-
Energy secretary could recommend new North Sea drilling next week, as ministers also consider approval for Rosebank oilfield
Ministers are poised to approve a controversial new gasfield in the North Sea this month, according to government sources, and are considering approving a major oilfield later this year.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, will give her recommendation to approve the Jackdaw field off the coast of Aberdeen as soon as next week, according to people close to the decision, and the formal approval could follow a week after.
Continue reading...
-
Exclusive: As millions of people face hosepipe bans, many companies are not required to report, let alone cut, use of public supply
Less than 1% of businesses in England use more water than the daily needs of 10 million people, as millions of households face hosepipe bans and three-quarters of the country is in drought.
Businesses across England use 2.6bn litres a day from the public water supply, which includes potable and non-potable water provided by water companies.In total, businesses account for about 30% of public supply use, with two-thirds of their consumption in water-stressed areas, according to Mosl, the organisation that operates England’s business water market.
Continue reading...
-
In this week’s newsletter: The full scale of the disaster is still emerging, but as rescue efforts continue, scientists warn that a warming Himalayas could mean more deadly hazards
•Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
At 8.37am local time last Wednesday, a huge mass of rock and ice sheared free from a mountain, sliding 1,200 metres to the valley floor in Nepal’s Langtang national park, about 60km north of the country’s capital, Kathmandu.
Horrifying images and videos soon emerged of a torrent of mud, water and debris that swept down the Lhende Khola valley at speeds approaching 150km/h. Flowing down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers that run between Tibet and Nepal, the flood water swept away homes, roads, bridges and power plants. Along the Trishuli, water levels rose by as much as nine metres in half an hour. As of the time of writing, the death toll of the disaster approached 1,000 people, with more than 4,400 on both sides of the border missing.
Continue reading...
-
Exclusive: Angela Eagle urges UK citizens to be ‘a bit more resilient’ as they plan for national emergencies
British people have been urged to have enough food and water on hand to survive a few days without power or water, as the UN said the El Niño climate phenomenon was “supersizing before our eyes”, exacerbating extreme weather events worldwide.
Forecasters say they are braced for the biggest El Niño in 1,000 years, bringing wildfires and floods to parts of the world, and the threat of a wet, stormy winter for the UK.
As the British government plans a campaign urging citizens to prepare for national emergencies, Angela Eagle told the Guardian the likelihood of a wild winter showed the importance of keeping supplies at home.
Continue reading...
-
Scientists say ultrafine particles in cruise ship emissions associated with reduced ability to resist common viruses
More than 2.5 million cruise passengers travelled through Southampton in 2025. It is also the UK’s leading vehicle and deep-sea trading port. You can see the ships and port machinery from miles around. All of this is downwind of a city of 260,000 people.
A team of 32 researchers began investigating air pollution from the docks in 2018. Their research has revealed that the types of air pollution that come from ships may be more harmful than those from road traffic.
Continue reading...
-
Bridport, Dorset: Away from the sheep, pigs and Martin Clunes’s horse, I find a bounty of local ciders – and concern about this year’s apple harvest
It’s Melplash Show day and all of Bridport is here. Crowds jostle for a look at the pigs, cattle and sheep. The actor Martin Clunes, who lives locally, leads one of his heavy horses into the ring, a big strawberry roan gelding with a mane plaited with ribbons. Everyone ignores the celebrity: they are far more interested in the finer points of his horse.
In the handicrafts and local produce tent, lines of glass cider bottles glow palest amber and urinous gold. The two judges, the cider-maker Ross Mangles of North Down Orchard, and the cider writer James Crowden, began tasting at 8.30am. Fortified with a block of blue-veined cheddar cheese, a packet of cream crackers and a glass of water, they have sampled all 36 entries by 10am. When I join them for the results, the winning bottles are at least a quarter empty, and Ross and James are feeling upbeat.
Continue reading...
-
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...
-
Wildfire victims rebuilt their homes in Lahaina only to find USPS had ‘eliminated’ their addresses – while houses that didn’t burn receive mail as normal
Two months after a devastating wildfire whipped through Lahaina in August 2023, Pam Reader was allowed back to see what was left of her home. With a heavy heart, she returned to the Hawaiian oceanside town now filled with endless blocks of burned houses. As she rounded her corner, she saw the only thing remaining was her bright turquoise mailbox.
“It was an old crappy mailbox,” Reader said. “It was metal, though, which is why I think it survived.”
Continue reading...
-
Each year, people from across the world gather in a grove sacred to the Yoruba goddess Osun to be healed, conceive or realise their deepest wishes. But toxic lead, mercury and cyanide is leaching into the river
Devotees in white clothing line the riverbank, praying as they carry offerings of fruit, kola nut and sacrificial animals in supplication to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility, beauty and healing, whose carved form stands with arms outstretched a few metres away in the Osun River.
It is the final day of Nigeria’s annual Osun Osogbo festival in honour of the African deity, in a tradition that has existed for hundreds of years and draws people from across the diaspora.
Yeye Omifunto Ojo performs a sacrifice at the Osun River
Continue reading...
-
From New York to Quebec, photographer Bryan Anselm spent months capturing spaces overrun with plastic and the actions individuals and groups are taking to reduce waste
In New York City, the plastic we discard has a way of remaining in plain sight. There are few alleys to hide residents’ refuse, and the clear recycling bags leave their contents on full display. In a city built on a dense grid, lightweight wrappers, bags and bottles spill from overflowing bins and skitter down sidewalks, collecting in gutters and corners before the wind carries them on.
All that plastic is a layer of the urban landscape, as familiar as subway grates and fire escapes, revealing a messy and unflattering aspect of city life. “Garbage is not what we cast out, but the prime locus of meaning in our lives,” the character Nick Shay says in Don DeLillo’s Underworld.
Continue reading...
