Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Trump’s EPA wants to weaken formaldehyde protections – this is what it could mean

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:30:01 +0000

EPA proposed undoing Biden-era policy on exposure to carcinogenic toxin in latest push to weaken toxin standards

Revealed: how Toyota uses retro-style games and prizes to urge US workers to lobby politicians

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:00:02 +0000

Games such as Dragon Quest used to mobilize workers to back corporate goals including relaxing environmental rules

Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, is using retro-style video games to rally its US workforce behind its corporate goals, including lobbying to relax environmental rules, the Guardian can reveal.

Food becoming more calorific but less nutritious due to rising carbon dioxide

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 10:00:05 +0000

Researchers noticed ‘dramatic’ changes in nutrients in crops, including drop in zinc and rise in lead

More carbon dioxide in the environment is making food more calorific but less nutritious – and also potentially more toxic, a study has found.

Weather tracker: Early snowfall in New York and a storm ruins Christmas lights in Spain

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:24:37 +0000

Long Island receives 21cm of snow, while a tornado tears down decorations near Málaga

Heavy snow fell in parts of New England this week. New York’s Central Park received a few centimetres of snow, while 21cm (8.5in) was dumped in parts of Long Island. This is the earliest New York has experienced snowfall since 2018.

‘I can’t think of a place more pristine’: 133,000 hectares of Chilean Patagonia preserved after local fundraising

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:00:01 +0000

Exclusive: Ancient forests and turquoise rivers of the Cochamó Valley protected from logging, damming and development

A wild valley in Chilean Patagonia has been preserved for future generations and protected from logging, damming and unbridled development after a remarkable fundraising effort by local groups, the Guardian can reveal.

Week in wildlife: honeymooning owls, an otter on the razz and a magical frog

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 08:00:54 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

UK’s largest proposed datacentre ‘understating planned water use’

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:00:52 +0000

Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimates

The UK’s largest proposed datacentre is understating the scale of its planned water use, according to an analysis.

The first phase of construction for the hyperscale campus in Cambois in Northumberland has been given the go-ahead by the local council. The US operator QTS, which is developing the site, has promoted its “water-free” cooling system as proof of its sustainability.

They survived wildfires. But something else is killing Greece’s iconic fir forests

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:00:52 +0000

In the Peloponnese mountains, the usually hardy trees are turning brown even where fires haven’t reached. Experts are raising the alarm on a complex crisis

‘You learn tricks to reduce it’: the smart bins measuring food waste in South Korea

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:29:09 +0000

Digital facilities that track wastage down to the gram have brought about behavioural change among users

Min Geum-nan walks towards a metal bin beneath her apartment block in Gangdong district, eastern Seoul carrying a small bag of vegetable peelings. She taps her resident card on the reader, the lid swings open, she empties the contents and scans again and a digital screen flashes: 0.5kg.

“You have no choice but to pay attention because you can see exactly what you’re wasting,” says Min, who has lived in the complex for 15 years and watched the system arrive in 2020.

‘Massive disruption’: UK’s worst-case climate crisis scenarios revealed by scientists

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:00:02 +0000

Scientists say government must prepare for unlikely but ‘plausible’ 4C rise in temperature and a 2-metre rise in sea levels

The worst-case impacts of the climate crisis for the UK have been laid bare by scientists, ranging from a scorching 4C rise in temperatures to a 2-metre rise in sea level. Another scenario sees a plunge of 6C in temperature after the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents, massively disrupting farming and energy needs.