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Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, a new analysis using two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of the UK.
Scientists at University College London (UCL), working with Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, analysed 2002–24 data from satellites, which track changes in Earth’s gravitational field.
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Photographers Mathias BraschlerandMonika Fischercapture the families, farmers and fishers who have been forced to leave their homes by extreme weather – and the landscapes they left behind. Introduction by Dina Nayeri
In 2009, Swiss photographers Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer set out to document the people suffering the first shocks of the climate crisis. They had just returned from China, where rapid, unregulated development has ravaged the natural landscapes. Back home, though, the debate still felt strangely theoretical. “In 2009, you still had people who denied climate change,” Braschler recalls. “People said, ‘This is media hype.’” So the couple, working with the Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva and supported by Kofi Annan, began The Human Face of Climate Change, a portrait series that showed the people on the frontline of a warming world.
Sixteen years later, climate change is no longer up for debate; the urgent discussions now revolve around solutions. Braschler and Fischer, too, have shifted their focus. “This is going to be one of the central issues for humanity,” says Braschler, “and we want to make sure that people know that the major effect of climate change will be displacement.”
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Exclusive: Concerns over impact on health and environment, as well as £1.63bn in avoided landfill tax
The UK is estimated to have at least 8,000 illegal waste sites, containing approximately 13m tonnes of rubbish, research has revealed.
The scale of the criminal dumping means at least £1.63bn of landfill taxes have been avoided, according to an analysis of data from the satellite company Air & Space Evidence, shared with the Guardian and Watershed Investigations.
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Experts lay out scale of changes needed in ‘first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing’ in Westminster
A host of eminent scientists have warned politicians, business and community leaders that the UK risks severe climate-related risks to its economy, public health, food systems and national security.
According to its organisers more than 1,000 corporate bosses, senior civil servants and civic leaders were set to assemble in the Methodist central hall in Westminster for the “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing” on Thursday morning.
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Exclusive: Unknown culprit suspected of spraying glyphosate on protected trees hoped to stop peat erosion and flooding
Trees planted as part of a nature restoration project on Prince William’s land in Dartmoor national park have been deliberately poisoned with herbicide, sparking outrage and a hunt for the culprit.
The willow trees, on Duchy of Cornwall land, were planted as part of a project to stop peat erosion, store carbon and reduce the risk of flooding.
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In this week’s newsletter: Ultimately, climate progress will come from real-world action, and this year’s summit made some promising strides on that front
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Some commentators have called Cop30 a failure. An attempt to insert plans for a route to the phaseout of fossil fuels into the legal text was stymied, consideration of how to improve countries’ emissions-cutting plans was put off till next year, and although developing countries got the tripling of finance for adaptation that they were seeking, it will not be delivered in full until 2035 – and will come out of already promised funds.
Look beyond the headlines, however, and the Cop achieved a great deal more. Take the outcome on fossil fuels – it seems absurd, but until 2023 three decades of annual climate summits had failed to address fossil fuels directly.
UK can create 5,400 jobs if it stops plastic waste exports, report finds
Zombie fires: how Arctic wildfires that come back to life are ravaging forests
There’s a catastrophic black hole in our climate data – and it’s a gift to deniers | George Monbiot
US, Russia and Saudi Arabia create axis of obstruction as Cop30 sputters out
We delivered a clear message at Cop30: the delayers and defeatists are losing the climate fight | Ed Miliband
Another Cop wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way | Genevieve Guenther
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Paul Brown looks back at his career reporting on the climate crisis, failed summit and nuclear power – and how to do it well
Paul Brown was the Guardian’s environment correspondent from1989 until 2005 and has written many columns since. He submitted his last column last week after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. From his hospital bed in Luton, Pauloffers his reflections on45 years writing for theGuardian.
We, in the climate business, all owe a great deal to Mrs Margaret Thatcher. Her politics were anathema to me and to many Guardian readers. But she prided herself on being a scientist before she was a politician.
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Unique properties of fungi have led to groundbreaking innovations in recent years, from nappies to electronics
From the outside, it looks like any ordinary nappy – one of the tens of billions that end up in landfill each year. But the Hiro diaper comes with an unusual companion: a sachet of freeze-dried fungi to sprinkle over a baby’s gloopy excretions.
The idea is to kickstart a catalytic process that could see the entire nappy – plastics and all – broken down into compost within a year.
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Biden earmarked billions for former coal communities in Appalachia – and his successor came and took it away
For a moment, Jacob Hannah saw an unprecedented opportunity to make Appalachia great again.
In 2022, the Biden administration earmarked billions of dollars to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities. The objective was to lay down building blocks for the region to transition from extractive industries like coal and timber to a hub for solar and other advanced energy technologies, with a view to long-term economic, climate and social resilience.
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Want to give and receive less stuff without being a scrooge? Experts offer their tips for enduring presents that sleigh
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
One of the best lines from Paul Kelly’s song How to Make Gravy is: “Have a merry Christmas, I’m really going to miss it, all the treasure and the trash.”
While piles of Slinkies, scented candles and beach cricket sets might seem like a rite of passage, unfortunately for the environment, research from the Australia Institute suggests when it comes to Christmas presents, in the balance of trash versus treasure, we are giving each other too much of the former. Nearly a third of Australians expect to receive Christmas presents they will not use or wear, amounting to $921m dollars’ worth of presents that will end up in landfill.
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