Breaking Waves: Ocean News

‘Exploratory and curious animals’: mysterious rise in orca sightings off Northumberland coast

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 05:00:05 +0000

Reasons for increase not clear but experts say it could be welcome sign marine ecosystem is becoming healthier

The Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast have long drawn fans of the natural world keen to catch sight of the resident guillemots and puffins.

But as recently as last week, another much bigger black-and-white animal has been delighting wildlife spotters. Orcas have been appearing more regularly than ever before.

Global boom in livestock farming since 2006 is piling pressure on nature, report finds

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 05:00:04 +0000

Wildlife at risk as demand for cropland and water grows to feed 50% rise in farmed animals, campaign alliance says

The number of mammals and poultry farmed worldwide has increased by half in the last two decades, research shows, and the amount of cropland used for feeding livestock has increased by about a quarter.

These increases are putting rising pressure on natural systems, threatening wildlife and plant species and adding to the climate crisis.

Can Bolivia’s historic big cat release help change jaguar conservation in the country?

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 05:00:03 +0000

Poaching and wildfires have driven the country’s jaguar population to a critical level, and until now even rescued animals faced life in captivity

A tentative paw emerged from a steel cage on to the sandy riverbed deep in the Bolivian rainforest. Then, another. Slowly, the female jaguar looked right, left and right again, as if waiting to cross a busy road. Then, muscles stiff from the long journey, it strolled away and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Scientists fear seabird die-off as El Niño looms: ‘We don’t know how bad this will get’

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 19:37:09 +0000

Many seabirds are starving to death as a marine heat wave lingers off California and fish seek deeper, cooler waters

Within minutes of walking on a San Diego beach, marine ornithologist Tammy Russell found the feathered carcasses – one after another.

Some were mixed in with washed up kelp. Others were under rocks.

‘The silence was the worst part’: after culling his entire flock, US poultry farmer now fears bird flu

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:31:24 +0000

As bird flu reshapes agriculture, small farms operate under strict rules. Just a single case could tank their business

Joshua Beebe often starts his day by cleaning the tires of trucks and cars entering his poultry farm.

“We spray them off and scrub them with a brush. It’s a precaution; the goal is to eliminate as many potential avenues for a pathogen to enter as possible,” said the owner of Tardif Poultry Farm, located in the Connecticut countryside east of Hartford.

England has just had its hottest June on record, Met Office data shows

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:47:45 +0000

Chief scientist says dangerous heatwaves, which are getting more likely, ‘bring home the implications of climate change’

The month of June was the hottest in England on record, driven by a searing heatwave in the final days of the month, which for the first time had red heat alerts for three days, according to Met Office data.

The Met Office said provisional statistics showed Wales and the UK as a whole had recorded their second-warmest June since 1884.

New Orleans residents on warning to abandon sinking city: ‘Nobody wants to leave home’

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:37 +0000

After a recent study found New Orleans is at a ‘point of no return’ amid the climate crisis, some locals say they will ‘only leave if forced to’. But what would it take to stay?

When a study in May concluded that New Orleans had hit a “point of no return” due to the climate crisis that would require people to eventually retreat from their storied yet ultimately doomed city, the local reaction was swift and fiery.

Trump to attend opening of Roosevelt library amid overturning conservation efforts

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 11:30:34 +0000

Theodore Roosevelt protected swathes of land, while Trump has lifted protections from more than 86m acres

Donald Trump will attend a ribbon cutting for the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on Wednesday, touting the legacy of a president his own administration is attempting to destroy, critics say.

What is the United States of America now? | Rebecca Solnit

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 10:00:33 +0000

The United States of America is … so many things, horrific and magnificent, good and evil, promising and cursed

The United States of America is a truck that has driven into a ditch. The United States of America is a program that has been hacked. The United States of America is … so many things, horrific and magnificent, good and evil, promising and cursed, as it approaches its quarter-millennium mark. I say it as though the US was one thing, but it is a thousand things.

When the right denies the true danger of heatwaves, ask yourself this: whose children’s lives is it willing to risk? | George Monbiot

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 06:00:27 +0000

The class politics of extreme heat are very real and very dangerous – but that doesn’t stop the billionaire press from peddling its agenda