The World Is Running Out of Male Sea Turtles – Science Alert

Green Sea Turtle (by Laura Gooch CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Green sea turtles are already an endangered species, mainly due to humans hunting them, harvesting their eggs, degrading their habitats, or entangling them in garbage of some kind. But they also face another, more insidious threat from people: the loss of male hatchlings from the species…that this is partly caused by rising temperatures due to climate change – but a new study has now unveiled another human-caused problem driving this trend. Certain pollutants may promote feminization in sea turtles, explains lead author Arthur Barraza, a toxicologist with the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University…

The Bay Area faces an imminent threat from sea level rise — but it’s different from what you think – San Francisco Chronicle

The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (pictured in 2022), is one of several sites where rising seas that elevate groundwater levels could release hazardous materials and buried toxins (by Dale Cruse CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

Dangerous chemicals hiding in the ground around the Bay Area are due to be released by groundwater as it’s pushed closer to the surface with sea level rise, a new study has found. In many cases, it can happen without warning as cancer-causing volatile compounds escape into schools and homes, experts say…

“Groundwater rise and sea level rise are gradual processes that are accelerating,” said Kristina Hill, associate professor at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, lead author of the study. “It’s a problem tomorrow, and it’s a problem today…”

Even at the Bottom of the World, the Ocean is Belching Plastic – EOS Magazine

Aukland from Rangitoto (by Georgie Sharp CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr).

In a recent study published in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers report a mist of microplastics is constantly drifting across the country’s largest city.

“We don’t produce large amounts of plastics here in New Zealand,” said Joel Rindelaub, a research fellow at the University of Auckland in New Zealand who led the study. “But we did see large amounts of plastics falling out of the sky in Auckland…”