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UK government report calls for taskforce to save England’s historic trees

Exclusive: Ancient oaks ‘as precious as stately homes’ could receive stronger legal safeguards under new proposalsAncient and culturally important trees in England could be given legal protections under plans in a UK government-commissioned report.Sentencing guidelines would be changed under the plans so those who destroy important trees would face tougher criminal penalties. Additionally, a database of such trees would be drawn up, and they could be given automatic protections, with the current system of tree preservation orders strengthened to accommodate this.In 2020, the 300-year-old Hunningham Oak near Leamington was felled to make way for infrastructure projects.In 2021, the Happy Man tree in Hackney, which the previous year had won the Woodland Trust’s tree of the year contest, was felled to make way for housing development.In 2022, a 600-year-old oak was felled in Bretton, Peterborough, which reportedly caused structural damage to nearby property.In 2023, 16 ancient lime trees on The Walks in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, were felled to make way for a dual carriageway. Continue reading...

Ancient and culturally important trees in England could be given legal protections under plans in a UK government-commissioned report.Sentencing guidelines would be changed under the plans so those who destroy important trees would face tougher criminal penalties. Additionally, a database of such trees would be drawn up, and they could be given automatic protections, with the current system of tree preservation orders strengthened to accommodate this.There was an outpouring of anger this week after it was revealed that a 500-year-old oak tree in Enfield, north London, was sliced almost down to the stumps. It later emerged it had no specific legal protections, as most ancient and culturally important trees do not.After the Sycamore Gap tree was felled in 2023, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asked the Tree Council and Forest Research to examine current protections for important trees and to see if they needed to be strengthened. The trial of two men accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree is due to take place later this month at Newcastle crown court.The report, seen by the Guardian, found there is no current definition for important trees, and that some of the UK’s most culturally important trees have no protection whatsoever. The researchers have directed ministers to create a taskforce within the next 12 months to clearly define “important trees” and swiftly prepare an action plan to save them.Defra sources said ministers were evaluating the findings of the report.Jon Stokes, the director of trees, science and research at the Tree Council, said: “Ancient oaks can live up to 1,000 years old and are as precious as our stately homes and castles,” Stokes explained. “Our nation’s green heritage should be valued and protected and we will do everything we can to achieve this.”Currently, the main protection for trees is a tree preservation order (TPO), which is granted by local councils. Failing to obtain the necessary consent and carrying out unauthorised works on a tree with a TPO can lead to a fine of up to £20,000.The Woodland Trust has called for similar protections, proposing the introduction of a list of nationally important heritage trees and a heritage TPO that could be used to promote the protection and conservation of the country’s oldest and most important trees. The charity is using citizen science to create a database of ancient trees.The report’s authors defined “important trees” as shorthand for “trees of high social, cultural, and environmental value”. This includes ancient trees, which are those that have reached a great age in comparison with others of the same species, notable trees connected with specific historic events or people, or well-known landmarks. It could also include “champion trees”, which are the largest individuals of their species in a specific geographical area, and notable trees that are significant at a local scale for their size or have other special features.Richard Benwell, the CEO of the environmental group Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Ancient trees are living monuments. They are bastions for nature in an increasingly hostile world and home to a spectacular richness of wildlife. We cannot afford to keep losing these living legends if we want to see nature thrive for future generations. The government should use the planning and infrastructure bill to deliver strict protection for ancient woodlands, veteran trees, and other irreplaceable habitats.”Felled ancient trees In 2020, the 300-year-old Hunningham Oak near Leamington was felled to make way for infrastructure projects. In 2021, the Happy Man tree in Hackney, which the previous year had won the Woodland Trust’s tree of the year contest, was felled to make way for housing development. In 2022, a 600-year-old oak was felled in Bretton, Peterborough, which reportedly caused structural damage to nearby property. In 2023, 16 ancient lime trees on The Walks in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, were felled to make way for a dual carriageway.

Government
Conservation
Forests

A 'calamity waiting to unfold': Altadena residents with standing homes fear long-term health effects

Two Altadena residents set out to collect testing data for toxic contaminants within the Eaton burn area's standing homes. They found lead everywhere.

On Jan. 7, two residents on opposite sides of Altadena — Francois Tissot, a Caltech professor who studies the geology of ancient Earth and our solar system, living in the east side of town; and Jane Potelle, an environmental advocate living in the west side — fled the intensifying red glow of the devastating Eaton fire.The inferno devoured home after home, unleashing what experts estimate to be tons of dangerous metals and compounds, from lead to asbestos to the carcinogen benzene. Carried through the vicious winds, the toxins embedded deep into the soil, seeped into the blood of first responders, and leaked into structures in the area that hadn’t burned down.Within weeks, Altadena residents whose homes had withstood the fire began to return — yet few were testing for contaminants both Tissot and Potelle knew were almost certainly sitting in their still-standing houses.Working independently, they both decided to create a comprehensive picture of the contamination lurking within surviving homes, both in the burn area and miles outside it.They came to similar results: In the houses inside the burn zone, there was lead — a metal capable of dealing irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system — at levels far exceeding 100 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s allowable limits. Tissot’s group also found lead levels exceeding the limit over five miles from the fire’s perimeter.“Children exposed to lead will have diminished cognitive development,” said Tissot, referencing studies that found exposure to leaded gasoline in though the 1990s was correlated with a drop in children’s IQ (an imperfect but useful metric for reasoning ability) by up to seven points. “To me, what’s at stake is the future of a generation of zero- to 3-year-olds,” Tissot said. “If nothing is done, then these children will be exposed. But it’s totally avoidable.” Activists and community leaders, along with residents who were force to evacuate when the Eaton fire swept through the city of Altadena, gather at an apartment complex where several residents are living with little to no utilities. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) Potelle, frustrated with the lack of government response to contamination concerns, started a grassroots organization with other Altadena residents with standing homes to collect and publish tests conducted by certified specialists.The organization, Eaton Fire Residents United, or EFRU, found lead in every single one of the 90 homes for which they’ve collected test results. Of those, 76% were above the EPA limits.EFRU and Tissot’s team were distressed by these data, particularly seeing debris-removal and remediation contractors work without masks in the burn area and some residents even begin to return home.In early April, Anita Ghazarian, co-lead of EFRU’s political advocacy team, went back to her standing home within the burn zone to pick up mail. She watched as a grandmother pushed a toddler in a stroller down the street.“She has no idea … this area is toxic,” Ghazarian recalled thinking. The gravity of the situation sunk in. “To me, it’s just — unfortunately — a calamity waiting to unfold.”Evidence mounted in the 1950s that even small amounts of lead exposure could harm children’s brains. But by the time the U.S. banned lead in paint in 1978, roughly 96% of the homes in Altadena that burned in the Eaton fire were already built. In the Palisades, that number was 78% — smaller, but still significant. Jared Franz looks at the state of his kitchen, which survived the Eaton Fire, but is inhabitable due to smoke damage. (William Liang/For The Times) (William Liang/For The Times) After the Eaton fire, Tissot did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation to understand what his Altadena community might be dealing with: roughly 7,000 homes burnt with 100 liters of paint per house and 0.5% of that paint likely made of lead.“That’s something like several tons of lead that have been released by the fire, and it’s been deposited where the fire plume went,” he said.As the Eaton fire roared in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest the night of Jan. 7, Tissot fled with his two kids, along with the rest of east Altadena. Meanwhile, Potelle sat awake in her living room on the west side of town, listening to the howling winds as the rest of her family slept.When Potelle got the evacuation order on her phone around 3:30 a.m. Jan. 8, her family joined the exodus. As they raced to gather their belongings, Potelle grabbed protective goggles she had bought for her son’s upcoming Nerf-battle birthday party.Even with them, the soot, smoke and ash made it impossible to see.The family made it to a friend’s house in Glendale, but as the toxic smoke plume swelled, Potelle had to evacuate yet again, this time to a friend’s garage. Tissot, then in Eagle Rock, left for Santa Barbara the next day as the smoke’s incursion progressed southwest.As Altadena turned into a ghost town on Jan. 9, some residents — including Potelle’s husband — crept back in to assess the damage. Potelle waited for her husband’s report and watched on social media from the safety of the garage.“People are just videotaping themselves driving through Altadena, and it’s block after block after block of burnt-down homes. The reality of it started to strike me,” Potelle said. “This is not just carbon. This is like, refrigerators and dishwashers and laundry machines and dryers and cars.” Fires like these, with smoke made of car batteries, paints, insulation and appliances — and not trees and shrubs — are becoming increasingly common in California. These fuels can contain a litany of toxic substances like lead and arsenic that are not present in vegetation, waiting to be unlocked by flame.Potelle’s home sustained visible smoke damage. So, she made two trips to a disaster support center set up temporarily at Pasadena City College, hoping to get support from her insurance company and the government for soil and in-home contamination testing.Officials directed Potelle back and forth between her insurance company, FEMA, the L.A. County Department of Public Health, and the California Department of Insurance. Potelle — who, at this point, had already started to develop a cough and chest pain, which she suspects came from her visits to the burn area — left with without clear answers, feeling dejected.“I’m driving, going back to my friend’s garage … and I’m just realizing there’s no one looking out for us,” she said.Potelle set out to find the answers herself.“Here’s the thing, if you don’t know what’s in your home when you remediate, you could just be pushing those contaminants deeper into your walls, deeper into your personal items,” Potelle said.Tissot, meanwhile, visited his home a week after the fires to find the windows exploded, melted or warped; the walls cracked; and ash and soot everywhere. He too decided that he ought to do his own testing for contamination.In his day job, Tissot runs a lab with sophisticated machinery able to discern what metals are present in samples of material, usually comprised of rock and dirt, based on their atomic mass: Only lead has an atomic mass of 0.34 trillion billionths of a gram. He normally uses the machine to study rare elements and isotopes from space and eons ago.He gathered his lab team together on the Caltech campus to use the equipment to test samples from their own backyard.The team took 100 samples from windowsills, desks and stairwells in the Caltech geology and planetary science buildings. They then cleaned the surfaces and resampled.The team found multiple surfaces with lead levels above the EPA’s limits on the initial sample. And while cleaning the surface removed about 90% of the lead, some still exceeded the limits on the second sample.Tissot quickly set up a webinar to announce the findings. The chat exploded with requests from homeowners in Altadena asking Tissot to test their houses.Around the same time, Potelle noticed some folks on Facebook sharing the results of in-home contamination testing — which in many cases, they had paid for out of pocket. Inspired, she advertised a Zoom meeting to discuss a strategy for mapping the test results. Sixty residents showed up; Potelle coordinated the group so that residents could submit results to EFRU’s Data Unification team for analysis.Meanwhile, Tissot connected with residents who messaged him to set up a testing campaign. The researchers donned full hazmat suits in early February and entered the burn area to test homes and meet with homeowners.ERFU posted its first dataset of 53 homes on March 24. Tissot’s group announced their results, which included data from 52 homes, just a week later, confirming what many had feared: There was lead everywhere.“What was surprising to me is how far it went,” said Tissot. “We got very high levels of lead even miles away from the fire, and what’s difficult is that we still can’t really answer a simple question: How far is far enough to be safe?”The two groups hope their data can help homeowners make better-informed decisions about their remediation and health — and apply pressure on leaders to take more action. Tissot wants to see the government update its guidebooks and policy on fire recovery to reflect the contamination risks for intense urban fires, and to require testing companies to report their results to a public database.Nicole Maccalla, a core member of EFRU’s Data Unification team, hopes to see officials enforce a common standard for insurance claims for testing and remediation so every resident doesn’t have to go through the same exact fight.“You’ve got people stepping up to fill the void,” she said. “There should be an organized, systematic approach to this stuff, but it’s not happening.”

Health
Activism
Government

Oregon health officials investigate rare brain disease blamed for two deaths

Health officials in Hood River County, Ore., are investigating three cases of Creutzfeld Jakob disease. Two have died and a third is showing symptoms consistent with the illness.

Health officials in Hood River County, Ore., are investigating three cases of a rare and fatal brain disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Two people have died and a third person is showing symptoms consistent with the disease. The disease has been confirmed in one of the deceased through an autopsy; the other two cases are considered probable, according to a statement from the Hood River County Health Department. All three cases were diagnosed in the last eight months. County health officials declined to provide particulars about the individuals, such as their age, gender or town of residence. “At this time, there is no identifiable link between these three cases,” a Hood River County statement said. The county has a population of about 24,000. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by misfolded proteins known as prions. These prions lead to rapid brain deterioration, resulting in severe neurological symptoms and death. Although the disease is known for its sporadic occurrence, clusters raise concerns among public health officials about potential environmental or dietary exposure.Symptoms include issues with memory, walking, coordination, speech and behavior changes, according to experts. It does not spread through the air, water, touch or social contact, according to Hood River County health officials.The disease is considered incurable and is always fatal. Roughly 350 cases are diagnosed in the United States every year, according to the National Institutes of Health.The disease is rare in people, affecting roughly 1.4 people per million. However, because the disease takes years to develop, any person’s chance of developing the disease is closer to 1 in 5,000 or 6,000, said Michael Geschwind, a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco in the Memory and Aging Center.The disease is similar to chronic wasting disease, or CWD, which is also a prion-fueled disease, and was detected for the first time in wild deer in California and Washington last year.CWD was first reported in 1967, in a captive Colorado deer. It has since spread to deer in 36 states. There are no known cases of the disease in Oregon wildlife. For decades there has been concern that CWD could move into human populations through the ingestion of contaminated meat.That’s because in the 1980s, a prion disease in sheep, known as scrapies — which humans do not seem to get — moved into cows, and soon people throughout the United Kingdom, France and elsewhere were becoming infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.Since then, public health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several states have been paying close attention to clusters of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — investigating outbreaks to determine whether infected deer, elk or moose meat was involved.They — and researchers from other agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center — also have been monitoring wild deer populations and keeping tabs on hunters who may have been exposed.Although widespread geographically throughout the United States and Canada, the disease is considered relatively rare in wild populations of deer, elk and moose, said Brian Richardson, the emerging-disease coordinator at the USGS wildlife center.“It may well be [in Oregon], but it’s hard to find rare events,” he said.To date, there are no known incidents of people acquiring a prion disease by consuming deer, elk or moose meat, said Geschwind, the UCSF professor.He said roughly 85% to 90% of Creutzfeldt-Jakob cases are considered sporadic, with no identified cause or source of infection. In 10% to 15% of the cases, the disease appears to be genetically inherited — with some people acquiring mutations associated with the disease. However, there have been a few cases in which sources of infection or contamination have been identified, and almost all of them were from a medical mishap.Prions are notoriously difficult to inactivate or destroy — withstanding standard sterilization techniques — and can remain intact for months and years on a surface, Geschwind said.In a small number of cases, he said, people acquired the disease as a result of contaminated and improperly cleaned surgical equipment. In a few other cases, it was acquired by people who used products — such as growth hormone, or who received corneal transplants — derived, inadvertently, from infected cadavers.It’s these proteins’ durability and longevity that have many researchers worried. Studies have shown that deer that harbor the disease can pass the infectious prions to other deer through saliva, blood, urine and feces.“So, if the animal is licking a plant or licking a salt lick, for example, and another animal comes along and licks that plant or salt lick, then that might be a way of spreading the disease,” Geschwind said. In addition, the decomposing body of a deer that died of the disease can infect the surrounding environment where the animal expired — potentially contaminating plants, seeds, fungi and soil, Richardson said. He said not only is there the issue of surface contamination, but also research has shown that the proteins can “be taken up via rootlets and deposited in aerial plant tissues. Whether these plants contribute to chronic wasting disease transmission and what type of risk these plants pose to humans remain open questions.” Geschwind noted that the work done by federal researchers to better understand the disease, provide diagnostic autopsies on presumptive cases, monitor wildlife and investigate clusters has provided a level of protection for the American public, which could be destabilized by proposed cuts to federal agencies.“The idea of cutting government funding of rare disease is very short-sighted, because even though CJD is a rare disease, what we have learned from prion diseases has implications for all neurodegenerative diseases,” he said, noting Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy.“All these diseases act in a prion-like manner in which normal proteins misfold, and those misfolded proteins cause the cells to not work partly and lead to disease,” he said. “But the basic mechanism that we’ve learned from this very rare disease applies to diseases that are thousands of times more common. To get rid of the research? It’d be a very grave mistake.”

Health
Animals
Water

Baby Food Makers Are Failing California’s Lead Standards, Reuters Review Shows

By Jessica DiNapoli, M.B. PellNEW YORK (Reuters) -Some baby food manufacturers are failing to meet California's standards for lead, which are the...

By Jessica DiNapoli, M.B. PellNEW YORK (Reuters) -Some baby food manufacturers are failing to meet California's standards for lead, which are the most stringent in the nation, according to a Reuters analysis of new test results released for the first time.The results are being made public due to a new California law that on January 1 started requiring all companies making or selling baby food in the state to test their products for heavy metals including lead and publish them. Of the 1,757 test results from nine different baby food manufacturers analyzed by Reuters, 102 were above California’s maximum limit of 0.5 micrograms of lead per day. Companies reporting lead results higher than the California limit included Plum Organics, Beech-Nut, Nestle's Gerber, Square Baby, Pumpkin Tree and Happy Family’s Happy Baby, owned by Danone.Products with elevated levels included organic sweet potatoes from Beech-Nut, Just Prunes from Plum Organics, and 2nd foods carrots from Gerber.None of the tests obtained by Reuters exceed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s lead limit specifically for packaged baby food, or the agency’s maximum amount of 2.2 micrograms of lead children can consume in a day. “Those exposures add up. They create health risks in childhood and throughout a lifetime,” said Jane Houlihan, the research director at Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a kids’ health non-profit. “Every time a child eats a meal contaminated with lead, it’s a problem.”Norbert Kaminski, director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at Michigan State University, countered that eating a single meal with elevated levels of lead is unlikely to harm a child.“The goal is to minimize exposure to these heavy metals, but to completely eliminate exposure is not realistic,” Kaminski said. “What’s the alternative, stop eating?”The companies reported their data for four heavy metals in parts per billion for each batch. Reuters determined the amount of lead in each product by multiplying the serving size of each item by the level of heavy metals from the test result, and then compared the figures to the California limit.Leigh Frame, who studies lead in food at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said the methodology used to determine the amount in each product was sound, and five other experts interviewed by Reuters concurred. The Office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta declined to comment on the news agency’s findings but issued a statement saying his office is committed to upholding the law to "protect the safety and well-being of Californians." An FDA spokesperson said the agency routinely monitors lead in food consumed by babies and young children and takes action if needed, and that one of its goals is to reduce dietary exposure to contaminants to as low as possible. The FDA did not comment directly on Reuters findings. Happy Family and Pumpkin Tree said they comply with federal and state regulations.Plum Organics, Beech-Nut and other baby food companies said that California’s lead limit law permits them to average the amount of the contaminant across different batches. Gerber says they’re within the legal limit by averaging a child’s consumption over time, assuming they do not eat the same product every day.The regulations do not explicitly allow for such averaging, said Lauren Handel, a food industry attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Courts have allowed food makers to do so after they have faced lawsuits claiming they violated California's law because nothing in the regulations prohibits it, she said. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which implements the law on lead limits, reviewed the elevated testing data compiled by Reuters and said they exceed the California limit assuming the child eats one meal per day.The presence of lead isn't a surprise since it is found in chocolate, infant formula, spices and across the produce aisle in vegetables like sweet potatoes, spinach and carrots, four experts told Reuters. Even so, the results are likely to further inflame debate about the contaminant, its effect on health and development and how much lead is acceptable for babies and children to consume. A U.S. judge in April allowed a nationwide case against baby food manufacturers including Gerber, Plum Organics and Beech-Nut to move forward, a win for parents suing on behalf of their children. The lawsuit covers thousands of parents, and alleges that the presence of heavy metals including lead in baby food makers’ products causes autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. A similar earlier case in California state court against the baby food makers was dismissed in 2023 because the judge did not accept testimony from experts on the dose of heavy metals in each brand’s products, a victory for the companies.Most baby food makers deny the allegations, taking the position that there is no science supporting the claim that their products cause autism or ADHD. “This case is really going to hinge on how good the science is and whether or not the lead levels in the products are sufficient enough to cause harm - and what is that harm,” said Bill Marler, an attorney who represents victims in cases against the food industry.Proving in court that lead in baby food harms children is "going to be very difficult because there are other sources of lead - environmental sources and other foods” that kids are exposed to, said food industry lawyer David Graham.Other state legislatures are also taking action on the issue, aiming to protect children’s health. Like California, Maryland passed a law requiring companies to test their products and disclose the results, and Illinois is weighing a similar measure.Lead in baby food comes in part from the soil, which can have naturally occurring lead, but also from pollutants such as vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, mining, fertilizer, lead paint, pipes and pesticides. Healthy Babies Bright Futures, which focuses on lowering children’s exposure to toxic chemicals, analyzed 288 store-bought baby food and homemade purees and found that both were tainted by heavy metals like lead.Baby food makers can lower their lead levels by buying from farms with cleaner soil, encouraging certain agricultural practices, and cleaning and processing the vegetables to remove soil and skin, which can have higher levels, five experts told Reuters.Los Gatos, California-based baby food maker Cerebelly, which has settled two lead cases without admission of guilt, found a new farmer in a region known for soil with lower heavy metals, said Susan Logue, vice president for research and development and quality at the company. Baby food companies can also overhaul their recipes or stop using certain ingredients, like spinach, known to absorb more heavy metals. Baby food maker Square Baby told Reuters they were reformulating recipes after test results showed amounts of lead higher than the California limit. (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli and M.B. Pell in New York, Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Michael Learmonth)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Food
Chemicals
Science

Is your community at risk? How to access data and tell stories about EtO

Grist journalists share how we investigated this story and how to learn more about ethylene oxide emissions in your area.

Lea esta nota en español. How this story came about When Grist reporters began talking to environmental advocates about ethylene oxide in 2023, we repeatedly heard that warehouses were a threat and that neither regulators nor community activists had any idea where they were. The advocates emphasized that, even as the Environmental Protection Agency was cracking down on emissions from sterilization facilities, it was overlooking warehouses. No one knew exactly how many of these warehouses existed, where they were located, or how much ethylene oxide they emitted. Ethylene oxide is a highly toxic substance, so we were taken aback by how little was known. We decided to try to fill in those gaps.  What we found  We found that two Cardinal Health warehouses in El Paso, Texas, likely pose a greater threat than a sterilization facility nearby. The emissions were resulting in additional cancer risk for a neighboring community that is higher than allowed by the EPA. We also identified about 30 other warehouses that emit ethylene oxide across the country. They are used by companies such as Boston Scientific, ConMed, and Becton Dickinson, as well as Cardinal Health. And they are not restricted to industrial parts of towns — they are near schools and playgrounds, gyms and apartment complexes. From the outside, the warehouses do not attract attention. They look like any other distribution center. Many occupy hundreds of thousands of square feet, and dozens of trucks pull in and out every day. But when medical products are loaded, unloaded, and moved from these facilities, they belch ethylene oxide into the air. Most nearby residents have no idea that the nondescript buildings are a source of toxic pollution. Neither do most truck drivers, who are often hired on a contract basis, or many of the workers employed at the warehouses. When Grist reported on the Cardinal Health warehouses in El Paso, our reporters handed out flyers to residents and workers so they could learn more and contact us. They’re available to view and download below: For residents  For workers  How we identified the warehouses The first list of roughly 30 warehouses primarily includes facilities that have reported ethylene oxide emissions to either the EPA or South Coast Air Quality Management District. We obtained these addresses by submitting public records requests to the agencies. We also identified a few warehouses on this list by speaking with truck drivers transporting medical devices from sterilization facilities to warehouses.  The second list consists of warehouses that are owned or operated by some of the nation’s major medical device manufacturers. Since we had a list of 30 warehouses we know emit ethylene oxide, we identified the medical device manufacturers and distributors utilizing those warehouses for storage. We then expanded the search to all warehouses used by those companies. To be clear, there is no evidence to suggest that every warehouse on the second list emits ethylene oxide. Instead, they are being presented for further research by local reporters and concerned citizens.  Warehouses storing products sterilized with ethylene oxide Grist assembled a list of U.S. warehouses that have reported storing products sterilized with ethylene oxide and others used by major medical device manufacturers and distributors. Confirmed Potential Loading map data… Source: Grist analysis Map: Lylla Younes / Clayton Aldern / Grist A full list of the warehouse addresses and company responses to Grist questions can be found here. How to find warehouses in your area Look through the two lists we’ve compiled. Are any in your area? Are there any companies that operate in your region or your state?  If you don’t find any warehouses in your region on our lists, make a list of the medical device companies and distributors in your state. The major companies we’ve come across in our research are Cardinal Health, Medline, and Owens & Minor. Then attempt to identify where they warehouse products. You can find this information by looking at: The company’s website Some companies list their facilities — including warehouses — in the “About Us” or “Locations” sections of their website. If the company maintains a jobs portal, look for any warehouse-related positions and whether it lists a location of employment.  SEC filings If the company is publicly traded, it will need to submit financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Search the SEC’s EDGAR database for the company’s filings. Sometimes, companies disclose their risk to litigation or regulation related to ethylene oxide. Some companies also list their assets, including facility locations, in these filings.  Google Maps Search for a medical device company in your area. For instance, if you’re interested in Medline, you can try “Medline warehouse” or “Medline distribution center” and see if any come up near you.  Read the story The unregulated link in a toxic supply chain Naveena Sadasivam & Lylla Younes If I’m a local reporter or a concerned resident, what can I do with this information now that I know where a warehouse is?  Once you’ve identified a warehouse that you suspect might store products sterilized with ethylene oxide, you can try to confirm whether it emits the chemical through one of these methods: Submit records requests to local and state environmental agencies Reach out to the city or state agency that permits air quality in your region. Often it’s the state department of environmental quality, but sometimes they can be regional air quality districts (like in California) or city environmental offices. Ask for all air quality permit applications submitted by the warehouse operator in question or all correspondence by the warehouse operator that mentions ethylene oxide. Try to connect it to a sterilization facility Products are first fumigated with ethylene oxide at sterilization facilities before being sent to warehouses for storage. If products are being delivered from a sterilizer to the warehouse you’re investigating, that’s a strong indicator that the warehouse emits some amount of ethylene oxide. There are two main approaches to take when trying to flesh out the supply chain to warehouses. Talk to the drivers dropping off at warehouses: You can try to determine where products are coming from by talking to the truck drivers delivering shipments to the warehouse.  Talk to the drivers leaving sterilization facilities: There are fewer than 100 sterilization facilities in the country, and the EPA maintains a list of them here. If one is near you, you can ask drivers for information about where they are taking the products. Contact the company: Some companies have public relations or community engagement staff who respond to resident questions. Try reaching out to see if they’re open to talking to you.  Talk to workers Try to speak with the warehouse workers while they’re on break or at the end of their shift. Companies are required to inform their workers about ethylene oxide exposure, so you could ask questions about whether they’ve been in any meetings where managers referenced exposure to a chemical. Even still, many workers aren’t aware that they’re being exposed to ethylene oxide. But ask them if the facility has air quality monitors, and if so, whether they know what it’s monitoring for. Grist reporters posted flyers all over the area surrounding the warehouse that was found to emit EtO. Naveena Sadasivam If I’m a resident wanting to get involved but have no journalism experience, what can I do to get more information? Take a look at this 2023 map and report assessing 104 facilities that emit ethylene oxide by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Any member of the public can file a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request to get public information from the federal government. You can also file an open records request to get information from local and state agencies. There are many resources to help you craft these: – FOIA Wiki, made by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press – The federal FOIA website Read our other stories to learn more details about ethylene oxide: – ‘Dulce’: How a sweet-smelling chemical upended life in Salinas, Puerto Rico – An invisible chemical is poisoning thousands of unsuspecting warehouse workers This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Is your community at risk? How to access data and tell stories about EtO on Apr 16, 2025.

Activism
Chemicals
Government

Why the shipping industry’s new carbon tax is a big deal — and still not enough

Modeling suggests it will only reduce emissions up to 10 percent by 2030.

Each year, all the cargo ships that crisscross the oceans carrying cars, building materials, food, and other goods emit about 3 percent of the world’s climate pollution. That’s about as much as the aviation sector Driving down those emissions is complicated. Unlike, say, electricity generation, which happens within a nation’s borders, shipping is by definition global, so it takes international cooperation to decarbonize. The International Maritime Organization, part of the United Nations, has largely taken up this mantle.  Last week, the agency took a big step in the right direction with the introduction of the world’s first sector-wide carbon tax. More than 60 member states approved a complex system that requires shipping companies to meet certain greenhouse gas standards or pay for their shortfall. (The United States walked out of the discussions.) The plan has yet to be formally adopted — that’s expected to happen in October — and it doesn’t include the most ambitious proposals sought by island nations and environmental nonprofits, including a flat tax on all shipping emissions. But policy experts are calling it a “historic” development for global climate action. “It doesn’t meet the IMO’s climate targets, but it’s generally still a very welcome outcome for us,” said Nishatabbas Rehmatulla, a principal research fellow at the University College London Energy Institute. Created by a U.N. conference in 1948, the IMO has a broad remit to regulate the “safety, security, and environmental performance of international shipping.” With participation from its 176 member states, the agency writes treaties, conventions, and other legal instruments that are then incorporated into countries’ laws. Perhaps the best known of these is the 1973 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, called MARPOL (a portmanteau of “marine pollution”).  Some of the earliest regulations implemented by MARPOL sought to prevent oil-related pollution from routine operations and spills. Subsequent amendments to the convention have aimed to limit pollution from sewage and litter, and in 2005 a new annex restricted emissions of ozone-depleting gases like sulphur and nitrogen oxides. The IMO began to address climate change in 2011, when it added a chapter to the ozone regulation requiring ships to improve their energy efficiency. A container ship near the Port of Antwerp, in Belgium. Nicolas Tucat / AFP via Getty Images In 2018, the IMO set an intention to halve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, using 2008 levels as a baseline. It updated that goal in 2023, shooting for net-zero “by or around, i.e., close to, 2050,” while also setting an interim target of cutting emissions by 20 to 30 percent by 2030. Last week’s meeting was part of the IMO’s work to develop a “basket of measures” to achieve those benchmarks and more forcefully transition the sector away from heavy fuel oil, a particularly carbon-intensive fuel that makes up the bulk of large ships’ energy source. Many environmental groups and island countries — which are more vulnerable to climate-driven sea level rise — had hoped that the IMO would implement a straightforward tax on all shipping emissions, with revenue directed broadly toward climate mitigation and adaptation projects in their regions.  That’s not quite what happened. Instead, the agreed-upon policy creates a complex mechanism to charge shipping companies for a portion of their vessels’ climate pollution, on the basis of their emissions intensity: the amount of climate pollution they emit per unit of energy used. The mechanism includes two intensity targets, which become more stringent over time. One is a “base target,” a minimum threshold that all ships are supposed to meet. The other is more ambitious and is confusingly dubbed a “direct compliance target.”  Ships that meet the more stringent target are the most fuel efficient. Based on how much cleaner they are than the target, their operators are awarded a credit they can sell to companies with less efficient boats. They can also bank these credits for use within the following two years, in case their performance dips and they need to make up for it. Vessels that don’t quite meet the stricter standard but are more efficient than the base target don’t get a reward. They must pay for their deficit below the direct compliance target with “remedial units” at a price of $100 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent.  Those that are below both targets have to buy remedial units to make up for the full amount of space between them. On top of that, they also have to buy a number of even more expensive units ($380 per ton of CO2 equivalent), based on how much less efficient than the base target they are. They can cover their shortfall with any credits they’ve banked, or by buying them from carriers with more efficient ships. Depending on how much they reduce their ships’ emissions intensity, companies may accrue “surplus units” or have to buy “remedial units.” In this graph, ships above the blue line are the least efficient; those below the orange line are the most efficient. Courtesy of Nishatabbas Rehmatulla Revenue raised from this system will go into a “net-zero fund,” which is intended to help pay for further decarbonization of the shipping sector, including the development of low- and zero-emissions fuels. A portion of this fund is explicitly intended to help poor countries and island states with fewer resources to make this transition. The strategy was approved by a vote — an uncommon occurrence in intergovernmental fora where decisions are usually made by consensus. Rehmatulla said the IMO has only held a vote like this once before, 15 years ago.  Sixty-three countries voted in favor of the measures, and 16 opposed. Another two dozen, including many small island states like Fiji and Tuvalu, chose to abstain. Tuvalu’s transport minister, Simon Kofe, told Climate Home News that the agreement “lacks the necessary incentives for industry to make the necessary shift to cleaner technologies.” Modeling by University College London suggests that the new pricing mechanism will only lead to an 8 to 10 percent reduction in shipping’s climate pollution by 2030, a far cry from the agency’s own goal of 20 to 30 percent. Leaders from other island nations, as well as climate advocates, also objected to restrictions on the net-zero fund that suggest it will only be used to finance shipping decarbonization; they wanted the fund to be available for climate mitigation and adaptation projects in any sector. In order to transition away from fossil fuels and safeguard themselves from climate disasters, developing countries need trillions of dollars more than what’s currently coming to them from the world’s biggest historical emitters of greenhouse gases. A climate minister from Vanuatu, Ralph Regenvanu, said in a statement the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and other oil-producing countries had “blocked progress” at the IMO talks, and that they had “turned away a proposal for a reliable source of revenue for those of us in dire need of finance to help with climate impacts.” University College London research also suggests that, while the system will make it too expensive to build new boats reliant on liquefied natural gas — a fossil fuel that drives climate change — it will not raise enough revenue to finance the development of zero- and near-zero-carbon shipping technologies like green ammonia. (Lower shipping speeds and wind propulsion — also known as sails — can also reduce shipping emissions). The United States did not participate in the negotiations. Its delegation left on day two, calling the proposed regulations “blatantly unfair” and threatening to retaliate with “reciprocal measures” if the IMO approved measures to restrict greenhouse gas emissions. The International Chamber of Shipping welcomed the agreement, saying it would level the playing field and give companies more confidence to decarbonize their fleets. “We are pleased that governments have understood the need to catalyse and support investment in zero-emission fuels, and it will be fundamental to the ultimate success of this IMO agreement that it will quickly deliver at the scale required,” said a statement from Guy Platten, the group’s secretary general. Antonio Santos, federal climate policy director for the nonprofit Pacific Environment, said the agreement was “momentous,” although he shared the disappointment of many small island states over its lack of ambition. “What was agreed to today is the floor,” he told Grist. “It’s lower than we would have wanted, but at least it sets us in a positive direction.” Revisions to the strategy are expected every five years, potentially leading to higher carbon prices and other measures to quicken decarbonization. But Santos said significant additional investment from governments and the private sector will still be needed.  IMO member states will reconvene in October to formally adopt the new regulations. Over the following 16 months, delegates will figure out how to implement the rules before they are finally entered into force in 2027.  This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Why the shipping industry’s new carbon tax is a big deal — and still not enough on Apr 16, 2025.

Climate
Energy
Food

 A Chicago law could shift where heavy industry operates — and who bears the burden of pollution

As Trump dismantles protections, the ordinance is a test case for environmental justice.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. Chicago city leaders are set to consider a major overhaul in how and where polluting businesses are allowed to open, nearly two years after the city settled a civil rights complaint that alleged a pattern of discrimination threatening the health of low-income communities of color. The measure, expected to be introduced Wednesday, would transform how heavy industry is located and operated in the country’s third largest city. If passed into law, it would require city officials to assess the cumulative pollution burden on communities before approving new industrial projects. As the Trump administration dismantles protections for poor communities facing lopsided levels of pollution, Chicago’s ordinance is a test case for local action under a federal government hostile toward environmental justice. Over the past three months, the Trump administration has already undone long-standing orders to address uneven environmental burdens at the federal level and challenged government programs monitoring environmental justice issues across the country.  Now, advocates are hoping the local legislation becomes a blueprint for how state and local governments can leverage zoning and permitting to protect vulnerable communities from becoming sacrifice zones.  “The Trump administration is trying to erase history,” said Gina Ramirez, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Midwest director of environmental health. “You can’t erase our industrial past — it’s literally haunting us.” Chicago’s industrial history is especially pronounced in low-income communities on the city’s South and West sides. The proposed ordinance would give these communities a voice in the permitting process via a new environmental justice advisory board, Ramirez said.  “Nobody wants to be sick,” said Cheryl Johnson, an environmental activist on the Far South Side who has been advocating for pollution protections for almost 40 years. Read Next Why a tree-planting nonprofit in Chicago is suing the Trump administration Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco The Chicago ordinance is named after Johnson’s mother, Hazel Johnson, who started fighting in the 1970s for the health of her neighbors at a public housing community surrounded by a “toxic doughnut” of polluters. Cheryl Johnson runs People for Community Recovery, an organization started by her mother, with the same mission to protect human health. “The most important thing — and the only thing that we get — is good health or bad health,” Johnson said. “That’s what my mother fought for.” In 2020, Johnson’s group, along with several other local environmental justice organizations, launched a civil rights complaint over the city’s role in the relocation of a metal-shredding operation from its longtime home on the North Side to a majority Black and Latino neighborhood on the far South Side of the city. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded in 2022 that Chicago had long placed polluters in low-income areas, while sparing majority-white affluent neighborhoods.  In a binding agreement with former President Joe Biden’s administration, the city promised to offer a legal fix. Former mayor Lori Lightfoot signed the agreement with HUD hours before she left office in 2023. Her successor, Mayor Brandon Johnson, vowed to follow the agreement and said that September that an ordinance proposal would be offered in short order. But weeks and months turned into years, and community, health, and environmental advocates complained that the mayor was slow-walking his promises. Nearly two years later, the city is finally set to deliver.  Not all community groups are happy with the proposal. Theresa McNamara, an activist with the Southwest Environmental Alliance, said at a recent public meeting she didn’t think the measure would go far enough. She called it a “weak piece of crap” based on her understanding of the main points. Read Next The odds are Illinois won’t hit its 2030 climate goals Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco Experts said the law’s success would depend on the city’s will to execute and enforce it. “There’s a lot of states and even cities that have assessment tools, but the question is, what do you do with those?” said Ana Baptisa, an environmental policy professor at The New School in New York. In New Jersey, Baptista helped pass a similar ordinance — then the first of its kind — through the Newark City Council in 2016. Since then, local and state governments across the country have followed suit. At least eight states have passed this type of legislation, including California, Minnesota, New York, and Delaware.  Still, Baptista said Newark’s bill has failed to rein in polluting industries. “It proved to be what we feared: a sort of formality that oftentimes doesn’t even get completed,” she said.  Even without power to deny or constrain new pollution sources, the advisory board itself marks progress, according to Oscar Sanchez, whose Southeast Environmental Task Force helped file the original civil rights complaint,.  Sanchez added that as the federal government retreats from its commitments to environmental justice, state and local entities are on the front line of buffering communities from greater pollution burdens. “We are pushing the needle of what people can try to achieve in their own communities,” he said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline  A Chicago law could shift where heavy industry operates — and who bears the burden of pollution on Apr 16, 2025.

Pollution
Activism
Climate

Beneath the biotech boom

MIT historian Robin Scheffler’s research shows how local regulations helped create certainty and safety principles that enabled an industry’s massive growth.

It’s considered a scientific landmark: A 1975 meeting at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, shaped a new safety regime for recombinant DNA, ensuring that researchers would apply caution to gene splicing. Those ideas have been so useful that in the decades since, when new topics in scientific safety arise, there are still calls for Asilomar-type conferences to craft good ground rules.There’s something missing from this narrative, though: It took more than the Asilomar conference to set today’s standards. The Asilomar concepts were created with academic research in mind — but the biotechnology industry also makes products, and standards for that were formulated after Asilomar.“The Asilomar meeting and Asilomar principles did not settle the question of the safety of genetic engineering,” says MIT scholar Robin Scheffler, author of a newly published research paper on the subject.Instead, as Scheffler documents in the paper, Asilomar helped generate further debate, but those industry principles were set down later in the 1970s — first in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where politicians and concerned citizens wanted local biotech firms to be good neighbors. In response, the city passed safety laws for the emerging industry. And rather than heading off to places with zero regulations, local firms — including a fledgling Biogen — stayed put. Over the decades, the Boston area became the world leader in biotech.Why stay? In essence, regulations gave biotech firms the certainty they needed to grow — and build. Lenders and real-estate developers needed signals that long-term investment in labs and facilities made sense. Generally, as Scheffler notes, even though “the idea that regulations can be anchoring for business does not have a lot of pull” in economic theory, in this case, regulations did matter.“The trajectory of the industry in Cambridge, including biotechnology companies deciding to accommodate regulation, is remarkable,” says Scheffler. “It’s hard to imagine the American biotechnology industry without this dense cluster in Boston and Cambridge. These things that happened on a very local scale had huge echoes.”Scheffler’s article, “Asilomar Goes Underground: The Long Legacy of Recombinant DNA Hazard Debates for the Greater Boston Area Biotechnology Industry,” appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the History of Biology. Scheffler is an associate professor in MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society.Business: Banking on certaintyTo be clear, the Asilomar conference of 1975 did produce real results. Asilomar led to a system that helped evaluate projects’ potential risk and determine appropriate safety measures. The U.S. federal government subsequently adopted Asilomar-like principles for research it funded.But in 1976, debate over the subject arose again in Cambridge, especially following a cover story in a local newspaper, the Boston Phoenix. Residents became concerned that recombinant DNA projects would lead to, hypothetically, new microorganisms that could damage public health.“Scientists had not considered urban public health,” Scheffler says. “The Cambridge recombinant DNA debate in the 1970s made it a matter of what your neighbors think.”After several months of hearings, research, and public debate (sometimes involving MIT faculty) stretching into early 1977, Cambridge adopted a somewhat stricter framework than the federal government had proposed for the handling of materials used in recombinant DNA work.“Asilomar took on a new life in local regulations,” says Scheffler, whose research included government archives, news accounts, industry records, and more.But a funny thing happened after Cambridge passed its recombinant DNA rules: The nascent biotech industry took root, and other area towns passed their own versions of the Cambridge rules.“Not only did cities create more safety regulations,” Scheffler observes, “but the people asking for them switched from being left-wing activists or populist mayors to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and real estate development concerns.”Indeed, he adds, “What’s interesting is how quickly safety concerns about recombinant DNA evaporated. Many people against recombinant DNA came to change their thinking.” And while some local residents continued to express concerns about the environmental impact of labs, “those are questions people ask when they no longer worry about the safety of the core work itself.”Unlike federal regulations, these local laws applied to not only lab research but also products, and as such they let firms know they could work in a stable business environment with regulatory certainty. That mattered financially, and in a specific way: It helped companies build the buildings they needed to produce the products they had invented.“The venture capital cycle for biotechnology companies was very focused on the research and exciting intellectual ideas, but then you have the bricks and mortar,” Scheffler says, referring to biotech production facilities. “The bricks and mortar is actually the harder problem for a lot of startup biotechnology companies.”After all, he notes, “Venture capital will throw money after big discoveries, but a banker issuing a construction loan has very different priorities and is much more sensitive to things like factory permits and access to sewers 10 years from now. That’s why all these towns around Massachusetts passed regulations, as a way of assuring that.”To grow globally, act locallyOf course, one additional reason biotech firms decided to land in the Boston area was the intellectual capital: With so many local universities, there was a lot of industry talent in the region. Local faculty co-founded some of the high-flying firms.“The defining trait of the Cambridge-Boston biotechnology cluster is its density, right around the universities,” Scheffler says. “That’s a unique feature local regulations encouraged.”It’s also the case, Scheffler notes, that some biotech firms did engage in venue-shopping to avoid regulations at first, although that was more the case in California, another state where the industry emerged. Still, the Boston-area regulations seemed to assuage both industry and public worries about the subject.The foundations of biotechnology regulation in Massachusetts contain some additional historical quirks, including the time in the late 1970s when the city of Cambridge mistakenly omitted the recombinant DNA safety rules from its annually published bylaws, meaning the regulations were inactive. Officials at Biogen sent them a reminder to restore the laws to the books.Half a century on from Asilomar, its broad downstream effects are not just a set of research principles — but also, refracted through the Cambridge episode, key ideas about public discussion and input; reducing uncertainty for business, the particular financing needs of industries; the impact of local and regional regulation; and the openness of startups to recognizing what might help them thrive.“It’s a different way to think about the legacy of Asilomar,” Scheffler says. “And it’s a real contrast with what some people might expect from following scientists alone.” 

Activism
Business
Government

Monteverde Fights Gentrification to Preserve Community

In the Tilarán Mountains, Monteverde, Costa Rica is known for its biodiversity and ecotourism. However, rising rents and land prices are driving gentrification, forcing many local residents to commute from nearby areas for work as living costs exceed their budgets. Ecotourism drives Monteverde’s economy, attracting over 200,000 visitors each year to its cloud forests and […] The post Monteverde Fights Gentrification to Preserve Community appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

In the Tilarán Mountains, Monteverde, Costa Rica is known for its biodiversity and ecotourism. However, rising rents and land prices are driving gentrification, forcing many local residents to commute from nearby areas for work as living costs exceed their budgets. Ecotourism drives Monteverde’s economy, attracting over 200,000 visitors each year to its cloud forests and reserves. The high demand for land has prompted some locals to sell to foreign investors, who build hotels and tour businesses. This has intensified gentrification, with homes often converted into Airbnbs, reducing affordable housing options. “We’re not immune to gentrification,” Monteverde Mayor Yeudy Ramírez said. “We’re focusing on empowering our community by supporting local entrepreneurs and encouraging residents to start businesses instead of selling their land.” The municipality backs local entrepreneurs through training and resources. The National Learning Institute (INA) provides English language courses to prepare residents for tourism jobs, while the Emprende Rural program offers funding and advice to rural producers and business owners. These initiatives aim to create diverse income sources and reduce land sales. “We want the local farmer or small business owner to say, ‘I’ll develop my property with community support rather than sell it cheaply to a foreigner,’” Ramírez said. The Monteverde Community Fund supports these efforts with project management and grant-writing courses for local organizations. Programs like the Monteverde Summit connect nonprofits to promote sustainable development, and the “Hecho en Monteverde” certification highlights locally made, eco-friendly products. Ramírez said Monteverde opposes large foreign companies building major projects. “We prefer foreign partners who work with locals, not control our economy,” he said. This approach aligns with the community’s goal of preserving its identity, as noted in recent reports on Monteverde’s resistance to gentrification. The Monteverde Commission for Climate Change Resilience (CORCLIMA), led by Katy VanDusen, promotes sustainable practices and certifies businesses meeting environmental standards. This helps ensure tourism benefits the community while protecting the environment.Monteverde is addressing environmental and infrastructure needs. The Monteverde Environmental Technology Park (PTAM), run by the Santa Elena ASADA and municipal council, processes over six tons of organic waste weekly from businesses, creating eco-friendly fertilizer. In 2020, the region composted 333 tons of its 450-ton organic waste output, cutting landfill use. The municipality is also upgrading unpaved access roads, which have limited tourist traffic but challenge locals. Improved roads aim to enhance connectivity while supporting controlled tourism growth. Despite gentrification pressures, Monteverde’s community remains committed to its roots. From the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve to cooperatives like CASEM, which supports female artisans, locals are channeling tourism revenue into conservation and development. These efforts reflect a focus on sustainable growth that prioritizes residents. Ramírez and Monteverde’s residents continue to work toward a future where the area remains a home for its people, not just a destination for tourists. The post Monteverde Fights Gentrification to Preserve Community appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Forests
Mountains
Climate

UK's rarest wildlife being 'pushed to extinction' by grass fires

Wildfires could spell the end for rare species like water voles and hen harriers, conservationists warn.

UK's rarest wildlife being 'pushed to extinction' by grass firesSteffan MessengerEnvironment correspondent, BBC Wales NewsClare HutchinsonBBC Wales NewsGaran ThomasThis blaze on the Rhigos Mountain in south Wales in June 2023 destroyed an area the size of 140 football pitchesSome of the UK's rarest wildlife is being "torched alive" and pushed closer to extinction after weeks of intense grass fires, conservationists have warned.They include endangered birds like hen harriers and water voles, which are now the UK's fastest declining mammal.The National Trust said it believed ongoing wildfires at Abergwesyn common in Powys had destroyed "the last remaining" local breeding habitat for golden plovers - considered one of the most beautiful birds of the British uplands.So far this year 110 sq miles (284 sq km) of land has been burnt by wildfires around the UK - an area larger than Birmingham.Figures obtained by the BBC show that in Wales, fire crews have battled almost 1,400 wildfires already this year, leading fire services to urge people to "act responsibly" and report any suspicious behaviour to the police.The National Trust said 2025 was "turning out to be the worst year ever for these human-caused fires across the country"."We're extremely worried, this is looking like it's going to be the worst year for seeing our wildlife going up in flames," said Ben MacCarthy, the charity's head of nature conservation.A record dry spell and unusually high temperatures in March are believed to have contributed to the fires. A low number of blazes in 2024 also left more vegetation to fuel them.Getty ImagesWater voles are already on the UK's Red List for endangered animals due to loss of habitatCoed Cadw, the Woodland Trust in Wales, said an "irreplaceable" area of temperate Atlantic rainforest had been affected at Allt Boeth near Aberystwyth, with damage to protected bluebells too.Also known as Celtic rainforest, the habitat harbours scarce plants, lichens and fungi, and is considered more threatened than tropical rainforest.In England, the National Trust said several thousand newly planted trees at Marsden Moor, in West Yorkshire, had gone up in flames.While on the Morne Mountains, in Northern Ireland, invertebrates and ground dwelling animals like reptiles were "simply being torched alive"."That then cascades through the food web because without the invertebrates you don't get the birds who are reliant on them for food," Mr MacCarthy said.He said government funding to help farmers and land managers restore peat bogs in the uplands, to prevent fires while also soaking in planet-warming carbon and providing habitat, was essential.National Trust/PAThe hen harrier nests in upland moorlands and is one of the most endangered breeding birds of prey in the UKConservation charities including The Wildlife Trusts and the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC) also voiced fears for the future of the water vole, which is already under serious threat from habitat loss and predation by American minks.Small animals like water voles and shrews, which live in burrows, can survive fast-moving fires but their habitats and the food they rely on are destroyed.Water voles are "the fastest-declining mammal ever" according to Rob Parry of the INCC."Their last foothold [in Wales] is in the uplands so when those sites are burned it is awful for that particular population, but from a UK point of view we are one step closer to the extinction of an entire species," he said.Rob ParryThe scorched burrow of a water vole, following grass fires in CeredigionThe INCC is also monitoring five breeding pairs of barn owls in the Amman Valley in south Wales, where wildfires have destroyed huge areas of habitat. "A few weeks ago they had all of this area to find food for their chicks and suddenly they don't have that any more," said Mr Parry."I don't know how they are going to cope. A wildfire just makes that habitat disappear overnight."Other rare birds are also affected, including hen harriers, which have been subject to recent conservation efforts to increase their numbers in the Welsh uplands, and skylarks, which have declined in huge numbers since the 1970s."We're worried enough as it is about wildlife," said Mr Parry."We're one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and wildfires every spring at the worst possible time is a burden that wildlife and the environment just can't cope with."Eddy BlancheFire crews have reported more than 1,100 wildfires in Wales so far this year - including this one near in Merthyr Tydfil in MarchThe INCC has called for closer oversight of controlled burns by farmers and better monitoring of the impact of wildfires on the environment.Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said wildfires were a "massive issue", particularly in south Wales, where Welsh government figures showed more than half of wildfires in Wales took place last year.Becky Davies, a senior officer at NRW, said: "In the last three days we've had over 75 fires in the south Wales valleys alone."We have a lot of hillsides that are linear, the valley side has a lot of bracken, a lot of heathland, grassland and coal spoil and that is the sort of hillside that goes up in flames."The environmental impact of wildfires can also be felt more widely.When it rains after a fire, the newly bare soil and the phosphates that were trapped inside it can wash off into streams and rivers, affecting water quality.'Deliberate fire setting is a crime'Numbers of wildfires vary year-on-year depending on when spells of dry weather happen.But figures obtained by the BBC show that in south Wales, grassfires have increased by 1,200% from the same time period last year.In north Wales, crews have attended 170 fires this year, and Mid Wales Fire and Rescue said it had tackled 772 blazes.Wildfires are also up in England and Northern Ireland compared to last year, while the fire service in Scotland has issued an extreme wildfire alert covering the whole country.Statistics show the majority of wildfires are started by people, including accidental fires from disposable BBQs or controlled burns that get out of hand.Firefighters and police are teaching children in schools about the damage wildfires can cause to wildlifeIn south Wales, firefighters are going to primary schools to teach children from a young age about the devastating impact.At Pontnewydd Primary School in Cwmbran, staff from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Gwent Police brought along animals like snakes, hedgehogs and foxes for children to meet.Station manager Mark Bowditch said his crews saw the damage to wildlife from wildfires first-hand."We see the death of local wildlife, we see the destruction of their habitat," he said."We accept that some fires can be accidental, but deliberate fire setting is a crime and that's the message we'd like to get out."Additional reporting by Dylan Greene.

Conservation
Extinction
Water

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