Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Trump bids to scrap almost all pollution regulations – can anything stop this?

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:55 +0000

EPA tries to rescind ‘endangerment finding’ – part of ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda that experts say poses grave threat

The Trump administration is attempting to unmake virtually all climate US regulations in one fell swoop.

At an Indiana truck dealership on Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a proposal to rescind the 16-year-old landmark legal finding which allows the agency to limit planet-heating pollution from cars and trucks, power plants and other industrial sources.

US lightning flash was longest on record at 515 miles, scientists say

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:54 +0000

The 2017 flash, which stretched from east Texas to near Kansas City, beat the previous record by almost 50 miles

A 515-mile (829km) lightning flash has set a new record as the longest ever identified.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed the new world record for the flash registered on 22 October 2017 over the Great Plains in the US. It stretched from east Texas to near Kansas City, Missouri, roughly the distance between Paris and Venice.

Chinese official makes rare admission of failings over deadly Beijing floods

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:18:33 +0000

Local Communist party secretary says there were ‘gaps’ in city’s readiness for extreme weather after at least 40 killed

A Beijing city official has issued a rare public acknowledgment of official failings in the authorities’ response to the severe flooding that hit China’s capital this week.

After nearly 100 years, adult winter-run Chinook salmon seen in California river

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 05:00:40 +0000

State’s fish and wildlife department posted a video showing an adult female guarding a nest of eggs

Adult winter-run Chinook salmon have been spotted in northern California’s McCloud River for the first time in nearly a century, according to the California department of fish and wildlife (CDFW).

‘Best job in the natural world’: seed collector enlisted as modern-day Darwin to document the world’s plants

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 05:00:39 +0000

Newly appointed expedition botanist Matthew Jeffery feels ‘daunted’ but inspired by his unique globetrotting role collecting wild species

It was described as “the best job in the natural world”: an expedition botanist for Cambridge University Botanic Garden who would follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and go on plant-collecting adventures around the world.

Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 03:16:18 +0000

The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

Fears for South Australia’s annual cuttlefish gathering amid deadly algal bloom

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 01:32:11 +0000

Breeding event known as Cuttlefest takes place in waters off Point Lowly but this year scientists warn the effect of toxic algae could be ‘catastrophic’

Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

Countries failing to act on UN climate pledge to triple renewables, thinktank finds

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 23:01:32 +0000

Fossil fuel reliance likely to continue and Cop28 target of limiting global heating to below 1.5C will be missed

Most global governments have failed to act on the 2023 UN pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, according to climate analysts.

The Guardian view on England’s riverbanks: landscapes that everyone should be able to enjoy | Editorial

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:48:13 +0000

Only a small sliver of riverside land is accessible to the public. Rights of way shouldn’t depend on the goodwill of landowners

Four Montagu’s harrier chicks take flight in first UK breeding success since 2019

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 16:21:55 +0000

Young birds were closely monitored and protected from predators after six summers without fledging success

A pair of Montagu’s harriers have raised four chicks in an English wheat field, the first success for Britain’s rarest breeding bird since 2019.

The fledglings took their maiden flights this week after being closely monitored by the RSPB and the local farmer, with a protective wire-mesh fence installed around the nest to repel predators such as foxes.