Breaking Waves: Ocean News

A Colombian warlord became the Amazon rainforest’s most unlikely protector. Now he is cutting it down

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 11:00:39 +0000

Deforestation fell by a third when the guerrilla leader Ivan Mordisco violently enforced a logging ban, but now he has changed tack and is threatening Cop16 biodiversity talks

In the Amazon states of southern Colombia, uniform patches of cattle pasture suddenly give way to trees so numerous and densely packed that the blots of emerald, lime green and white overlap as vines, leaves and tree trunks merge into one.

More than 1m farmed salmon die at supplier to leading UK retailers

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 04:00:54 +0000

Mowi Scotland, which supplies Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, blames a rise in sea temperatures for the deaths, while campaigners say expanding farms will make things worse

More than a million dead fish, the biggest mass die-off of farmed salmon in Scotland in a decade, have been recorded at a farm belonging to the UK’s largest supplier.

Cockatoo rescued after ‘living on brioche’ for four weeks inside Sydney supermarket

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 01:42:47 +0000

NSW environment minister hopes ‘Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow’ after successful capture by wildlife services

What do new draft guidelines for ‘forever chemicals’ mean for Australia’s drinking water?

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 01:09:57 +0000

Efforts to reduce levels of PFAS chemicals in our drinking water are important – but most water supplies are already below the new limits

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council has today released draft guidelines for acceptable levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water. PFAS chemicals are also known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily and can persist in the environment, including drinking water supplies.

More than 1,000 homes linked to £20bn green energy grid expected to be built in Highlands

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 23:01:48 +0000

Subsidiary of electricity firm SSE signs ‘unique and novel’ employment and social housing deal with local councils

More than 1,000 new homes are expected to be built across northern Scotland linked to a £20bn investment in grid infrastructure needed to meet the UK’s green energy targets.

SSEN Transmission, a subsidiary of the electricity firm SSE, has signed a deal with local councils and housing associations in the Highlands to fund at least 1,000 new properties as well as the refurbishment of existing, unoccupied ones.

Millions of teenagers in Africa have undiagnosed asthma – study

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 22:30:47 +0000

Rapid urbanisation thought to be damaging adolescent health, as researchers say need for medication and diagnostic tests is urgent

Millions of teenagers in Africa are suffering from asthma with no formal diagnosis as the continent undergoes rapid urbanisation, researchers have found.

BHP ‘doggedly trying to avoid’ responsibility for Brazil dam disaster, English high court hears

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 16:18:07 +0000

Largest group lawsuit in English legal history opens over collapse of dam owned by mining firm that killed 19 people

The Anglo-Australian mining company BHP has been accused of “cynically and doggedly trying to avoid” responsibility for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster at the opening of the largest group lawsuit in English legal history.

From drones to genomics, science can help fight extinction: that work must begin at Cop16 | Angela McLean

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:30:38 +0000

As nations meet in Colombia to confront species and ecosystem loss, the onus is on the global north to put science and collaboration at the heart of the issue

‘I’m not voting for either’: fracking’s return stirs fury in Pennsylvania town whose water turned toxic

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:00:10 +0000

The small town of Dimock saw its water become brown, undrinkable, even flammable – and its residents are still feeling the effects

Fracking has burst back on to the national stage in the US presidential election contest for the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania. But for one town in this state that saw its water become mud-brown, undrinkable and even flammable 15 years ago, the specter of fracking never went away.

Cop16 at a glance: the big issues that will define talks at Colombia’s UN summit

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:00:06 +0000

Delegates from 196 countries are discussing progress in preserving biodiversity. So what are the sticking points?

Every two years, leaders from around the world gather to discuss the state of life on Earth, negotiating agreements to preserve biodiversity and stop the destruction of nature. This week, representatives of 196 countries are gathering in Cali, Colombia, for the 16th UN Conference of the Parties summit (Cop16).