Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Soil and water around military bases show elevated levels of Pfas pollution due to chemicals used in firefighting foam Many US military veterans have much higher levels of Pfas “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans, new peer-reviewed research finds, raising more questions about health risks the nation’s service members face after serving at polluted bases. Ground water, surface water and soil around military bases show among the highest levels of Pfas pollution in the US because the chemicals are used in firefighting foam deployed during training and emergencies. While the problem has been clear for over a decade, the new Brown University-led study is the first to compare levels in veterans’ blood with those in civilians. Continue reading...

Some experts worry factors affecting wheat exports could push global food prices even higher than they are now Wheat prices are at their highest level in three years, which means farmer Merrill Nielsen should be getting more for his crops out of his 2,500-acre (1,010-hectare) Kansas farm. Yet even as future prices for bread-type wheat are up 39%, Nielsen is unsure whether increased prices will raise his bottom line. The price of diesel fuel, which he needs to run his tractor, has hit record highs. Then there’s the erratic weather that made him lose his entire wheat crop in the spring, and drought has overtaken the southern Great Plains. Continue reading...

Efra committee calls for emergency legislation enabling government to take public control of the company Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company. Adding their voices to demands that the prime minister takes public control of the company, which has debts of £20bn and is being controlled by a group of 100 hedge funds and distressed-debt investors, the MPs said in a report that ministers should consider emergency legislation to take control of its financial affairs to stabilise the company. Continue reading...

New research links last month’s disaster to fossil fuel pollution. Supporting disaster-hit countries must be at the centre of climate politics Following a familiar pattern, coverage of the glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border three weeks ago has subsided with the initial shock. But while the world’s attention has shifted, Nepal remains in the midst of an appalling tragedy. As well as at least 1,300 people who are known to have been killed, more than 5,000 are missing, some of them trapped in tunnels linked to the 13 hydropower plants that were damaged by the floods. On Wednesday four bodies were recovered from one of these tunnels, with searches ongoing. Families of the missing people are desperate for news. Last week the country’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, said that it would ask the UN’s loss and damage fund for $20m (£15m) towards a total rebuilding cost of around $5bn (£3.75bn) – including the replacement of up to 20,000 homes. The first academic study linking the disaster to the climate crisis will now be added to that application. Scientists at Imperial College London, along with international collaborators on the World Weather Attribution project, found that a number of drivers of the glacier fall had been made worse by atmospheric heating. While not the sole cause, fossil fuel pollution was judged to have destabilised the geology of the mountain environment. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...