Plaintiffs say Florida Crystals’ farming method that blights minority neighborhoods belies its climate-friendly claims
A major sugar company has been accused of harmful environmental practices while claiming to be a leader in the fight against the climate crisis, in a class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
Florida Crystals, one of the US’s biggest sugar firms, and its parent company, the Fanjul Corporation, are accused of deceiving consumers and endangering public health by continuing to use environmentally harmful pre-harvest burning.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/05/2025 - 13:55
03/05/2025 - 12:08
Gas and oil industry cautiously welcomes government proposals that could ease tax burden on sector
The UK government has unveiled proposals that could ease the tax burden on the offshore oil and gas sector but confirmed that it would also ban new drilling licences as part of a pledge to “unleash the North Sea’s clean energy future”.
The “windfall” tax on North Sea drillers, introduced in 2022 to help support households facing rising energy bills after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would be scrapped from 2030, the Treasury confirmed on Wednesday.
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03/05/2025 - 12:00
Conservationists say the rodents will fix ecosystems and bring wildlife back to wetlands
‘I feel real hope’: historic beaver release marks conservation milestone in England
Beavers have been legally released for the first time into England’s rivers. Conservationists are celebrating, as they say the large rodents will help heal broken ecosystems and bring wildlife back to wetland habitats.
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03/05/2025 - 11:00
Guardian investigation had revealed gas emissions could be linked to cognitive impairment in children living nearby
Revealed: a toxic metal is in a US city’s air – and may be harming children’s brains
An Oregon legislator has moved to ban the use of leaded fuel at a racetrack in Portland following community outcry and a Guardian investigation.
Leaded fuel has been banned for use in regular automobiles for decades, due to the toxic and irreversible impact of lead on the human brain and body as particles are emitted from tailpipes. However, it is still legal to use leaded gasoline in off-road vehicles, such as farm equipment – and racecars.
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03/05/2025 - 09:00
Cyclone Alfred formed in the Coral Sea towards the end of February when sea surface temperatures were almost 1C hotter than usual
Tropical Cyclone Alfred LIVE updates and latest news
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When and where is Cyclone Alfred likely to hit?
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Tropical Cyclone Alfred is due to hit south-east Queensland some time on Friday or early Saturday, bringing the risk of destructive winds, extreme flooding and storm surges to millions of people around Brisbane, the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales.
After last year was recorded as the hottest on record around the world, and the hottest for Australia’s oceans, what role could the climate crisis be playing in Tropical Cyclone Alfred and its impacts?
When and where is Cyclone Alfred likely to hit?
How to prepare for a cyclone
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03/05/2025 - 07:04
He is surrounded by people who have grandiose plans and dreams beyond our planet. Vengeful nihilism is a big part of the Maga project
In thinking about the war being waged against life on Earth by Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their minions, I keep bumping into a horrible suspicion. Could it be that this is not just about delivering the world to oligarchs and corporations – not just about wringing as much profit from living systems as they can? Could it be that they want to see the destruction of the habitable planet?
We know that Trump’s overriding purpose is power. We have seen that no amount of power appears to satisfy his craving. So let’s consider power’s ultimate destination. It is to become not only an emperor, but the last of the emperors: to close the chapter on civilisation. It is to scratch your name indelibly upon a geological epoch. Look on my works, ye vermin, and despair.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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03/05/2025 - 07:00
Study on cancer data in US agricultural heartland finds children more at risk than if exposed to just one pesticide
Exposure to multiple pesticides significantly increases the risk of childhood cancers compared with exposures to just one pesticide, first-of-its-kind research finds, raising new fears that children are more at risk to the substances’ harmful effects than previously thought.
The study’s authors say they are the first to look at the link between exposures to multiple widely used pesticides and the most common childhood cancers. Most research considers pesticides’ toxicity on an individual basis, and the substances are regulated as if exposures occur in isolation from one another.
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03/05/2025 - 06:00
Another day, another health scare. I’m struggling to know which dangers I should take seriously
If you want to stir up online controversy, wooden spoons are the perfect tool with which to do so. Every few years, influencers go viral with warnings about how the wooden spoons in your kitchen are covered in disgusting gunk and if you don’t boil them immediately you will poison yourself and everyone you love.
In 2023, for example, a woman called Lulaboo Jenkins posted a TikTok video of her boiling spoons. Millions of people watched the water turn brown and it triggered a deep-cleaning craze. The Guardian’s Tim Dowling had a go, detailing the results in an article that prompted more than 1,000 comments. Who knew spoons could inspire such a feverish response? (Well, Jenkins, I suppose.)
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03/05/2025 - 05:00
Guardian analysis finds fossil-fuel and mining firms have won $92bn of public money from states, with a growing number of cases backed by financial speculators
Read more: Fearing toxic waste, Greenland ended uranium mining. Now, they could be forced to restart - or pay $11bn
Financial speculators are investing in a growing number of lawsuits against governments over environmental laws and other regulations that affect profits, often generating lucrative awards, the Guardian has found.
For a long time, litigation finance thrived primarily in the realm of car crashes and employment claims. “Had an accident that wasn’t your fault?” was the industry’s billboard catchphrase, offering to finance lawsuits in exchange for a cut of any payout.
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03/05/2025 - 01:00
The plant multiplies quickly, is rich in vitamins, and eaten across Asia. Why isn’t it on supermarket shelves?
In the summer sun, duckweed (Wolffia globosa) can be a menace. It grows so fast it covers a pond in a few days, blocking out the light for the life below. But it is this ability to multiply and its high nutritional value that has made it a potentially valuable food.
Although commonly eaten in Asia, where varieties of duckweed are also known as water lentils or watermeal, it has taken nearly 10 years for scientists to convince the European Food Safety Authority that it is a vegetable that is safe to eat.
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