Record emissions, temperatures and population mean more scientists are looking into possibility of societal collapse, report says
Many of Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance”, a group of the world’s most senior climate experts have said.
More and more scientists are now looking into the possibility of societal collapse, says the report, which assessed 35 vital signs in 2023 and found that 25 were worse than ever recorded, including carbon dioxide levels and human population. This indicates a “critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, it says.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/08/2024 - 09:08
10/08/2024 - 09:00
Tanya Plibersek claims Labor is protecting 52% of its ocean territory, but experts say that is ‘misleading’
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Scientists have challenged Tanya Plibersek’s claim that Australia is protecting more than half of its oceans and has “blitzed” a 30% target, arguing industrial longline fishing will still be allowed in some areas the government says it is conserving.
The environment minister told a “global nature positive summit” in Sydney on Tuesday the government had quadrupled the size of the sub-Antarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, a world heritage area about 4,000km south-west of Perth.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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10/08/2024 - 02:51
Critically endangered flowers get stay of execution after local environmental group threatens legal action against Victorian government
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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10/08/2024 - 02:22
Ofwat says firms must lower bills next year after poor performance on issues such as sewage spills and leaks
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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.
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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.
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