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Dec. 29, 2025

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Heat, Drought and Fire: How Extreme Weather Pushed Nature to Its Limits in 2025 The Guardian, Dec. 29 2025 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.” Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters from heatwaves to floods to wildfires. At least a dozen of the most serious events of the past decade would have been all but impossible without human-caused global heating.	Trump Halts 5 Wind Farms Off the East Coast NY Times , Dec. 29, 2025 The Interior Department said the projects posed national security risks, without providing details. The decision imperils billions of dollars of investments. The Trump administration on Monday said it would pause leases for five wind farms under construction off the east coast, essentially gutting the country’s nascent offshore wind industry in a sharp escalation of President Trump’s crusade against the renewable energy source. The decision injected uncertainty into $25 billion worth of projects that were expected to power more than 2.5 million homes and businesses across the Eastern United States, according to Turn Forward, an offshore wind advocacy group. The five wind farms were projected together to create about 10,000 jobs. The move left intact just two operational wind farms in U.S. coastal waters — one small project off Rhode Island that began running in 2016 and a larger project off New York that has been fully operational since 2023. The five wind farms targeted on Monday had obtained permits from the Biden administration. Citing unspecified national security concerns, the Trump administration said it would freeze those leases, effectively blocking construction or operations and jeopardizing billions of dollars that had already been invested.	No New Year Fireworks in Indonesia As Nation Mourns Sumatra Flood Victims Reuters, Dec. 29, 2025 Indonesia's central government will support the plans of several regions to forgo fireworks while celebrating New Year this week in solidarity with the victims of recent floods on the island of Sumatra, an official in the president's office said on Monday. Several governments and police forces, including those in the capital Jakarta and on the popular tourist island of Bali, have said they will not allow firework displays out of respect for the victims on Sumatra, where floods and landslides have killed over 1,100 people, with around 400,000 still displaced. Prasetyo Hadi, spokesperson for President Prabowo Subianto's office, told reporters that the government thinks it is correct that regional governments should ban fireworks or urge people not to set them off during the celebrations. "It is correct because we have to show empathy and solidarity ... as a nation, that there are some who suffered from a disaster," he said. Police in Bali's capital of Denpasar have banned New Year's fireworks, state news agency Antara reported on Saturday. Jakarta's governor also said last week that there will be no firework displays in the city of 10 million people, and urged residents not to set any off.