Residents of Gloster, Mississippi, are suing plant that exports wood pellets to UK and Europe. Company says it is reducing emissions
When Helen Reed first learned about the bioenergy mill opening in her hometown of Gloster, Mississippi, the word was it would bring jobs and economic opportunities. It was only later that she learned that activity came with a cost: the Amite Bioenergy mill, opened in 2014 by British energy giant Drax, emits large – and sometimes illegal – quantities of air pollutants, including methanol, acrolein and formaldehyde, which are linked to cancers and other serious illnesses.
“When I go out, I can’t hardly catch my breath,” Reed said. “Everything is worse since Drax came here.”
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/17/2025 - 11:00
12/17/2025 - 09:00
Legal temporary farm workers also worry about the H-2A visa program and Trump’s anti-immigration regime
This article is a collaboration between the Guardian and Enlace Latino NC, an independent bilingual publication.
On a cold December afternoon, about 10 workers load the season’s final Christmas trees onto a truck at Wolf Creek Tree Farm and Nursery in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Nearby, another group takes a break, warming up around a barrel fire. More workers are out in the fields, a half-hour’s drive up further into the mountains.
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12/17/2025 - 07:00
Greece is hoping that protected areas will help keep daytrippers away and allow vulnerable monk seals to return to their island habitats
Deep in a sea cave in Greece’s northern Sporades, a bulky shape moves in the gloom. Someone on the boat bobbing at a distance offshore passes round a pair of binoculars and yes! – there it is. It’s a huge Mediterranean monk seal, one of the world’s rarest marine mammals , which at up to 2.8 metres and over 300kg (660lbs), is also one of the world’s largest types of seal.
Piperi, where the seal has come ashore, is a strictly guarded island in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and Northern Sporades, Greece’s largest marine protected area (MPA) and a critical breeding habitat for the seals. Only researchers are allowed within three miles of its shores, with permission from the government’s Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency.
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12/17/2025 - 05:41
Ministers hint at further relaxation of zero emission mandate but say will not follow EU over 2035 petrol cars ban
The UK is to bring forward its review of electric vehicle sales targets from 2027 to next year, as the government said it would listen to the concerns of the car industry.
The news came as ministers said they would not weaken plans to ban the sale of new petrol or diesel cars from 2035, after the EU announced plans to water down the timing of the phaseout of new combustion engine vehicles.
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12/17/2025 - 01:00
Price of turkey jumps as much as £15 compared with 2024, while chocolate has steepest mark-up
Shoppers are paying up to 70% more for Christmas chocolate treats compared with last year, while the price of a turkey has jumped by as much as £15, according to the consumer champion Which?
The group analysed a range of ingredients for a typical Christmas dinner, as well as other typical festive treats including mince pies, sparkling wine and chocolates.
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12/17/2025 - 00:00
Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humans
A group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos.
Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but are thought to be used as a mode of communication, according to Rajkumar K P, a Zoological Society of London fellow and researcher.
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40 priority questions to advance understanding of the risks and opportunities of UK marine heatwaves
12/17/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 17 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00171-0
40 priority questions to advance understanding of the risks and opportunities of UK marine heatwaves
12/16/2025 - 22:50
Environmentalists say proposed temporary suspension of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides ‘doesn’t go far enough’
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Commonly available rat poisons pose unacceptable risks to native wildlife, according to a government review that has stopped short of recommending a blanket ban on the products, to the consternation of animal advocates.
The long-awaited review of first- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides – FGARs and SGARs – has recommended the cancellation of some products, but a large array of waxes, pellets and blocks could continue to be sold to consumers subject to stricter labelling and conditions of use.
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12/16/2025 - 12:54
Housing minister announces exemption to 10% net gain rule in England for smaller developments
The government has broken its promise to protect nature by weakening planning rules for housing developers, groups have said.
While developers once had to create “biodiversity net gain” (BNG), meaning creating 10% more space for nature on site than there was before the building took place, the housing minister Matthew Pennycook announced exemptions to this rule on Tuesday.
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12/16/2025 - 12:01
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say
The Arctic endured a year of record heat and shrunken sea ice as the world’s northern latitudes continue a rapid shift to becoming rainier and less ice-bound due to the climate crisis, scientists have reported.
From October 2024 to September 2025, temperatures across the entire Arctic region were the hottest in 125 years of modern record keeping, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said, with the last 10 years being the 10 warmest on record in the Arctic.
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