Breaking Waves: Ocean News

10/01/2024 - 10:00
At least 468 shot by government controllers last year out of an estimated population of as few as 2,640 in the state’s east, advocates say Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Traditional owners and dingo advocates say a Victorian government decision extending the right to kill dingoes on private and public land until 2028 could threaten local populations with extinction. A government order, which took effect on Tuesday, declared dingoes were “unprotected wildlife” under the state’s Wildlife Act. The ruling means dingoes can be killed by trapping, poisoning or shooting across large parts of eastern Victoria, despite being listed as threatened under the state’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 10:00
RMIT-led study recommends a national recycling scheme to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of textiles sent to landfill each year Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits. The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’t worn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 06:36
Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize Stretchy dairy cheese could now be made without any cows, after the development of yeast strains that produce the crucial milk proteins. The key to the development, by Israeli company DairyX, is producing casein proteins that are able to self-assemble into the tiny balls that give regular cheese and yoghurt their stretchiness and creaminess. Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize, and the company believes it is the first to report this breakthrough. Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 05:00
The smell of chlorine pervades Conyers as residents say BioLab’s accident was a danger hiding in plain sight For Vonnetta West the plume of smoke rising in the sky outside her home in the city of Conyers, Georgia, was a sign not just of immediate risk – but a danger that had been hiding in plain sight for years. The plume was the result of an accident at the BioLab pool and spa chemical company in the city of nearly 20,000 residents about 25 miles east of Atlanta. Tens of thousands of people were impacted by an evacuation order for those immediately nearby or by the wider shelter-in-place order for those further away. The smell of chlorine drifted over much of the Atlanta area. Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 04:40
Government urged to use power to control companies such as Thames Water and reform the industry Thames Water and other failing water companies should be placed into special administration to allow the government to tackle much-needed reforms to the industry, campaigners say. Triggering special administration would put Thames and other failing companies in government control, removing company directors and ending the dividends paid to shareholders. The companies could then be transferred to new owners who could be publicly owned or controlled. Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 04:00
The historic North Carolina city was touted as a climate ‘haven’ – a reputation deadly Hurricane Helene left in ruins Nestled in the bucolic Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina and far from any coast, Asheville was touted as a climate “haven” from extreme weather. Now the historic city has been devastated and cut off by Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic floodwaters, in a stunning display of the climate crisis’s unlimited reach in the United States. Helene, which crunched into the western Florida coast as a category 4 hurricane on Thursday, brought darkly familiar carnage to a stretch of that state that has experienced three such storms in the past 13 months, flattening coastal homes and tossing boats inland. Continue reading...
10/01/2024 - 02:00
Everyday Plastic calls supermarket takeback schemes a diversion and says there is too much plastic packaging Seventy per cent of soft plastic collected in supermarket recycling schemes and tracked after collection ended up being burned, an investigation by campaigners has found. By placing trackers inside packages of soft plastic that were collected by Sainsbury’s and Tesco in July 2023 and February 2024, campaigners found that most of them ended up being incinerated rather than recycled. Continue reading...
09/30/2024 - 20:27
This blog is now closed Burke accuses Dutton of trying to ‘throw kerosene’ on public debate over Middle East Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast National weather forecasts Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today: Continue reading...
09/29/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 30 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00081-7 A review of marine genetic resource valuations
09/29/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 30 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00085-3 Australia is reforming its ineffective Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which currently allows the export of four threatened species listed under the Act along with additional species recognized as globally threatened. We propose three recommendations for the new legislation: (1) apply the same precautions to commercially harvested species as other threatened species; (2) mandate annual reviews of threatened species status; and (3) assess species listed on global conservation conventions.