As life starts to return to the capital’s parks and woodlands, photographer Sarah Lee has been capturing daffodils and budding plants, walkers, buskers and joggers out in the sunshine. She says: ‘Everything feels so dark right now, it’s good to know the light is coming back’
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/27/2025 - 06:54
Net zero is a target that countries should be striving for to stop the climate crisis. But beyond the buzzword, it is a complex scientific concept – and if we get it wrong, the planet will keep heating.
Biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield explains how a loophole in the 2015 Paris climate agreement allows countries to cheat their net zero targets through creative accounting, and how scientists want us to fix it
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03/27/2025 - 06:30
Gene Likens, who first identified acidic rainwater in 1960s, said the Trump administration’s ‘rollbacks are alarming’
The US could be plunged back into an era of toxic acid rain, an environmental problem thought to have been solved decades ago, due to the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of pollution protections, the scientist who discovered the existence of acid rain in North America has warned.
A blitzkrieg launched by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on clean air and water regulations could revert the US to a time when cities were routinely shrouded in smog and even help usher back acid rain, according to Gene Likens, whose experiments helped identify acidic rainwater in the 1960s.
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03/27/2025 - 06:25
Final gathering in April will mark end of street protests although campaign to continue ‘in courts and prisons’
Supporters of the climate group Just Stop Oil have announced that, after three years of disruptive protests, they are ending their campaign of civil resistance.
Hannah Hunt, whose speech on Valentine’s Day 2022 marked the beginning of the campaign, made the announcement outside Downing Street in London on Thursday.
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03/27/2025 - 05:57
Duration of spills by water companies up on previous year, in data described by environment secretary as ‘disgraceful’
Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and coastal waters in England for almost 4m hours last year, with waterways that have the highest environmental protections subjected to days of pollution.
Data released by the Environment Agency on Thursday revealed water companies discharged untreated effluent for 3.62m hours, a slight increase on last year.
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03/27/2025 - 00:00
Strict laws saved the country’s wolves from extinction. Now conservationists believe their relaxation could embolden vigilantes
High on a mountain pass near the town of Cocullo in central Italy lay six black sacks. Inside were nine wolves, including a pregnant female and seven youngsters – an entire pack. They had eaten slabs of poisoned veal left out a few days earlier, dying over the hours that followed, snarls of pain fixed on their faces.
Three griffon vultures and two ravens were also killed, probably alongside more animals that went into hiding, dying out of sight. Poison creates a succession of death, spreading through entire food chains and contaminating land and water for years.
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03/26/2025 - 19:59
It doesn’t pass the sniff test
See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here
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03/26/2025 - 19:41
Analysis published by non-profit group Oceana comes amid fears over human health risks posed by the spread of microplastics
By 2030, Coca-Cola products will account for an estimated 602m kilograms of plastic waste entering the world’s oceans and waterways each year, according to a stark new analysis published Wednesday by the non-profit Oceana.
That is enough plastic to fill the stomachs of 18m whales.
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03/26/2025 - 19:05
A vast network of volunteers leap into action to save beached creatures in New Zealand, a global hotspot for strandings
On a blustery March day in Wellington, a group of would-be whale rescuers wearing wetsuits and hi-vis vests are waist deep in the chilly waters of Scorching Bay. Between them, a two-tonne replica of a pilot whale gently rocks in the swell.
On the sand, another group pours buckets of water over a replica dolphin, while some dig away the sand from beneath its fins. Occasionally, a trainer reminds students to stand back from the tail – if this were a real animal the tail could deliver an unexpected blow.
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03/26/2025 - 11:35
A new study has revealed that African Elephants have an extraordinary ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as possible. Data from over 150 elephants demonstrated that these giants plan their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability.
