Surfing from / December, 2010
250 billion plastic fragments in Mediterranean
The estimate comes from French and Belgian marine biologists who analysed water samples taken in July off France, northern Italy and Spain. The figure derives from 4,371 minute pieces of plastic, average weight 1.8 milligrams (0.00006 of an ounce) found in the samples, which extrapolates to roughly 500 tonnes for the entire Mediterranean.
Cleanup of oil-tainted Gulf Coast nears end
Dig 2 feet into the sand on this wind-swept beach and up comes the foul smell of oil. The unmistakable whiff of crude eight months after the BP spill is one of the last in-your-face reminders of the long, tainted summer on the Gulf Coast.
That Snow Outside, is What Global Warming Looks Like
While piles of snow blocking your driveway hardly conjure images of a dangerously warming world, it doesn’t mean that climate change is a myth.
Yurok indians seek land for a tribal park on the North Pacific Coast
The Yurok Tribe, who has lived along this rugged coast for centuries, envisions that its park would be managed as part of the chain of national and state parks that necklace the Redwood Coast from Mendocino County to the Oregon border, some of the most spectacular and contested landscapes in California.
Overwhelmed sewer systems take toll on beaches
Heavy storms ruptured mains and disabled pumps, spilling thousands of gallons of sewage into the ocean along Southern California’s coast.
Storm Surge slams northeast as Blizzard moves from US to Canada
The coastal Massachussetts town of Scituate was in the bull’s eye of the East Coast blizzard, and reported to have suffered the worst among the eastern coastal towns, from the storm’s high flood waters.
Decline of West Coast fog brought higher coastal temperatures last 60 years
Fog is a common feature along the West Coast, but a University of Washington scientist has found that summertime coastal fog has declined since 1950 while coastal temperatures have increased slightly.
What’s Outside Counts, Too: European Law and Excess Packaging
The citizens of Lincolnshire, England, were so fed up with the layers of plastic and cardboard and Styrofoam that encased their store purchases this fall that they took a high-priced, highly wrapped piece of meat to court.
Australia’s Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles is the name given to a collection of natural limestone stacks that rise up to 150ft (46m) from the sea and were formed by erosion of the original coastline, which began 10 to 20 million years ago.The coast is dynamic and as erosion is ongoing, some more stacks are collapsing while other “Apostles” are likely to form from further erosion of other rocky headlands that line the Victorian coastline.
