Breaking Waves: Ocean News

10/08/2024 - 08:03
Alexander Darwall, owner of Blachford estate in national park, is challenging the right to wild camping Picnicking on Dartmoor is trespassing, according to the lawyers for a landowner who is challenging the right to wild camping on the moors. The public should have no right to undertake any activities other than walking or horse riding in the Dartmoor national park without landowner permission, Timothy Morshead KC told a supreme court hearing on Tuesday. Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 07:34
Deal for electric zero-emission vehicles worth £500m supports 500 jobs in Northern Ireland and 2,000 more across UK Business live – latest updates Transport group Go-Ahead has announced a £500m investment in up to 1,200 UK-built electric buses from Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus. The order is expected to support about 500 manufacturing jobs and create a new line at Wrightbus, based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 07:09
President to announce in Wisconsin EPA rule aimed at ensuring drinking water is safe for all Americans A decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised alarms about the continuing dangers of lead in tap water, Joe Biden is setting a 10-year deadline for cities across the nation to replace their lead pipes, finalizing an aggressive approach aimed at ensuring that drinking water is safe for all Americans. The president is expected to announce the final Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule Tuesday in the swing state of Wisconsin during the final month of a tight presidential campaign. The announcement highlights an issue – safe drinking water – that Kamala Harris has prioritized as vice-president and during her presidential campaign. The new rule supplants a looser standard set by former President Donald Trump’s administration that did not include a universal requirement to replace lead pipes. Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 02:51
Critically endangered flowers get stay of execution after local environmental group threatens legal action against Victorian government Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A critically endangered orchid has received a late reprieve after a local environmental group threatened legal action against the Victorian government, prompting officials to cancel a planned burn of its habitat. The bald-tip beard orchid – a species with fewer than 10 plants remaining in the Australian wild – was thought extinct until rediscovered in 1968 at a site near Whroo, in central Victoria, where the last surviving wild population has persisted. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 02:48
Harvesting in Bulga state forest, inland from Port Macquarie, is just 400km from global nature-positive summit the government is hosting Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Forest campaigners have accused the federal government of hypocrisy for hosting a global nature-positive summit in Sydney while logging resumed in public forest 400km away in mid-north New South Wales. The NSW Forestry Corporation has started its harvesting operations in Bulga state forest, inland from Port Macquarie. The area is a stronghold for threatened species including endangered koalas and the endangered greater glider – Australia’s largest gliding possum. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 02:37
Exclusive: Environment groups urge government to stick to its promises and refuse pesticide application UK ministers are considering allowing the use of a bee-killing pesticide next year despite promising during the election to ban it. Neonicotinoids are banned in the EU because they are toxic to bees but have been authorised for use every year in the UK since 2021. Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 02:22
Ofwat says firms must lower bills next year after poor performance on issues such as sewage spills and leaks Business live – latest updates Water companies in England and Wales will have to return nearly £158m to customers through lower bills next year after falling further behind on key targets including sewage spills and leaks. The regulator, Ofwat, announced the penalties as part of its annual review of companies’ performance. The report showed that companies reduced sewage spills by just 2% between 2020 and 2024, way behind a target of 30% for the 2020-25 period. Thames Water -56.8m Anglian Water -£38.1m Yorkshire Water -36m Southern Water -£31.9m Welsh Water -£24.1m South West Water -17.4m South East Water -£8m Wessex Water -£5.3m Affinity Water -£5.2m Bristol Water -£1.9m Portsmouth Water -£1.1m South Staffs Water -£0.7m Hafren Dyfrdwy -£0.2m SES Water £0.2m Northumbrian Water £7.8m Severn Trent Water £27.9m United Utilities £33.2m Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 00:01
Items such as cables and old tech could contain £266m worth of metal vital for decarbonisation drive, study finds Scientists have called for people to go “urban mining” after a study revealed that old cables, phone chargers and other unused electrical goods thrown away or stored in cupboards or drawers could stave off a looming shortage of copper. The research found that in the UK there are approximately 823m unused or broken tech items hiding in “drawers of doom” containing as much as 38,449 tonnes of copper – including 627m cables – enough to provide 30% of the copper needed for the UK’s planned transition to a decarbonised electricity grid by 2030. Continue reading...
10/08/2024 - 00:00
Wasps released on Nightingale Island have protected Wilkins’ bunting by halting spread of mould-causing insects A tiny parasitic wasp has given a lifeline to one of the world’s rarest bird species by killing off an invasive insect that was threatening its survival. The Wilkins’ bunting lives on Nightingale Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha group; the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago. It eats the fruit of the Phylica arborea, the island’s only native tree. Continue reading...
10/07/2024 - 23:01
Demand for beef, soy, palm oil and nickel hindering efforts to halt demolition by 2030, global report finds The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade, an analysis shows. The rising demolition of the forests puts ambitions to halt the climate crisis and stem the huge worldwide losses of wildlife even further from reach, the researchers warn. Continue reading...