Breaking Waves: Ocean News

01/14/2025 - 13:47
Efforts by the plastics industry to thwart regulation come from a familiar playbook As the public wake up to the risk of “forever chemicals”, or PFAS, the industry is fighting back with a campaign researchers have compared with big tobacco’s battle against restrictions on smoking. New findings about its intense lobbying efforts are highly concerning and require a response from the environment secretary, Steve Reed. A recent consultation by the European Chemicals Agency, regarding proposals for comprehensive regulation of the substances, which take an enormous length of time to degrade, was inundated with responses from business. Varieties of these chemicals have been used in manufacturing and consumer goods since the 1950s. They protect equipment, remove grease and smooth skin – hence their appearance in kitchenware and cosmetics. But they can also leak into soil and water, and accumulate inside human tissues. Some have been linked to health problems including cancer and high cholesterol. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 13:09
As PM pins hopes on AI, what effect will building energy-hungry datacentres have on Labour’s clean power pledge? Keir Starmer this week launched a plan to bring a 20-fold increase in the amount of artificial intelligence (AI) computing power under public control by 2030. But the race to build more electricity hungry AI datacentres over the next five years appears to work against another government target: to plug in enough low-carbon electricity projects to create a clean power system by the same date. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 12:52
Life on the Great Barrier Reef is undergoing big changes in the face of climate change and other human-caused pressures, a new study reveals. From food security to controlling seaweed and even making sand for beaches, reef fish are a hugely important part of marine ecosystems providing a range of benefits to humans and coral reef ecosystems. New research reveals significant transformations in fish communities on the Great Barrier Reef, the World's largest coral reef ecosystem.
01/14/2025 - 11:53
Alex Margo Arden says ‘symbolic damage’ helped force public conversation about climate crisis Protesters who targeted paintings to raise awareness of the climate crisis were using an “effective” tactic also used by the Suffragettes, according to an artist whose new show focuses on recent attacks on high-profile artworks. Alex Margo Arden, whose exhibition, Safety Curtain, opens this week at Auto Italia in east London, said the “symbolic damage” caused to the images, which were protected by glass, helped force a public conversation about the climate crisis. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 11:47
Growing concern that toxic chemicals released by wildfires can get into damaged drinking water systems As fires continue to burn across Los Angeles, several utilities have declared their drinking water unsafe until extensive testing can prove otherwise. A warmer, drier climate means wildfires are getting worse, and encroaching on cities – with devastating impact. Toxic chemicals from those burns can get into damaged drinking water systems, and even filtering or boiling won’t help, experts say. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 11:07
Campaigners say pollution levels in street in Herne Hill were far higher when private schools were open Parents driving children to private schools is associated with a 27% increase in air pollution and congestion in a south London street, according to campaigners who are calling for private schools to make greater use of sustainable transport. The analysis by Solve the School Run found that nitrogen dioxide levels and fine particulates produced by vehicles in the street in Herne Hill were far higher when nearby private schools such as Dulwich college were open, compared with when only local state schools were open. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 10:45
Environmental Protection Agency officials warn of toxic PFAS found in sewage often spread on pasture Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge spread on pasture as fertilizer pose a risk to people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from those farms, in some cases raising cancer risk “several orders of magnitude” above what the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable, federal officials announced on Tuesday. When cities and towns treat sewage, they separate the liquids from the solids and treat the liquid. The solids need to be disposed of and can make a nutrient-rich sludge often spread on farm fields. The agency now says those solids often contain toxic, lasting PFAS that treatment plants cannot effectively remove. When people eat or drink foods containing these “forever” chemicals, the compounds accumulate in the body and can cause kidney, prostate and testicular cancer. They harm the immune system and childhood development. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 09:00
Exclusive: Natural England furious that years of work has been undone, with minister urged to push policy through Downing Street has blocked plans to release wild beavers in England because officials view it as a “Tory legacy”, the Guardian can reveal. Natural England, the government’s nature watchdog, has drawn up a plan for reintroductions of the rodent, which until about 20 years ago had been extinct in Britain for 400 years, having been hunted for their fur, meat and scent oil. Beavers create useful habitats for wildlife and reduce flooding by breaking up waterways, slowing water flow, and creating still pools. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 08:26
Ham, gammon, bacon, salami and some dairy products banned after Germany’s first reported case in nearly 40 years Britain has banned the import of German ham, bacon and salami as well as many other meat and dairy products after a case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed on the outskirts of Berlin last week. The government said that while there were no cases of the livestock disease in Britain, the ban would help stop it spreading and protect British farmers and their livelihoods. Continue reading...
01/14/2025 - 07:00
A Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab investigation finds very high levels of lead and arsenic in homes near a factory processing US toxic waste Leer en español en Quinto Elemento Lab Raquel Villarreal lives in a bright-yellow house in Mexico’s Monterrey metropolitan area with her family and nine cats. Here, the emergency medicine doctor has raised three daughters, one of whom died at the age of 14. Just steps away is an industrial plant that operates 24 hours a day, emitting pollution that neighbors say blankets the neighborhood and which Villarreal says is hard to remove from her car. Continue reading...