Guardian Environment News

USDA says screwworm found in elk in Texas, and warns hunters and ranchers to be vigilant to help stop spread

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Wednesday it had ⁠confirmed the ⁠first detection ​of the flesh-eating parasite the New World screwworm in US wildlife in an ⁠elk in Pecos county, Texas.

The elk was located on a game ⁠ranch and was reported after being killed by ​a hunter, the ‌USDA said ‌in a statement.

Climate campaigners have condemned the UK government’s decision to allow the drilling of the Jackdaw gasfield. Critics argue the move will put climate targets at risk, while failing to reduce energy bills and the cost of living crisis. But there could be a significant victory for green activists when it comes to the much larger Rosebank oilfield, with the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, leaning towards rejecting approval. Michael Safi speaks to environment correspondent Matthew Taylor – watch on YouTube

Exclusive: Officials say Miatta Fahnbulleh minded not to give approval in victory for climate campaigners

Miatta Fahnbulleh is minded to reject the giant Rosebank oilfield, sources have told the Guardian, in what would be a blow for the North Sea energy industry and a major victory for climate campaigners.

After approving the smaller Jackdaw gasfield on Wednesday, officials say the energy secretary is leaning towards refusing approval for what would be one of the biggest oilfields in the North Sea.

This foolish decision undermines hopes that this government will take the necessary steps the climate crisis demands

When the news broke that the UK government had approved the Jackdaw gasfield, I was at a Guardian climate event at the Royal Geographical Society. Appropriately, the theme suggested by readers was what can the public actually do in the face of what feels like paralysing climate doom?

There is so much going on that is hopeful: biodiversity tracking, river protection, rewilding. Shruti Suresh, from the independent watchdog Global Witness, told those in attendance that if they wanted to effect change, they should protest against Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield project. The message was so well understood that it didn’t need labouring. The mood in the room when the news came in was one of audible dismay. People had just watched the minister for climate transition declare that she could see the challenges ahead and was ready for them. The Jackdaw announcement will face immediate protest and legal challenge, but it sends a very clear signal from the government: we don’t mean what we say about ending emissions.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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Government decision is about how much oil and gas is sensible for UK to produce on the way to net zero

• Business live – latest updates

Andy Burnham hit the nail on the (well)head in his first fortnight as prime minister when he said: “The question isn’t whether Britain will still be using oil and gas, the question is, where does it come from?”

It was a nod towards several awkward energy facts. First, oil and gas provided 75% of the UK’s energy in 2025, government data shows. Second, even with the rollout of domestic renewables for generating electricity, about 43% of overall energy was imported last year.

Zia Yusuf claims undercover investigation broke the law as broadcaster stands by its journalism

Here is an explainer by Jill Ambrose about the Jackdaw decision.

But environmental groups have condemned the decision. Ami McCarthy, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said:

Approving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy. Andy Burnham promised pragmatism [see 8.40am], but there is nothing pragmatic about rubber-stamping a project that won’t lower energy bills, won’t boost energy security and will create just 27 full-time jobs …

True pragmatism means severing our reliance on expensive oil and gas that leaves British households broke, supercharges extreme weather, and leaves our energy security at the mercy of petrostates.

Is the prime minister living in a parallel universe? One where we haven’t just endured our hottest summer on record, with droughts, wildfires and, in all likelihood, the most heat-related deaths on record? And where the UN hasn’t warned that we’re on the brink of breaching the all-important 1.5 degree warming limit?

Shell will be cheering this decision but it won’t knock a penny off our energy bills, which is what’s keeping people up at night, or make a meaningful difference to our gas supply.

Jackdaw will provide around just 2% of our gas demand for roughly ten years. It has been oversold and won’t stop the decline in North Sea jobs, as it will be largely unmanned and operated remotely.

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, thanked the prime minister for backing Jackdaw after the Tories approved it in 2022. But Burnham said he made a decision on something the Tories messed up, and the government had made a bridge to the future and the transition to clean energy

• UK politics live – latest updates

• UK approves Jackdaw gasfield in North Sea

• Climate campaigners condemn ‘maddening’ decision to approve Jackdaw gasfield

At a gathering in Texas, near where floods killed 136 people last year, survivors are united on the need for urgent action

It may be a club none of its members actually want to be in, but the growing number of people in the US affected by extreme weather disasters are starting to organize into a political force.

Severe wildfires, floods storms and other calamities now touch the lives of huge numbers of Americans – about half of all people in the US by one estimate – as the climate crisis supercharges extreme events. Some survivors are now coalescing to push for improved disaster response and even action on the politically contentious issue of global heating.

As glaciers melt and permafrost thaws, Longyearbyen, on the remote Arctic islands of Svalbard, faces climate-induced problems from tap water to housebuilding to landslides

• Heavy metals make Norwegian village’s tap water toxic

On a rugged mountain plateau of snow-dusted rocks, in the remote archipelago of Svalbard, a glaciologist, Andy Hodson, points out the “ears” of ice, white against the rock, that gave Foxfonna glacier its name, after the arctic fox.

The small glacier, on a mountain 8 miles (15km) outside the Norwegian village of Longyearbyen, is a popular summer hike for tourists who come here seeking the Arctic experience.

During a summer fire that destroyed homes in Stourbridge, low pressure meant filling a water carrier took 40 minutes

Concerns have been raised about how drought affects the UK’s ability to cope with wildfires after MPs were told firefighters struggled for water supplies during this year’s record summer.

The government has been urged to set out water companies’ statutory responsibilities during major fire incidents to improve the country’s preparedness for the years ahead.

Jackdaw gasfield announcement signals UK’s commitment to North Sea industry but undermines green credentials

• What does the approval of the Jackdaw gasfield mean?

The Jackdaw gasfield will be given the go-ahead on Wednesday, signalling Andy Burnham’s commitment to the North Sea fossil fuel industry and threatening to trigger a row with climate campaigners and Labour MPs.

Miatta Fahnbulleh and John Healey, the energy secretary and chancellor respectively, will make the announcement from Aberdeen on Wednesday morning after more than a year of deliberations over whether doing so would violate the UK’s climate commitments.

Videos show shark launching several feet from water as a group of friends pose for photos along Marina state beach

A great white shark put on a spectacular display for California beachgoers over the weekend, leaping from the water off Marina state beach and photobombing visitors.

Videos circulating online show a great white shark launching several feet out of the water in the background as a group of friends pose for photos along the beach.

Coyote euthanized after reportedly roaming Atwater Village comfortably for months and attacking one-year-old boy

One Los Angeles neighborhood has been at war over a wild coyote, and over the weekend it all came to a head.

For months, the animal had been roaming the trendy Atwater Village, showing up in broad daylight, sleeping in back yards and approaching residents. At least one person had reportedly fed the coyote and others affectionately nicknamed it Wiley. But some residents feared the creature had become dangerously too cozy.

Amateur wildlife photographer Rhys Morgan has caught extraordinary footage of one of the largest whale species on Earth.

While sailing off the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, Morgan and his friends spotted the blowholes of a fin whale in the distance, recognisable by the hooked fin near its tail, a dark grey upper body, white belly, and an asymmetrical jaw that is dark on the left and white on the right.

People who have enjoyed the video online are trying to raise awareness of fin whales being hunted in Iceland and calling on government ministers to take action

Researchers say almost 90% of participants in unconditional basic income scheme in Peru adopted environmentally beneficial practices

A pioneering project to provide Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon with an unconditional basic income has contributed to the protection of the rainforest, according to a study.

The analysis from the University of Bath is expected to contribute to a growing debate about the role of direct payments to communities that maintain globally important ecosystems.

In 2022, I helped push through the international agreement to protect biodiversity. I know there is always a reason to stall, but ministers at Cop17 must honour that pledge

When I was five, property developers came to cut down the woods behind my home in La Tuque, Quebec. My mother encouraged me to climb one of the trees in protest, then told the developers, straight-faced, that there was nothing she could do when they asked her to get me down. A few days later, the tree was cut down anyway.

I thought about that tree in the early hours of a freezing Montreal morning in December 2022, as the gavel came down on a global agreement between nearly 200 countries to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030. I thought about how important nature is for our health, our food security and our economies, but also how much passion there is around protecting it, and how it has the power to inspire people all around the world.

Elk, bear, frogs and other animals have used the overpass, which connects 39,000 acres of habitat, since its completion

Colorado officials have tracked herds of elk, bears, pronghorn and even northern leopard frogs ambling across its new wildlife overpass. According to a newly released report, the overpass, which acts as a bridge over a busy stretch of interstate, has helped cut wildlife-vehicle collisions by 91% since its completion 10 months ago.

The overpass is the centerpiece of a larger system built by the state to assist wildlife crossing the highway, which also includes miles of 8-ft-tall fencing and five large wildlife underpasses.

Florida governor has consistently opposed any legislation to curb planet-heating emissions, calling it a ‘radical climate agenda’

A life-sized statue of Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, was unveiled and promptly began melting in front of an audience in Tallahassee in a symbolic protest at his rejection of action on the climate crisis.

The silvery statue, revealed to an audience of onlookers last week, melted away to show a skull under DeSantis’s face. The structure was cast from solid gallium, a metal that melts at 85.6F (29.8C), which is below summertime high temperatures frequently reached in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital.

As Cop17 kicks off, records since 1921 show more bee species declining than increasing in all parts of Europe except the Alps

Most of Europe’s wild bee species and about half of its hover fly species have declined over the last century, a study has found, as a UN biodiversity summit begins in Armenia.

Records since 1921 show more bee species are declining than increasing in all parts of Europe except the Alpine region. The richness of bee and hover fly species suffered a persistent drop in the Atlantic and Continental regions, the study found, though trends in other regions were mixed or even positive.