Skip to content

News · Environment & Climate

The next global pandemic could be brewing on a mink farm in Utah – and little is being done to stop it | George Monbiot

Source: The Guardian

Image: The Guardian

Mink farms are the perfect petri dishes for deadly flu strains to emerge. Yet officials appear to be protecting business interests over human lives Could this be ground zero? Could it be the spot where the next pandemic begins? It’s certainly a candidate, not least because the chain of events that could trigger a plague far worse than Covid-19 looks like the opening sequence of a disaster movie. A really bad…

This is a short summary of a report by a third-party publisher. Newsline Press did not produce the original reporting.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Original publisher: The Guardian

This story concerns a sensitive subject. Details are as reported by the named publisher and may develop.

Spotted an error? Request a correction · Corrections Policy

Related stories

Climate

How penguin poo is making Antarctic snow melt faster

Researchers find the birds’ guano feeds algal blooms that absorb significantly more solar energy Penguin poo is making the Antarctic snow melt faster, a study shows. As temperatures rise, penguins are waddling closer to the south pole, with potential for this previously unrecognised phenomenon to affect a wider area. Snow algae are tiny single-celled plants that make a home in some of the coldest places on Earth.…

The Guardian ·

Climate

Country diary: This small bridge is becoming the site of so many stories | Derek Niemann

Frome, Somerset: Dippers and fritillaries and pink campion … there is a deep satisfaction in accumulating associations with a regular haunt Enchantment surely fills the eyes of first-time visitors who come upon this little stone bridge over the stream. Do they marvel at the judgment of hands in building, wedding rock with rock, face against face? Do they arrive on a brighter morning than this, one on which…

The Guardian ·

Climate · Europe

From the archive: The trials of Robert Habeck: is the world’s most powerful green politician doomed to fail? – podcast

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: A year ago, Germany’s vice-chancellor was one of the country’s best-liked public figures. Then came the tabloid-driven backlash. Now he has to win the argument all over again By Philip Oltermann. Read by Sam Peter Jackson Read the text version here Support…

The Guardian ·

Climate · Asia-Pacific

Kashmir’s potato pits are vanishing – and generations of knowledge could be buried for ever

Farmers in Gurez store their harvests underground to last the Himalayan winter. As the practice fades, local varieties and handed-down skills are disappearing too Hajra Begum rolls a potato in her hands, checking its skin for cuts, soft spots and signs of rot. After a day harvesting in her family’s field in Chorwan, a remote mountain village in Gurez, Indian-administered Kashmir, she is sorting the crop for…

The Guardian ·

Climate · United Kingdom

Great Britain’s worst-ever bluetongue season ‘a major animal welfare crisis’

British Veterinary Association president tells MPs surge in cases putting farmers under severe pressure and stress The worst bluetongue season on record has been a major animal welfare crisis in Great Britain, MPs have been told, putting farmers under “severe emotional stress”. Bluetongue, a viral disease that affects sheep, cattle and goats, can cause fever, lesions, stillbirths and death. The tongue may go blue…

The Guardian ·