Planktonic foraminifera are tiny marine organisms, which are essential to the ocean's carbon cycle. A recent study reveals that these populations are shrinking at an alarming rate due to ocean warming and acidification. Elevated CO2 levels and thus acidifying waters are making it harder for these single-cell organisms to form their shells, putting their survival at risk. Some foraminifera have begun migrating to cooler waters in an attempt to adapt, but environmental changes are occurring faster than they can keep up with.
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/13/2024 - 13:45
California researchers found ‘mystery mollusc’ in deep-sea midnight zone after initially observing it 20 years ago
Researchers in California have discovered a new species of sea slug off the Pacific coast in an area of deep sea known as the midnight zone.
A team with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute first came across the creature, which they dubbed the “mystery mollusc” in 2000 at 8,576ft (2,613 meters), and spent years documenting the sea slug in order to “prepare the most comprehensive description of a deep-sea animal ever made”.
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11/13/2024 - 13:00
Exclusive: Mia Mottley, who has championed climate action, says she would seek common ground with US president-elect
Mia Mottley, the climate-championing prime minister of Barbados, has invited Donald Trump to a face-to-face meeting where she would seek “common ground” and persuade him that climate action was in his own interests.
“Let us find a common purpose in saving the planet and saving livelihoods,” she told the Guardian at the UN’s Cop29 climate summit in Azerbaijan. “We are human beings and we have the capacity to meet face-to-face, in spite of our differences. We want humanity to survive. And the evidence [of the climate crisis] we are seeing almost weekly now.”
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11/13/2024 - 12:39
Sometimes plants are so similar to each other that the methods developed by 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus for identifying species are not enough. Completely new species of daisies have been discovered when analyzed using modern DNA technology.
11/13/2024 - 12:04
Move adds to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement after the election in the US of Donald Trump
Cop29 climate summit – live updates
Argentinian negotiators representing the government of the climate science denier Javier Milei have been ordered to withdraw from the Cop29 summit after only three days, adding to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement.
More than 80 representatives from the South American country are in Baku, Azerbaijan, for two weeks of negotiations about climate finance for the energy transition. Argentina’s far-right leader has previously called the climate crisis a “socialist lie”, and threatened to withdraw from the Paris agreement during his election campaign last year, but has since backed down.
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11/13/2024 - 11:51
Royalties earned from The Golden Mole, published in the US this week as Vanishing Treasures, will be given towards counteracting ‘the election of a climate-change denier’
British author Katherine Rundell will give all the royalties from one of her books to climate charities in response to the re-election of Donald Trump.
The author of bestsellers for children and adults has said she will donate 100% of author royalties earned from sales of The Golden Mole, her 2022 book on endangered species, “in perpetuity”. The book was published in the US on Tuesday under the title Vanishing Treasures.
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11/13/2024 - 09:44
German energy firm shaves €3bn from spending plans for next financial year to €7bn
A German energy firm has said that Donald Trump’s election victory has increased the risks of investing in offshore wind projects – but his return to the White House could help bolster Britain’s renewables sector, according to UK developer SSE.
Germany’s RWE has cut its spending plans and warned that, as a result of the US election, “the risks for offshore wind projects have increased”.
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11/13/2024 - 09:39
Large parts of east and south under alerts as schools are shut and riverside neighbourhoods evacuated in Andalucía
Authorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as the country is pounded by further torrential rains two weeks after the catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and unleashed a bitter political blame game.
On Wednesday morning, the state meteorological agency, Aemet, put large parts of eastern and southern Spain on amber alert and issued the highest level of warning for the provinces Tarragona in Catalonia and Málaga in Andalucía.
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11/13/2024 - 07:00
Of 140 million people in the US who draw water from US aquifers via private or public wells, 70% at risk
PFAS may be contaminating drinking water for up to 70% of about 140 million people in the US who draw water from the nation’s aquifers via private or public wells, a new federal government study estimates. The findings show a potential impact on about 95 million people, or 27% of the nation’s population.
The US Geological Survey sampling and modeling of groundwater contamination found readings up to 37,000 times higher than the EPA’s new drinking water limits. In some regions virtually all of those using public systems that draw from groundwater may be drinking contaminated water.
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11/13/2024 - 07:00
From olive oil to butter, extreme weather is pushing up the cost of living and having a dramatic political impact. Economists need a solution
In the US, where Donald Trump swept the board last week, it was the experience of sharply increasing essentials prices, from food to energy, that glued together the Republicans’ new electoral coalition. About 75% of those voting Republican reported that they had faced “hardship” or “severe hardship” as a result of price rises; only 25% of Democrats said the same. When Trump asked if Americans felt better now than they did four years ago, the answer for most was a clear no.
Price surges are having political impacts. In elections this year in three of the world’s largest economies, incumbent parties were hammered by voters angry about their helplessness in the face of the steeply rising cost of essentials.
James Meadway is the host of the podcast Macrodose
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