Breaking Waves: Ocean News

06/10/2023 - 09:24
There are no signs yet that last year’s 40C will be breached again, but meteorologists predict such peaks could become the norm Temperatures have soared above 30C for the first time this year – and meteorologists forecast the chance of Britain experiencing a hot summer is now 45% – 2.3 times the normal figure. The warning leaves the nation braced for a possible repeat of last year’s record-breaking heatwave which triggered wildfires, disrupted rail transport, closed schools, led to thousands of premature deaths and saw temperatures break the 40C record in the UK for the first time. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 09:00
Bipoc-led local farms in unconventional spaces decentralize systems that have produced food deserts and create food equity On a recent Sunday morning in South Los Angeles, Crop Swap LA volunteers and staffers harvested bags of freshly picked produce from the front yard of a residence. Located just steps from Leimert Park Plaza, the Asante microfarm is the first of what will be numerous microfarms created by the organization, which is dedicated to growing hyperlocal food on unused spaces “in the neighborhood, exclusively for the neighborhood”. “Everything we’re growing is nutrient-dense and the food remains in the neighborhood,” says Jamiah Hargins, who founded Crop Swap LA in 2018 as a small monthly swap of surplus produce. After spending years in finance and consulting, Hargins decided to create a local food distribution system to address the fact that his neighborhood was a food desert, meaning most residents have little access to healthy food. It’s now one of many Bipoc-led groups across the US that are reclaiming their agricultural heritage and redefining the local food movement by growing on traditional farms and unconventional spaces such as yards, medians and vacant lots as a way to increase food security and health in their own communities. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 08:00
This week the multi-part RESCUE series continues with a breakdown of a 2020 Report by the World Resource Institute High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy that offered some revised definitions and pathways toward a more sustainable future, including three fundamental questions as a framework for change: 1. How will a decision change the wealth on an ocean balance sheet, including all produced assets? 2. How will a decision change net national income or welfare, and how will those changes be distributed between different groups of people? and 3. How will the decision change ocean-based economic production and create new means to achieve social and economic goals?
06/10/2023 - 06:56
Fishery board reports shrinkage in size of River Ness as water scarcity alert issued for parts of Scotland Concern has been raised about the water levels of Loch Ness and the River Ness amid the protracted dry spell affecting Scotland and the rest of the UK. Brian Shaw, the director of Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, said there had been a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the River Ness. He told the BBC: “These conditions are not normally good for angling. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 06:00
Environmental groups’ lawsuit seeks to force tighter regulation of neonicotinoids on seeds that pollute soil, water and air Environmental groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have “devastating environmental impacts” and are spread largely without regulatory oversight. The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds are now spread on about 150m acres (61m hectares) of US farmland and up to 95% of the pesticide on the seed sheds, polluting nearby soil, water and air. The seeds are so dangerous to wildlife that just one can kill a bird, the groups note. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 05:36
As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’ After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school. The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 01:00
Thirty-hectare site above Dart valley will include lichens and ferns and could take a century to reach maturity A temperate rainforest, a magical, wildlife-rich place of mosses, lichens and ferns, is being planted on the slopes above a West Country river, tumbling almost to the doors of one of the UK’s most green-minded towns. Tree species including sessile oak, birch, rowan, holly, alder, willow and hazel are to be introduced to the 30-hectare (74-acre) site above the Dart valley and close to the Devon town of Totnes in the south of England. Continue reading...
06/10/2023 - 01:00
Exclusive: Natural England chair Tony Juniper says government must work quickly to reconcile farming and nature England will not meet its biodiversity targets at current rates, the chair of Natural England has said, as he accused ministers of moving too slowly to regenerate nature. Tony Juniper, who has been in post at the government’s nature quango since 2019, said ministers were not on track to meet species abundance targets, which have been criticised by wildlife charities as “embarrassingly poor”. Continue reading...
06/09/2023 - 14:09
Researchers used a model to predict how the smoke would move through the region and said it wouldn’t pose a health risk Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has descended upon parts of the eastern US and Canada in a thick haze has drifted over Norway and is expected to hit southern Europe, Norwegian officials said on Friday. Using a climate forecast model, atmosphere and climate scientists with the Norwegian climate and environmental research institute (NILU) predicted how the smoke would travel through the atmosphere, flowing over the Scandinavian country before moving further south. The smoke was not expected to pose a health risk there. Continue reading...
06/09/2023 - 09:00
With the Empire State Building and the Lincoln Memorial blotted out, the US is experiencing the climate catastrophe first-hand The unnerving sight of New York City’s skies turning a dystopian orange from wildfire smoke is just the latest in a barrage of recent distress signals that life in the US is starting to fray under the relentless pressure of the climate crisis, experts have warned. On Wednesday, New York held the dubious title of having the worst air quality in the world, with Detroit in second place, as plumes of smoke from hundreds of fires in Ontario and Quebec were carried south by a stiff breeze. Continue reading...