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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Environment

  • a person walks across a flooded street

    ‘It is devastating’: unprecedented floods in US strain small businesses

    As the climate crisis causes heavier and more frequent floods across the US, one in four small businesses are one disaster away from shutting down
  • A Guardian collage of images from industry 1970s industry periodical Marathon World published by a corporate predecessor of Marathon Petroleum

    US oil company ran 1977 article predicting climate crisis could cause starvation

  • a wildfire burns

    US government urged to declare wildfire smoke and extreme heat major disasters

  • a reservoir

    Residents of Illinois town evacuate as officials warn of ‘imminent’ dam failure

  • Heat Advisory in effect until Wednesday night in New York<br>NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - JULY 15: A woman tries to cool off with a fan that spray water to refresh people during a hot day as the National Weather Service on Monday issued a warning due to hot weather that will remain in effect until Wednesday night in New York City, United States on July 15, 2024. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Millions of US low-income households face power shutoffs amid deadly heat

  • a road

    Firefighters contain wildfire threatening 200 homes on Hawaiian island of Kauai

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CO2 tracker

Latest news

  • A Coles checkout terminal in Canberra affected by the Windows outage

    Live
    Windows outage live: Albanese government holds emergency meeting as airlines, supermarkets and banks affected; PM says ‘no impact’ to critical infrastructure

  • A pair of men with one carrying a boxed up standing fan.

    Six million people at risk from extreme heat in England, campaign group warns

    Friends of the Earth says older people and young children are most at risk in heat-vulnerable neighbourhoods
  • The five defendants smiling in a group pose in a church yard

    Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25

    Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for non-violent protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance
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Big oil uncovered

  • Two men in hard hats, jumpsuits and heavy boots work on dark purple painted pipes above, with pink floppy tubes and hard blue tubes.

    Colorado oil and gas wells can’t fund their own cleanup. Taxpayers may foot the bill

  • An underwater view of a lot of plastic garbage, including a plastic bag, a plastic bottle and small bits of plastic.

    Plastics companies blocked mitigation efforts and may have broken US laws – study

  • A very thin woman raises a plastic bottle to her lips, in full sun with a blue tarp behind her.

    Lawyers could charge big oil with homicide after 2023 Arizona heatwave

  • A side-by-side image of Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott

    Elected officials in sweltering US states prioritizing fossil fuel cash over people

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America's dirty divide

  • Woman hands out bottled water with American flags in background

    Houston swelters in punishing heat as 800,000 without power after Beryl

  • A man walks through cooling mist

    Urban heat island effect making temperatures 8F hotter in 65 US cities – study

  • A swimmer learns to float during a free swimming lesson organized by Black People Will Swim at York College in Jamaica, Queens, New York, on Thursday, June 20th, 2024.

    A New York program is helping Black people of all ages enjoy swimming: ‘It’s very empowering’

  • A pregnant woman holds her belly

    Why pregnant people are more at risk during heatwaves – and ways to stay safe

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Our unequal earth

  • Reem Assil with Arabic bread out of the oven

    For Palestinian restaurateurs in the US, it’s not just about the food: ‘We have to prove we’re human’

  • A young woman stare exasperatedly at a kitchen setup.

    ‘Buy your back brace now’: The Bear sidesteps the grueling physical costs of restaurant work

  • Students tap a tree for maple syrup in Randolph, Vermont, on 20 May 2024.

    ‘It’s the future of sugar’: new technology feeds Vermont maple syrup boom amid climate crisis

  • signs posted above water fountains read 'do not drink until further notice'

    Kids have a right to water in US schools, but does that water make the grade?

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The age of extinction

  • A composite of eight photos: a young blonde woman; a beetle; a singer in a winged green costume; a spiky orange sea slug; the former US president Barack Obama; a heart-shaped veined blue plant; Hitler; and a lizard on sand

    What links Lady Gaga, Obama and Hitler? How famous people can give new species a bad name

  • A small dark fox sits in sunlight on an outcrop covered in plants.

    Winning images of the 2024 BigPicture natural world photography competition

    A fox in the sun, fireflies and a brush fire, and trees blanketed with butterflies are among the striking images caught by winners of the California Academy of Sciences’ annual competition. Now in its 11th year, it highlights biodiversity and the many threats our planet faces
  • Two zoo workers stand next to an enclosure with two elephants in it

    First Asian elephant vaccinated in fight against deadly herpes virus

    Tess, a 40-year-old female at Houston zoo, has been given a trial mRNA vaccine to help combat the virus, a leading killer of calves in captivity
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Seascape

  • Two people stand before a long line of stranded whales on a deserted beach under a grey and cloudy sky

    How to solve a mass stranding: what caused 77 healthy whales to die on a Scottish beach?

  • A man dives below the surface with two tuna

    Swim with the fishes: is tuna tourism just a bit of harmless holiday fun?

    • A man holds a large piece of seaweed over his head

      ‘Instead of crisps, kids could eat snacks from the sea’: the forager chef looking to revolutionise Chile’s diet

    • Two sleek seals on a beach bare their teeth at each other

      ‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers

    • A woman wearing a pink rash vest sitting on a surfboard in the sea

      ‘All threats to the sea come from humans’: how lawyers are gearing up to fight for the oceans

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Opinion

  • Helen Sullivan

    A hairy caterpillar: a ginger toupee, twitching cartoonishly

    Helen Sullivan
  • Emma Beddington

    Raging, radical and ready for change: France’s angry green women are an inspiration to us all

    Emma Beddington
  • a home damaged from a hurricane

    ‘Antidotes to despair’: five things we’ve learned from the world’s best climate journalists

    Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope
  • Adam Morton

    Climate protesters won’t be deterred by fines, jail or political mixed messages on the environment

    Adam Morton
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Multimedia

  • A seagull

    Week in wildlife – in pictures: warthog drama, a fox at the museum and our rarest whale

  • Timber-framed homes nestling in the rugged countryside of the Isle of Harris, Scotland

    Eco homes near the sea for sale in Great Britain – in pictures

    From a Grand Designs-style property nestled underground to a remote timber-framed home on a hillside
  • The Canadian rapper Drake shared footage of his home submerged in flood water after storms hit Toronto

    0:48

    Record rainfall hits parts of Toronto – video

    The Canadian rapper Drake shared footage of his home submerged in flood water after storms hit Toronto
  • California researchers set up webcam to collect data on rattlesnakes without disturbing them

    0:46

    Rattlesnake 'mega den' with as many as 2,000 snakes livestreaming from Colorado – video

  • Spade-toothed beaked whales have never been seen alive

    0:32

    The world’s rarest whale may have washed up on a New Zealand beach - video

  • Close-up of endangered Red Handfish embryos

    Beaker Street science photography prize – in pictures

  • 40 baby snails were born in the last fortnight, after initially struggling to reproduce in captivity

    0:39

    Footage shows snail on the brink of extinction giving birth through its neck - video

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