63 m. ago Why our broken food system remains a climate disaster: ‘broiling the planet to stuff our faces’

Author Michael Grunwald reckons with the challenge of food-based climate emissions in his new book We Are Eating the EarthRidding ourselves of fossil fuels has been a tortuously ponderous process and, in the current political era, one that can seem to be in full retreat. But we do have the tools to run our cities, vehicles and industries on clean energy and even through the murk of vested interest, the contours of a post-fossil world are becoming clearer.Our system of producing food, though, is in a relative stone age when it comes to the climate crisis. We continue to raze vast tracts of carbon-rich forests for crop and grazing land thereby creating, by some estimates, as much as a third of all global planet-heating emissions. Continue reading...

Society

6 h. ago ‘No country is safe’: deadly Nordic heatwave supercharged by climate crisis, scientists say

Historically cool nations saw hospitals overheating and surge in drownings, wildfires and toxic algal bloomsThe prolonged Nordic heatwave in July was supercharged by the climate crisis and shows “no country is safe from climate change”, scientists say.Norway, Sweden and Finland have historically cool climates but were hit by soaring temperatures, including a record run of 22 days above 30C (86C) in Finland. Sweden endured 10 straight days of “tropical nights”, when temperatures did not fall below 20C (68F). Continue reading...

Events

11 h. ago Scandinavian heatwave that saw reindeer flock to cities made 10 times more likely by climate crisis

Temperatures in parts of Norway and Sweden climbed to 33–35C, far above seasonal norms

Society

22 h. ago Spain wildfires are ‘clear warning’ of climate emergency, minister says

Environment minister says blazes are proof of country’s vulnerability to global heating as fires burn across EuropeThe heatwave-fuelled wildfires that have killed two people in Spain over recent days, devouring thousands of hectares of land and forcing thousands of people from their homes, are a “clear warning” of the impact of the climate emergency, the country’s environment minister has said.Speaking on Wednesday morning, as firefighters in Spain, Greece and other Mediterranean countries continued to battle dozens of blazes, Sara Aagesen said the 14 wildfires still burning across seven Spanish regions were further proof of the country’s particular vulnerability to global heating. Continue reading...

Events

44 h. ago Soaring demand at food banks across Africa thanks to massive aid cuts

Food banks in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa say they are under increasing pressure, writes Nick Ferris – with aid cuts by Donald Trump’s US and other nations compounding the impact of the climate crisis and a spike in the cost of living

Politics

54 h. ago ‘Do not buy these flats’: residents warn about unbearable heat inside London new

Experts say many new homes being built in the UK not designed to withstand extreme summer temperaturesLow-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homesWhy UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisisFrom shutters to reflective paint: how to prevent UK homes overheatingThe sweltering conditions inside Leaside Lock, a new-build development in east London, are hardly a secret. Last June, a warning written in big, capital letters was stuck to the window of one flat. “DO NOT BUY THESE FLATS. TOO HOT,” it read.It was hard to miss for those walking past the looming high-rises and, after being snapped and posted on social media, the placard has garnered more than 500,000 views. More than a year on, during a summer when the UK recorded its second warmest June and fifth hottest July since 1884, residents say heat is still an issue. Continue reading...

Events

58 h. ago Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say

Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warmsThe climate crisis is driving a sharp rise in dengue fever cases across the Pacific islands, experts say, as infections hit their highest level in a decade and several countries declare emergencies.Pacific Island countries and territories have reported 16,502 confirmed cases and 17 deaths since the start of 2025, according to the Pacific Syndromic Surveillance System (PSSS), which collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies. Infections across the region are at the highest level since 2016, the WHO said. Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are among the worst affected. Continue reading...

Events

66 h. ago ‘Death spiral’: Mekong River megafish have shrunk by half, study reveals

Fish once as large as grizzly bears have become far smaller in recent years due to overfishing, dams and climate crisisThe size of megafish in the Mekong River has shrunk alarmingly in recent years owing to overfishing, a study has found. The length of the largest and most endangered freshwater giants, some as big as grizzly bears, decreased by 40% in seven years.Some fish, like the Mekong giant catfish, have been studied for over a longer period and show a decline in weight of 55% in the past 25 years, dropping from an average of 180kg (397lb) to 80kg. Continue reading...

Events

2 d. ago Jeremy Clarkson shares 'catastrophic' farm news but fans point out same problem

Jeremy Clarkson has told fans of his Amazon Prime show, Clarkson's Farm, that another underwhelming harvest is in store for Diddly Squat farm due to the ongoing climate crisis

Politics

3 d. ago ‘We are on the frontline’: the ambitious plan to save an Alpine village from a climate catastrophe

A huge lake formed by a melting glacier above Pralognan-la-Vanoise could inundate the village – but a project is under way to stop itThe villagers of Pralognan-la-Vanoise in the French Alps know well the perils posed by the mountains that encircle them.Avalanches, rockfalls, mudslides, sudden crevices and torrents of water are within the living memory of most villagers, and every day the climate emergency throws up new dangers. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Mare’s Nest review – an opaque, challenging reflection on the end of the world

Locarno film festivalBen Rivers’s cine-poem, based on Don DeLillo’s climate crisis play The Word for Snow, follows a child’s strange encounters as she wanders in a postapocalyptic world devoid of adultsEnglish experimentalist Ben Rivers offers up another challenging, intriguing cine-poem, this time on the nature of existence and the end of the world. It is opaque but with flashes of strange brilliance, an adaptation of The Word for Snow, a one-act stage play by Don DeLillo from 2007 that reflected on the climate crisis.A child called Moon (Moon Guo Barker) wanders around a strange world, entirely peopled by other children, except for one eerie monochrome sequence in which Moon sees adult figures in some kind of underground tunnel, frozen in attitudes of dismay similar to the citizenry of Pompeii. In the course of her travels, bookended by clambering out of a crashed car and finally driving happily off, Moon has dreamlike encounters with these children who speak with the tongues of a...

Politics

6 d. ago Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’

Ex-fossil fuel executive Chris Wright said administration is reviewing national assessments made by past governmentsThe US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports.Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago John Swinney urged to crackdown on plastic pollution 'fuelling climate crisis'

Eighteen environmental and civil groups have issued the call as international talks on plastics con

Events

1 week ago Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation

Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked researchA new Trump administration report which attempts to justify a mass rollback of environmental regulations is chock-full of climate misinformation, experts say.On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to undo the 2009 “endangerment finding”, which allows the agency to limit planet-heating pollution from cars and trucks, power plants and other industrial sources. Hours later, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a 150-page report defending the proposal, claiming scientific concern about the climate crisis is overblown. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘We’re the canary in the coalmine’: when will Russia take action on the climate?

World’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases pays lip service to tackling climate crisis and, with fossil fuels central to regime’s legitimacy, it seems happier with status quoSource of figures at top: World Economic Outlook Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Young, educated and knee deep in rubbish: the recyclers cleaning up in Cairo’s Garbage City

Piles of waste line the streets of Manshiyet Nasr, turning it into a no-go zone for many. But a new generation see themselves as agents of change in the fight against plastic pollutionWhen Mina Nedi graduated with a nursing degree last year, his friends and family expected him to start working in one of Egypt’s overstretched hospitals. Instead, the 25-year-old decided to join his father’s recycling business in Manshiyet Nasr, a neighbourhood on Cairo’s eastern outskirts known as Garbage City.Every day, he sorts through thousands of plastic bottles, collected by a team of men who roam the city at night to pick up rubbish, separating them by colour and compressing them into large bundles with the help of a machine, ready to be sold for recycling and reuse.Mina Nedi, 25, has been working as a plastic collector for five years and funded his university education with it Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Keeping us hooked on fossil fuels’: how can we negotiate with autocracies on the climate crisis?

The bulk of global greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic, and many big oil and gas exporters are also authoritarianThe big emitters: which countries are holding back climate action and why?When it comes to the climate crisis, how do you negotiate with an autocracy?It is the case today, and it is almost certain to remain so for the dwindling number of years in which we can hope to stave off the worst of climate breakdown, that the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic. Add to that, many of the major suppliers of oil and gas – the Gulf petrostates for instance, plus Russia, Venezuela and a few others – are likewise authoritarian. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago How the climate crisis and aid cuts could devastate global supplies of vanilla

Vanilla farmers in Madagascar, a country that supplies up to 80 per cent of the global crop each year, face a difficult future as the climate crisis and aid cuts bite, writes Nick Ferris

Events

4 w. ago Tax on AI and crypto could fund climate action, says former Paris accords envoy

Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technologyGovernments should consider taxing artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies to generate funds to deal with the climate crisis, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and a former French diplomat, is co-lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, an international initiative to find new sources of funds for climate action by taxing highly polluting activities including aviation and fossil fuel extraction. Continue reading...

Economics

4 w. ago A ‘Himalayan tsunami’ has just devastated Nepal. It should be a wake

Massive glacial bursts are becoming more frequent and more dangerous due to the climate crisis, experts tell Mukesh Pokhrel, warning: ‘They are not going to stop anytime soon’

Politics