Breaking Waves: Ocean News

04/22/2025 - 04:00
Geopolitical tensions are heating up on Canada’s borders, but the biggest threat may be from wildly fluctuating temperatures transforming the tundra and ocean In early February, during the depths of winter, Twin Otter aircraft belonging to the Canadian military flew over the vast expanse of the western Arctic looking for sea ice. Below, sheets of white extended beyond the horizon. But the pilots, who were searching for a suitable site to land a 34-tonne (76,000lb) Hercules transport plane a month later, needed ice that was 1.5-metres (5ft) thick. Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 02:00
Owners of hybrids save only £13 a year compared with petrol equivalents, thinktank says British households could miss out on savings of more than £800 a year on running costs if they choose a hybrid car over an electric one, amid concerns that recent government rule changes open the door for manufacturers to sell more polluting cars. Owners of hybrid cars only save an average of £13 a year compared with drivers of petrol vehicles, but could save as much as £850 annually if they buy electric rather than petrol, according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a thinktank. Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:35
The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch a year-long exploration of the ‘silent majority’ of people who want to fight climate change The Guardian US is launching a year-long collaborative reporting project that seeks to explore a pivotal but little-known fact about the climate crisis: the overwhelming majority of the world’s people want their governments to take stronger action. The 89 Percent Project is a partnership between the Guardian US, Covering Climate Now, Agence France-Presse and dozens of other newsrooms across the globe. The collaboration builds on a slate of recent scientific studies finding that between 80-89% of the world’s population want stronger climate action. This overwhelming global majority, however, does not realize that they are a majority; most think their fellow citizens don’t agree. Experts agree breaking this “spiral of silence” could be pivotal to spurring critical climate action. Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:30
The tree, believed to be city’s oldest, had already been damaged by the region’s increasingly arid climate An ancient English oak believed to be Berlin’s oldest tree is suffering the effects of a prolonged dry spell in the German capital, local authorities have said, compounding already significant damage to its once lush canopy and branches. “Dicke Marie” (Fat Marie), as Berliners affectionately call the tree located in the northern Tegel Forest, has been deprived of essential moisture in recent years as a result of extended periods of sparse rainfall blamed on the climate crisis, according to natural resource officials. Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:22
Energy giant to start production off Northern Territory coast at development projected to add more than 270m tonnes of CO2 to atmosphere Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaign Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email Santos has received federal approval to commence production from its Barossa offshore gasfield off the coast of the Northern Territory. The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) decided to accept the environment plan for the project’s production operations. It marks the final approval required for the project, clearing the way for the gas giant to extract and pipe the gas to Darwin. Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:00
Researchers find 89% of people around the world want more to be done, but mistakenly assume their peers do not Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89 Percent Project—and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more How much of a $450 (£339) pot would you give to a charity that cuts carbon emissions by investing in renewable energy, and how much would you keep for yourself? That was the question posed in a recent academic experiment. The answers mattered: real money was handed out as a result to some randomly chosen participants. The average person gave away about half the money and kept the rest. But what if you had been told beforehand that the vast majority of other people think climate action is really important? Might you have given more to the charity? Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:00
Officials and campaigners from around world pay tribute to pontiff who put environment at heart of his papacy Pope Francis, groundbreaking Jesuit pontiff, dies aged 88 He declared destroying the environment a sin, warned that humanity was turning the glorious creation of God into a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth”, and located the cause of the climate crisis in people’s “selfish and boundless thirst for power”. The messages Pope Francis delivered on the climate and environmental crises were forceful and direct. He called the leaders of fossil fuel companies into the Vatican to hold them to account; declared a global climate emergency, in 2019; and in his final months, held a conference on “the economics of the common good”. Continue reading...
04/22/2025 - 00:00
Making concerned people aware their views are far from alone could unlock the change so urgently needed ‘Spiral of silence’: climate action is very popular, so why don’t people realise it? The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89 Percent Project—and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more A huge 89% majority of the world’s people want stronger action to fight the climate crisis but feel they are trapped in a self-fulfilling “spiral of silence” because they mistakenly believe they are in a minority, research suggests. Making people aware that their pro-climate view is, in fact, by far the majority could unlock a social tipping point and push leaders into the climate action so urgently needed, experts say. Continue reading...
04/21/2025 - 15:32
The study highlights the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature, which views nature as a rights-bearing entity, not merely an object of regulation and subjugation by extractive industries. The Llurimagua case -- a dispute over a mining concession in Ecuador's cloud forest -- illustrates this approach, providing a unique opportunity to rethink Earth system governance.
04/21/2025 - 13:00
Potential danger to humans and wildlife from harmful pesticide discovered in fish at 10 times safety limit Residues of the insecticide DDT have been found to persist at “alarming rates” in trout even after 70 years, potentially posing a significant danger to humans and wildlife that eat the fish, research has found. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT, was used on forested land in New Brunswick, Canada, from 1952 to 1968. The researchers found traces of it remained in brook trout in some lakes, often at levels 10 times higher than the recommended safety threshold for wildlife. Continue reading...