Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Greenpeace lost – not because it did something wrong but because it was denied a fair trial The stunning $667m verdict against Greenpeace last week is a direct attack on the climate movement, Indigenous peoples and the first amendment. The North Dakota case is so deeply flawed – at its core, the trial was really about crushing dissent – that I believe there is a good chance it will be reversed on appeal and ultimately backfire against the Energy Transfer pipeline company. Continue reading...

Heavy rainfall expected to stretch from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to the Victorian border, with the potential for isolated falls of up to 100mm Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A wet and wild weekend is on the way for much of Australia, as heavy rain in Queensland moves east and a tropical low off the coast of Western Australia threatens to develop into a cyclone. Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra can all expect a washout on Saturday, with heavy rainfall expected to stretch from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast down to the Victorian border, including the potential for isolated falls of up to 100mm. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Ministers urged to do more after United Utilities discharged raw sewage into Unesco site for 6,327 hours last year Celebrated by William Wordsworth, Windermere has long epitomised the natural timeless beauty of the Lake District, with millions of tourists drawn to the shores that inspired the poet. But today England’s biggest lake is, some campaigners say, a shadow of its 19th century self: its waters blighted by algae and its wildlife threatened by pollution, in a symbol of all that is wrong with the privatised water industry. This month the environment secretary, Steve Reed, vowed to break with the recent past, standing on its shores and promising that Labour would “clean up Windermere”. The lake is showing the impact of sewage pollution from United Utilities treatment plants and increased pressure from climate change-induced temperature rises. Continue reading...

The flamboyant cuttlefish flashes patterns and psychedelic colours and waves its arms in a hypnotic display More fantastic invertebrate nominations here If you love a feisty rebel, look no further than the flamboyant cuttlefish, on the 10-strong shortlist for the Guardian’s invertebrate of the year 2025. It is small, smart, capable of spectacular displays and has fought against the odds to become the deadliest of its kind. This creative creature is small for its class of cephalopods, which includes octopus, squid and nautilus, at just 6-8cm. Due to the relatively reduced size of its air-filled cuttlebone, a unique internal shell used for buoyancy that lends these molluscs their unique, rather alien-spaceship way of swimming, it cannot float or hover as well as its cousins. Between 24 March and 2 April, we will be profiling a shortlist of 10 of the invertebrates chosen by readers and selected by our wildlife writers from more than 2,500 nominations. The voting for our 2025 invertebrate of the year will run from midday on Wednesday 2 April until midday on Friday 4 April, with the winner to be announced on Monday 7. Read the other wonderful nominations here. Continue reading...