Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Western suburbs, where temperatures are often 5C warmer, need shaded bus stops, more green space and better environmental standards in rented homes, locals say Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Full Story: Rising sea levels and soaring heat deaths: will climate action match the risks? Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Bud Moses is all too aware of the longer, hotter summers impacting his community in Sydney’s west. As black summer bushfires raged on 4 January 2020, Penrith was sweltering in temperatures of 48.9C, making it the hottest place on the planet that day. It was just one of a growing number of above-40C days Moses has witnessed in recent years. Continue reading...

State faces more frequent heatwaves, floods, cyclones and bushfires as world warms, national climate risk assessment warns Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Full Story: Rising sea levels and soaring heat deaths: will climate action match the risks? Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Up to 185,000 properties in Queensland would be considered at “very high risk” of natural disaster if global heating continues unabated, according to a new report that warns that many of those homes would also become uninsurable. The federal government’s national climate risk assessment report – released on Monday – says climate-related natural disasters would occur more frequently if global temperatures increase. Continue reading...

Grave remarks on the potential shocks to people, property and the economy are all too familiar. Putting a credible number on the emissions target is the harder part Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast It is hard to imagine there will be a more important piece of work put out by the Albanese government in this term of parliament than the national climate risk assessment. It suggests that at more than 2C of global heating – a level we are headed towards on our current trajectory – the systems Australians rely on could start to crumble and collapse. That’s an easy thing to say, but a hard thing to get your head around. There was a huge amount of information released on Monday, including an adaptation plan that is only the start of grappling with the problem, and it will take time to digest. But it is worth considering what the assessment led by the Australian Climate Service says about the country’s economic future if global emissions are not curbed and temperatures continue to rise. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

Experts hope that a ‘California effect’ will push other states to ban UPFs, similar to its law against six synthetic food dyes California has long led the way on school meals. In 2022, it became the first state in the country to make school meals free for all students, regardless of income. Many districts have implemented farm-to-school programs to bring local foods into the cafeteria. And last year, months before the “Make America healthy again” movement would make its way to the White House, it became the first state in the nation to ban six synthetic food dyes from school meals. This week, it passed legislation that will put it in the lead on school meals in yet another way – banning ultra-processed foods. On Friday, California lawmakers passed a bill that will define, and then ban, ultra-processed foods from school meals. The legislation, which must now be signed by the governor, Gavin Newsom, is believed to include the first statutory definition of ultra-processed foods in the world. Continue reading...