EPA proposed undoing Biden-era policy on exposure to carcinogenic toxin in latest push to weaken toxin standards
Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the levels of exposure to highly carcinogenic formaldehyde it considers safe. If successful, people would continue to be exposed to concerning amounts of the toxin in thousands of everyday products used across the economy, experts and advocates say.
Formaldehyde, a pungent colorless gas at room temperature, is found in a range of cosmetics, personal care products, home cleaners, craft supplies, leather goods, furniture, clothing, plastic, building materials and other everyday goods. During Joe Biden’s term, EPA scientists took a major step toward reining in the broad societal risk by issuing a finding that any level of exposure to formaldehyde can cause cancer, and very low levels cause non-cancer health harms.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/19/2025 - 08:30
12/19/2025 - 08:00
Games such as Dragon Quest used to mobilize workers to back corporate goals including relaxing environmental rules
Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, is using retro-style video games to rally its US workforce behind its corporate goals, including lobbying to relax environmental rules, the Guardian can reveal.
Through an internal platform called Toyota Policy Drivers, employees can play games with names such as Star Quest, Adventure Quest and Dragon Quest, earning prizes by engaging with company messaging about policy and by contacting federal lawmakers using company-provided talking points.
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12/19/2025 - 05:00
Researchers noticed ‘dramatic’ changes in nutrients in crops, including drop in zinc and rise in lead
More carbon dioxide in the environment is making food more calorific but less nutritious – and also potentially more toxic, a study has found.
Sterre ter Haar, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and other researchers at the institution created a method to compare multiple studies on plants’ responses to increased CO2 levels. The results, she said, were a shock: although crop yields increase, they become less nutrient-dense. While zinc levels in particular drop, lead levels increase.
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12/19/2025 - 04:24
Long Island receives 21cm of snow, while a tornado tears down decorations near Málaga
Heavy snow fell in parts of New England this week. New York’s Central Park received a few centimetres of snow, while 21cm (8.5in) was dumped in parts of Long Island. This is the earliest New York has experienced snowfall since 2018.
New York narrowly missed out on widespread snowfall a few weeks ago. The low-pressure system tracked ever so slightly to the north of New York, enabling the warmer air to edge in. Meanwhile, upstate New York and other parts of New England were on the colder side of the system and received significant snow accumulations.
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12/19/2025 - 04:00
Exclusive: Ancient forests and turquoise rivers of the Cochamó Valley protected from logging, damming and development
A wild valley in Chilean Patagonia has been preserved for future generations and protected from logging, damming and unbridled development after a remarkable fundraising effort by local groups, the Guardian can reveal.
The 133,000 hectares (328,000 acres) of pristine wilderness in the Cochamó Valley was bought for $63m (£47m) after a grassroots campaign led by the NGO Puelo Patagonia, and the title to the wildlands was officially handed over to the Chilean nonprofit Fundación Conserva Puchegüín on 9 December.
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12/19/2025 - 03:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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12/19/2025 - 01:00
Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimates
The UK’s largest proposed datacentre is understating the scale of its planned water use, according to an analysis.
The first phase of construction for the hyperscale campus in Cambois in Northumberland has been given the go-ahead by the local council. The US operator QTS, which is developing the site, has promoted its “water-free” cooling system as proof of its sustainability.
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12/19/2025 - 00:00
In the Peloponnese mountains, the usually hardy trees are turning brown even where fires haven’t reached. Experts are raising the alarm on a complex crisis
In the southern Peloponnese, the Greek fir is a towering presence. The deep green, slow-growing conifers have long defined the region’s high-altitude forests, thriving in the mountains and rocky soils. For generations they have been one of the country’s hardier species, unusually capable of withstanding drought, insects and the wildfires that periodically sweep through Mediterranean ecosystems. These Greek forests have lived with fire for as long as anyone can remember.
So when Dimitrios Avtzis, a senior researcher at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) of Elgo-Dimitra, was dispatched to document the aftermath of a spring blaze in the region, nothing about the assignment seemed exceptional. He had walked into countless burnt landscapes, tracking the expected pockets of mortality, as well as the trees that survived their scorching.
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12/18/2025 - 09:29
Digital facilities that track wastage down to the gram have brought about behavioural change among users
Min Geum-nan walks towards a metal bin beneath her apartment block in Gangdong district, eastern Seoul carrying a small bag of vegetable peelings. She taps her resident card on the reader, the lid swings open, she empties the contents and scans again and a digital screen flashes: 0.5kg.
“You have no choice but to pay attention because you can see exactly what you’re wasting,” says Min, who has lived in the complex for 15 years and watched the system arrive in 2020.
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12/18/2025 - 09:00
Scientists say government must prepare for unlikely but ‘plausible’ 4C rise in temperature and a 2-metre rise in sea levels
The worst-case impacts of the climate crisis for the UK have been laid bare by scientists, ranging from a scorching 4C rise in temperatures to a 2-metre rise in sea level. Another scenario sees a plunge of 6C in temperature after the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents, massively disrupting farming and energy needs.
The impacts, some of which are linked to climate tipping points, are seen as low probability but plausible. The researchers said the scenarios filled a gap in forecasting that had left the UK unprepared for extreme outcomes.
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