Exclusive: FBU calls for more funding as ‘unprecedented summer’ puts rising demands on already stretched crews
Firefighters in the UK are under increased pressure as a result of an “unprecedented summer of dangerous and volatile wildfires”, the Fire Brigades Union has said, as many parts of the country brace for a fifth heatwave of the year.
As authorities declared almost three-quarters of England was now in drought, Steve Wright, the FBU general secretary, said the unpredictable environmental challenges the UK was now confronted with meant it was a “national priority” to have enough properly equipped firefighters to “face these threats”.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/10/2026 - 14:16
08/10/2026 - 13:49
Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis
July was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.
Last month’s average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
Continue reading...
08/10/2026 - 11:28
Continue reading...
08/05/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 06 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00232-y
Marine protected areas can contribute to achieving biodiversity targets, especially when embedded in maritime spatial planning (MSP). Drawing on a screening of European MSP, this work presents a framework spanning pre-planning, planning and implementation. At each stage, it combines Strategic Environmental Assessment, a Criteria Checklist, and Strategic Recommendations to align conservation objectives, blue-economy activities and the rights and needs of coastal communities, supporting a more just, healthy and productive ocean.
08/05/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 06 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00234-w
Spatio-temporal variation of AIS data abnormally for tuna fishing fleets in the Pacific Ocean
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
Read more »
