Breaking Waves: Ocean News

The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 18:00:44 +0000

Delegates at UN treaty talks must not allow negotiations to be derailed again by fossil fuel interests

About 100 people missing as flash flood tears through town in northern India

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 17:19:39 +0000

Large-scale search and rescue operation under way after at least four people killed in Himalayan region

A torrent of mud from a flash flood has smashed into a town in India’s Himalayan region, tearing down a mountain valley before demolishing buildings and killing at least four people, with about 100 others missing.

Videos broadcast on Indian media showed a terrifying surge of muddy water sweeping away blocks of flats in the tourist region of Dharali in Uttarakhand state.

Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:00:29 +0000

Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events

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The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral in two out of three areas monitored by scientists since 1986, a new report has revealed.

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching event in 2024 most widespread and severe on record - video

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:00:29 +0000

The Great Barrier Reef has seen the sharpest annual drop in the amount of live coral recorded by scientists in its northern and southern sections since monitoring started four decades ago, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. The report is the first to comprehensively document the devastating impacts of the early 2024 mass coral bleaching event – the most widespread and severe event on record

Australian researchers discover two invasive weeds have the potential to be burned as biofuel

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:00:28 +0000

Brazilian nightshade and climbing asparagus can be made into biomass pellets, presenting an opportunity for an alternative form of energy, scientists say

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Three major chemical companies agree to pay $875m to New Jersey over Pfas claims

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 14:32:18 +0000

Settlement follows another one reached with Ohio in 2023 for similar claims related to ‘forever chemicals’

Chemours, DuPont and Corteva have agreed to pay $875m over 25 years to the state of New Jersey to settle environmental claims including pollution linked to Pfas, or “forever chemicals”, the companies said on Monday.

Rescuers in Norway resume search for journalist missing in wilderness

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:55:34 +0000

Bad weather hampers search for Alec Luhn after he set out for solo hike in remote Folgefonna national park

Rescuers in Norway have continued the search for an award-winning environmental journalist who has gone missing in bad weather during a solo hike in the remote Folgefonna national park, home to one of the country’s biggest glaciers.

First-of-a-kind US class-action lawsuit would force EPA to reinstate $3bn climate program

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:30:01 +0000

Coalition of non-profits, tribes and local governments sued EPA chief for halting climate justice grants

The Trump administration’s decision to abruptly terminate a $3bn program helping hundreds of communities prepare for climate disasters and environmental hazards is unconstitutional and should be overturned, a court will hear on Tuesday.

Pushing airport expansion while rail travel languishes – so much for Labour’s green agenda | Polly Toynbee

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:00:45 +0000

The climate damage done by avoidable flying is huge, yet the government sees more planes as the answer to its economic woes

Scientists identify bacterium behind devastating wasting disease in starfish

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 06:57:17 +0000

After 90% loss of global sunflower sea star population in 10 years, researchers hope decline can now be tackled

A decade after the onset of a sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epidemic considered the largest ever documented in the wild, researchers have identified the microbial culprit responsible: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.