The Best of Guardian Environment
20+ most popular Guardian Environment articles, as voted by our community.
News and comment on the world's most important environmental stories
New this Week
These are fresh off the press.
Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows
Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating
Extreme heat could put 40% of land vertebrates in peril by end of century
Study shows ‘disastrous consequences for wildlife’ if human-caused emissions push global temperatures up 4.4C
Trending
These are currently making the rounds on Refind.
Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site
The long read: Nothing is produced at Sellafield anymore. But making safe what is left behind is an almost unimaginably expensive and complex task that requires us to think not on a human timescale,…
US government approves use of world’s first vaccine for honeybees
Hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination
Target date for cleaning up waterways in England is moved back by 36 years
Environment Agency under fire for extending schedule for tackling pollution in rivers, lakes and coastal waters to 2063
‘It was a set-up, we were fooled’: the coal mine that ate an Indian village
The long read: In a pristine forest in central India, the multibillion-dollar mining giant Adani has razed trees – and homes – to dig more coal. How does this kind of destruction get the go-ahead?
Diversity returns to Lakeland stream after restoration puts its bends back
Nature ‘in charge again’ at Swindale Beck for first time in 200 years as award-winning conservation project bears fruit
Guardian Environment on Biology
Food for thought? French bean plants show signs of intent, say scientists
Many botanists dispute idea of plant sentience, but study of climbing beans sows seed of doubt
Guardian Environment on Climate Crisis
The climate disaster is here
Earth is already becoming unlivable. Will governments act to stop this disaster from getting worse?
«At 1.5C, about 14% of the world’s population will be hit by severe heatwaves once every five years. with this number jumping to more than a third of the global population at 2C.»
Capitalism is killing the planet
Instead of focusing on ‘micro consumerist bollocks’ like ditching our plastic coffee cups, we must challenge the pursuit of wealth and level down, not up
«The main cause of your environmental impact is your money. You persuade yourself you’re a green mega-consumer, but you’re just a mega-consumer»
Guardian Environment on Environment
Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions
New data shows how fossil fuel companies have driven climate crisis despite industry knowing dangers
Why you should go animal-free: 18 arguments for eating meat debunked
Unpalatable as it may be for those wedded to producing and eating meat, the environmental and health evidence for a plant-based diet is clear
Guardian Environment on Food
Loss of bees causes shortage of key food crops, study finds
Apple and cherry production hampered by lack of wild bees, who are suffering from a loss of habitat, toxic pesticides and the climate crisis
Factory farms of disease: how industrial chicken production is breeding the next pandemic
At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they could be worse than Covid-19
«At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they could be worse than Covid-19»
Guardian Environment on Greta Thunberg
Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment
From now, house style guide recommends terms such as ‘climate crisis’ and ‘global heating’
Greta Thunberg: ‘We are ignoring natural climate solutions’
Film by Swedish activist and Guardian journalist George Monbiot says nature must be used to repair broken climate
Guardian Environment on Nature
50 simple ways to make your life greener
Expert tips on how to be kinder to the planet – from cooking and cleaning to fashion and finance
No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time
Singapore’s approval of chicken cells grown in bioreactors is seen as landmark moment across industry
Guardian Environment on Oceans
Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates
Oceans are clearest measure of climate crisis as they absorb 90% of heat trapped by greenhouse gases
What happens when a huge ship sinks? A step-by-step guide to averting disaster
From the EverGiven blocking the Suez, to the Costa Concordia cruise ship hitting a reef, what exactly do you do when a vessel comes to grief – and how do you prevent catastrophic pollution?
Guardian Environment on Pollution
Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles
The breakthrough, spurred by the discovery of plastic-eating bugs at a Japanese dump, could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis
Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists
Study calls for cap on production and release as pollution threatens global ecosystems upon which life depends
Guardian Environment on Recycling
Wax worm saliva rapidly breaks down plastic bags, scientists discover
Its enzymes degrade polyethylene within hours at room temperature and could ‘revolutionise’ recycling
'Plastic recycling is a myth': what really happens to your rubbish?
You sort your recycling, leave it to be collected – and then what? From councils burning the lot to foreign landfill sites overflowing with British rubbish, Oliver Franklin-Wallis reports on a global…
Guardian Environment on Renewable Energy
Oceans can be restored to former glory within 30 years, say scientists
Major review reports recovery of marine life but a redoubling of efforts is still needed
Carbon emissions fall as electricity producers move away from coal
Global emissions fell 2% amid milder winters and reduced reliance on coal-fired power plants
Popular
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The forgotten oil ads that told us climate change was nothing
Since the 1980s, fossil fuel firms have run ads touting climate denial messages – many of which they’d now like us to forget. Here’s our visual guide
«Why is meaningful action to avert the climate crisis proving so difficult? It is, at least in part, because of ads.»
World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds
Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible change
Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope
The long read presents Reconstruction after Covid: It’s easy to despair at the climate crisis, or to decide it’s already too late – but it’s not. Here’s how to keep the fight alive
«We still have time to choose the best rather than the worst scenarios, though the longer we wait the harder it gets, and the more dramatic the measures are required.»
Is this the end of forests as we've known them?
Trees lost to drought and wildfires are not returning. Climate change is taking is a toll on the world’s forests - and radically changing the environment before our eyes
«Forests also absorb around one-quarter of all human carbon emissions annually, and increasingly there are worries that if forests die back they will switch from storing carbon to emitting it, because dead trees will release all the carbon they have accumulated.»
Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years
‘Stunned’ scientists say there is little doubt global heating is to blame for the loss
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