Breaking Waves: Ocean News

California pesticide agency could loosen restrictions on most toxic rat poisons

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:00:23 +0000

The anti-coagulant rodenticides also unintentionally harm wildlife across the state, including endangered species

The administration of Gavin Newsom, the California governor, is moving to loosen restrictions around the most toxic rat poisons, even as a new state report shows the rodenticides are unintentionally poisoning wildlife across the state, including endangered species.

Nature recovery plan in England hit by clause allowing contracts to end with a year’s notice

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:51:52 +0000

Conservationists say changes, coupled with underfunding, will curb take-up and leave less land protected for nature

UK politics live – latest updates

An ambitious scheme to restore England’s nature over coming decades has been undermined after the government inserted a clause allowing it to terminate contracts with only a year’s notice, conservationists have said.

Week in wildlife: a studious deer and a partying raccoon

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 08:00:43 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:00:42 +0000

I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program

Report: Experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yields

‘We can tell farmers the problems’: experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yields

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:00:41 +0000

‘Soilsmology’ aims to map world’s soils and help avert famine, says not-for-profit co-founded by George Monbiot

George Monbiot: Over a pint in Oxford, we may well have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture

A groundbreaking soil-health measuring technique could help avert famine and drought, scientists have said.

60,000 African penguins starved to death after sardine numbers collapsed – study

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:00:39 +0000

Climate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research finds

More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found.

Why small farmers can’t fix our hunger problem | Cassandra Loftlin

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 18:00:25 +0000

Big farmers grab the lion’s share of US government support, and recent cuts have chipped away at small growers’ markets and margins

The most significant food system failure since the pandemic was not a natural disaster: in October, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) was temporarily suspended for the month of November due to the government shutdown

A diving prince, sunken treasure and snared by the Titanic: Joe MacInnis on his ‘rip-roaring’ life as an ocean adventurer

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 14:00:21 +0000

At 88, the Canadian reflects on a golden era of underwater discovery and how shipwrecks and the cruel sea are the ‘greatest of all teachers’

Joe MacInnis admits there are simply too many places to begin telling the story of life in the ocean depths. At 88, the famed Canadian undersea explorer, has many decades to draw on. There was the time he and a Russian explorer and deep-water pilot, Anatoly Sagalevich, were snagged by a telephone wire strung from the pilot house of the Titanic, trapping the pair two and a half miles below the surface.

Water plant that caused Tunbridge Wells supply failure was given risk notice in 2024

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:55:02 +0000

Watchdog investigating South East Water contamination issue had previously warned of potential health danger

A water treatment centre that failed and led to tens of thousands of people in Tunbridge Wells being cut off from the supply had previously been served a warning by the regulator over bacteria and pesticide contamination risks.

Households face higher energy bills as £28bn grid upgrade gets go-ahead

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 08:26:25 +0000

Plan to improve gas networks and rewire electricity systems across Great Britain likely to add £30 to average annual bill

Households face higher energy bills after network companies were given the green light to spend £28bn on Great Britain’s gas and electricity grids.

The energy watchdog, Ofgem, approved more than £17.8bn of spending plans to upgrade gas transmission and distribution networks in the five years from April 2026.