Breaking Waves: Ocean News

11/14/2024 - 12:04
Police reveal ages and genders of the 216 people who died in Valencia, along with eight other victims elsewhere in Spain Almost half of the 216 people known to have died in the catastrophic floods that hit the eastern Spanish region of Valencia at the end of October were 70 or above, according to a police analysis. Figures from the data integration centre set up after the disaster show that 131 of the victims were male, 85 were female and 104 were aged over 70, including 15 aged over 90. Continue reading...
11/14/2024 - 08:09
Gigantic multicoloured organism is visible from space and has grown for between 300 and 500 years The world’s largest known coral, visible from space, has been discovered in the waters of the Solomon Islands. With a circumference of 183 metres, the gigantic multicoloured organism is an intricate network of individual coral polyps that have grown for between 300 and 500 years. Continue reading...
11/14/2024 - 08:00
The H-2A program might grow under Trump and mass deportations Agriculture rules in Quincy, Washington. Sprawling apple, cherry and peach orchards surround this rural city of about 8,000. Packing sheds dot the middle of downtown. Railroad tracks run close to the Columbia River, so produce can make its way to market by both train and waterway. Farm workers such as Alberto, who is only using his first name for privacy reasons, are the backbone of the industry. Once a migrant farm worker traveling around California and Washington state for jobs, he now lives permanently in Quincy with his family. There, he’s found steady year-round work planting, tending and harvesting crops at various farms. With that more stable work, he and other domestic farm workers have built a tight community in Grant county. Continue reading...
11/14/2024 - 07:34
NatureScot to allow shooting estates to greatly reduce area of grouse moors affected by licensing regime Wildlife charities have condemned a decision by Scotland’s nature conservation agency to dilute a new law designed to combat the illegal killing of birds of prey. NatureScot, a government agency, has decided to greatly reduce the area of land affected by a new licensing regime for grouse moors after legal threats from shooting estates and land owners. Continue reading...
11/14/2024 - 01:01
This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Cop29 coverage here Josh Gabbatiss, from Carbon Brief has published an update on social media about where negotiations at Cop29 have got to. You may have seen talk of new texts about the climate finance negotiations doing the rounds. These proposals have been produced by the co-chairs and circulated among negotiators and civil society observers, but for some reason they are not being published on the UNFCCC website. Continue reading...
11/13/2024 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 13 November 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00093-3 The Dubai Ocean Declaration is the latest international call to expand ocean observation worldwide. We argue that there needs to be a committed effort to establish governance systems to guide data collection designed around equity, to ensure ocean data collection contributes to sustainable development. Ocean science has historically been led by the Global North, neglecting the priorities and leadership of the Global South, and limiting the relevance of ocean science for global sustainability.
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023 Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program. World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html. Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs. World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world. World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org. media contact Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory   |   [email protected] +12077011069
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