Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Vehicle tyres found to be biggest source of nanoplastics in the high Alps

admin — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 10:35:33 +0000

Mountaineers now scaling more peaks for first global study of nanoplastics, which can enter lungs and bloodstream

Particles from vehicle tyre wear are the biggest source of nanoplastic pollution in the high Alps, a pioneering project has revealed.

Expert mountaineers teamed up with scientists to collect contamination-free samples and are now scaling peaks to produce the first global assessment of nanoplastics, which are easily carried around the world by winds.

The last fragments of ancient Irish rainforests may face a new threat … trees

admin — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 06:00:15 +0000

As commercial monocultures increase, ecologists are calling for the remaining splinters of native woodland to be identified, protected - and expanded

Photographs by Rob Stothard

“This could almost be part of Lapland, up here,” says retired researcher John Spence, approaching a clearing in the Correl Glen nature reserve in Fermanagh, near Northern Ireland’s land border with the county of Leitrim. “You could make a Nordic movie here and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

Norway rules out fish farm ban despite ‘existential threat’ to wild salmon

admin — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 05:00:14 +0000

Open-net farms to continue despite numbers of wild fish halving as minister looks for ‘acceptable’ pollution levels

Norway’s environment minister has ruled out a ban on open-net fish farming at sea despite acknowledging that the wild North Atlantic salmon is under “existential threat”.

US Senate confirms fracking CEO Chris Wright to be Trump’s energy secretary

admin — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:21:36 +0000

Liberty Energy executive, who has called climate change activists alarmist, confirmed in vote of 59-38

The US Senate on Monday confirmed Chris Wright, a fracking executive, to be Donald Trump’s energy secretary.

The vote was 59-38.

GB Energy says it may not meet pledge to employ 1,000 people ‘for 20 years’

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:58:57 +0000

Chair Jürgen Maier also refused to put a date on when the agency would bring down energy bills

It could take 20 years for GB Energy to meet its pledge to employ 1,000 people, its chair acknowledged on Monday.

Jürgen Maier also refused to put a date on when it would bring down energy bills.

PM faces growing internal backlash over potential approval of Rosebank oilfield

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:38:27 +0000

Labour MPs describe ‘breaking point’ in relations, calling for Keir Starmer to stand by party’s manifesto commitments

Keir Starmer is facing a growing internal backlash over the potential approval of a giant new oilfield, after Treasury sources indicated Rachel Reeves was likely to give it her backing.

MPs described a “breaking point” in relations and called for Starmer to reiterate his own commitments to no further oil and gas licences. The proposed Rosebank development was given the go-ahead in 2023 but was ruled unlawful by a court last week.

Australian nature: if our laws don’t radically change, environmental degradation will continue | Adam Morton

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:00:09 +0000

This country has a long history of taking its unique wildlife and landscapes for granted – but what has happened in this term of parliament is remarkable

Trump has brought much-needed attention to a site of great tragedy: the Gulf of Mexico | Greg Grandin

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:21:56 +0000

Environmental disasters have plagued the water body for decades. Now the region is thrust in the global spotlight

The enormous semi-enclosed bay, its waters flanked by the Florida and Yucatán peninsulas and partially blockaded by Cuba, has been called the Golfo de México for centuries, a name that first appeared on a world map in 1550. And for centuries the name bothered no one.

Greenland ice sheet cracking more rapidly than ever, study shows

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:06:12 +0000

Crevasses increasing in size and depth in response to climate breakdown, Durham University researchers find

The Greenland ice sheet – the second largest body of ice in the world – is cracking more rapidly than ever before as a response to climate breakdown, a study has found.

Researchers used 8,000 three-dimensional surface maps from high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to assess the evolution of cracks in the surface of the ice sheet between 2016 and 2021.

Levels of microplastics in human brains may be rapidly rising, study suggests

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:00:06 +0000

Research looking at tissue from postmortems between 1997 and 2024 finds upward trend in contamination

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The exponential rise in microplastic pollution over the past 50 years may be reflected in increasing contamination in human brains, according to a new study.