Breaking Waves: Ocean News

12/22/2025 - 11:16
Interior department move affects five projects under construction in latest blow to industry targeted by Trump The Trump administration has said it is immediately pausing all leases for offshore wind farms already under construction, in the heaviest blow yet to an industry that the administration has relentlessly targeted throughout the year. Trump’s Department of the Interior said that it was halting the building of five wind projects due to “national security risks”. The department said it would work with the US Department of Defense to mitigate the risk of the wind turbine towers creating radar interference called “clutter” that could in some way hamper the US military. Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 10:45
Video shared by the US Geological Survey on social media shows mud spraying up and out from the Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone national park. Other recent eruptions have mostly been audible but not visible because they happened either at night or when the camera was obscured by ice. The agency said the Black Diamond Pool was previously the site of a hydrothermal explosion, in July 2024, that sent rocks and mud flying hundreds of feet into the air and damaged a boardwalk. It prompted the closure of the area to visitors due to the damage and potential for additional hazardous activity Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 10:33
Mass of congealed fat, oil and grease 100 metres in length found blocking sewers in Whitechapel area of capital A “fatberg” weighing an estimated 100 tonnes has been discovered blocking sewers in east London, officials have said. The mass of congealed fats, oils and grease measures about 100 metres long (328ft) and weighs about a third more than the heaviest of the British army’s battle tanks. It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft). Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 07:49
Major incident declared as 50-metre-long breach opens up in waterway previously flagged as ‘amber risk’ A pensioner has told of his narrow escape after waking up just in time to raise the alarm as his canal boat and those of others were swallowed by a sinkhole. Emergency services declared a major incident after the 50-metre-long crater breached the Llangollen canal in England’s West Midlands, leaving boats teetering on the edge of a steep drop or stuck at the bottom of the cavity. Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 06:26
Rich Stockdale says model of ‘regenerative capitalism’ would maximise profits by planting trees, restoring peatlands, and installing windfarms across its estates The founder of an investment firm buying large estates across Britain to restore woods and peatland has said it is “unashamedly and proudly” capitalist, and plans to make tens of millions of pounds in profit. Rich Stockdale, the chief executive of Oxygen Conservation, said his model of “regenerative capitalism” was a “force for good” because it would offer investors significant profits by planting trees, restoring peatlands, operating solar farms and holiday homes and installing new windfarms across its estates. Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 06:00
Thousands of farms set to go bankrupt as grain farmers in particular hit by trade disruptions caused by price hikes Donald Trump, having promised to “NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN”, appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year. While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a “big part” of his plan to lower grocery prices for Americans, many US farmers are grappling with mounting financial issues – compounded by Trump’s agenda. Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 06:00
This is the latest in the relentless purge of climate researchers who refuse to be co-opted by the fossil fuel industry The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin would no doubt have understood and even appreciated the latest attack by the Trump administration on climate researchers and their work. The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, is to be dismantled after more than 50 years at the forefront of global research on climate science and monitoring. Professor Michael Mann is the presidential distinguished professor and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-author with Peter Hotez of Science Under Siege; Bob Ward is policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 04:38
Conservatives claim government’s plan for higher welfare standards for farmed animals could undermine British agriculture Here is a summary from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of what’s in the animal welfare strategy. Improved welfare for companion animals by: -Reforming dog breeding practices to improve health and welfare, preventing animals from becoming unwell and ending puppy farming Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 01:01
Milder weather led to a bloom in the invertebrates in south Cornwall and Devon, wildlife charity says Record numbers of sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates over the summer have led the Wildlife Trusts to declare 2025 “the year of the octopus” in its annual review of Britain’s seas. A mild winter followed by an exceptionally warm spring prompted unprecedented numbers of Mediterranean octopuses to take up residence along England’s south coast, from Penzance in Cornwall to south Devon. Continue reading...
12/22/2025 - 01:00
Humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish and end to puppy farming also in new package of animal welfare laws Caged hens will be a thing of the past in England, the government has announced, as it launches a package of new animal welfare laws. Pig farrowing crates, which campaigners have said are cruel, will also be banned under the welfare changes. These cramped crates are used to stop pigs from rolling over and crushing their young, but once in them sows cannot turn over or move around at all. Continue reading...