Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t over
Piles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.
The scale of devastation from a historic fire season of wildfire in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state.
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08/10/2026 - 06:00
08/10/2026 - 06:00
Rainforest communities face a silent crisis as mercury from gold mining contaminates their food and water
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08/10/2026 - 05:07
Thousands of residents in British Columbia's wine and orchard region were ordered to evacuate on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire in western Canada nearly doubled in size overnight. The Bald Range fire was burning out of control across about 9,500 hectares, prompting evacuation orders in Summerland, Peachland and other districts west of Okanagan Lake
Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee
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08/10/2026 - 05:00
Truman Capote had a ‘crow bro’; Dickens had a raven. And I get standoffish Susan, who has never brought me a present or perched on my shoulder
One of the greatest failures of my life to date (along with my sons’ shameful inability to eat apples correctly, down to the core) is my inability to attract a “crow bro”. That’s a corvid companion, and more and more people apparently have them, including Washington Post journalist Caitlin Gibson, who recently wrote about hers, Cormac, a charismatic fish crow with a taste for cashews.
It’s not a new phenomenon – Charles Dickens had a pet raven, Grip; Truman Capote had a crow called Lola – but thanks to CrowTok (a wholesome online enclave where people post enthusiastically about the exploits of their feathery familiars), there seem to be more corvid whisperers than ever. Yet however many unshelled peanuts (the recommended treat) I scatter, I can never seem to get a shred of attention from a black-feathered beauty.
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Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai
08/09/2026 - 22:46
Authorities warn that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides as storm moves north and further inland
More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides.
Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, said it relocated more than 900,000 people and opened more than 1,500 emergency shelters. In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people were moved from high-risk areas.
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08/09/2026 - 21:00
Average sea surface temperature outside polar regions was highest on record for July, beating previous high in 2023
The world’s seas were hotter last month than in any July on record, scientists have said, as devastating heat struck western Europe.
Sea surface temperatures hit record highs for July on the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, the EU’s Copernicus climate change service found, with severe marine heatwaves roiling Europe’s seas. Globally, the average sea surface temperature outside the cold polar regions was the highest on record for the month, beating the previous July record set in 2023.
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08/09/2026 - 13:20
British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ efforts
Canada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations.
A total of 102 wildfires were raging across the province on Sunday, of which nearly half were categorised as “out of control”, according to the BC Wildfire Service. Of those fires, 78 ignited during the past week.
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08/09/2026 - 13:05
Levels at reservoir along Arizona-Nevada border dipped below previous record set in 2022, amid water crisis in west
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, the latest sign of a deepening water crisis in the American west.
Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4ft (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That’s just below the record set on 28 July 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.
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The Guardian view on India’s green growth gamble: it will need more than private finance | Editorial
08/09/2026 - 11:25
The world’s most populous country needs state-generated demand to industrialise, decarbonise and avoid China’s overcapacity trap
India is attempting to do something the world has never seen before. So claimed Niti Aayog, the government of India’s policy thinktank, earlier this year. It said that no major economy has tried to expand GDP nearly eightfold within a generation while simultaneously redirecting its energy and industrial systems to reach net zero within two generations. Hence its detailed report’s claim that there is “no historical precedent”.
There is something to this. China industrialised at vast scale, but not on a sustainable net zero path. Korea, Japan and Europe became wealthy by industrialising before decarbonising. Today, rich nations have already satisfied the basic demands of their people and created the infrastructure and high per-capita energy use that India is still trying to build. The world’s most populous country has to do this while also reducing emissions.
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08/09/2026 - 10:00
Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communities
Miquette Thompson’s home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.
“It’s become not unusual,” she said of walking outside and seeing a hazy sky.
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