Breaking Waves: Ocean News

08/04/2024 - 08:00
As Americans worry about inflation and ‘no planet B’, some look to the trash for answers When Annemarie Cox drives around San Diego, she scans the urban landscape for one thing that the rest of the population likely ignores: dumpsters. Where other people see trash, she sees possibilities – quirky secondhand clothes, collectible antiques, even family heirlooms and photographs that have been casually discarded. On one recent Tuesday in southern California, the mid-morning sun already beating down, Cox’s usual quest was under way. She paid a visit to one of her favorite local dumpsters, first resting her forearms comfortably on the sides and then reaching barehanded towards whatever was at the bottom. Other than a broken TV atop a huge stack of cardboard boxes, there wasn’t much to find this time around. Continue reading...
08/03/2024 - 08:30
Air conditioning isn’t always enough to keep you safe – but people across the US have hacks to handle extreme heat Another heatwave is sweeping much of the US this week, with millions under heat advisory. The blistering and potentially life-threatening temperatures come as much of the western US faces devastating wildfires and the north-east endures “apocolyptic” floods. Scientists agree such conditions would be virtually impossible without the climate crisis. Last week saw the four hottest days ever recorded on the planet, and 2024 is expected to be the warmest year on record. Continue reading...
08/03/2024 - 07:00
Campaigners say rare grassland on former firing range in Essex was mowed, killing the birds and their chicks that nest on the ground The song of the skylark has filled poets’ hearts for centuries, from Shelley’s “blithe spirit” to Wordsworth’s “ethereal minstrel”. But there is little that is poetic about a row over the birds that has blown up in Colchester. Campaigners seeking to save Middlewick Ranges, a former Ministry of Defence firing range in Essex, are furious that some of the 76 hectares of rare grassland were mowed last month, an act that they believe has killed skylarks and their chicks, which nest on the ground. Continue reading...
08/03/2024 - 03:42
Rescue body says dolphin spotted on Thursday may be further disoriented by human interference People have been urged to stay away from a dolphin spotted in the River Thames. The common dolphin had been seen several times near Putney Bridge, south-west London, on Thursday, and had appeared to be “struggling with the tide”, but had not been seen since. Continue reading...
08/03/2024 - 01:00
Centuries-old Montrose golf links falling into the sea and town at risk of flooding as coastal erosion accelerates A beach in north-east Scotland is eroding rapidly owing to climate change, leaving a town at risk of flooding and its centuries-old golf links crumbling into the sea. The Dynamic Coast report in 2021 studied the rate of erosion at Montrose and predicted that 120 metres would be lost over 40 years, an average of 3 metres a year. Continue reading...
08/02/2024 - 12:29
Shifts in the Earth's continental plates that drove long-term changes in sea level set the stage for the evolution of the earliest animals on Earth, a study suggests.
08/02/2024 - 10:00
Study has found that the lake, which has lost 73% of its water, released climate-warming emissions For years, scientists and environmental leaders have been raising alarm that the Great Salt Lake is headed toward a catastrophic decline. Now, new research points to the lake’s desiccating shores also becoming an increasingly significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have calculated that dried out portions of the lakebed released about 4.1m tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2020, based on samples collected over seven months that year. Continue reading...
08/02/2024 - 08:00
Unexpected fledging is result of long-term restoration project to bring red-billed birds back to Kent coastline The chough, a charismatic cliff-dwelling corvid, has bred in Kent for the first time in two centuries. A young pair among eight birds released last year defied expectations to successfully breed this summer, making a nest on Dover Castle and rearing one chick, which fledged in June. Continue reading...
08/02/2024 - 05:00
Environmentalists want DoJ to hold fossil fuel firms accountable and for presumptive nominee to lead charge If elected president, Kamala Harris should take on the fossil fuel industry for its history of spreading climate disinformation, environmentalists say. Forty US states and municipalities have sued big oil for allegedly spreading climate disinformation. For years, climate advocates and some lawmakers have said the Department of Justice should file a similar case. Continue reading...
08/02/2024 - 02:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...