The president’s fossil-fuel obsession can’t stop global progress, writes the former Environmental Protection Agency head
Over the past decade, the United States has turned technologies into tools that strengthened our economy, delivered good-paying union jobs, cleaned up our air and water, conserved our precious natural resources, and saved families money all across our country. Yet now the country is choosing to cede that leadership, letting China dominate and control the clean-energy market across the world. It’s no surprise that people are scratching their heads, wondering what happened.
Our president is obsessed with fossil fuels. He wants to resuscitate what everyone knows is a dying coal sector while turning a blind eye to the health, environmental, and economic downsides of the climate crisis. Coupled with inconsistent threats of increased tariffs against virtually all our allies, he has isolated the US and amplified threats to global security.
Gina McCarthy is the managing co-chair of America Is All In, former White House national climate adviser and 13th US EPA administrator
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/24/2025 - 06:00
08/24/2025 - 05:53
Country’s weather agency says 10-day period from 8-17 August was hottest since at least 1950, as fires still rage
A 16-day heatwave Spain suffered this month was “the most intense on record”, the country’s state meteorological agency (AEMET) has said.
Provisional readings for the 3-18 August heatwave exceeded the last record, set in July 2022, and showed an average temperature 4.6C higher than for previous such phenomena, the agency said on X.
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08/24/2025 - 01:00
Exclusive: Charity says footage shows fish being struck repeatedly and at least one child taking part in killing fish
Animal welfare campaigners allege that a “harrowing series of welfare abuses” have taken place at one of England’s oldest working trout farms in a tourist hotspot in the Cotswolds, including the participation of children in killing fish.
Animal Equality UK, a charity that works to end cruelty to farmed animals, has released video footage that it claims shows fish being repeatedly beaten with batons, mishandled and left to suffocate by untrained members of the public including a child at Bibury trout farm in Gloucestershire.
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08/24/2025 - 01:00
BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota lobbied against zero emission vehicle mandate, documents show
Carmakers claimed that leaving electric car sales rules unchanged would threaten British jobs and cost them hundreds of millions of pounds, according to documents that show the private lobbying for a slower transition away from fossil fuels.
BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota claimed that rules forcing them to sell more electric cars each year would harm investment in the UK, according to responses to proposed changes submitted to the government. The responses were obtained by Fast Charge, a newsletter covering electric cars, and shared with the Guardian.
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08/24/2025 - 00:17
Clear majority backs restarting Maanshan reactor but doesn’t reach legal threshold, as president says nuclear power may be reconsidered if it becomes safe
A referendum to push for the reopening of Taiwan’s last nuclear plant has failed to reach the legal threshold to be valid, though the president said the island could return to the technology in the future if safety standards improved.
The plebiscite on Saturday, backed by the opposition, asked whether the Maanshan power plant should be reopened if it was “confirmed” there were no safety issues. The plant was closed in May as the government shifts to renewables and liquefied natural gas.
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08/23/2025 - 19:00
A reliance on politicians and lack of government content on TikTok during recent cyclones allowed misinformation to flourish, academic says
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Queensland authorities should consider using influencers – and fewer politicians – to better communicate with people during natural disasters, says a study that found there was a “critical need” to modernise emergency messaging to counter misinformation on social media.
Disaster briefings have become a rite of passage for political leaders in Queensland, and are often viewed as a test of leadership.
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08/23/2025 - 17:46
Rhode Island and Connecticut officials say project, slated to power 350,000 homes, is essential to their climate goals
The Democratic governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut promised on Saturday to fight a Trump administration order halting work on a nearly complete wind farm off their coasts that was expected to be operational next year.
The Revolution Wind project was about 80% complete, with 45 of its 65 turbines already installed, according to the Danish wind farm developer Ørsted, when the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sent the firm a letter on Friday ordering it to “halt all ongoing activities”.
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08/23/2025 - 15:00
Australians produced 3.2m tonnes of plastic waste in 2023-24, up from 3m tonnes the previous year
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Plastics recycling rates in Australia have flatlined as the amount of waste continues to grow, the latest government data reveals.
Australians produced 3.2m tonnes of plastic waste in 2023-24, up from 3m tonnes the previous year, according to Australian plastics flows and fates data released on Friday.
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08/23/2025 - 10:00
The close call in Tracy Arm 50 miles south of Juneau on 10 August is the latest sign that as glaciers melt, risks may rise
The landslide that triggered a powerful tsunami in Alaska’s Inside Passage early on 10 August was a close call, say scientists, tour operators and agency officials, with the risk of such events apparently increasing as glaciers retreat because of climate change.
“It’s a historic event,” said scientist Dennis Staley from the US Geological Survey of the slide, which occurred in the Tracy Arm fjord 50 miles (80km) south of Juneau.
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08/23/2025 - 07:30
Pausing changes to Construction Code, establishment of ‘strike team’ within environment department and use of AI in planning among reforms
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The Albanese government has promised to cut red tape and fast track environmental approvals for new homes in an effort to address Australia’s housing crisis.
On Saturday, the government announced plans to pause further residential changes to the National Construction Code and to streamline the assessment of more than 26,000 homes under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
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