Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Birdsville notches up another temperature record as Australia faces more heat before New Year’s Eve

admin — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 08:04:33 +0000

The town hit 47.2C by mid afternoon, but locals are already well-versed in the art of staying cool

UK churchyards are havens for rare wildlife, finds conservation charity

admin — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 06:00:32 +0000

Caring for God’s Acre mapped out 20,000 cemeteries and recorded 10,000 species

Churchyards are vital havens for rare wildlife including dormice, bats and beetles, according to an extensive audit of burial grounds around the UK.

The conservation charity Caring for God’s Acre mapped out 20,325 cemeteries, with 800,000 wildlife records submitted and more than 10,800 species recorded.

They lived through the ice age. Can the mighty musk ox survive the heat?

admin — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 05:00:32 +0000

Rising temperatures are pushing these Arctic mammals ever farther into Greenland’s north. But eventually there will be nowhere left for them to go

Built like a small bison, weighing as much as a grand piano and covered in thick, shaggy coat, the musk ox is one of the most distinctive species in the high Arctic. But from a hill on Greenland’s tundra, they seem impossible to find.

Indian Ocean tsunami: how survivors found love after Boxing Day disaster

admin — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 01:00:25 +0000

A rise in the number of remarriages and a baby boom in the years since 2004 gave hope to survivors and helped them cope with the tragedy

It was Mahyuddin’s mother who had pestered him to go out on Sunday morning, 20 years ago. Dozens of relatives were visiting their small coastal village in Indonesia for a wedding party, but a powerful earthquake had struck just before 8am. Buildings in some areas had collapsed. He should go and check on his employer’s office to see if they needed help, his mother said.

Defra scraps England deadline to register thousands of miles of rights of way

admin — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 00:01:25 +0000

Campaigners jubilant after government heeded warning 2031 cutoff would mean loss of precious footpaths

A deadline for registering historic rights of way is to be scrapped after a warning that the looming cutoff date could result in the loss of thousands of miles of footpaths.

The last government set a deadline of 2031 for all rights of way in England to be added to an official map, after abandoning a previous commitment to scrap the policy.

Canadian researchers trial nature trick to boost mood in winter

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:00:15 +0000

Volunteers asked to go about normal routine while paying more attention to natural world

The start of a new year: a time for optimism, ambitious plans to improve the world, and the grim suspicion that the first couple of months may well be a miserable slog through the deepest of winter’s gloom.

But for those who fear the cold and dark ahead, help is on the horizon. Researchers in Canada are investigating a simple trick they hope will boost flagging spirits even when the days are short and frost is in the air.

Researchers race to climate-proof Christmas tree production: ‘We’re up to the task’

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:00:15 +0000

Scientists search for a variety to withstand the climate crisis as high temperatures and drought can stress trees

The climate crisis is increasingly affecting agriculture in the United States, including the production of Christmas trees.

EPA to formally review risks of vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 13:00:12 +0000

Evaluation could lead to limits or bans on substances commonly used in the production of plastic and rubber

The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a formal review of five highly toxic plastic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, the notorious compound at the center of the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck fire.

The move could lead to strong limits or bans on the substances.

Stressed out trees helping charities restore valuable aspen forests

admin — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 09:05:21 +0000

In a little understood quirk of nature foresters have been putting the aspen tree under duress to promote flowering

On a nature reserve deep in the Scottish Highlands there is a polytunnel which houses a small forest of slender grey aspen trees. It is known as the “torture chamber”.

The aspen is one of the UK’s scarcest but most valuable trees. And to produce the tiny, delicate aspen seeds being harvested by the charity Trees for Life, these 104 specimens are deliberately made to suffer.

Average Briton causes 23 times more CO2 on Christmas Day, study reveals

admin — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:00:45 +0000

Campaigners say consumption such as travel, gifts and food are destroying planet and the meaning of Christmas

Whether out of poverty or virtue, many of us spend much of the year reining in our appetites to save our pennies and our health. But at Christmas many of us put our worries aside and go wild in an orgy of lavish gifting, extensive travel and a gluttonous feeding frenzy.

This carnival of consumption has a cost: not just to our wallets and our waistlines, but also to the climate.