Breaking Waves: Ocean News

07/30/2024 - 05:00
Harris, who had previously urged fracking ban, plans to highlight climate contrast between Democrats and Trump Kamala Harris will not seek to ban fracking if she becomes US president, campaign officials have confirmed, with the de facto Democratic nominee expected to focus instead on aggressively promoting the stark contrast on the climate crisis between Joe Biden’s administration and Donald Trump. Harris had previously, as a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination, vowed to ban fracking, as well as back a Green New Deal, a progressive resolution to shift the US to 100% renewable energy, and new government dietary guidelines to encourage people to reduce their meat eating. Continue reading...
07/30/2024 - 04:12
Heavy rainfall, difficult terrain, destroyed roads and collapsed bridge have hampered rescue efforts in Kerala At least 108 people have died and dozens more are missing after heavy rain led to a series of landslides in the Indian state of Kerala, with rescue operations hampered by poor weather conditions and the destruction of roads and bridges. The Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed the bodies of 108 people had been uncovered so far and dozens more were missing, feared dead after three massive landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in Wayanad in southern India. About 128 people were injured in the disaster and thousands were moved to camps for safety. Continue reading...
07/30/2024 - 04:00
Researchers call for immediate action to reduce methane emissions and avert dangerous escalation in climate crisis Global emissions of methane, a powerful planet-heating gas, are “rising rapidly” at the fastest rate in decades, requiring immediate action to help avert a dangerous escalation in the climate crisis, a new study has warned. Methane emissions are responsible for half of the global heating already experienced, have been climbing significantly since around 2006 and will continue to grow throughout the rest of the 2020s unless new steps are taken to curb this pollution, concludes the new paper. The research is authored by more than a dozen scientists from around the world and published on Tuesday. Continue reading...
07/30/2024 - 02:19
Oil and gas company to increase dividend and buy-backs as quarterly profit beats forecasts Business live – latest updates BP’s shareholders can expect a multibillion-dollar payout this year after the oil giant reported better than expected quarterly profits of almost $2.8bn (£2.2bn) and set out plans to develop a new oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil company has angered green groups by giving the go-ahead to develop potential oil resources of 10bn barrels from the new Kaskida project 250 miles south-west of New Orleans, after scaling back its green investments in the last quarter. Continue reading...
07/29/2024 - 23:00
Report finds 13 member states generated more energy from wind and solar power than coal and gas for first time in 2024 Wind turbines and solar panels have overtaken fossil fuels to generate 30% of the European Union’s electricity in the first half of the year, a report has found. Power generation from burning coal, oil and gas fell 17% in the first six months of 2024 compared with the same period the year before, according to climate thinktank Ember. It found the continued shift away from polluting fuels has led to a one-third drop in the sector’s emissions since the first half of 2022. Continue reading...
07/29/2024 - 16:33
Climate-driven shifts in California's biodiversity call for innovation and continued environmental stewardfship, says a new study. California's 30x30 Initiative and efforts to harmonize biodiversity with renewable energy are promising steps, while wildfire strategies need to further adapt.
07/29/2024 - 14:31
As blazes spew smoke across western US, research shows it may be worse for brain health than other types of pollution A new US study has found that wildfire smoke may be worse for brain health than other types of air pollution and even increase the risk of dementia. The findings, reported on Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia, come as millions spent the weekend under air quality warnings from wildfires spewing smoke across the western US, including a huge wildfire in California that has grown to more than 360,000 acres. Continue reading...
07/29/2024 - 10:00
Though 2,300 people in the US died from heat-related illness in 2023, workers await robust protection laws On 23 June, Shae Parker had to leave her shift early at a gas station in Columbia, South Carolina, to go to the emergency room due to heat exhaustion; she wasn’t paid for missing the rest of her shift. The air conditioning at her work has been on the fritz for weeks, she said, and her station heats up easily as the sun beams through its large windows. “I got nauseated, overheated, lightheaded,” she said. “We don’t have free water, we don’t have a water level on the soda machine, the ice machine is broken, so we have to buy water. The last few weeks it’s been extremely hot. It’s very hard to breathe when you’re lightheaded and experiencing dizziness. The fatigue is like 10 times worse because your body is completely drained. I had to get two bags of fluid from being dehydrated even though I was drinking water.” Continue reading...
07/29/2024 - 07:31
Regulator for Great Britain also appoints Elexon to lead local flexibility markets Business live – latest updates Ofgem is pushing ahead with plans to make it easier for British homeowners to reap the benefits of using electric car chargers and heat pumps at non-peak times, as the grid becomes more reliant on wind and solar power. The energy regulator for Great Britain has put forward proposals to encourage flexible electricity use in the home by creating a single register in which flexibility service providers (FSPs) can access more markets and better rates for owners of energy assets such as EV chargers and battery storage systems. Continue reading...
07/29/2024 - 05:00
Corporations and politicians are pushing carbon capture despite big questions over its value as residents in the southern ‘petrostate’ fear the worst It was a muggy morning in late April when a handful of local residents and grassroots organizers huddled in a church parking lot to strategize, before knocking on doors with information about the latest environmental threat facing St Rose, a predominantly Black community in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”. It was not the first time Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh had campaigned for better regulation of the choking sprawl of fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities that surround St Rose – and countless other communities up and down the Mississippi River. Continue reading...