Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Plastic food and drink packaging ‘world’s most common coastal litter’

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:00:45 +0000

Global study finds wrappers, bottles and lids on shorelines of 93% of countries analysed as UN talks to tackle issue stall

Plastic food wrappers, bottles, lids and caps are by far the most common items of litter found on the world’s shorelines, a study has found.

Researchers looked at data from more than 5,300 surveys of coastal litter to produce the first global analysis of its kind. They found the data in 355 existing studies on the subject.

Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:00:42 +0000

Young Americans are suing the president for violating rights with executive orders that fuel the climate crisis

Eva Lighthiser was at a dorm party on her Colorado college campus last month when she had to call it an early night.

“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go to bed, I’m flying out to Portland tomorrow,’ and then of course follow-up questions get raised,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Well, it’s a lot to explain.’”

Blinded and broken, Sunny the owl becomes another casualty of Russia’s war

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 10:49:32 +0000

Ukrainians lament appalling toll of fighting on their country’s bird population

Russia sent kamikaze drones to attack the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in February. They hit buildings and killed several people. One unreported victim of the bombardment was a male long-eared owl, blinded in one eye and found with a badly broken wing. A passerby scooped up the stunned bird, put him in a box and took him to the city of Dnipro.

The owl – nicknamed Sunny – is now recovering in a cosy room belonging to Veronica Konkova. No longer able to fly or hunt, Sunny instead hops around.

I believed sustainable fashion’s hype. But between Everlane and Allbirds, the letdowns keep coming | Clare Press

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 08:52:11 +0000

Sustainability promised to change the industry. With Shein reportedly acquiring Everlane, and Allbirds pivotting from eco sneakers to AI, it seems that promise was mostly marketing

Rachel Reeves to protect ‘critical’ clean energy projects from legal challenges

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 08:50:22 +0000

Chancellor’s planning shake-up would ‘reduce exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds’

Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce a planning shake-up ‌that would fast-track clean energy and infrastructure projects by curbing judicial reviews, the Treasury has said.

The chancellor will propose that parliament should be able to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as of “critical national importance”, as part of a wider package seeking to soften the economic blow from the Iran crisis.

Collecting pollen can be as exhausting for bees as flight take-off, study shows

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 08:41:51 +0000

‘Floral buzzing’, the vibrations bees use to shake pollen loose from flowers, takes more energy than previously thought

Bees use as much energy collecting pollen through “floral buzzing” as they do taking off in flight, a study shows.

Scientists have found the vibrations bumblebees use to shake pollen loose from flowers are among the most exhausting behaviours they perform, forcing bees to “carefully choose” which flowers are worth visiting.

Rainforests pushed to breaking point by new demands for resources, report says

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 07:00:26 +0000

Need for minerals, biofuels and pulp adding to pressures from ranching, monocrops, oil and logging, analysis finds

The growing extraction of rainforest resources is pushing the Amazon and similar biomes towards breaking point, a report has shown.

Fresh demands for critical minerals, biofuels and pulp – used in fast fashion, processed food and packaging – are compounding existing pressures from cattle ranching, monocrops, oil and logging, the analysis finds.

Lost for 150,000 years: Rainforest discovery upends human history

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 06:22:18 +0000

For decades, scientists believed ancient humans avoided dense rainforests, treating them as nearly impossible environments for early survival. But a groundbreaking discovery in West Africa is rewriting that story. Researchers uncovered evidence that humans were living deep within rainforest environments in present-day Côte d'Ivoire around 150,000 years ago — far earlier than anyone thought possible.

Melbourne teenager Bianca Adler becomes youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 05:50:20 +0000

The 18-year-old high school student reached the top of the world’s tallest mountain on her second attempt

An 18-year-old high school student from Melbourne became the youngest Australian to climb to the top of Mount Everest on Wednesday.

Scientists use DNA from poop to save the world’s rarest marsupial

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:45:48 +0000

Scientists in Australia are using cutting-edge DNA techniques to help save one of the world’s rarest marsupials — the critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo, with fewer than 150 left in the wild. By analyzing tiny traces of DNA in the animals’ scat, researchers uncovered clues about the elusive fungi the potoroos depend on for survival. The findings could help conservationists identify safer new habitats and establish backup populations before disasters like bushfires wipe them out.