The Orbital and Morningside authors join Abi Daré, Roz Dineen and Kaliane Bradley in the running for the £10,000 award, for inspiring ways to ‘rise to the challenges of the climate crisis with hope and inventiveness’
Samantha Harvey and Téa Obreht are among the writers in the running for the inaugural Climate fiction prize.
Harvey’s Orbital, her Booker-winning novel set on the International Space Station, and Obreht’s novel The Morningside, about refugees from an unnamed country, have both been shortlisted for the new prize, which aims to “celebrate the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis”.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/18/2025 - 19:00
03/18/2025 - 15:26
New White House fact sheet has removed references to Chuckwalla and Sáttítla national monuments
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The White House is fueling speculation over plans to eliminate two large national monuments in California established by former president Joe Biden.
Less than a week before leaving office, Biden designated the 624,000-acre (250,000-hectare) Chuckwalla national monument in southern California and the 224,000-acre Sáttítla Highlands national monument in northern California. Native American tribes consider these lands sacred and had urged Biden to protect them from drilling, mining, clean-energy development and other industrial activity.
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03/18/2025 - 13:12
The red coral colonies that were transplanted a decade ago on the seabed of the Medes Islands have survived successfully. They are very similar to the original communities and have contributed to the recovery of the functioning of the coral reef, a habitat where species usually grow very slowly. Thus, these colonies, seized years ago from illegal fishing, have found a second chance to survive, thanks to restoration actions to transplant seized corals and mitigate the impact of poaching.
03/18/2025 - 13:07
A major review of over 67,000 animal species has found that while the natural world continues to face a biodiversity crisis, targeted conservation efforts are helping bring many species back from the brink of extinction.
03/18/2025 - 12:18
Brown bear charged at André Rives in the Pyrenees and dragged him several metres before he shot and killed it
An 81-year-old French hunter has gone on trial accused of killing an endangered bear that attacked him in the Pyrenees.
The brown bear is a protected species in the mountain range, which separates France and Spain.
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03/18/2025 - 11:35
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus on growing concern of dust storms and why recent storms were a preview of future
Over the weekend, more than 120 tornadoes rampaged across at least 11 states in a three-day severe weather outbreak that killed more than 40 people. In addition to the tornadoes, the storm system brought extremely strong winds to drought-stricken parts of the plains states, kicking up dust storms and wildfires from Texas to Kansas. The combined impact has now become one of the deadliest non-hurricane weather disasters in decades in the US.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (Noaa) Storm Prediction Center – the nerve center of severe weather forecasting in the US – scientists worked around the clock for days to anticipate the storms and give ample warning to those in their path. The center now has five staff vacancies, including two of its three senior roles in fire forecasting. Still, overworked meteorologists there passed one of the biggest tests yet of the newly diminished National Weather Service.
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03/18/2025 - 09:59
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
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03/18/2025 - 09:00
Advocates warn firings and funding freezes already risk poisoning drinking water and decimating fish population
Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s attacks on federal agencies and funding freezes will be “cataclysmic” for the environment of the sensitive Great Lakes region if not reversed, industry and environmental advocates in the region warn.
Initial actions taken since Trump returned to the White House in January – and put Musk in charge of slashing the federal government – already risk poisoning drinking water, decimating fish populations, and risking the jobs and health of tens of millions of people who rely on the lake system, they add.
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03/18/2025 - 07:00
Some of the caves I dive in are hundreds of thousands of years old and the marine life is unique. But they can be very dangerous places
Cave diving is like swimming through the history of the planet. There are remains of both humans and animals but also stalactites and stalagmites. These cannot form when the cave is flooded, so you can see when parts of it were submerged and when it was dry.
Yet when I’m in a cave, time does not tick. There is no natural light, so the cave looks the same, whether it’s midday or midnight. If you cave dive without the right training, equipment and mindset, it can be a very dangerous place. I have a very meditative focus when I’m down there. I live in the now. I cannot think about anything else but what is happening in the cave. I find that very soothing and relaxing.
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03/18/2025 - 07:00
Witnessing near-miss roadkill on a daily basis makes me wonder if we can be better neighbors to wildlife
Heart racing, I hold my breath and brace to witness the impact.
The spindly fawn crosses first, tottering its way across the two-lane artery that borders my house. I watch a truck approaching in the opposite direction and wait for it to slow down. Will it?
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