Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Charity’s poll finds 80% feel more positive after spending breaks outside, but only 10% do so Employees are being urged to step outside to take time to observe one of the wonders of the natural world: the fleeting but lovely spring blossom season. Research commissioned by the National Trust, which operates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, shows that while almost all those polled said they felt better if they took breaks in nature, only one in 10 did so. Continue reading...

Non-profit, which will appeal decision, says lawsuits like this are aimed at ‘destroying the right to peaceful protest’ A jury in North Dakota has decided that the environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago. Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn, had sued Greenpeace, alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017, claiming the organization “incited” people to protest by using a “misinformation campaign”. Continue reading...

The endangered great apes of Malaysia and Indonesia struggle when translocated despite efforts to protect them, finds research When authorities were called about reports of an orangutan in an Indonesian village, they arrived to find it bound with ropes by concerned local people. Worried about the animal’s proximity to humans, plans for translocation were made: removing it to an undisturbed forest habitat, far from human settlements, where it could peacefully live in the treetops. But when they finally identified the 20-year-old male, they found it had been relocated before, but, instead of settling in the new site it had travelled about 130km (80miles) away. Researchers are starting to realise that many great apes struggle when they are moved far from their homes, despite well-intentioned efforts to protect them. Continue reading...

Americans eat takeout more. Some drink less. Bar-and-grill chains have shuttered. But the restaurant industry has evolved and rebounded Before Covid, Li’l Dizzy’s, a Creole buffet run by one of New Orleans’ famous Black restaurant families, was a mainstay of the city’s Treme neighborhood. But when officials issued the first Covid stay-at-home orders in March 2020, Li’l Dizzy’s closed, and it did not reopen: how could a buffet restaurant operate during a pandemic? That fall, the cafe’s 73-year-old owner, Wayne Baquet Sr, announced he was selling the restaurant, citing his age and pandemic health risks. The closure appeared to mark the end of a Baquet culinary family legacy that started in Treme in the 1940s and expanded to other family outposts across the city. Continue reading...