Governor says bill would cause sudden product shift, sparking debate among chefs, lawmakers and environmentalists
Gavin Newsom vetoed a California bill that was set to ban the sale of cookware and other consumer goods manufactured with Pfas, also known as “forever chemicals”, human-made compounds linked to a range of health issues.
The governor’s decision on Monday followed months of debate and advocacy, including from high-profile celebrity chefs such as Thomas Keller and Rachael Ray, who argued that nonstick cookware made with Pfas, when manufactured responsibly, can be safe and effective and urged lawmakers to vote against the proposal.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/14/2025 - 13:11
10/14/2025 - 12:58
The bleak future faced by one small town offers a cautionary tale about the threat from global heating
The bleak prospect facing the market town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire, due to rising flood risks, is first and foremost a problem for locals. After seven floods in four years, and with plans for new flood defences around the town abandoned after costs rose to £30m, the town council announced this month that three buildings it owns, including a theatre and historic pump rooms, no longer have insurance. Independent retailers are in a similar situation, and some are packing up as a result. The number of empty properties is growing.
Tenbury is at higher risk than most places from floods, due to its low-lying position between the River Teme and Kyre Brook. But the threat it faces is not unique, and will become more common in future. Last year UK insurers paid out a record £585m for weather-related damage to homes and possessions, after unusually severe storms led to floods in several counties, with buildings left under water in towns including Henley, Wellingborough and Tewkesbury.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...
10/14/2025 - 10:25
Tillbridge solar farm will be built in county where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has rising support
Ed Miliband has approved the UK’s biggest solar farm, which will be built in a county where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has won rising support.
The energy secretary on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the Tillbridge solar farm to be developed near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. Once built, it will generate enough electricity to power 300,000 UK homes.
Continue reading...
10/14/2025 - 08:01
One expert says a cyclist hit by a car travelling 50km/h has about a one-in-10 chance of surviving, while at 30km/h it is a nine-in-10 chance
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Reducing residential speed limits from 50km/h to 30 km/h would protect cyclists from danger and make riding less stressful while not causing traffic delays for cars, according to new research.
Researchers from RMIT University rated traffic stress levels for every road in greater Melbourne and modelled the effect of lower speed limits on bicycle and car travel.
Continue reading...
10/14/2025 - 07:00
For decades, the military treated the climate crisis as a threat. Now it’s backing away from plans to protect people and bases from extreme weather
This story is from Floodlight, a non-profit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action.
Retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant Vida Rivera knows heat can be as dangerous as any enemy.
Continue reading...
10/14/2025 - 01:42
Changes intended to reduce ‘burdensome bureaucracy’ and make it easier to build windfarms, reservoirs and housing
Ministers are making it easier to build windfarms, reservoirs and large housing developments as part of a series of changes to the government’s planning and infrastructure bill designed to bolster the confidence of developers.
The changes, which were first revealed by the Guardian, will be confirmed on Tuesday by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as part of a pre-budget push to underline the government’s commitment to economic growth.
Continue reading...
10/14/2025 - 01:18
As the final hours of Guardian Australia's 2025 bird of the year draw near, Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales environment minister, makes a last-minute appeal for votes for the endangered bush stone-curlew. In a boisterous session of state parliament, Sharpe encourages people to 'vote early and vote often' in what she calls 'the only ballot that counts this year'. A colleague can be heard yelling their support for the powerful owl, but Sharpe points out 'the powerful owl is out. It's been eliminated.' Sharpe also encourages people to take part in this year's Aussie Bird Count, adding the state's bird are a 'genuinely good thing that makes everyone's life a bit better when you get to hear bird song'
Vote here for the Guardian's bird of the year 2025 contest
Continue reading...
10/13/2025 - 23:00
Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds
The flood-prone Worcestershire town being abandoned by insurers
Doors, drains and paving perils: protecting your home from flooding
Millions more homes in England, Scotland and Wales face devastating floods, and some towns may have to be abandoned as climate breakdown makes many areas uninsurable, a Guardian investigation has found.
New analysis from the insurance industry, seen by the Guardian, reveals the extent of concern in the sector, with bosses warning that large swathes of housing and commercial property in densely populated areas will be at greater risk.
Continue reading...
10/13/2025 - 18:01
Financial institutions pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to stop destruction, says Climate Focus
Global forest health has plunged to “dismal” levels and threatens the wellbeing of humanity, warns a damning report that highlights how financial systems are pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to reduce destruction.
Since 2021 when world leaders and corporate executives promised to halt deforestation, the new study found that forest loss has increased, driven by subsidies for livestock, monocrops, logging and other extractive industries.
Continue reading...
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
Read more »
