Breaking Waves: Ocean News

UK waters hit with extreme heatwave as global sea temperatures reach record levels

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:30:07 +0000

Experts warn that some marine species are at risk of ‘mass mortality events’ in ever-warming oceans

UK waters are being hit with an “extreme” marine heatwave, the Met Office has said, as scientists warn the high ocean temperatures globally could result in “mass-mortality events” for some species.

European countries top ‘scorecard’ on climate progress while US slips to 27th

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:00:27 +0000

Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues

Much of the world has made encouraging strides in reducing toxic problems such as water and air pollution that have long plagued communities. But there is still a widespread lack of progress among countries in dealing with the climate crisis, according to the latest edition of an influential environmental scorecard.

The rise of blue-space therapy: how the sea is helping people deal with trauma, anxiety and addiction

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:25 +0000

‘Sea cures’ are not new but the idea that exposure to oceans, rivers and lakes can be medicine for the brain is gaining traction

Watching the waves break across the vast, roaring ocean in front of him, Dave Phillips felt out of options standing on the cliff’s edge in Cornwall several years ago. The former British army corporal had lost a number of loved ones in quick succession, and the compounding effects of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his military tours had become all-consuming.

The great carbon capture con: behold the wasted billions Burnham could claw back | George Monbiot

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 08:10:12 +0000

There are far better ways to tackle climate breakdown, but successive governments have chosen to listen to the fossil fuel companies instead

The new prime minister will be looking for money? Well, here’s £21.7bn lying on the ground. The government could cancel its deranged, disastrous carbon capture and storage (CCS) programme at no cost to public welfare: in fact, it would greatly reduce the harm we will suffer.

Health risk fears for storks in Europe over ‘junk food’ from landfill

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:30:23 +0000

Rubbish dumps can expose birds to contaminants, raising questions over whether landfill foraging helps or harms

Storks are gaining weight from a diet of literal junk, according to research that suggests the previously disappearing birds face potential health risks as a result of increasingly eating from rubbish dumps.

Britons to buy 8m mini fans this year – but almost half will end up in landfill

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 06:00:22 +0000

Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing last year’s total

Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year.

Catnip lotion as effective as Deet at repelling mosquitoes, study finds

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:17:19 +0000

Researchers testing a cheap, homegrown oil in Uganda found what cats knew all along – it worked as well as the artificial chemical used globally

A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda.

Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is a common herb from the mint family. The chemical in the plant that causes feline euphoria – nepetalactone – also has insect-repelling properties but this has not previously been commercialised.

M&S invests in fridges that can cope with weather as hot as 45C

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:04 +0000

Retailer admits it struggled in June heatwave and also had to order more ice-cream to keep pace with demand

Marks & Spencer is investing in refrigeration equipment that can cope with weather as hot as 45C as the climate crisis is expected to drive regularly higher temperatures in the UK.

“There is no doubt we were struggling in the nine days of [recent] extreme heat,” Stuart Machin, the chief executive of the food, fashion, beauty and homewares retailer, told shareholders at the group’s annual meeting in London on Tuesday.

Washington records world’s worst air quality for a city after 850,000 Fourth of July fireworks

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:04 +0000

Hourly concentrations of particulate matter rose to 6.7 times their pre-fireworks levels, according to an analysis

Washington DC residents breathed in “unhealthy” air for hours after a 40-minute Independence Day fireworks show over the National Mall on Saturday night, with the country’s capital briefly recording the worst air quality of any major city in the world.

The highly emitting display, which the president called “spectacular”, came as the Trump administration rolls back an unprecedented number of pollution controls.

Lake Powell, a vital reservoir, plunges toward unprecedented low levels as water crisis deepens in US west

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000

Experts say the critical reservoir system is careening toward a breaking point as the US west’s climate warms and dries

Lake Powell, the US’s second-largest reservoir, threatens to plunge to unprecedentedly low levels this year after a historically bleak snowpack failed to raise its water level, scientists and water experts have said, adding renewed urgency to stalled talks over how to conserve a water source depended on by tens of millions of people in the US south-west.