Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Flooding death toll in south Brazil rises to 75 as over 100 people remain missing

admin — Sun, 05 May 2024 16:11:46 +0000

Officials in Rio Grande do Sul state say more than 80,000 have been displaced by record water levels

Seventy-five people are now known to have died in the flooding in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, while more than 100 people remain missing, local authorities said on Sunday.

The state’s civil defence authority said 101 people were unaccounted for and more than 80,000 had been displaced after record-breaking floods swept across the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina.

‘I’m a blue whale, I’m here’: researchers listen with delight to songs that hint at Antarctic resurgence

admin — Sun, 05 May 2024 15:00:15 +0000

Audio collected with underwater microphones suggests numbers at least stable after centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred alive

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Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild.

UK installs record number of public electric vehicle chargers

admin — Sun, 05 May 2024 14:22:31 +0000

About 6,000 have been installed this year, a quarter of them rapid chargers that can power up a car in under an hour

The UK has installed a record number of public electric car chargers this year, as companies race to keep up with the growing number of battery vehicles on British roads.

Nearly 6,000 new chargers were installed during the first three months of 2024, according to quarterly figures from data company Zapmap published by the Department for Transport. About 1,500 of those were rapid chargers, capable of charging a car in less than an hour.

‘Why doesn’t anybody care?’ Texas-Mexico border devastated by anti-migrant operation

admin — Sun, 05 May 2024 14:00:12 +0000

Greg Abbott’s strategy to deter immigration isn’t just harming people and costing billions – it’s ruining the Rio Grande’s ecosystem

Strong-arm strategies by Texas along the US-Mexico border have eroded more than human rights for migrants seeking asylum in the US; they have degraded the environment – and now the destruction is escalating.

In the hotspot of Eagle Pass, environmental damage from years of expansion of anti-migration security measures can be seen everywhere.

Cop29 summit to call for peace between warring states, says host Azerbaijan

admin — Sun, 05 May 2024 06:00:05 +0000

Organisers of this year’s environmental conference hope cooperation on green issues could help ease global tensions

This year’s Cop29 UN climate summit will be the first “Cop of peace”, focusing on the prevention of future climate-fuelled conflicts and using international cooperation on green issues to help heal existing tensions, according to plans being drawn up by organisers.

‘It’s going to be messy’: advocates balance climate action and conservation amid Queensland’s green energy boom

admin — Sat, 04 May 2024 20:00:50 +0000

‘Some negative projects will get up, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader goals’, says WWF Australia

Hawaii: families complain of sickness two years after Pearl Harbor fuel leak

admin — Sat, 04 May 2024 13:00:41 +0000

Court hears effects of 2021 leak, in which thousand of gallons of fuel seeped into drinking water supply from US navy storage tank

Military and civilian families told a federal judge this week they continue to be sickened, more than two years after a US navy underground fuel storage facility leaked thousands of gallons of jet fuel into Pearl Harbor’s main drinking water and caused a water crisis in the Pacific.

Florida workers brace for summer with no protections: ‘My body would tremble’

admin — Sat, 04 May 2024 13:00:40 +0000

Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

‘Be in awe’: everything you need to know about the US cicada-geddon

admin — Sat, 04 May 2024 10:00:39 +0000

The emergence of trillions of cicadas is under way in parts of the US – what should you do when they’re around, and what on earth are ‘zombie’ cicadas?

Anger over burst main that deprived 31,000 East Sussex properties of water

admin — Sat, 04 May 2024 09:33:20 +0000

Water bottle stations set up in St Leonards-on-Sea and part of Hastings as Southern Water customers face days without service

Southern Water was criticised this weekend for overseeing a “debacle” after a mains pipe burst, leaving 31,000 properties in Hastings and St Leonards without water.

There were long traffic queues leading to just four bottled water stations after supplies were cut off on Thursday. Businesses are expected to lose thousands of pounds, with the firm likely to face compensation claims.