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Environmental Journalism

Featured Articles

Prospect magazine •

Call this a hot summer? This phenomenon explains why next year may be worse

It’s the photograph of the summer. Maybe of the decade. Maybe of the Anthropocene. In July, as wildfires raged in Bordeaux, a middle-aged couple set up their sun loungers and parasol on the beach at Lake Lacanau. The man’s leg nonchalantly rests on his knee. The woman is seemingly reading her phone, or is it a Kindle, perhaps loaded with this summer’s must-read. A body board, beach bag and sandals lie casually next to them on the sand. People can be seen in the water. And ahead of them, on the f...
Prospect magazine •

Britain deserves better than this botched plan for nature

Why did we leave it so late? The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth, according to the latest State of Nature report, and was ranked by a Natural History Museum study in 2020 as the 189th out of 240 countries and territories for biodiversity. We can’t blame our geography—our neighbour, France, ranks 5th best for biodiversity—instead, this is the consequence of British choices. UK terrestrial and freshwater species have declined by 19 per cent, and more than 40m b...
Medium •

Dirty Business: the True Story of the UK Sewage Scandal

I first met Ash Smith in June 2021. I was in the middle of writing a book, The Last Drop: Solving the World’s Water Crisis, to raise awareness about water issues. Having read about his work at Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, I emailed to ask: would he be up for meeting me, perhaps walking the river together, to tell me more?He generously obliged, and we met later that month near one of the jewels of the English Cotswolds: Bourton-on-the-Water. Here, the River Windrush runs through the chocola...
Prospect magazine •

Economic growth and the search for abundance

A moment halfway through Ezra Klein’s and Derek Thompson’s recent book Abundance reveals something of their approach to building a net zero world. In 2023 a gasoline lorry exploded, causing Philadelphia’s I-95 bridge to collapse; Governor Josh Shapiro waived all the usual rules and regulations for public works so it could be rebuilt in record time. The project was of great benefit to the community. But during the works, the state secretary of transportation recalls encountering two workers using...
the Guardian •

The Guardian Long Read: ‘Drought is... the next pandemic’

During the summer months in the Oxfordshire town where I live, I go swimming in the nearby 50-metre lido. With my inelegantly slow breaststroke, from time to time I accidentally gulp some of the pool’s opulent, chlorine-clean 5.9m litres of water. I stand a bottle of water at the end of the lane, to drink from halfway through my swim. I normally have a shower afterwards, even if I’ve showered that morning. I live a wet, drenched, quenched existence. But, as I discovered, this won’t last. I am living on borrowed time and borrowed water.
BBC Future •

Is air pollution causing us to lose our sense of smell?

For many people, a bout of Covid-19 gave a first taste (or rather a lack of it) of what it is like to lose their sense of smell. Known as "anosmia", loss of smell can have a substantial effect on our overall wellbeing and quality of life. But while a sudden respiratory infection might lead to a temporary loss of this important sense, your sense of smell may well have been gradually eroding away for years due to something else – air pollution.
The Sunday Times •

How I earned my dad stripes and built a zebra crossing

Never have I been so pleased to see a boy racer. It’s July 2019 and I’m standing next to a busy B road in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with an unusual delegation of adults. I say “adults” because it’s school pick-up time, 3pm, and we aren’t with any children.

I have invited the local councillor to see how this main road near a school, with no pedestrian crossing, forces parents and children to run across and hope for the best, twice a day...
BBC Future •

The toxic killers in our air too small to see

After years of headlines about air pollution, we’ve been misled on a few things about the world’s biggest environmental health problem. For example, we’re told that “PM2.5” – solid pollution particles measuring 2.5 micrometres or less – can pass through our lungs and into our blood stream.

But, in fact, the vast majority of them can’t.

The biggest killer of all never makes the headlines, isn’t regulated, and is barely talked about beyond niche scientific circles: it’s nanoparticles.
BBC Future •

Could wooden buildings be a solution to climate change?

I’m standing in a seemingly ordinary construction site of an unremarkable office block in east London. The seven-storey building is about two-thirds complete – the basic structure and staircases are in place, with plastering and wiring just beginning. But as I walk around, something different slowly reveals itself. The construction site is quiet and clean – it even smells good. And there’s an awful lot of wood...