Breaking Waves: Ocean News

‘No one understands local issues better’: rural councils call for greater role in renewable energy transition

admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 15:00:08 +0000

NSW, Victoria and Queensland local governments have limited roles in approving developments, but advocates say they’re best placed to keep communities onside

Real-time water quality monitors installed at wild swimming spots in southern England

admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 13:00:07 +0000

AI-based system designed to help people assess immediate risk of getting ill from water polluted with bacteria

Real-time water quality monitors are being installed at wild swimming spots and beaches across southern England to help people assess their immediate risk of getting ill from polluted water.

Florida grasshopper sparrow: scientists hail resurgence of endangered bird

admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 12:00:06 +0000

Sparrows were taken into captivity after numbers dwindled – and this week experts released 1,000th bird back into wild

Scientists in Florida are hailing the landmark release this week of a tiny bird only 5in tall as an oversized success in their fight to save a critically endangered species.

Where are all the bats? – alarm as numbers fall in England

admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 05:00:05 +0000

Decline blamed on washout summer driving down population of insects, butterflies and moths they feed on

Conservation groups across England are seeing more malnourished bats, as wildlife experts warn the washout summer is driving down the insects, butterflies and moths they feed on.

Five protesters and one police officer hurt in French reservoir demonstration

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 16:37:06 +0000

Violence erupts after about 4,000 gather in La Rochelle amid heightened tensions over water resources

A police officer and five protesters were injured when violence erupted after about 4,000 people turned out for a demonstration in La Rochelle over the use of reservoirs to supply large-scale agriculture, local officials said.

Police fired teargas and brought in water cannon trucks and reinforcements to disperse the demonstrators after the unrest broke out on Saturday afternoon, with several shop fronts smashed and at least seven people arrested.

The great pylon pile-on: can councils’ opposition scupper Labour’s ‘clean power’ revolution?

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 16:00:41 +0000

The energy secretary’s plans to install thousands of pylons in unspoiled rural areas is facing a huge backlash

The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has been warned he faces battlegrounds across the country over plans to install thousands of pylons in unspoilt rural areas to deliver a “clean power” revolution.

Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants’ scientific names

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 15:36:01 +0000

Offensive term to be replaced as first step towards more changes in unprecedented reform of nomenclature rules

Scientists have voted to eliminate the names of certain plants that are deemed to be racially offensive. The decision to remove a label that contains such a slur was taken last week after a gruelling six-day session attended by more than 100 researchers, as part of the International Botanical Congress, which officially opens on Sunday in Madrid.

He ‘redeems’ the trash New Yorkers throw away, finding value – and opportunity – in waste

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 14:00:39 +0000

Pedro Romero is one of hundreds of thousands of informal waste workers the world over, from Paris to Bangalore

Pedro Romero’s story is a familiar one in New York: he wasn’t born or raised here, but he moved to the city to take advantage of the bustling metropolis’s many opportunities. And in a city full of people willing to hustle to make it work, he’s found an opportunity others might overlook: in the trash.

Could robot weedkillers replace the need for pesticides?

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 14:00:38 +0000

The robotic services allow farmers to rely less on chemicals. ‘This solves a lot of problems,’ workers say

On a sweltering summer day in central Kansas, farm fields shimmer in the heat as Clint Brauer watches a team of bright yellow robots churn up and down the rows, tirelessly slicing away any weeds that stand in their way while avoiding the growing crops.

The battery-powered machines, 4ft (1.2 metres) long and 2ft (0.6 metres) wide, pick their way through the fields with precision, without any human hand to guide them.

‘It affects everything’: why is Hollywood so scared to tackle the climate crisis?

admin — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 10:06:33 +0000

Twisters is the latest in a long line of movies that fail to address the environmental emergency – experts say it’s a missed opportunity

A rodeo crowd waves cowboy hats as a man rides a bucking horse. Then comes a shower of leaves, a chorus of mobile phone rings and a wail of klaxons. Horses run wild and cars collide. One vehicle is whipped into the air by what a weatherman calls a once-in-a-generation tornado outbreak.