Thompson fire near Oroville destroys homes and vehicles as state simmers in brutal and potentially historic heatwave
Thousands of homes are under threat from a raging wildfire that erupted in northern California on Tuesday, as the state simmers in a brutal and potentially historic heatwave.
Roughly 28,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as the Thompson fire quickly swept across more than 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) near the city of Oroville, about an hour outside Sacramento, California’s capital.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/03/2024 - 12:40
07/03/2024 - 10:00
The entrepreneur claims agency exaggerated the costs of the Coalition plan despite it using best-case scenario South Korea as the benchmark
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High-profile entrepreneur Dick Smith entered the ongoing radioactive debate on nuclear energy this week, accusing government agencies of misleading ministers over the costs of reactors and the practicalities of renewables.
But Smith’s complaints about what the Australian Energy Market Operator’s plan for the future of the grid says, or how CSIRO calculated the costs of nuclear, are themselves misleading.
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07/03/2024 - 10:00
Exclusive: Ageing, flood-prone rail line carrying the city’s waste to landfill increasingly vulnerable to disruptions, experts say
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Sydney is fast running out of landfill and an “emerging weak link” in the plan for how the city manages solid waste in the future could see uncollected garbage left piling up at hospitals and other businesses, experts warn.
Sydney has increasingly been sending its waste out of the city and its dwindling landfill capacities have long been acknowledged by the industry and relevant authorities. Some experts estimate Sydney will no longer be able to bury any of its own rubbish within city limits from as early as 2028.
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07/03/2024 - 08:17
More plans afoot for compostable food use, says head gardener, as tournament commits to wildlife ‘net gain’ by 2030
Rain or shine – usually more of the former – Wimbledon’s stunning floral displays always manage to dazzle.
For those hoping to give their gardens an SW19-inspired transformation, the tournament’s secret has finally been revealed: coffee grounds from the staff room.
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07/03/2024 - 08:00
Light pollution acts as ‘midnight fridge’, drawing in young fish, then predators, according to tests in French Polynesia
Artificial light shining from coastlines around the world is acting like “a midnight fridge” full of tasty snacks, threatening young fish who can be drawn to it and who are then eaten by predators also attracted by the brightness, according to a study.
It has long been established that light pollution hampers people’s ability to see the night sky and harms migrating birds, insects and other animals. But its impact on marine ecosystems has rarely been taken into account, said Jules Schligler, the lead author of the study at the international coral ecosystem research centre in Mo’orea, French Polynesia.
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07/03/2024 - 06:28
Next government urged to have a proper plan for food security, as UK’s climate becomes more unpredictable
UK fruit and vegetable production has plummeted as farms have been hit by extreme weather.
The country suffered the wettest 18 months since records began across the 2023-24 growing year, leaving soil waterlogged and some farms totally underwater. The impact on harvests has been disastrous. Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows that year-on-year vegetable yields decreased by 4.9% to 2.2m tonnes in 2023, and the production volumes of fruit decreased by 12% to 585,000 tonnes.
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07/03/2024 - 06:21
Homes flattened, apocalyptic scenes and at least four dead as St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada try to recover
This should have been a week of celebration in the Caribbean country of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). The annual Vincy Mas carnival, which attracts thousands of tourists, had advertised a packed schedule of costume parades, soca competitions, and beauty pageants.
Instead, the Vincentian population is reeling from what the country’s prime minister has described as the “utter devastation” wrought by Hurricane Beryl, which ravaged the multi-island country and its eastern Caribbean neighbour Grenada.
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07/03/2024 - 06:00
Analysis shows hippos get all four feet off the ground at once up to 15% of the time when at full pelt
It takes a scientific mind to see the grunting hulk of a hippopotamus and wonder whether, given sufficient motivation, such an improbable beast might ever become airborne.
And so to researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, whose painstaking examination of footage of the creatures revealed that when the hefty herbivores reach top speed they do indeed take off.
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07/03/2024 - 05:00
The ex-president is ranting about low water pressure and attacking mundane rules and technologies – and Republicans in Congress are now following his lead
When Donald Trump embarked upon a lengthy complaint at a recent rally about how long it takes to wash his “beautiful luxuriant hair” due to his shower’s low water pressure, he highlighted the expanding assault he and Republicans are launching against even the most obscure environmental policies – a push that’s starting to influence voters.
In his bid to return to the White House, Trump has branded Joe Biden’s attempt to advance electric cars in the US “lunacy”, claiming such vehicles do not work in the cold and that their supporters should “rot in hell”. He’s called offshore wind turbines “horrible”, falsely linking them to the death of whales, while promising to scrap incentives for both wind and electric cars.
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07/03/2024 - 01:00
Experts believe songbird is suffering from Usutu virus, first detected in UK in 2020
Beloved by Shakespeare and the Beatles, the blackbird and its sweet song have captured the imagination of Britons for centuries.
But now the songbird is facing decline, and the British public has been asked to contribute to a survey by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to find out why.
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