Breaking Waves: Ocean News

London’s low emission zone is working – so why are cities around the world so cautious about clean air?

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 07:00:26 +0000

Similar initiatives have been launched from Barcelona to Bogotá, but they have misinformation, political pressure and vested interests stacked against them

Ten years ago, Alastair Harper was an advocate for young people’s health sitting in a stuffy meeting room in London planning an air pollution campaign. “My phone started buzzing,” he said. “I took the call, and then told the room I needed to leave immediately.

Onshore windfarm applications hit 10-year high in England

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:00:24 +0000

Surge in proposals follows Labour’s lifting of de facto ban, with about 45 plans submitted in the year to March

Plans for new onshore windfarms in England have reached their highest annual level in a decade, after the government overturned the Conservatives’ de facto ban in 2015.

About 45 applications for new onshore windfarms were submitted in the year to March,according to a Guardian analysis of government data.

Fur seal’s death marks first Australian mainland mammal fatality from spreading H5 bird flu strain

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:42:49 +0000

Seal found dead at Beachport in South Australia presages ‘significant losses’, minister warns

Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

Heathrow expansion ‘is threat to England’s largest surviving medieval barn’

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:17 +0000

Exclusive: campaigners warn 600-year-old New Barn at Harmondsworth could be ‘shaken to pieces’ by vibrations

Six hundred years after it was built, England’s largest surviving medieval timber-framed barn could now be “shaken to pieces” by aircraft vibrations, campaigners warn.

The public has until 1 September to submit objections to the Heathrow airport expansion, which could threaten the survival of the New Barn at Harmondsworth, considered a remarkable example of medieval architecture.

‘It’s pretty much a guarantee you’ll get stung’: jellyfish keep swimmers off Delaware beaches

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Beach patrols report hundreds of stings a day as warmer waters and drought create favorable conditions for jellyfish

An unusually high number of jellyfish are crowding Delaware’s beaches this summer amid climate change and other environmental factors – keeping some beachgoers out of the ocean and stinging lifeguards as well as bathers.

Why am I called The Black Farmer? Because there are so few of us in Britain. I’d like that to change | Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:57 +0000

Running a farm is tough – TV’s Clarkson’s Farm shows that – but I know many minorities would love the chance. And we would all benefit

Who’d be a farmer? Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon is great entertainment but it also gives some indication of the stresses and challenges behind the farm gate. Would anyone who lacked the significant alternative income that Clarkson is lucky to have want that? Well, actually, yes.

Battery fires at recycling centres are costing UK £1bn a year, figures show

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:57 +0000

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.

‘We are in the inferno’: diaspora writers lead new movement of nature poetry

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 05:00:55 +0000

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?”

Blue cognitive justice: a critical imperative for ocean justice scholarship

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

The US has a plan to save the Colorado River. Experts say it won’t be enough to stop the crisis

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 19:41:48 +0000

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.