Environment news

• We can’t keep chopping down trees without harming ourselves | Emma Mitchell

  15-05-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The UK’s abundant woodland has proven health benefits. That’s why Network Rail’s destructive scheme must be opposedIn 2001 there were 1.3bn trees in England. That’s 25 for every person in the country, the highest numbers since the first world war. One article predicted that in 2020 there would be more trees in England than in 1086, when 15% of the country was cloaked in woodland. Part of the reason for this buoyant outlook was the country’s response to the great sto
  
  Read more

• I saw pedestrians swear at plovers when they swooped. But I admired the birds

  25-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Many people despise these birds for violently defending their babies in nests they create in ridiculously vulnerable areas. My community, however, became devoted to them It was early September when the two spur-winged plover chicks hatched.They hit the ground running, literally. Shortly after emerging from the speckled brown eggs their mother had laid in a shallow divot, they were scurrying around on their disproportionately long, stilt-like legs. They looked like fluffy brown and white cotton b
  
  Read more

• ‘Hope is a built-in characteristic’: Margaret Atwood on birds, conservation and optimism for the future

  25-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Canadian novelist has celebrated her late partner’s love of birds with a C$1m gift to a university to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biologyIf she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” she says while seated in a corner of a bird observatory in the Lake Erie Islands archipelago. “They’re quite an intelligent problem solver.”The obser
  
  Read more

• ‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to the study of birds

  25-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biologyIf she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” she says while seated in a corner of a bird observatory in the Lake Erie Islands archipelago. “They’re quite an intelligent problem solver.”The observatory, which she set up w
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to avian research

  25-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biologyIf she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” she says while seated in a corner of a bird observatory in the Lake Erie Islands archipelago. “They’re quite an intelligent problem solver.”The observatory, which she set up w
  
  Read more

• Revealed: the undisclosed safety data emerging as weedkiller maker faces Parkinson’s lawsuits in US

  25-09-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Syngenta denies keeping relevant data from the EPA as paraquat stays in the US market despite global bansSweden started ringing the alarm bell more than 20 years ago, calling for a ban on the weedkilling chemical paraquat in 2004. One by one, dozens of other countries did the same as evidence of paraquat risks to human health mounted. Even the Chinese government, which owns the longtime paraquat maker Syngenta, halted domestic use of the pesticide a decade ago after conducting its own studies on
  
  Read more

• ‘Your body fights to stay cool’: workers toil in record heat as federal rule frozen

  25-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Trump officials and Republicans are rolling back protections against heat-related illnesses and deathsWhen it’s 90F on a hot summer day, Esther Minton wears a long-sleeved shirt to work.“Working outside, you don’t have cover. There’s nowhere for you to really go if you’re on a roof or if you’re on the side of a building,” said Minton, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 28 in New York City. “Having the sun beaming on your skin all day l
  
  Read more

• ‘We don’t have time for more promises’: the Croatian town that took on an illegal waste dump

  25-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  After years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands“Gospić is our home,” Željka Šikić shouted to a crowd of 40,000 people outside the Croatian parliament earlier this month. The slogan is the name of a campaign she helped to set up to protest against the illegal dumping of waste in Gospić, a town in the mountainous Lika region of central Croatia.Between 2022 and 2024, waste was illegally aband
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘I feel betrayed’: the Croatians living near an illegal waste dump who took matters into their own hands

  25-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  After years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands“Gospić is our home,” Željka Šikić shouted to a crowd of 40,000 people outside the Croatian parliament earlier this month. The slogan is the name of a campaign she helped to set up to protest against the illegal dumping of waste in Gospić, a town in the mountainous Lika region of central Croatia.Between 2022 and 2024, waste was illegally aband
  
  Read more

• I feel betrayed’: the Croatians living near an illegal waste dump who took matters into their own hands

  25-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  After years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands“Gospić is our home,” Željka Šikić shouted to a crowd of 40,000 people outside the Croatian parliament earlier this month. The slogan is the name of a campaign she helped to set up to protest against the illegal dumping of waste in Gospić, a town in the mountainous Lika region of central Croatia.Between 2022 and 2024, waste was illegally aband
  
  Read more

• How the illegal dumping of toxic waste in a Croatian town sparked national calls for clean-up

  25-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  After years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands“Gospić is our home,” Željka Šikić shouted to a crowd of 40,000 people outside the Croatian parliament earlier this month. The slogan is the name of a campaign she helped to set up to protest against the illegal dumping of waste in Gospić, a town in the mountainous Lika region of central Croatia.Between 2022 and 2024, waste was illegally aband
  
  Read more

• Week in wildlife: a tiny tiger-cat, backyard bears and a frilly pink sea cucumber

  25-09-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Would you bet on the future of our planet?

  25-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Prediction markets are focusing on extreme weather and the climate crisis. But it’s led to questions about what exactly people are betting on• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereHow hot will it get in your nearest city tomorrow? How quickly will the planet’s ice melt and its corals die off? How many huge, costly climate disasters will hit this year? If you’re inclined to do so, you can now place online bets on how the weather and the broader
  
  Read more

• ‘We wanted to prove we didn’t need air conditioning’: the airport cooled by natural ventilation

  25-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  At Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, the ceiling design funnels a light tropical breeze into the terminal At the arrivals terminal at Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, visitors are greeted by floor-to-ceiling windows framing the lush green mountains of the French Indian Ocean territory.What they may have also expected was the icy chill of air conditioning; this island just off Madagascar sits in the tropical zone to the south of the equator. But instead, the terminal
  
  Read more

• ‘We can’t ride this storm’: the English farmers facing uncertainty after sustainability funding runs dry

  25-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  After the available money ran out after just six hours, some fear they will have to reverse efforts to boost natureOn Tuesday morning, farmer Peter Hatley logged on to his computer at 10am. England’s 2026 sustainable farming incentive (SFI) was opening for applicants and, after three bad harvests, the money would be a lifeline.But Hatley, who runs a 240-hectare family farm in Cambridgeshire, was faced with repeated error messages. He called the government’s helpline, which he says ac
  
  Read more

• Skylarks and sandwich terns among new birdies on reserve created from ‘boring old golf course’

  25-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  National Trust has transformed Sandilands in Lincolnshire into a nature reserve with wetlands and wading poolsThere is no chance of a birdie or an eagle any more. But there are skylarks, short-eared owls, avocets and curlew.Sandilands, a former golf course on the Lincolnshire coast, has been transformed by the National Trust into a 2km-long nature reserve with wetlands, wading pools, rough grassland and coastal scrub. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Never mind the Bayeux – this is where the Battle of Stamford Bridge took place 960 years ago today | Amy-Jane Beer

  25-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Low Catton, East Yorkshire: It was King Harold’s last taste of victory before Hastings. How chilling it is to visit this unassuming spot and imagine the bloody sceneThe field with freshly sprouted winter wheat sloping down to the River Derwent looks ordinary; however, today feels anything but. Just standing here, strange chills are swarming through my body and converging in my chest.It happened here. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Before Hastings was the Battle of Stamford Bridge. And it happened right here, 960 years ago today | Amy-Jane Beer

  25-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Low Catton, East Yorkshire: It was King Harold’s last taste of victory. How chilling it is to visit this unassuming spot and imagine the bloody scene back in 1066The field with freshly sprouted winter wheat sloping down to the River Derwent looks ordinary; however, today feels anything but. Just standing here, strange chills are swarming through my body and converging in my chest.It happened here. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• I went looking for the poo at Coogee beach but all I found was a beautiful day for a swim

  25-09-2026 05:52 via theguardian.com
  Popular beach ranks as Sydney’s worst for faecal pollution – again – but Caitlin Cassidy discovers happy children and familiesIn the Dharug language spoken by the local Aboriginal people, Coogee, derived from “koojah” or “koojay”, translates to “bad smell”, “rotting seaweed” or “stinking place”.It was with some precedent, then, that this week Coogee ranked as the Sydney ocean beach most polluted with faecal matter, for
  
  Read more

• Why is the UK’s suppressed climate national security report significant?

  24-09-2026 20:27 via theguardian.com
  Warnings about the catastrophic effects of vital ecosystems collapsing were not published under previous PMUK shares findings of damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under StarmerUK spy chiefs warned government ministers of the catastrophic impacts on national security from the collapse of vital ecosystems around the world, driven by the climate crisis and the overexploitation of nature. But their report, which was supposed to be published almost a year ago, was suppressed
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on a supersized El Niño: a natural phenomenon and human folly are a lethal combination | Editorial

  24-09-2026 19:37 via theguardian.com
  Hundreds of thousands are expected to die, millions to go hungry. This is not just about weather patterns, but about injusticeSome warnings are so grave that it is almost impossible to fully comprehend them. The descriptions of a super-sized, “Godzilla-level” El Niño already heating our planet would sound hyperbolic were they not issuing from eminent scientists. They say that the weather pattern, which occurs roughly every two to seven years, may be the strongest in at least a
  
  Read more

• Rescued bears enjoy private piano concert – video

  24-09-2026 17:32 via theguardian.com
  Former Yes musician Rick Wakeman plays a piano concert to bears at a sanctuary in Vietnam. His concert was performed live on a Yamaha grand piano positioned in Animals Asia in the Tam Dao national park. Wakeman is trying to raise awareness of 125 animals that remain stuck in cages at ‘bile farms’ in the country Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• ‘You can’t just bet everything on exports’: as its gas runs out, is Bolivia doomed to repeat history?

  24-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  A fossil gas boom that lifted millions out of poverty has collapsed and inflation is rising – but not everyone believes selling gold and soya is the answerOnce hailed as the “energy heart of South America”, Bolivia’s economy was buoyed up by a fossil gas boom from 2006 to 2014. At its height, then-president Evo Morales commissioned a gleaming presidential skyscraper and installed the world’s longest urban cable car network in La Paz, the seat of government.Flush wit
  
  Read more

• Elephants use medicinal plants to treat themselves, researchers find

  24-09-2026 13:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  African elephants use dozens of different medicinal plants to treat themselves and their families when they are sick, research reveals.
  
  Read more

• When and how to see the Harvest Moon in 2026

  24-09-2026 12:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  September's full Moon will rise across on Saturday 26 September. The best viewing conditions currently look to be across southern and eastern parts of the UK.
  
  Read more

• Mass sardine die-off pits survival of South Africa’s penguins against fishers’ livelihoods

  24-09-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Known as the ‘energy bars of the sea’ the fish are a key food source for many species, but closing fisheries to allow numbers to recover would cost millions It began on 28 July, when fishers near Saldanha Bay on the west coast of South Africa reported seeing dead sardines (also known as pilchards) floating at sea. Then, in early August, more dead sardines began washing up on beaches near Cape Town.In the weeks that followed, similar reports came in from places across a vast area span
  
  Read more

• Big-eyed bugs and praying mantises: climate crisis drives new visitors to UK shores

  24-09-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Britain has seen an explosion of migrating insects – in some cases from as far as northern Africa It was a stifling evening in July and Matt Phelps was out for a stroll, when a piercing, whirring noise stopped him in his tracks. As an ecologist, Phelps knows his fauna – and he could think of no UK creature that could emit such a sound.“It was like the classic sound effect of a cricket in a film, a beeping sort of little trilling sound,” said Phelps, who works at Knepp Est
  
  Read more

• A bumper year for bugs: as the world warms up, insects are moving northwards

  24-09-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Britain has seen an explosion of migrating insects – in some cases from as far as northern Africa It was a stifling evening in July and Matt Phelps was out for a stroll, when a piercing, whirring noise stopped him in his tracks. As an ecologist, Phelps knows his fauna – and he could think of no UK creature that could emit such a sound.“It was like the classic sound effect of a cricket in a film, a beeping sort of little trilling sound,” said Phelps, who works at Knepp Est
  
  Read more

• Blood tests find high level of cancer-causing forever chemical in residents near factory

  24-09-2026 09:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  People living near a major chemical factory in Lancashire are told they could be at risk of serious health conditions.
  
  Read more

• ‘Cash to trash’ levy on house developers too low to offset damage to Norfolk Broads, say critics

  24-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Levy that allows almost 16,000 houses to be built on Norfolk Broads will not cover cost of mitigating environmental damage, critics sayA new levy on developers to allow almost 16,000 homes to be built in the environmentally protected Norfolk Broads has been cut by tens of thousands of pounds per house, the Guardian can reveal.Ministers say the government’s environmental delivery plans (EDPs) were created to unblock housing growth across the country and are a “win-win&rdquo
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!