Stretch of river in West Yorkshire was first to get bathing status in 2020 but has since recorded poor water quality
The first river to be given bathing water status in England is in limbo waiting for the Environment Agency (EA) to approve crucial nature-based solutions that are part of £43m in improvements to cut sewage pollution.
In the West Yorkshire town of Ilkley, campaigners were the first to use the EU-derived bathing water regulations to drive a cleanup of their river. But since part of the River Wharfe was granted bathing water status in 2020, water quality has persistently been recorded as poor, most recently in the latest classifications last month. If it remains poor next year, when the status is up for renewal, it could lose its bathing water designation.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/16/2024 - 07:58
12/16/2024 - 01:00
From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes to combat environmental damage
Thirteen vapes are thrown away every second in the UK – more than a million a day – leading to an “environmental nightmare”, according to research.
There has also been a rise in “big puff” vapes which are bigger and can hold up to 6,000 puffs per vape, with single use vapes averaging 600. Three million of these larger vapes are being bought every week according to the research, commissioned by Material Focus, and conducted by Opinium. 8.2 million vapes are now thrown away or recycled incorrectly every week.
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12/16/2024 - 00:00
As warmer winters melt the snow drifts that endangered Saimaa ringed seals use to raise their young, humans are giving them a helping hand
Words by Phoebe Weston. Photographs by Samuel Bloch
Eight hours shovelling snow in -20C might not sound like the ideal day out, but a committed team of volunteers in Finland are working dawn to dusk building enormous snow drifts for one of the world’s most endangered seals.
The Saimaa ringed seal was once common around Lake Saimaa in the south-east of the country, but only 495 of them remain.
Clockwise from top: volunteers check the suitability of the ice to build a snow cave under the supervision of Heikki Härkönen, coordinator at the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation; Riikka Alakoski, from the Finnish forestry agency inspects an artificial den; and records the location of a breathing hole (the image has been altered to obscure its location); a small den in the ice
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12/15/2024 - 22:15
Report by EV Council expects popularity to double by 2026 due to influx of cheaper electric vehicle models and increased number of charging stations
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Electric vehicle sales have reached new heights in Australia, representing almost one in every 10 vehicles bought in 2024, with popularity expected to almost double over the next two years.
The latest annual state of EVs report, released by the Electric Vehicle Council, noted a 150% increase in sales compared with 2022, to the current sales share of 9.5% of new light vehicle sales – with about 110,000 estimated to have been sold in 2024.
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12/15/2024 - 21:12
After 22 failed energy policies, the Coalition is being guided by a roadmap to higher bills and higher emissions
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On the front cover of Frontier Economics’ costings of the Coalition’s nuclear policy is a stock photo entitled fork in road, implying that we’re at some kind of juncture where we must decide between a nuclear or renewables path.
In 1969 John Gorton’s Liberal government chose the nuclear path with the construction of the Jervis Bay nuclear power plant project. As Gorton later said, “We were interested in this thing because it could provide electricity to everybody and it could, if you decided later on, it could make an atomic bomb.”
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12/15/2024 - 13:30
Ministers should be bold and radical in taking measures to boost demand in a key sector of the green transition
The resignation of the high-profile CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, was the latest sign of the ongoing crisis afflicting some of the world’s most famous carmakers, as they negotiate the historic transition to electric vehicles. Last month, Stellantis – the maker of Fiat, Vauxhall, Jeep and Peugeot cars – announced the closure of its Vauxhall van factory in Luton, in part blaming the impact of electric vehicles sales targets mandated by Westminster. Ford has announced it intends to cut 4,000 jobs across Europe, including 800 in Britain, citing sluggish growth in EV sales as a contributory factor.
For Labour, and for a sector crucial to the green transition, this is a crucial moment. The government has restored a 2030 cutoff point – kicked back to 2035 by Rishi Sunak – after which the sale of pure internal combustion engines will be banned. But car manufacturers are lobbying for a watering down of the terms of the zero‑emissions vehicles mandate (ZEV), which requires manufacturers to sell a rising proportion of EVs between now and then. Meanwhile, on the right, Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK seek to caricature the country’s net zero obligations as a virtue-signalling threat to prosperity and growth.
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12/15/2024 - 10:00
Experts express fear – and resilience – as they prepare for president-elect’s potential attacks on climate research
As the world’s largest gathering of Earth and space scientists swarmed a Washington venue last week, the packed halls have been permeated by an air of anxiety and even dread over a new Donald Trump presidency that might worsen what has been a bruising few years for science.
The annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting drew a record 31,000 attendees this year for the unveiling of a slew of new research on everything from seismology to climate science to heliospheric physics, alongside a sprawling trade show and bouts of networking as scientists jostle to advance their work.
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12/15/2024 - 09:19
Ukraine accuses Moscow of recklessness due to risk of ecological damage as second tanker runs aground
A Russian tanker carrying more than 4,000 tonnes of oil products has sunk in the Black Sea amid stormy conditions while a second has run aground, threatening an ecological disaster.
The cargo ship Volgoneft-212 snapped in half on Sunday after being hit by a large wave. Video showed its bow end sticking vertically out of the water. The boat got into difficulties off the east coast of occupied Crimea, 5 miles (8km) from the Kerch strait, Russian media reported.
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12/15/2024 - 06:00
Stephanie Carrie gives tours and educates Angelenos on the importance of the urban forest – and how to improve it
On a recent Sunday morning, 25 Angelenos gathered under a large rusty leaf fig tree for a walking tree tour in a local Culver City park that was also playing host to an outdoor tai chi class as well as a group of yogis.
As we walked past Chinese elm trees, coast live oaks and Brazilian pepper trees, Stephanie Carrie shared the history of the city’s celebrated palm trees with a rapt audience. Many of today’s trees, planted in the 1930s, are approaching the end of their lives – and while they have become symbols of the city, they also guzzle water, fueling calls to replace them with drought-resistant trees.
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12/15/2024 - 01:00
‘Complete reset’ of water industry needed in face of poor service, pollution and leaks, says Steve Reed
Public anger over a significant increase in water bills to be unveiled this week will be justified, the environment secretary has warned, as households across England and Wales are forced to pay for a “catastrophic failure” of underinvestment and toothless regulation.
With the government braced for a backlash over the increases, Steve Reed told the Observer that a widespread “failure of regulation and governance” was to blame for bill rises expected to average at least 21% over the next five years. He said a “complete reset” of the water industry was needed in the face of poor service, polluted waterways and persistent leaks.
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