Breaking Waves: Ocean News

The National Trust’s wetlands project officer has described the effect of four Eurasian beavers on the ecosystem as astonishing, a year after they were reintroduced into the wild in England for the first time in 400 years. Beavers were hunted to extinction in England in the 16th century and remained absent until a year ago, when a landmark project announced by the National Trust, Defra and Natural England released two pairs relocated from Scotland into a freshwater lake in the Purbeck Heaths nature reserve in Dorset. Since their release, the beavers have constructed a 35-metre dam, improving local habitats for plants, insects, amphibians, birds and bats. Trail cameras even captured the beavers playing with an otter, while a barn owl, a protected species in the UK, was also seen flying nearby. The project allows for the release of 10 to 25 adult beavers, with the next release expected to take place this autumn. Beavers ‘breathe new life’ into Dorset as dams built and biodiversity returns Continue reading...

The energy crisis sparked by the war is making some countries consider ramping up their use of dirty fuels Not two months in office, as the price of west Texas crude approached $14 a barrel, Jimmy Carter, then president, donned a cardigan to speak candidly about his strategy to face the permanent energy shortage he saw in the nation’s future. His “fireside chat” is mostly remembered for asking Americans to lower the thermostat to 65F(18C) in the daytime and 55F at night, an idea that didn’t go down too well in the bitter winter of 1977. Continue reading...

Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection. But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back. Continue reading...

Researchers are weaving Native practices with western methods to revive ecosystems and reclaim food sovereignty “I’m a glorified clam counter.” So said Marco Hatch, a marine ecologist at Western Washington University and an enrolled member of the Samish Indian Nation. Hatch has been conducting surveys of mollusks growing in and around clam gardens in the Pacific north-west, as he collaborates with seven Indigenous communities to build or rebuild these rock-walled, terraced beaches once created and tended by their ancestors. Continue reading...