Environment | The Guardian
- UK ‘helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine’ via loophole on refined oil imports April 24, 2024£2.2bn-worth of oil processed in China, India and Turkey – to whom Russia supplies crude – was imported in 2023, data showsThe UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.Government data analysed by the environmental […]Sam Bright
- Birdsong once signalled the onset of spring on my street – but not this year | Tony Juniper April 24, 2024A dawn chorus of flutes, whistles and chirps once flowed through my Cambridge window, but there has been a shocking collapse in birdlife. What can be done?Every year from February through to June, the early morning chorus of birdsong is one of the most evocative manifestations of spring. During late winter I open the bedroom […]Tony Juniper
- Estuaries, the ‘nurseries of the sea’, are disappearing fast April 24, 2024Study reveals repurposing of ecologically vital land for homes or agriculture is happening particularly rapidly in AsiaEstuaries – the place where a river meets the ocean – are often called the “nurseries of the sea”. They are home to many of the fish we eat and support vast numbers of birds, while the surrounding salt […]Kate Ravilious
- Country diary: Standing in the shadow of a giant | Sean Wood April 24, 2024Dumfries, Scotland: It’s strange to think sequoias are more numerous here than in their homeland California. This one, down the road from me, is captivating companyAs a young boy, my copy of Strange But True contained fascinating photographs of a coach and horses and a Model T Ford driving through a hole in an enormous […]Sean Wood
- Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying EU trees and crops April 24, 2024From ancient olive groves to root vegetables, foreign pests introduced via the bloc’s open import system are causing damage worth billions – and outbreaks are on the riseThe plants slowly choke to death, wither and dry out. They die en masse, leaves dropping and bark turning grey, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first […]Agostino Petroni and Regin Winther Poulsen in Puglia
- The Guardian view on the Sahel and its crises: the west can still make a difference | Editorial April 23, 2024The region is turning towards Russia and other global players when it comes to security. Tackling the climate crisis would contribute to a solutionTwo apparently separate developments in the Sahel are linked by more than geography. Last week, the US confirmed that it will withdraw more than 1,000 troops from Niger after the military junta […]Editorial
- ‘We all connected over Flaco’: artists turn beloved animals into symbols of their US cities April 23, 2024The biggest cities in the US are mourning animals who fostered a rare sense of connection. Art is preserving their legaciesWorking near Central Park, one New Yorker regularly witnessed one of its most beloved residents: Flaco the owl, who became a celebrity after escaping the nearby zoo. The woman took the bird’s message to heart, […]Matthew Cantor in Los Angeles
- Dutton’s plan to save Australia with nuclear comes undone when you look between the brushstrokes | Temperature Check April 23, 2024The dystopian picture of renewables painted by the opposition leader is full of inconsistencies, partial truths and misinformationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, has been trying to paint a picture of what life in Australia will […]Graham Readfearn
- ‘I felt this was an abuse of power’: Trudi Warner’s climate fight with the UK government April 23, 2024Trudi Warner on a year being pursued by government lawyers determined to prosecute her over a jurors’ rights protestTwo days before Trudi Warner faced court under threat of a contempt of court prosecution, she fell off her bike and ruptured the tendons in her hand.Now the hand is black and blue, tightly bandaged, and requires […]Sandra Laville
- ‘The trout lasagne is very good!’ How I recreated six classic beef dishes – with oily fish April 23, 2024Replacing red meat with fish could prevent diabetes, reduce our carbon footprint and save lives. So who’s for spaghetti and fishballs?“What’s for supper?” my wife asks. We are watching the six o’clock news and the pause I leave before answering is longer than I mean it to be. I’m trying to find the words.“Fish wellington,” […]Tim Dowling
- Mother trees and socialist forests: is the ‘wood-wide web’ a fantasy? April 23, 2024In the past 10 years the idea that trees communicate with and look after each other has gained widespread currency. But have these claims outstripped the evidence? There are a lot of humans. Teeming is perhaps an unkind word, but when 8 billion people cram themselves on to a planet that, three centuries before, held […]Daniel Immerwahr
- ‘Fields are completely underwater’: UK farmers navigate record rainfall April 22, 2024Stories of dismay but also resilience as crisis in food production builds after 18 months of exceptionally wet weatherFarmers have been dealing with record-breaking rainfall over at least the past year, meaning food produced in Britain has fallen drastically.Livestock and crops have been affected as fields have been submerged since last autumn on account of […]Tom Ambrose
- ‘Children won’t be able to survive’: inter-American court to hear from climate victims April 22, 2024Historic hearing will receive submissions from people whose human rights have been affected by climate changeJulian Medina comes from a long line of fishers in the north of Colombia’s Gulf of Morrosquillo who use small-scale and often traditional methods to catch species such as mackerel, tuna and cojinúa.Medina went into business as a young man […]Isabella Kaminski
- ‘You can’t love something that isn’t there’: readers on how the sounds of nature have changed around them April 22, 2024Swallows, cuckoos, curlews – so many species have dwindled or disappeared completely, and people are mourning their loss Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn expertsThe sounds of our natural world are changing dramatically. Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in fewer than 50 years. Fading along with them […]Phoebe Weston
- New Zealand plans to put big developments before the environment. That’s dangerous | Nicola Wheen and Andrew Geddis April 22, 2024Proposed ‘fast-track’ law could see conservation concerns ignored and projects once rejected for environmental reasons given the green lightNew Zealand’s parliament is considering a law that would allow major development projects to bypass environmental approvals – and that should be a cause for extreme alarm.The proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill emerged from the coalition agreements that […]Nicola Wheen and Andrew Geddis
- A radical British politics rooted in nature is spreading – and the establishment doesn’t like it | John Harris April 21, 2024From right to roam to anger over polluted rivers, a new breed of activists is pushing back against environmental destructionSomething very interesting is happening in the UK, to do with nature, the expanses of land we think of as the countryside, and where all those things sit in our collective consciousness. The change has probably […]John Harris
- Scientists’ experiment is ‘beacon of hope’ for coral reefs on brink of global collapse April 20, 2024Recordings of healthy fish are being transmitted to attract heat-tolerant larvae back to degraded reefs in the MaldivesAn underwater experiment to restore coral reefs using a combination of “coral IVF” and recordings of fish noises could offer a “beacon of hope” to scientists who fear the fragile ecosystem is on the brink of collapse.The experiment […]Donna Ferguson
- Drone video shows Western Australia’s forests dying in heat and drought – video April 19, 2024Video shows trees and shrubs along Western Australia's south-west coastline turning brown after Perth recorded it hottest and driest six months since records began. There were similar scenes in the state's south-west eucalypt forests in 2010 and 2011 – a major die-back event that prompted more than a dozen studies. Drought-hit forests were hit by […]
- Week in wildlife – in pictures: a hungry jackal, a cat with webbed feet and a cheeky badger April 19, 2024The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...Joanna Ruck
- Crunching worms, squeaking voles, drumming ants: how scientists are learning to eavesdrop on the sounds of soil April 19, 2024More than 50% of the planet’s species live in the earth below our feet, but only a fraction have been identified – so farRead more: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silentThe sound of an earthworm is a distinctive rasping and scrunching. Ants sound like […]Phoebe Weston