Breaking Waves: Ocean News

We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 10:00:47 +0000

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys

Far beyond the fires raging across Europe and North America, the smoke, dangerous to breathe, hangs in the air, dimming the view, changing the very color of sunlight into something grimly unsettling.

‘Nobody cares’: the Turkish farmers bearing the burden of UK’s plastic waste problem

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:00:18 +0000

Britain exported 139,000 tonnes of rubbish to Turkey last year, leaving smallholders and poor districts of Adana to cope with the debris, microplastics and toxic smoke

UK plastic ‘waste colonialism’ found to be polluting Turkey’s farming heartland

UK plastic ‘waste colonialism’ found to be polluting Turkey’s farming heartland

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:00:18 +0000

A Guardian investigation finds irrigation canals polluted with microplastics in Turkey, a major destination for UK waste

• ‘Nobody cares’: Turkish farmers bear the burden of UK’s plastic waste problem

High levels of microplastics and other plastic contamination have been discovered in a waterway close to a major recycling hub in Turkey supplied with plastic waste by British companies.

Three lions die of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo zoo as Japan swelters

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:46:06 +0000

Most of the zoo’s 16 lions have struggled to cope with high humidity this summer

Three lions from a Tokyo zoo have died from suspected heatstroke and others are undergoing treatment, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the big cats struggle in Japan’s high levels of humidity.

Nine Lives, the feral cat that terrorised New Zealand’s rare ducks, is caught after three years

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:45:57 +0000

Large tabby cat that wiped out dozens of rare pāteke, or brown teal, has been killed after eluding trappers with its ‘very erratic’ behaviour

A notorious feral cat given the name “Nine Lives” because it eluded trappers for three years has been caught and killed in New Zealand, ending its devastating rampage against one of the country’s rare duck populations.

Tuesday briefing: Inside the right’s heated climate-denial debate

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:45:05 +0000

In today’s newsletter: A small chorus of right-leaning critics are trying to convince politicians that climate action is deeply unpopular, downplaying its seriousness in the process

UK plastic manufacturer could face legal action over toxic emissions

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:00:12 +0000

Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene

A plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level, the Guardian can reveal.

The Environment Agency (EA) is considering taking legal action against Huntsman Polyurethanes in Teesside for a potential breach of licence, which is a criminal offence.

Crews building Trump border wall in drought-hit New Mexico ordered to stop drilling wells

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 01:25:42 +0000

Residents and farmers say contractors have tapped border aquifers that threaten water supply for those nearby

Construction crews building a border wall in New Mexico were ordered to stop drilling new wells after ranchers said that pumping groundwater to produce concrete could threaten their livestock amid a severe drought.

Rebecca Hendin on Britain’s air con debate – cartoon

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:04:29 +0000

Scottish seabird hunt cancelled for first time in 400 years

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:56:27 +0000

NatureScot refuses licence for hunt on Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir in which up to 2,000 gannet chicks are killed

A controversial Scottish seabird hunt will not go ahead for the first time in 400 years, in what campaigners have called a “victory for common sense”.

In the annual guga hunt, up to 2,000 gannet chicks are killed over a 10-day period on the uninhabited Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir, 40 miles north of Lewis and Harris.