The only other option was to go back in time and do something about climate change but time travel hasn’t been invented yet
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/08/2025 - 01:24
09/08/2025 - 00:00
Exclusive: stroke risk is 7% higher and heart failure risk increases by 27% in areas with worst level of pollution, research shows
Millions of Britons face a higher risk of stroke or heart failure because of dirty air where they live.
People living in areas of the UK with the worst levels of air pollution are 27% more likely to develop heart failure, compared with people in areas with the cleanest air, a study suggests.
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09/07/2025 - 22:29
Concerns abandoned coal boreholes in Queensland and NSW could be emitting ‘equivalent of 65m cars’ worth of methane
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Conservationists have called for an audit of potentially thousands of methane-leaking coal boreholes in Queensland, as one expert says New South Wales also has an unknown number of potentially leaking holes.
Research revealed last week that two abandoned exploratory coal boreholeswere leaking methane at a rate comparable to 10,000 vehicles.
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09/07/2025 - 16:26
Sauropod tooth scratches reveal that some dinosaurs migrated seasonally, others ate a wide variety of plants, and climate strongly shaped their diets. Tanzania’s sand-blasted vegetation left especially heavy wear, offering rare insights into ancient ecosystems.
09/07/2025 - 10:00
Labor’s koala strategy doesn’t go far enough, Coalition says, but environmentalists hail park a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ decision
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The long-awaited great koala national park in the north of New South Wales, celebrated by wildlife groups, has drawn a mixed reaction from the state’s Coalition.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman has hedged his party’s support, saying while he “supports the ambition of protecting koalas”, he was concerned about job losses and the cost of the park.
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09/07/2025 - 09:00
Sam Shoemaker’s record-setting voyage shows the promise – and limits – of fungi as a plastic alternative
On a clear, still morning in early August, Sam Shoemaker launched his kayak into the waters off Catalina Island and began paddling. His goal: to traverse the open ocean to San Pedro, just south of Los Angeles, some 26.4 miles away.
But upon a closer look, Shoemaker’s kayak was no ordinary kayak. Brown-ish yellow and bumpy in texture, it had been made – or rather, grown – entirely from mushrooms. His journey, if successful, would mark the world’s longest open-water journey in a kayak built from this unique material.
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09/07/2025 - 08:00
We’re beyond Mel Gibson’s Mad Max era. We no longer need oil to make it through the apocalypse
As I write these words, the No 1 trending story on the Guardian is titled: “The history and future of societal collapse”. It is an account of a study by a Cambridge expert who works at something ominously called the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk; he concludes that “we can’t put a date on Doomsday, but by looking at the 5,000 years of [civilisation], we can understand the trajectories we face today – and self-termination is most likely”.
I can’t claim to have done a study, though I have been at work on climate change for almost 40 years and I gotta say: seems about right. So it’s maybe not the worst moment for a bit of worry about how you would fare in the case of a temporary breakdown of our civilization. Perhaps you have noticed that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and violent. Or you read the stories that Donald Trump was shutting down the Federal Emergency Management Agency and surmised you’ll have to take care of yourself going forward. Or hey, maybe you think a cabal of pedophiles might try and use black helicopters to herd you into a 15-minute city where a communist mayor will make you spend the rest of your life riding a scary subway.
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09/07/2025 - 06:00
Rise in cases south of the border prompts concern over US livestock as Trump budget cuts hit research and foreign aid
A patient in Maryland was diagnosed in August with New World screwworm, a parasitic fly, after traveling to El Salvador. Doctors and veterinarians say the case poses very low risks for human health in the US, but it comes after an increase of cases in South and Central America and the Caribbean in recent years. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation on research and prevention.
For decades, the fight against the screwworm was a success story of scientific innovation and collaboration with other countries. There were devastating outbreaks of the parasite in the US in the first half of the 20th century until an ambitious program pushed it south, all the way to Panama.
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09/06/2025 - 15:00
More habitat has been given up legally in 2025 so far than any other year since the animals were listed as threatened, analysis shows
NSW locks in great koala national park and brings in immediate ban on logging
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More clearing of koala habitat has been approved under Australia’s nature laws in 2025 so far than in any other year since the marsupial was listed as a threatened species, according to an analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The destruction of 3,958 ha of bush approved across eight projects, including a coalmine in Queensland, equates to about four Sydney airports’ worth of clearing.
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09/06/2025 - 15:00
Samuel McLennan has spent two years salvaging fish farm waste and other marine debris from Tasmanian shores for his oceangoing vessel. McLennan's boat, which he named Heart, has slowly made its way across the Bass Strait to Victoria. Otis Filley joined McLennan aboard for part of the journey
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