The recent discovery of Grimpoteuthis feitiana, a new species of Dumbo octopus found deep in the Pacific, is a reminder of something both humbling and urgent: we still know so little about the ocean that shapes our lives. This fragile, finned creature, gliding silently more than a kilometer beneath the waves, has lived in these waters long before we mapped them, and its story is only now coming to light.
What moves me most about this discovery is not just the Dumbo octopus itself, but how it bridges science and culture. Its name draws inspiration from the flying apsaras of China’s Dunhuang murals, those graceful, winged figures that seem to dance through air and imagination. It reminds me that the deep sea has always held a place in our collective human story, — not only in myths and art, but in the ways we relate to nature, learn from it, and find meaning within it.
Pasifika connection to the ocean
For us in the Pacific, the ocean is more than a body of water. It is our identity, our culture, our history. Our ancestors read the seas to navigate, to survive, to connect communities scattered across islands. Discoveries like this Dumbo octopus awaken something deeper in me, — a sense that the ocean is alive with stories and wisdom we are only beginning to rediscover. And with that understanding comes a responsibility to protect it.
Each new species like the Dumbo octopus, each glimpse into the deep, is a warning as much as it is a wonder. The creatures of the abyss live slow, deliberate lives in fragile ecosystems, shaped by balance and patience. Deep-sea mining, pollution, and climate change threaten to erase them before we even learn their names. Protecting the Pacific’s oceans is not an abstract act of conservation; it is an act of cultural preservation, of love for our home, and for the unseen life that sustains us all.
Grimpoteuthis feitiana is more than a scientific discovery. It is a reminder that the ocean is still full of life, mystery, and wisdom — and that we have a duty to ensure these depths remain wild, healthy, and alive, for us and for the generations yet to come.
Reflection by Raeed Ali
Pacific Community Mobiliser
Detlef van Vuuren is one of the world’s leading climate modellers and, as a result, a high-profile focus of his life’s work – the “RCP8.5” scenario – has recently been targeted as “wrong, wrong, wrong” by Donald Trump.
Speaking to Carbon Brief at his office in the Hague, Van Vuuren cuts a serious, but relaxed figure – despite, momentarily, being caught in the white heat of global media attention following the social-media post by the climate-sceptic US president.
Leading a team of modellers at PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in the Dutch administrative capital, Van Vuuren also holds a professorship at the faculty of geosciences at Utrecht University.
Analysis of Carbon Brief’s Cosmos database reveals that, out of many thousands of researchers, he is the author most cited within all the reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1990.
The post Prof Detlef van Vuuren: The climate scientist most cited by the IPCC appeared first on Carbon Brief.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/prof-detlef-van-vuuren-the-climate-scientist-most-cited-by-the-ipcc/
Climate Change
Woodside’s Browse plans in “hot water” following administrative decisions by the federal Environment Minister and department
SYDNEY, Tuesday 23 JUNE 2026 — In response to today’s announcement from Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt regarding Woodside’s Browse project, the following comments can be attributed to Hannah Schuch, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:
“Woodside’s Browse proposal to drill at least 50 oil and gas wells at Scott Reef, risking precious marine life like turtles and whales, oceans and the climate, deserves the utmost scrutiny by government regulators.
“The Browse proposal is worsened by a disastrous carbon dumping plan that involves drilling an additional seven wells — an obvious environmental red flag, especially given the record of underperformance of projects like Chevron’s carbon dumping failure, Gorgon.
“The Department’s decision to validate and consult publicly on the Australian Conservation Foundation’s reconsideration request — to consider the impacts on the Great Barrier Reef from the 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon pollution that would result from Browse — lands the project in hot water.
“The case to reject Woodside’s ocean and climate-wrecking plans to drill at Scott Reef only continues to mount, and Minister Watt has an easy call to make: reject Browse and protect Scott Reef once and for all.”
—ENDS—
High res images and footage of Scott Reef can be found here
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Emma Sangalli on 0431 513 465 or emma.sangalli@greenpeace.org
Abelardo de la Espriella, the apparent winner of the presidential election, has vowed to expand oil, gas and mining production, alarming activists in the world’s deadliest country for environmental defenders.
Right-wing businessman Abelardo de la Espriella holds a razor-thin lead in Colombia’s preliminary presidential vote count, positioning the Donald Trump ally to clear the way for expanded fossil fuel extraction, including controversial fracking projects.
A Trump Ally’s Rise in Colombia Could Mean the End of Landmark Climate Policies
Prof Detlef van Vuuren: The climate scientist most cited by the IPCC
Woodside’s Browse plans in “hot water” following administrative decisions by the federal Environment Minister and department
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