Pollution, warm oceans and hungry urchins devastated Pacific kelp. Now, thanks to divers with hammers, one of the world’s most successful rehabilitation projects has helped it rebound
On an overcast Tuesday in July, divers Mitch Johnson and Sean Taylor shimmy into their wetsuits on the back of the R/V Xenarcha, a 28ft boat floating off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles. Behind them, the clear waters of the Pacific are dotted with a forest of army-green strands, waving like mermaid hair underwater.
We are here to survey the giant Pacific kelp, a species that once thrived in these ice cold waters. But over the past two decades, a combination of warm ocean temperatures, pollution, overfishing and the proliferation of hungry sea urchins that devour the kelp has led to a 80% decline in the forest along the southern California coast.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/31/2025 - 11:00
08/31/2025 - 09:50
Beaches from Florida to Maine under advisories, leading to closures at some of the most popular beach destinations
Beaches across the US are facing swimming caution advisories during the Labor Day holiday weekend due to water quality concerns caused by elevated levels of bacteria associated with fecal waste.
Beaches from Crystal River, Florida, to Ogunquit, Maine, have been under advisories this week, discouraging beachgoers from entering the water because the bacteria can cause gastrointestinal illness, rashes and nausea.
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08/31/2025 - 08:00
When I killed my first mule deer, I felt deep reverence for the animal. It showed me hunting can be more honest and sustainable than eating factory-farmed meat
“Murderer! You’re a murderer!”
That is what my French mother shouts down the phone line – right after I tell her I had grouse for dinner.
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08/31/2025 - 07:33
Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province was dealing with the biggest flood in its history, a senior official said on Sunday, as river water levels rose to all-time highs. More than 1,400 villages were flooded after three large rivers – the Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi – overflowed their banks because of heavy rain and the release of water from overfilled dams in neighbouring India. Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the climate crisis, despite producing less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions
‘The water left nothing’: Pakistan’s Punjab province reels from deadly floods
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08/31/2025 - 07:00
Heat deaths could surge in the state as energy poverty linked to Trump’s energy and trade policies burns
It was the hottest day of the year so far when the central air conditioning started blowing hot air in the mobile home where Richard Chamblee lived in Bullhead City, Arizona, with his wife, children, and half a dozen cats and dogs.
It was only mid-June but the heat was insufferable, particularly for Chamblee, who was clinically obese and bed-bound in the living room as the temperature hit 115F (46C) in the desert city – situated 100 miles (160km) south of Las Vegas on the banks of the Colorado River.
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08/30/2025 - 19:00
South Australian law on single-use plastic packaging coming into force on 1 September will ban polyethylene containers known as shoyu-tai in Japan
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They have been a familiar sight at takeaway sushi shops around the world for decades but it could be the beginning of the end for fish-shaped soy sauce dispensers.
South Australia will be the first place in the world to ban them under a wider ban on single-use plastics that comes into force on 1 September.
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08/30/2025 - 19:00
A painterly, macro view of a cauliflower soft coral by Ross Gudgeon has taken out top prize in the Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year competition. ‘This is an exceptional photograph that skews perception and leaves us questioning reality,” the judges said. ‘Giving us a unique perspective on coral. There’s nothing fake here, but still we ponder, is this nature or a painting?’ An exhibition is on now at the South Australian Museum
The week around the world in 20 pictures
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08/30/2025 - 17:38
Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’
The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch has vowed.
The Tory party leader will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels.
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08/30/2025 - 15:00
Exclusive: Ambitious target would increase the country’s chance of winning rights to host Cop31 in 2026, Christiana Figueres says
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A former UN climate chief has urged the Australian government to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least a 75% cut by 2035, backing calls from a group of more than 350 businesses that it would be better for the economy than a lower goal.
The intervention by Christiana Figueres, an architect of the 2015 Paris agreement when she was the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, comes before discussions about Australia’s commitment, due to be announced next month.
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08/30/2025 - 10:00
Roughly $400,000 in the $1m budget was for public awareness – but those funds were recently ‘zeroed out’
When a team of scientists embarked two years ago on a $1m landmark study of Iowa’s persistent water-quality problems, they knew that the findings would be important to share. High cancer rates amid the state’s inability to stem the tide of pollutants flowing into rivers and lakes was a growing public concern.
But now, after the completed study pointed to agricultural pollution as a significant source of the key US farm state’s water problems, public officials have quietly stripped funding from plans to promote the study findings, according to sources involved in the project.
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