4 h. ago From Trump’s rejected treaties to our daily lives, we’re building walls around ourselves | Anand Pandian

Martin Luther King Jr knew that ‘whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly’. But we Americans are denying that realityThe United States seems determined to turn its back on the rest of our planetary neighbors. The Trump administration’s recent decision to withdraw from 66 international treaties, conventions and organizations is striking for the range of its rejections. Everything from the global treaty on climate change to multilateral efforts to address migration and cultural heritage, clean water and renewable energy, and the international trade in timber and minerals has been summarily dismissed as “contrary to the interests of the United States”.It’s no surprise that an administration hellbent on physical walls around the United States would also put up such walls of indifference, as if all of these longstanding collective efforts were simply “irrelevant” to our interests as a country, as the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, put it in a public statement. And yet, a...

Politics

5 h. ago Cleaner River Thames but effects of climate change remain, health check finds

Experts have warned pollution remains a significant challenge despite the return of some 125 species to the river

Society

22 h. ago The Guardian view on microplastics research: questioning results is good for science, but has political consequences | Editorial

Errors in measuring microplastic pollution can be corrected. Public trust in science also needs to be shored up It is true that science is self-correcting. Over the long term this means that we can generally trust its results – but up close, correction can be a messy process. The Guardian reported last week that 20 recent studies measuring the amount of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body have been criticised in the scientific literature for methodological issues, calling their results into question. In one sense this is the usual process playing out as it should. However, the scale of the potential error – one scientist estimates that half the high-impact papers in the field are affected – suggests a systemic problem that should have been prevented.The risk is that in a febrile political atmosphere in which trust in science is being actively eroded on issues from climate change to vaccinations, even minor scientific conflicts can be used to sow further doubt. Given that there...

Politics

48 h. ago ‘Climate change is here’: Experts warn environmental crisis is decades ahead of forecasts

Drought, heatwaves, hurricanes, and wildfires are arriving sooner than we imagined according to scientists

Events

52 h. ago What is the High Seas Treaty? The agreement ratified by 83 countries

The world’s first legally binding agreement to protect marine life in international waters took effect on Saturday

Politics

58 h. ago Gardening expert reveals top tips on ‘biosecurity’ to keep your garden healthy amid growing concern of diseases

THE next five years are pivotal for protecting plants, the Royal Horticultural Society warns – due to the changing climate and evolving threats from pests and diseases. Increasingly unpredictable weather, including drought and flooding, is placing more stress on plants. There are huge concerns a devastating disease called Xylella fastidiosa, which is causing havoc in...

Events

2 d. ago An invasion of smelly seaweed is costing US beach communities millions of dollars

That’s on top of the rotting egg smell and potential harms to peoples’ health

Economics

3 d. ago This cruise line is teaching guests how to track climate change in polar ice caps

Exclusive: Passengers will work with scientist Joe Muise to collect data from Antarctica

Society

3 d. ago Producer 'concerned for cameraman's safety' before paramotor crash death

Dan Burton, 54, died after a mid-air paramotor collision with "human swan" Sacha Dench while filming a climate change documentary in September 2021.

Events

3 d. ago ‘Garden of Eden’: the Spanish farm growing citrus you’ve never heard of

Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha’s hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate changeIt was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover’s menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago In a warming world, freshwater production is moving deep beneath the sea

Climate change is driving a global boom in desalination as regions turn to the sea for drinking water

Events

4 d. ago Deeply controversial land reform in Zimbabwe helping small farmers adapt to climate change, research suggests

Exclusive: 25 years after the programme – widely seen as being characterised by violence and economic chaos – was introduced, new research finds that it has helped smallholder farmers become more resilient to the climate crisis

Society

4 d. ago ’How do you really tell the truth about this moment?’: George Saunders on ghosts, mortality and Trump’s America

The Lincoln in the Bardo author is back with another metaphysical tale. He discusses Buddhism, partisan politics and the terrifying flight that changed his lifeLike his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker prize in 2017, George Saunders’s new novel is a ghost story. In Vigil, an oil tycoon who spent a lifetime covering up the scientific evidence for climate change is visited on his deathbed by a host of spirits, who force him to grapple with his legacy. What draws Saunders to ghost stories? “If I had us talking here in a story and I allowed a ghost in from the 1940s, I might be more interested in it. It might be because they are in fact here,” he says, gesturing to the hotel lobby around us. “Or even if it’s not ghosts, we both have memories of people we love who have passed. They are here, in a neurologically very active way.” A ghost story can feel more “truthful”, he adds: “If you were really trying to tell the truth about this moment, would you so confidently ...

Politics

4 d. ago Why the deadliest animal on earth is being forced to feed more on humans

Researchers say findings can help guide disease prevention efforts

Events

5 d. ago UK issues warning to Russia as tensions mount in Arctic amid Trump threats

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that the icy region is rapidly becoming a critical frontier for NATO as climate change opens up new territory for hostile states

Events

5 d. ago Heathrow third runway: Government admits it may miss sustainable aviation fuel target key to airport expansion

The Government has backed a bigger Heathrow and is now deciding how tests on economic growth, air quality, noise and climate change should be set

Politics

6 d. ago How will climate change reshape the Winter Olympics? The list of possible host sites is shrinking

Belgian biathlete Maya Cloetens is concerned about the future of winter sports in a warming world

Politics

1 week ago Results are in for one of the clearest measures of global heating in 2025. It should be raising alarm bells

Scientists consider this to be one of the clearest measures of long-term global warming

Events

1 week ago ‘A colossal own goal’: Trump’s exit from global climate treaties will have little effect outside US

For much of the last 30 years, the rest of the world has been forced to persevere with climate action in the face of US intransigenceOutrage as Trump withdraws from key UN climate treaty along with dozens of international organisationsDonald Trump’s latest attack on climate action takes place amid rapidly rising temperatures, rising sea levels, still-rising greenhouse gas emissions, burgeoning costs from extreme weather and the imminent danger that the world will trigger “tipping points” in the climate system that will lead to catastrophic and irreversible changes.The US president’s decision to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the world’s leading body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will not alter any of those scientific realities. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago As climate change threatened her home, Alolita was offered a chance at a new life in Australia

Alolita Tekapu and her family among the first arrivals under a world-first agreement that allows people from Tuvalu to move to Australia On a suburban street in eastern Melbourne on a cool summer’s day, Alolita Tekapu sits on the couch feeding her one-month-old son, Philip, while her three older boys play outside. Her husband folds laundry nearby, pausing occasionally to check on the children.It’s an ordinary domestic scene. But the reason this family are in Australia is far from ordinary. Continue reading...

Society