Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Cost of fighting flooding is soaking up English councils’ cash, ministers warned

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 23:01:28 +0000

District councils in low-lying areas say they have cut day-to-day services such as bin collections to fund pumping stations

The costs of preventing major floods caused by extreme weather and excessive rainfall have fuelled a growing financial crisis among district councils in low-lying areas of England, ministers have been warned.

Districts in the east of the country say they are having to cut day-to-day services such as bin collections to meet dramatic and unsustainable rises in payments levied to fund pumping stations used to protect communities from flooding.

Liquefied natural gas pollution linked to 60 premature US deaths a year – report

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 19:14:17 +0000

LNG exports responsible for $957m in total annual US health costs, says new Greenpeace and Sierra Club report

The expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports is responsible for scores of premature deaths and nearly $1bn in annual health costs, according to a new report from the green groups Greenpeace and Sierra Club.

Ecologists put an insect group on century-old map of biodiversity

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 16:42:33 +0000

The distribution of species around the globe is not a random process but an outcome resulting from several evolutionary mechanisms as well as past and current environmental limitations. As a result, since the mid-19th century, biologists have identified several main regions, called biogeographic realms, that depict these large ensembles of species around the world. These biogeographic realms represent one of the most fundamental descriptions of biodiversity on Earth and are commonly used in various fields of biology.

Fallout from Woodside’s birthday bash shows Australia is far from united in climate fight | Temperature Check

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:00:20 +0000

WA newspaper throws tantrum and Tony Abbott blames ‘climate cult’ after prime minister misses fossil fuel company’s party

Project 2025 promises billions of tonnes more carbon pollution – study

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 12:00:14 +0000

Experts say climate policies contained within rightwing manifesto would wreck US climate targets and cost jobs

The impact of Donald Trump enacting the climate policies of the rightwing Project 2025 would result in billions of tonnes of extra carbon pollution, wrecking the US’s climate targets, as well as wiping out clean energy investments and more than a million jobs, a new analysis finds.

‘The wells are salty’: how the invading ocean is contaminating Vanuatu’s water

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 11:00:13 +0000

As the climate crisis causes the Pacific to rise, the archipelago’s water is increasingly unsafe to drink

Church pastor Damien Hophand, who lives on the island of Malekula in Vanuatu with his wife and two children, has seen a change to the community’s water supply recently – and it’s not a welcome one. “The wells are salty,” says Hophand. “It’s not suitable for drinking.”

Unprecedented number of heat records broken around world this year

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 10:01:35 +0000

Exclusive: In 2024, 15 national temperature records have been set as weather extremes grow more frequent, climate historian says

Ecologists warn deadly H5N1 bird flu could arrive in Australia via Antarctica as preparations ramp up

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 09:41:45 +0000

Influx of highly pathogenic strain a case of ‘not if, but when’ and could devastate native wildlife, experts say

Teaching crocodiles not to eat cane toads saves them from fatal poisoning, researchers discover

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 07:23:46 +0000

In gorges already infested with the pest amphibians, rangers have managed to cut the freshwater crocodile mortality rate by 95%

Britain experiencing a beaver baby boom as kits spotted across the country

admin — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 06:00:34 +0000

Kits emerge for after-dark dips in Northumberland, London, Kent and the Cairngorms after reintroduction drive

A beaver baby boom is under way across Britain this summer in places where the species had been extinct for centuries.

From Ealing in London to the Cairngorms in Scotland, and from Canterbury in Kent to the Wallington Estate in Northumberland, new kits have emerged from their lodges for an after-dark dip in the water.