Breaking Waves: Ocean News

03/27/2024 - 13:00
Global adoption of diet low in meat would aid health, land and food systems as well as reducing emissions, researchers say A global shift to a mostly plant-based “flexitarian” diet could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help restrict global heating to 1.5C, a new study shows. Previous research has warned how emissions from food alone at current rates will propel the world past this key international target. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 12:46
Chase Hays and more than 50 neighbors are suing Blackhawk Mining after a silt retention pond burst and killed 43 people Chase Hays knew it was time to evacuate when he saw his neighbor’s home float through his front yard. It was just after midnight on 28 July 2022, and Lost Creek, Kentucky, was experiencing a catastrophic rainstorm. As Hays would later learn, the rains caused a silt retention pond to burst at a nearby mine, sending a torrent of rainwater and sediment down the mountain. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 12:45
Government asked to put ‘people and planet before profits’ as analysis shows potential illegal discharging of raw sewage How polluted is your local river and which regions are worst hit? Regulators face pressure to act after further evidence of potentially illegal activity by water companies has been revealed. Analysis of the latest data shows that more than 2,000 overflows owned by a number of companies are discharging raw sewage into rivers and seas at a scale that should spark an immediate investigation into illegal breaches of permit conditions. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 11:24
Drone used to identify animal that went on rampage in northern Slovakia this month, says Tomáš Taraba A brown bear has been killed by an armed patrol after drone technology identified it as the animal that injured five people during a rampage in a town in northern Slovakia this month, the country’s environment ministry has said. The environment minister, Tomáš Taraba, said the bear, which left a 49-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man needing hospital treatment and three other victims including a 10-year-old girl with cuts and bruises, was shot dead late on Tuesday. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 11:21
Richard Meal is second senior leader to depart following Guardian investigation into failings at UK nuclear waste site A former Royal Air Force officer who has led Sellafield’s information security for more than a decade is to leave the vast nuclear waste site in north-west England, it can be revealed. Richard Meal, who is chief information security officer at the Cumbrian site, is to leave later this year. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 09:00
‘If ever there was a perfect case-study of the negative impacts on taxpayers of privatisation of strategic public assets, Eraring is it’, Tim Buckley says Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast New South Wales may end up paying $150m a year to subsidise the extension of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power plant, money better spent accelerating the take-up of rooftop solar with storage, Tim Buckley, an energy analyst said. It comes as the Labor government will on Thursday announce $1bn for solar panel manufacturing in Australia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, travelling to the Hunter region to spruik the government’s new Net Zero Economy Authority. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 07:57
UN Food Waste Index report also finds global food wastage is big contributor to climate crisis More than a billion meals are thrown away every day, in poor countries as well as rich ones, despite more than 730 million people living in hunger around the world. About a fifth of food is wasted, sometimes through profligacy or poor planning, sometimes from a lack of access to refrigeration or storage, according to the UN Food Waste Index report, published on Wednesday, at a global cost of about $1tn a year. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 07:19
Boats had been barred from landing since July 2022 owing to virus, which has ravaged populations of seabirds The puffins started arriving two weeks ago – and now there are thousands of them fizzing around in a mad frenzy. They have joined kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and shags. Soon Arctic terns will arrive after their epic journey across the world from the Antarctic. This week humans arrived after a two-year ban from the Farne Islands in Northumberland, one of the UK’s most important sanctuaries for breeding seabirds. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 06:37
Call for environmental emergency to be declared after data reveals 105% rise in raw sewage discharges over past 12 months How polluted is your local river and which regions are worst hit? Water companies in England have faced a barrage of criticism as data revealed raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas last year in a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. The scale of the discharges of untreated waste made 2023 the worst year for storm water pollution. Early data seen by the Guardian put the scale of discharges at more than 4m hours, but officials said the figures were an early estimate. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 06:37
IFRC and USAid staging conference to draw attention to risks and share best practice in disaster alerts and response Two of the world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster. The conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from tree-planting projects to the development of roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures. Continue reading...