Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Two weeks before the spending review, the housing ombudsman has issued an important warning about a deepening crisis and growing human misery The most obvious social housing problem in Britain is the lack of it. The failure to build enough homes to keep up with need, and replace those sold off under the right-to-buy scheme, has adversely affected millions of lives. In parts of England, the wait for family-size homes has reached 100 years, with long waiting lists also in Scotland and Wales. Charities rightly call this a national scandal. While the slowdown dates back decades, the 60% cut in the affordable housing budget in 2010 made the situation far worse. The resulting shortages mean millions of people are stuck in privately rented accommodation with no prospect of buying their own. Hundreds of thousands of others are officially homeless, and trapped in overcrowded temporary flats and rooms. 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...

The 8-0 ruling overturns lower court’s decision that halted the project intended to transport crude oil The US supreme court on Thursday backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah, endorsing a scaled-back interpretation of a key environmental law that could pave the way for faster fossil fuel expansion. In a unanimous ruling, the supreme court justices overturned a lower court’s decision that had halted the fossil fuel project on the grounds that an environmental impact assessment by a federal agency had been too limited in scope. Continue reading...

Hosepipe ban could follow, says Environment Agency, after England had driest February-April period on record A drought has been declared in north-west England as reservoir levels dwindle. Hosepipe bans could follow, the Environment Agency said, though this is a matter for water companies, which have been directed to follow their drought plans. Continue reading...

The new executive order allows political appointees to undermine research they oppose, paving the way for state-controlled science Science is under siege. On Friday evening, the White House released an executive order called Restoring Gold Standard Science. At face value, this order promises a commitment to federally funded research that is “transparent, rigorous, and impactful” and policy that is informed by “the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available”. But hidden beneath the scientific rhetoric is a plan that would destroy scientific independence in the US by giving political appointees the latitude to dismiss entire bodies of research and punish researchers who fail to fall in line with the current administration’s objectives. In other words: this is Fool’s-Gold Standard Science. Colette Delawalla is a PhD candidate at Emory University and executive director of Stand Up for Science. Victor Ambros is a 2024 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine at the Chan Medical School, University of Massachusetts. Carl Bergstrom is professor of biology at the University of Washington. Carol Greider is a 2009 Nobel laureate in medicine and distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Michael Mann is the presidential distinguished professor of earth and environmental science and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. Brian Nosek is executive director of the Center for Open Science and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia Continue reading...