Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 17:00:10 +0000

Exclusive: ‘Ransom note’ requests would leave Environment Agency unable to prosecute company or management

Lenders vying to take over Thames Water have demanded that the struggling company and its management be granted immunity from prosecution for serious environmental crimes as a condition of acquiring it, the Guardian can reveal.

Creditors want the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to grant the water company extraordinary clemency from a series of strict rules covering everything from sewage spills to failure to upgrade its water treatment works.

David Attenborough tells Prince William he nearly drowned while scuba-diving in 1950s

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 17:00:10 +0000

Pioneering broadcaster recalls incident during discussion with royal about latest documentary, Ocean

Sir David Attenborough almost drowned when testing a scuba-diving helmet for his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, the broadcasting veteran has revealed in a discussion with Prince William.

Discussing his latest documentary, Ocean, the pioneering film-maker described the incident to the Prince of Wales.

The river that came back to life: a journey down the reborn Klamath

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 15:00:08 +0000

Less than a year after four dams were removed from the river, life has blossomed along its banks, presenting new challenges and joys of recovery

Bill Cross pulled his truck to the side of a dusty mountain road and jumped out to scan a stretch of rapids rippling through the hillsides below.

As an expert and a guide, Cross had spent more than 40 years boating the Klamath River, etching its turns, drops and eddies into his memory. But this run was brand new. On a warm day in mid-May, he would be one of the very first to raft it with high spring flows.

Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 11:00:05 +0000

Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities

Conservationists have launched a campaign to revoke the Lake District’s Unesco world heritage status, arguing that it promotes unsustainable sheep farming at the expense of nature recovery and local communities.

Kabul at risk of becoming first modern city to run out of water, report warns

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 09:00:02 +0000

NGO says Afghan capital’s 7 million people face existential crisis that world needs urgently to address

Kabul could become the first modern city to completely run out of water, experts have warned.

Water levels within Kabul’s aquifers have dropped by up to 30 metres over the past decade owing to rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown, according to a report by the NGO Mercy Corps.

Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule’, says Shackleton medal winner

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 08:00:01 +0000

Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent’s legal status to protect its interests

Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will “change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica”. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity “at least equivalent to a country”, says the environmental lawyer.

Extreme weather is wiping out amphibians—Here’s where it’s worst

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 03:12:57 +0000

Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians are not just battling habitat loss and pollution they're now also contending with increasingly brutal heat waves and droughts. A sweeping 40-year study shows a direct link between the rise in extreme weather events and the growing number of species landing on the endangered list. Europe, the Amazon, and Madagascar have become danger zones, with amphibians unable to adapt quickly enough. But there s hope scientists are calling for focused conservation efforts like habitat restoration and micro-refuges to help these vulnerable creatures survive.

Minnesota’s Boundary Waters are pristine. Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ could pollute them forever

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:00:36 +0000

A little-known provision would open thousands of nearby acres to a foreign mining company, risking acid drainage

The story is co-published with Public Domain, an investigative newsroom that covers public lands, wildlife and government

New UK AI datacentre could cause five times emissions of Birmingham airport

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:10:46 +0000

Exclusive: emissions from power-hungry warehouses at Lincolnshire facility expected to be 850,000 tonnes a year

A vast new datacentre to feed Britain’s rising demand for artificial intelligence could cause more greenhouse gas emissions than five international airports.

Labour warned to keep spending review in line with net zero or face legal action

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 11:00:34 +0000

Exclusive: Friends of the Earth tells Keir Starmer any major green cuts by Rachel Reeves will be challenged

If the decisions the UK government makes in its upcoming spending review are not in line with the net zero climate target it risks being taken to court again, campaigners have said.