Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Survey across six continents uncovers accounts of abuse causing defenders to fear for their safety Death threats, doxing and cyber-attacks are just some of the online threats recounted by land and climate defenders in a new report, amid concerns that harassment is having a chilling effect on environmental activism. Interviews and questionaires sent out to more than 200 environmental defenders across six continents by Global Witness found that nine in 10 activists reported receiving abuse over their work. Three in four defenders who said they had experienced offline harm believed that digital harassment contributed to it. Continue reading...

Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done ‘on backs of the poor’ What is a wealth tax and would it work in the UK? A growing number of climate groups are campaigning for the introduction of a wealth tax to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy is not done “on the backs of the poor”. Last week campaigners from Green New Deal Rising staged a sit-in outside the Reform UK party’s London headquarters as part of a wave of protests targeting the offices, shops and private clubs of the super-rich across the UK. Continue reading...

Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every way Britain’s uplands are dying. What should be some of the very best places for nature are the absolute worst. Across vast tracts of some of our most beautiful landscapes, life is rapidly ebbing away. Where once there was purple heather, bilberry and buzzing insect life, there are now over-grazed, sheep-infested ecological disaster zones. For a nation of nature lovers, it’s a disgrace. One of the very worst areas is the Dartmoor commons. These exemplify everything that is wrong about England’s upland management. In a recent Natural England survey of Dartmoor’s protected sites, only 26 out of 22,494 hectares (55,583 acres) were found to be in an ecologically favourable condition – that’s 0.1%. All the blanket bogs and all the heathland surveyed are in an appalling state, and in many places these once wonderful habitats are in decline. Chris Packham is a naturalist, broadcaster and campaigner Continue reading...

Lawmakers send letter railing against ‘suffocating’ smoke days after voting for Trump plan likely to boost pollution A group of Republican lawmakers has complained that smoke from Canadian wildfires is ruining summer for Americans, just days after voting for a major bill that will cause more of the planet-heating pollution that is worsening wildfires. In a letter sent to Canada’s ambassador to the US, six Republican members of Congress wrote that wildfire smoke from Canada had been an issue for several years and recently their voters “have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer”. Continue reading...