Environment

Environment

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Earlier this year, my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his eight colleagues, known collectively as the Ogoni Nine, were pardoned for a crime they never committed. After peacefully campaigning against environmental degradation of Ogoniland in Nigeria at the hands of the oil industry, they were imprisoned by the military dictatorship on false charges of treason and incitement to murder, following a trial condemned by the international community as a sham.

In northern Ghana's Yiwagu community, farming has long been the backbone of local livelihoods. But in recent years, harvests especially shea nuts have dwindled. Locals blame the decline on erratic rainfall and rising temperatures, symptoms of a changing climate. In response, the ethnic minority community has turned to traditional conservation practices. Chiefs and local leaders have banned tree felling and other harmful activities in nearby forests.

Cedara, the AI engine for sustainable media, announced that it has been recognised as a major contender in Everest Group's Carbon Accounting Platform PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025. The PEAK Matrix® Assessment by Everest Group provides a comparative evaluation of leading carbon accounting platforms globally. The assessment measures platforms on vision, functionality, market impact, and cost to help enterprises identify the right solutions for their sustainability initiatives.

Over one hundred thousand Californians lined up for a modest voucher that would help them drive less, save money, and move freely. Ending that opportunity now ignores that clear demand and walks back hard-won progress,

There are many small things you can do to shave dollars off your monthly energy bill, and they go beyond simply switching off the lights when you leave the room. Did you know that you can save 3% on cooling costs for every 1°F decrease in your thermostat setting? As a fan of data, I've explored multiple quantifiable ways to save energy and how these methods translate into financial savings.

People enjoy at Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge during a warm weather in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 26, 2025. After a streak of sunshine, forecasters said the skies will turn dramatically, with a 20% chance of thunderstorms across the entire Bay Area on Wednesday. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images) The Bay Area's weather this week is a tale of two extremes: warm sunny days and an atmospheric river storm that could bring multiple inches of rain.

falling in Austria and the Himalayas,deliquescing into the dirt of Russia, unloading its burden of soot and dustfrom the coal plants, the coalfields and pits of Prokopyevsk, Kiselevsk, Leninsk-Kuznetski,their soldiers deliquescing into the local cemetery, returned from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Ukraine- blacksnow, the words sound so pretty, like black apples from Arkansas, or the Black Diamond apple of Tibet,stained purple by sunlight, expensive and rare,

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

At least 60 bicyclists celebrated the sixth anniversary of access across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, with a round-trip group ride Sunday morning from Richmond BART to the Jean & John Starkweather Shoreline Park entrance at the San Rafael landing. Until 2019, there was no bike access at all on the bridge. While the mood during the 18-mile ride was upbeat on a warm and sunny day, the loss of the bridge bike lane during the work week weighed heavily on many advocates.

The attacks seemed to come from nowhere. At first, the tigers snatched guard dogs on the edge of villages in Russia's far east, emerging from the forest at night to prey. Others went for livestock, going after horses and cattle. Then the attacks on people began. In January, an ice fisher was mauled at night and dragged away by a big cat, just weeks after a forester had been killed. In March, another man was attacked and partly eaten by a tiger.

Typhoon Fung-Wong, locally known as Uwan, is the second in a week to affect the Philippines after making landfall on Sunday evening. The weather system prompted warnings for heavy rainfall and life-threatening storm surges across much of the country, with sustained winds of 115mph (185km/h) and gusts of about 140mph recorded on Sunday by the national meteorological agency. By the time Fung-Wong moves past the Philippines early this week, more than 200mm of rainfall is expected to have fallen on Luzon, the country's most populous

We are letting you know that there have been sightings of a flamingo on the coast of Brittany in France. There is a population of greater flamingos in southern France, and the young birds look very similar to Frankie, but we believe we can see the feathers on the right wing have been clipped. We are awaiting more photos to help confirm if it is Frankie.

Over those three decades, the U.S. population soared by 28% and the economy, as measured by gross domestic product adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. Yet U.S. emissions from many of the activities that produce greenhouse gases-transportation, industry, agriculture, heating and cooling of buildings-have remained about the same over the past 30 years. Transportation is a bit up; industry a bit down. And electricity, once the nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, has seen its emissions drop significantly.

Every day. Nearly. Every. Damn. Day. Maybe twice a day. Shooting rigidly awake from blissful sleep into the literal warzone of bleating death engines. My complex is surrounded sometimes by several dudes just running their nozzles over the same already clean patch of grass. It sends my dog into a mania. It sends me into a depression. Running a commercial gas-powered leaf blower for one hour

She has tweaked it over the years, but it still reads like a horror movie prop list: her liver is to be sent to France to be made into foie gras, her skin to Hermes to create a handbag and her lips to whichever US president is in power, to shame them for granting a patronising pardon to a turkey each Thanksgiving.

The rare linking up of the two trails which traverse New Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado's high-elevation passes, Old Faithful in Yellowstone national park in Wyoming, the alpine scenery of Montana and Glacier national park and the remote backcountry of Banff, Canada captivated tens of thousands of viewers online as Guo recorded and edited her daily journeys, while keeping a pace of around 48km (30 miles) each day.

Aphids toiled brittle stems as we met the dike to rob snakehead buds of their fruit. I gathered persimmons, podgy maypops. You puckered, sucked seeds, tannins, the half-ripe pulp half-glossy, sicksweet. Down lying in crowds of dry grasses, your warm legs pile beads of sweat. Even our silken fruits offer their wet to afternoon sky. Oh darling, this impartial land has grown strange in our rocky

Many (but not all) monarchs migrate seasonally, seeking refuge from too-cold temperatures. In Western North America, monarchs fly south from Canada and the Pacific Northwest to overwinter in temperate spots along the California coast. Some come from colder regions west of the Rocky Mountains, too. The overwintering season in California is roughly October to February. During this time, monarchs cluster together in packed colonies for warmth-in a good year, thousands of monarchs might rest on a single tree, creating a kaleidoscope of brilliantly colored wings.

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has welcomed world leaders to Belém for the first climate summit in the Amazon, where conservationists hope he can be a champion for the rain forest and its people. But with a divided administration, a hostile Congress, and 20th-century developmentalist instincts, this global figurehead of the center left has a balancing act to perform in advocating protection of nature and a reduction of emissions.

As workplaces have evolved, billionaire executives have quickly upgraded their luxury travel options to be fully equipped for remote work. This has included dedicated office space, high-speed satellite internet connections, board rooms, and even additional desk areas for support staff on yachts. "After Covid, working remotely became easy for everyone, and there's no reason you couldn't do it from a yacht," said yacht charterer Dimitris Angelakos, per the Wall Street Journal.

Clark County Water Reclamation District (CCWRD) claims that, this summer, Boring Company employees refused to stop dumping drilling fluids when inspectors arrived at its project site near the center of town and directed them to stop, according to the violation. The next day, Boring apparently "feigned compliance" only to continue dumping the wastewater after a company manager "assumed district inspectors had departed the property," according to a cease-and-desist letter.

The ice had probably just frozen over when one of our employees, Danny, spotted Charlie skating and got that photo,