remind our audience about the Guardian’s role in covering the threats to our planet
  
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• London Science Museum cuts links with BP after decades of partnership

  28-08-2026 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners say ‘seismic shift’ follows years of pressure to sever ties with oil and gas firmThe London Science Museum has ended its decades-long partnership with the oil and gas company BP in what has been described as a “seismic shift” for the museum.The Science Museum Group academy, which was established in 2018 to provide training and resources, announced on Friday that it would be ending its partnership with BP. In a statement, the director and chief executive of the
  
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• Martin Rowson on Trump and the consequences of the climate crisis – cartoon

  28-08-2026 18:39 via theguardian.com
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