Breaking Waves: Ocean News

03/27/2024 - 11:21
Richard Meal is second senior leader to depart following Guardian investigation into failings at UK nuclear waste site A former Royal Air Force officer who has led Sellafield’s information security for more than a decade is to leave the vast nuclear waste site in north-west England, it can be revealed. Richard Meal, who is chief information security officer at the Cumbrian site, is to leave later this year. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 09:00
‘If ever there was a perfect case-study of the negative impacts on taxpayers of privatisation of strategic public assets, Eraring is it’, Tim Buckley says Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast New South Wales may end up paying $150m a year to subsidise the extension of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power plant, money better spent accelerating the take-up of rooftop solar with storage, Tim Buckley, an energy analyst said. It comes as the Labor government will on Thursday announce $1bn for solar panel manufacturing in Australia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, travelling to the Hunter region to spruik the government’s new Net Zero Economy Authority. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 07:57
UN Food Waste Index report also finds global food wastage is big contributor to climate crisis More than a billion meals are thrown away every day, in poor countries as well as rich ones, despite more than 730 million people living in hunger around the world. About a fifth of food is wasted, sometimes through profligacy or poor planning, sometimes from a lack of access to refrigeration or storage, according to the UN Food Waste Index report, published on Wednesday, at a global cost of about $1tn a year. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 07:19
Boats had been barred from landing since July 2022 owing to virus, which has ravaged populations of seabirds The puffins started arriving two weeks ago – and now there are thousands of them fizzing around in a mad frenzy. They have joined kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and shags. Soon Arctic terns will arrive after their epic journey across the world from the Antarctic. This week humans arrived after a two-year ban from the Farne Islands in Northumberland, one of the UK’s most important sanctuaries for breeding seabirds. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 06:37
Call for environmental emergency to be declared after data reveals 105% rise in raw sewage discharges over past 12 months How polluted is your local river and which regions are worst hit? Water companies in England have faced a barrage of criticism as data revealed raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas last year in a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. The scale of the discharges of untreated waste made 2023 the worst year for storm water pollution. Early data seen by the Guardian put the scale of discharges at more than 4m hours, but officials said the figures were an early estimate. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 06:37
IFRC and USAid staging conference to draw attention to risks and share best practice in disaster alerts and response Two of the world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster. The conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from tree-planting projects to the development of roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 06:00
They thought their redeveloped 19th-century building was safe – but after learning it still contained toxic levels of lead, they formed a tenants union Katy Slininger was one of dozens of residents who moved into the Lofts at the Cargill Falls Mill in Putnam, Connecticut, shortly after it opened in late 2020, enticed by the historic charm of the building and affordability of an apartment in an area with significant affordable housing shortages. The building is a redeveloped 19th-century mill that opened in 2020 after government subsidies contributed millions of dollars in grants and tax credits to its renovation and was hailed by local officials as a boon to the local economy. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 04:38
Retailers will have to file regular reports to UK regulator after concerns over environmental claims Business live – latest updates Asda, Asos and Boohoo must avoid making misleading claims about the green credentials of their clothes in future, after a regulatory crackdown on “greenwashing” in the fashion sector. The three retailers will have to file regular reports to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after an investigation started in 2022 examined concerns that the companies were using vague claims to bolster their environmental credentials. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 03:52
Steven Miles urges authorities to enable magpie to be reunited with ‘devastated’ Gold Coast carers and its ‘best friend’, their Staffy dog Peggy Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Queensland’s premier has thrown his support for a campaign to return an Instagram-famous magpie to its former carers and its dog best friend, after it was seized by the environment department. Gold Coast couple Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen adopted Molly the magpie in 2020 after it fell from the nest. Continue reading...
03/27/2024 - 01:00
Natural England-backed scheme at most southerly tip of UK will nurture lichens, liverworts and wildflowers The landscape at the most southerly tip of mainland Britain is expansive and grand: rolling heath and grasslands, spectacular cliffs, crashing waves. But a recovery project funded by Natural England is focusing on unique and vital “microhabitats” found in sometimes overlooked spots on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. Continue reading...