The turquoise waters of Hōnaunau Bay in Hawaii, an area popular with snorkelers and divers, are teeming with spiny creatures that threaten to push the coral reef "past the point of recovery," new research has found.
Sea urchin numbers here are exploding as the fish species that typically keep their populations in check decline due to overfishing, according to the study, published last month in the journal PLOS ONE. It's yet another blow to a reef already suffering damage from pollution as well as climate change-driven ocean heat waves and sea level rise.
Kelly J. van Woesik, a researcher at the North Carolina State University Center for Geospatial Analytics and a study author, first noticed unusually high numbers of sea urchins on snorkeling trips. "I knew there was a story to be told," she said.
She and her fellow researchers used data from scuba surveys and images taken from the air to track the health of the reef.
"We found on average 51 urchins per square meter, which is among the highest recorded densities on coral reefs anywhere in the world," van Woesik said.
Sea urchins are small marine invertebrates, characterized by their spiny bodies and found in oceans around the world. They play a useful role in preventing algae overgrowth, which can choke off oxygen to coral. However, they also eat the reef and too many of them can cause damaging erosion.
More at link in bio.
📸: Kelly van Woesik | Greg Asner
The UK’s latest commitment to decarbonising the built environment marks a pivotal moment for sustainable construction. With £90 million allocated through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, ministers are reinforcing domestic manufacturing of renewable heating technologies that underpin low carbon building strategies. This initiative reflects the government’s drive to advance environmental sustainability in construction, steering the sector towards net zero whole life carbon performance benchmarks. By aligning production capacity with regulatory targets, the policy enhances both supply chain resilience and the carbon footprint reduction essential to achieving net zero carbon buildings across the nation.
The £420 million relief for energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement and glass adds industrial depth to the strategy. These sectors represent some of the highest embodied carbon contributors within material supply chains. Reducing their electricity costs incentivises investment in low embodied carbon materials and circular economy practices critical for sustainable building design. The provision of up to 90% discounts on network charges from 2026 will help accelerate lifecycle assessment adoption, enabling manufacturers to assess whole life carbon assessment more precisely across their products and infrastructure.
Growing momentum around regenerative and nature-based approaches reinforces broader environmental ambitions. The funding directed by Waitrose to promote nature-friendly livelihoods reveals how life cycle thinking in construction could mirror agricultural models of circular economy success. Sustainable material specification and end-of-life reuse in construction are increasingly aligned with this ecosystem logic, where eco-design for buildings prioritises renewable building materials and measurable reductions in embodied carbon in materials from design through demolition.
Grassroots forums such as Dorset COP add a vital regional dimension to decarbonising the built environment. Their emphasis on actionable climate frameworks resonates with the construction sector’s need for practical methods such as whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle performance evaluation using tools like BREEAM and its forthcoming BREEAM v7 standards. These systems help quantify the environmental impact of construction and embed sustainable building practices within local planning mechanisms, improving both energy-efficient buildings and sustainable urban development outcomes.
Across every layer of industry, from corporate governance to site operations, design thinkers are adopting circular construction strategies that merge carbon neutral construction with resource efficiency in construction. The intersection of whole life cost and sustainability increasingly defines quality in green construction, where eco-friendly construction solutions and green building products underscore design integrity and performance transparency. This new era of low carbon design is not aesthetic posturing but an operational shift toward verifiable decarbonisation and a built environment that authentically measures its sustainability footprint over its entire lifecycle.
Whole Life Carbon is a platform for the entire construction industry—both in the UK and internationally. We track the latest publications, debates, and events related to whole life guidance and sustainability. If you have any enquiries or opinions to share, please do
get in touch.
