What is the Coast? – Coasts for Kids Series

Screenshot from Coasts for Kids Series, Episode 1 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED via Youtube

The ‘Coasts for Kids’ animations is a young kids and family-friendly video series for all ages to learn why coasts are important, how do beaches and dunes work, how do people affect them, and what can we do about it. The episodes cover KS2 educational and environmental messages allowing everyone to understand, enjoy, and care for our coasts…

For more information and resources visit www.coastsforkids.com

Finding a Way Back to ‘Perfect Beach’ – the New York Times

HIHWNMS - Beach View (by NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Public Domain, via Flickr).

On the northern coast of Puerto Rico — about an hour’s drive west of San Juan, off a wisp of a road threaded through dense green foliage — there exists a long, empty beach that has haunted my dreams for years. On Google Maps, it appears as Punta Caracoles Beach, but I have always thought of it as Perfect Beach…

Can the tourism industry survive the climate crisis? – the Guardian

The easternmost Teklanika glacier has retreated approximately 450 yards (410 m) and downwasted (surface elevation decreased) approximately 300 feet (90 m) between 1959 and 2010. (Courtesy of National Park Service, 1919 photo by Stephen R. Capps, 2004 photo R.D. Karpilo).

From the Solomon Islands to Denali national park, how five communities reliant on tourism are coping as climate change upends their industry…One of the terrible ironies of the climate crisis is that some of the most beautiful – and popular – places in the world are also the most vulnerable. Which means as temperatures rise, extreme weather events increase, water sources dry up and natural habitats die, these places are facing another devastating loss: tourists…

The World’s Fastest-Sinking Megacity Has One Last Chance to Save Itself – Bloomberg

Jakarka, Indonesia - Above and Below (by Chandrahadi Junarto CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Venice is sinking. So are Rotterdam, Bangkok and New York. But no place compares to Jakarta, the fastest-sinking megacity on the planet. Over the past 25 years, the hardest-hit areas of Indonesia’s capital have subsided more than 16 feet. The city has until 2030 to figure out a solution, experts say, or it will be too late to hold back the Java Sea…

Earth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn – the Guardian

Watercolor painting of the earth with hot gradient (by Martin Eklund, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons).

Humanity faces ‘devastating domino effects’ including mass displacement and financial ruin as planet warms…“Tipping points in the Earth system pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity,” said Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute. “They can trigger devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems and capacity to grow staple crops, with societal impacts including mass displacement, political instability and financial collapse…”