From Port Stephens to Illawarra, council candidates are running against renewable schemes because of ‘lack of consultation’
Explainer: All you need to know about the NSW council elections
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Part of what’s driving Mark Watson’s pitch for mayor is his opposition to a project he says is the talk of the town and the “biggest issue” in his coastal home’s history.
The former One Nation candidate for the state government is now running as an independent for mayor of Port Stephens. The coastal town just north of Newcastle overlooks the middle of the 1,800-square kilometre offshore windfarm zone off the Hunter, where the Albanese government plans a renewable energy hub to be operating by 2030.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/13/2024 - 10:00
09/13/2024 - 10:00
Mayor says blatant disregard for environment is ‘offensive’ as councils struggle to deal with increasing environmental destruction
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A huge banner has been erected to block prized views of Sydney Harbour created after almost 300 trees were illegally killed as councils across New South Wales seek ways to stop the damaging practice.
The double-sided red sign, spanning seven metres, was installed at the Longueville site where more than 290 trees were chopped down a year ago in what the council described as “the worst act of environmental vandalism”.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 09:07
Legislation makes it illegal to advertise fossil fuel products and services with a high carbon footprint
The Hague has become the first city in the world to pass a law banning advertisements promoting fossil fuel products and climate-busting services.
Legislation passed on Thursday spells the end of publicly and privately funded advertising for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships in the streets of the Dutch city, including on billboards and bus shelters. It takes effect from the start of next year.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 09:00
Survivors of the 2023 massacre in Half Moon Bay, California, were moved from dilapidated sheds to subsidized housing but struggle with a sense of security and normalcy
Just a short car ride from the famous crescent shoreline of Half Moon Bay, the California beach town best known for big wave surf contests, a gravel road off Highway 1 leads to a cluster of ramshackle sheds and trailers.
For years, few people knew about the dozens of farmworkers who lived in them, growing fresh gourmet mushrooms to deliver to grocery stores and restaurants across the state.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 07:00
Trump promises to end electric vehicle mandate. Harris has been silent, risking swing state autoworkers’ critical votes
As the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats’ poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November’s election.
“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now,” Donald Trump told the Republican national convention in a speech this summer that would reach tens of millions of people.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 07:00
Researchers are finding heat-related illnesses can also contribute to heart disease and cognitive impairment
At a dialysis center in Atlanta, Lauren Kasper tended to patients resting in hospital beds, some too sick to be transferred to a chair. Many arrived in wheelchairs or walked with canes, their bodies weakened from kidney disease.
As she hooked them up to dialysis machines, Kasper, a nurse practitioner, was struck by how young many of her patients were.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 06:30
The image of huge, glorious landscapes, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state, is far from reality
England’s national parks overseen by ‘bloated’, mostly white male boards
What do you think of when you think of a national park? Is it a wide area of glorious natural beauty, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state? Or is it a wide area mostly farmed by private landowners, in which nature is faring worse than outside its boundaries, and largely off-limits to the public?
In England, the reality is the latter, and this matters. The country is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, in the bottom 10% of nations for biodiversity. “Nature is in freefall in our national parks,” says Dr Rose O’Neill, the chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks (CNP).
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 06:30
Exclusive: Campaigners call for overhaul as Guardian investigation shows nature rarely on agenda
How national parks failed nature – and how to fix them
The boards that oversee England’s national parks are bloated, dominated by men and are severely lacking in diversity, a Guardian analysis has found. The analysis also found that farmers outnumber conservation experts by two to one, nature is rarely on the agenda at board meetings and only one national park can account for the ownership of all the land it covers.
Campaigners said a major overhaul of how national parks were governed was “fundamental” to the recovery of nature in the parks and to serving the public, for whom they were set up.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 06:00
Government’s communication called ‘unconscionable’ after one of largest spills of toxic ‘forever chemicals’
A former US navy base in Maine has caused among the largest accidental spills of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” ever recorded in the nation, and public health advocates suspect state officials are attempting to cover up its scale by reporting misleading and incomplete data.
Meanwhile, state and regional officials were slow to alert the public and are resisting calls to immediately test some private drinking water wells in the area despite its notoriously complex hydrology, which could potentially spread the contamination widely.
Continue reading...
09/13/2024 - 05:00
Voters in Canada province will go to polls in October with climate policies and Indigenous rights at stake
Canada’s westernmost province has been gripped by a chaotic provincial election campaign, rife with political backstabbing, abrupt resignations and unexpected allegiances.
And as an unpopular premier squares off against a climate crisis skeptic, the October vote could have profound consequences for British Columbia, a province seen as the vanguard for progressive climate policy.
Continue reading...
