Environment news

• Toadstools in a Shrewsbury graveyard

  04-01-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Shrewsbury We walked to the grave of Mary Webb and found the fungi growing around her neighbours’ headstonesThe toadstools opened from the graveyard like fleshy satellite dishes – ears of the necropolis listening to the living. We were in Shrewsbury cemetery to pay our respects at the turning year to those we knew there. The newer part had serried ranks of black or white marble headstones between drives, their funerary decorations modest symbols of grief and remembrance in a utilitar
  
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• Weather tracker: heavy snow brings transport chaos to Romania

  20-02-2026 16:31 via theguardian.com
  Winter storm dumps more than 40cm of snow on the capital, while in France, Storm Pedro follows hot of heels of Storm NilsWhile the days are lengthening and meteorological spring is just a couple of weeks away, Romania has been firmly in the grip of winter.A storm brought blizzard conditions and heavy snowfall across much of the south-east of the country, with the capital, Bucharest, receiving 40cm of snow – far above the February average of 11cm. Continue reading...
  
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• Floaters: the coming-of-age novel inspired by the UK’s sewage crisis

  20-02-2026 12:56 via theguardian.com
  C M Taylor’s book, which will raise funds for charity, follows teenagers whose favourite swim spot is contaminatedA water company discharges sewage into a river with impunity and the government fails to stop them. The story may sound familiar, but this one is different: there’s a satisfying comeuppance all round.The ongoing saga of sewage being pumped into the Thames has inspired a new YA (young adult) novel, Floaters – and when its limited first edition is published later this
  
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• There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hume

  20-02-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worsePlanetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere – stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI – with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for th
  
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• There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hulme

  20-02-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worsePlanetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere – stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI – with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for th
  
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• The true cost of Ecuador’s perfect roses: how the global flower trade poisons workers

  20-02-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communitiesThe fertile high valley near La Chimba trembles with sounds. The rhythms of brass bands and cumbia music clash like weather fronts, each playing its own beats in the Andean rain. A rainbow spans the slopes and white plastic greenhouses, protecting the region’s treasure: roses bred for beauty, shipped abroad, blooming far from home.Amid the drizzle, Patricia
  
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• Fly-tipping dog caught on CCTV in Sicily – video

  20-02-2026 11:34 via theguardian.com
  A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump rubbish bags by the roadside in an attempt to outsmart anti-fly-tipping cameras, municipal police have said. The 'canine courier' was caught on newly installed surveillance footage, prompting officers to post the clip on the city’s official Facebook page with a pointed message: 'Inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility.' The owner has since been identified and fined.Illegal dumping is a chronic problem across Italy, particular
  
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• Week in wildlife: a peek-a-boo fish, dunkin’ frogs and a white crow

  20-02-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• The heat suffocates, the fires rage – even by Australian standards, this summer is brutal

  20-02-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  In this week’s newsletter: The south-east of the country is suffering through the worst heatwave since 2019’s ‘black summer’, while the government continues to back fossil fuel projects • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAustralians are no strangers to blistering weather – being a “sunburnt country” of “droughts and flooding rains” is baked into our national identity. But since the 2019-20 bushfires, whi
  
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• Wood burning pollution leads to 8,600 premature US deaths a year, study finds

  20-02-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Wood is primary heating in 2% of homes but contributes to producing 21% ofcountry’s wintertime particle pollutionAir pollution from home wood burning is estimated to lead to 8,600 premature deaths in the US each year, according to research.Just 2% of US homes use wood for primary heating. Another 8% burn wood for pleasure, aesthetics or supplementary heating, but combined they produce 21% of the country’s wintertime particle pollution. Continue reading...
  
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• How ‘smog capital of Poland’ saved 6,000 lives by cutting soot levels

  20-02-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better healthAs a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.“It’s not that we have this fee
  
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• Country diary: Was this the fox version of a ‘come-hither’ smile? | Clare Stares

  20-02-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Langstone, Hampshire: The vixen approached the male, her mouth slightly open, gave a brief shake of her head, then darted off againWalking the coastal path, I stopped to scan the flooded horse paddock for the kingfisher reported there in recent days. Three grey herons loitered along the fence line, hunchbacked and watchful. Where shallow pools had formed, teals dabbled and drifted in loose rafts, while a dozen little egrets fed on the margins, using their yellow feet to stir up the mud and flush
  
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• New drone unit to investigate illegal waste dumping across England

  20-02-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4mA new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convi
  
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• Deer shooting to be facilitated in England to protect woodlands

  19-02-2026 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Government plans legislation giving landowners and tenants rights to cull deer to protect crops and propertyIt will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, plans to bring forward new legislation to give landowners and tenants legal rights to shoot deer to protect crops and property. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on Merz and Meloni: an emerging Berlin-Rome axis is threatening the EU’s green deal

  19-02-2026 20:05 via theguardian.com
  The deregulation agenda being pushed by Germany’s chancellor and Italy’s prime minister is economically and ethically flawedWhen the European Union launched its green deal in 2019, putting into law the goal of climate neutrality by the middle of the century, it showed strategic foresight as well as global leadership. Russia’s war in Ukraine has starkly underlined the extent to which the continent’s energy security – and its future prosperity – is dependent on
  
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• ‘We’re not hippies’: why these Iowa farmers swapped pigs for mushrooms

  19-02-2026 13:45 via theguardian.com
  Faaborgs rail against oppressive industrial agricultural system with unexpected evolution into indie artisan food firmAs a sixth-generation Iowa farmer, Tanner Faaborg is all too aware that agricultural traditions are hard to shake. So when he set in motion plans to change his family’s farm from a livestock operation housing more than 8,000 pigs each year to one that grows lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms, he knew some of his peers might laugh at him. He just did not necessarily expe
  
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• ‘There has to be glitter’: can the Rio carnival give up its love of beach-polluting microplastics?

  19-02-2026 13:01 via theguardian.com
  A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shineWhether it is embellishing elaborate costumes, delicately applied as eye makeup, or smeared across bare skin, glitter is everywhere at Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in Brazil. The world’s largest party, which ended on Wednesday, leaves a trail of sparkles in its wake.At one bloco last weekend, a huge sound truck and dancers
  
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• Kyiv zoo braves blackouts and bombardment to keep animals warm

  19-02-2026 12:32 via theguardian.com
  Staff are using stoves and generators to keep lions, camels and Ukraine’s lone gorilla safe from winter and warEurope live – latest updatesKyiv zoo’s most famous resident lays on his back watching television. On screen: a nature documentary.For a quarter of a century, Toni has been the zoo’s star attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors. He is Ukraine’s only gorilla. At 52 – old by western gorilla standards – he needs warm conditions similar to
  
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• ‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics

  19-02-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?Like many of us who are mindful of our plastic consumption, Beth Gardiner would take her own bags to the supermarket and be annoyed whenever she forgot to do so. Out without her refillable bottle, she would avoid buying bottled water. “Here I am, in my own little life, worrying about that and trying t
  
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• Twenty-five years ago: the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK

  19-02-2026 07:30 via theguardian.com
  22 February 2001: How the Guardian first covered the national crisis that unfolded as a result of the virus that spreads like wildfireAn outbreak of the highly infectious animal transmitted foot-and-mouth disease in the UK was one of the worst in the world. Roughly 6 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were culled, and mass funeral pyres became a striking image of the British countryside. Rural communities were shut off, tourism devastated, and movement across the countryside severely restricted. Th
  
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• How extreme flooding in Somerset has created birdlife winners and losers

  19-02-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Wet fields drive away rodents, leaving barn owls without much prey, but gulls of all kinds are attracted by the waterThe Somerset Levels flood regularly – but this year, after very heavy winter rains, the fields and moors are overflowing with water. So what effect does this have on wintering birds?Like most extreme weather events, there are winners and losers. Huge flocks of gulls are gathering in the flooded fields to feed, with scarcer Mediterranean and little gulls joining the regular b
  
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• Country diary: Kneeling by the river, hoping the water is clean | Mary Montague

  19-02-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Forth River, Ligoniel, north Belfast: A riverfly monitoring survey involves rapt focus on these tiny creatures, whose presence is an indicator of water healthI wish I’d worn kneepads. But then I hadn’t imagined that a riverfly monitoring survey would require this much genuflection. Like the followers of an undine creed, we kneel on the riverbank, bent over the Forth’s secrets. What is her message? How do we understand it?With me are Patricia Deeney and Geoff Newell, conservatio
  
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• Beef and lamb get 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, study finds

  19-02-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Report says common agricultural policy provides ‘unfair’ levels of support to unhealthy, meat-heavy dietsBeef and lamb receive 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, a report has found, despite scientists urging people to get more of their protein from less harmful sources.Analysis by the charity Foodrise found the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) provides “unfair” levels of support to meat-heavy diets that doctors consider unhealthy and climate scientist
  
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• ‘It’s a catastrophe’: Wellington rages as millions of litres of raw sewage pours into ocean

  19-02-2026 04:42 via theguardian.com
  Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New ZealandA tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast da
  
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• ‘It’s a catastrophe’: Wellington rages as millions of litres of raw sewage pour into ocean

  19-02-2026 04:42 via theguardian.com
  Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New ZealandA tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast da
  
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• Environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion says FBI is investigating it for terrorism

  19-02-2026 00:58 via theguardian.com
  Extinction Rebellion says some members have been visited by agents claiming to be FBI amid Trump’s threats toward liberal groupsEnvironmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department polic
  
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• Environmental group Extinction Rebellion says it is under FBI investigation

  19-02-2026 00:58 via theguardian.com
  Activist group says some members have been visited by agents, including by agency’s terrorism taskforce Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department policy. Continue reading...
  
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• Plug-in hybrids use three times more fuel than manufacturers claim, analysis finds

  18-02-2026 19:41 via theguardian.com
  While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on averagePlug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while
  
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• Trump has done more than harm the government’s ability to fight global heating | Jamil Smith

  18-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  By repealing the EPA’s determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health, the president is denying reality itselfThe climate crisis is killing people. These deaths are measurable, documented and ongoing. Concluding otherwise is just playing pretend. Studies explain the mechanics, but lived experience supplies the truth. The people who suffer the consequences see the fire rising and water closing in. They need their government’s help.Despite that, the president of the United
  
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• Speeding, jaywalkers and imported ‘clunkers’: Romania in safety drive to improve EU’s deadliest roads

  18-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Government has taken first serious steps to crack down on dangerous driving but pace of change is frustrating campaignersThe first time Lucian Mîndruță crashed his car, he swerved to avoid a village dog and hit another vehicle. The second time, he missed a right-of-way sign and was struck by a car at a junction. The third time, ice sent him skidding off the road and into two trees. Crashes four to eight, he said, were bumper-scratches in traffic too minor to mention.That Mî
  
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