Breaking Waves: Ocean News

11/27/2024 - 13:08
Exclusive: Stellantis executive’s recent comments to investors undermine claim Luton closure was down to emission mandate No need to mourn Just Eat’s exit from LSE The owner of Vauxhall told investors that it was “confident” it would meet the UK’s rules on electric vehicle sales just two months before it blamed them for the decision to close a factory in Luton, the Guardian can reveal. Stellantis cited the UK’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate when it announced the closure of its van factory in Bedfordshire on Tuesday, putting 1,100 workers at risk of redundancy or relocation to its factory making smaller vans in Ellesmere Port. Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 10:34
Exclusive: National landscapes’ chiefs say environment secretary has given no budget assurances and they are to expect cuts Proposed cuts to England’s most beautiful landscapes pose an “existential threat”, the managers of the National Landscapes Association have warned. These 46 regions, including the Chilterns, the Cotswolds, the Wye Valley and the north Pennines, used to be known as areas of outstanding natural beauty but were renamed this year as “national landscapes”. They cover 15% of England, including 20% of the coastline. Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 10:07
Source of Philadelphia’s drinking water sees salt line pushed closer to city by drought and sea level rise Salty ocean water is creeping up the Delaware River, the source for much of the drinking water for Philadelphia and millions of others, brought on by drought conditions and sea level rise, and prompting officials to tap reservoirs to push the un-potable tide back downstream. Officials say drinking water is not imminently at risk, but they are monitoring the effects of the drought on the river and studying options for the future in case further droughts sap the area, amid the climate crisis. Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 08:14
Fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives outnumber those of the EU or host country South Korea Record numbers of plastic industry lobbyists are attending global talks that are the last chance to hammer out a treaty to cut plastic pollution around the world. The key issue at the conference will be whether caps on global plastic production will be included in the final UN treaty. Lobbyists and leading national producers are furiously arguing against any attempt to restrain the amount that can be produced, leaving the talks on a knife-edge. Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 06:00
Loyalists selected for important roles have offered staunch support to fossil fuels and downplayed climate crisis Donald Trump’s cabinet picks have been eclectic and often controversial but a unifying theme is emerging, experts say, with the US president-elect’s nominees offering staunch support to fossil fuels and either downplaying or denying the climate crisis caused by the burning of these fuels. Trump ran on promises to eviscerate “green new scam” climate policies and to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas, and his choices to run the major organs of the US government echo such sentiments, particularly his picks relating to the environment, with Lee Zeldin chosen as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Chris Wright as energy secretary and Doug Burgum as interior secretary. Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 03:00
We’ve cared for our farm through war, pandemic and money worries. The inheritance tax row shows how little the government respects that Clare Wise is a farmer based in County Durham If you are familiar with the pangs of parental guilt, then you can relate to owning a farm. Take that gut-wrenching, often irrational feeling, amplify it, and welcome to being a farmer. From the moment you’re born into a family farm, there’s a weight of expectation on you to look after it, to put it before yourself, to uphold your family’s pride. All farm kids know they don’t open presents on Christmas morning until the animals are fed, that parents miss special occasions because cows are calving, and that hopes of a foreign holiday are almost nil, at least on a livestock farm such as mine. Owning a farm is like playing a game of pass the parcel with a valuable gift, but the one who unwraps the present is very much the loser of the bunch. From an early age, it’s drilled into you that the farm, the land and its legacy are things you carry and pass on to your children. We don’t see the farms we inhabit as truly ours: they’re generational assets that produce food for the masses. That is why farmers are putting up a huge fight against the government’s new inheritance tax changes. It’s hard not to feel as though this policy is a land grab by ministers who have no idea about how farming works. Clare Wise is a farmer based in County Durham 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...
11/27/2024 - 01:05
Hundreds of climate protesters joined a rally in Canberra on Wednesday – days after a protest in Newcastle Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast More than 20 Rising Tide protesters have been arrested for blocking a road to federal Parliament House after they took their protest from Newcastle to Canberra on Wednesday. It comes after NSW police arrested 173 Rising Tide protesters on the water after they paddled on kayaks and rafts to disrupt the Port of Newcastle – the world’s largest coal port. Organisers say it was Australia’s largest climate civil disobedience action. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 01:00
Another vast tourist resort project promising jobs and prosperity. But critics say such developments imperil the pristine environments they advertise Read more in this series Joseph Darville has fond memories of swimming with his young son off the south coast of Grand Bahama island, and watching together as scores of dolphins frolicked offshore. A lifelong environmentalist now aged 82, Darville has always valued the rich marine habitat and turquoise blue seas of the Bahamas, which have lured locals and tourists alike for generations. The dolphins are now mostly gone, he says, as human encroachment proliferated and the environment deteriorated. “You don’t see them now; the jetskis go by and frighten them off. Joseph Darville is worried that the big cruise lines and developers will ‘come in and eat what’s left of our country’. Photograph: Richard Luscombe/the Guardian Continue reading...
11/27/2024 - 00:00
Ed Miliband argues the UK should race towards becoming a ‘clean energy superpower’, but costs to the consumer shouldn’t be ignored The government’s plan to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2030 is a vast undertaking. Energy companies will throw £40bn-plus annually at the effort, backed by financing that ultimately affects consumers’ bills. So it is extraordinary that no official body seems able to answer this question: will it cost more to complete the job by 2030 rather than by the old 2035 timetable? Is it more expensive to go faster? That is not to dispute the necessity of generating electricity from clean domestic sources, an ambition shared widely across the political spectrum for reasons of security of supply and climate emergency. But the pace of decarbonisation can clearly also affect the cost for consumers, a point Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, tends to skip over too breezily when he argues that security, sustainability and affordability are now perfectly aligned. Continue reading...
11/26/2024 - 19:01
Research reflects rising optimism about country’s green transition as it takes leading position on climate action Nearly half of experts surveyed by a climate thinktank believe China’s carbon dioxide emissions have already peaked, or will do so in 2025, reflecting increasing optimism about the country’s green transition at a time when it is being called on to take a leading position on global climate action. According to a report published on Tuesday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a research organisation, 44% of climate experts from academia and industry believe that China’s CO2 emissions will peak, at the latest, in 2025. In last year’s survey, only 21% of experts gave the same response. Continue reading...