Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Australia’s dependence on gas generation during evening energy peak falls by almost 70%

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:00:12 +0000

Batteries now meet almost half of the grid’s dispatchable power needs during hours of highest demand

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One Nation under fire for abandoning gas reservation plan in favour of policy benefiting Gina Rinehart

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:00:10 +0000

Pauline Hanson’s gas policy and the party’s relationship with Rinehart is examined in a new Guardian podcast series, The Populist

Listen: The Populist: Aeroplanes and bulldozers | Episode 1 – podcast

Trump’s EPA reportedly ⁠poised to axe carbon pollution rules for power plants

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:34:59 +0000

Advocates and experts describe the Trump administration’s climate rollbacks as gifts to polluters at expense of planet

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ⁠poised to formally repeal carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants, according to reports.

The Trump administration’s latest climate rollback is expected to ⁠come as soon as Monday on the sidelines of the G20 energy ministers’ meeting in Houston, ⁠Texas, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Scientists find nine new sponge species in glimpse of Alaska’s deep-sea diversity

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:30:56 +0000

But their habitat is threatened by bottom trawling in the region and Trump’s plan to expand seafloor mining

Scientists have discovered nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, offering new insights into the region’s largely unexplored marine biodiversity.

Disaster insurance, datacenters, right to repair: meet the midterm candidates running on green policies

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:00:56 +0000

Some of the everyday struggles animating voters have a climate link lurking in the background

‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:00:26 +0000

Big manufacturers planning to produce more of the forever chemicals to meet demand from datacentres

Pfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned.

Despite alarm over the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, a survey of the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production.

We greet the news that AI could extinguish us with a glazed indifference. What is the way out of this nihilism? | Brigid Delaney

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:49:46 +0000

There are several answers, and none of them will be provided by tech. One thing we must do is identify the ingredients for human flourishing

Imagining the future as almost entirely bleak has somehow crept into the collective consciousness this year.

Last week I was having coffee with an old friend. He was telling me about what his kids wanted to study when they went to university, when he suddenly broke off, stared into the middle distance and said, “I wish I’d never had children.”

Brigid Delaney is the author of five books, including The Seeker and the Sage

Blankets of colour: Western Australia’s wildflower season bursts into life – in pictures

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 15:00:08 +0000

On Wajarri Yamaji country in WA’s remote mid-west sits Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO’s Murchison radio-astronomy observatory. This year’s early winter rains have left the telescopes surrounded by a carpet of splendid native blooms

The bird that changed Ecuador: how a chance discovery of a rare species helped to save many more

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 13:00:05 +0000

Thirty years after a US ornithologist first sighted a jocotoco antpitta, the foundation he set up to restore biodiversity is a model for conservation globally

I have to confess that I rarely enjoy birding in montane cloud forests. The birds that live in these mountainous, cool and humid habitats are masters of disguise, usually passing themselves off as a leaf or other form of foliage. But if I want to see antpittas – elusive, ground-dwelling birds that rarely show themselves – then I have no choice.

Think of the parable of a frog in boiling water. That’s us dithering as the ‘unprecedented‘ weather becomes more extreme | Helen Pilcher

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 07:00:01 +0000

The complacency is staggering: just another hot summer, a flooded street, a crop failure. We are accepting this extraordinary deterioration as normal

Recently, I overheard a conversation in a cafe where someone described their toast as “awesome”. I felt myself bristle. Not because the toast wasn’t good – I didn’t taste it – but because I remember a time when “awesome” meant something that inspired awe: towering mountains, the vastness of the night sky, the haunting song of a humpback whale. Now it’s being used to describe breakfast.