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PM temporarily bans barbecue sales as 19 people are taken to hospital during fires in West Midlands
Downing Street has issued a temporary GB-wide ban on the sale of disposable barbecues and brought in the military to help deal with wildfires as Andy Burnham urged people not to risk lives in “tinderbox” Britain this weekend.
The prime minister spoke from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where at least 19 people have been taken to hospital during eight fires that have ripped through several homes.
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We learn what to fear and reject from those around us. But if disgust can be learned, it can also be unlearned
Vote for your favourite invertebrate of the year
It was the summer of 2021 and I was standing in Hyde Park, London, trying to persuade passing tourists to come bug hunting with me. I was working on a campaign to increase public appreciation of invertebrates and, while I adore bugs, this job was teaching me how differently other people see them.
A woman and her young daughter stopped to chat. Grateful for a few minutes of respite, the woman turned to her phone while the child followed me to a nearby log. We lifted it to reveal one of the largest earthworms I’ve ever seen.
Voting is open for invertebrate of the year and will close at midnight BST on Sunday 16 August; vote here
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Delay to rainy season in forest already damaged by human-driven heating could trigger powerful ‘Godzilla’ El Niño
As a supercharged climate scorches Europe with wildfire and deluges Asia with floods, the Amazon is bracing for a drought that strikes fear into the hearts of forest defenders and food producers alike. But it should worry even more of us.
Scientists are predicting that the peak of El Niño will occur at the worst possible time for the world’s biggest tropical rainforest: the end of the dry season between October and December, when rivers are at their lowest and undergrowth is most likely to be tinder dry. This will be a period of extreme vulnerability for the forest, which plays a globally important role in stabilising the climate and irrigating crops.
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Marine conservationist says deliberate attack would be ‘act of extreme cruelty’ against endangered population
Spanish officials have launched an investigation after the matriarch of an orca pod known for jostling and ramming boats off the Iberian Peninsula was spotted with wounds suggesting she had been shot by a pellet gun.
On Friday, Spain’s environment ministry said Toñi, the oldest living member of the pod, had been seen swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar with markings on her dorsal fin that were “consistent with shots from a pellet gun”.
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More than 50 organisations say PM urgently needs to show leadership and prepare British people for scale of change needed as UK struggles through another heatwave
The UK’s leading climate organisations have accused the prime minister, Andy Burnham, of “remaining silent” on the climate crisis as the country struggles to cope with its fifth heatwave of the year.
As widespread droughts and devastating wildfires grip the country, green groups have written to Burnham urging him to “show leadership” and be honest with workers and the public that the climate crisis is driving the extreme conditions they are facing.
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Cut in electric vehicle sales targets could add millions of tonnes of CO2 to emissions in UK, say green campaigners
Andy Burnham has been criticised for moving to cut electric vehicle (EV) sales targets and accept North Sea drilling at a time of devastating wildfires caused by the climate emergency.
The prime minister for the first time acknowledged on Friday that the climate crisis was behind hundreds of wildfires that have ripped across the parts of the UK.
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From chefs to paramedics, workers tell the Guardian how they are coping and unions outline the changes needed in the workplace
In the sweltering kitchen of the Plimsoll pub in north London, the head chef, Joshua Swinney, has a frozen tea towel wrapped around his neck to combat the heat.
As temperatures exceeded 35C (95F) in the capital, workers who were not lucky enough to be in air-conditioned offices sweltered in the heat.
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Experts say putrid stench shows overhaul of sewers is needed – like the one prompted by the Great Stink of 1858
London was “reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors” after weeks of temperatures exceeding 30C and minimal rainfall. This was Disraeli’s description of the Great Stink of 1858, but something similarly disgusting has been happening this summer.
Once again, an exceptionally hot and dry spell has exposed the putrid stench of untreated human waste.
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With so many bins, and ever more complex packaging, recycling in Australia can be complicated and confusing. Here’s what not to do
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 [email protected]
Australians consider themselves good recyclers. But while more than 90% say recycling is important, many admit to doing it wrong.
About half have engaged in well intentioned “wish-cycling” at some point, according to Cleanaway’s recycling behaviours survey, such as popping soft plastics in the recycling bin and hoping for the best.
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Experts say the H5N1 bird flu virus’s risk to humans is low, but fear an impeding decimation of seal populations after tens of thousands of deaths in South America and Antarctica
In 1996, geese in poultry farms in the Guangdong province of southern China started to get sick with a virus causing “bleeding and neurological dysfunction” and then death.
A strain of avian influenza had likely arrived as a relatively harmless virus in migrating wild birds but had morphed into something “highly pathogenic”, killing about 40% of infected geese.
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