Breaking Waves: Ocean News

The new budget comes after the previous government failed to award a single new offshore wind contract in 2023 The Labour government will make record amounts of funding available to clean energy developers after it increased the value of its summer subsidy auction by 50%, to £1.5bn. The addition, compared with figures previously announced, means the total budget is seven times the amount available at last year’s auction, the government said. Continue reading...

Audit of Environmental Improvement Plan finds it inadequate as government announces overhaul of goals Goals to stop the decline of nature and clean up the air and water in England are slipping out of reach, a new report has warned. An audit of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), which is the mechanism by which the government’s legally binding targets for improving nature should be met, has found that plans for thriving plants and wildlife and clean air are deteriorating. This plan was supposed to replace the EU-derived environmental regulations the UK used until the Environment Act was passed in 2021 after Brexit. Continue reading...

‘Reusable’ is now a selling point for products that should, inherently, be reusable to begin with – and we’re buying it I used to keep a plastic bag of plastic bags under my kitchen sink. Like the water in the pipes above, around which they accumulated, it seemed I had bags in unlimited supply. A few years ago, when my city enacted a plastic bag ban, the collection started waning. Now, I treasure the once ubiquitous sacks, doling them out judiciously for use as diaper pail liners and stewards of wet bathing suits, while down the hall, at the back of my coat closet, another mass is metastasizing: totes upon totes upon totes. They’re often referred to as reusable tote bags. And that sounds perfectly normal. But it shouldn’t. Imagine saying “reusable backpack” or “reusable shoes”. Most things were never intended to be used just once – not until several decades ago, when plastics ushered in an era in which everyday goods were designed, marketed and sold for exactly that: one, single use. Continue reading...

Harris, who had previously urged fracking ban, plans to highlight climate contrast between Democrats and Trump Kamala Harris will not seek to ban fracking if she becomes US president, campaign officials have confirmed, with the de facto Democratic nominee expected to focus instead on aggressively promoting the stark contrast on the climate crisis between Joe Biden’s administration and Donald Trump. Harris had previously, as a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination, vowed to ban fracking, as well as back a Green New Deal, a progressive resolution to shift the US to 100% renewable energy, and new government dietary guidelines to encourage people to reduce their meat eating. Continue reading...