A world drowning in plastic pollution: Breaking the Plastic Wave
More than 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic will be dumped on land and in the oceans over the period from 2016 to 2040 unless the world acts, say a team of 17 global experts who have developed a computer model to track the stocks and flows of plastic around the world.
Plastics found in sea-bed sharks
Microplastics have been found in the guts of sharks that live near the seabed off the UK coast.
Indonesian activists use a new tool to stop trash from flowing into the sea
An Indonesian environmental group in Bali, Make A Change World, started using ‘floating walls’ to clean local rivers. These barriers are made with wire and pipes that stop rubbish flowing from waterways into the sea.
Global warming and illegal land reclamation add to severe floods in China
China has perennial flooding in summer but a combination of climate reasons and human behavior over decades of land reclamation and dam-building on nearby rivers, have contributed to a longer-than-usual duration and incessant rainfall in some regions.
Civil war didn’t hurt this Sri Lankan mangrove forest, but shrimp farming might
More than a decade after the end of the civil war, the ecology of the picturesque nature reserve on Vidattaltivu coastal belt in Sri Lanka’s north, is under threat: there are plans to set up a shrimp aquaculture park here, which environmentalists have blasted as “environmental suicide…”
Most polar bears to disappear by 2100, study predicts
Melting Arctic sea ice could cause starvation and reproductive failure for many as early as 2040, scientists warn.
Seas quieted by pandemic could reduce stress, improve health in whales
Scientists have a rare chance to study a marine world largely free of humans and their noisy machines.
Audubon files lawsuit to protect coastal areas from sand mining
A lawsuit was filed filed against the Trump administration to defend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) against Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt’s unlawful ‘Excavation Rule,’ which allows taxpayer money to be used for dredging sand from protected coastal areas…
Crowds removing sea creatures from San Pedro tide pools put delicate ecosystem at risk
An unprecedented number of people have been harvesting edible sea creatures. In prior years, animal harvesting was far less common, and tidal pool etiquette held that creatures should not be disturbed.