With Nature

Council leaders say crumbling infrastructure and lack of water are jeopardising government’s plans for new homesThe government’s housebuilding agenda is hitting the stark reality of a lack of water and crumbling infrastructure across the east and south-east of England.Half the country was declared to be in serious drought this week, for the second consecutive year, with the Environment Agency warning of dire consequences for the economy, environment and wildlife. Continue reading...
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Farms and rooftop panels contribute 14.4% to the grid – and figures reveal a surge in new installationsSolar energy supplied more power to Great Britain’s grid in July than in any previous month as households turned to rooftop panels to cut their energy bills.Solar farms and rooftop panels provided 14.4% of the country’s electricity after some parts of the UK recorded almost twice the average sunshine hours for the time of year. Continue reading...
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Visible impact of warming climate is impossible to ignore across landscapes that have been starved of rainfallHalf of England and the whole of Wales are officially in drought and July is set to be the driest month on record as extreme heat intensified by the climate crisis continues to grip the UK and Europe this summer.The announcements this week by England’s Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales mark the third such event over the past five years, and come in the wake of four record-breaking heatwaves since May which have fuelled huge wildfires and left farmers, wildlife and protected habitats running out of water. Continue reading...
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PM has long history of speaking out on realities of global heating but political opponents remain unnmovedJust over four years ago, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, visited a small town in the south-western region of Extremadura that had been affected by one of the wildfires devouring tens of thousands of hectares of land across the country.That summer’s blazes had left two people dead in the northern region of Castilla y León and another man there fatally burned after the excavator he was using to try to dig a firebreak to protect his town was swallowed up by the flames. A street-sweeper in Madrid had collapsed and died from heatstroke while on shift in soaring temperatures that summer. The paramedics who tried to save him noted that his body temperature was 41.6C (107F). Continue reading...
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Alfred Drummond-Herdman’s extraordinary timelapses have been viewed by millions – and led him to identify new speciesAlfred Drummond-Herdman is possibly the only person in the UK who is sent animal faeces in the post out of goodwill. His bedroom in Edinburgh is full of the stuff: clothes have been removed from his wardrobe and cupboards, replaced with terrariums and plastic containers housing sections of cowpats, grouse droppings and rabbit pellets.“I have a very understanding housemate,” he says. Continue reading...
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Global warming appears to have shifted into a faster gear. After removing the effects of El Niño, volcanic eruptions, and solar cycles, researchers found that the planet has warmed at roughly 0.35°C per decade over the past ten years, compared with just under 0.2°C per decade from 1970 to 2015. The acceleration, which becomes visible around 2013 to 2015, appeared across five major global temperature datasets with more than 98% statistical certainty.
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Heat and drought have affected shipping, power plants and tourism across eastern Europe – as well as unearthing some surprisesBaking temperatures and drought across large swathes of central and eastern Europe have driven water levels on the Danube and Rhine rivers to record lows in some areas, hitting shipping, energy production and tourism hard.Extreme conditions aggravated by the climate emergency left Europe’s waterways from the Netherlands to the Black Sea parched, triggering compounding crises. Continue reading...
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A galaxy-spanning empire features in Richard Swan’s The Infinite StateNASA/CXC/SAO/ESA/CSA/STS​cI/Webb/L. FrattareAugust is traditionally a quiet month in publishing, and this one is no different. But there are still science-fiction gems to look forward to, including a fascist empire, courtesy of Richard Swan, and some scary Korean sea monsters from Kim Bo-young. I can also recommend M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything, published earlier this year but just longlisted for the Booker prize. It’s rare for sci-fi to make this prestigious literary longlist so that is a tribute to Harrison’s writing – as our sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson highlighted last month. And do join us at the New Scientist Book Club, where we’re reading Peter Heller’s post-apocalyptic novel The Dog Stars, set after a superflu has wiped out most of humanity (and written well before covid-19). A Ridley Scott-directed film adaptation of it is about to be released, so we’re ahead of the crowd. Read more Read an extract from The Dog Stars by Peter HellerThe Infinite State by Richard SwanI hear good things about this one from Emily H. Wilson, who has a review forthcoming. It’s set in a fascist and galaxy-spanning empire, where Katherine Fuller’s husband has died, leaving her an immensely wealthy woman. Katherine is given the chance to buy a world, and create a better society – but will the empire let her make a democracy? It’s pitched by its publisher as Nineteen Eighty-Four meets The Man in the High Castle, which is enough to hook me.A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-young, translated by Sophie BowmanI’m also really excited about this one, in which bodyguard Mu-young is heading to an isolated Korean seaside village with her niece when she learns that a huge earthquake has hit the region. She travels there regardless, but the earthquake unleashes an ancient plague, which turns those who catch it into “fishy monsters”. The village is locked down – and Mu-young is trapped. Perfect beach reading, perhaps? Advertisement if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mid-article-slot" } ); } Read more The best new science-fiction novels published in July 2026The Jewel and the Comet by Tim PrattThis space opera with a “touch of romance” follows graduate student Glenn and his girlfriend Vivy, a spy who has been tasked with stopping a rogue comet but finds herself also trying to find a stolen jewel that can destroy universes.The Two of Us at the End of the World by C.A. FletcherI always love a post-apocalyptic story in which a few hardy souls are struggling to survive. As previously noted, we’re reading Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars in the New Scientist Book Club this month, and it’s a prime example of the genre. In Fletcher’s intriguing-sounding take, humans have stopped being able to have children (shades of P. D. James’s The Children of Men, perhaps?), and Mouse and Cat are our indomitable duo living in an almost-empty world, 200 years on.The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea HairstonI rather like this title – and the story sounds fun, too. It’s a murder mystery set in the multiverse, in which Oona (a St Berdoodle, which I’m assuming is a type of dog) and her owner Zsuzsu are investigating the death of a local celebrity. Oona, it turns out, can travel between dimensions, and she knows the identity of the killer. We are also promised “conundrums” and “alien tricksters” from the publisher.A huge and dangerous flood is the subject of No Higher GroundDJI_Watts/ShutterstockNo Higher Ground by Nicole BrooksA “once-in-a-lifetime flood” hits Raven’s family home, and she finds herself trapped on the roof with her children, her dog and her stepmother, struggling to survive. The novel is set over 6 hours and sounds very nail-biting – more thriller-y than sci-fi perhaps, but it’s an exploration of the power of a changing nature, so I’m keen to read it. Free newsletter Sign up to Book Club Sign up to newsletterThem by W.H. ChizmarDescribed as a post-apocalyptic horror survival novel by its publisher, and therefore ticking all my favourite boxes, this follows the fallout when a government project to transport matter across the universe brings back something alive – and dangerous. When this “something” is being transported (in a lorry – come on, people!), its lorry overturns and “unleashes an otherworldly horror upon an unsuspecting New England countryside”. Three years on, a man is trying to stay alive on the US’s now-deadly East Coast.A Family Affair by Jodi TaylorThis is the latest Smallhope and Pennyroyal time-travelling adventure, and sees Lady Amelia Smallhope attempting to relax after she nearly died in the last book. However, she and Pennyroyal are targeted by someone with knowledge of the latter’s “murky past”, and further adventures ensue.When you make a purchase via the links on this page, we receive a commission.
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Helicopter surveillance finds dead and dying greater crested terns off South Australian coast as H5 virus spreadsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 80 dead and sick birds seen on rocks off the South Australian coast are suspected to be the first mass mortality event from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, only six weeks after the disease arrived in Australia.Authorities reported on Saturday that helicopter surveillance had revealed 49 dead greater crested terns on Baudin Rocks, near Robe, as well as 35 more sick terns. Continue reading...
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Scientists studying magma from the 2021 Tajogaite eruption on La Palma have discovered that extreme heat can dramatically change how an eruption unfolds. When magma becomes superheated, it can dissolve the tiny crystal seeds that normally trigger crystallization, allowing the molten rock to remain fluid far longer as it rises.
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Modern humans carry DNA from two mysterious extinct lineages in addition to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Their hidden genetic legacy shows that our evolutionary past was shaped by repeated mixing among many different human groups.
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By Angela Gall - Marine Senior Officer, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Area TeamOff the south coast of Cornwall, in the cold, clear water, lie some of England's least-known natural treasures: the maerl beds. Earlier this summer, our dive team's work there caught the attention of the BBC, who came to film one of the most significant discoveries our surveys have produced, a species of seaweed new to science, alongside several other rare and long-absent finds. This blog looks at what was found, why these ancient, fragile beds matter, and what the work to understand and protect them means for the future.In the cold, clear water off the south coast of Cornwall lies one of England's most extraordinary and least-known natural treasures: Maerl beds. The pink, branching rhodoliths - free-living, calcified red seaweed - lie loose across the sediment in interlocking drifts, building up over centuries into structures that support an astonishing wealth of marine life.Earlier this summer, the BBC came to film our dive team at work on these remarkable habitats to break the news about one of the most exciting scientific discoveries our surveys have ever produced.Loading up the boat for a day of diving and filming. Credit: Angela Gall - Natural EnglandA species new to science, found right on our doorstepOur underwater surveys here have uncovered something very special: a tiny red seaweed, a species of Ceramium (pincer weed), that is completely new to science. Just a few millimetres across, its tiny size means it has never been formally identified until now. It took our divers bringing up living fragments to the surface, careful cultivation in the lab, and DNA sequencing to finally confirm what it was.The new species of Ceramium seaweed found by the Natural England Dive Team. Credit: Francis BunkerIt's a finding that has delighted world-leading seaweed taxonomy authority Professor Christine Maggs, who told us: "I first encountered this tiny Ceramium in the early 1980s, and I have been wondering about it ever since. Natural England's surveys finally provided the missing piece of a scientific puzzle I've been trying to solve for most of my career."The new species of Ceramium seaweed under the microscope, showing the reproductive parts found for the first time during filming. Credit: Debbie Winton - Natural EnglandThe Ceramium wasn't the only significant find. The surveys also recorded Ulva rigida, a green sea lettuce never previously confirmed in the UK; Neofolia rosea (little rosy tongue weed), only found once before in the UK, also on in the Fal Estuary; and Bonnemaisonia clavata, a delicate red seaweed not seen in British waters since the 18th century. Far from being fringe curiosities, their presence reveals the richness of life these maerl beds support, why they matter and what condition they are in.Our Senior Marine Officer Angie Gall explains: "We've already recorded more than 380 species living on the surface of the maerl beds, and that's only the beginning. Many more species live within the maerl itself or appear at different times of year."The BBC joins the dive teamOn an overcast morning in early June, BBC News journalist Harriet Bradshaw and camera operator Tony Jolliffe joined us aboard our survey vessel off the Cornish coast to film our dive team in action, surveying the maerl beds. Our team of scientific divers were also joined by seaweed expert Francis Bunker, who first identified the new Ceramium species during the original surveys.Filming interviews on the boat with the BBC. Credit: Francis BunkerThe BBC had already visited the Natural History Museum, where they filmed Professor Maggs and Professor Juliet Brodie, exploring the archival and scientific process behind formally describing a new species. Old pressed specimens and historical records are all part of the long paper trail that connects a new find to everything that came before it. Our filming on and under the water completed the picture, showing the fieldwork, the marine habitats and the people behind the discovery.What happened back in the field lab that evening underlines how much these beds still have to reveal. Examining samples brought up from the seabed, Francis found another specimen of the same Ceramium, and this time it carried tetrasporangia: specialised reproductive structures (sporangia) found in certain seaweeds (particularly red algae), which had not been found before.Examining the new species under the microscope, in the field lab later the same day. Credit: Debbie Winton - Natural EnglandWhy maerl mattersMaerl beds are among the most biodiverse shallow-water habitats in the entire north-east Atlantic. The pink, twiggy rhodoliths that form these beds grow about half a millimetre a year and some beds in the Fal Estuary are estimated to be up to 4,000 years old, pre-dating much of recorded British history. They act as nurseries for young fish and shellfish, provide shelter for a vast range of marine life, and lock away carbon in their sediments.The extensive healthy maerl bed in the Fal Estuary, taken by Natural England divers on the day of filming. Credit Angela Gall - Natural EnglandThe vast majority of England's maerl is concentrated along Cornwall's south coast, and Natural England's work since 2023 has already led to the discovery of extensive areas of previously unknown maerl beds within and around the Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay Special Protection Area - a reminder that even in well-studied waters, significant ecosystems can remain hidden. These are, as Angie describes them, "living archives of our natural history."Yet they are also fragile. Physical disturbance, pollution, and climate change all pose ongoing threats. As Francis Bunker, who discovered the new Ceramium, reflected: "Finding species new to science in our waters is thrilling. But it also shows how much biodiversity is still hidden in these beds and what we stand to lose if these habitats are damaged before we've fully understood them."Where the work goes nextThe BBC story is part of a much bigger picture. Over the past two years, Natural England has been working intensively with partners to understand, map, and protect Cornwall's maerl beds. This has included detailed dive surveys and seabed mapping across the Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay Special Protection Area and Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation and the publication of the Cornwall Maerl Conservation Action Plan 2025–2030.The Action Plan was developed through the UK's first dedicated Maerl Forum, led by Natural England, bringing together scientists, marine managers, conservationists, and policymakers. It sets out a shared framework for protecting Cornwall's maerl over the next five years, covering everything from monitoring and water quality to improving sustainability of fishing in the area, research into habitat restoration and public engagement.Whole genome sequencing at the University of Exeter has mapped distinct maerl populations across south-west Britain, discovering a genetically unique population found only in St Mawes. This research, to be published soon, is directly informing advice to marine managers and contributing to national programmes including the ‘30by30’ global commitment to protect and properly care for 30% of land and sea by 2030, and the UK government’s Marine Protected Area Network Review.Maerl and snakelocks anemone. Credit: Angela Gall - Natural EnglandThere is still much more to discover and much more to do. But what we do know is that maerl is a precious, important and irreplaceable habitat that is slowly giving up its secrets, with further exciting discoveries likely. As these latest findings show, the rewards for this careful, patient scientific work can be extraordinary: species hidden for centuries, or unknown to science entirely, waiting to be found in the waters just off our coast.Look out for the BBC News story on iPlayer. To find out more about our maerl work, see the Cornwall Maerl Conservation Action Plan and visit the Cornwall Maerl website.
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Some 19 major Italian cities - including Rome, Milan and Naples - are already on red alert, and by Monday all but two will be.
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Iesetyn Morgan regularly free dives and shares the footage of marine life on social media.
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Emergency crews say situation remains ‘dynamic’ as more than 100 firefighters battle Dunwich Heath blazeA wildfire near Britain’s biggest nuclear power station has caused “total devastation” to one of the UK’s most important landscapes, as fire crews said the situation remained “dynamic”.More than 100 firefighters have been battling the blaze on Dunwich Heath, near Leiston, on the Suffolk coast since Wednesday evening. The fire service said on Friday afternoon the situation was stabilising but remained a “major incident” that was “dynamic and potentially changeable”. Continue reading...
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Latest study says global heating has made hot, dry and windy conditions in Spain at least 20 times more likelyThe extreme heat and drought stoking huge wildfires in Spain and France were made far more likely by the climate crisis, a scientific analysis has found.Global heating made hot, dry and windy weather at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France, experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium calculated. The finding is the latest to pin the blame for the continent’s sweltering and deadly summer firmly on the heating caused by the burning of oil, gas and coal. Continue reading...
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Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable“It’s a constant battle,” says Tim Young. He and his family have been tracking the rainfall on their Norfolk farm since 1976, and the data shows the last six years have seen two-thirds the amount of rain compared with previous years. The lack of water has become the number one risk to Young’s business.This summer has seen record-breaking climate induced heatwaves scorch much of Europe, which combined with droughts and “apocalyptic” wildfires has made farming virtually impossible. France has faced down fires that its president, Emmanuel Macron, called the worst since the second world war and on Wednesday half of England was declared officially in drought, with July expected to be the driest on record after winter floods, according to the Environment Agency. So how are farmers bearing up under the pressure? Continue reading...
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As parks turn brown and paddling pools go unfilled, exemptions mean sports pitches can stay lush – even in school holidaysAfter multiple punishing heatwaves, and no rain in parts for over a month, it seems the whole of the south of England is golden brown.But by Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes, south-west London, there is the unmistakable scent of damp soil. The playing fields of St Paul’s school, where fees are up to £57,000 a year, are a bright, lush green. Continue reading...
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Boom in solar farms and home installations in first half of 2026 began shortly after start of US-Israel war against IranGreat Britain has recorded more new solar power installations in the first half of this year than in any six-month period since 2011, as households turn to rooftop panels to help cut their energy bills.An analysis of the government’s official figures shows that Great Britain added 142,536 solar installations in the first six months of the year, putting it on track to top last year’s record solar additions. Continue reading...
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A zero-waste shop set up by a district council provides plastic-free products at affordable prices in a country that gets through 164m sachets a dayJust after classes finish for the day in Malabon City, in the Philippines, a corner shop begins to fill. Mothers arrive with their children, handing over empty bottles to be refilled with soy sauce and cooking oil. Plastic tubs that previously held ice-cream or biscuits are weighed and filled with flour or sugar. The kids get some sweets and banana chips bagged in brown kraft paper.This store, Tingi Tindahan, offers a different experience from other small independent shops in the country. It retains the accessibility of micro-retail, colloquially known as tingi, while reintroducing reuse and refill methods instead of selling products in sachets and plastic packaging that too quickly becomes discarded waste. Continue reading...
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
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To safely get rid of your detergents, paints, pesticides and bleaches without harming the environment, keep in mind handy rules such as the ‘three Ps’Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.comFrom bleaches, disinfectants and detergents to pest sprays and paints, many kitchen cabinets and laundry shelves are stacked with bottles and tins of household chemicals.Chemicals are ubiquitous in modern life. They are readily available from supermarkets or hardware stores, but can become environmental pollutants if incorrectly stored, used and disposed of. Continue reading...
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In this week’s newsletter: As France and Spain battle huge fires in this summer of relentless heat, will it be enough to spur us to take action? • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWhen Stefan Rahmstorf walked through the ruined streets of Dresden after the river Elbe flooded in 2002, and again when severe heat killed 70,000 people in Europe the following summer, the German climatologist wondered if worsening weather would make the political world “wake up and do something really decisively” to cut emissions.But two decades and 750bn tons of atmospheric carbon pollution later, Rahmstorf is still wondering when the wake-up call will come. Last week, as he was surfing off France’s Atlantic coast with his partner, he watched towering smoke plumes darken the sky as a ferocious inferno raged outside Bordeaux.‘We have lost everything’: extreme rainfall across Asia brings flash floods and typhoons‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missingUganda begins emergency food handouts after 19 die from hunger Continue reading...
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Intensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in protecting natureBy Patrick Barkham. Read by Dermot DalyRead the text version hereSupport the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpodThe summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to order Continue reading...
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Paradoxically, suppressing wildfires has also made European countries more vulnerable to huge blazes like those seen in France and Spain this week. With global warming also amplifying the danger, some experts are calling for a change of strategy
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Global warming may make it too hot for malaria-carrying mosquitoes to survive in parts of Africa, but could also shift the problem to less affected areas
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Protein is an essential nutrient, but can you have too much of a good thing?Anja Burgar/Getty ImagesProtein-rich products – from cereal to crisps to coffee – are all over supermarket shelves, but mounting evidence in non-human animals suggests that restricting our intake could slow ageing and extend lifespan. So, does that mean eating too much protein is harmful?“We have this impression that dietary protein is sort of a universally good thing,” says Dudley Lamming at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But according to the latest review of the evidence, “increasing dietary protein, beyond what’s needed, for sedentary individuals or animals leads to metabolic problems and can lead to shorter lifespan as well”, he says. Read more Your body changes as you age and so should your diet – here’s how But others point out that nutritional studies in animals like mice and rats don’t readily translate to people, and a high protein intake has been linked to benefits in humans. Advertisement if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mid-article-slot" } ); }Lamming and his colleagues sifted through more than 300 studies, mostly in sedentary rodents, that explored how restricting protein intake to the minimum required to prevent deficiency affects ageing and lifespan.In these studies, rodents generally either ate the equivalent of the minimum protein requirement recommended by US guidelines – 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight – or about double that. The latter is similar to the intake recently recommended by US dietary guidelines for optimal health, 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.In one study, rats that ate around the minimum protein intake lived nearly 120 days, or more than 50 per cent, longer than those that ate about double that.This may be because protein restriction increases levels of the hormone FGF21, says Lamming. In rodents, this acts on the brain, fat tissue and the liver to improve blood sugar levels and reduce the number of senescent cells. These cells, which accumulate with age, have stopped dividing and cause chronic inflammation. Free newsletter Sign up to Health Check Sign up to newsletterRestricting protein intake has also been shown to dampen the activity of a protein called mTORC1 in mice. mTORC1 ordinarily stimulates cell growth, but reducing its activity boosts cellular repair. “It essentially switches cells from a proliferative state, where they’re growing and engaging a lot of metabolism, to one where they’re dividing more slowly, if at all, and focusing on repair,” says Lamming. Studies suggest this cuts the risk of age-related conditions and extends lifespan in mice, he says.All this suggests that the recent trend to up our protein intake is probably fine among people who exercise regularly, because they may need more protein to repair muscle damage, but eating more than is needed could cause harm in sedentary individuals, says Lamming.But Donald Layman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign points out that rodents vary hugely from people when it comes to protein metabolism. For instance, mTORC1 is activated by feeding, and while people tend to a have a few big meals a day, rodents graze more regularly. Protein restriction may therefore affect mTORC1 pathways differently between the different species, he says. We are also more exposed to factors that accelerate ageing, like infections and extreme heat, than lab animals, says Layman.What’s more, the review does not include most of the studies in people that suggest that upping our protein intake beyond the minimum cuts our risk of frailty, he says.Dudley says no studies were intentionally omitted. “We were focused on protein restriction, not the many studies looking at higher levels of protein intake,” he says. Beyond building muscle and preventing frailty, there’s mixed evidence on whether a higher protein intake helps with ageing, says Dudley. The 3 things you need to know about protein, according to an expert Why have so many people become fixated on protein? Donald Layman is one of the people behind the research showing the benefits of getting more protein in your diet, but he thinks things have gone too far and wants to set the record straightFor instance, one study linked this to a reduced risk of age-related muscle loss, or sarcopenia, among older twins in the UK. But the rates of sarcopenia were so low that the link is unreliable, says Elizabeth Williams at the University of Sheffield in the UK.Still, some studies showed that restricting intake of certain amino acids – such as isoleucine and valine, which are highest in meat, fish and dairy – in mice has a similar effect to limiting overall protein intake, says Philip Atherton at Nottingham University, UK.Atherton says he is planning a study to investigate whether drugs that deplete specific amino acids in people improve outcomes like blood sugar control, with results expected in the next few years.  Journal Reference: Cell Press Blue DOI: 10.1016/j.cpblue.2026.100079 
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Surgery that aims to enhance the clearance of Alzheimer's-associated proteins from the brain has been banned in China, but only after thousands of people had the procedure
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The total solar eclipse on 12 August will only be visible to a lucky few, but eclipses happen all over the world – here are the next ones to look out for, wherever you may be
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The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is the August read for the New Scientist Book ClubI keep the Beast running, I keep the 100 low lead on tap, I foresee attacks. I am young enough, I am old enough. I used to love to fish for trout more than almost anything.My name is Hig, one name. Big Hig if you need another.If I ever woke up crying in the middle of a dream, and I’m not saying I did, it’s because the trout are gone, every one. Brookies, rainbows, browns, cutthroats, cutbows, everyone. Advertisement if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mid-article-slot" } ); } Read more How I wrote The Dog Stars, the novel behind Ridley Scott’s new filmThe tiger left, the elephant, the apes, the baboon, the cheetah. The titmouse, the frigate bird, the pelican (gray), the whale (gray), the collared dove. Sad but. Didn’t cry until the last trout swam upriver looking for maybe cooler water.Melissa, my wife, was an old hippy. Not that old. She looked good. In this story she might have been Eve, but I’m not Adam. I am more like Cain. They didn’t have a brother like me.Did you ever read the Bible? I mean sit down and read it like it was a book? Check out Lamentations. That’s where we’re at, pretty much. Pretty much lamenting. Pretty much pouring our hearts out like water. They said at the end it would get colder after it gets warmer.Way colder. Still waiting. She’s a surprise this old earth, one big surprise after another since before she separated from the moon who circles and circles like the mate of a shot goose.No more geese. A few. Last October I heard the old bleating after dusk and saw them, five against the cold bloodwashed blue over the ridge. Five all fall, I think, next April none.I hand pump the 100 low lead aviation gas out of the old airport tank when the sun is not shining, and I have the truck too that was making the fuel delivery. More fuel than the Beast can burn in my lifetime if I keep my sorties local, which I plan to, I have to. She’s a small plane, a 1956 Cessna 182, really a beaut. Cream and blue. I’m figuring I’m dead before the Beast gives up the final ghost. I will buy the farm. Eighty acres of bottomland hay and corn in a country where there is still a cold stream coming out of the purple mountains full of brookies and cuts.Before that I will make my roundtrips. Out and back.*I have a neighbor. One. Just us at a small country airport a few miles from the mountains. A training field where they built a bunch of houses for people who couldn’t sleep without their little planes, the way golfers live on a golf course. Bangley is the name on the registration of his old truck, which doesn’t run anymore. Bruce Bangley. I fished it out of the glove box looking for a tire pressure gauge I could take with me in the Beast. A Wheat Ridge address. I don’t call him that, though, what’s the point, there’s only two of us. Only us for at least a radius of eight miles, which is the distance of open prairie to the first juniper woods on the skirt of the mountain. I just say, Hey. Above the juniper is oak brush then black timber. Well, brown. Beetle killed and droughted. A lot of it standing dead now, just swaying like a thousand skeletons, sighing like a thousand ghosts, but not all. There are patches of green woods, and I am their biggest fan. I root for them out here on the plain. Go Go Go Grow Grow Grow! That’s our fight song. I yell it out the window as I fly low over. The green patches are_ spreading year by year. Life is tenacious if you give it one little bit of encouragement. I could swear they hear me. They wave back, wave their feathery arms back and forth down low by their sides, they remind me of women in kimonos. Tiny steps or no steps, wave wave hands at your sides.I go up there on foot when I can. To the greener woods. Funny to say that: not like I have to clear my calendar. I go up to breathe. The different air. It’s dangerous, it’s an adrenalin rush I could do without. I have seen elk sign. Not so old. If there are still elk. Bangley says no way. Way, but. Never seen one. Seen plenty deer. I bring the .308 and I shoot a doe and I drag her back in the hull of a kayak which I sawed the deck off so it’s a sled. My green sled. The deer just stayed on with the rabbits and the rats. The cheat grass stayed on, I guess that’s enough. Free newsletter Sign up to Book Club Sign up to newsletterBefore I go up there I fly it twice. One day, one night with the goggles. The goggles are pretty good at seeing down through trees if the trees aren’t too heavy. People make pulsing green shadows, even asleep. Better than not checking. Then I make a loop south and east, come back in from the north. Thirty miles out, at least a day for a traveler. That’s all open, all plains, sage and grass and rabbit brush and the old farms. The brown circles of fields like the footprint of a crutch fading into the prairie. Hedgerows and windbreaks, half the trees broken, blown over, a few still green by a seep or along a creek. Then I tell Bangley.I cover the eight miles dragging the empty sled in two hours, then I am in cover. I can still move. It’s a long way back with a deer, though. Over open country. Bangley covers me from halfway out. We still have the handsets and they still recharge with the panels. Japanese built, good thing. Bangley has a .408 CheyTac sniper rifle set up on a platform he built. A rangefinder. My luck. A gun nut. A really mean gun nut. He says he can pot a man from a mile off. He has done. I’ve seen it more than once. Last summer he shot a girl who was chasing me across the open plain. A young girl, a scarecrow. I heard the shot, stopped, left the sled, went back. She was thrown back over a rock, a hole where her waist should have been, just about torn in half. Her chest was heaving, panting, her head twisted to the side, one black eye shiny and looking up at me, not fear, just like a question, burning, like of all things witnessed this one couldn’t be believed. Like that. Like fucking why?That’s what I asked Bangley, fucking why.She would have caught you.So what? I had a gun, she had a little knife. To like protect her from me. She maybe wanted food.Maybe. Maybe she’d slit your throat in the middle of the night.I stared at him, his mind going that far, to the middle of the night, me and her. Jesus. My only neighbor. What can I say to Bangley? He has saved my bacon more times. Saving my bacon is his job. I have the plane, I am the eyes, he has the guns, he is the muscle. He knows I know he knows: he can’t fly, I don’t have the stomach for killing. Any other way probably just be one of us. Or none.I also have Jasper, son of Daisy, which is the best last line of alarm.So when we get sick of rabbits and sunfish from the pond, I get a deer. Mostly I just want to go up there. It feels like church, hallow and cool. The dead forest swaying and whispering, the green forest full of sighs. The musk smell of deer beds. The creeks where I always pray to see a trout. One fingerling. One big old survivor, his green shadow idling against the green shadows of the stones.Eight miles of open ground to the mountain front, the first trees. That is our perimeter. Our safety zone. That is my job.He can concentrate his firepower to the west that way. That’s how Bangley talks. Because it’s thirty miles out, high plains all other directions, more than a day’s walk, but just a couple of hours west to the first trees. The families are south ten miles but they don’t bother us. That’s what I call them. They are something like thirty Mennonites with a blood disease that hit after the flu. Like a plague but slow burning. Something like AIDS I think, maybe more contagious. The kids were born with it and it makes them all sick and weak and every year some die.We have the perimeter. But if someone hid. In the old farmsteads. In the sage. The willows along a creek. Arroyos, too, with undercut banks. He asked me that once: how do I know. How do I know someone is not inside our perimeter, in all that empty country, hiding, waiting to attack us? But thing is I can see a lot. Not like the back of the hand, too simple, but like a book I have read and reread too many times to count, maybe like the Bible for some folks of old. I would know. A sentence out of place. A gap. Two periods where there should be one. I know.I know, I think: if I am going to die – no If – it will be on one of these trips to the mountains. Crossing open ground with the full sled. Shot in the back with an arrow.Bangley a long time ago gave me bulletproof, one of the vests in his arsenal. He has all kinds of shit. He said it’ll stop any handgun, an arrow, but with a rifle it depends, I better be lucky. I thought about that. We’re supposed to be the only two living souls but the families in at least hundreds of square miles, the only survivors, I better be lucky. So I wear the vest because it’s warm, but if it’s summer I mostly don’t. When I wear it, I feel like I’m waiting for something. Would I stand on a train platform and wait for a train that hasn’t come for months? Maybe. Sometimes this whole thing feels just like that.This is an extract from The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Tinder Press), the August read for the New Scientist Book Club. Sign up for the club here, and join the discussion on Discord here.When you make a purchase via the links on this page, we receive a commission.
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