The Guardian

Latest environmental news, opinion and analysis from the Guardian.
The Guardian
  • Critics say JH Campbell coal-fired plant in western Michigan is expensive and emits high levels of toxic pollution

    Trump administration orders to keep an ageing, unneeded Michigan coal-fired power plant online has cost ratepayers from across the US midwest about $113m so far, according to estimates from the plant’s operator and regulators.

    Still, the US energy department last week ordered the plant to remain open for another 90 days.

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  • Ecologically sound farming and land stewardship can change individual, collective and planetary health

    Within Indigenous communities across North America and beyond, we have long known that food is medicine. This isn’t just theory; it’s fact. We understand that seasonal, regionally specific and culturally relevant foods are vital for nurturing, nourishing and healing both our people and our planet. And it’s high time we all embrace the Native American concept of food as medicine.

    Our ancestral wisdom has ensured our survival for millennia, even in the face of unthinkable circumstances like colonialism, genocide and ongoing oppression. This ever-relevant knowledge will ensure our collective survival amid today’s unthinkable circumstances here in the United States, such as political instability, climate change and rising health issues.

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  • In the wake of Hurricane Helene, No Taste Like Home aims to rebuild trust between students and the land

    Juniper Stewart just turned 12. She wears a cropped orange sweater and her ginger curls in a bob. She used to like Taylor Swift, but now she’s more into the Cranberries and other indie rock.

    Juniper also knows how to identify a Pilobolus mushroom, which grows on “cow poop”, according to Juniper. She can confidently harvest plantain leaf, a ubiquitous wild plant that’s tasty in salads and sautées, and useful as a poultice on stings and poison ivy. She has paper bags full of sourwood leaves drying at home to make tea, and she’s delighted by the fact that when you touch jewelweed seed pods, they explode.

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  • Contamination of wildlife with Pfas, which can increase risk of cancer, a growing problem in US

    Hunters in Maine have been warned not to eat wild turkeys in parts of the state, after the birds were found to contain “forever chemicals” that can cause an increased risk of cancer.

    Maine officials warned that high levels of Pfas – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – have been detected in wild turkey and deer killed and harvested in areas in the south-west of the state.

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  • EPA had previously said rule reducing fine particle matter from vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year

    The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources.

    The action follows moves by the administration last week to weaken federal rules protecting millions of acres of wetlands and streams and roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live. In a separate action, the interior department proposed new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.

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