Breaking Waves: Ocean News

EPA to formally review risks of vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 13:00:12 +0000

Evaluation could lead to limits or bans on substances commonly used in the production of plastic and rubber

The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a formal review of five highly toxic plastic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, the notorious compound at the center of the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck fire.

The move could lead to strong limits or bans on the substances.

Stressed out trees helping charities restore valuable aspen forests

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 09:05:21 +0000

In a little understood quirk of nature foresters have been putting the aspen tree under duress to promote flowering

On a nature reserve deep in the Scottish Highlands there is a polytunnel which houses a small forest of slender grey aspen trees. It is known as the “torture chamber”.

The aspen is one of the UK’s scarcest but most valuable trees. And to produce the tiny, delicate aspen seeds being harvested by the charity Trees for Life, these 104 specimens are deliberately made to suffer.

Average Briton causes 23 times more CO2 on Christmas Day, study reveals

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:00:45 +0000

Campaigners say consumption such as travel, gifts and food are destroying planet and the meaning of Christmas

Whether out of poverty or virtue, many of us spend much of the year reining in our appetites to save our pennies and our health. But at Christmas many of us put our worries aside and go wild in an orgy of lavish gifting, extensive travel and a gluttonous feeding frenzy.

This carnival of consumption has a cost: not just to our wallets and our waistlines, but also to the climate.

BYD construction site in Brazil shut over ‘slavery-like’ conditions

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 11:30:25 +0000

More than 160 Chinese nationals were found living in ‘degrading’ conditions and working excessive hours

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Brazilian authorities have halted the construction of a factory for the Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, after they found more than 160 Chinese nationals living in “slavery-like” conditions.

UK car industry hails plan for Prius-style hybrids to stay on sale after 2030

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 11:01:18 +0000

Government to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars but will relax rules that force firms to sell more electric vehicles every year

Shropshire Wildlife Trust raising funds to buy 50-hectare nature-rich site

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 11:00:41 +0000

Betchcott Hill has glorious views across the county and a mix of habitats home to curlew, cuckoo and lapwing

One of the most scenic and nature-rich spots in western England could be protected for ever in a boost for the curlew, cuckoo, lapwing and snipe that nest there.

Betchcott Hill has views across much of the county and its mix of grassland, wet flushes, woodland and heath sings with the calls of endangered birds in spring.

This article was amended on 24 December 2024 to correct the size of the site, which is 50 hectares, not 50 acres.

Skiing, wool baubles, ice-cream: how Antarctic scientists celebrate Christmas

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 08:00:40 +0000

From the Flask glacier to King George Island, intrepid researchers expect good cheer, snow and penguins

Many of us will not get a white Christmas this year, but a group of scientists are guaranteed one while carrying out research on the Antarctic peninsula.

While ice and good cheer are expected, their yuletide activities will be very different from those back home. Dr Kate Winter, of Northumbria University, and colleagues will be deploying instruments on Flask glacier to study the way that meltwater affects how quickly glaciers flow into the ocean.

Dissecting the world’s rarest whale – in pictures

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 05:00:37 +0000

Conservationists and scientists in New Zealand were astonished to find the world’s rarest whale washed ashore in the South Island in July. As only the seventh spade-toothed whale identified, and with none ever seen alive, this month saw the first dissection of a complete specimen

El Salvador overturns metals mining ban, defying environmental groups

admin — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 21:14:03 +0000

President Nayib Bukele pushed for the legislation that will grant government sole authority over mining activities

El Salvador’s legislature has overturned a seven-year-old ban on metals mining, a move that the country’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, had pushed for to boost economic growth, but that environmental groups had opposed.

More than 100 charges brought over Sydney asbestos mulch crisis after major NSW EPA investigation

admin — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:00:23 +0000

Prosecution of three companies and one director relate to 26 sites, including Rozelle parklands. They have denied the alleged offences