Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn’t prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow - the species is facing extinction before 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost ‘ark’ to try to raise the sparrow nests to safety.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/09/2025 - 04:30
09/09/2025 - 04:30
In Rhode Island, a small team of researchers and volunteers is fighting, against the odds, to save saltmarsh sparrows from extinction as their chicks drown in ever higher tides
• Photographs by Jason Jaacks
Knee-deep in water, the young man lifts his arms. His wrists are grabbed, next his ankles, then he feels himself flying through the air, nearly horizontal, before plunging into New England’s pungent tidal waters.
Grinning and still dripping, he receives a homemade certificate documenting his induction into the Needle in a Haystack Society.
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09/09/2025 - 04:00
Climate research group says such ideas are diverting attention from cutting fossil fuel use
Proposals to fight the impact of the climate crisis at the poles, from giant underwater curtains to scattering glass beads across the ice, have been dismissed by a group of scientists as an “unimaginably expensive” and “dangerous” distraction.
Geoengineering, which includes blocking sunlight with airborne particles and thickening ice with pumped seawater, has become highly divisive among scientists. Its proponents argue that, with cuts in carbon emissions going far too slowly, exploring options for “emergency brakes” would be valuable.
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09/09/2025 - 01:06
SA Health says people should avoid discoloured foam but not avoid the beach because of the benefits to mental and physical health
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South Australians living with asthma or other types of respiratory illness have been warned of a “potential risk” posed by a toxic algal bloom dominating the state’s coastline at a Senate committee inquiry into the natural disaster.
The Senate committee had its first public hearing on Tuesday, and heard there were now toxins in the bloom that could exacerbate asthma; that very little was known about the species in the bloom, and that even its cause was not fully understood.
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09/08/2025 - 23:00
The results of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count are in, and while the numbers are a vast improvement on 2024’s record lows, the charity has warned that urgent measures are still needed to reverse long-term decline
Britain’s butterflies bounce back in annual count – but only to average levels
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09/08/2025 - 23:00
Biggest insect survey in world finds UK’s hot summer led to increase in numbers of many species, but overall trends are still concerning
Top 10 most-sighted butterflies in 2025’s Big Butterfly Count – in pictures
Butterfly numbers have bounced back after the dismal summer of 2024, but the hottest summer on record delivered only an average number of the insects in the annual Big Butterfly Count.
More than 125,000 citizen scientists joined the biggest insect survey in the world this summer, counting an average of 10.3 butterflies in each 15-minute count in parks, gardens and green spaces across Britain.
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09/08/2025 - 22:05
The Greens senator says the fact South Australia's algal bloom is yet to be declared a national disaster reflects the need for a new set of criteria for climate disasters, as the Senate begins an inquiry into the toxic event.'If this had been on the northern beaches of Sydney or on Bondi, would it have taken so long for the government to respond?', Hanson-Young said. 'Frankly, I think it probably wouldn't have'
Bubble shield deployed in ocean to protect giant cuttlefish from deadly SA algal bloom
SA’s algal bloom ‘one of the worst marine disasters in living memory’, and driving force could rival black summer, experts say
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09/08/2025 - 18:00
Defra says blanket ban on ‘destructive’ fishing practice disproportionate as MPs urge minister to reconsider
Seabed bottom trawling, described by the chair of a Commons committee as a “destructive” fishing practice, will continue in English marine protected areas (MPAs), the government has announced.
Despite having official designation as protected areas for creatures including dolphins, puffins and seahorses, damaging industrial methods are still allowed to take place.
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09/08/2025 - 16:29
Researchers studying the phenomenon found in 2024 there were between 14 to 17 coyotes on Angel island
For nearly a decade, Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay has been home to what the state parks describes as a “budding population” of coyotes. Late last month park workers got a fascinating glimpse at the animal’s journey to the island.
Angel Island staffers traveling by boat saw a coyote swimming along Raccoon Strait, and filmed it paddling across the deep waterway between the island and mainland Marin county. The coyote was about a quarter-mile from shore and safely returned to the island, the park posted online.
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09/08/2025 - 10:32
An estimated 129bn were being used every month around the world at height of pandemic, with no recycling stream
The surge in the use of disposable face masks during the Covid pandemic has left a chemical timebomb that could harm humans, animals and the environment, research suggests.
Billions of tonnes of plastic face masks created to protect people from the spread of the virus are now breaking down, releasing microplastics and chemical additives including endocrine disruptors, the research found.
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