Newly ‘discovered’ underwater topographical features are paving the way for nation states to exploit previously untouched marine resources
“The sea does not belong to despots,” Jules Verne wrote in 1869 in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. “Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at 30 feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears.”
Now, more than 150 years later, geopolitics experts are warning that Verne’s final sentiment, expressed as it was through the character of Captain Nemo, was wrong. From seabeds and sea caves to sea canyons, underwater ridges, seamounts, sea knolls and reefs, academics say countries around the world are using the politics of nationalism to permanently stamp their mark on the topography of the ocean.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/17/2024 - 01:00
10/17/2024 - 00:23
Some of Sydney's most popular swimming spots including Coogee and Gordons Bay beaches will remain closed after thousands of mysterious balls washed ashore. Preliminary test results identified the dark spheres as 'tar balls' – which are formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water, usually as a result of oil spills or seepage. Addressing reporters on Thursday, Randwick council mayor Dylan Parker said the beaches will stay closed while further investigations are carried out by government agencies. Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches had also closed 'out of precaution', Waverley council said in a statement on Thursday
Mysterious tar balls washing ashore force closure of seven beaches in Sydney including Bondi
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10/17/2024 - 00:00
Supermarket will buy almost two-thirds of the energy generated by the new £450m Cleve Hill solar park in Kent
Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent.
The £450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia.
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10/17/2024 - 00:00
Levy rising by €100 for each return flight after the first in a year could cut emissions by 21%, report says
A “jet-setter” tax on Europe’s frequent flyers could slow global heating and raise €64bn (£54bn) a year at no extra cost to most people, a report has found.
Carbon pollution pumped out of planes could fall by 21% if people were made to pay more for each extra flight they take beyond the first return trip, according to analysis from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and partner organisations. Just over half the benefits in a given year would come from the 5% of people who fly the most, while 72% of people would escape fees by flying once or not at all.
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10/16/2024 - 22:12
Forest Alliance of NSW report says current regulations are a ‘licence to kill’ endangered species in four state forests where logging is scheduled
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Forest campaigners are demanding an immediate moratorium on logging in endangered greater glider habitat in New South Wales after their surveys detected more than triple the number of gliders than what was recorded by the state-owned forestry agency.
The Forest Alliance of NSW said current regulations are a “licence to kill” the species, whose populations have already plummeted in the aftermath of the black summer bushfires.
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10/16/2024 - 17:01
Landmark review says urgent action needed to conserve resources and save ecosystems that supply fresh water
More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is taken to conserve water resources and end the destruction of the ecosystems on which our fresh water depends, experts have warned in a landmark review.
Half the world’s population already faces water scarcity, and that number is set to rise as the climate crisis worsens, according to a report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water published on Thursday.
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10/16/2024 - 15:25
Emergency requests by 27 states to pause rule requiring fossil fuel-powered plants to reduce emissions were denied
The US supreme court declined on Wednesday to put on hold a new federal rule targeting carbon pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants at the request of numerous states and industry groups in another major challenge to Joe Biden’s efforts to combat the climate crisis.
The justices denied emergency requests by West Virginia, Indiana and 25 other states – most of them Republican-led – as well as power companies and industry associations, to halt the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule while litigation continues in a lower court. The regulation, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis, took effect on 8 July.
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10/16/2024 - 13:00
Research suggests the marine animals are inhaling pollutants when they come up for air, with even rural populations affected
Microplastics have been found in dolphin breath for the first time, according to a study that suggests the marine mammals are inhaling the potentially harmful contaminants when they come up for air.
The US research team, whose preliminary findings are published in the journal, Plos One, are concerned about the potential impact of inhaled plastics on the animals’ lungs.
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10/16/2024 - 12:58
Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd organisation faces extradition to Japan after arrest in Nuuk in July
Paul Watson, the anti-whaling activist detained in Greenland and awaiting possible extradition to Japan, has appealed to Emmanuel Macron for political asylum in France.
Watson was detained in July after a Japanese request to Interpol over his confrontational tactics aimed at disrupting whaling operations in the Antarctic, and could face up to 15 years in prison if he is extradited and convicted.
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10/16/2024 - 11:29
True cause of why southern resident killer whales are on brink of extinction becomes murkier as conservationists warn of marine noise and ship traffic
Last month, the ailing southern resident killer whales of the Pacific gave researchers a rare moment of hope: a new calf was spotted swimming alongside her mother. Until that point, only one calf had appeared this year, only to die a few months later.
But by mid-October, this new calf, named L128, also appeared to succumbto poor health, appearing “lumpy and skinny” as researchers with the Center for Whale Research watched an older orca swim with the infant draped across her snout.
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