Breaking Waves: Ocean News

With net zero targets under attack from the populist right, dangerously high temperatures should refocus minds At times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever. From the French government’s decision to close schools to the bans in most of Italy on outdoor work at the hottest time of day, the immediate priority is to protect people from extreme heat – and to recognise that a heatwave can take a higher toll than a violent storm. People who are already vulnerable, due to age or illness or poor housing, face the greatest risks from heatwaves. As well as changes to rules and routines, public health warnings are vital, especially where records are being broken and people are unfamiliar with the conditions. In the scorching European summer of 2022, an estimated 68,000 people died due to heat. Health, welfare and emergency systems must respond to those needing help. Continue reading...

Portugal and Spain suffer historic temperature highs for June, as French schools close because of heat Outdoor working has been banned during the hottest parts of the day in more than half of Italy’s regions as an extreme heatwave that has smashed June temperature records in Spain and Portugal continues to grip large swathes of Europe. The savage temperatures are believed to have claimed at least three lives, including that of a small boy who is thought to have died from heatstroke while in a car in Catalonia’s Tarragona province on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...

The unlikely return of the bentwood box underscores the challenges facing Indigenous communities working to reclaim items raided from their lands When the plane took off from Vancouver’s airport, bound north for the Great Bear Rainforest, Q̓íx̌itasu Elroy White felt giddy with excitement. The plane traced a route along the Pacific Ocean and British Columbia’s coast mountains, still snow-capped in late May. Continue reading...

This year marks the first time that local NWS offices have stopped round-the-clock operations in the agency’s history A brutal stretch of severe weather has taxed communities on the eastern fringes of tornado alley this spring and early summer, while harsh staffing cuts and budget restrictions have forced federal meteorologists to attempt to forecast the carnage with less data. As of 30 June, there have already been more than 1,200 tornadoes nationwide. Continue reading...