Domino Effect: The Myriad Impacts of Warming on an East Coast Estuary
Delaware Bay provides a case study in how warming oceans, more severe storms, and sea-level rise are impacting estuaries around the world. The effects — from loss of wetlands to steep declines in shorebird populations — cascade throughout the ecosystem.
No escaping ocean plastic: 37 million bits of litter on one of world’s remotest islands
The beaches of one of the world’s most remote islands have been found to be polluted with the highest density of plastic debris reported anywhere on the planet, a new study shows.
Concrete, or Beaches? World’s Sand Running Out As Global Construction Booms
A crucial component of concrete, sand is vital to the global construction industry.
Migratory seabird deaths linked to hurricanes
Stronger and more frequent hurricanes may pose a new threat to the sooty tern, a species of migratory seabird found throughout the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic, a new study reveals. Although sooty terns are neither rare nor endangered, they have long been used by scientists as an indicator species to determine the health of the region’s marine environment.
Rewilding Santa Monica’s thoroughly artificial beach
In the early 1900s, L.A. County beaches were not yet the tourist destination they would one day become. To draw more tourists, local municipalities wanted the beaches of the Santa Monica Bay to mimic those on the nation’s opposite coast: bigger, flatter, wider. Beach managers decided then, to bend the area’s geology, making Southern California beaches take on a more Floridian aesthetic. It was built by moving sand from one place and dumping it into another, turning the tourist-friendly beach into an ecological wasteland.
50 years ago, Oregon’s beach battle kept sands open to everyone
The Beach Bill gave Oregonians ownership of the state’s beaches, and that’s a rare distinction. Only Hawaii has similar protection, and our unlimited access to the beach has made the Oregon Coast a big tourist destination.
Threatened bird nesting again on Los Angeles area beaches
The western snowy plover is nesting along the Los Angeles area coast for the first time in nearly seven decades, federal officials said.
Striking Photos Show The People v. Climate Change; National Geographic
An incredibly complex web of cause and effect that’s global in scope, climate change is like light itself: enormously present, yet difficult to directly perceive. The Your Shot community shared their best photos in response to our #MyClimateAction challenge.
Cemex sand mine accused of damaging Monterey Bay Coast
Scientists and environmentalists are accusing Cemex, the world’s second largest building materials company, of doing serious harm to the Monterey Bay beach by removing massive amounts of sand. The company claims its sand mining business is legal, but the beach is shrinking, and the California Coastal Commission is threatening to shut down the operation.