Environment news

Follow @UK_Environment

• Is the Silvertown tunnel a bridge to the future or a step backwards?

  04-04-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the £2.2bn tunnel prepares to open, opinions are divided: will it reduce congestion, or is it a relic of transport planning that worsens pollution?From high above the Thames, the distinctive portals of the new Silvertown tunnel are clearly visible: a black arch on the North Greenwich peninsula, a green conical building a mile across the water in Newham.On Monday, tens of thousands of cars and lorries will start passing between them, almost directly below the cable car built by Boris Joh
  
  Read more

• ‘Cheap plants are like cheap food, you get what you pay for’: meet the new generation of independent nursery owners

  11-04-2025 12:30 via theguardian.com
  Local, smaller shops are under threat from garden centres. But these visionary growers are fighting the big chains from the ground upSix years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society drew attention to the escalating challenges faced by independent plant nurseries. Citing pressures such as an ageing customer base, fewer skilled workers and the arrival of new pests and diseases, the gardening charity warned that nurseries – the “lifeblood of gardening in the UK” – were becomin
  
  Read more

• ‘People love being here’: London development shows harmony between nature and housing

  11-04-2025 11:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Five thousand new homes alongside a paradise for newts appears to fly in face of government’s ‘false wedge’Arriving at the Kidbrooke Village housing development in Greenwich on a morning in early spring, the first thing you notice is the sound of birdsong and the delicious scent of blossom. Geese are gently honking in the distance.This was once the controversial Ferrier estate, a post-war housing estate that was demolished in 2009 in order to regenerate the area. Continue readi
  
  Read more

• Week in wildlife: ospreys reunited, a monkey thief and a London fox cub

  11-04-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘Toxic cocktail’: study finds almost 200 pesticides in European homes

  11-04-2025 10:37 via theguardian.com
  More than 40% of pesticides discovered in dust linked to toxic effects including cancer and hormone disruptionAlmost 200 pesticides have been found by a study examining dust in homes around Europe, as scientists say regulators need to take “toxic cocktails” of chemicals into account when banning or restricting the use of pesticides.Scientists say their research supports the idea that regulators should assess the risks posed by pesticides when they react with other chemicals, as well
  
  Read more

• ‘Toxic cocktail’: almost 200 pesticides found in European homes

  11-04-2025 10:37 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 40% of pesticides discovered in dust linked to serious illnesses including cancer, study showsAlmost 200 pesticides have been found by a study examining dust in homes around Europe, as scientists say regulators need to take “toxic cocktails” of chemicals into account when banning or restricting the use of pesticides.Scientists say their research supports the idea that regulators should assess the risks posed by pesticides when they react with other chemicals, as well as ind
  
  Read more

• Turbo chooks moved into our garden and had babies without telling us! What a dilemma | First Dog on the Moon

  11-04-2025 08:30 via theguardian.com
  The chickens aren’t really happy about it either – whomst would be a chickenSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Will global climate action be a casualty of Trump’s tariffs?

  11-04-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Clean energy investors likely to pull back from US, but other countries may seize opportunity to speed transitionDonald Trump’s upending of the global economy has raised fears that climate action could emerge as a casualty of the trade war.In the week that has followed “liberation day”, economic experts have warned that the swathe of tariffs could trigger a global economic recession, with far-reaching consequences for investors – including those behind the green energy pr
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Starlings fall to record low in UK’s 2025 Big Garden Birdwatch

  11-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  RSPB urges people to support threatened birds by cutting lawns less frequently and avoiding pesticidesFewer starlings than ever have been spotted by participants in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, raising fears for their numbers.The bird conservation charity is urging Britain’s gardeners to keep their lawns wild by not cutting them too often, and to avoid the use of pesticides, which reduce the number of insects to eat and can poison birds. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: The colourful coltsfoot was once in great demand | Phil Gates

  11-04-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Hexham, Northumberland: It’s back in flower on the riverbank – 80 years ago, mobilised herb-gatherers would have been harvesting this as part of the wartime effortOn our way into town this morning we found coltsfoot blooming on the bank of the River Tyne, and when I noticed a jar of coltsfoot rock in the corner of the Hexham Sweetie Jar’s bow-fronted window, it seemed like an auspicious moment to investigate this herbal confectionery.The sweets, shaped like miniature kerbs
  
  Read more

• The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure | Alexander Hurst

  11-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The EU neither ‘kissed ass’ nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaosMy condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trump’s market-exploding tariff mess. Where Trump is involved, there is a cloud of malevolent chaos, and there is grift amid the chaos. What grandmasters there are to be found are almost certainly grandmasters of grift.When markets dump $10tn in three days and then gai
  
  Read more

• The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure

  11-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The EU neither ‘kissed ass’ nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaosMy condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trump’s market-exploding tariff mess. Where Trump is involved, there is a cloud of malevolent chaos, and there is grift amid the chaos. What grandmasters there are to be found are almost certainly grandmasters of grift.When markets dump $10tn in three days and then gai
  
  Read more

• PR campaign may have fuelled food study backlash, leaked document shows

  11-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Eat-Lancet report recommended shift to more plant-based, climate-friendly diet but was extensively attacked onlineA leaked document shows that vested interests may have been behind a “mud-slinging” PR campaign to discredit a landmark environment study, according to an investigation.The Eat-Lancet Commission study, published in 2019, set out to answer the question: how can we feed the world’s growing population without causing catastrophic climate breakdown? Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Australian voters are left in the dark on climate targets as they head to the ballot box | Tony Wood

  11-04-2025 03:05 via theguardian.com
  There has been little talk about how Australia’s economy will get to net zero. That’s a terrible reflection on the state of our politicsThe Coalition has been forced to reassert its commitment to the Paris climate agreement after its energy spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, appeared to waver on the pledge on Thursday.O’Brien faced off against the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, at a debate in Canberra, weeks out from a federal election in which energy policy is
  
  Read more

• Trump administration cuts $4m to Princeton’s climate research funding

  10-04-2025 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  White House claims university’s work exposed students to ‘climate anxiety’ and ‘exaggerated climate threats’US politics live – latest updatesAlmost $4m in federal funding has been stripped from an Ivy League university’s prestigious climate research department because the Trump administration has determined it exposed students and other young people to “climate anxiety”.The government research grants to Princeton University have been cut off
  
  Read more

• The Labor party has a legacy of action for the natural world. Now is the time for us to do better | Felicity Wade

  10-04-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Addressing the Australian extinction crisis and the decline of our environment will be possible when political leaders embrace it Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this electionGet Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an emailI’ve been wondering if I remember all my surprise encounters with animals in the wild.I remember sitting totally still on a riverbank watching a platypus going about its business as the
  
  Read more

• I have dedicated far too much of my life to hating this ugly plant. It’s time to rip them out | Emily Mulligan

  10-04-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Agapanthus are daggy, environmental pests. Can we stop and think before these unsightly shrubs take over?On my birthday I made time for my one true passion. Hating agapanthus.I was walking my kids to school, taking time from their precious blink-and-you’ll-miss-it childhoods to seethe and take a picture of the revolting, saggy mess of agapanthus on the way. I have urgently supplied this picture to the Guardian and I’m ready and willing to speak out further.Emily Mulligan is a writer
  
  Read more

• ‘Every year matters’: Queensland’s critically endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtle battles the odds

  10-04-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystemsExplore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this electionGet Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an emailA rare “bum-breathing” turtle found in a single river system in Queensland has suffered one of its worst breeding seasons on reco
  
  Read more

• Endangered bum-breathing turtles and the town working to save them – video

  10-04-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In December 2024, when unseasonable flooding threatened the breeding season of a critically endangered turtle, Marilyn Connell and other members of a Queensland community conservation group sprang into action. The Mary river turtle is one of 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis‘Every year matters’: Queensland’s critically endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtle battles the odds Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• UK government may extend domestic energy grants to heat batteries

  10-04-2025 16:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Scheme in England and Wales covers only heat pumps, uptake of which has been slowUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK government is considering expanding the boiler upgrade grant scheme for England and Wales to cover sources of low-carbon heating for domestic homes other than heat pumps, the Guardian understands.The government has a target of 600,000 heat pump installations annually by 2028. But data from the Resolution Foundation on Wednesday revealed worryingly low uptake of heat pump
  
  Read more

• ‘Yoda’ for scientists: the outsider ecologist whose ideas from the 80s just might fix our future

  10-04-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  John Todd’s eco-machine stunned experts by using natural organisms to remove toxic waste from a Cape Cod lagoon. Forty years on, he wants to build a fleet of them to clean up the oceansJohn Todd remembers the moment he knew he was really on to something: “There was no question that it was at the Harwich dump in 1986,” he recalls. This was in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, close to where Todd still lives. Hidden away from the picturesque beaches was the town landfill, including lagoon
  
  Read more

• Trump signs executive order to 'make America's showers great again' – video

  10-04-2025 09:41 via theguardian.com
  
  A global trade-war rollercoaster was not enough to distract Donald Trump from fulfilling one of his longtime priorities on Wednesday: changing the federal definition of 'shower head', a move the White House claimed would end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and restore 'shower freedom' Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Investing in climate adaptation is not just good for the planet, it’s good business | William Ruto and Patrick Verkooijen

  10-04-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate denialism should not blind investors and governments to the very real opportunities to be found in financing solutionsAmong the many shocks currently facing the international development community is the new direction of the US administration on climate, and the implications worldwide for mitigation and adaptation efforts.This is not uncharted territory. While a withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement is undoubtedly a setback, it no longer carries the same level of disruption as it d
  
  Read more

• Green activist group is pausing work after backlash by investors

  10-04-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Dutch group Follow This says it will not file any resolutions against oil and gas companies this AGM seasonA green shareholder activist group has decided to “pause” its work pushing oil companies to reduce their emissions amid a growing investor backlash against climate action.Follow This has confirmed that it will not file any climate resolutions against oil and gas companies during the forthcoming AGM season for the first time since 2016. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Pollen peril: how heat, thunder and smog are creating deadly hay fever seasons

  10-04-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Scientists say a complex mix of factors are making seasonal allergies worse for longer in many parts of the world – but why is it happening and is it here to stay?The first time it happened, László Makra thought he had flu. The symptoms appeared from nowhere at the end of summer in 1989: his eyes started streaming, his throat was tight and he could not stop sneezing. Makra was 37 and otherwise fit and healthy, a mid-career climate scientist in Szeged, Hungary. Winter eventual
  
  Read more

• Gas boiler fittings outnumbered heat pumps by 15 to one in UK last year – report

  10-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Poorer households shut out of heat pump market and grants should be increased to speed up rollout, thinktank saysGas boiler fittings outnumbered new heat pump installations by more than 15 to one last year, and only one in eight new homes were equipped with the low-carbon alternative despite the government’s clean energy targets.Poorer households are also being shut out of the heat pump market as the grants available are inadequate and should be increased, according to a report by the Reso
  
  Read more

• Country diary: Back to meet an old friend – my first thatch | Tom Allan

  10-04-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Dartington, Devon: It’s been 13 years since I was last on the roof of this 14th-century longhouse, and neither of us are as we wereAn easterly breeze is knocking the heat out of the April sun as I hitch a bundle of hazel sticks on to my shoulder. As I climb the ladder, I can hear the inch of lichen beneath it crunching like dried seaweed. I’m thatching the Cott Inn, a Devon longhouse, and it’s a noteworthy moment as, after 13 years of thatching, I’m back at the first roof
  
  Read more

• Streams of medicines: how Switzerland cleaned up its act – podcast

  10-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Switzerland is leading the world in purifying its water of micropollutants, a concoction of chemicals often found in bodies of water that look crystal clear. They include common medicines like antidepressants and antihistamines, but have unknown and potentially damaging consequences for human and ecosystem health.In the second of a two-part series, Phoebe Weston travels to Geneva to find out how the country has transformed its rivers from sewage-filled health hazards to pristine swimming spots.
  
  Read more

• Energy demands from AI datacentres to quadruple by 2030, says report

  10-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The IEA forecast indicates a sharp rise in the requirements of AI, but said threat to the climate was ‘overstated’The global rush to AI technology will require almost as much energy by the end of this decade as Japan uses today, but only about half of the demand is likely to be met from renewable sources.Processing data, mainly for AI, will consume more electricity in the US alone by 2030 than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, accor
  
  Read more

• White House ends funding for key US climate body: ‘No coming back from this’

  09-04-2025 22:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Nasa cuts contract that convened USGCRP, which released assessments impacting environmental decision-makingThe White House is ending funding for the body that produces the federal government’s pre-eminent climate report, which summarizes the impacts of rising global temperatures on the United States.Every four years, the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is required by Congress to release a new national climate assessment to ensure leaders understand the drivers of – and thr
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!