Biden’s efforts to save mature trees are not getting enough Forest Service support, according to some conservationists
They are the ancient giants of America – towering trunks of sequoias or beech or ash that started to sprout in some cases before the age of the Roman empire, with the few survivors of a frenzy of settler logging now appreciated as crucial allies in an era of climate and biodiversity crises.
Joe Biden has vowed to protect these “cherished” remnants of old growth forest, as well as the next generation of mature forests, directing his government to draw up new plans to conserve the ecological powerhouses that enable US forests to soak up about 10% of the country’s carbon emissions, as well as provide a vital crucible for clean water and wildlife.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/01/2024 - 05:00
08/01/2024 - 01:00
The annual coronation of a young girl symbolised a fishing community’s hopes. Now, as the industry declines, it has evolved to reflect the powerful role of women and the change they bring about
• Photographs by Christopher Thomond
The sun is battling the clouds, but the forecast rain holds off as the flotilla enters the harbour. Lining the quayside, hundreds of local people and tourists cheer each boat as it appears, and the sound of a pipe band skirls on the breeze as families crane their necks. They are looking for WaveDancer, the final, most important vessel. Today it is carrying an honoured passenger: the Eyemouth Herring Queen.
Fourteen-year-old Holly Blackie is the 80th Eyemouth Herring Queen (EHQ) and this year is particularly special as 50 former queens have travelled from all over the world to witness her coronation.
Holly Blackie is crowned by the outgoing Herring Queen, Sophie Crowe
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07/31/2024 - 23:00
Cornwall Wildlife Trust initiative aims to benefit creatures from upland marsh fritillaries to seahorses in St Austell Bay
A Cornish conservation charity has launched an ambitious rewilding project intended to benefit creatures from marsh fritillary butterflies living high on the moor to long-snouted seahorses in seagrass in a bay five miles away.
The Tor to Shore project will stretch from Helman Tor, a reserve topped with a granite boulder summit near Bodmin, to St Austell Bay via the tumbling River Par, its idea to improve a landscape at scale.
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07/31/2024 - 21:57
Japanese government confirms it will allow whalers to catch and kill up to 59 fin whales, a species conservationists consider vulnerable
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The Australian government is “deeply disappointed” by Japan’s decision to add the world’s second-largest whale species to the list of species its commercial whale hunters will target.
Tanya Plibersek, the environment minister, attacked Japan’s decision to hunt fin whales – the world’s second-longest whale and considered vulnerable.
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07/31/2024 - 19:00
Opposition leader’s argument is puzzling given Canadian provinces dominated by renewables pay less for electricity
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There’s a community in Ontario called Dutton which, right now, seems appropriate given the number of times Peter Dutton has name-checked the Canadian province over the last 12 months.
In dozens of media interviews and speeches, Dutton (the opposition leader, not the township) has said Ontarians are getting cheap electricity because of their 20 nuclear reactors.
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07/31/2024 - 13:12
New research led proposes a plan to safeguard Earth's imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon's permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen.
07/31/2024 - 13:04
Central General Staff militant group previously said Cop16 event scheduled for October in Cali ‘would fail’
A dissident rebel group has backed down from its threat to disrupt the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia later this year.
The Central General Staff (EMC), a guerrilla faction that rejected the country’s 2016 peace agreement, said on Wednesday it would order its militants not to target the Cop16 negotiations that are due to begin in Cali in October.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features.
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07/31/2024 - 10:55
Nearly 100 wildfires are burning, including massive blaze in California that has become fifth-largest in state history
A person has been killed in one of several wildfires threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, authorities said on Wednesday.
A body was discovered in a home about 1 mile (1.6km) north of Lyons, Colorado, according to Curtis Johnson, the Boulder county sheriff. He said that detectives were assisting the investigation into the death, but declined to provide further details.
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07/25/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 26 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00075-5
The deep ocean is increasingly featured in climate solution discussions. An emerging narrative suggests that marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) is essential to meet global climate targets. The argument made is similar to claims that deep-seabed mining (DSM) is necessary to enable widespread electrification, in that both are framed as helping to address climate change. We compare the structure and history of these narratives, highlighting that while potential negative impacts on marine life have emerged as a central feature in debates about DSM, environmental and social risks associated with mCDR are yet to receive similar recognition. In light of this comparison, we argue that potential harm needs to be further emphasized in considerations of deploying mCDR.
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
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