Disaster zone as oil slick threatens Christmas Island
Christmas Island is bracing for an environmental and economic crisis after a stricken Panama-flagged MV Tycoon container ship split in two at Flying Fish Cove yesterday afternoon, having been ripped from its berth by a big swell, and leaked tonnes of pollutants into its pristine waters. Experts warned that the spill was a potential disaster for the ecologically important area, with crabs, birds and coral all threatened.
Rena Cargo Washing up On beaches
Months after Bay of Plenty locals cleared their beaches of oil and container debris, the job has begun again as the stricken Rena loses more cargo overboard. Officials were warning beachgoers to stay away from the debris that has washed ashore.
As Fukushima Cleanup Begins, Long-Term Impacts are Weighed
The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems.
Stricken cargo ship Rena breaks up off New Zealand
Cargo ship Rena which struck the well-marked Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand on 5 October has broken in two last night, spilling containers and threatening a new oil spill.
Moby-Duck
The true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools, including the author, who went in search of them. A book by Donovan Hohn.
Hawaii to Add Sand to Chronically Eroding Waikiki Beach
A $2.3 million state project to widen a chronically eroding section of Waikiki beach with sand pumped in from offshore, will begin by the end of this month. Waikiki naturally has a narrow beach, and people have been adding sand to the shoreline to make it wider. The earliest beach replenishment projects are believed to date to the 1920s. The first well-documented case was in 1939…
Hundreds Evacuated Amid Dutch Dike Break Fears
Police and military personnel evacuated 800 people from four villages in the low-lying northern Netherlands amid fears of a dike break following days of drenching rains. A quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level and 55 percent of the country is considered susceptible to flooding.
Dramatic Loss of Harp Seals Amid Warming: Study
Harp seal pups off the coast of eastern Canada are dying at alarming rates due to a loss of winter ice cover, according to US scientists from Duke University, who questioned if the declining population will be able to recover.
Flipped from Head to Toe: 100 Years of Continental Drift Theory
Exactly 100 years ago, on 6 January 1912, Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift to the public for the first time. At a meeting of the Geological Association in Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Museum, he revealed his thoughts on the supercontinent Pangaea, which broke apart and whose individual parts now drift across Earth as today’s continents.