Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31bn each year, study finds

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:00:20 +0000

Figure calculated by Oil Change International has more than doubled since 2017 but is likely a vast understatement

The US currently subsidizes the fossil-fuel industry to the tune of nearly $31bn per year, according to a new analysis.

Heat stress and extreme weather threaten 2026 World Cup, report finds

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:19:37 +0000

World Cup may be forced into winter in future
Reports also looks at risks for 2030 and 2034 editions

The 2026 World Cup could be North America’s last without urgent climate adaptation, according to a new study highlighting extreme weather threats.

The Pitches in Peril report found that 10 of the 16 venues are at very high risk of experiencing extreme heat stress conditions. By 2050, nearly 90% of North America’s host stadiums will require adaptation to extreme heat while one third will face water demand equalling or exceeding supply.

Ethiopia inaugurates Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam as Egypt rift deepens

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:24:17 +0000

Ethiopian PM says dam will electrify entire region but Egypt fears it could restrict water supply during droughts

Ethiopia has officially inaugurated Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, a project that will provide energy to millions of Ethiopians while deepening a rift with downstream Egypt that has unsettled the region.

Burning on England’s deep peat banned

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:14:58 +0000

New rules come into force from 30 September in order to restore habitats and reduce flooding

Burning on England’s deep peat will be banned in order to restore habitats for rare wildlife and reduce air pollution and flooding, the government has said.

England’s peatlands are in poor shape due to having been burned, intensively drained and used as grouse moors. They naturally act like a sponge, with layers of moss and other vegetation, and store vast amounts of carbon: an estimated 3.2bn tonnes in the UK alone.

Ed Miliband accused of subsidising ‘wasteful and dangerous’ electric SUVs

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:00:22 +0000

MPs criticise ‘inconsistent’ climate policy that includes grants of up to £3,750 for ‘supersized status symbols’

Ed Miliband has been accused by MPs of subsidising dangerous and polluting “supersized status symbols” as his department hands grants to people who buy electric SUVs.

The Labour government is giving discounts of up to £3,750 on new electric cars, but Guardian analysis reveals 12 of the 37 eligible models are SUVs.

‘I say where I’m from and they tell me they’re sorry’: growing up in the most deprived place in England

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 10:00:52 +0000

The faded resorts and coastal towns of Tendring in Essex offer few job opportunities but many of its 20-somethings are set on finding their way in an area with one of England’s oldest populations

Share your experiences of living in a coastal town
Photographs by Polly Braden

Between Moon Tides: hacking nature to save the saltmarsh sparrow

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 10:00:05 +0000

Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn't prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow, which risks becoming extinct by 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost 'ark' to try to raise vulnerable sparrow nests to safety. Will this be the year they manage to save them?

Between Moon Tides: hacking nature to save the saltmarsh sparrow documentary

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 09:30:56 +0000

Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn’t prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow - the species is facing extinction before 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost ‘ark’ to try to raise the sparrow nests to safety.

‘A little bit of joy’: can tiny rafts save endangered sparrows from rising seas?

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 09:30:52 +0000

In Rhode Island, a small team of researchers and volunteers is fighting, against the odds, to save saltmarsh sparrows from extinction as their chicks drown in ever higher tides

• Photographs by Jason Jaacks

Knee-deep in water, the young man lifts his arms. His wrists are grabbed, next his ankles, then he feels himself flying through the air, nearly horizontal, before plunging into New England’s pungent tidal waters.

Grinning and still dripping, he receives a homemade certificate documenting his induction into the Needle in a Haystack Society.

Underwater curtains and reflective beads are ‘unrealistic and dangerous polar geoengineering ideas’

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 09:00:54 +0000

Climate research group says such ideas are diverting attention from cutting fossil fuel use

Proposals to fight the impact of the climate crisis at the poles, from giant underwater curtains to scattering glass beads across the ice, have been dismissed by a group of scientists as an “unimaginably expensive” and “dangerous” distraction.