Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?
It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week
In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen in parts of the UK every day for weeks without fail.
With more than 100 flood warnings active across the country and downpours expected to continue this week, scientists say the forces behind Britain’s constant drizzle are the same ones bringing devastation to Spain and Portugal.
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Ajit Niranjan
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/09/why-is-the-uk-so-rainy-this-year-and-how-is-the-climate-crisis-making-matters-worse
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week
In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen in parts of the UK every day for weeks without fail.
With more than 100 flood warnings active across the country and downpours expected to continue this week, scientists say the forces behind Britain’s constant drizzle are the same ones bringing devastation to Spain and Portugal.
Continue reading...
Ajit Niranjan
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/09/why-is-the-uk-so-rainy-this-year-and-how-is-the-climate-crisis-making-matters-worse
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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The Guardian view on heavy rain: England’s flood defences are not strong enough | Editorial
The disruption and distress caused by record downpours must focus minds on the need for climate preparedness
With flood warnings still in place across south-west England and Wales on Monday, followed by another fortnight of wet weather forecasts, the sodden ground across swathes of the UK is not likely to dry up any time soon. Reports that Aberdonians have not seen so much as a sliver of sun since 21 January prompted an outburst of stoicism on BBC radio, with one resident commenting: “You have to get on with it, brighter days are coming”.
Before then, however, north-east Scotland is braced for more heavy rain. For farmers and businesses in the affected areas, the impact goes far beyond inconvenience. Marketing consultant Sam Kirby told the Guardian that she had to work from a car park in Cornwall following Storm Goretti, because her broadband wasn’t working. And Goretti was the first of three January storms.
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Editorial
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/09/the-guardian-view-on-heavy-rain-englands-flood-defences-are-not-strong-enough
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The disruption and distress caused by record downpours must focus minds on the need for climate preparedness
With flood warnings still in place across south-west England and Wales on Monday, followed by another fortnight of wet weather forecasts, the sodden ground across swathes of the UK is not likely to dry up any time soon. Reports that Aberdonians have not seen so much as a sliver of sun since 21 January prompted an outburst of stoicism on BBC radio, with one resident commenting: “You have to get on with it, brighter days are coming”.
Before then, however, north-east Scotland is braced for more heavy rain. For farmers and businesses in the affected areas, the impact goes far beyond inconvenience. Marketing consultant Sam Kirby told the Guardian that she had to work from a car park in Cornwall following Storm Goretti, because her broadband wasn’t working. And Goretti was the first of three January storms.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...
Editorial
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/09/the-guardian-view-on-heavy-rain-englands-flood-defences-are-not-strong-enough
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
‘A beaver blind date’: animals given freedom to repopulate Cornish rivers
Release into Helman Tor reserve marks historical first for keystone species hunted to extinction in UK 400 years ago
Shivering and rain-drenched at the side of a pond in Cornwall, a huddle of people watched in hushed silence as a beaver took its first tentative steps into its new habitat. As it dived into the water with a determined “plop” and began swimming laps, the suspense broke and everyone looked around, grinning.
The soggy but momentous occasion marks the first time in English history that beavers have been legally released into a river system, almost one year after the government finally agreed to grant licences for releases.
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Helena Horton Environment reporter
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/09/a-beaver-blind-date-animals-given-freedom-to-repopulate-cornish-rivers
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Release into Helman Tor reserve marks historical first for keystone species hunted to extinction in UK 400 years ago
Shivering and rain-drenched at the side of a pond in Cornwall, a huddle of people watched in hushed silence as a beaver took its first tentative steps into its new habitat. As it dived into the water with a determined “plop” and began swimming laps, the suspense broke and everyone looked around, grinning.
The soggy but momentous occasion marks the first time in English history that beavers have been legally released into a river system, almost one year after the government finally agreed to grant licences for releases.
Continue reading...
Helena Horton Environment reporter
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/09/a-beaver-blind-date-animals-given-freedom-to-repopulate-cornish-rivers
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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‘Every shirt has a story’: the designers saving football kits from landfill
The beautiful game has a fast fashion problem, with clubs bringing out multiple kits every season. But a move towards upcycling old shirts and wearing vintage garments is on the rise
It may have been a quiet January transfer window, but even so, thousands of new shirts will be printed for Lucas Paquetá, returning to his former Brazilian club Flamengo, while his West Ham shirt instantly feels old. Not to mention the thousands of other players moving from one club to another. Uefa estimates that up to 60% of kits worn by players are destroyed at the end of the season, and at any one time there are thought to be more than 1bn football shirts in circulation, many of which are discarded by fans once players leave.
The good news is that lots of designers are bringing their upcycling skills to old kits, taking shirts and shirring them, sewing them or, as in the case of designer and creative director Hattie Crowther, completely transforming them into one-of-a-kind headpieces. “I’m not here to add more products into the mix, I’m here to reframe what’s already in circulation and give it meaning, context, and longevity while staying culturally relevant,” says Crowther, whose creations involving the colours and emblems of Arsenal, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, are, she says, “a response to how disposable football product has become”.
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Xaymaca Awoyungbo
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/feb/10/designers-saving-football-kits-shirts-landfill
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The beautiful game has a fast fashion problem, with clubs bringing out multiple kits every season. But a move towards upcycling old shirts and wearing vintage garments is on the rise
It may have been a quiet January transfer window, but even so, thousands of new shirts will be printed for Lucas Paquetá, returning to his former Brazilian club Flamengo, while his West Ham shirt instantly feels old. Not to mention the thousands of other players moving from one club to another. Uefa estimates that up to 60% of kits worn by players are destroyed at the end of the season, and at any one time there are thought to be more than 1bn football shirts in circulation, many of which are discarded by fans once players leave.
The good news is that lots of designers are bringing their upcycling skills to old kits, taking shirts and shirring them, sewing them or, as in the case of designer and creative director Hattie Crowther, completely transforming them into one-of-a-kind headpieces. “I’m not here to add more products into the mix, I’m here to reframe what’s already in circulation and give it meaning, context, and longevity while staying culturally relevant,” says Crowther, whose creations involving the colours and emblems of Arsenal, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, are, she says, “a response to how disposable football product has become”.
Continue reading...
Xaymaca Awoyungbo
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/feb/10/designers-saving-football-kits-shirts-landfill
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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Rethinking Economics, the movement changing how the subject is taught
Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it reshaping economists’ education
As the fallout from the 2008 global financial crash reverberated around the world, a group of students at Harvard University in the US walked out of their introductory economics class complaining it was teaching a “specific and limited view” that perpetuated “a problematic and inefficient system of economic inequality”.
A few weeks later, on the other side of the Atlantic, economics students at Manchester University in the UK, unhappy that the rigid mathematical formulas they were being taught in the classroom bore little relation to the tumultuous economic fallout they were living through, set up a “post-crash economics society”.
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Matthew Taylor Environment correspondent
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/rethinking-economics-student-academic-organisation-changing-education
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it reshaping economists’ education
As the fallout from the 2008 global financial crash reverberated around the world, a group of students at Harvard University in the US walked out of their introductory economics class complaining it was teaching a “specific and limited view” that perpetuated “a problematic and inefficient system of economic inequality”.
A few weeks later, on the other side of the Atlantic, economics students at Manchester University in the UK, unhappy that the rigid mathematical formulas they were being taught in the classroom bore little relation to the tumultuous economic fallout they were living through, set up a “post-crash economics society”.
Continue reading...
Matthew Taylor Environment correspondent
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/rethinking-economics-student-academic-organisation-changing-education
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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Country diary: Ding ding! Round 2 for the brawling badgers | Ed Douglas
Abbeydale, Sheffield: I’m genuinely scared when I wake at 2am to the sound of screaming. Then I see two male badgers in an almighty scrap
Fast asleep, my dreamworld takes an unexpected swerve as raucous screaming erupts outside the open bedroom window. For a moment, I assume this is imagined, some emotional outburst from my subconscious. Then I realise that I’m awake. This is real. I check the time: 2am. The screaming continues. In fact, it’s now louder and somehow more intense. The back of the house is woodland, and noises off are common enough. A fox barking. Robin song that eases those anxious, wakeful stretches of the night. But this is something else altogether. This is violence.
My heart is racing now. I fear someone is being attacked, and from the pitch of the screaming, a woman. Mercifully, I soon discount this. My startled mind then suggests a catfight, but the sound I’m hearing is too big for that. So, despite the freezing cold beyond the duvet, I hop out of bed, pull back a curtain and stick my head outside.
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Ed Douglas
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/country-diary-ding-ding-round-2-for-the-brawling-badgers
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Abbeydale, Sheffield: I’m genuinely scared when I wake at 2am to the sound of screaming. Then I see two male badgers in an almighty scrap
Fast asleep, my dreamworld takes an unexpected swerve as raucous screaming erupts outside the open bedroom window. For a moment, I assume this is imagined, some emotional outburst from my subconscious. Then I realise that I’m awake. This is real. I check the time: 2am. The screaming continues. In fact, it’s now louder and somehow more intense. The back of the house is woodland, and noises off are common enough. A fox barking. Robin song that eases those anxious, wakeful stretches of the night. But this is something else altogether. This is violence.
My heart is racing now. I fear someone is being attacked, and from the pitch of the screaming, a woman. Mercifully, I soon discount this. My startled mind then suggests a catfight, but the sound I’m hearing is too big for that. So, despite the freezing cold beyond the duvet, I hop out of bed, pull back a curtain and stick my head outside.
Continue reading...
Ed Douglas
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/country-diary-ding-ding-round-2-for-the-brawling-badgers
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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‘We feel kinda bad when a solo bird shows up’: Canada sees its first European robin – but how did it get there?
Birdwatchers flock to Montréal for rare sighting of ‘vagrant’ bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winter
On a quiet Montréal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.
Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted at the beginning of January.
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Danielle Beurteaux in Montréal
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/european-robin-canada-birdwatchers-montreal-rare-sighting-bird-aoe
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Birdwatchers flock to Montréal for rare sighting of ‘vagrant’ bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winter
On a quiet Montréal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.
Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted at the beginning of January.
Continue reading...
Danielle Beurteaux in Montréal
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/european-robin-canada-birdwatchers-montreal-rare-sighting-bird-aoe
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
‘Ticking time bomb’: Iran’s shadow fleet of old tankers ‘risking catastrophic oil spill’
Exclusive: only matter of time until decrepit ships cause spill bigger than Exxon Valdez disaster, analysts say
Decrepit oil tankers in Iran’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a “ticking time bomb”, with a catastrophic environmental disaster only a “matter of time”, maritime intelligence analysts have warned.
Such an oil spill could be far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that released 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, they said.
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Damian Carrington Environment editor
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/ticking-time-bomb-iran-shadow-fleet-old-tankers-risking-catastrophic-oil-spill
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Exclusive: only matter of time until decrepit ships cause spill bigger than Exxon Valdez disaster, analysts say
Decrepit oil tankers in Iran’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a “ticking time bomb”, with a catastrophic environmental disaster only a “matter of time”, maritime intelligence analysts have warned.
Such an oil spill could be far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that released 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, they said.
Continue reading...
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/10/ticking-time-bomb-iran-shadow-fleet-old-tankers-risking-catastrophic-oil-spill
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
More pollution and higher energy costs: critics condemn Trump’s anti-environment agenda
US courts, scholars and Democrats are pushing back against the president’s aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels
Donald Trump’s aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels, including dirty coal, coupled with his administration’s moves to roll back wind and solar power, face mounting fire from courts, scholars and Democrats for raising the cost of electricity and worsening the climate crisis.
Four judges, including a Trump appointee, in recent weeks have issued temporary injunctions against interior department moves to halt work on five offshore wind projects in Virginia, New York and New England, which have cost billions of dollars and are far along in development.
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Peter Stone in Washington
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/trump-anti-environment-agenda-pushback
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
US courts, scholars and Democrats are pushing back against the president’s aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels
Donald Trump’s aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels, including dirty coal, coupled with his administration’s moves to roll back wind and solar power, face mounting fire from courts, scholars and Democrats for raising the cost of electricity and worsening the climate crisis.
Four judges, including a Trump appointee, in recent weeks have issued temporary injunctions against interior department moves to halt work on five offshore wind projects in Virginia, New York and New England, which have cost billions of dollars and are far along in development.
Continue reading...
Peter Stone in Washington
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/trump-anti-environment-agenda-pushback
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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The EU is working on a blanket ban of ‘forever chemicals’. Why isn't Britain? | Pippa Neill
In Lancashire, I met people living with dangerous levels of Pfas, including in their food. The government is failing them
Last week, on the morning the government published its Pfas action plan, I got a worried phone call from a woman called Sam who lives next door to a chemical factory in Lancashire. Sam had just been hand-delivered a letter from her local council informing her that after testing, it had been confirmed that her ducks’ eggs, reared in her garden in Thornton-Cleveleys, near Blackpool, are contaminated with Pfas.
Pfas – per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment – are a family of thousands of chemicals, and I have been reporting on them for years. Some, including those found in the eggs Sam and her family have been eating, have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. Continue reading...
Pippa Neill
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/10/eu-ban-forever-chemicals-britain-lancashire-government-pfas
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
In Lancashire, I met people living with dangerous levels of Pfas, including in their food. The government is failing them
Last week, on the morning the government published its Pfas action plan, I got a worried phone call from a woman called Sam who lives next door to a chemical factory in Lancashire. Sam had just been hand-delivered a letter from her local council informing her that after testing, it had been confirmed that her ducks’ eggs, reared in her garden in Thornton-Cleveleys, near Blackpool, are contaminated with Pfas.
Pfas – per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment – are a family of thousands of chemicals, and I have been reporting on them for years. Some, including those found in the eggs Sam and her family have been eating, have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. Continue reading...
Pippa Neill
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/10/eu-ban-forever-chemicals-britain-lancashire-government-pfas
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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‘The trend is irreversible’: has Romania shattered the link between economic growth and high emissions?
Emissions have plunged 75% since communist times in the birthplace of big oil – but for some the transition has been brutal
Once the frozen fields outside Bucharest have thawed, workers will assemble the largest solar farm in Europe: one million photovoltaic panels backed by batteries to power homes after sunset. But the 760MW project in southern Romania will not hold the title for long. In the north-west, authorities have approved a bigger plant that will boast a capacity of 1GW.
The sun-lit plots of silicone and glass will join a slew of projects that have rendered the Romanian economy unrecognisable from its polluted state when communism ended. They include an onshore windfarm near the Black Sea that for several years was Europe’s biggest, a nuclear power plant by the Danube whose lifetime is being extended by 30 years, and a fast-spreading patchwork of solar panels topping homes and shops across the country.
Continue reading...
Ajit Niranjan in Ploiești
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/11/is-romania-blueprint-economic-growth-low-emissions
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Emissions have plunged 75% since communist times in the birthplace of big oil – but for some the transition has been brutal
Once the frozen fields outside Bucharest have thawed, workers will assemble the largest solar farm in Europe: one million photovoltaic panels backed by batteries to power homes after sunset. But the 760MW project in southern Romania will not hold the title for long. In the north-west, authorities have approved a bigger plant that will boast a capacity of 1GW.
The sun-lit plots of silicone and glass will join a slew of projects that have rendered the Romanian economy unrecognisable from its polluted state when communism ended. They include an onshore windfarm near the Black Sea that for several years was Europe’s biggest, a nuclear power plant by the Danube whose lifetime is being extended by 30 years, and a fast-spreading patchwork of solar panels topping homes and shops across the country.
Continue reading...
Ajit Niranjan in Ploiești
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/11/is-romania-blueprint-economic-growth-low-emissions
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
The Guardian News Independent Journalism on Telegram by GRT : Environment / Climate crisis / Wildlife / Energy / Pollution
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Birdwatch: Rain, water, wings – a winter’s gift at Cheddar reservoir
Vast flocks of birds return to Somerset and a rare grebe turns an ordinary walk into something special
After weeks of heavy rain, Cheddar reservoir in Somerset is finally full again – of water, and of birds. Thousands of coots, hundreds of gulls and ducks, and dozens of great crested grebes crowd the surface, some already moulting into their smart breeding plumage, crests and all.
They feed almost constantly, building up energy reserves for the breeding season. Among the throng are some less familiar visitors: a flock of scaup, the males bulkier than the nearby tufted ducks, with pale grey backs that catch the light. Flocks of goosanders dive frequently for food, the colourful males looking like a cormorant in extravagant drag.
Continue reading...
Stephen Moss
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/11/birdwatch-rain-water-wings-winter-cheddar-reservoir-grebe
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme
Vast flocks of birds return to Somerset and a rare grebe turns an ordinary walk into something special
After weeks of heavy rain, Cheddar reservoir in Somerset is finally full again – of water, and of birds. Thousands of coots, hundreds of gulls and ducks, and dozens of great crested grebes crowd the surface, some already moulting into their smart breeding plumage, crests and all.
They feed almost constantly, building up energy reserves for the breeding season. Among the throng are some less familiar visitors: a flock of scaup, the males bulkier than the nearby tufted ducks, with pale grey backs that catch the light. Flocks of goosanders dive frequently for food, the colourful males looking like a cormorant in extravagant drag.
Continue reading...
Stephen Moss
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/11/birdwatch-rain-water-wings-winter-cheddar-reservoir-grebe
The Guardian Climate Change on Telegram by @TheGuardianTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme