Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Australia’s best new sustainable homes of 2024 – in pictures

admin — Fri, 03 May 2024 00:00:22 +0000

A pocket-sized city terrace extension and a multigenerational riverside property inspired by a country shed are among the innovative dwellings shortlisted in the sustainability category of the Houses awards, Australia’s premier residential design prize.

Violent attacks against environmental journalists on the rise, report finds

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 22:01:19 +0000

Unesco joint research dating back 15 years found violence and intimidation against about 750 reporters and 44 murders

More than 70% of environmental journalists have been attacked for their work since 2009, according to a Unesco report, which warns of rising threats against those covering the climate crisis.

At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, the UN body found. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resulted in just five convictions.

New eco-friendly lubricant additives protect turbine equipment, waterways

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 21:48:11 +0000

Scientists have developed lubricant additives that protect both water turbine equipment and the surrounding environment.

Pier pressure: more than 1,000 sea lions assemble at San Francisco dockside

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 20:57:44 +0000

Tourists delighted as pinnipeds congregate at city’s Pier 39, apparently attracted by feast of anchovies

More than 1,000 sea lions have gathered at San Francisco’s Pier 39 this spring, the largest herd in at least 15 years.

Mounds of floppy, delightfully ungraceful marine mammals have plopped themselves on to rafts along the city’s pier, displaying themselves to the thousands of tourists who pass by the area each day.

Oil palm plantations are driving massive downstream impact to watershed

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 19:31:15 +0000

The global demand for palm oil -- the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, in everything from instant noodles to lipstick -- is driving worldwide tropical deforestation. While many studies have shown the loss of biodiversity when rainforests are converted to oil palm plantations, researchers have now shown the far-reaching and wide-ranging disturbances to the watersheds in which such plantations occur.

Sunak to allow oil and gas exploration at sites intended for offshore wind

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 19:07:23 +0000

Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are ‘playing politics with climate’

Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.

Court strikes down youth climate lawsuit on Biden administration request

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 16:31:15 +0000

Attorney and non-profit founder Julia Olson calls appeals court ruling on lawsuit filed by 21 young people ‘tragic and unjust’

A federal appeals court on Wednesday evening granted the Biden administration’s request to strike down a landmark federal youth climate case, outraging climate advocates.

“This is a tragic and unjust ruling,” said Julia Olson, attorney and founder of Our Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm that brought the suit.

Is America’s oldest Chinese restaurant in a tiny suburb of Sacramento? Historians investigate

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 11:00:06 +0000

Researchers visited the Chicago Cafe to find out if it’s really 121 years old – and entered a chop suey parlor filled with memories

On a warm morning in March, a group of researchers entered an unassuming chop suey parlor in the Sacramento suburbs for a rare field trip.

The six history enthusiasts affiliated with the University of California, Davis, had gathered at the Chicago Cafe in Woodland, California, with one goal in mind: to determine the exact age of what may be the oldest Chinese restaurant in the country.

Big River Watch: public to monitor UK and Irish rivers for pollution

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 10:55:22 +0000

Rivers Trust is asking citizen scientists to record observations of local waterways on free app

People in Britain and Ireland are being asked to monitor their local rivers for pollution so a leading water charity can measure the scale of the sewage crisis.

New US climate rules for pollution cuts ‘probably terminal’ for coal-fired plants

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 10:00:04 +0000

Experts say only ‘handful of plants’ operating with the dirtiest fuel will likely survive, and only Trump and lawsuits could save them

New climate rules imposed by Joe Biden’s administration requiring huge cuts in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants will accelerate the decline of an industry that until recently provided most of America’s power, experts say, potentially even dealing a death blow to coal in the US.