From the turtle-nesting beaches of Italy to Greek island bird havens, across the Mediterranean campaigners are fighting to protect habitats from tourists seeking a picture-perfect holiday
In the summer months in Puglia, southern Italy, the battle for the beaches begins before dawn. Armed with tractors, beach owners flatten every imperfection from the sand, dragging it to sift out anything large enough to be considered waste. As the sun rises, tourists flood the coastline, often unaware of what lies hidden beneath their feet.
Two feet below the surface, delicate eggs laid by loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are waiting to hatch. For the turtles, the beach is not a beauty spot but a habitat.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/02/2025 - 00:00
05/01/2025 - 23:12
Depending on where things end up after Saturday, the biggest climate push may come from the crossbench
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If further confirmation was needed that the Peter Dutton-led Coalition would take Australia aggressively backwards on dealing with the climate crisis, his final election costings released on Thursday tell the story in black and white.
The Liberal and National parties plan to gut programs designed to cut emissions and help create green industries to give the country an industrial future as demand for fossil fuels falls. They also plan to ignore advice that Australian nature is in poor and deteriorating health and strip back already limited funding for environment programs.
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05/01/2025 - 18:05
Service closing area in Oregon for wildfire prevention plan months after Trump order to increase timber production
Dozens of homeless people who have been living in a national forest in central Oregon for years were being evicted on Thursday by the US Forest Service, as it closed the area for a wildfire prevention project that will involve removing smaller trees, clearing debris and setting controlled burns over thousands of acres.
The project has been on the books for years, and the decision to remove the encampment in the Deschutes national forest comes two months after the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to increase timber production and forest management projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk. It wasn’t immediately clear if the evictions were a result of that order, but homeless advocates seized on the timing on Thursday, as US Forest Service officers blocked the access road.
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05/01/2025 - 15:59
DoJ says Clean Air Act creates program to oversee air pollution and ‘displaces’ states’ ability to regulate it
The US justice department on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their planned legal action against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by the climate crisis, claiming the state actions conflict with federal government authority and Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.
The suits, which legal experts say are unprecedented, mark the latest of the Trump administration’s attacks on environmental work and raise concern over states’ abilities to retain the power to take climate action without federal opposition.
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05/01/2025 - 13:00
Study using citizen data finds three-quarters of nearly 500 species in decline, with steepest trend in areas where they once thrived
Bird populations across North America are falling most quickly in areas where they are most abundant, according to new research, prompting fears of ecological collapse in previously protected areas.
Analysis of nearly 500 bird species across North America has found that three-quarters are declining across their ranges, with two-thirds of the total shrinking significantly.
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05/01/2025 - 12:50
Campaigners warn move could worsen access to nature for millions already living more than a 10-minute walk from park or playing field
Housing developers will be able to build on once-protected green spaces without having to replace the loss of nature in the nearby area, the Guardian understands.
New nature areas, parks and community gardens created to offset the removal of green spaces to make way for housing developments may not even have to be in the same county, under the new planning and infrastructure bill, sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Thursday.
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05/01/2025 - 12:32
Trump 100 days: tariffs, egg prices, Ice arrests and approval rating – in charts
Trump 100 days: inside Trump’s whirlwind start to his second presidency
Donald Trump signed 141 executive orders since returning to the presidency in January, including enacting steep tariffs, ending birthright citizenship, curbing DEI and “gender radicalism” in the military, and pardoning January 6 rioters.
The US president promised in his inaugural speech that these orders would amount to a “complete restoration of America”.
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05/01/2025 - 12:17
Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons here
Order your own print of this cartoon from the Guardian Print Shop
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05/01/2025 - 10:00
The Australian Institute for Progress’s ‘Can you afford the Greens?’ ads claim minor party’s housing policies would lead to increased rents
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A Liberal-aligned thinktank running last-minute anti-Greens advertisements targeting young voters received more than $600,000 from the coal industry during last year’s Queensland election, disclosures show.
On Monday evening, the Australian Institute for Progress released a “Can you afford the Greens?” video advertisement pushing claims, based on its own commissioned research, that the Greens’ housing policies would lead to increased rents.
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05/01/2025 - 10:00
Australia shipped 57m tonnes of coal for burning in overseas power plants between October and December last year, the most recorded for a three-month period
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Labor and the Coalition have been accused of going to the election on a “unity ticket” ignoring Australia’s main contribution to the climate crisis after a report revealed thermal coal exports reached record levels in the final quarter last year.
Government data shows the country shipped a record amount – 57m tonnes – of coal for burning in overseas power plants between October and December. It is the highest recorded for a three-month period.
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