‘Zack is a phenomenal leader’: Siân Berry on the Green party’s next steps as membership doubles

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/30/zack-is-a-phenomenal-leader-sian-berry-on-the-green-partys-next-steps-as-membership-doubles

Siân Berry has a long history in politics and success was sweet when she took the Brighton seat. Photograph: Ian West/PA

Since Zack Polanski took over as leader, the party has doubled its membership and its four MPs want to take on Reform’s anger and build community spirit

“Someone has to be out there making the narrative for social security. Someone has to fight the corrosive attitudes to people on benefits,” says Siân Berry, who has just finished her first year as a Green MP in the House of Commons.

She is speaking to the Guardian in her Brighton constituency office, formerly occupied by the legendary Caroline Lucas who flew a lone flag as the only member of parliament for the Green party for 14 years.

Now, however, there are four MPs including Berry, battling together, she says, to hold the space for the left at a moment when it feels the far right has hypnotised the entire political body. “Often Adrian [Ramsay, MP for Waveney Valley] is the only one bringing up animal welfare in Defra questions, or Carla [Denyer, MP for Bristol Central] will be the only person arguing for a refugee’s right to work to the Home Office.” They have all, at different times, been the only party to raise the need for taxes on extreme wealth.

“Caroline was a lone voice in parliament,” she says. ‘But there are four of us so we can share responsibilities. We each shadow six government departments.” Berry’s portfolio covers crime and policing, justice, transport, work and pensions, culture, media and sport and democratic standards. “We absolutely have to be ready if an issue comes up. There are some issues where if a Green isn’t in the chamber asking a question, that question won’t be asked.

‘There are four of us so we can share responsibilities’: from left, Siân Berry, Carla Denyer, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Photograph: Ian West/PA

Most of all, Berry longs to see strong action on climate. “The climate situation is awful. A two degree rise is within sight. We are on a knife-edge of whether we can protect this ecosystem. It’s our only home.”

Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/30/zack-is-a-phenomenal-leader-sian-berry-on-the-green-partys-next-steps-as-membership-doubles

Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Continue Reading‘Zack is a phenomenal leader’: Siân Berry on the Green party’s next steps as membership doubles

‘This is our future,’ climate adviser warns as 2025 to break heat records

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgjzpglw4yo

Rising temperatures in the UK will become “the new normal”, a leading government climate adviser has warned, as she called for more to be done to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

It comes as the Met Office revealed 2025 was on course to be the UK’s hottest year since records began, with climate change continuing to drive higher temperatures.

With just over a week still to go, the average UK air temperature across 2025 is on track to end up at about 10.05C, which would edge out the current record of 10.03C from 2022.

“This is our future, encapsulated in data,” Professor Rachel Kyte told the BBC.

“Now the question is ‘how are we going to prepare ourselves and build our resilience to this?'”

A lack of rainfall and persistent warmth left the country vulnerable to droughts and wildfires through the spring and summer.

While temperatures vary naturally from year to year, scientists could not be clearer that human-caused climate change is driving the UK’s rapidly warming trend.

“The pollution [carbon dioxide] we’ve put in for the last 20-30 years is now what is driving this warmth, and so not curbing emissions well enough means we’re going to continue to see these kinds of impacts,” Prof Kyte, the UK’s special representative for climate, said.

Article continues at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgjzpglw4yo

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Continue Reading‘This is our future,’ climate adviser warns as 2025 to break heat records

Heat, drought and fire: how extreme weather pushed nature to its limits in 2025

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/29/extreme-weather-climate-change-2025-national-trust

The effects of a huge wildfire on Abergwesyn Common, mid Wales. Habitats for many species such as reptiles and birds were destroyed. Photograph: Chris Smith/National Trust

National Trust says these are ‘alarm signals we cannot ignore’ as climate breakdown puts pressure on wildlife

Extremes of weather have pushed nature to its limits in 2025, putting wildlife, plants and landscapes under severe pressure, an annual audit of flora and fauna has concluded.

Bookended by storms Éowyn and Bram, the UK experienced a sun-soaked spring and summer, resulting in fierce heath and moorland fires, followed by autumn floods.

The National Trust, which provides a snapshot of how the weather is hitting wildlife every Christmas, described it as a rollercoaster of conditions that tested nature’s resilience like never before in modern times.

Ben McCarthy, the head of nature conservation at the charity, said: “Heat, drought and fire are the defining headlines of 2025.

“Extremes in weather is nothing new, but the compounded impact of several drought years in a short period – 2018, 2022 and now 2025 – is putting untold strain on habitats and making life even more difficult for wildlife. These are alarm signals we cannot ignore, and we need to work faster, smarter and in a more joined-up way.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/29/extreme-weather-climate-change-2025-national-trust

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingHeat, drought and fire: how extreme weather pushed nature to its limits in 2025

The Guardian view on adapting to the climate crisis: it demands political honesty about extreme weather

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/26/the-guardian-view-on-adapting-to-the-climate-crisis-it-demands-political-honesty-about-extreme-weather

The aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Catherine Hall, Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 4 November 2025. Photograph: Ina Sotirova/The Guardian

The record-breaking 252mph winds of Hurricane Melissa that devastated Caribbean islands at the end of October were made five times more likely by the climate crisis. Scorching wildfire weather in Spain and Portugal during the summer was made 40 times more likely, while June’s heatwave in England was made 100 times more likely.

Attribution science has made one thing clear: global heating is behind today’s extreme weather. That greenhouse gas emissions warmed the planet was understood. What can now be shown is that this warming produces record heatwaves and more violent storms with increasing frequency.

What we can do to minimise, or at least reduce, the risks to life from such events – as well as more gradual changes – is what climate adaptation experts think about all the time. The alarming consensus is that we are not doing anywhere near enough. The result is paid for in lives: floods and cyclonic storms across Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia left hundreds dead at the end of November.

For the rich world, adaptation is prudent. For the poor world, it is survival. The latest UN report is unequivocal: developing countries will need more than $310bn annually by 2035, yet received just $26bn in 2023. Catastrophic floods in Asia and worsening droughts in Africa this year point to the growing need to accelerate climate adaptation.

Under the Paris agreement, nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – country plans to tackle global heating – are meant to cover both emissions reduction and adaptation to climate impacts.

But NDCs end up focusing mostly on cutting greenhouse gases and establishing decarbonisation pathways. That needs to change. National adaptation plans, which came out of Cop16, need to be foregrounded. These put adaptation centre stage – and demand real plans, real finance, real justice. They ask the question that really matters now: how do vulnerable nations survive a warming world that emissions cuts alone can’t stop?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/26/the-guardian-view-on-adapting-to-the-climate-crisis-it-demands-political-honesty-about-extreme-weather

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

The Guardian view on adapting to the climate crisis: it demands political honesty about extreme weather

‘When you plant something, it dies’: Brazil’s first arid zone is a stark warning for the whole country

Continue ReadingThe Guardian view on adapting to the climate crisis: it demands political honesty about extreme weather

Cyclones, floods and wildfires among 2025’s costliest climate-related disasters

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/27/cyclones-floods-and-wildfires-among-2025s-costliest-climate-related-disasters

Uprooted trees remain after flood waters have receded in Aceh, northern Sumatra, on 14 December. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Christian Aid annual report’s top 10 disasters amounted to more than $120bn in insured losses

Cyclones and floods in south-east Asia this autumn killed more than 1,750 people and caused more than $25bn (£19bn) in damage, while the death toll from California wildfires topped 400 people, with $60bn in damage, according to research on the costliest climate-related disasters of the year.

China’s devastating floods, in which thousands of people were displaced, were the third most expensive, causing about $12bn in damage, with at least 30 lives lost.

The 10 worst climate-related disasters of 2025 amounted to more than $120bn in insured losses, according to an annual report from the charity Christian Aid.

The true losses are likely to be much higher, as only the insurance costs could be reliably measured. The human costs, in lives, displacement and lost livelihoods, are uncounted.

Joanna Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London, said damaging events were increasing in frequency and intensity owing to the human-made climate crisis. “The world is paying an ever-higher price for a crisis we already know how to solve. These disasters are not ‘natural’ – they are the inevitable result of continued fossil fuel expansion and political delay,” she said.

The bill for extreme weather damages will continue to rise until the world slashes greenhouse gas emissions and phases out fossil fuels, added Christian Aid’s chief executive, Patrick Watt.

“These climate disasters are a warning of what lies ahead if we do not accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,” he said. “They also underline the urgent need for adaptation, particularly in the global south, where resources are stretched and people are especially vulnerable to climate shocks.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/27/cyclones-floods-and-wildfires-among-2025s-costliest-climate-related-disasters

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

The Guardian view on adapting to the climate crisis: it demands political honesty about extreme weather

‘When you plant something, it dies’: Brazil’s first arid zone is a stark warning for the whole country

Continue ReadingCyclones, floods and wildfires among 2025’s costliest climate-related disasters