Groundwater a significant source of pollution on Great Barrier Reef, study shows – the Guardian

The Great Barrier Reef, (by Steve Parish courtesy of Lock the Gate Alliance CC BY 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Scientists say they have discovered large flows of pollution are reaching the Great Barrier Reef after soaking into underground water, a finding that could have implications for policymakers focused on cutting pollution from river catchments. The new research claims almost a third of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and two-thirds of dissolved inorganic phosphorus in the reef’s waters are coming from underground sources – an amount previously undocumented…

Sponging Up Plastic Pollution – Hakai Magazine

Microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Microplastics from the Rhode River are pictured at the laboratory of Dr. Lance Yonkos in the Department of Environmental Science & Technology at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., on Feb. 6, 2015 (Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

For millennia, humans have used dried natural sponges to clean up, to paint, and as vessels to consume fluids like water or honey; we’ve even used them as contraceptive devices. Whether synthetic or natural, sponges are great at ensnaring tiny particles in their many pores. And as scientists around the world are beginning to show, sponges’ cavity-filled forms mean they could provide a solution to one of our era’s biggest scourges: microplastic pollution….

September shattered global heat record — and by a record margin – the Washington Post

Image at top: Air Temperature at the Surface, 2pm October 6, 2023: Temperature across the planet has great variation in time and space. This imagery shows the predicted air temperature (at 2 meters). Pink and orange areas are hot; yellow areas are mild; and a distinct transition to blue occurs at the freezing point (Courtesy of NOAA - generated by CoastalCare.org via View Global Data Explorer website, Public Domain).

Temperatures around the world last month were at levels closer to normal for July according to separate data analyses by European and Japanese climate scientists.

September’s average temperature was nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above 1991-2020 levels — or about 1.7 to 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.1 to 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal from before industrialization and the widespread use of fossil fuels…

Seaweed is mucking up beaches. This robot could stop it — and fight climate change – NPR

Sargassum sacs (by John Turnbull CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

In shallow waters, sargassum can smother coral reefs and alter the water’s pH balance, killing off local seagrasses and mangroves. It can choke boat motors, constricting local fishing yields if not cutting off whole marinas. Sargassum once clogged a desalination plant so badly that residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands were told the drinking water may not be safe…

The Not-So-Natural Beach – Ryan Anderson

Groin in Oceanside California, built in 1961. © 2019 Ryan Anderson.

Growing up, I always imagined the beach to be a natural place. I think it’s safe to say that this sentiment may be pretty common among many beachgoers. It’s easy to think of the beach as being somewhat “natural,” or at least close to that thing some people call “nature.” This is a short piece, so I won’t go down the what is nature!? rabbit hole for now. By natural I mean something along the lines of “not caused or created by human intervention.” So here’s the thing: many beaches are actually far less “natural” than many people assume or know…

Don’t look away: This book is a wake-up call to our ‘monstrous’ waste crisis and how to solve it – EuroNews

Wasteland Cover Image (courtesy of Simon and Schuster UK via publisher website).

I’m only three pages into Wasteland when a stat first unnerves me: “It is forecast that by 2050 we will be producing a further 1.3 billion tonnes [of waste] a year.”

It already feels like the world is weighed down with waste. And I’d (somewhat naively) hoped that, given today’s talk of sustainability, recyclable materials and circular economies, we’d be headed the other way by 2050 – towards a less wasteful world…