The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/27/2024 - 03:00
12/27/2024 - 01:00
Only 2% of steel used in British offshore wind projects in past five years was UK-made, study finds
The UK steel industry has called for the government to promise to buy British as it prepares for a major expansion of offshore wind generation.
Wind generation has become a key part of the UK’s energy system, contributing 29% of generated electricity in 2023. However, despite the huge increase in the number of turbines, only 2% of the steel used in British offshore wind projects over the past five years was made in the UK, according to a study by the consultants Lumen Energy & Environment, commissioned by UK Steel, a lobby group.
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12/27/2024 - 00:00
Analysis shows fossil fuels are supercharging heatwaves, leaving millions prone to deadly temperatures
The climate crisis caused an additional six weeks of dangerously hot days in 2024 for the average person, supercharging the fatal impact of heatwaves around the world.
The effects of human-caused global heating were far worse for some people, an analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central has shown. Those in Caribbean and Pacific island states were the hardest hit. Many endured about 150 more days of dangerous heat than they would have done without global heating, almost half the year.
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12/26/2024 - 19:01
Charity says unstable weather patterns caused by the climate crisis had a ‘devastating impact’ in 2024
There have been alarming declines this year in some insect species including bees, butterflies, moths and wasps, while many seabirds have also been “hammered” by unstable weather patterns caused by the climate emergency, a conservation charity has said.
In its annual report on the impact of the weather on flora and fauna, the National Trust highlights that numbers of bees and butterflies have “crashed” in some areas of the UK in 2024.
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12/26/2024 - 19:01
Grant will go towards repackaging food that would go to waste and delivering it to shelters, food banks and charities
Labour ministers have backed plans for a £15m fund to redistribute food from farms that otherwise go to waste, particularly around Christmas.
Grants starting from £20,000 will be handed to the not-for-profit food redistribution sector in England to repackage farm food and deliver it to homeless shelters, food banks and charities.
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12/26/2024 - 14:10
At least one dead and three missing amid storm that has split wharf, wrecked boat and piled up debris
California residents are being warned to stay off wharves, piers and other waterside structures as 20-30ft waves are expected to batter the northern Pacific coast for the rest of the week.
The National Weather Service advisory comes after a 150ft section of the wharf in Santa Cruz collapsed amid high waves on Monday, and storm debris was blamed for the death of a Santa Cruz county man on a beach in Watsonville.
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12/26/2024 - 10:05
Number hits record level but rate of growth slows as installers face delays to government funding
The UK installed a record number of public electric car chargers in 2024, although the rate of growth slowed as installers contended with delays to government funding.
Numbers rose by more than a third to reach 73,421 by 20 December, according to Zapmap, whose data the government uses. The increase of 19,600 was nearly equivalent to the total number of chargers at the end of 2020.
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12/26/2024 - 10:00
Belief in a supposed US government plot linked to aircraft condensation trails has been boosted by confusion over proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis
A conspiracy theory that airplanes are leaving nefarious “chemtrails” in their wake due to a sinister government plot has been given fresh impetus in the US amid a swirl of concerns and confusion about proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis.
State legislation to ban what some lawmakers call chemtrails has been pushed forward in Tennessee and, most recently, Florida. Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy, who has expressed interest in the conspiracy theory on social media and his podcast, is set to be at the heart of Donald Trump’s new administration following his nomination as health secretary.
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12/26/2024 - 09:00
Environmental groups are also petitioning Biden to protect Sáttítla, Kw’tsán and Chuckwalla in California
Hidden amid a vast expanse of snow-brushed pines in northern California is a rare, half-million-year-old volcano called Sáttítla. Thousands of years ago, its flows created crystalline mountains of obsidian and dim grey bands of pumice rock, which from a bird’s-eye view look like ripples of taffy.
“When you’re there, you really do feel like you’re in another world, or on the moon or even another planet,” said Brandi McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe in northern California, whose ancestral homelands encompass the area. “The way it glistens and twinkles – deep black, but shiny like diamonds.”
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12/26/2024 - 07:00
Grey seals are growing in numbers on England’s east coast as a result of environmental safe havens and cleaner North Sea waters
It is a cold winter’s day to be lying on a beach, but the seal pup suckling from its mother doesn’t mind. A few metres away, a pregnant seal is burrowing into the sand, trying to get comfortable, while a third seal, which has just given birth, is touching noses with her newborn pup.
The shoreline – a mass of seals and their white pups – is one of Britain’s greatest wildlife success stories: a grey seal colony on the east Norfolk coast.
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