The sandy beaches of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region have been inundated with millions of plastic pellets, sometimes referred to as “nurdles” or “mermaid tears,” reported Reuters. The pellets ended up in the sea when a container fell off the Liberia-registered ship Toconao, BNN Breaking reported, and are the remnants of common plastic items like plastic […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its annual Arctic Report Card for 2023, and the findings show that amid rising global temperatures in what is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded, 2023 was the warmest summer on record for the Arctic. The 2023 Arctic Report Card found that warming, caused […]
Following what is expected to be the warmest year on record, next year could bring massive coral bleaching events that disrupt marine ecosystems. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a marine studies professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, is predicting that coral reefs will experience dramatic bleaching. Hoegh-Guldberg and colleagues shared their predictions in a “Perspectives” piece for […]
On Wednesday, 95,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the coastal waters of Laguna Beach in Southern California, prompting the closure of over two miles of the coastline. The closure spans from Laguna Avenue to Blue Lagoon, according to the announcement from the Orange County Health Care Agency. The area will be closed until further notice. […]
We’ve all seen cigarette butts on the sidewalk, on the beach or lying in the grass, but may not have realized the toll those cotton-like plastic fibers take on the environment. The cost of marine ecosystem damage and waste management related to the plastics in cigarette packaging and butts is approximately $26 billion per year, […]
Environmental organizations Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway are asking an Oslo district court to stop the development of three oil and gas fields in the North Sea, citing a lack of adequate assessment of the global climate impacts of future fossil fuel use, according to Reuters and a press release from […]
The largest iceberg in the world — A23a, nearly 1,500 square miles, about three times as big as New York City — has broken free of its anchor on the floor of the Weddell Sea and begun to drift toward the Southern Ocean. In 1986, the Antarctic iceberg calved off the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in […]
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching off the Louisiana coast for the source of a leak in a 67-mile-long pipeline that has spilled over 1 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. When the leak started has not been specified, but it was first reported by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) […]
Caviar made from the eggs of wild sturgeon is now illegal, as the ancient fish was brought to the edge of extinction by poaching. Caviar can only be traded legally internationally if it comes from farmed sturgeon, reported Cell Press. The regulations in place to protect the endangered species are being broken, however, according to […]