Breaking Waves: Ocean News

UK’s largest proposed datacentre ‘understating planned water use’

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:00:52 +0000

Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimates

The UK’s largest proposed datacentre is understating the scale of its planned water use, according to an analysis.

The first phase of construction for the hyperscale campus in Cambois in Northumberland has been given the go-ahead by the local council. The US operator QTS, which is developing the site, has promoted its “water-free” cooling system as proof of its sustainability.

They survived wildfires. But something else is killing Greece’s iconic fir forests

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:00:52 +0000

In the Peloponnese mountains, the usually hardy trees are turning brown even where fires haven’t reached. Experts are raising the alarm on a complex crisis

‘You learn tricks to reduce it’: the smart bins measuring food waste in South Korea

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:29:09 +0000

Digital facilities that track wastage down to the gram have brought about behavioural change among users

Min Geum-nan walks towards a metal bin beneath her apartment block in Gangdong district, eastern Seoul carrying a small bag of vegetable peelings. She taps her resident card on the reader, the lid swings open, she empties the contents and scans again and a digital screen flashes: 0.5kg.

“You have no choice but to pay attention because you can see exactly what you’re wasting,” says Min, who has lived in the complex for 15 years and watched the system arrive in 2020.

‘Massive disruption’: UK’s worst-case climate crisis scenarios revealed by scientists

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:00:02 +0000

Scientists say government must prepare for unlikely but ‘plausible’ 4C rise in temperature and a 2-metre rise in sea levels

The worst-case impacts of the climate crisis for the UK have been laid bare by scientists, ranging from a scorching 4C rise in temperatures to a 2-metre rise in sea level. Another scenario sees a plunge of 6C in temperature after the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents, massively disrupting farming and energy needs.

Rainfall creates crimson spectacle at beach on Iran’s Hormuz Island

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:56:54 +0000

Streams of soil turn sand and surrounding water red, creating sharp contrast with blue waters of Persian Gulf

Rainfall on Iran’s Hormuz Island briefly transformed the coastline of its Red Beach into a striking natural scene this week, as red soil flowed into the sea and turned the water shades of deep red.

The beach is known for its vivid red sand and cliffs, created by high concentrations of iron oxide.

Rain transforms Iranian beach into striking red spectacle – video

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:44:56 +0000

Rainfall on Hormuz Island briefly transformed the coastline of its famed Red Beach into a striking natural scene this week, as soil flowed into the sea and turned the water shades of deep red. The beach is known for its vivid red sand and cliffs, created by high concentrations of iron oxide

Guggenheim scraps Basque Country expansion plan after local protests

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:57:29 +0000

Campaigners celebrate defeat of proposal to extend Bilbao institution into areas including nature reserve

Environmental groups and local campaigners in the Basque Country have welcomed the scrapping of a project to build an outpost of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum on a Unesco biosphere reserve that is a vital habitat for local wildlife and migrating birds.

AI boom has caused same CO2 emissions in 2025 as New York City, report claims

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:15:59 +0000

Study author says tech companies are reaping benefits of artificial intelligence age but society is left to pay cost

The AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed.

The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand.

‘It’s an open invasion’: how millions of quagga mussels changed Lake Geneva for ever

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 05:00:29 +0000

The molluscs are decimating food chains in Switzerland, have devastated the Great Lakes in North America, and this week were spotted in Northern Ireland for the first time

Like cholesterol clogging up an artery, it took just a couple of years for the quagga mussels to infiltrate the 5km (3-mile) highway of pipes under the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL). By the time anyone realised what was going on, it was too late. The power of some heat exchangers had dropped by a third, blocked with ground-up shells.

Met Office: 2026 will bring heat more than 1.4C above preindustrial levels

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:01:20 +0000

Forecast is slightly cooler than the record 1.55C reached in 2024, but 2026 set to be among four hottest years since 1850

Next year will bring heat more than 1.4C above preindustrial levels, meteorologists project, as fossil fuel pollution continues to bake the Earth and fuel extreme weather.

The UK Met Office’s central forecast is slightly cooler than the 1.55C reached in 2024, the warmest year on record, but 2026 is set to be among the four hottest years dating back to 1850.