Environment | The Guardian

Officials in Rio Grande do Sul state say more than 80,000 have been displaced by record water levelsSeventy-five people are now known to have died in the flooding in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state, while more than 100 people remain missing, local authorities said on Sunday.The state's civil defence authority said 101 people were unaccounted for and more than 80,000 had been displaced after record-breaking floods swept across the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina. Continue reading...

Audio collected with underwater microphones suggests numbers at least stable after centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred alive

About 6,000 have been installed this year, a quarter of them rapid chargers that can power up a car in under an hourThe UK has installed a record number of public electric car chargers this year, as companies race to keep up with the growing number of battery vehicles on British roads.Nearly 6,000 new chargers were installed during the first three months of 2024, according to quarterly figures from data company Zapmap published by the Department for Transport. About 1,500 of those were rapid chargers, capable of charging a car in less than an hour. Continue reading...

Greg Abbott's strategy to deter immigration isn't just harming people and costing billions - it's ruining the Rio Grande's ecosystemStrong-arm strategies by Texas along the US-Mexico border have eroded more than human rights for migrants seeking asylum in the US; they have degraded the environment - and now the destruction is escalating.In the hotspot of Eagle Pass, environmental damage from years of expansion of anti-migration security measures can be seen everywhere. Continue reading...

Organisers of this year's environmental conference hope cooperation on green issues could help ease global tensionsThis year's Cop29 UN climate summit will be the first Cop of peace", focusing on the prevention of future climate-fuelled conflicts and using international cooperation on green issues to help heal existing tensions, according to plans being drawn up by organisers.Nations may be asked to observe a Cop truce", suspending hostilities for the fortnight-long duration of the conference, modelled on the Olympic truce, which is observed by most governments during the summer and winter Olympic Games. Continue reading...

Some negative projects will get up, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader goals', says WWF Australia

Water bottle stations set up in St Leonards-on-Sea and part of Hastings as Southern Water customers face days without serviceSouthern Water was criticised this weekend for overseeing a debacle" after a mains pipe burst, leaving 31,000 properties in Hastings and St Leonards without water.There were long traffic queues leading to just four bottled water stations after supplies were cut off on Thursday. Businesses are expected to lose thousands of pounds, with the firm likely to face compensation claims. Continue reading...

Court hears effects of 2021 leak, in which thousand of gallons of fuel seeped into drinking water supply from US navy storage tankMilitary and civilian families told a federal judge this week they continue to be sickened, more than two years after a US navy underground fuel storage facility leaked thousands of gallons of jet fuel into Pearl Harbor's main drinking water and caused a water crisis in the Pacific.United States district court judge Leslie Kobayashi heard testimony from nearly a dozen impacted families suing the US government over the leak from the second world war era storage tanks that has resulted in vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and other ailments. Plaintiffs said the illnesses are connected to the tainted water serving the nearly 93,000 residents in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Continue reading...

Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passedFor Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.Torres has seen a co-worker die from heatstroke and another rushed to the emergency room in his years of working in construction in south Florida. He has also fallen and injured himself due to heat exhaustion. Continue reading...

The emergence of trillions of cicadas is under way in parts of the US - what should you do when they're around, and what on earth are zombie' cicadas?The cicadas are arriving. The periodic emergence of trillions of cicadas, on a scale not seen in several hundred years, is under way in parts of the US, with several states reporting the orange-eyed insects are bursting from their underground dormancy.Cicadas have started arriving earlier than expected in Illinois, a cicada hotspot this year, while there are reports of swarms emerging in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, along with some other states. Continue reading...

More frequent heatwaves mean bees are unable to thermoregulate their hives - further endangering a species already in declineBumblebee nests may be overheating, killing off broods and placing one of the Earth's critical pollinators in decline as temperatures rise, new research has found.Around the world, many species of Bombus, or bumblebee, have suffered population declines due to global heating, the research said. Bumblebee colonies are known for their ability to thermoregulate: in hot conditions, worker bees gather to beat their wings and fan the hive, cooling it down. But as the climate crisis pushes average temperatures up and generates heatwaves, bumblebees will struggle to keep their homes habitable. Continue reading...

Even products marketed as organic' may be toxic, say campaigners, with risks for the wider ecosystemGardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as organic", experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates.Earthworms may appear humble, but Charles Darwin thought their work in improving soil structure and fertility was so important he devoted his final book to them and said: It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures." Continue reading...

Officials say a landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday after torrential rain pounded the areaA flood and a landslide have hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 people, according to officials.The landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday just after 1am local time, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said in a statement. Continue reading...

For 30 years, Brian McNeill hunted the world's second-biggest fish from small boats off the wild west coast of Ireland. Now the species has made a recovery so rapid it has astounded scientistsThe ambush was simple. A spotter on a hill would scan the sea and when he saw the big black fins approach, he would shout down to the boatmen. They would ready their nets and quickly row out to the kill zone.When a shark got tangled in the mesh, Brian McNeill would wait a minute or two while it struggled, then steady himself and raise his harpoon. This was the crucial moment. The creature would be diving and thrashing, desperate to escape. If the blade hit the gills blood would spurt, clouding the water. The trick was to hit a small spot between the vertebrae. Continue reading...

Science Advances report also finds people of color and low-income residents in US disproportionately affectedUsing a gas stove increases nitrogen dioxide exposure to levels that exceed public health recommendations, a new study shows. The report, published Friday in Science Advances, found that people of color and low-income residents in the US were disproportionately affected.Indoor gas and propane appliances raise average concentrations of the harmful pollutant, also known as NO, to 75% of the World Health Organization's standard for indoor and outdoor exposure. Continue reading...

Extraordinary general meeting of the UK writers' union narrowly voted against making an official protest at violence that has killed at least 95 journalists and media workers'The Society of Authors (SoA) has come under fire from all sides after members voted against a resolution demanding it issue an official statement condemning Israel's military action in Gaza.The campaign group Fossil Free Books (FFB) submitted two motions to the SoA, the UK's largest trade union for writers, illustrators and translators, triggering an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday night. Members voted 1,480 to 251 in favour of the first, which called for the publishing industry to divest from ties with the fossil fuels industry. Calls for the book industry to break ties with investment firm Baillie Gifford, which sponsors the UK's most prestigious nonfiction prize and a number of literary festivals, began after Greta Thunberg pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the Edinburgh international book festival last year. Since then, FFB was formed, and a number of authors have continued to speak out against Baillie Gifford, which has a proportion of its investments in corporations that profit from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Jason Williams, known as the cloud gardener, is campaigning for green spaces in new builds and rights for tenants to grow plantsDevelopers and landlords should give tenants a right to garden", a leading horticulturist has said as he campaigns for more green spaces in new-build homes.To inspire those who live in homes without gardens, Jason Williams worked with students to create balcony gardens for the Royal Horticultural Society urban show, held this month in Manchester, to demonstrate what can be done in a small space. Each garden cost 500 to create. He also created an example allotment with easy-to-tend plants, which a developer could easily put into a new-build block of flats. Continue reading...

Florida wildlife corridor will spearhead climate resilience if allowed to evolve and essential preparatory work done, study saysClimate predictions in Florida, for the most part, make pretty grim reading. Rising oceans threaten to submerge most of the state by the end of the century, and soaring temperatures could make it too hot to live here anyway.But new research by a coalition of prominent universities paints a more upbeat picture of Florida's future as a thriving state for humans and wildlife, with natural resources harnessed to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency generally, as well as extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods. Continue reading...

Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery planThe UK government's climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled, as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet. Continue reading...

Researchers find many countries unprepared for influx of new species and will be vulnerable to bitesClimate breakdown is likely to lead to the large-scale migration of venomous snake species into new regions and unprepared countries, according to a study.The researchers forecast that Nepal, Niger, Namibia, China, and Myanmar will gain the most venomous snake species from neighbouring countries under a heating climate. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Appeal tribunal orders firm to share details on hundreds of thousands of tonnes of outflows into North SeaA water company that tried to keep secret details of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of raw sewage discharges into the sea has been ordered by an appeal tribunal to release the data in the public interest.Northumbrian Water has repeatedly refused to release details about the scale of raw sewage discharges into the North Sea from an outflow at its pumping station in Whitburn, after a campaigner asked under freedom of information and environmental information regulations. Continue reading...

A pocket-sized city terrace extension and a multigenerational riverside property inspired by a country shed are among the innovative dwellings shortlisted in the sustainability category of the Houses awards, Australia's premier residential design prize. This year's five-panel jury noted a number of new sustainable design trends, including a move towards net-zero housing, abodes that accommodate adult children, innovative multi-use spaces for working from home, a growing appreciation for restoring dated dwellings and inspired designs for downsizers and elderly occupants.

Unesco joint research dating back 15 years found violence and intimidation against about 750 reporters and 44 murdersMore than 70% of environmental journalists have been attacked for their work since 2009, according to a Unesco report, which warns of rising threats against those covering the climate crisis.At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, the UN body found. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resulted in just five convictions. Continue reading...

Tourists delighted as pinnipeds congregate at city's Pier 39, apparently attracted by feast of anchoviesMore than 1,000 sea lions have gathered at San Francisco's Pier 39 this spring, the largest herd in at least 15 years.Mounds of floppy, delightfully ungraceful marine mammals have plopped themselves on to rafts along the city's pier, displaying themselves to the thousands of tourists who pass by the area each day. Continue reading...

Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are playing politics with climate'Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that it is granting licences to about 30 companies to look for hydrocarbons on sites earmarked for future offshore windfarms. Continue reading...

Attorney and non-profit founder Julia Olson calls appeals court ruling on lawsuit filed by 21 young people tragic and unjust'A federal appeals court on Wednesday evening granted the Biden administration's request to strike down a landmark federal youth climate case, outraging climate advocates.This is a tragic and unjust ruling," said Julia Olson, attorney and founder of Our Children's Trust, the non-profit law firm that brought the suit. Continue reading...

Researchers visited the Chicago Cafe to find out if it's really 121 years old - and entered a chop suey parlor filled with memoriesOn a warm morning in March, a group of researchers entered an unassuming chop suey parlor in the Sacramento suburbs for a rare field trip.The six history enthusiasts affiliated with the University of California, Davis, had gathered at the Chicago Cafe in Woodland, California, with one goal in mind: to determine the exact age of what may be the oldest Chinese restaurant in the country. Continue reading...

Rivers Trust is asking citizen scientists to record observations of local waterways on free appPeople in Britain and Ireland are being asked to monitor their local rivers for pollution so a leading water charity can measure the scale of the sewage crisis.The Rivers Trust is this week launching the Big River Watch, asking people to record observations of their local rivers on a free app. The results will be made available through an interactive dashboard, and will help the organisation, as well as individuals and communities who can all access the data, to take action to improve rivers. Continue reading...

Experts say only handful of plants' operating with the dirtiest fuel will likely survive, and only Trump and lawsuits could save themNew climate rules imposed by Joe Biden's administration requiring huge cuts in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants will accelerate the decline of an industry that until recently provided most of America's power, experts say, potentially even dealing a death blow to coal in the US.Coal, once the backbone of the US economy and feted by Donald Trump as he rose to the presidency, is being driven out of the power sector by cheaper renewables and gas and now faces an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation, finalized last week, that demands all coal plants not retiring by 2039 to slash their carbon emissions 90% within the coming decade. Continue reading...

Viruses that cause mild sniffles in humans are devastating populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In some ape communities, it's a bigger killer than habitat loss or poachingThere was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda's Kibale national park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die.Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, but normally, the bodies of chimps are found long after decomposition has set in, if at all. So when Tony Goldberg, a US wildlife epidemiologist visiting Kibale, got word that an adult female named Stella had been found freshly dead, he knew this was a rare opportunity to look for an answer. Continue reading...

Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies' own flaring dataOil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring. Continue reading...

Drop is a result of reduced land clearing and greater vegetation regrowth, but experts say land clearing in Queensland may be significantly underreported

US Senate hearing reviewed report showing sector's shift from climate denial to deception, disinformation and doublespeak'The fossil fuel industry spent decades sowing doubt about the dangers of burning oil and gas, experts and Democratic lawmakers testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.The Senate budget committee held a hearing to review a report published on Tuesday with the House oversight and accountability committee that they said demonstrates the sector's shift from explicit climate denial to a more sophisticated strategy of deception, disinformation and doublespeak". Continue reading...

Kenya Red Cross rescues more than 90 people from hotels and lodges as heavy rainfall continuesScores of tourists have been evacuated by air from Kenya's Maasai Mara national reserve after more than a dozen hotels, lodges and camps were flooded as heavy rains battered the country.Tourist accommodation facilities were submerged after a river in the Maasai Mara broke its banks on Wednesday morning. The reserve, in south-west Kenya, is a popular tourist destination because it features the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania. Continue reading...

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Trifluoroacetic acid found in drinking water and rain is thought to damage fertility and child developmentRapidly rising levels of TFA, a class of forever chemical" thought to damage fertility and child development, are being found in drinking water, blood and rain, causing alarm among experts.TFA, or trifluoroacetic acid, is a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), a group of human-made chemicals used widely in consumer products that do not break down for thousands of years. Many of the substances have been linked to negative effects on human health. Continue reading...

Joshua Alexander Heckathorn, 20, arrested and booked into jail for second-degree burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischiefNearly 200 programs to raise baby salmon in a controlled environment dot the rivers in Oregon, holding them before releasing them into the wild to live out their life cycle. Last week, a man broke into the Winchester Bay Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (Step) and poured bleach into a Chinook salmon tank, killing about 18,000 fish.Authorities arrested 20-year-old Joshua Alexander Heckathorn, a resident of Gardiner, Oregon, on 23 April, a day after the chemicals were dumped into one of the hatchery rearing ponds. He told law enforcement officials he had visited a storage area the day before and picked up a bottle of bleach, according to a Facebook post by the Douglas county sheriff's office. Heckathorn was arrested and booked into the Douglas county jail on Tuesday for second-degree burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Continue reading...

Campaigners say loss of 200m from active travel budget is illegal and resulted from Treasury pressureSwingeing cuts to public spending on cycling and walking in England should be overturned as government expenditure was already insufficient to meet legally binding climate targets, the high court has been told.Campaigners are challenging a decision in 2023 to cut more than 200m from the Department for Transport's active travel budget for the following two years. Continue reading...

Banks may follow suit after UK weather-related claims on home insurance reach new highBritain's biggest building society has stopped granting mortgages on some properties where there is a high risk of flooding but said this affected only a very limited number" of homes.Nationwide's head of property risk, Rob Stevens, said the lender used mapping technology to identify which homes were vulnerable to flooding, and it would decline to grant a mortgage to buy a property it deemed to be at high risk. Continue reading...

Gardeners' World presenter Arit Anderson creating colourful display to encourage gardeners to move away from peatA completely peat-free garden will be showcased at the Hampton Court Palace flower show so the public can have a chat about peat-free gardening" and learn how to do it themselves.Peat-free compost has been a divisive topic in the gardening world, with some gardeners arguing that it is not as good as the peaty stuff for growing plants. Continue reading...

Agency announces rule on methylene chloride, colorless liquid used for stripping paint, cleaning metal and decaffeinating coffeeThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Tuesday that it will ban most uses of methylene chloride, a colorless liquid used for stripping paint, cleaning metal, and even decaffeinating coffee. The chemical has been linked to dozens of deaths and advocates have long called for its ban.The new rule will require stronger worker safety protections from the harmful carcinogen for the remaining critical" uses. All consumer use will be prohibited within a year, while most commercial and industrial use will be phased out within the next two years. Continue reading...

Internal documents revealed by committee show companies lobbied against climate laws they publicly claimed to supportBig oil has privately acknowledged its efforts to downplay the dangers of burning fossil fuels, US Democrats have found.Major fossil-fuel firms have also pledged support for international climate efforts, but internally admit these efforts are incompatible with their own climate plans. And they have lobbied against climate laws and regulations they have publicly claimed to support, documents newly revealed by the committee show. Continue reading...

National Park Service will reintroduce bears to Washington's North Cascades and won't remove horses from North Dakota parkWildlife advocates are celebrating incredible" news for the preservation of threatened bears, and a herd of historically significant wild horses, in separate north-western and upper midwestern national parks.In North Dakota, the National Parks Service (NPS) has dropped a plan that would have seen about 200 wild horses, descended from those belonging to Native American tribes who fought the 1876 Great Sioux war, rounded up and removed from Theodore Roosevelt national park. Continue reading...

The far right are on the march in Germany and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany has become the most popular party in several states. Immigration and a sense of being economically left behind have been driving factors in the rise in popularity but the Green party and the federal government's climate policies have also borne the brunt of public anger. The Guardian travelled to Gorlitz, on the German border with Poland, to find out to what extent Germany's green policies are fuelling the far right How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany Continue reading...

The state's last sugar processing mill closed because there's just not enough water in the Rio Grande to share between the US and MexicoTudor Uhlhorn has been too busy auctioning off agricultural equipment to grieve the death" of Texas's last sugar mill.I'm as sad as anyone else," said the chairman of the board of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers cooperative, which owns the now-shuttered mill in Santa Rosa, a small town about 40 miles from Brownsville. I just haven't had a whole lot of time to mourn." Continue reading...

Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide among the 371m lb of pollutants released by just 41 plants in five yearsTyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022. Continue reading...

Campaigners say last-minute compromise plays into the hands of petrostates and industry influencesCampaigners are blaming developed countries for capitulating at the last minute to pressure from fossil fuel and industry lobbyists, and slowing progress towards the first global treaty to cut plastic waste.Delegates concluded talks in Ottawa, Canada, late on Monday, with no agreement on a proposal for global reductions in the $712bn (610bn) plastic production industry by 2040 to address twin issues of plastic waste and huge carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Crossbench MPs and conservationists say clearing exemplifies failed environmental reform as endangered species like Gouldian finch face habitat destruction