Breaking Waves: Ocean News

As the final hours of Guardian Australia's 2025 bird of the year draw near, Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales environment minister, makes a last-minute appeal for votes for the endangered bush stone-curlew. In a boisterous session of state parliament, Sharpe encourages people to 'vote early and vote often' in what she calls 'the only ballot that counts this year'. A colleague can be heard yelling their support for the powerful owl, but Sharpe points out 'the powerful owl is out. It's been eliminated.' Sharpe also encourages people to take part in this year's Aussie Bird Count, adding the state's bird are a 'genuinely good thing that makes everyone's life a bit better when you get to hear bird song' Vote here for the Guardian's bird of the year 2025 contest Continue reading...

Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds The flood-prone Worcestershire town being abandoned by insurers Doors, drains and paving perils: protecting your home from flooding Millions more homes in England, Scotland and Wales face devastating floods, and some towns may have to be abandoned as climate breakdown makes many areas uninsurable, a Guardian investigation has found. New analysis from the insurance industry, seen by the Guardian, reveals the extent of concern in the sector, with bosses warning that large swathes of housing and commercial property in densely populated areas will be at greater risk. Every constituency in Great Britain is projected to have increased flood risk in future. In England, 69% of constituencies are likely to have an increase of more than 25% in the number of properties facing flood risk by mid-century. In Wales and Scotland, every area is projected to have a similar rise with many being much worse hit. Bermondsey and Old Southwark in London and Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire are projected to have about 90% of homes at risk from river and coastal flooding by 2050 – the highest proportions in the country. Overall London and Yorkshire and the Humber collectively represent more than half of the top 20 constituencies affected by river and coastal flooding, highlighting that the east of England could be most negatively affected. Surface-water flood risk is likely to be particularly acute in dense urban areas, with 14 London constituencies ranked in the top 20 Bournemouth East shows the largest projected increase in surface-water flood risk, with its low-lying topography and inadequate drainage making it particularly susceptible. Over the past decade, 110,000 new homes were built in the highest risk flood zones, equivalent to one in 13 of the new homes built. Aviva calculates that if this trend were to continue, 115,000 of the government’s planned 1.5m new homes would also be in the highest-risk flood zones. Continue reading...

The rapid spread of the invasive species offers clues to how we might prevent future extinctions of native animals To a newly arrived red fox, the abundant rolling grasslands and swamps of Wadawurrung Country, around what is now called Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, must have seemed like a predator’s paradise. This landscape was filled with small native marsupials and birds, and free of European wolves or bears that usually kept fox numbers in check. Continue reading...

Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Peugeot/Citroën face group action in which damages could exceed £6bn Car manufacturers decided they would rather cheat to prioritise “customer convenience” and sell cars than comply with the law on deadly pollutants, the first day of the largest group action trial in English legal history has been told. More than a decade after the original “dieselgate” scandal broke, lawyers representing 1.6 million diesel car owners in the UK argue that manufacturers deliberately installed software to rig emissions tests. Continue reading...