Breaking Waves: Ocean News

While we work towards net zero, we also need to adapt. And we can pay for cooling measures like splash pads and trees by taxing the worst polluters There’s a lot to be anxious about as a new parent, let alone in a heatwave when the thermometer in your one-year-old daughter’s room is reading 26C. That’s six degrees higher than the upper limit of the recommended temperature for a child’s room. After scrolling my phone for advice on how to cool her room, I couldn’t help waking up every few hours to check she was OK on the baby monitor. In the UK, we are unprepared at every level for the extreme weather caused by climate breakdown. Whether it’s unbearably hot buildings in the summer, our damp and cold homes (some of the leakiest in Europe) filled with mould in the winter, our unprotected towns built on flood plains, or our unfit-for-purpose train tracks that get shut down at the slightest weather warning, the climate crisis is already wreaking havoc on public and private infrastructure – and it’s only getting worse. Continue reading...

Following the destruction from 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, an anti-drilling coalition took action with HB 1143 – and got it signed by DeSantis The giant and catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill, didn’t reach Apalachicola Bay in 2010, but the threat of oil reaching this beautiful and environmentally valuable stretch of northern Florida’s Gulf coast was still enough to devastate the region’s economy. The Florida state congressman Jason Shoaf remembers how the threat affected the bay. Continue reading...

Girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River, are still missing, says city manager. This blog is now closed. We have more from the Associated Press on Camp Mystic, the all-girls Christian summer camp from which up to 25 people are missing. Chloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counsellor, said her heart broke when a fellow teacher shared an email from the camp about the missing girls. At least 24 people have died and up to 25 people are missing after torrential rain caused flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday. Rescue teams are searching for the people who were attending the Christian all-girls Camp Mystic summer camp just outside the town of Kerrville 104km (64 miles) north-west of San Antonio. As of Friday night, emergency personnel had rescued or evacuated 237 people, including 167 by helicopter, Reuters reports. The Texas Division of Emergency Management had 14 helicopters and hundreds of emergency workers, as well as drones, involved in search-and-rescue operations. A month’s worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours. In less than an hour the river rose 26 feet (7.9m) in what Kerr county sheriff’s office called “catastrophic flooding”. The flooding swept away mobile homes, vehicles and holiday cabins where people were spending the 4 July weekend, the BBC said. A state of emergency has been declared in several counties. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, US President Donald Trump said, “We’ll take care of them,” when asked about federal aid for the disaster. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official, said a disaster of such magnitude was unforeseen. “We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what’s happened here,” he said. “None whatsoever.” More rain is expected in the state, including around Waco, and flooding is anticipated downriver from Kerr county. Continue reading...

Ecologists say 283 purple emperor recordings on one day at Knepp signal higher numbers nationwide A conservation project in West Sussex has had its best day on record for rare purple emperor butterfly sighting, and ecologists say they are confident the species is doing well nationally. Purple emperor populations steadily declined over the course of the 20th century but they have been slowly recolonising the landscape at Knepp since 2001, when Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, decided to turn the stretch of former farmland into a “process-led” rewilding project. Continue reading...