Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Week in wildlife in pictures: a newborn turtle, a tiny frog and a rare tiger

admin — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:00:39 +0000

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Fancy a stroll? Across Europe, young people like me are finding friends by walking our cities | Viola Di Grado

admin — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 07:00:36 +0000

We are the post-pandemic flâneurs: stepping out of social media silos to meet people and connect with the world around us

When I moved back to London from Rome just before the second lockdown in 2020, I found a city that was hardly welcoming, with shops closed and an atmosphere of silent apprehension. Young, single people like me were only socialising online with existing friends, and opportunities to make fresh connections were rare.

Call to make tech firms report data centre energy use as AI booms

admin — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 00:01:28 +0000

Experts say mandatory reporting on energy and water use is needed to avoid irreparable damage to environment

Tech companies should be required by law to report the energy and water consumption for their data centres, as the boom in AI risks causing irreparable damage to the environment, experts have said.

AI is growing at a rate unparalleled by other energy systems, bringing heightened environmental risk, a report by the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) said.

Expand mandatory environmental reporting.

Green campaigners fear UK to renew subsidies to Drax power station

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 20:27:45 +0000

Billions of pounds from energy bill payers to run out in 2027 but could be extended as soon as Monday

Green campaigners fear ministers are poised to award billions of pounds in fresh subsidies to Drax power station, despite strong concerns that burning trees to produce electricity is bad for the environment.

Drax burns wood to generate about 8% of the UK’s “green” power, and 4% of overall electricity. This is classed as “low-carbon” because the harvested trees are replaced by others that take up carbon from the atmosphere as they grow.

Humpback whale song and human language are more similar than you might think. Here’s why

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:00:21 +0000

Researchers have found a pattern indicating certain ‘words’ are used more often than others – but humans won’t be speaking whale any time soon

Starmer pledges to ‘build, baby, build’ as green groups criticise nuclear plans

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 17:30:03 +0000

Greenpeace says PM has ‘swallowed industry spin whole’ after plans unveiled to expand in England and Wales

Keir Starmer has channelled his inner Donald Trump and promised to “build, baby, build” in his push for more nuclear power stations, despite warnings from environmental groups about the industry’s record for soaring costs and long delays.

Trump interior department directive raises fears for national monuments

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 17:10:14 +0000

Conservation groups say policy would allow Doug Burgum to redraw boundaries of protected areas to boost fossil fuels

The US interior department has raised fears among conservationist groups about how national monuments will be affected in its transformation to support the Trump administration’s pro-fossil fuel agenda.

Council set to drop Essex wildlife site from housing plan after eight-year fight

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:52:17 +0000

Middlewick Ranges in Colchester considered to be of national importance for nightingales and acid grassland

A council is proposing to remove the second-best place for nightingales in the UK from its local plan for 1,000 new homes, in a win for community campaigners and environmentalists.

Middlewick Ranges, a former Ministry of Defence firing range on the southern edge of Colchester, is set to be dropped from the city council’s allocated housing sites after councillors heeded a growing array of ecological evidence highlighting its national importance for nature.

The Observer view on Heathrow runway: Rachel Reeves is flying in face of dire climate threat | Observer editorial

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:51:19 +0000

On almost every level the chancellor’s decision to expand the London airport looks naive, if not foolish

Jeff Bezos fund ends support for climate group amid fears billionaires ‘bowing down’ to Trump

admin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:21:19 +0000

Concerns raised as $10bn Bezos Earth Fund halts funding for Science Based Targets initiative, which monitors companies’ decarbonisation

Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has halted its funding of one of the world’s most important climate certification organisations, amid broader concerns US billionaires are “bowing down to Trump” and his anti-climate action rhetoric.