Breaking Waves: Ocean News

South Korea’s female freedivers: TV has made stars of the haenyeo but what is their real story?

admin — Thu, 15 May 2025 08:00:20 +0000

The craze for Korean culture has brought fame to the ‘women of the sea’, but not always to their benefit. Now they want to reclaim their stories to inspire a new generation

Labour has denounced me as ‘deeply misleading’ on its planning reform. I wish that were true | George Monbiot

admin — Thu, 15 May 2025 05:00:17 +0000

Even it now admits that brick by brick, these proposals will wreck habitats. This could be Starmer’s most damaging mistake yet

The precedent is uncanny, and the failure to learn from it downright mystifying. Keir Starmer is rushing gladly towards the catastrophe Boris Johnson inflicted on himself in 2020. Had he set out to stymie Labour’s chances of re-election, he couldn’t be doing it better.

MP to launch bill to target superyachts, private jets and fossil fuel producers

admin — Thu, 15 May 2025 05:00:16 +0000

Bill would force major polluters to pay into fund for flood defences and home insulation – but has little chance of becoming law

Fossil fuel companies and their shareholders and owners of superyachts and private jets should have to pay into a fund for flood defences and home insulation, according to a private member’s bill to be launched on Thursday.

Endangered New Zealand bird caught fighting ‘at risk’ reptile in rare footage

admin — Thu, 15 May 2025 04:47:53 +0000

A video shows the large flightless takahē bird in hot pursuit of the tuatara – but the tables soon turn

Two of New Zealand’s most rare and beloved animals – a large flightless takahē bird and an ancient tuatara reptile – have been captured chasing and nipping at one another during a bush-floor melee.

LNP to cut all funding for Queensland’s Environmental Defenders Office, breaking election promise

admin — Thu, 15 May 2025 02:39:33 +0000

EDO boss says Crisafulli government decision means many ‘won’t even know their rights, let alone have the chance to exercise them’

UK urged not to exploit poor countries in rush for critical minerals

admin — Wed, 14 May 2025 23:01:09 +0000

Civil society groups call on government to address risk of neocolonial exploitation in its supply chain strategy

The risk of neocolonial exploitation in the global rush for critical minerals must be addressed by the government as it formulates its official supply chain strategy, say civil society campaigners.

They have said the scrabble for access is being greenwashed as wealthier economies around the world attempt to line up a host of minerals that are essential to the manufacture of hi-tech products, including cobalt, lithium and nickel.

Abi Daré wins the inaugural Climate fiction prize

admin — Wed, 14 May 2025 19:00:04 +0000

Daré accepted the £10,000 prize for her latest novel, And So I Roar, the follow-up to her bestselling debut The Girl with the Louding Voice

Nigerian writer Abi Daré has won the inaugural Climate fiction prize for her novel And So I Roar, the follow-up to her bestselling debut The Girl with the Louding Voice.

Daré was announced as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening.

Toxic wildfire pollution infiltrates homes of 1bn people a year, study finds

admin — Wed, 14 May 2025 18:00:03 +0000

Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers say

Toxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research.

The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a “pressing global issue”, scientists said.

Denmark rethinking 40-year nuclear power ban amid Europe-wide shift

admin — Wed, 14 May 2025 17:36:16 +0000

Government to analyse potential benefits of new generation of reactors

Denmark is reconsidering its 40-year ban on nuclear power in a major policy shift for the renewables-heavy country.

The Danish government will analyse the potential benefits of a new generation of nuclear power technologies after banning traditional nuclear reactors in 1985, its energy minister said.

Attempt to protect rare chalk streams in planning bill rejected by Labour MPs

admin — Wed, 14 May 2025 15:55:00 +0000

Government vetoes cross-party effort to protect threatened waterways from push to rip up environmental red tape

A cross-party attempt to protect England’s rare and threatened chalk streams in the government’s planning bill was rejected by Labour on Wednesday.

The attempt to give the globally rare ecosystems the strongest protections as irreplaceable habitats failed after all the Labour MPs on the parliamentary committee examining the draft law rejected an amendment containing the extra provision.