The hubbub of an Indonesian reef should comes as no surprise: the world below is alive with soundA coral reef in Indonesia thought to be dead has been discovered to be erupting with glorious uproar – the sound of fishes whooping and grunting as they co…
Here’s something you can’t ignore, says tampon plastics activist
Ella Daish to hand Procter & Gamble giant Tampax applicator, made from 1,200 discarded contributionsA British environmental activist is stepping up her campaign against single-use plastics in period products by calling on the world’s bestselling ma…
Locked down in Cornwall, the sea brought me energy and spiritual healing
Grieving my mother and the ceremony of playing live, I collaborated instead with the land, water and muses of Cornwall – they helped me reboard my sonic spaceshipThe first lockdown, my family did medium-to-spicy well. It was me, my husband Mark, [my da…
New Zealand supreme court blocks seabed mining consent
Campaigners hail ruling preventing TTR dredging 50m tonnes of iron-sands from South Taranaki seabed, though mining firm says it will try againMore in this series• Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea• ‘False choice’…
‘False choice’: is deep-sea mining required for an electric vehicle revolution?
Deep sea mining firms claim their rare metals are necessary to power clean tech – but with even major electric car firms now backing a moratorium, critics say there is an alternative• More from this series: Race to the bottom – the rush to mine the dee…
Race to the bottom: the disastrous blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea
One of the largest mining operations ever seen on Earth aims to despoil an ocean we are only barely beginning to understandA short bureaucratic note from a brutally degraded microstate in the South Pacific to a little-known institution in the Caribbean…
Marseille biodiversity summit adopts motion to ban deep-sea mining
Move sends strong message of global opposition to mining of seabed for valuable metals, say conservationistsA motion calling for a ban on deep-sea mining has been adopted in Marseille at the world’s biggest biodiversity summit since the pandemic, after…
Licence to krill: the destructive demand for a ‘better’ fish oil
Industrial fishing of the tiny crustacea in a dietary supplements gold rush is threatening the very base of the food chain• This article was produced with the Environmental Reporting Collective, whose full report is part of the Oceans Inc collaborative…
Is deep-sea mining a cure for the climate crisis or a curse?
Trillions of metallic nodules on the sea floor could help stop global heating, but mining them may damage ocean ecologyIn a display cabinet in the recently opened Our Broken Planet exhibition in London’s Natural History Museum, curators have placed a s…
The Observer view on the pros and cons of deep-sea mining | Observer editorial
There may be merits to mining the seabed, but investing in alternative green technologies on land should be the priorityDeep-sea mining has become one of our planet’s most divisive problems. By stripping the ocean floor of its vast mineral wealth, prop…