Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Actor, who has publicly objected to plans to fast-track project near his farm, says he has received personal abuse The actor Sam Neill says he has received threats of violence from supporters of a controversial goldmine that could be opened several kilometres away from his farm in New Zealand’s Central Otago district, after he publicly objected to the government’s plans to fast-track the mine. The Australian mining company Santana Minerals is pushing to expedite a 85-hectare (210-acre) open-cast goldmine, called Bendigo-Ophir, in the Dunstan mountains, an area described as “outstanding natural landscape” by the Central Otago district council. Continue reading...

The country is seeing an increase in human-wildlife conflict as the number of megafauna, including rhinos and tigers, grows. But there are efforts to tackle the problem around Chitwan national park through education and training The tourists lining the steep embankment buzzed with excitement, phones out, snapping away in the twilight as a wild Indian rhinoceros grazed below the Nepali village of Sauraha. Climbing to the main street, the rhino ambled down the middle of the road. Local people warned tourists to give it plenty of space. All manner of wheeled vehicles slowed, then passed. The rhino turned its horn at a cyclist passing too close, triggering gasps from the assembled crowd. A manager uses torchlight to guide a wild Indian rhinoceros through the grounds of his hotel in Sauraha Continue reading...

Ed Miliband has a rare chance to do for the climate what Nye Bevan did for health: create something future generations will be proud of It looks unlikely that Labour will emerge as the largest party at the next general election (though it’s by no means impossible). If just one term is Labour’s destiny, what legacy will it leave behind? There is already in the making one great success that can’t be reversed, the transition to homegrown clean energy. This is a true “taking back control” escape from the clutches of febrile oil and gas markets. Indeed it might become such a political success that it could rescue Labour’s electoral fortunes. Historically it may come to be recognised as equivalent to the 1948 creation of the NHS, with Ed Miliband the Nye Bevan of our day. He has fought his cause in much the same ruthless way Bevan did. He faces the same ferocious (and politically deranged) opposition from the right, who will have to eat their hats over rejecting renewables. Just as the NHS is a prime reason for pride in Britain, we can expect the same national pride in homegrown energy independence, freeing us from rollercoaster markets and mercurial foreign oil and gas dictators: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump or ayatollahs. Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?On Thursday 30 April, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour faces from the Green party and Reform UK – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader. Book tickets here or at guardian.live Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

President claims ‘inadequate’ supply presents security threat and orders expansion of oil, coal and gas production Donald Trump on Monday released a series of memos that doubled down on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported “defense readiness”. Trump’s memos, which cited the president’s 20 January 2025 executive order declaring a national energy emergency, said US-based oil, coal, and natural gas production must expand “to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability”. Continue reading...