Environment news

• Where have all the insects gone? | Hugh Warwick

  13-05-2017 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  While news focuses on elections or the economy, the bigger picture is that our world is being tragically and massively denuded of non-human forms of lifeThere is a scene at the end of the film Gangs of New York when Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio are deep in a vicious fight for honour and territory. As the camera pulls up and away it becomes apparent how very small and insignificant the squabble is. The city is being bombarded from the sea.That is how I feel we are treating the looming e
  
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• Hello from the outside: heat domes impeding radio and other signals in US midwest

  13-07-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Higher temperatures can cause radio, TV and microwave signals to travel hundreds of miles farther, upsetting communicationsIt was 3am in north-east Indiana’s Huntington county when the outdoor emergency alarm went off on 1 July.The only issue? There wasn’t a storm, tornado or any other emergency weather event forecast or present anywhere for hundreds of miles. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘As if a hurricane had passed’: Puerto Ricans at breaking point after weeks without water

  13-07-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Shortages triggered by pipeline rupture drive up costs and deepen frustrations, as pressure grows on water utilityJonathan Collazo owns two restaurants in a bustling section of San Juan, which has been plagued by water outages, severely disrupting the daily lives of residents and businesses alike.The water scarcity is part of an escalating frustration felt by thousands of customers of Puerto Rico’s water utility over the past several months, prompting the governor to activate the national
  
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• First came the dead fish, then invasive plants. A year later and Lake Suchitlán’s pollution remains a mystery

  13-07-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Fishers on El Salvador’s largest lake are still looking for answers after the die-off, with no explanation provided by the governmentFrom the village of Copapayo, Noel Avalos recalls the morning they ran to the shore of Lake Suchitlán, El Salvador’s main hydroelectric reservoir, also known as Cerrón Grande, and its largest body of freshwater, to find thousands of dead fish had washed up overnight.By August 2025, nearly 70% of the lake’s 135 sq km (33,000 acres) su
  
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• A journey down one of the last wild rivers in the American west: ‘The bullseye will always be on its back’

  13-07-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  As US water wars rage, a tributary of the Colorado River faces unprecedented pressure. Visitors worry how long this aquatic ‘relict’ will lastOn an early morning in mid-May, a group of near strangers shoved camping gear and clothes into waterproof bags, slathered on sunscreen, and ambled into the bright-yellow rafts that would carry them down one of the last free-flowing rivers in the American west.Unhindered by large dams or diversions, the Yampa curves across 250 miles (400km) of a
  
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• Plan to restore nature in England by 2030 criticised as ‘completely insufficient’

  13-07-2026 13:27 via theguardian.com
  Critics accuse ministers of failing to take control of nature crisis and leaving it to private landowners to act voluntarilyThe government’s plan to protect and restore nature in England by 2030 has been condemned as “pathetic” and “completely insufficient” in the face of the spiralling environmental crisis.The long-awaited plan published on Monday calls for landowners to voluntarily opt to protect and enhance nature, rather than creating legal protections for natur
  
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• Weather tracker: Unusually warm rivers affect French nuclear power plants

  13-07-2026 12:53 via theguardian.com
  High temperatures and below average rainfall put pressure on waterways used to cool reactorsAbove average temperatures combined with below average rainfall across much of western and central Europe during June and the first half of July have placed increasing pressure on rivers, ecosystems and energy infrastructure. Persistent high pressure brought prolonged sunshine, suppressed rainfall and enhanced evaporation, causing river levels to fall and water temperatures to increase.These unusually war
  
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• Firefighting planes scrambled from south of France to tackle huge wildfire near Paris

  13-07-2026 11:34 via theguardian.com
  Officials say blaze in Fontainebleau forest is of ‘exceptional scale’, with 900 homes evacuated and road and rail links hitEurope live – latest updatesFirefighters are tackling a blaze of unprecedented scale sweeping through Fontainebleau forest south-east of Paris.The fire began late on Sunday afternoon in the one-time royal hunting preserve about 40 miles (60km) from the capital, which today is dotted with villages. The blaze, which is unusual in its proximity to Paris, raced
  
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• May and June heatwaves killed about 2,700 people in England and Wales, data suggests

  13-07-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Extreme heat led to 440 deaths a day during June peak, say scientists, with climate crisis ramping up temperaturesThe heatwave that affected England and Wales in June killed about 440 people a day during its three-day peak, scientists have estimated. Across the whole of the June heatwave, plus the one in May, about 2,700 people lost their lives prematurely.The data starkly illustrates the danger of extreme heat, which is being supercharged by the climate crisis. More than 40% of the people affec
  
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• Country diary: Phacelia is the most useful plant – I always have a packet for my garden | Susie White

  13-07-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Allendale, Northumberland: Farmers use it as cover crop, and I sow it into bare soil – but not before I’ve had a close look at its stunning detailsCupped by bristly sepals, the five-petalled flowers of phacelia flare open at the tips, drawing insects to their abundant nectar and blue pollen. Hoverflies, honeybees, parasitic wasps, solitary bees and bumblebees – there’s life all around me as I hunker down among the plants.I always have a ready packet of Phac
  
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• ‘No matter how bad, it is always fixable’: how Bea Elton cleans up the houses – and lives – of desperate people

  13-07-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  She has built an unlikely career in mould, maggots and excrement, cleaning for those who most need it. It can take months building trust with a stranger, before she and her boyfriend go in and transform everything‘There might be a dead bird in the box room. We think it has been there for a couple of years,” says Bea Elton, raising her voice to be heard through her respirator. It is particularly robust, as she has a dust and cat hair allergy. “Not ideal,” in her line of wo
  
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• Britain’s cars and SUVs are growing bigger – but there is a way to stop this deadly ‘carspreading’ | Christian Wolmar

  12-07-2026 17:30 via theguardian.com
  Larger vehicles crowd our roads and are far more dangerous to pedestrians. Let’s curb them before they do even more damageWe need an Ozempic for cars. They are growing at a phenomenal rate, wreaking havoc on the roads, squeezing out smaller vehicles in car parks and endangering pedestrians.Like ever-hungry teenagers, cars in Europe are growing, on average, a centimetre wider every year, according to new research reported by the Guardian. And fewer than half of new cars in the UK can fit in
  
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• Britain’s biggest community solar farm forced to shut over grid overload fears

  12-07-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Timing of Devon switchoff ‘could not be worse’, says board, as members face an estimated £2m in lost revenue Britain’s biggest community solar project has been forced to shut for the duration of its first summer by the government’s energy system operator to avoid overloading the local grid with renewable energy.The north Devon solar farm was ordered to shut weeks before record high temperatures across Europe led to power supply warnings, due to concerns that the lar
  
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• ‘We plant belonging’: how nature charities and asylum seekers work together in UK countryside

  12-07-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental and refugee groups have joined forces to benefit lives and wildlife in Wales and elsewhereShielding his eyes from the blinding midday sun, Abdullah, a Sudanese asylum seeker, gazes out at the expanse of green in Tŷ Mawr country park in north Wales.“This place is so beautiful,” he says. “It feels a very long way from the Home Office.” Continue reading...
  
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• Readers reply: Why put solar panels on green space when we could put them over car parks?

  12-07-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThis week’s question: Why is there no rugby culture in Germany?I would like to know why we build solar farms over green space, when we could just put them over massive car parks as a popular current internet meme suggests. Chris, MiddlesbroughSend new questions to [email protected]. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Huge wave’ of carbon storage projects causes alarm in small-town USA as oil firms eye billions in subsidies

  12-07-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Dozens of projects are in development across US despite concerns over environmental and health risksThe plan to bury carbon under remote Indiana farmland is supposed to be a slam dunk for the climate, according to its supporters – all generously funded by US tax dollars.But as far as Melissa Harrison and some other residents of Clymers, Indiana, are concerned, it just might be the end of their town. “This is our place,” she says. Generations of her family are buried in the ceme
  
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• China evacuates nearly two million people as powerful typhoon makes landfall

  12-07-2026 09:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Schools, work and outdoor activities have been suspended in Zhejiang province and many transport services cancelled.
  
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• ‘Super’ El Niño could cause global food price shock lasting into 2028, analysts say

  12-07-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Weather cycle threatens harvests worldwide, adding to inflation already fuelled by the Iran warEconomists are warning that a “super” El Niño weather cycle this year could cause a severe shock to global food prices lasting into 2028.As the Iran war pushes up world food prices to the highest level in three years, economists said supply chains faced “two shocks at once” stoked by extreme weather linked to global heating. Continue reading...
  
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• Alderney set to welcome Britain in Bloom judges

  12-07-2026 08:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Alderney is set to represent the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the national Royal Horticultural Society awards.
  
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• Pupils vow to save 'dying' river in beauty spot

  12-07-2026 07:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Children from a school near a popular beauty spot test local water quality over pollution concerns.
  
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• Amur tiger Ginger Biscuit settles into new home

  12-07-2026 07:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The two-year-old female has moved from Longleat to Woburn and is settling in well, her keepers say.
  
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• The South African trailblazers seeking to change how wildlife documentaries are made

  12-07-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  National Geographic explorers create dive lab after finding too few black film-makers telling African wildlife storiesWhen Pragna Parsotam-Kok and Noel Kok made a wildlife series for South African TV in 2015, they were struck by how challenging it was to access animals to film and how few other African wildlife documentary makers there were.Their response was to set up the not-for-profit Nature Environment and Wildlife Conservation Trust (NEWF) and to host a conference for African wildlife film-
  
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• T. rex could become most expensive fossil ever - but it's a ​problem for scientists

  12-07-2026 01:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex will go on sale in New York with a pre-sale value of $30m.
  
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• In my years of spearfishing, I’ve never encountered more sharks than now. But I know where I stand in the underwater pecking order | Clarke Gayford

  11-07-2026 22:00 via theguardian.com
  Below the surface is one of the only places I can switch my brain off. Coming face to face with a shark comes with the territory – and we all have to adapt to this new normalThe first time I came face to face with a great white shark I felt something shift inside me. One look into those eyes darker than a planet-sucking black hole really does humble you.But it wasn’t the eyes. Continue reading...
  
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• Fastest spider in the world? This huge, hairy-legged Australian arachnid may be the quickest on the planet

  11-07-2026 17:02 via theguardian.com
  A brown huntsman is the quickest of more than 250 species analysed by scientists in the UK and GermanyIf arachnophobes were not frightened enough by the horrific ability of Australia’s huntsman spiders to drag dead mice up the sides of fridges, they now have another reason.They might be the fastest spiders on the planet. Continue reading...
  
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• Wildlife conservation work to get £1m boost

  11-07-2026 16:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Endangered rodents, birds and butterflies will be among the species benefitting from the investment.
  
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• ‘A slap in the face’: small farmers say Trump is turning his back on them

  11-07-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The president wooed farmers in his campaign, but now the USDA is yanking funding, citing ‘DEI’ and wasteful spendingIt’s just an eighth of an acre, but for Lawrencia Rogers, the plot where she grows broccolini, lettuce and beans on land once tilled by poorhouse residents in eastern Iowa is the closest she has come to living her dream.Iowa is one of the most agriculturally productive states in the country, but getting into farming is not easy, particularly for people like Rogers
  
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• RSPB buys 'magical' 96-hectare landscape to reconnect habitats

  11-07-2026 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The move will help conservationists in Gallt-y-bere to protect internationally important habitats.
  
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• ‘Every time the rain falls, the fear comes back’: life in Lagos under the constant threat of floods

  11-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  As Nigeria braces for another season of devastating rains, people affected describe the mental toll of repeatedly rebuilding their livesMurky water first tore down a perimeter fence, then bubbled into the yard before spilling into every room. Within minutes, electronics, kitchen appliances, furniture, documents and academic certificates lay submerged.With the water rising rapidly, Daniel Ebiesua evacuated his home in the Shogunle area of Lagos, with his wife, their two-week-old baby, four-year-o
  
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• Datacentres drive up big tech’s carbon emissions to a third of those of France

  11-07-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boomMicrosoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France. Continue reading...
  
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