Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Kathy Hochul pushes back plan that was due to start this month and would charge tolls for cars and trucks to enter Manhattan below 60th St Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, abruptly “postponed indefinitely” New York City’s controversial, first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan on Wednesday, with sources citing concerns about the cost of living and economic recovery as well as implications for vulnerable Democrats in competitive US House races later this year. Under the politically unpopular plan, which would have come in to effect later this month, passenger cars would have have been charged $15, small trucks $24, and large trucks $36 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, and would have contributed as much as $15bn for New York’s public transport system and infrastructure improvements. Continue reading...

António Guterres says world faces ‘climate crunch time’ and announces dire new scientific warnings of global heating Fossil-fuel companies are the “godfathers of climate chaos” and should be banned in every country from advertising akin to restrictions on big tobacco, the secretary general of the United Nations has said while delivering dire new scientific warnings of global heating. In a major speech in New York on Wednesday, António Guterres called on news and tech media to stop enabling “planetary destruction” by taking fossil-fuel advertising money while warning the world faces “climate crunch time” in its faltering attempts to stem the crisis. Continue reading...

Groundbreaking new research also reports that 11% of surveyed have faced physical violence in their reporting Almost four out of every 10 journalists covering the climate crisis and environment issues have been threatened as a result of their work, with 11% subjected to physical violence, according to groundbreaking new research. A global survey of more than 740 reporters and editors from 102 countries found that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities such as logging and mining. Some 30%, meanwhile, were threatened with legal action – reflecting a growing trend towards corporations and governments deploying the judicial system to muzzle free speech. This article was amended on 5 June 2024 to clarify that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities. A previous version incorrectly said 49%. Continue reading...

Forests across Europe, the US and Canada have been hard hit by drought, fires and bark beetles. Now scientists fear the northern hemisphere’s greatest carbon sink is nearing a tipping point The giant sequoia is so enormous that it was once believed to be indestructible. High in California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains, the oldest trees – known as monarchs – have stood for more than 2,000 years. Today, however, in Sequoia national park, huge trunks lie sprawled on the forest floor, like blue whale carcasses stranded on a beach. Many of these trees were felled by a combination of drought and fire. But among the factors responsible for the rising toll is a tiny new suspect: the bark beetle. Continue reading...