Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendants
Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.
The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/20/2026 - 16:00
02/20/2026 - 12:01
Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costs
The Trump administration announced on Friday it would roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for the most vulnerable groups in the US.
Donald Trump’s EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of datacenters used for artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 06:00
Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worse
Planetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere – stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI – with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for the planet. Such a thermostat is advocated on the grounds that controlling global temperature reduces the harms associated with the climate crisis.
I wish to challenge this assertion.
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 05:34
A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump rubbish bags by the roadside in an attempt to outsmart anti-fly-tipping cameras, municipal police have said. The 'canine courier' was caught on newly installed surveillance footage, prompting officers to post the clip on the city’s official Facebook page with a pointed message: 'Inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility.' The owner has since been identified and fined.
Illegal dumping is a chronic problem across Italy, particularly in the south. Authorities recorded more than 9,300 waste-related offences in 2023 – a 66% increase on the previous year – as councils increasingly turn to camera traps and smart monitoring systems to catch offenders in the act
Man in Sicily trained his dog to illegally dump rubbish, say police
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 05:30
City of Catania calls ruse to avoid CCTV cameras installed to stop fly-tipping ‘as cunning as it is doubly wrong’
A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump bags of rubbish by the roadside in an attempt to evade surveillance cameras installed to combat fly-tipping, municipal police have said.
The episode was detailed in a post on the city of Catania’s official Facebook page. Accompanying a video of the dog was a remark from the police that “inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility”.
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 03:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 01:00
Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better health
As a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.
“It’s not that we have this feeling that nothing can be done. But it’s difficult,” Mazur said.
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 00:00
Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4m
A new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.
The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convicted at Birmingham crown court.
Continue reading...
02/20/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 20 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00186-1
A framework for co-creating knowledge across the ocean humanities and sciences
02/19/2026 - 20:38
UniSuper says change was made ‘to expand the investible universe’ but complaint to Asic claims members were not properly informed
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A major Australian super fund has been accused of greenwashing after it continued to badge an investment option as “sustainable” despite halving its environmental criteria.
UniSuper, which invests $158bn on behalf of 670,000 members, promotes its Global Environmental Opportunities option as a portfolio “selected on the basis of environmental considerations”.
Continue reading...
