In India’s Largest City, A Ban on Plastics Faces Big Obstacles
Facing a scourge of plastic bags, the Indian state that includes Mumbai mandated a sweeping ban on plastic bags and other throwaway plastic items. But the chaos that followed shows the challenges of restricting a material so deeply embedded in the modern economy.
California lawmakers vote on bill to go emissions-free by 2045
California state lawmakers are in the middle of a historic vote to move the state completely off fossil fuels.
Scientists discover hidden deep-sea coral reef off South Carolina Coast
In South Carolina, 160 miles off Charleston’s coast a giant deep-sea coral reef system has been hiding for thousands of years. The chief scientist who helped make the discovery called it unbelievable.
Plastic straw ban? Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash
Cigarette butts have long been the single most collected item on the world’s beaches, with a total of more than 60 million collected over 32 years.
Preparing for Japan’s Next Tsunami
The Pacific plate is one of many possible tsunamigenic quake sources, and scientists believe the Nankai Trough, another subduction zone much closer to the Japanese coast than the source of 3/11, will produce a similar megaquake and tsunami within the next 30 years.
The Arctic’s ‘last bastion’ of sea ice is breaking up for the first time on record
The sea ice off the coast of northern Greenland is normally some of the thickest in the entire Arctic, with ridges of ice piled as high as 70 feet in some places. But recent satellite imagery shows that some of the Arctic’s oldest ice has been replaced by miles of open water for the first time on record, surprising scientists and ice monitors.
USGS Responds to Hurricane Lane
USGS deployed 44 instruments off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi as part of an experiment on a coral reef-lined shoreline. There is also a camera system on shore measuring wave-driven run-up and flooding. It is the largest-ever project looking at waves, wave-driven flooding and coastal change. The data collected before, during and after Hurricane Lane will improve the basic understanding of coastal change processes.
Before and After the Kerala Floods
Swollen rivers have altered the landscape in India’s state of Kerala. Residents in India’s state of Kerala are reeling from a “once-in-a-century” flood that displaced nearly a million people.
Hurricane Lane: Category 2 storm bringing “catastrophic flooding” to Hawaii
The Category 2 storm was expected to turn west on Saturday before reaching the islands and skirting Oahu — the state’s most populated island. Even without making a direct hit, forecasters said the system threatened to bring a huge storm surge, high wind and heavy rain.