Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Andrew Griffith makes speech today as Reform UK accuses party of copying policies they ‘announced weeks and months ago’ Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England New vetting rules for Conservative candidates – sometimes described as a purge of moderates – are not a “purity test” and the party is a “broad church”, shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said this morning. As the Press Association reports, asked whether Kemi Badenoch’s idea of a model Tory MP would mean that former politicians like Ken Clarke may not qualify under the new rules, he told Times Radio: Look, we are a broad church; it’s not a purity test. But when people vote for our party, they often, as they did previously, they like the things that we stand for, but they were extremely frustrated with our inability to deliver those in government. One person tells Playbook there’ll be a session on the upcoming 10-year plan, which is due by the end of the year. Another person says much of the away day is about planning how to tackle the next three months, which may excite some of those Tories in Birmingham still arguing that a December election (?!) is a possibility. Long-term and short-term, there are loads of policy questions still to flesh out within Burnham’s sweepy vision. Cabinet ministers in Liverpool last week were waxing lyrical about Burnham’s openness and interest in their briefs as compared to the previous regime, so there’s a chance some of them might get something useful out of all this face time with the PM. Continue reading...

Juvenile humpback was spotted near Bundjalung national park in what experts say is a rare but not unprecedented event Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast While the case of a whale found 11km upstream in a New South Wales river this weekend was unusual, it was not unprecedented, experts say. The juvenile humpback, which swam into the Clarence River on the state’s mid-north coast and later died, was towed out to sea on Sunday, according to NSW authorities. Continue reading...

Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth The Conservatives will announce a bonfire of regulations including abolishing affordable homes and community funding rules as well as scrapping Natural England and the Environment Agency. The shadow chancellor, Andrew Griffith, will say the party intends to “streamline regulations” that protect nature and oblige developers to include affordable homes and community services such as GP surgeries, to speed up infrastructure and housebuilding. Continue reading...

A statewide initiative pairs climate-focused coursework with community service – and is spreading to other states As a student at a high school not far from Denver’s main airport, Anthony Muñoz wondered whether the jet fuel from airplanes flying above his campus was harming living things. An avid gardener, Muñoz partnered with a local university to create a garden on the campus of his charter school, Vista Academy, filling it with native plants that could detect ground-level ozone pollution. He also worked with climate scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federal office in nearby Boulder, who directed Muñoz on what data to collect, what the condition of leaves reveals about air quality and why milkweed matters for monarch butterfly migration. Continue reading...