Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Public urged to grow unusual plants to safeguard diversity of UK blooms

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:00:38 +0000

Plant Heritage says gardening trends mean many species in danger of disappearing as they are no longer offered for sale

More than half of garden plants previously grown in the UK are no longer offered for sale as flower fashions and modern gardening trends have reduced the diversity of blooms.

Plant Heritage is asking the public to choose unusual plants for their gardens, and maybe even start their own national collections of rare blooms, in order to stop some cultivated plants from dying out.

Some want to ban geoengineering research. This would be a catastrophic mistake for our planet | Craig Segall and Baroness Bryony Worthington

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:00:01 +0000

We’ve already geoengineered the planet through the careless release of greenhouse gases. Now we need a plan to manage the risks we’ve set in motion

‘Profound impacts’: record ocean heat is intensifying climate disasters, data shows

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 08:00:32 +0000

Oceans absorb 90% of global heating, making them a stark indicator of the relentless march of the climate crisis

The world’s oceans absorbed colossal amounts of heat in 2025, setting yet another new record and fuelling more extreme weather, scientists have reported.

Week in wildlife: rare gorilla twins, racing camels and a psychedelic spider

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 08:00:31 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Why is Trump interested in Greenland? Look to the thawing Arctic ice | Gaby Hinsliff

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 06:00:31 +0000

Forecasts suggest that global heating could create a shortcut from Asia to North America, and new routes for trading, shipping – and attack

‘Toughest conditions imaginable’: Victorians urged to shelter inside from heatwave as tropical cyclone heads for Queensland

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 22:18:43 +0000

Heatwave warnings in place for nearly all states and territories as Sydney braces for 43C forecast on Saturday

Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

As a climate scientist, I know heatwaves in Australia will only get worse. We need to start preparing now | Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:34:09 +0000

During black summer, my daughters were too young to know what was happening. Now, amid another Australian heatwave, they deserve answers

When the forecasts for this week started to roll in, my mind immediately drifted back to Australia’s black summer.

I had taken my daughters down to the pool in our estate in western Sydney, hoping for a brief reprieve from the relentless heat. The Gospers Mountain fire was raging in the Blue Mountains, but on that particular day the smoke didn’t seem too bad.

‘They are going after everything rural’: inheritance tax U-turn does little to dampen farmers’ anger at Labour

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:14:32 +0000

At the Oxford farming conference there were signs the government has much to do to win back farmers’ trust

Few symbols were more potent than the wooden coffin bearing the inscription “RIP British agriculture, 30th October 2024” that greeted Labour’s environment minister at the annual Oxford farming conference.

Masses of toxic litter pours from Rhine into North Sea each year, research finds

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:00:11 +0000

Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of ‘macrolitter’ annually

Thousands of tonnes of litter are pouring into the North Sea via the Rhine every year, poisoning the waters with heavy metals, microplastics and other chemicals, research has found.

This litter can be detrimental to the environment and human health: tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations.

US national parks staff say new $100 fee for non-residents risks ‘alienating visitors for decades’

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 12:30:07 +0000

Advocates suing to reverse administration’s surcharge system that has led to passport checks and angry visitors

A new $100 fee for foreign tourists entering US national parks has triggered chaos and frustrating waits, with staff reporting long entry lines as citizenship checks are made and irate visitors regularly ditching plans to patronize some of America’s most cherished landscapes.