LA wildfires and storms this year cost $101bn, new study by non-profit resurrecting work axed by Trump says
The first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for major disasters in the US, driven by huge wildfires in Los Angeles and storms that battered much of the rest of the country, according to a climate non-profit that has resurrected work axed by Donald Trump’s administration that tracked the biggest disasters.
In the first six months of this year, 14 separate weather-related disasters that each caused at least $1bn in damage hit the US, the Climate Central group has calculated. In total, these events cost $101bn in damages – lost homes, businesses, highways and other infrastructure – a toll higher than any other first half of a year since records on this began in 1980.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/22/2025 - 09:00
10/22/2025 - 08:00
Experts say the administration’s Maha agenda ‘betrays the public’ and doesn’t actually seek to regulate junk food
As health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr has repeatedly blamed industrially manufactured food products for the country’s chronic illness and obesity crises, and urged Americans to limit their consumption of foods with added sugar, salt, fat, dyes and preservatives.
Amid a slew of controversial and unbacked public health claims, his stance on ultra-processed foods is one of his least polarizing. More than 65% of Americans say they are in favor of reforming processed foods to remove added sugars and added dyes, according to a January Associated Press and National Opinion Research Center poll.
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10/22/2025 - 05:00
Data analysis found higher than average migration growth to the US from areas in Guatemala, Bangladesh and Senegal hit by repeated climate disasters
This article was produced in partnership between Columbia Journalism Investigations and Documented.
Mohamed* sat cross-legged on the carpet before Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque in the South Bronx in New York City and shared memories of his crops.
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10/22/2025 - 04:08
Green groups defend ‘essential’ levy, but Gü desserts and Belvoir drinks among those who say shoppers pick up bill
A packaging tax designed to end our throwaway society is under fire for inadvertently adding to food price inflation as it pushes up the cost of everything from sausages to soft drinks.
“It’s about 3p on a pack of sausages,” says Andrew Keeble, the co-founder of Heck, of the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) tax.
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10/22/2025 - 04:00
Interviews with experts and key players across four countries reveal why efforts to stop the multibillion-euro trafficking industry have failed – and how to save the endangered fish
By 10am on the midsummer Day of the Ox, the city of Narita smells of charcoal and sugar. The cobbled road is thronged with visitors lining up to buy grilled eel, a traditional delicacy believed to cool the body and keep spirits up in the humid weather.
“We’ll be so sad if it becomes extinct and we can’t eat eel any more,” says a customer sitting on the tatami-mat floor in Kawatoyo, a popular restaurant specialising in grilled eel, which has been operating for more than 115 years.
Kabayaki-style eel, grilled with tare sauce, served at Kawatoyo restaurant in Narita. Photograph: Toru Hanai
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10/22/2025 - 00:52
Annual survey finds about 21% of 249 swimming sites across NSW received ratings of ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ for water quality
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Coogee beach and Shelly beach in Manly have ranked among the Sydney swimming sites most polluted with faecal matter in the city, a government report has found.
About 21% of 249 swimming sites across NSW received a rating of “poor” or “very poor” in the 2024-25 NSW State of the Beaches report, part of an annual survey by the NSW department of environment.
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10/22/2025 - 00:46
Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded dolphins, revealing a 2.4% drop in population growth linked to bycatch deaths and environmental pressures. The findings expose flaws in traditional counting methods and call for adaptive conservation measures, such as smarter fishing restrictions.
10/22/2025 - 00:37
Get out of the Honda Gwyneth!
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10/22/2025 - 00:00
Campaigners say figures reveal a lack of enforcement with just 24 fines issued by councils for rule violations
Not one prosecution for illegal wood burning has been made in the past year, despite 15,195 complaints across England, data shows.
Additionally, just 24 fines were issued by local authorities between September 2024 and August 2025, responses to freedom of information requests by the campaign group Mums for Lungs revealed.
This article was amended on 22 October 2025. The original version stated that there had been just one prosecution in the last year; in fact there have been none.
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10/21/2025 - 23:01
Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite ‘exponential’ growth of renewables
Coal use hit a record high around the world last year despite efforts to switch to clean energy, imperilling the world’s attempts to rein in global heating.
The share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But the general increase in power demand meant that more coal was used overall, according to the annual State of Climate Action report, published on Wednesday.
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