Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Rachel Reeves to confirm changes to ‘outdated’ planning system

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 06:42:17 +0000

Changes intended to reduce ‘burdensome bureaucracy’ and make it easier to build windfarms, reservoirs and housing

Ministers are making it easier to build windfarms, reservoirs and large housing developments as part of a series of changes to the government’s planning and infrastructure bill designed to bolster the confidence of developers.

NSW minister urges people to 'vote early and vote often' in 2025 bird of the year – video

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 06:18:40 +0000

As the final hours of Guardian Australia's 2025 bird of the year draw near, Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales environment minister, makes a last-minute appeal for votes for the endangered bush stone-curlew. In a boisterous session of state parliament, Sharpe encourages people to 'vote early and vote often' in what she calls 'the only ballot that counts this year'. A colleague can be heard yelling their support for the powerful owl, but Sharpe points out 'the powerful owl is out.

Almost all external insulation fitted under Tory scheme needs repair or replacing, report finds

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 04:00:11 +0000

Homeowners who took advantage of government programmes left with cladding likely to cause damp

Almost all the external insulation fitted under the previous government’s energy efficiency scheme was installed so poorly it will have to be repaired or replaced, an investigation has found.

Thousands of homeowners who took advantage of the home insulation schemes have been left with incompetently fitted cladding that in some cases is likely to cause damp and mould.

Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 04:00:10 +0000

Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds

Matilda Boseley sports homemade pelican outfit to talk bird of the year on ABC – video

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:35:55 +0000

Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley, dressed as an Australian pelican, joins ABC News Breakfast to talk bird of the year with Nate Byrne. Boseley highlights the importance of the poll in promoting conservation. 'The point is to appreciate Australian native wildlife,' she says. 'It's fun, it's silly, we're all dressing up, but ultimately it's for a good cause'

Australian bird of the year poll: last day to vote for your favourite

It took just 60 years for the red fox, one of Australia’s most devastating predators, to colonise the continent | Sean Tomlinson and Damien Fordham for the Conversation

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:01:28 +0000

The rapid spread of the invasive species offers clues to how we might prevent future extinctions of native animals

To a newly arrived red fox, the abundant rolling grasslands and swamps of Wadawurrung Country, around what is now called Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, must have seemed like a predator’s paradise.

This landscape was filled with small native marsupials and birds, and free of European wolves or bears that usually kept fox numbers in check.

‘Dismal’ health of world’s forests is threat to humanity, report warns

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:01:03 +0000

Financial institutions pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to stop destruction, says Climate Focus

Global forest health has plunged to “dismal” levels and threatens the wellbeing of humanity, warns a damning report that highlights how financial systems are pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to reduce destruction.

Carmakers chose to cheat to sell cars rather than comply with emissions law, ‘dieselgate’ trial told

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:48:51 +0000

Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Peugeot/Citroën face group action in which damages could exceed £6bn

Car manufacturers decided they would rather cheat to prioritise “customer convenience” and sell cars than comply with the law on deadly pollutants, the first day of the largest group action trial in English legal history has been told.

Earth’s climate just crossed a line we can’t ignore

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:18:19 +0000

Humanity has reached the first Earth system tipping point, the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs, marking the beginning of irreversible planetary shifts. As global temperatures move beyond 1.5°C, the world risks cascading crises such as ice sheet melt, Amazon rainforest dieback, and ocean current collapse. Scientists from the University of Exeter warn that these interconnected tipping points could transform the planet unless urgent, systemic action triggers “positive tipping points,” like rapid renewable energy adoption.

Greenpeace threatens to sue crown estate for driving up cost of offshore wind

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:24:42 +0000

Environmental group accuses king’s property management company of ‘milking for profit’ its monopoly ownership of seabed

Greenpeace is threatening to sue King Charles’s property management company, accusing it of exploiting its monopoly ownership of the seabed.

The environmental lobby group alleges the crown estate has driven up costs for wind power developers and boosted its own profits, as well as the royal household’s income, due to the “aggressive” way it auctions seabed rights.