Balls that washed ashore and closed string of famous beaches contained scores of different materials ‘consistent with contamination from sewage’
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Thousands of mystery balls that washed up on Sydney beaches last month were gunk globules made of products such as motor oil, hair, food waste, animal matter and wastewater bacteria – but their source is yet to be traced.
A statement from the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority on Wednesday confirmed the balls comprised fatty acids, petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic and inorganic materials – and were not tar balls as previously theorised.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/06/2024 - 20:02
11/06/2024 - 19:10
PM fully briefed on ‘potential outcomes’ of US election and says Australia is prepared for Trump’s policies on security, economic and other issues
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Australia will advocate for free trade and climate action – despite Donald Trump’s agenda against both – and persist with the Aukus alliance including nuclear submarine acquisition, the Albanese government has indicated.
Under fire from conservative media about his comments in 2017 that Trump “scares the shit” out of him, the prime minster, Anthony Albanese, was asked if he owed an apology to the president-elect.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 17:34
How damaging this presidency is to the planet depends very much on how other countries react. There’s no time to waste
US election 2024 live: latest news and updates
US election results 2024: live map and tracker
Donald Trump’s re-election to the White House is a major setback for climate action but ultimately it’s the US that could end up losing out, as the rest of the world will move forward without it.
The US is the world’s biggest economy and its second biggest emitter. Positive US engagement on climate has been crucial to landmark leaps forward, like getting the Paris agreement over the line, and just last year committing to transitioning away from fossil fuels.
The US missing in action in the latter half of this critical decade for climate action is nobody’s idea of a good outcome.
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 09:00
Overblown concerns about potential dangers of a common chemical threaten to undermine scientific evidence to the contrary
Because of his job as a dermatologist, Dr Deshan Sebaratnam frequently gets asked questions by friends, family and strangers about skin treatments. But lately, he says, he has been confronted by “a lot of myths around sunscreens”, especially on his social media feed.
Among the most frequent is “that sunscreen can actually cause skin cancer”, says Sebaratnam, a conjoint associate professor at the University of New South Wales.
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 09:00
The Murrumbidgee River had 55% less water in 2018 than it did in 1988, with the Lowbidgee flood plain hardest hit
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A section of one of Australia’s longest rivers, the Murrumbidgee, lost more than half of its water over a 30-year period due to dams and other diversions, according to new research.
Scientists at the University of New South Wales examined the impacts of dam infrastructure and irrigation on natural water flows in the lower Murrumbidgee River since 1890.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 09:00
Millionaire points to Broken Hill’s blackout to attack the energy transition but experts say he should look at South Australia and Europe
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
For 15 minutes on Sunday morning, ABC local radio listeners were treated to a rant from Dick Smith as the millionaire attacked Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels, claiming renewables would make electricity unaffordable and cause sweeping blackouts.
“It seems we have been sold a pup and we are not getting the full truth all the time,” responded Ian McNamara, the host of Australia All Over. “There are lots of people who will back you up.”
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 08:33
Westminster plan for UK’s biggest heat network could involve parliament warmed by waste and low-carbon heat
About 1,000 London buildings including the Houses of Parliament and the National Gallery could soon be warmed by low-carbon heat sourced from the River Thames, London Underground and sewer networks.
Plans to develop the UK’s biggest heat network to supply decarbonised heat to buildings across Westminster were set out on Wednesday by the government as part of its pledge to back seven heat network zones with more than £5m of public funding.
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 06:42
With Trump back in the White House. The impact will be felt in many aspects of American life and across the world
US election 2024 – latest updates
US election results 2024: live map and tracker
With Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term as president, the impact will be felt in many aspects of American life and also across the world.
From abortion, to immigration, the environment, gun laws and LGBTQ+ rights: all are at stake with Trump and his allies back in power.
Continue reading...
11/06/2024 - 06:08
Land reform charities call for better regulation of UK’s carbon market so profits can be shared with public
Nature campaigners have called for taxpayers to take stakes in forest and peatland projects designed to store carbon, to avoid all the profits from carbon credits going to private investors.
A report from the Revive Coalition, an umbrella group for Scottish land reform and conservation charities, says carbon credits also need to be used much more effectively to bolster demand and help the UK meet its net zero targets.
Government-owned banks such as the Scottish National Investment Bank should invest in carbon projects, including on public land.
It becomes mandatory for all large and medium-sized companies to have audited carbon reduction targets to avoid green washing.
All carbon offsetting projects must register with the official schemes, the Woodland carbon code and the Peatland carbon code.
A new land tax is set up that is reduced if the land is managed to protect the climate and promote nature recovery.
Continue reading...
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | [email protected] +12077011069
Read more »
