Policies such as cash payouts for bicycle commuters have knock-on effects including reduced pollution and better physical and mental health
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It’s time for a major rethink of transport in Australia, experts say – and, while some new ideas may meet resistance, “these are not ideas from radical left Scandinavian pot-smoking greenies”, Prof Matt Burke says.
Policies lumped together as “active transport” include proposals to offer rebates for people who ditch their cars for public transport, or cash payouts for people who cycle to work.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/20/2024 - 09:00
10/20/2024 - 09:00
Princeton University, the only other North American school to do so, rolled back its commitment recently
The University of Toronto’s environment school has announced it will financially dissociate from fossil fuel companies, in a landmark win for climate activists.
The institution has committed to stop taking funds from the sector for research, sponsorships, scholarships or infrastructure such as buildings. It will also halt collaborations with the industry on events and school initiatives and cease to host fossil fuel recruitment events, while working to “increase transparency about the our funding, donations, and partnerships”.
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10/20/2024 - 05:58
We need to deal with the climate effects of global capitalism the way we deal with inflation – by applying the brakes
The impact of the climate crisis is evident everywhere. Finance ministers meet in Washington DC this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of two devastating hurricanes in the US within a month. Parts of the Sahara have been flooded for the first time in half a century.
Scientists attribute the growing number of extreme weather events to a planet that continues to get hotter as the result of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to human activity. Global temperature records are being broken with every year that passes and the idea that this can continue indefinitely is a fantasy.
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10/20/2024 - 02:00
Puffins, Manx shearwaters and kittiwakes on Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland have been dying. Now islanders and experts think they have the solution
The dramatic sea cliffs, crags and stacks of Rathlin Island, county Antrim, rise more than 200 metres above the Atlantic Ocean and host one of the UK’s largest seabird colonies, including hundreds of endangered puffins, attracting up to 20,000 birders and tourists a year.
On a spectacularly sunny day in September, the cliff faces are devoid of birds, with the puffins already having made their annual migration to spend the winter months at sea. Instead, Rathlin’s cliffs are dotted with roped-up figures in harnesses and bulging rucksacks, directed from above by a Scottish mountaineer, via a walkie-talkie.
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10/20/2024 - 02:00
Experts say UN event will be critical for world’s declining wildlife population as host nation pushes for inclusivity
World leaders, environmental activists and prominent researchers have begun to arrive in Cali, Colombia, for a biodiversity summit that experts say will be decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations.
The host nation is also hoping that the summit, which formally opens on Sunday evening, will be the most inclusive in history.
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10/20/2024 - 01:00
Research at the Francis Crick Institute could lead to new drugs to counter progress of diseases like Alzheimer’s
British scientists are about to launch a remarkable research project that will demonstrate how the air we breathe can affect our brains. This work will be vital, they say, in understanding a major medical problem: how atmospheric pollution can trigger dementia.
In recent years, scientists have discovered that air pollution is one of the most pernicious threats to human health and have shown it is involved in causing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, low birthrates, and many health conditions.
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10/19/2024 - 14:00
The groundwater system in western Victoria and south-east South Australia has begun to show signs of collapse, threatening the water security of SA’s second biggest city
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Some of the best-quality groundwater in Australia underlies the upper and lower south-east of South Australia and parts of south-western Victoria.
But almost 200 years of drawdown for agriculture, farming and domestic use has changed the surface drainage. Underground water in some areas has collapsed and water quality is deteriorating, putting at risk not only a fragile natural ecosystem but a $5bn regional economy.
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10/19/2024 - 10:14
Former guerillas were accused of 1989 killing, but supporters say government wants to intimidate activists
Six former guerrillas, whose trial for a civil war-era murder was criticised by fellow environmentalists as politicised, have been acquitted by a court in El Salvador.
Prosecutors had sought up to 36 years in prison for the former rebels of the hard-left Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.
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10/19/2024 - 09:00
Chumash Heritage national marine sanctuary, a 4,543 sq mile expanse of ocean along the California coast, will now be protected
After years of campaigning by Indigenous Americans in central California, the US has finally approved the country’s first Indigenous-nominated national marine sanctuary, a 4,543 sq mile expanse of ocean that will protect marine life from mining and oil drilling.
The Chumash Heritage national marine sanctuary – which will be nearly four times the size of Yosemite national park – will stretch along 116 miles of the California coastline that supports a number of at-risk species, including southern sea otters, abalone and blue whales. The area is also home to critical kelp forests, which not only provide food and shelter for marine life, but also act as a carbon storage system – they can sequester up to 20 times as much carbon as terrestrial forests.
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10/19/2024 - 05:00
Toxic emissions, health risks and leaching pollution – better management of landfill sites is a matter of urgency
Last summer, people living around the perimeter of Pilsworth South landfill in Bury, Greater Manchester, couldn’t open their windows because of the elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide in the air. Referred to as “sewer gas”, its rotten-egg stench can be particularly unbearable at night. Even driving past with the windows closed on the M66, as I do regularly to drop my child at a local play centre, I have gagged at the overpowering smell.
Including Pilsworth, there are 15 odorous landfills across the UK. Hafod landfill in Wrexham is the latest to hit the headlines. Another in Northern Ireland was so noxious before its decommissioning that it was subject to a supreme court ruling and now an appeal. Meanwhile, several others have breached their licences through overtipping, odour issues or poor management, forcing them to undertake engineering solutions to rectify the problems. These remedial works can make things worse in the short term, with smells created when rubbish is disturbed.
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