Microplastics in the Great Lakes: Becoming benthic

From the Great Pacific garbage patch to inland rivers, plastics are among the most widespread contaminants on Earth. Microplastics — particles of plastic smaller than five millimeters — are especially pervasive. As they build up in Earth’s waters, microplastics are also becoming a permanent part of the planet’s sedimentary layers.

‘It can kill you in seconds’: the deadly algae on Brittany’s beaches

For decades, potentially lethal green algae have amassed in shallow bays on Brittany’s beautiful north-western coast. Environmentalists say the blossoming of unusually large amounts of green algae are linked to nitrates in fertilisers and waste from the region’s intensive pig, poultry and dairy farming.

Major Oil Spill on Grand Bahama Reaches the Ocean, Damages Coastline

An oil spill caused by Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian has been spotted in the ocean and has damaged the Bahamas coastline, the Norwegian energy company that owns the oil storage facility, Equinor, confirmed on Wednesday, a week and a half after the hurricane blew the lids off of six massive crude oil tanks.