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Study Shows the World Is Far More Ablaze Now With Damaging Fires Than in the 1980s

A new study shows that the world's most damaging wildfires are happening four times more often now compared to the 1980s

WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth’s nastiest and costliest wildfires are blazing four times more often now than they did in the 1980s because of human-caused climate change and people moving closer to wildlands, a new study found.A study in the journal Science looks at global wildfires, not by acres burned which is the most common measuring stick, but by the harder to calculate economic and human damage they cause. The study concluded there has been a “climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires.”A team of Australian, American and German fire scientists calculated the 200 most damaging fires since 1980 based on the percentage of damage to the country's Gross Domestic Product at the time, taking inflation into account. The frequency of these events has increased about 4.4 times from 1980 to 2023, said study lead author Calum Cunningham, a pyrogeographer at the Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania in Australia. “It shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that we do have a major wildfire crisis on our hands,” Cunningham said.About 43% of the 200 most damaging fires occurred in the last 10 years of the study. In the 1980s, the globe averaged two of these catastrophic fires a year and a few times hit four a year. From 2014 to 2023, the world averaged nearly nine a year, including 13 in 2021. It noted that the count of these devastating infernos sharply increased in 2015, which “coincided with increasingly extreme climatic conditions.” Though the study date ended in 2023, the last two years have been even more extreme, Cunningham said.Cunningham said often researchers look at how many acres a fire burns as a measuring stick, but he called that flawed because it really doesn't show the effect on people, with area not mattering as much as economics and lives. Hawaii's Lahaina fire wasn't big, but it burned a lot of buildings and killed a lot of people so it was more meaningful than one in sparsely populated regions, he said.“We need to be targeting the fires that matter. And those are the fires that cause major ecological destruction because they’re burning too intensely,” Cunningham said. But economic data is difficult to get with many countries keeping that information private, preventing global trends and totals from being calculated. So Cunningham and colleagues were able to get more than 40 years of global economic date from insurance giant Munich Re and then combine it with the public database from International Disaster Database, which isn't as complete but is collected by the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.The study looked at “fire weather” which is hot, dry and windy conditions that make extreme fires more likely and more dangerous and found that those conditions are increasing, creating a connection to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.“We’ve firstly got that connection that all the disasters by and large occurred during extreme weather. We’ve also got a strong trend of those conditions becoming more common as a result of climate change. That’s indisputable,” Cunningham said. “So that’s a line of evidence there to say that climate change is having a significant effect on at least creating the conditions that are suitable for a major fire disaster.”If there was no human-caused climate change, the world would still have devastating fires, but not as many, he said: “We’re loading the dice in a sense by increasing temperatures.”There are other factors. People are moving closer to fire-prone areas, called the wildland-urban interface, Cunningham said. And society is not getting a handle on dead foliage that becomes fuel, he said. But those factors are harder to quantify compared to climate change, he said."This is an innovative study in terms of the data sources employed, and it mostly confirms common sense expectations: fires causing major fatalities and economic damage tend to be those in densely populated areas and to occur during the extreme fire weather conditions that are becoming more common due to climate change," said Jacob Bendix, a geography and environment professor at Syracuse University who studies fires, but wasn't part of this research team.Not only does the study makes sense, but it's a bad sign for the future, said Mike Flannigan, a fire researcher at Thompson Rivers University in Canada. Flannigan, who wasn't part of research, said: "As the frequency and intensity of extreme fire weather and drought increases the likelihood of disastrous fires increases so we need to do more to be better prepared."The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Crisis
Science

Economic boom or environmental disaster? Rural Texas grapples with pros, cons of data centers

Local leaders see data centers, which help power the world’s shift to artificial intelligence, as a way to keep their towns open. Residents worry their way of life — and water — is at stake.

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state. LUBBOCK — Kendra Kay loved growing up in the quiet of West Texas. She enjoyed the peacefulness brought in by the open lands. She appreciated how everyone in her community had a purpose and contributed to their way of life. She never wanted the busy noise that came with living in a bustling big city. “That’s why we live here,” Kay, an Amarillo resident, said. Now, Kay and others who have chosen the simpler life are worried that the emerging data center industry that has set its eyes on towns across the Panhandle and rural Texas might upend that agrarian bliss. “What will we have to give up to make sure these data centers can succeed?” she said. Data centers have been around since the 1940s, housing technology infrastructure that runs computer applications, internet servers, and stores the data that comes from them. More recently, data centers are powering artificial intelligence and other internet juggernauts like Google, Amazon and Meta. Related Story Sept. 11, 2025 These newer sprawling data centers have been sold to communities as a boon to their economic development. Rural Texas has become a prized spot for the businesses rushing into the state. Virginia is the only state with more data centers than Texas, which has 391. While most are concentrated in North Texas and other major metro areas, they are increasingly being planned in rural areas. Affordable property rates, wide open spaces, and welcoming local officials have made remote areas attractive. However, the people who live in those areas have grown worried about what incoming centers — which can sit on thousands of acres of land — mean for their lands, homes, and especially, their limited water supply. From the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas’ water supply is limited. The strain is particularly acute in rural West Texas and other areas of the state that face regular drought. Data centers, especially those used for artificial intelligence, can use an extraordinary amount of water. The state does not yet require most data centers to report their water usage. Related Story Sept. 25, 2025 And with new, bigger data centers coming to the state regularly, there are unanswered questions on where the data centers will get the water they need to stay cool. “These new data centers are enormous,” said Robert Mace, executive director of the Meadows Center. “I don’t know where you get the water to do that in a state that’s already water-stressed, not only from drought, but also rapid population growth in both the population and industry.” The concern already exists in the Texas Panhandle, where droughts are common and groundwater supply is declining. There are four data centers planned for the region, including in Amarillo, Turkey, Pampa and Claude. Outside the Panhandle is no different, as AI campuses are expanding in the Permian Basin and 30 data centers are planned for Sulphur Springs, a small town in East Texas. Those plans have residents just as worried. The Amarillo skyline on April 9. The city is considering selling some of its water to a data center. Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune In Amarillo, the City Council is considering a water deal with Fermi America, a company co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The campus would span 5,800 acres in nearby Carson County and include 18 million square feet for data centers. Perry said in June that the project is part of a national push to stay competitive in the global energy and technology sectors. A group of residents, including Kay, see the deal as a threat. They protested the deal in front of the Potter County courthouse in late September. “We’re ready for more community conversations about the use of this and with Fermi,” Kay said. Trent Sisemore, a former Amarillo mayor who Fermi tapped to lead community engagement, said the data center will offer good jobs. The Panhandle was also chosen, the company said ealier, because of its proximity to natural gas pipelines, high-speed fiber and other infrastructure. “The deployment brings tremendous growth and economic stability to our community,” Sisemore said. Part of Amarillo’s water supply comes from the Ogallala Aquifer, which is also the main water supply for farmers and ranchers in the region, and it is being drained at rates faster than it can be replenished. Agriculture production is the lifeblood of the High Plains, and the success of the region depends on the success of farmers and ranchers. Organizers of the protest at the Potter County courthouse have stressed that incoming data centers are dangerous because of the ripple effect that could happen in a region already under water restrictions. Kay pointed to similar communities, such as Lenoir, North Carolina and Henrico County, Virginia, where there is a constant expansion of data centers pushing into rural areas. The expansions bring the likelihood of noise and water pollution, along with a jump in electricity prices with it. “We would never move somewhere that’s more busy and loud,” Kay said. “We like our quiet streets.” “It’s exciting when it comes to data centers” Economic success in Ector County, which includes Odessa, has long been dependent on oil rigs. For local officials, a 235-acre data center in Penwell is a chance to diversify the economy. The abundance of natural gas, untapped land and untreated water, makes the region ideal, said County Judge Dustin Fawcett. “It’s exciting when it comes to data centers,” said Fawcett. “Not only are we using that produced water, we’re also using the excess natural gas we have, so we get to be more efficient with the products we’re mining.” With one planned near Odessa, where water supply has been a consistent problem for both quantity and quality, some residents aren’t so sure. “We don’t have an abundance of water out here,” said Jeff Russell, an Odessa resident and former vice president of the Odessa Development Corporation. “We have an abundance of bad water, but we don’t have an abundance of good water.” Amarillo business owners and community leaders tour the Edge Data Center at the Region 16 Education Service Center on March 19. The data center is much smaller than some of the new ones planned for other parts of rural Texas. Credit: Angelina Marie for The Texas Tribune Fawcett said as officials look into these agreements with data centers, they don’t want to pull water from the municipal supply — they want to tap into brackish and produced water, which is a byproduct of oil and gas extraction. He hopes that data centers can help them get closer to harnessing produced water on a large scale instead of shooting it back into the earth. Just like the Panhandle, there are a slew of data centers either planned or already in dry West Texas. Sweetwater and El Paso have projects in the works, while small towns like Snyder are actively promoting their land as a good site for interested businesses. Yi Ding, an assistant professor at Purdue University in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said some states have started introducing regulations that prevent data centers from using drinking water. Texas doesn’t, which could become a problem in the near future. “This is a concern in other states,” said Ding, who has researched the environmental impact of data centers. “You don’t want data centers competing for water used in people’s daily lives.” While state planners don’t have a concrete way of tracking how much water data centers are using in Texas or how much will be needed in the future, some centers are already looking to make their systems more efficient. This includes using different cooling methods, such as gels, which would decrease the amount of water they use. However, Ding compared it to a theory that says techniques can be improved over time, but it opens the door for more consumption. “When something becomes more efficient, people use it more,” Ding said. “So total water consumption doesn’t significantly drop, unless there’s a significant paradigm shift in terms of cooling.” Sisemore, who is Fermi’s ambassador to Amarillo, said they want to use water efficiently and protect the resource, and will be using a system that continuously circulates cooling fluid, which uses less water. “If there's better technology, that’s what we’re going to use,” Sisemore said. “Wealth here is the water” Will Masters has spent the last decade working on ways to replenish the Ogallala Aquifer. His efforts focus on conservation and using other methods, such as playa lakes, to restore the groundwater that’s been drained for more than 50 years. The Panhandle area sits on one of the deepest parts of the aquifer, which means it likely has more water than regions further south. Masters, who lives in Amarillo, wants to ensure the Panhandle doesn’t push its geographical luck. “Wealth here is the water,” said Masters, one of the founders for Ogallala Life, a nonprofit in the region. “If the water is not here, this area is impoverished.” When Amarillo residents held their protest last month, it was to both fight against data centers coming to the city and inform others of the potential risks facing their water supply — including the risks to the Ogallala Aquifer. Masters said the idea of accepting the water being drained more in exchange for a limited amount of jobs is a bad deal. Will Masters, the co-founder of Ogallala Life, listens to community members speak during an event on water usage by the Fermi America data center on Sept. 20. Credit: Phoebe Terry for The Texas Tribune “City leaders are trying to find a way to keep their cities alive,” Masters said. “So we have developers coming in with ideas to bring in money and jobs, temporarily, but it’s causing more problems.” Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley said the council’s priority is protecting the city’s water and to get a good deal if they decide to sell any of it to Fermi for its data center, which will sit about 35 miles north of the city’s limits in Carson County. The company has asked for 2.5 million gallons of water a day, and there’s talks it could go up to 10 million gallons. By comparison, Stanley said the city uses 50 million gallons a day. “We’ll charge them more than a regular customer because they’re outside the city and require them to put in their own infrastructure,” Stanley said. “Then we’ll be the beneficiary of the additional jobs that pay well, new residents who build homes and put in additional businesses. It’ll be really good economically for the growth of Amarillo.” Stanley acknowledged there will be challenges. “The cons are how fast do you grow? Can those growing pains be forecasted?” he said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “Can we plan strategically so we’re ready for that amount of growth?” Stanley said he has spoken with residents and heard their concerns. At the same time, he said Fermi America will need to lead the conversation since it’s outside city limits. His role comes later, he said, as the business finalizes its plans. “Fermi America is going to need to step up and hold their own forums and engage with those citizens directly,” Stanley said. “Just like any business deal would be handled. It would be very unfair for me to take a lead in any of those conversations, not knowing who the players are or what the full potential is.” Latest in the series: Running Out: Texas’ Water Crisis Loading content … Sisemore, the community lead for the project, said the U.S. is being outpaced by China when it comes to coal, gas and nuclear generation. He said the next war will be won because of AI, and this is an opportunity for the community to help America win it. He said he understands where the trepidation from residents is coming from — comparing it to when people were concerned about Bell Helicopter, a company focused on producing military aircraft, came to Amarillo. Sisemore wants to help inform them by bringing in experts to give them more information. An attendee holds a sign boycotting a proposed data center at a protest in front of the Potter County Courthouse on Sept. 20. Credit: Phoebe Terry for The Texas Tribune “Everybody has a right to their opinion, and we can all learn from each other,” Sisemore said. Town halls are expected to begin in November. Disclosure: Google has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

Water
Agriculture
Conservation

Renowned Primatologist Jane Goodall Dead At 91

The Jane Goodall Institute said Goodall passed away "due to natural causes."

English primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall speaks in the panel "Earth's Wisdom Keepers" on the last day of the forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in 2024.AP Photo/Markus SchreiberJane Goodall, the world’s most famous primatologist, died Wednesday at the age of 91, the Jane Goodall Institute announced on social media.According to the Institute, Goodall passed away “due to natural causes” while in California as part of a speaking tour of the United States.“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” the Institute said in a statement.Goodall, the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, communicates with chimpanzee Nana in June 2004 at the zoo of Magdeburg in eastern Germany. The British primatologist has died.JENS SCHLUETER/DDP/AFP via Getty ImagesIn the spring of 1957, Goodall, then a 22-year-old secretary with only a high school education, boarded a ship from her native England to Kenya. Her work at a local natural history museum soon took her to the rainforest reserve at Gombe National Park (in present-day Tanzania), home to one of the largest chimpanzee populations in Africa.She felt an immediate connection to the chimpanzees. Over the decades that followed, she spent almost all her time in the reserve ― conducting research that reshaped our understanding of chimpanzees and even what it means to be human. Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, to businessman Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall and novelist Margaret Myfanwe Joseph. She grew up in the middle-class resort town of Bournemouth, on the southern coast of England. In grade school, she started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels and Hugh Lofting’s “The Story of Doctor Dolittle” and became obsessed with the idea of traveling to Africa.Goodall’s parents couldn’t afford to send her to college, so after she graduated from high school, she worked as a secretary for two years to save money for the three-week passage to Africa. Two months after arriving, she met renowned paleontologist Louis Leakey, whose work had shown that hominids originated in Africa, rather than Asia. Leakey recognized Goodall’s intelligence and hired her at the natural history museum in Nairobi, where he worked, intending to send her to the rainforest to study chimpanzees. Goodall appears in Gombe National Park in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees," originally broadcast on CBS in December 1965.CBS Photo Archive via Getty ImagesFor the first few months of her stay in Gombe, the chimpanzees were cautious, refusing to come within several hundred feet of the young woman. But Goodall persisted, using bananas as a lure for the chimpanzees, and they eventually became comfortable enough to allow her to observe them at close range. Goodall began giving them individual names — highly unorthodox in a field where the standard practice was to assign animals identifying numbers. And as she got closer to the chimpanzees, she discovered that they behaved in a manner that resembled the rich, complicated social structure of humans far more than anyone had suspected. She came to the belief that they could be caring and violent, resourceful and playful — much like human beings.Goodall feeds rescued chimpanzees on July 14, 2016, at the Sweetwaters sanctuary, Kenya's only great-ape sanctuary.TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty ImagesGoodall made what is still regarded as her most significant discovery about chimpanzee behavior in October 1960. Looking through her binoculars, she saw a male chimpanzee she’d named David Greybeard sticking a twig into a termite colony and using it to retrieve termites that he then ate. Before this moment, scientists had always believed that humans were the only creatures on earth capable of making and using tools.It hadn’t, in fact, been known that chimpanzees ate meat. Goodall later observed chimpanzees hunting and eating mammals, including other monkeys and even, on rare occasions, other chimpanzees.In 1962, Goodall enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Cambridge University, becoming one of just a handful of people ever to do so without an undergraduate degree. While there, she published her breakthrough finding on the tool-using chimpanzee in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.After getting her degree in 1965, Goodall returned to Gombe to continue her work with chimpanzees. She published her first book, “My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees,” in 1967. She has since published more than a dozen other books for adults and several for children. One of these books, 2013’s “Seeds of Hope,” was criticized for including passages lifted from several other sources without attribution, a misstep Goodall attributed to sloppy note-taking. She later published a revised edition.Goodall poses for a photo at Taronga Zoo on Oct. 11, 2008, in Sydney. Robert Gray via Getty ImagesIn 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute to promote conservation and development programs in Africa. It now has projects across the world, including youth-focused programs in nearly 100 countries. As Goodall’s fame grew, she became an outspoken advocate for animal rights and conservation. She has been involved in numerous organizations working on behalf of better treatment of animals.“You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings,” she told The Guardian in 2010. “You know it and I think every single one of those scientists knew it too, but because they couldn’t prove it, they wouldn’t talk about it.”In a 2021 interview with HuffPost, she reflected on humanity’s stewardship of the world and expressed hope we might lean more on our intellect to work toward the mutually beneficial goal of environmental preservation.That intellect is ultimately what distinguishes us from chimpanzees, she said, and allows us to collaboratively plan for the future:20 Years OfFreeJournalismYour SupportFuelsOur MissionYour SupportFuelsOur MissionFor two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.Chimpanzees have a very brutal, dark, war-like side. They also have a loving and altruistic side. Just like us. But the big difference is the explosive development of our intellect, which I personally think was at least partly triggered by the fact we developed this way of talking with words. So we can tell people about things that aren’t present. We can make plans for the distant future. We can bring people from different disciplines together to discuss a problem. That’s because of words. We now have developed a moral code with our words. And we know perfectly well what we should and shouldn’t do. But there is this kind of innate territorialism, which leads to nationalism. That’s in our genes. But we should be able to get out of it because of this intellect. We have the tools. We have the language. We have the scientific technology. We understand that if we make the right decisions every day and billions of us do it, we can move in the right direction. But will we do it in time? I don’t know.Goodall married Dutch nature photographer Baron Hugo van Lawick in 1964. The two had a son, Hugo, in 1967, and divorced in 1974. She married Derek Bryceson, head of Tanzania’s national parks, in 1975. He died of cancer in 1980. Sara Bondioli contributed reporting.

Animals
Business
Conservation

Study finds wildfire smoke reduces sperm quality

Wildfire season may be over, but new research indicates a hidden toll still lingers.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A new study indicates the potential health impacts of wildfires don't end when wildfire season does. Researchers at the University of Washington found that wildfire smoke exposure could reduce key aspects of sperm quality in men. Trump fires back at Kotek: Portland is ‘run like a third-world country’ The team found consistent declines in sperm concentration, total sperm count, and other key fertility aspects during wildfire smoke exposure among the 84 men tested. The semen samples came from men who provided sperm for intrauterine insemination procedures between 2018 and 2022. Researchers said their findings aligned with smaller studies from Oregon Health & Science University that linked air pollution and wildfire smoke to impaired reproductive health. “These results reinforce growing evidence that environmental exposures — specifically wildfire smoke — can affect reproductive health,” said senior author Dr. Tristan Nicholson, a reproductive urologist at the UW Medicine’s Men’s Health Center in Seattle.  More information about the study can be found on the UW website. ‘Oregon has no choice’: New SNAP requirements will impact over 313K residents Exposure to wildfire smoke has previously been linked to respiratory problems, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and cognitive impairment.

Health
Pollution
Science

BrewDog sells Scottish ‘rewilding’ estate it bought only five years ago

Latest disposal by ‘punk’ beer company follows £37m loss and closure of 10 pubsBrewDog has sold a Highlands rewilding estate it bought with great fanfare in 2020 after posting losses last year of £37m on its beer businesses.The company paid £8.8m for Kinrara near Aviemore and pledged it would plant millions of trees on a “staggering” 50 sq km of land, initially telling customers the project would be partly funded by sales of its Lost Forest beer. Continue reading...

BrewDog has sold a Highlands rewilding estate it bought with great fanfare in 2020 after posting losses last year of £37m on its beer businesses.The company paid £8.8m for Kinrara near Aviemore and pledged it would plant millions of trees on a “staggering” 50 sq km of land, initially telling customers the project would be partly funded by sales of its Lost Forest beer.It retracted many of its original claims, admitting the estate was smaller, at 37 sq km, and the tree-planting area smaller still. It would never soak up the 550,000 tonnes of CO2 every year it originally claimed but a maximum of a million tonnes in 100 years.The venture, which was part of since-abandoned efforts by co-founder James Watt to brand the business as carbon-negative or neutral, was beset with further problems. Critics said the native trees planted there were failing to grow and buildings were sold off.Now run by a new executive team, the self-styled ‘punk’ beer company announced in early September that it had lost £37m last year while recording barely any sales growth. About 2,000 pubs delisted BrewDog products as consumer interest soured and the company announced it was closing 10 of its bars, including its flagship outlet in Aberdeen.Kinrara, which covers 3,764 hectares (9,301 acres) of the Monadhliath mountains, is the latest asset to be sold by the company. It has been bought by Oxygen Conservation, a limited company funded by wealthy rewilding enthusiasts.Founded only four years ago, Oxygen Conservation has very quickly acquired 12 UK estates covering over 20,234 hectares. It aims to prove that nature restoration and woodland creation can be profitable.Rich Stockdale, Oxygen Conservation’s chief executive, disputed claims that the initial restoration work at Kinrara had failed. He said his company planned to continue BrewDog’s programme of peatland restoration and woodland creation.“We were blown away by the job that had been done; far better than we expected,” Stockdale said. “No woodland creation or environmental restoration project is without its challenges. [But] genuinely, we were astounded about the quality to which the estate’s been delivered.”Oxygen Conservation’s expansion has been cited as evidence that private investors can play a significant role in nature conservation by helping plug the gap between project costs and public funding.skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThe company owns three estates in Scotland, two of them in the Cairngorms and Scottish Borders and the third along the Firth of Tay. Its chief backers are Oxygen House, set up by the statistician Dr Mark Dixon, and Blue and White Capital, which was set up by Tony Bloom, owner of Brighton & Hove Albion football club.NatureScot, the government conservation agency, said this week it believed it could raise more than £100m in private and public investment for nature restoration, despite widespread scepticism about the approach.Oxygen Conservation, which values its portfolio at £300m, believes it can profit from selling high-value carbon credits to industry, building renewable energy projects and developing eco-tourism.

Business
Forests
Energy

The Pregnancy Pill Millions Trust Faces Alarming New Questions About Child Brain Health

Scientists are warning that one of the most trusted painkillers used in pregnancy may not be as safe as once believed. A sweeping review of studies finds links between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and higher risks of autism and ADHD in children. The medication crosses the placenta and may interfere with brain development, raising urgent questions [...]

New research raises red flags about acetaminophen use in pregnancy, linking it to autism and ADHD risks in children. ShutterstockScientists are warning that one of the most trusted painkillers used in pregnancy may not be as safe as once believed. A sweeping review of studies finds links between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and higher risks of autism and ADHD in children. The medication crosses the placenta and may interfere with brain development, raising urgent questions about clinical guidelines. Acetaminophen in Pregnancy Linked to Neurodevelopmental Risks Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report that children exposed to acetaminophen before birth may face a greater chance of developing neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Their findings, published in BMC Environmental Health, mark the first time that the Navigation Guide methodology has been applied to thoroughly assess the quality and reliability of the research on this subject. Acetaminophen (commonly sold as Tylenol® in the United States and Canada, and known as paracetamol elsewhere) is the most widely used non-prescription treatment for pain and fever during pregnancy, taken by more than half of expectant mothers worldwide. For decades, it has been viewed as the safest option for relief from headaches, fever, and general pain. However, the Mount Sinai team’s review of 46 studies, which together involved over 100,000 participants from multiple countries, challenges this long-standing belief and highlights the importance of caution and additional investigation. Gold-Standard Review Methodology Applied The research team relied on the Navigation Guide Systematic Review, a leading framework used in environmental health. This method enables scientists to systematically evaluate each study, rating potential sources of bias such as incomplete data or selective reporting, while also weighing the overall strength and consistency of the evidence. “Our findings show that higher-quality studies are more likely to show a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and increased risks of autism and ADHD,” said Diddier Prada, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Population Health Science and Policy, and Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Given the widespread use of this medication, even a small increase in risk could have major public health implications.” Possible Biological Mechanisms Behind the Link The paper also explores biological mechanisms that could explain the association between acetaminophen use and these disorders. Acetaminophen is known to cross the placental barrier and may trigger oxidative stress, disrupt hormones, and cause epigenetic changes that interfere with fetal brain development. While the study does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders, the research team’s findings strengthen the evidence for a connection and raise concerns about current clinical practices. Call for Updated Guidelines and Safer Alternatives The researchers call for cautious, time-limited use of acetaminophen during pregnancy under medical supervision; updated clinical guidelines to better balance the benefits and risks; and further research to confirm these findings and identify safer alternatives for managing pain and fever in expectant mothers. “Pregnant women should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors,” Dr. Prada emphasized. “Untreated pain or fever can also harm the baby. Our study highlights the importance of discussing the safest approach with health care providers and considering non-drug options whenever possible.” Rising Autism and ADHD Rates Add Urgency With diagnoses of autism and ADHD increasing worldwide, these findings have significant implications for public health policy, clinical guidelines, and patient education. The study also highlights the urgent need for pharmaceutical innovation to provide safer alternatives for pregnant women. Reference: “Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology” by Diddier Prada, Beate Ritz, Ann Z. Bauer and Andrea A. Baccarelli, 14 August 2025, Environmental Health.DOI: 10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0 The study was conducted in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles; University of Massachusetts Lowell; and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Funding for this study was provided by the National Cancer Institute (U54CA267776), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R35ES031688), and the National Institute on Aging (U01AG088684). Important: These findings indicate a correlation, not definitive proof of causation. The medical community remains divided, and further research is needed. Always seek guidance from your healthcare professional before altering or discontinuing any treatment. Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.Follow us on Google, Discover, and News.

Health
Climate
Science

Senior Tories dismayed at Badenoch’s ‘catastrophic’ vow to repeal Climate Change Act

Theresa May, Alok Sharma, business and church leaders say plan would harm UK and not even Margaret Thatcher would have countenanced itUK politics live – latest updatesThe former prime minister Theresa May has condemned a promise made by Kemi Badenoch to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Tories win the next general election, calling the plans a “catastrophic mistake”.She joined other leading Tories, business groups, scientists and the Church of England in attacking the Conservative leader’s announcement, which would remove the requirement for governments to set “carbon budgets” laying out how far greenhouse gas emissions will be cut every five years, up to 2050. Continue reading...

The former prime minister Theresa May has condemned a promise made by Kemi Badenoch to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Tories win the next general election, calling the plans a “catastrophic mistake”.She joined other leading Tories, business groups, scientists and the Church of England in attacking the Conservative leader’s announcement, which would remove the requirement for governments to set “carbon budgets” laying out how far greenhouse gas emissions will be cut every five years, up to 2050.May called it a “retrograde” step which upended 17 years of consensus between the UK’s main political parties and the scientific community. She continued: “To row back now would be a catastrophic mistake for while that consensus is being tested, the science remains the same. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to ensure we protect the planet for their futures and that means giving business the reassurance it needs to find the solutions for the very grave challenges we face.”Green Tories have been increasingly concerned at Badenoch’s move to position the Tories closer to the Reform party, whose senior leaders deny climate science, on energy and net zero policy.Repealing the 2008 Climate Change Act and cancellation of the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 would remove obligations to cut carbon and dismantle the cornerstone of climate policy.Under the act, which was passed by Labour with the support of David Cameron’s Conservative party, with only five rebels voting against, ministers must set five-yearly limits on the UK’s future emissions and bring in policies to meet them. It was the first such legislation in the world, but scores of other countries have since followed suit.Alok Sharma, the Tory former minister and peer who was president of the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, told the Guardian: “Thanks to the strong and consistent commitment of the previous Conservative government to climate action and net zero, the UK attracted many tens of billions of pounds of private sector investment and accompanying jobs. This is a story of British innovation, economic growth, skilled jobs and global leadership – not just a matter of environmental stewardship.”He warned that Badenoch risked not just alienating allies on the world stage, but discouraging voters. “Turning our back on this progress now risks future investment and jobs into our country, as well as our international standing,” he said. “The path to a prosperous, secure, and electable future for the Conservative party lies in building on our achievements, not abandoning them.”Lord Deben, who served as environment secretary under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, said none of Badenoch’s predecessors would have countenanced such a move. “This is not what Margaret Thatcher would have done,” he told the Guardian. “She understood this. If you want de-industrialisation of Britain, then [repealing the Climate Change Act] is the right way to go about it.”Business leaders also warned of serious economic damage. Rain Newton-Smith, the chief executive of the CBI, the UK’s biggest business association, said: “The scientific reality of climate change makes action from both government and business imperative. Scrapping the Climate Change Act would be a backwards step in achieving our shared objectives of reaching economic growth, boosting energy security, protecting our environment and making life healthier for future generations.”She said investment had been stimulated, not stifled as Badenoch suggested, by the legislation. “The Climate Act has been the bedrock for investment flowing into the UK and shows that decarbonisation and economic growth are not a zero-sum game. Businesses delivering the energy transition added £83bn to the economy last year alone, providing high-paying jobs to almost a million people across the UK,” she said. “Ripping up the framework that’s given investors confidence that the UK is serious about sustainable growth through a low-carbon future would damage our economy.”If Badenoch were to repeal the Climate Change Act, Britain’s exports could be hit under the EU’s green tariffs. The EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, now in its trial stages, imposes levies on companies from countries that are not judged to have an adequate price on carbon. The measure, intended to prevent other countries from undercutting climate rules, could add crippling costs to the UK’s industrial exports to its biggest trading partner.Civil society also rallied to reject Badenoch’s plans. Both the Church of England and the Catholic church spoke out, with Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, lead for environmental affairs for the Church of England, saying: “For Britain, the Climate Change Act reflects the best of who we are as a country: a nation that cares for creation, protects the vulnerable and builds hope for future generations. To weaken it now would be to turn our back on that calling and on the values we share as a nation. That is why the Church of England has committed to strive for net zero by 2030, because caring for God’s creation is not optional; it is essential if we are to safeguard the Earth for those who come after us.”Bishop John Arnold, the Catholic lead for the the environment, referred to the speech by Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, criticising climate sceptics. “Pope Leo XIV yesterday inspired us to work with unity and togetherness on the challenges facing our common home … More than ever, we need to work together, to think of future generations and take urgent action if we are to truly respond to the scale of this climate crisis. A crisis which affects those who are poorest and most vulnerable and have done least to cause it.”

Climate
Business
Government

Venezuelan Students Help Turn Plastic Waste Into School Desks

MARACAIBO (Reuters) -Piles of discarded plastic and broken school furniture are being given a second life in northwestern Venezuela, where a local...

MARACAIBO (Reuters) -Piles of discarded plastic and broken school furniture are being given a second life in northwestern Venezuela, where a local foundation is turning waste into desks for students.El Zulia Recicla, based in Zulia state's capital, Maracaibo, has refurbished 160 desks so far using plastic waste collected by students.Instead of building new furniture, the foundation repairs damaged metal frames and replaces missing parts with molded plastic panels made in its workshop."We show people that the desks they use today – with damaged wood, falling apart – can be restored," said Nicolino Bracho, the foundation's research director.At Ramon Reinoso Nunez School, where students had been sitting on the floor or using backpacks as chairs, 20 desks have already been delivered."We have many issues with desks, because of course theft and wear over time take their toll," said school director Maritza Jaimes."We hoped they could take more, but we're grateful to have 20 restored ones," she said.The initiative, partly funded by the French embassy, aims to deliver 200 desks to 10 schools in vulnerable areas and is part of the foundation's broader effort to reduce plastic pollution and raise environmental awareness in the region.(Reporting by Mariela Nava and Efrain Otero)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Waste
Pollution

Industrial Chemical Linked To Parkinson's Disease

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Oct. 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Long-term exposure to a chemical used in metal degreasing and dry...

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Oct. 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Long-term exposure to a chemical used in metal degreasing and dry cleaning might increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease, a new study says.Seniors living in places with the highest airborne levels of trichloroethylene showed a 10% higher risk for Parkinson’s than those in areas with the lowest levels, researchers report in the journal Neurology.Further, risk of Parkinson’s increased fourfold for people living one to five miles downwind of an Oregon factory that used the chemical, researchers found.“Long-term exposure to trichloroethylene in outdoor air was associated with a small but measurable increase in Parkinson’s risk,” said lead researcher Brittany Krzyzanowski, an assistant professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.“These findings add to a growing body of evidence that environmental exposures may contribute to Parkinson’s disease,” she said in a news release.Trichloroethylene (TCE) is known to cause kidney cancer, and studies have linked the chemical to blood cancers and liver cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.It’s a persistent environmental pollutant in air, water and soil across the United States, researchers noted. A 2000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) report estimated that up to 30% of the nation’s drinking water supplies were contaminated with TCE. In 2024, the EPA issued a ban on the chemical for all consumer and commercial uses that was set to start in 2025. However, the ban was stayed pending a legal challenge, and the chemical remains in use.For the new study, researchers used Medicare data to identify seniors older than 67 newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s between 2016 and 2018, and compared each participant to five other seniors who didn’t have the disease.Parkinson’s occurs when brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine either die or become impaired. When that happens, people start to have movement problems that include shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination, according to Cleveland Clinic.All told, the study included nearly 222,000 people with Parkinson’s and more than 1.1 million people without the disease, researchers said.Using ZIP codes and EPA data, researchers mapped everyone’s exposure to outdoor TCE concentrations two years prior to their diagnosis.Researchers concluded that people exposed to the highest levels of TCE appeared to have a greater risk of Parkinson’s, after controlling for other risk factors for the disorder.“While the increased risk was modest, the sheer number of people exposed to TCE in the environment means the potential public health impact could be substantial,” Krzyzanowski said.The team also identified several geographic “hot spots” where outdoor TCE levels were highest, particularly in the Rust Belt region, as well as three facilities that operated as the nation’s top TCE-emitting facilities in 2002.Results showed that Parkinson’s risk was higher close to two of the three facilities. At one of those sites, Parkinson’s risk clearly rose the closer people lived to the facility. People living one to five miles downwind from a lithium battery plant in Lebanon, Oregon, had a more than four times greater risk of Parkinson’s than those living up to 10 miles away.“This underscores the need for stronger regulations and more monitoring of industrial pollutants,” Krzyzanowski said.The researchers noted that their study could not draw a direct cause-and-effect link between TCE and Parkinson’s. Their results only show an association.However, previous reports have also linked TCE to Parkinson’s, researchers said.For example, TCE contamination of the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, N.C., has been linked with a 70% higher risk of Parkinson’s among service members stationed there.SOURCES: American Academy of Neurology, news release, Oct. 1, 2025; Neurology, Oct. 1, 2025Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Chemicals
Health

‘A remarkable ability to inspire’: global tributes pour in for Jane Goodall

Barack Obama, Prince William and Tanzanian president among many to mark death of primatologist at age of 91Word leaders, friends and former colleagues have been paying tribute to the primatologist Jane Goodall, who died in California on Wednesday aged 91.Goodall devoted her life to studying chimpanzees and other great apes, and became a global champion for primates and for conservation, helping to challenge the idea that the primates were vegetarian and that only humans could use tools. She died in her sleep from natural causes in Los Angeles while on a speaking tour, according to her institute, leading to an outpouring of dedications from around the world. Continue reading...

Word leaders, friends and former colleagues have been paying tribute to the primatologist Jane Goodall, who died in California on Wednesday aged 91.Goodall devoted her life to studying chimpanzees and other great apes, and became a global champion for primates and for conservation, helping to challenge the idea that the primates were vegetarian and that only humans could use tools. She died in her sleep from natural causes in Los Angeles while on a speaking tour, according to her institute, leading to an outpouring of dedications from around the world.“Jane Goodall had a remarkable ability to inspire us to connect with the natural wonders of our world, and her groundbreaking work on primates and the importance of conservation opened doors for generations of women in science,” said former US president Barack Obama. “Michelle and I are thinking of all those who loved and admired her,” he said.Prince William said the world had lost “an extraordinary voice”.“Her boundless curiosity, compassion and pioneering spirit transformed our understanding of the natural world. She challenged us all to make a difference and inspired me and countless others to work to protect our planet. Jane Goodall made a difference,” he said in a statement.The naturalist and broadcaster, Chris Packham, said: “Goodall was extremely determined. She was a do-it-yourselfer. She broke down barriers and wasn’t interested in broken or outdated conventions in science – she was bold and brave, an important inspiration to women wishing to enter science.Chris Packham described Goodall as bold and brave. Photograph: Everett/Shutterstock“She also became a powerful advocate for life, quiet, considered, clear and passionate. And critically tireless – she died on her job, trying to communicate the urgent need to confront climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. We have lost one of the greatest and most necessary voices for life on Earth ‘Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, said Goodall was a friend of the country and paid tribute to her decades of research on chimpanzees in Gombe national park. “With great sorrow, I have received the news of the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall. A renowned zoologist, primatologist, researcher and a friend of Tanzania, Dr. Goodall’s pioneering work at Gombe National Park transformed wildlife conservation, and placed our country at the heart of global efforts to protect chimpanzees and nature. Her legacy will live on. May she Rest in Peace,” she wrote on X.The University of East Anglia biologist Prof Ben Garrod, who worked closely with her for many years, said: “Jane Goodall was transformative. She was often the quietest person in the loudest room, who would have the greatest impact. She worked absolutely tirelessly to make the world better for everyone, whether you were young or old, rich or poor, human or any other animal. She worked non-stop, travelling 300 days a year, working every day I knew her, working to change the world.”Amanda Hurowitz, great apes programme director for Mighty Earth, said: “I will never forget listening to Jane Goodall pant hoot (a loud chimpanzee call that has an intro, build-up, climax and let-down) in a room at the US Capitol with members of Congress and other dignitaries. She inspired so many with her dedication to protecting our next of kin and teaching about how much we all shared.”American primatologist Russell Mittermeier, chief conservation officer for the NGO Re:wild, said: “There will never again be anyone like Jane,” said , who is . “I have known Jane for nearly 50 years, and have always been amazed by her boundless energy, her vision and her truly global impact. All of us will miss her,” he said.David Obura, the head of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem, said Goodall’s work inspired him as a teenager. “I devoured her books that were really an account not just of her science, which shone through brilliantly, but of living in, and really identifying with the nature that became her life. I wanted to emulate what she found. And then as an adult with her humility and purpose – it was all about the species, places and people that she brought to the world’s attention,” he said.Actor and conservationist Leonardo DiCaprio said Goodall was “his hero”.“Her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Tanzania transformed our understanding of how our closest relatives live, socialise, and think – reminding us that we are deeply connected not only to chimpanzees and other great apes, but to all life,” he wrote on Instagram. “She never stopped,” he said.Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said Goodall was “a groundbreaking scientist and leader who taught us all so much about the beauty and wonder of our world. She never stopped advocating for nature, people, and the planet we share. May she rest in peace.”Leading environmental lawyer Farhana Yamin said Goodall was “an outstanding scientist and environmentalist. She helped us understand apes but also ourselves. Thanks to her outstanding observations we know that language, love and caring are core parts of the more than human world and we don’t own nature but are part of it.And the CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation, Kaddu Sebunya, said that the AWF “recommits to carrying forward the flame she lit, ensuring that Africa remains at the heart of global conservation, and that her vision of a just and thriving world for people and nature endures.” Sebunya added that: “On a personal note, I commend her for the path she charted, one that showed young girls everywhere, including my own daughter, that it is possible to dream boldly, to lead fearlessly, and to leave the world better than they found it.”

Conservation
Animals
Energy

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