Attempt to refloat false killer whales was unsuccessful, forcing wildlife authorities to make difficult decision for safety and ‘welfare reasons’
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Tasmanian authorities plan to euthanise 90 surviving false killer whales in a group of 157 animals that have stranded on a beach near Arthur River, on the state’s remote north-west coast.
Marine conservation experts including wildlife veterinarians arrived at the site on Wednesday morning, confirming 90 animals were still alive.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/18/2025 - 18:23
02/18/2025 - 18:01
Growth in 2022 and 2023 was driven by soaring gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion, but 2024 saw sales slump
Heat pump sales fell 23% in Europe last year, industry data shows, reverting to the level they were at before the war in Ukraine and slowing the shift away from gas-burning boilers.
Demand for clean heating devices fell by about half in Belgium and Germany, and by 39% in France, according to data for 13 countries that cover 85% of the European heat pump market.
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02/18/2025 - 11:36
Using mathematical modeling, researchers have discovered that rate-induced tipping, which can happen if an environment changes too fast, can happen even in Daisyworld, a simple daisy-filled ecological model. If the planet heats up or cools down too quickly, all the daisies will go extinct, even if they would otherwise have been able to survive just fine under those conditions. This discovery mirrors similar observations found in other models and observed in real-life ecosystems.
02/18/2025 - 10:59
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02/18/2025 - 09:14
Demonstrators have protested against an expedited cleanup process that would involve using a beloved beach as a toxic waste sorting site
This weekend, more than a hundred demonstrators protested against a new plan by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use a local beach as a toxic waste sorting site, to process debris from the Palisades fire. They waved signs saying “Save Our Beaches” and “Sort Toxics at the Burn Site” as they walked up and down the path along Will Rogers state beach in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, just outside Los Angeles.
Their message? Wildfire debris isn’t just ash – it’s poison. “Asbestos, heavy metals, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons will not remain contained,” a petition circulated by a local resident, Ashley Oelsen, says. “Toxic contaminants from the wildfire debris could leach into the soil and the waterways. Onshore winds will undoubtedly carry these hazardous particulates, compromising the air quality where people live, work and play. The risk to our ocean’s health is just as alarming.”
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02/18/2025 - 08:36
Ambitious UK project aims to forecast climate catastrophes using fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection, patterns of plankton blooms and more
An ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping points will combine fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection and the patterns of plankton blooms with artificial intelligence and the most detailed computer models to date.
The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), which backs high-risk, high-reward projects, has awarded £81m to 27 teams. The quest is to find signals that forewarn of the greatest climate catastrophes the climate crisis could trigger. Tipping points occur when global temperature is pushed beyond a threshold, leading to unstoppable changes in the climate system.
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02/18/2025 - 08:00
‘Make polluters pay’ laws, led by blue states AGs, and accountability suits will be a major front for climate litigation for the coming years
Donald Trump’s re-election has “turbocharged” climate accountability efforts including laws which aim to force greenhouse gas emitters to pay damages for fueling dangerous global warming, say activists.
These “make polluters pay” laws, led by blue states’ attorneys general, and climate accountability lawsuits will be a major front for climate litigation in the coming months and years. They are being challenged by red states and the fossil fuel industry, which are also fighting against accountability-focused climate lawsuits waged by governments and youth environmentalists.
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02/18/2025 - 04:00
I’m campaigning for legal protection for cleaner fish, because no one has done a proper assessment of the impact of removing them from Scottish reefs
I was in my 50s when I first became aware that cleaner fish existed, when I met a fisher who sold them to Scottish salmon farms. Each year, around the world, such farms use more than 60 million cleaner fish to eat – or “clean” – parasites off other fish. But the natural habitat of the cleaner fish is the reef.
On a reef, each cleaner fish has clients that visit them to have their parasites removed – sometimes much bigger fish or predators such as sharks and rays. I was intrigued to discover the cleaner fish would gently massage these clients with their fins and make sure they were comfortable.
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02/18/2025 - 03:00
The chemical compounds that block UV rays may lead to bleaching of coral and a decrease in fish fertility
Urgent investigation is needed into the potential impact sunscreen is having on marine environments, according to a new report.
Sunscreens contain chemical compounds, known as pseudo persistent pollutants, which block the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and can lead to bleaching and deformity in coral or a decrease in fish fertility.
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02/18/2025 - 03:00
It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers – the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves
Though we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal government by Donald Trump and Elon Musk could trigger a series of converging and compounding crises, leading to social, financial and industrial failure.
There are several possible mechanisms. Let’s start with an obvious one: their assault on financial regulation. Trump’s appointee to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Russell Vought, has suspended all the agency’s activity, slashed its budget and could be pursuing Musk’s ambition to “delete” the bureau. The CFPB was established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis, to protect people from the predatory activity that helped trigger the crash. The signal to the financial sector could not be clearer: “Fill your boots, boys.” A financial crisis in the US would immediately become a global crisis.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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