Gigantic multicoloured organism is visible from space and has grown for between 300 and 500 years
The world’s largest known coral, visible from space, has been discovered in the waters of the Solomon Islands.
With a circumference of 183 metres, the gigantic multicoloured organism is an intricate network of individual coral polyps that have grown for between 300 and 500 years.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/14/2024 - 08:00
The H-2A program lets growers bring in guest workers. In a part of Washington, some say they’re getting squeezed out
Agriculture rules in Quincy, Washington. Sprawling apple, cherry and peach orchards surround this rural city of about 8,000. Packing sheds dot the middle of downtown. Railroad tracks run close to the Columbia River, so produce can make its way to market by both train and waterway.
Farm workers such as Alberto, who is only using his first name for privacy reasons, are the backbone of the industry. Once a migrant farm worker traveling around California and Washington state for jobs, he now lives permanently in Quincy with his family. There, he’s found steady year-round work planting, tending and harvesting crops at various farms. With that more stable work, he and other domestic farm workers have built a tight community in Grant county.
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11/14/2024 - 07:34
NatureScot to allow shooting estates to greatly reduce area of grouse moors affected by licensing regime
Wildlife charities have condemned a decision by Scotland’s nature conservation agency to dilute a new law designed to combat the illegal killing of birds of prey.
NatureScot, a government agency, has decided to greatly reduce the area of land affected by a new licensing regime for grouse moors after legal threats from shooting estates and land owners.
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11/14/2024 - 06:00
Trump could stop in its tracks US’s emergence as clean energy superpower and forfeit billions in investment
The United States’s blossoming emergence as a clean energy superpower could be stopped in its tracks by Donald Trump, further empowering Chinese leadership and forfeiting tens of billions of dollars of investment to other countries, according to a new report.
Trump’s promise to repeal major climate policies passed during Joe Biden’s presidency threatens to push $80bn of investment to other countries and cost the US up to $50bn in lost exports, the analysis found, surrendering ground to China and other emerging powers in the race to build electric cars, batteries, solar and wind energy for the world.
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11/14/2024 - 02:00
Oscar winners Mark Rylance and Olivia Colman among those writing to Rachel Reeves about excluding fossil fuels
Leading British actors including Mark Rylance, Olivia Colman, and Benedict Cumberbatch have called on the chancellor to increase investment in clean energy by reforming pensions.
Members of the performing arts union Equity have written an open letter to Rachel Reeves before her Mansion House speech on Thursday asking her to make “smart, strategic reforms” that could unlock £1.2tn from the pensions sector for growing clean energy and infrastructure in the UK.
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11/14/2024 - 01:01
Charging $0.045 per kWh for energy used in intensive bitcoin mining could produce $5bn for the climate crisis, says Global Solidarity Levies taskforce
Josh Gabbatiss, from Carbon Brief has published an update on social media about where negotiations at Cop29 have got to.
You may have seen talk of new texts about the climate finance negotiations doing the rounds.
These proposals have been produced by the co-chairs and circulated among negotiators and civil society observers, but for some reason they are not being published on the UNFCCC website.
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11/14/2024 - 01:00
Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaign
A unique farm that was “accidentally” rewilded 35 years ago and is now a haven for endangered nightingales and other rare wildlife has been saved, thanks in part to the generosity of Guardian readers.
Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire has been successfully bought by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) after a crowdfunding appeal raised £1.5m.
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11/14/2024 - 01:00
Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissions
A court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said.
The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court.
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11/14/2024 - 00:00
The climate crisis created the setting for Trump’s economy-first win and it’s the global south that will suffer most
Donald Trump’s election is a triumph for the politics of the doomsday bunker, which is bad news for the world’s environment.
This is the idea that in an age of climate disruption, nature extinction and ever wider social inequality, the best chance of survival for those who can afford it is to construct a personal shelter, where they can keep the desperate masses at bay. It is survival of the richest.
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11/13/2024 - 23:08
Zinc and polyurethane product could stop dangerous blockages in concrete wastewater pipes – but is a few years off commercial use
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Australian engineers have invented an anti-fatberg coating for sewer pipes that could prevent the congealed masses from blocking the wastewater system and leading to overflows and flooding.
Fatbergs – solidified masses of fat, oil and grease that accumulate in sewer pipes, collecting wet wipes and other material – are a major concern for wastewater authorities globally, responsible for 40% of blockages in Australia, and a likely source for the mysterious balls that recently washed up on Sydney beaches.
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