Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Nature boys and girls – here’s your chance to get published in the Guardian

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:48:54 +0000

Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their spring encounters with nature

Once again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.

The article needs to be about a recent encounter they’ve had with nature – whether it’s a marauding toad, a fascinating flower or a garden bird.

Energy crisis: why ‘keep calm but cut down’ may be a better message for Labour

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 06:00:41 +0000

Government keen to avoid panic as oil price surges, but perhaps households need advice on reducing consumption

Labour ministers sent out in recent days to respond to the looming energy crisis sparked by the Iran war have essentially stuck to that reassuring wartime slogan: keep calm and carry on.

“I think people should go about their lives as normal, knowing that the government is taking action to bring energy bills down,” James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.

Asia ramps up use of dirty fuels to cover energy shortfall triggered by Iran war

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:05:00 +0000

South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plants

Governments across Asia are ramping up their use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as they try to cover huge energy shortfalls triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

The move has triggered warnings from climate experts who point to coal’s devastating environmental impact, and say the energy crisis should be a wake up call for governments to invest in renewables, which can offer a more stable supply that is not exposed to price shocks.

Say hello to the UK’s most successful growth industry: organised waste crime | George Monbiot

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:00:38 +0000

Thanks to a sustained ideological assault on regulation, our country has been turned into a literal dump

This country’s a dump. I don’t mean that metaphorically. I mean it literally. From the point of view of criminal waste gangs, it is one big potential landfill. The chances of being caught range between minimal and nonexistent, and the penalties are mostly laughable. Successive governments have given criminals a licence to print money.

Ben Jennings on changes to bin collections in England – cartoon

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:20:27 +0000

‘God squad’ waives endangered species law to allow US drilling in Gulf of Mexico

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:26:49 +0000

Critics say exemption for fossil fuels exploits White House’s ‘self-made gas crisis’, and could doom the rare Rice’s whale

UK’s smallest bird of prey among 200 species at risk of extinction, study finds

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:00:01 +0000

Merlin could disappear in worst-case scenario, with British isles facing ecological ‘point of no return’

The merlin, Britain’s smallest bird of prey, is one of more than 200 species that will become extinct in the UK if action is not taken to curb emissions and unsustainable land use, a study has claimed.

According to the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), there is a 20-year window in which decisions on climate and land use will determine the fate of dozens of Britain’s native species.

Deepwater discoveries: scientists find more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:01:55 +0000

Brittlestars, sea anemones and a catshark among new-to-science species collected during expedition off the Queensland coast

Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

Trump’s Iran war and drilling push show ‘dangerous volatility’ of fossil fuel era

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:54 +0000

Critics say president is locking into 20th-century energy systems even as his ‘bet’ on oil and gas ‘isn’t going so well’

By attacking Iran and threatening to seize its oil while taking extraordinary measures to block clean energy back in the US, Donald Trump has inadvertently highlighted the dangerous volatility of the fossil fuel era, critics say.

‘Something out of the ordinary’: why are Japan’s oysters dying en masse?

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:51 +0000

A death rate of up to 90%, attributed to warming seas, is threatening the trade in Hiroshima prefecture, which produces most of the country’s farmed oysters

The Kure oyster festival is doing a brisk trade in beer and grilled meat on sticks. But the longest queues are in front of the oyster stalls, where chefs shuffle piles of mottled shellfish across griddles, waiting for their hinges to ease and reveal their fleshy interiors.