This is the website page in The Multiplural World of ‘Ecology news headlines and analysis’ for the current month of June 2026. Items with red headlines indicate they were published in full on the home page of the website; notice of these are emailed to website subscribers. Comments and information in square brackets [ ] are by the website editors. The month of May 2026 is archived here. All previous months of ‘Ecology news headlines and analysis’ (since March 2024) are archived here.
Ecology news headlines and analysis for June 2026
Climate scientists in UK say news coverage ignores cause of heatwave, by Charlotte Tobitt, Press Gazette, June 24, 2026
[A group of leading climate scientists have written to broadcast editors to express “concern” about recent UK heatwave coverage. The letter urged news organisations to better inform the public of the scientific links between extreme weather, climate change and net zero. It argued that news coverage “increasingly overlooks the fundamental ‘why’”. adding that the connection between greenhouse emissions and extreme heat in UK is ‘indisputable’.]
Chinese tech makes desalinating seawater cheaper than producing bottled water, South China Morning Post, June 30, 2026 (Here in pdf format: Chinese tech makes desalinating seawater cheaper than producing bottled water)
France records around 1,000 additional deaths as extreme heat breaks European records, Associated Press, June 28, 2026 [Much of western Europe has been baking under a “heat dome” this past week, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places. The heat is coming up from north Africa and affecting Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, most of them without widespread air conditioning and unused to such oppressive heat. Conditions are expected to ease in coming days, with the hottest days of the European summer on average still to come. Public Health France said on June 29 there were likely thousands of heat-related deaths, most of which were elderly people, on the hottest days of June 23, 24, 25.].
Related: Europe’s record-breaking heat wave ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming, scientists say, Reuters news agency, June 25, 2026
Dangerous heat wave predicted for much of the U.S. this coming week, CBS News, June 29, 2026
Global hydro-electric power outlook report puts China at the head of the pack, South China Morning Post, June 28, 2026 The centrepiece of China’s effort to expand its hydro-electric power is Yarlung Tsangpo project, expected to generate roughly three times as much power as Three Gorges Dam. Added to that is the steady expansion of ‘pumped storage electricity generation. (Read the report here in pdf format: Global hydro-electric power report puts China at the head of the pack)
In East Africa, a controversial oil export project is poised for production, report by Fred Pearce, in Yale Environment 360, June 25, 2026 Despite years of opposition, the 900-mile, East African Crude Oil Pipeline is about to be completed as its its environmental and social risks come into greater focus. Campaigners in Uganda and abroad are making a final push to halt the project before the oil starts to flow.
Dangerous, humid heat is rising globally due to climate change [global warming], report by Climate Central, June 24, 2026 (with charts and maps)
China ‘on track to surpass United States’ in global goals for human, planet health says annual UN report, report in South China Morning Post, June 26, 2026 The annual report showing global progress on 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals shows the gap between China and USA has closed significantly since 2015 (Here in pdf format: China ‘on track to surpass United States in global goals for human, planet health says annual UN report)
Related: Despite geopolitical headwinds and slow progress, global commitment to the UN’s UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network holds strong, media release published by UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), June 23, 2026 (The full, ‘Sustainable Development Report 2026’ report is 516 pages and is available at the weblink.)
Planned forest fires have wider benefits than previously thought, Washington Post, June 11, 2026 …In California, nine of the ten largest fires in the state’s recorded history have occurred in the past decade. As concerns hazards from smoke, if California burned 500,000 acres of wildlands in one year, there would initially be more smoke in the air, but the state would reduce long-term smoke exposure by ten percent over a decade… (Here in pdf format: Planned forest fires have wider benefits than previously thought)
Venezuela rocked by double earthquake, ‘real tragedy’ in La Guaira coastal town just north of Caracas, by the editors, Venezuela Analysis, June 25, 2026
The algae problem in Washington DC’s Reflecting Pool is much bigger than the Trump regime’s scattered fixes, analysis in Washington Post, June 26, 2026 In his battle to clear algae from the water by the Lincoln Memorial, the president has overlooked the real causes of unsightly — and often dangerous — algal blooms, which are water pollution and global warming (Read the report here in pdf format: Trump regime’s algae problem in the Reflecting Pool is much bigger than small fixes)
Continued heat wave in Europe has now killed 48 in France from drownings, Reuters news agency, June 24, 2026
* Weather agency Meteo-France has said the conditions are comparable to a heatwave in August 2003 that lasted 16 days and caused an estimated 80,000 excess deaths across Europe. Record temperatures of 42C have been set in several cities in France, which has been sweltering for days.
* In Britain, a rare red warning for extreme heat is in force for the third day. Temperatures in many areas , with a maximum of 39C not out of the question for June 25. The record for the UK’s highest June temperature – 35.6C set in 1976 – is likely to be shattered. Maximum temperatures are still expected to fall just short of the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C set in 2022.
* In Spain, temperatures have soared past 38 degrees Celsius, or 100 Fahrenheit, over several days. A monitoring institute linked to the country’s health ministry says an estimated 212 deaths could be attributed to the heat wave.
* Forecasters said on June 24 that temperatures are expected to gradually cool down across western Europe starting on Friday.
The world hottest cities in April 2026 all inside India, report by AQI.in (monitoring agency), April 27, 2026
* New York Times on June 25, 2026: Temperatures in some parts of northern India approached 50 degrees Celsius in May, forcing millions of workers to choose between falling sick and getting paid.
A new blood test pioneered in Hong Kong could transform cancer detection, South China Morning Post, June 21, 2026 New liquid biopsies aim to deliver simpler, more accurate cancer detection by analysing DNA fragment size in blood samples (Here in pdf format: A new blood test pioneered in Hong Kong could transform cancer detection)
Good news for coral reefs as scientists identify where some are surviving global warming, report in CBC News, June 16, 2026 The toughest of coral reefs serve as economic engines; studies are showing that some can resist global warming shocks more than others
Metabolic rifts: An interview with Ian Angus, broadcast on the ‘Macro N Cheese’ podcast (episode 384), with host Steve Grumbine, June 13, 2026 (64′)
Previously reported:
New book ‘Metabolic Rifts’ engages with science to understand history and the world, book review by Martin Empson, re-published in The Multiplural World, April 30, 2026 Reviewing: Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism’s Assault on the Earth System, by Ian Angus, Monthly Review Press, March 2026, 248 pages ‘Metabolic rift is an ecological-Marxist concept describing the fundamental disruption caused by capitalist production in the natural, cyclical relationship between human society and the Earth‘
…The concept of “metabolism” for Marx and Marxists, has been the subject of intense discussion in recent years. A quarter of a century ago John Bellamy Foster wrote a fundamental text, Marx’s Ecology, which drew out the ecological core of Marx’s thought and popularised the concept of “metabolic rift.” In the years since, metabolic rift theory has become a tool eagerly used by revolutionaries to understand the relationship between capitalism and nature and how to change it…
How Obama, Biden and Trump blocked court action to address the global warming emergency, essay by Ian Angus, published on his website journal Climate and Capitalism, June 12, 2026 (Ian Angus is the author of the newly-published book Metabolic Rifts, reviewed here in April 2026 on The Multiplural World. This new essay is a draft of a chapter in his next, forthcoming book ‘Social Murder: Capitalism’s Assault on Our Health and Survival.’.)
Russia helping Uganda contain Ebola threat, RT News, June 15, 2026 Medical specialists have been brought in to help with diagnostics and support response efforts
Previously reported:
* Chinese medical team arrives in DR Congo to help fight Ebola, ‘filling US void’, South China Morning Post, June 8, 2026 Specialists begin three-month frontline mission to contain outbreak across mining region dense with Beijing-backed mineral investments (Read the report here in pdf format: Chinese medical team arrives in DR Congo to help fight Ebola, ‘filling US void’)
Latest news: Record increase in Ebola cases in Democratic Republic of Congo, raises death toll to 181, Al Jazeera, June 15, 2026 …Doctors Without Borders warned that “no one knows the true scale” of the outbreak due to dangerous gaps in surveillance and testing… Eastern Ituri province remains the outbreak’s epicentre, harbouring nearly 95 percent of all confirmed cases. The virus has since breached into North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and spread across the border to Uganda…
Efforts to save the world’s kelp forests from ocean warming are ramping up, by Richard Schiffman, Yale Environment 360, June 11, 2026 At one time, kelp forests – which shelter fish, slow erosion, and sequester carbon – grew along a third of the world’s coastlines. Now, scientists are working to bolster heat-stressed kelp by attacking the urchins that prey on them and transplanting hardier kelp varieties.
Wind and solar power is going to ‘waste’ in China amidst the global energy crisis, South China Morning Post, June 5, 2026 (Read the report here in pdf format: Wind and solar power is going to ‘waste’ in China amidst the global energy crisis) China is losing a huge amount of non-fossil fuel (‘green’) energy as the world grapples with an energy shortage due to crisis over the Strait of Hormuz. ‘Wasted’ wind and solar energy stems from inflexible grid management that continues to rely on coal for baseload power and stymies a ‘clean’ energy expansion that could otherwise generate electricity equivalent to the needs of France, according to analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) think tank based in Finland…
China-Kazakhstan grain-trading deal shows shifting Asian food order, analysis in South China Morning Post, June 3, 2026 (Here in pdf format: China-Kazakhstan grain-trading deal shows shifting Asian and global food order)
Which country will fill funding and leadership gaps at the world Health Organization following U.S. withdrawal?, South China Morning Post, June 3, 2026 (Here in pdf format: Which country will fill funding and leadership gaps at the World Health Organization following U.S. withdrawal?
Hospitals across the U.S. see diseases resurge vaccinations decline, New York Times, June 2, 2026 Countrywide, doctors are encountering more children with whooping cough and measles, bacterial infections and other serious illnesses, as well as more adults refusing tetanus shots (Read the report here in pdf format: Hospitals across the U.S. see diseases resurgence as vaccinations decline)
