Downpours caused Spain’s deadliest flooding in decades. Floodwaters surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, sweeping up cars in their wake and causing significant damage
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/30/2024 - 14:06
Sustainable lifestyles, green-tech innovation, and government-led transformation each offer promising routes to make significant progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, according to a new study. The team of researchers examined how these strategies could transform consumption and production across different sectors, identifying both benefits and trade-offs for enhancing human well-being within planetary boundaries. Contrary to the belief that the path to sustainable development is increasingly out of reach, the results show that humankind has a variety of pathways to depart from its current unsustainable trajectory.
10/30/2024 - 14:06
In the face of increased human pressures and climate change, a team of scientists have launched a new online tool to assist marine managers and restoration experts to bolster the resilience of marine habitat-forming species. The 'Reef Adapt' initiative aims to expand the tools available to promote diverse, adaptable and resilient ecosystems.
10/30/2024 - 14:00
A new study finds that up to 215 million hectares of land (an area larger than Mexico) in humid tropical regions around the world has the potential to naturally regrow. That much forest could store 23.4 gigatons of carbon over 30 years and also have a significant impact on concerns like biodiversity loss and water quality. The study showed that more than half of the area with strong potential for regrowth was in five countries: Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, China, and Colombia. A new global map the authors produced of potential regrowth areas is a boon to environmentalists worldwide hoping to advocate locally for their efforts.
10/30/2024 - 11:57
Residents describe impact of floods and downpours – with some places hit with a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours
Spanish flash floods – live updates
The gratitude that greeted Tuesday’s dawn downpours was short-lived in Utiel. When the longed-for rains finally reached the town in the drought-stricken eastern Spanish region of Valencia, they were merciless in their abundance.
“People were very happy at first because they’d been praying for rain as their lands needed water,” said Remedios, who owns a bar in Utiel. “But by 12 o’clock, this storm had really hit and we were all pretty terrified.”
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10/30/2024 - 11:37
The fuel duty freeze led to ire, but there were boosts for renewable energy investment and heat decarbonisation
So how did Rachel Reeves’ ambition to be the “green chancellor” survive contact with battle in the budget? Reactions are, honestly, mixed.
The decision to freeze fuel duty and keep the 5p cut made by the Conservatives in 2022 is attracting some fury, not least because the tax relief is estimated to have raised UK greenhouse gas emissions by 7% since 2010. Reeves has been accused of doing “completely the wrong thing” for climate by making this decision at the same time as raising the bus fare cap from £2 to £3, and rail fares by 4.6%.
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10/30/2024 - 09:00
A report by BoM and CSIRO checks ‘vital signs of Australia’s climate’ – and shows temperature trends will only worsen
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“It is a wicked problem,” says Dr Karl Braganza at the Bureau of Meteorology, after running through Australia’s latest State of the Climate report.
The effects of rising heat on land and in the oceans, coupled with rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, are changing Australia’s climate rapidly and “flowing through to how our society, economy and other things operate”.
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10/30/2024 - 07:00
A 2022 law gave wildland firefighters with ‘presumptive cancer coverage’, but the list of ailments left out a range of cancers affecting women
Riva Duncan was overjoyed when Congress in 2022 approved better support for federal wildland firefighters during their cancer battles. As a retired fire officer of the US Forest Service (USFS), Duncan had spent years fighting for the friends and colleagues who disproportionately fell ill.
The 2022 law gave firefighters so-called “presumptive cancer coverage” – meaning they were eligible for workers compensation and the process to receive federal financial support for disability and death was streamlined. Finally, she thought, firefighters wouldn’t have to prove cancer and other illnesses, including lung and heart diseases, had derived from their hazardous and carcinogenic work to receive needed funds.
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10/30/2024 - 05:00
The environmental footprint of this holiday is frightening – here are ways to celebrate responsibly and still have fun
Halloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.
The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering.
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10/30/2024 - 04:10
Soldiers aid search for dozens still missing as prime minister warns extreme weather may not be over
At least 95 people have died in eastern, central and southern Spain after torrential rains triggered the country’s deadliest floods in three decades, unleashing torrents of muddy water that surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, bringing down trees, and cutting off roads and railway lines.
As the search for dozens of missing people continued, motorists were urged to stay off the roads and away from swollen rivers amid warnings that the severe weather was not over and that the number of deaths could still rise.
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