A record 39,000 birds are overwintering on Wallasea island wetlands thanks to soil transported from London tunnels
Almost 40,000 birds have made their home on a nature reserve created using soil from tunnel excavations for the Elizabeth line.
Three million tonnes of earth were transported from London to Wallasea island in Essex and used to lift the ground level and make wetlands.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/26/2025 - 14:00
11/26/2025 - 11:12
Strategy paper released with budget allows new oil and gas projects to move ahead if they are linked to existing fields
The government has ruled out new North Sea oil and gas exploration or lower taxes for fossil fuel companies as it struggles to protect workers from the industry’s collapse.
In a strategy paper, Ed Miliband confirmed the crackdown on new North Sea exploration – although the energy secretary will still allow new offshore fossil fuel projects to move ahead as long as they are linked to existing fields.
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11/26/2025 - 11:00
Exclusive: Former US secretary of state calls for more demanding steps from Australia as it takes over presidency of next year’s UN climate summit
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Australia’s government, which will preside over the next UN climate summit, should gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a roadmap to end the era of fossil fuels, former US secretary of state John Kerry has said.
Only by “hard-nosed” confrontation with fossil fuel producers, and reducing their consumption in major economies, would the world be able to tackle the climate crisis, he said.
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11/26/2025 - 11:00
The Mohana of Pakistan’s Sindh province once thrived on the lake but pollution and drought have caused the fragile ecosystem to collapse, along with their way of life
At the mouth of Lake Manchar, gentle lapping disturbs the silence. A small boat cuts through the water, propelled by a bamboo pole scraping the muddy bottom of the canal.
Bashir Ahmed manoeuvres his frail craft with agility. His slender boat is more than just a means of transport. It is the legacy of a people who live to the rhythm of water: the Mohana. They have lived for generations on the waters of Lake Manchar in Sindh province, a vast freshwater mirror covering nearly 250 sq km. The lake, once the largest in Pakistan, was long an oasis of life. Now, it is dying.
Bashir Ahmed in his boat on the lake, next to simple huts built on top of the right bank outfall drain
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11/26/2025 - 10:41
EPA had previously said rule reducing fine particle matter from vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year
The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources.
The action follows moves by the administration last week to weaken federal rules protecting millions of acres of wetlands and streams and roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live. In a separate action, the interior department proposed new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.
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11/26/2025 - 09:00
While greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.2% or 9.9m tonnes last financial year, new policies are needed to meet the 2035 target
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Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.2% last financial year, in what the Albanese government says is the largest annual drop due to reduced fossil fuel use outside the Covid-19 pandemic.
About half of the 9.9m tonnes reduction was due to an increase in solar and wind generation pushing coal-fired power out of the system, according to new government data to be released on Thursday.
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11/26/2025 - 02:29
If Labor cannot reach deal on Thursday, it will mark second time in 12 months that it has failed to secure planned EPBC Act reforms
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Anthony Albanese is yet to land a deal to rewrite federal nature laws ahead of parliament’s final sitting day of the year, leaving the long-promised reforms at risk of collapse for the second time in 12 months.
But political, industry and environment movement sources expect the Greens will eventually accept an 11th-hour compromise after Labor offered new concessions to secure the minor party’s support.
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11/25/2025 - 19:20
As Australians face a maelstrom of interconnected disasters, the climate catastrophe has become just one of many things to doomscroll about
Guardian Essential poll: only a quarter of older Australians believe climate change can be prevented
The Cop30 climate talks have ended in Brazil with a collective shrug of the shoulders after the Goliaths of the fossil energy industry once again flexed their muscles to show the world who is really in control.
As our Pacific Island neighbours pleaded for their very survival, more than 1,600 industry lobbyists crashed the party, joining forcing with the Saudis and Russians to kibosh the phase-out of fossil fuels.
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Guardian Essential poll: only a quarter of older Australians believe climate change can be prevented
11/25/2025 - 09:00
Results show a ‘general sense of gloom’ as fewer Australians now believe climate change is caused by humans compared with March
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Twice as many older Australians than young adults believe the world cannot do anything to prevent the worst effects of our rapidly heating climate, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
The poll of 1,020 Australians last week,also found just 53% of people think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity. That has declined one point from March 2025, when 54% of respondents said the same.
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11/25/2025 - 06:00
Trump puts US in unflattering company as lack of representative reveals disdain for climate progress
More than two decades ago, the US railed against the “axis of evil”. Now, after international climate talks spluttered to a meagre conclusion, the US finds itself grouped with unflattering company – an “axis of obstruction” that has stymied progress on the climate crisis.
Donald Trump’s administration opted to not send anyone to the UN climate summit in Brazil that culminated over the weekend – a first for the US in 30 years of these annual gatherings and another representation of the president’s disdain for the climate crisis, which he has called a “hoax” and a “con job”.
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