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More than 100 firefighters remain at scene after Dunwich Heath blaze spread across 150 hectares and forced evacuations
Fire crews tackling a large wildfire burning for more than 24 hours near Britain’s biggest nuclear power station have said the situation is “stabilising”.
More than 100 firefighters have been battling the blaze in Dunwich Heath, near Leiston, on the Suffolk coast since Wednesday evening.
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Latest study says global heating has made hot, dry and windy conditions in Spain at least 20 times more likely
The extreme heat and drought stoking huge wildfires in Spain and France were made far more likely by the climate crisis, a scientific analysis has found.
Global heating made hot, dry and windy weather at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France, experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium calculated. The finding is the latest to pin the blame for the continent’s sweltering and deadly summer firmly on the heating caused by the burning of oil, gas and coal.
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As parks turn brown and paddling pools go unfilled, exemptions mean sports pitches can stay lush – even in school holidays
After multiple punishing heatwaves, and no rain in parts for over a month, it seems the whole of the south of England is golden brown.
But by Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes, south-west London, there is the unmistakable scent of damp soil. The playing fields of St Paul’s school, where fees are up to £57,000 a year, are a bright, lush green.
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A zero-waste shop set up by a district council provides plastic-free products at affordable prices in a country that gets through 164m sachets a day
Just after classes finish for the day in Malabon City, in the Philippines, a corner shop begins to fill. Mothers arrive with their children, handing over empty bottles to be refilled with soy sauce and cooking oil. Plastic tubs that previously held ice-cream or biscuits are weighed and filled with flour or sugar. The kids get some sweets and banana chips bagged in brown kraft paper.
This store, Tingi Tindahan, offers a different experience from other small independent shops in the country. It retains the accessibility of micro-retail, colloquially known as tingi, while reintroducing reuse and refill methods instead of selling products in sachets and plastic packaging that too quickly becomes discarded waste.
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Intensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in protecting nature
By Patrick Barkham. Read by Dermot Daly
Read the text version here
Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod
The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to order
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Wellington, Somerset: Desiccated leaves crunch underfoot and ponds have shrunk to muddy pools. Will I catch a glimpse of bioluminescence?
July is staggering to a close: exhausted, feverish and desperate for a drink. It’s been one of the hottest on record, and still no sign of rain. Townsfolk have become crepuscular: walking the dog before dawn and venturing out only after sundown.
It’s been a terrible year for plants and trees – everyone battling to keep gardens watered and alive. But it’s been an extraordinary year for Wellington wildlife: we’ve had ospreys, beavers – and now glowworms?
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Ferocious flames continue to rage in parts of France and Spain, with no sign of abating. We chart the destruction in graphics and pictures
The hellish infernos that have torn through parts of France and Spain have caused deaths, the evacuation of 330,000 people from their homes, widespread destruction and clouds of toxic smoke. Records have already been smashed and with the fourth heatwave of the European summer setting in, there are few signs of the waves of wildfires ending.
France has already surpassed the worst previous year for the size of the area burned, with August, usually the hottest month, yet to come.
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Several councils to stop housing tenants in glass-fronted Britannia Point in London, where tenants were earlier told they could not use air con
As the fourth heatwave of the year hit the UK on Wednesday, Benice Bodah and her three teenage sons braced for more scorching temperatures inside their south-west London home. The two-bedroom flat has a built-in air-conditioning unit, but it has worked only intermittently in the almost three years since the family were placed in temporary accommodation at Britannia Point in Colliers Wood. “It has not been easy, but what can we do?” said Bodah, 48.
Several councils have now agreed to stop housing families in emergency accommodation in the glass-fronted block after the Guardian revealed they had been told they couldn’t use the air-conditioning during heatwaves as it had “not been offered as an amenity” for them. The 19-storey building is owned by Criterion Capital, set up by the billionaire property magnate Asif Aziz. The temporary tenancies can last from weeks to years and are managed separately by letting agencies, including the London-based Aura Assets Management.
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Wild Inside looks back on the incredible year when an escaped zoo owl managed to bring New Yorkers together
Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl gained a cult following after leaving his life in captivity at the Central Park zoo in 2023 and surviving, against all odds, for more than a year as a free bird in Manhattan.
Birdwatchers tracked his every move, capturing his vast wingspan and luminous orange eyes with their cameras. His fans got tattoos in his honor. And now, Wild Inside, a new documentary chronicling Flaco’s year about town, is set to premiere this week.
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Forty hectares of Oaken Wood could be razed after it was identified as potential site of expansion by Reform-run council
It was at the confluence of seven forest paths that Allison Sweetman came to a stop. Trees rose on all sides, save for a recently coppiced section to the north-east. The noon heat had silenced most birds, but the quiet was peaceful.
“This is what they call Seven Wents,” she said. For centuries, the people of Kent had travelled this way, from East Malling to Barming, from Ditton to Teston, for church, commerce and friends. “It’s on maps going back 400 years.”
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