Hong Kong land reclamation explained: the good, bad and ugly methods of pushing back the sea
About 6 per cent of city is reclaimed land, and while extending the shoreline of a land-starved society seems ever more attractive, critics say it would not solve housing issues. At the same time, conservation groups such as WWF and Greenpeace say reclamation is environmentally catastrophic.
A mourning orca mother carried her dead baby for days through the ocean
A grieving mother orca near Vancouver Island has been carrying her dead calf for four days, after refusing to leave her baby behind when the rest of her pod left. The sad display speaks to something deeper. Killer whales eat salmon, and a number of human practices, such as damming rivers, have taken a toll on native salmon populations.
Study Finds Link Between River Outflow and Coastal Sea Level
Sea levels in coastal areas can be affected by a number of factors: tides, winds, waves, and even barometric pressure all play a role in the ebb and flow of the ocean. For the first time, however, a new study has shown that river outflow could play a role in sea level change as well.
Extreme global weather is ‘the face of climate change’ says leading scientist
Climate change has long been predicted to increase extreme weather incidents, and scientists are now confident these predictions are coming true.
First mapping of global marine wilderness shows just how little remains
Researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on July 26 have completed the first systematic analysis of marine wilderness around the world. And what they found is not encouraging; only a small fraction of the world’s ocean can still be classified as wilderness. In coastal regions, there is almost no marine wilderness left at all.
Earth’s resources consumed in ever greater destructive volumes
Humanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes. As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the earliest date ever recorded.
Q&A: Indonesia Takes Steps to Reduce Emissions – But It’s Not Enough
The World Resources Institute (WRI), in a study on what is required for the country to reduce its emissions as promised in the Paris Agreement, noted that more ambitious actions would be necessary in order to meet the targets – referred to as nationally determined contributions or NDCs.
Acidic oceans cause fish to lose their sense of smell
Fish are losing their sense of smell because of increasingly acidic oceans caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, new research shows.
Coastal homes could see flood insurance premium going up again, and that’s only the beginning
FEMA is looking into switching to risk-based pricing in 2020, which would end the subsidies most coastal communities enjoy on their flood insurance premiums and show the true dollar cost of living in areas repeatedly pounded by hurricanes and drenched with floods.