Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Fly-tippers’ vehicles to be crushed in bid to save England from ‘avalanche of rubbish’

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:30:03 +0000

The scheme, part of policy blitz for local elections, will encourage councils and police forces to work together

Councils will be encouraged to work with police forces to seize and crush vehicles used by fly-tippers, in the latest phase of a government policy blitz before Thursday’s local elections.

Under a scheme being led by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), new legislation will impose jail sentences of up to five years for people who illicitly transport waste in England.

UN climate talks will be ‘uphill battle’ amid Trump rollbacks, says Cop30 chair

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 18:59:12 +0000

Tariffs and environmental cuts will make meeting challenging, says summit president André Corrêa do Lago

Crucial United Nations climate talks this year will be a “slightly uphill battle” due to economic turmoil and Donald Trump’s removal of the US from the effort to tackle global heating, the chair of the upcoming summit has admitted.

Trump dismisses contributors to key US report on climate crisis preparedness

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:06:05 +0000

The assessment, mandated by Congress, is used by federal and local governments to prep for climate disasters

Donald Trump’s administration has dismissed all contributors to the US government’s flagship study on how to prepare for climate change impacts, prompting strong criticism from experts over a “senseless” move.

Leaked document shows two threatened species could be wiped out at Middle Arm development site

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:00:02 +0000

Exclusive: Conservation advocates say assessment shows controversial NT project ‘shouldn’t get past the starting gun’

Climate crisis could kill off Australian music festivals, report warns

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:00:01 +0000

Exclusive: As they wait on latest weather forecasts, concertgoers delay buying tickets. But this has caused some major events to cancel

Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

Music festivals are a threatened species that could die out if they fail to adapt to the climate crisis.

Climate plan based on phasing out fossil fuels doomed to fail, says Tony Blair

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:42:56 +0000

Former PM claims net zero policies losing public support and says there should be greater focus on carbon capture

Tony Blair has called for the government to change course on climate, suggesting a strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term or encourages people to limit consumption is “doomed to fail”.

In comments that have prompted a backlash within Labour, the former prime minister suggested the UK government should focus less on renewables and more on technological solutions such as carbon capture.

Why effects of Michigan’s ice storm will linger for months, perhaps years

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:00:44 +0000

Climate experts say warming atmosphere from climate change could fuel severe freezing rain and ice storms like the one that hit the upper midwest last month

Winter has been slow to release its icy grip from the upper midwest this year, and in northern Michigan, its effects will be keenly felt for months, perhaps years.

A devastating ice storm that hit late last month has left an estimated 3m acres of trees snapped in half or damaged from the weight of up to an inch-and-a-half of ice across the northern part of lower Michigan.

Elephant instead of wild boar? What could have been in Europe

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 02:19:14 +0000

Even under today's climatic conditions, the long-extinct straight-tusked elephant could still live in Europe. This is the conclusion of a recent study. For this finding, the research group combined fossil finds with reconstructions of past climates.

Trump’s first 100 days supercharged a global ‘freefall of rights’, says Amnesty

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 23:01:06 +0000

World now in era of repressive regimes’ impunity, climate inaction and unchecked corporate power, says report

The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency have “supercharged” a global rollback of human rights, pushing the world towards an authoritarian era defined by impunity and unchecked corporate power, Amnesty International warns today.

In its annual report on the state of human rights in 150 countries, the organisation said the immediate ramifications of Trump’s second term had been the undermining of decades of progress and the emboldening of authoritarian leaders.

Trump administration’s budget cuts endanger Meals on Wheels: ‘Life and death implications’

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:03 +0000

Trump team’s slashes to US health department threaten popular program that combats elder hunger and isolation