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Global heating means annual drought losses across Europe could reach €17.5bn. Shipping and power generation are also being affected by low water levels
Crumbling a fistful of sandy soil by his dried-up sunflower field, Thomas Goebel pointed to one of the many casualties of this year’s drought: a bright green machine that resembles a tractor crossed with a biplane.
The Gurkenflieger (cucumber plane) used to roll proudly through his fields with farmhands in the wings plucking vegetables to make salty-sweet-sour Spreewald gherkins. Goebel stopped using it for production five years ago – his pickles could not compete with supermarket prices – and a recent experiment letting tourists ride inside generated enthusiasm but little profit.
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As deadly heatwaves become more frequent, demand for life-saving cooling is further straining India’s generation capacity
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Demand for secondhand electric vehicle batteries is surging across Australia, as buyers repurpose them for everything from solar storage to off-grid energy
Written-off vehicles typically earn little attention, with the main buyers usually being auto wreckers seeking parts or car enthusiasts hunting for restoration projects.
But at salvage auctions across Australia, a new type of buyer is emerging, and they are interested in one thing: the high-powered batteries inside electric vehicles.
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Humans have helped save the great apes from extinction, but are now the biggest threat to their survival as they compete for land in east Africa’s Virunga mountains
• Photographs by Badru Katumba for the Guardian
It is sunrise on mount Muhabura, an inactive volcano on the Ugandan-Rwandan border, and Dr Benard Ssebide is in a rush to find a family of mountain gorillas before the tourists arrive. A mass of ferns, vines and thistles encroaches on the path, and the guides hack through brambles with machetes. Above, the forest whistles in the wind, glowing in the morning light.
“The higher you go, the more the mountain pushes back,” Ssebide says, pausing for breath.
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Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life
A landless people and a peopleless land: these, it appears, are the aims of the Israeli government in Gaza. There are two means by which they are achieved. The first is the mass killing and expulsion of the Palestinians. The second is rendering the land uninhabitable. Alongside the crime of genocide, another great horror unfolds: ecocide.
While the destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza is visible in every video we see, less visible is the parallel destruction of ecosystems and means of subsistence. Before the 7 October atrocity that triggered the current assault on Gaza, about 40% of its land was farmed. Despite its extreme population density, Gaza was mostly self-sufficient in vegetables and poultry, and met much of the population’s demand for olives, fruit and milk. But last month the UN reported that just 1.5% of its agricultural land now remains both accessible and undamaged. That’s roughly 200 hectares – the only remaining area directly available to feed more than 2 million people.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissions
Food and agriculture contribute one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions – second only to the burning of fossil fuels. And yet the vast majority of media coverage of the climate crisis overlooks this critical sector, according to a new data analysis from Sentient Media.
The findings suggest that only about a quarter of climate articles in 11 major US outlets, including the Guardian, mention food and agriculture as a cause. And of the 940 articles analyzed, only 36 – or 3.8% – mentioned animal agriculture or meat production, by far the largest source of food-related emissions.
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As Donald Trump calls climate change a ‘con job’ and Reform UK weaponises net zero, Starmer faces pressure to hold the line on commitments
This week, the world’s most powerful man claimed that climate change is a “con job”. Speaking at the UN general assembly, Donald Trump told global leaders – including Keir Starmer – that “all of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong”.
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success,” the US president said. “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
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These small seabirds are not faring well along Australia’s south-eastern coastline, but there is hope for their resurgence thanks to some novel tactics
It’s an attractive piece of real estate – coastal living in a safe neighbourhood with waterfront views, 55km south-west of Melbourne. The floating island, installed at the Avalon coastal reserve on the western side of Port Phillip Bay, features sand and shell grit floorings, and twigs and branches for cozy nooks.
It has been specially designed for Australian fairy terns by BirdLife’s waterbird program manager, Chris Purnell, who has deployed some unusual tactics to charm them.
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Walking the rocky and remote Northern Territory terrain, Tegan Forder finds lush ravines, undulating trails, delicate native flowers and stunning sunsets
The first day of a multi-day hike is often filled with optimism, despite the heavy load on your back. You’re leaving a busy life behind and venturing into the bush where constant phone notifications can’t reach you.
Our merry band of hikers – four adults and three kids – have opted for a five-day walk encompassing Smitt Rock and Eighth Gorge in Nitmiluk national park, 30km north-east of Katherine in Australia’s Northern Territory.
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Exclusive: When Queensland rangers removed the 4.2m reptile from his waterhole and placed him in captivity, lawyers – and Irwin Sr – began agitating for his liberation
Barry Lyon was a district ranger in Cape York during the 1990s when he, his wife, Shelley, and their mate Steve started to become concerned about a few saltwater crocodiles becoming “a bit cheeky”.
The population of the apex predator of Australia’s tropical north had begun to recover after being hunted to near extinction a few decades ago.
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