- Wildfires in Ontario make Toronto air quality worst in world
on 2026-07-15 at 16:08 at 16:08Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellowSmoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US.Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir, the Swiss technology company that racks global air quality. Continue reading…
- Surviving extreme heat increasingly boils down to this: access to air conditioning | Mark Wolfe
on 2026-07-15 at 12:00 at 12:00The next great climate divide will be between countries that have the resources to adapt and those that don’tThis summer, much of the media’s attention has focused on record temperatures across Europe and the United States. Television coverage has been filled with familiar images: heat maps shaded deep red, schools closing, rail lines slowing, wildfires spreading and emergency rooms treating growing numbers of people with heat-related illnesses.Public officials have responded with equally familiar advice: stay indoors, drink plenty of water and, if possible, turn on the air conditioning. Continue reading…
- The battle over peat: why do some gardeners still insist on using it?
on 2026-07-15 at 12:00 at 12:00Peat bogs are essential to the environment, holding twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. But in the UK, 80% are damaged, most of what is extracted is used in horticulture – and some campaigners fear the problem is getting worse‘I don’t see how I can possibly do my job and eat mushrooms,” says Sally Nex, a campaign advocate for the Peat-Free Partnership. “An awful lot of the food you buy in the supermarket is grown in peat: field mushrooms and little button mushrooms, salads and many brassicas, herbs in pots … all of those have started in peat.”I’m taken aback. I’ve bought peat-free compost for years, but I’d never considered “hidden” peat. “I would imagine that most people are buying peat-free compost at the moment – certainly, you only have to go into a garden centre to see the amount of peat-free options you now have,” says Nex. “But you may not realise that an awful lot – probably most – of the plants that are on sale in that garden centre are also grown in peat.” Continue reading…
- Sadiq Khan backs calls for maximum workplace temperature in UK
on 2026-07-15 at 10:10 at 10:10Mayor of London backs calls from unions to update health and safety rules in light of more frequent heatwavesThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is backing calls for a maximum workplace temperature as pressure grows on the government to protect workers from the impact of repeated heatwaves across the UK.The extreme heat has left people struggling to cope as temperatures in some workplaces climb above 40C, causing thousands of schools to close and hospital and transport systems to break down. Continue reading…
- US trial could reveal who paid hackers to target Exxon climate critics: ‘on the edge of our seats’
on 2026-07-15 at 10:00 at 10:00Oil giant has denied involvement, but climate activists are closely watching court case against Israeli private investigator for answersA group of American climate activists are closely watching a US court case that could reveal who hired hackers to target their inboxes a decade ago.In 2015, a set of explosive media reports revealed that ExxonMobil’s own scientists determined as early as 1982 that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels caused the climate crisis – but Exxon went on to fund climate denial campaigns anyway. The reports prompted attorneys general to investigate the company. Continue reading…