Breaking Waves: Ocean News

05/27/2025 - 11:00
A YouTube video feed of eagles Jackie and Shadow and their two children has given me hope the internet isn’t all bad Tell us: how has your sex life changed after 60? The internet is an unpleasant place, full of grim headlines, misinformation and social media content designed to make you feel ugly and unsuccessful. But there are good bits too. Take Jackie and Shadow, a happy couple who live in a home with breathtaking views of Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino county, California. They currently have two children, Sunny and Gizmo, who are preparing to leave home and make their own way in the world. They are, in many ways, the purest embodiment of the modern American dream: reality stars, and also bald eagles. Continue reading...
05/27/2025 - 07:00
Wind turbines have become a financial lifeline in rural areas, but state legislators are now targeting them As a Republican state lawmaker for 16 years, a Texas rancher and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, John Davis’s conservative credentials are impeccable. But Davis has become horrified at his party’s assault upon an increasingly vital lifeline to many rural, conservative areas of the US – clean energy development. Davis allowed seven wind turbines to be situated on his ranch, in the rolling hill country near Menard, west of Austin, and has seen the income provide opportunities not only for his family but also his local community in what is one of the poorest counties in Texas. Continue reading...
05/27/2025 - 04:01
Band of water where marine life can survive has reduced in more than a fifth of global ocean between 2003 and 2022 Great swathes of the planet’s oceans have become darker in the past two decades, according to researchers who fear the trend will have a severe impact on marine life around the world. Satellite data and numerical modelling revealed that more than a fifth of the global ocean darkened between 2003 and 2022, reducing the band of water that life reliant on sunlight and moonlight can thrive in. Continue reading...
05/27/2025 - 02:00
Friends and colleagues of Phillips, killed in the Amazon in 2022, completed his book, which coincides with launch of investigative Guardian podcast Three years after the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon, two major new projects will celebrate their lives and work – and the Indigenous communities and rainforests both men sought to protect. Friends of Phillips have completed the book he was writing at the time of his death – How to Save the Amazon – which will be published in the UK, the US and Brazil on 27 May. Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 23:00
Experts are calling for stricter limits on numbers of those flocking to Baja California Sur to swim with the animals in the wild. But some local tour operators are not convinced Just after sunrise in the small village of La Ventana in Baja California Sur, the beach is bustling with wetsuit-clad tourists. They climb into Mexican fishing boats and race out into the windy blue bay, cameras at the ready. The fishers turned tour guides follow a couple of ocean safari yachts, which follow directions from pilots sent up in spotter planes. The goal of this 40-boat cavalcade? To enable swimming with orcas in the wild. Swimming with orcas in Mexico falls into a legal grey area as it exploits loopholes in two Mexican laws that protect endangered marine wildlife. This has become particularly problematic in the past five years since selfies with the whales on social media have led to an increase in the number of people wanting to try the activity. Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 21:56
Haze hits Sydney suburbs on Tuesday morning after crossing NSW from SA and Victoria Australia news live: latest politics updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Parts of Sydney faced “extremely poor” air quality warnings on Tuesday morning as a dust storm swept eastwards from inland Australia. Sydney’s north-west and central west including Parramatta had the heaviest air pollution, with very poor air quality also observed across Sydney stretching as far south as Goulburn and as far north as Muswellbrook, according to official pollution monitoring stations. Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 20:22
Anthony Albanese visits mid-north coast as police warn of ‘un-Australian’ looting during clean-up Australia news live: latest politics updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has warned the recovery from floods on the New South Wales mid-north coast could take months but has promised less red tape and more money for impacted residents. The prime minister on Tuesday visited Milton Johnson’s dairy farms at Taree – the epicentre of the latest NSW floods. Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 19:19
Governments must help households to make the switch to cleaner energy, and change the rules so that the benefits and costs are fairly shared Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here The great energy transition is happening before our eyes. You can see it on our roofs: more than one in three Australian homes now have solar. You can see it on our roads: nearly 10% of new cars sold in Australia last year were electric. But the greening of Australia is creating losers as well as winners. While wealthier households are saving on their energy bills by installing solar panels and switching from gas to all-electric, many people have no choice but to stay with more expensive fossil fuels. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Dominic Jones is an associate in the Energy and Climate Change Program at Grattan Institute Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 13:30
Braunschweig court gives two former executives prison sentences for roles in emissions test-cheating scandal A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the “dieselgate” emissions test-cheating scandal that erupted almost a decade ago. The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg. Continue reading...
05/26/2025 - 11:00
Upemba lechwe considered one of world’s rarest large mammals with fewer than 100 thought to remain A photograph of Africa’s “forgotten antelope” has been published for the first time as the elusive creature dives towards extinction. Fewer than 100 Upemba lechwe are thought to remain, with an aerial survey in the Kamalondo depression of the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo having recorded 10 individuals. Continue reading...