Experts say fires caused by wrongly discarded lithium batteries, such as those in vapes, are putting lives at risk
Fires at recycling centres caused by wrongly discarded lithium batteries such as those found in vapes are occurring at the rate of more than 10 a week, according to new figures.
Experts say the sheer volume of battery fires now occurring at waste facilities has reached a crisis that is putting lives at risk, costing £1bn a year and frustrating fire chiefs.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/22/2026 - 01:00
08/22/2026 - 00:00
UK anthology inspired by question: ‘Where are our black and Asian nature writers?’ has boosted interest in genre
A new movement of eco poets from black and brown communities in the UK is challenging the canon of nature poetry against the backdrop of the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Mona Arshi, who co-edited the first UK collection of eco poetry from African, Asian and Caribbean diaspora voices, was inspired to put the anthology together after asking in a social media post that went viral: “Where are all our black and Asian nature writers?”
It’s time to write about daffodils
again.
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08/21/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 22 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00237-7
Blue cognitive justice: a critical imperative for ocean justice scholarship
08/21/2026 - 14:41
The 10-year blueprint mandates water cuts of up to 40% for California, Arizona and Nevada
It’s official: after years of tense negotiations and missed deadlines, there is finally a plan to govern the future of the imperiled Colorado River - or at least the makings of one.
With the previous framework set to expire in October, the US Bureau of Reclamation publicly released its proposal for a new plan on Friday.
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08/21/2026 - 14:27
A record amount of sargassum has piled up along coastlines of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Sargassum is a brown seaweed that causes lower oxygen levels and foul-smelling gases when it decomposes on beaches. Researchers and marine scientists have warned that the algae build-up starves underwater plant life of sunlight, affects human health and can leak arsenic into sand
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08/20/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 21 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00229-7
Making Maritime Spatial Planning transition-based
08/17/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 18 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00227-9
The ocean as a unifying agenda across the climate, biodiversity, and land degradation conventions
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
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