Captain Paul Watson talks about his arrest on behalf of the Japanese government, his ‘interesting’ Greenland prison, and separation from his children
The humpback whales watched by Paul Watson from his prison cell this summer have long since migrated from the iceberg-flecked Nuup Kangerlua fjord to warmer seas. It is over four months since Watson – an eco-terrorist to some and a brave environmentalist to others – was brought here to Anstalten, a high-security jail perched on the frozen coast of south-east Greenland after being arrested while refuelling his ship, MV John Paul DeJoria, in nearby Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory.
He had been on his way with a 32-strong crew to practise his decades-long policy of “non-violent aggression” by intercepting a new Japanese whaling “mothership”, the ¥7.5bn ($47.4m) Kangei Maru. But shortly after tying up his vessel in the harbour “a nice police car turned up” and 12 armed officers boarded.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/01/2024 - 03:00
12/01/2024 - 02:00
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says there is ‘no route to net zero’ that ignores concerns of businesses after wave of closures
• Jonathan Reynolds: If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us
There is “no route to net zero” that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars.
Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing.
Continue reading...
12/01/2024 - 02:00
The government is determined to work with the car industry to increase take-up, boost jobs and hit emissions targets
• Cheaper loans on table to drive UK motorists to electric, plus cuts in EV fines for firms
The push to electric vehicles is not about a culture war. It is a simple choice. Do we set UK industry up to take advantage of the changes that are coming? Or do we sit it out, allowing our competitors to lap us while we decide whether to change our tyres or not?
The previous government, including the current leader of the opposition, might have been content to play politics with people’s jobs by delaying the deadline for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. But this government is not.
Continue reading...
12/01/2024 - 01:00
Nature is going to solve the problem by eliminating the modern human
In response to Ashish Ghadiali’s story last week (“Yes, there is a lot of greenwashing, but Cop summits are our best chance of averting climate breakdown”, Comment, last week), nearly 70 years ago Gilbert Plass coined the term “climate change” in a paper in the journal Tellus.
Most of that 70 years has been spent arguing over the reality of climate change, an argument by vested interests that continues to this day. Meanwhile, global warming has continued to rise due to the burning of fossil fuels. Now, polar ice caps and glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, causing sea level rises and threatening the survival of over half the world’s population living on islands and in coastal zones near sea level.
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 22:02
PM overruled negotiations between environment minister and the Greens after speaking with WA premier last week
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Anthony Albanese insists Labor’s plans to establish a national environmental watchdog are still on the table after he quashed a deal with the Greens in parliament’s final sitting week.
Last-minute negotiations between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, were overruled by the prime minister on Tuesday after he spoke with the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 21:12
Woman weaves through traffic at 80km/h before fleeing from snake in car barefoot and attempting to flag down passing motorists
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Victoria police have carried out one of the “more bizarre welfare checks” after a deadly tiger snake slithered up a driver’s leg as she was travelling at 80km/h on a major freeway.
Police said they were called to Monash Freeway near the Toorak Rd exit in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Saturday morning after receiving reports of a barefoot woman trying to flag down passing traffic.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 14:00
Items such as coffee cups and bin liners are wrongly labelled ‘compostable’, leading to calls for governments to impose standards
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
“Massive amounts” of plastic contamination is getting into food and garden waste through user error and misleading “biodegradable” labelling, waste industry experts have warned.
Leading figures at some of Australia’s largest waste companies are calling for the government to standardise certification of compostable products, as many bin liners, compostable coffee cups and other material labelled “compostable” or “biodegradable” do not break down into organic matter.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 08:00
Some in the US are reconsidering children, with fears over reproductive healthcare and the climate crisis front of mind
Chris Peterson wasn’t surprised that Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. But he was surprised by how quickly he and his wife started asking one another: should we try to have another baby before a possible nationwide abortion ban takes effect? Or should we give up on having a second child?
Peterson and his wife, who live in North Carolina, are thousands of dollars in debt because their first child needed to spend weeks in the hospital after being born prematurely. They had wanted to pay off that debt and wait a few years before having a second baby. But now, reproductive rights are again in the balance – Trump has said he would veto a nationwide abortion ban, but his allies are emboldened to push through more restrictions.
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 07:00
Findings highlight how built environment in low-income neighborhoods presents multiple PFAS exposure routes
New research aimed at identifying which US neighborhoods face increased exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” found those living near “superfund” sites and other major industrial polluters, or in areas with limited access to fresh food, generally have higher levels of the dangerous compounds in their blood.
The study looked at hundreds of people living in southern California and found those who do not live within a half mile of a grocery store have 14% higher levels of PFOA and PFOS – two common PFAS compounds – in their blood than those who do.
Continue reading...
11/30/2024 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 30 November 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00095-1
Achieving at-scale seascape restoration by optimising cross-habitat facilitative processes
