Here are a few amazing environmental spectacles that you probably haven’t heard of.
Brocken Spectre
A Brocken spectre in the Central Balkan National Park, Bulgaria. Maya Karkalicheva / Moment / Getty Images
In German folklore, a man walked in the misty mountains, the sun behind him and clouds of fog below, looking down on the haze, he saw a giant, shadowy figure, ringed by a rainbow halo that inspired such terror that he jumped off the mountain to his death.
The Brocken spectre – also called the Brocken bow, mountain spectre, or a mountain glory – luckily presents no real danger to unsuspecting hikers, but has inspired awe in outdoor enthusiasts and artists alike; Carl Jung, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Dickens have all written about this mountain phenomenon. Named after Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany where it was first documented, the Brocken spectre appears when the sun is low behind someone – often mountain climbers – who have climbed high enough to look down upon the clouds or mist. The low sun projects their human shadow onto the fog, encircled by a rainbow ring created from the refraction of light within the water droplets.
The spectre is so breathtaking in part due to the seemingly massive size of the human shadow: an illusion borne of the distance it lies from the person, and the way it falls on water droplets of various depths. All reference points are also obscured by the mist, which makes it hard to judge the proportions and size of the shadow.
Airline passengers might also see the Brocken spectre from their windows: the shadow of the plane projected onto the clouds and encircled by a rainbow halo.
Volcanic Lightning
A longer exposure of this eruption was created by combining 3 sequential short exposures taken one after the other. The result is as if a longer exposure had been done, resulting in a spectacular eruption photo emphasizing the glowing lava and volcanic lightning. Mike Lyvers / Getty Images
Flowing lava and billowing ash are expected traits of volcanoes, but what about lightning?
These bolts of electricity occur during the early stages of explosive volcanic eruptions where ash, gases, rock, and lava are expelled very quickly. When lava – molten rock developed in the Earth’s mantle or crust – erupts on the surface, ash and soot often join, creating the fodder for volcanic lightning displays.
Lightning is formed in two different places within the volcano: in the clouds of ash close to the ground, and in the high plumes of smoke. Ground-level lightning occurs when the billions of particles of ash and smoke rub together, creating enough friction to transform electrons in the atmosphere into static electricity. The higher, stratospheric lightning is generated similarly to regular lightning; as ash and water vapor rise in plumes out of the volcano, ice begins to form. Like typical lightning, where waves of warm and cold air produce electric charges, so do the collision of ice crystals in these ash plumes.
Mt. Vusuvius’ famous eruption 2,000 years ago is the first recorded instance of volcanic lightning, and was seen when the volcano erupted again in 1944. Some of the best observations of volcanic lightning by scientists occurred in 1980 when Washington State’s Mount St. Helen erupted continuously over several months. It’s also been viewed at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, Sakurajima in Japan, Mount Augustine in Alaska, Taal in the Phillipines, and many other volcanoes around the globe.
Sun Halos
Ignacio Palacios / Stone / Getty Images
You don’t need to visit a volcano or climb a mountain to witness breathtaking natural phenomena. Sun halos are a common sight, and can be viewed from your own backyard.
These ghostly white or pale rainbow halos around the sun are created by the interaction of light and ice crystals in the atmosphere. When light from the sun or moon passes through the hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, they act as a prism, breaking visible light into its individual component colors. This refraction makes the colors visible to the human eye.
No two halos are alike. A neighbor looking at the same halo from a different vantage point – therefore seeing the crystals from a different angle – might observe entirely different colors. But, no matter how beautiful the halo, make sure not to look at the sun directly.
Cirrus clouds are very high – typically 20,000 feet or more – and usually come before a storm, so sun halos are often a sign that bad weather is approaching, such as rain or snow.
Mammatus Clouds
Derek Bruff / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
Imagine letting thick, viscous slime drip slowly through a screen, and you’ll have a decent picture of what mammatus clouds look like in the sky.
These bulging, pouch-like protrusions reach downwards from the underside of clouds, and can extend for hundreds of miles. The word “mammatus” comes from the Latin mamma, meaning “breast” or “udder,” which the clouds certainly resemble.
Unlike normal clouds, mammatus are formed by sinking air rather than rising, and are made primarily of ice. They usually form alongside cumulonimbus clouds, with their unstable masses of air. Turbulence within cumulonimbus creates the bulges on the underside of the anvil – the flattened part of cloud – as it descends.
Mammatus are generally associated with bad weather, like hail, rain, or snow; they’re more rarely seen on clouds other than cumulonimbus that produce no rain, or on clouds of volcanic ash.
Desert Roses
Large desert rose stone formation and rose flowers in the flower bed next to the road in the Tunisian desert. Anna Chaplygina / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Flowers can grow in the desert, but they’re not always plants; some are made of sand.
Desert roses form over tens of thousands of years (which is very short in the geological world), resulting in an aggregate of disc-shaped gypsum or baryte crystals that include sand grains. The crystals are flat and fan out like petals, giving them a flower-like appearance.
The environmental conditions must be just right for desert roses to grow. Gypsum is an “evaporite,” meaning it forms during the evaporation of water; inflowing water containing calcium sulfate is balanced with the water flowing out by evaporation, leaving these floral formations behind. The “petals” even take on a rusty color if iron oxides are present.
The roses are usually only a few inches wide, but can grow to be three feet tall and over 1,000 pounds. They’re found in desert areas around the world, including many countries in and around Northern Africa, Germany, Spain, Australia, and Mexico, among others. In the U.S., they can be found in Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Permafrost Explosions
In 2014, the first of about 20 confirmed gas emission craters was discovered accidentally by a helicopter flying overhead. The craters are the result of huge gas explosions in the permafrost – a layer of perpetually-frozen ground – in West Siberia, concentrated on the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas. One such crater is 100 feet deep.
The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, and scientists have long warned about the effects of climate change on permafrost. Temperatures in the region were nearly 11ºF higher than usual in 2020, and many of these craters were found after such unusually warm summers, suggesting that heat could have led (at least partially) to the explosions
As temperatures rise, permafrost in Arctic regions melts, deforming the Earth’s surface and releasing methane and other greenhouse gases – created from the decomposition of organic matter once frozen in the ice – into the atmosphere. These methane gases also build up beneath the ground, creating pressure and forming hills in the 3-5 years before the explosion. The permafrost’s “caps” become weaker as they thaw, and eventually reach a tipping point when the gas breaks through.
These explosions are expected to continue as permafrost keeps thawing. Geologists are studying the phenomenon and creating models to predict explosions, especially those that might occur near critical infrastructure and populated areas; one has already occurred close to a major pipeline, and another near the Obskaya-Bovanenkovo railway.
Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Along with her most recent position at Hunger Free America, she has interned with the Sierra Club in Washington, DC., Saratoga Living Magazine, and Philadelphia's NPR Member Station, WHYY.
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Best Sustainable Rugs: Our Recommendations
- Best Overall: Safavieh Handmade Flatweave Jute Area Rug
- Best Cotton Rug: Lorena Canals Washable Rug
- Best Runner: Chardin Home Runner Rug
- Best Outdoor Rug: Fab Habitat Recycled Plastic Outdoor Rug
Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. Learn more about our review methodology here. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn a commission.
Why Switch to a Sustainable, Nontoxic Rug?
Many people want to secure an area rug in the most affordable, fastest and easiest way. However, that often leaves your choices limited to rugs that are most likely not sustainably or ethically made.
Most ordinary new rugs and carpets contain harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. They can off-gas for up to five years, emitting VOCs in your home and causing short- and long-term health issues including headaches, dizziness, liver and kidney damage, and even cancer in animals and humans. An eco-friendly rug choice avoids these adverse health effects.
You may also wonder why you need a special cleaner filled with questionable chemicals for a rug. In some ways, you end up spending more money over time on a synthetic rug that ends up in the landfill.
By choosing home decor products made from sustainable materials, you can make a positive impact and promote a kinder and healthier planet.
Full Reviews of Our Top Picks
Best Overall: Safavieh Handmade Flatweave Jute Area Rug
Safavieh
Safavieh is a trusted name in natural rug making that has been around for over 100 years. Its handmade flatweave jute rug collection contains size and shape options ranging from 3-by-5-foot area rugs to 5-by-6-foot ovals to 9-by-12-foot runners. The rug is handwoven, and the beige color and traditional weave of sustainably-harvested sisal and seagrass make it a classic option for any space.
Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars with over 600 Amazon ratings
Standout Review: “These rugs are absolutely awesome… They're both easy on the eyes and the feet. We have a round one in the entryway and an oval one at the bottom of the stairs… They are easy to vacuum and sweep, combining pleasing aesthetics with functionality and durability.” — Alison via Amazon
Why Buy: Safavieh is known for its high-quality yet affordable products. The flatweave jute rug is beautifully handwoven and provides a classic, minimalist look to any area of the home.
Best Cotton Rug: Lorena Canals Washable Rug
Lorena Canals
Lorena Canals’ washable cotton rugs are made with a base of 97% recycled cotton and use only natural dyes in the coloring process. They’re handcrafted by artisans in India and can give a warm yet modern touch to your home. This particular rug measures just over 5.5 by 8 feet, but there are other size options available.
The company’s RugCycled program utilizes textile leftovers from the production of its cotton and wool rugs, helping Lorena Canals’ overall process become less wasteful. Plus, every purchase helps a child in North India attend school.
Customer Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars with under 10 Amazon ratings
Standout Review: “Taking 1 star away because by no means it can be washed in a regular washer machine… Now do I like this rug? I LOVE IT! It is worth the trip to the laundromat.” — Ann via Amazon
Why Buy: If you’re looking for something you can throw in the wash after a spill or accident, this is one of the best sustainable rugs to consider.
Best Runner: Chardin Home Runner Rug
Chardin Home
Chardin Home collects cotton rags from different factories and upcycles them into multicolor rugs. No two rugs are exactly the same, though the company makes every effort to best match them if you buy more than one of the same kind. The most popular size is this 2-by-7-foot, but the rug options span from 2-by-5 feet to up to 8-by-10 feet. The rugs are also reversible and long-lasting.
Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars with almost 1,500 Amazon ratings
Standout Review: “With this rug, suddenly everything goes together beautifully! … I have an 8-year-old, two dogs (5 pounds and 40 pounds), and a cat. I’ve had this rug for a bit, and it has held up so well.” — Lauren W. via Amazon
Why Buy: This affordable, colorful runner is reversible and withstands your pets while being healthy for them. It’s one of the best sustainable rugs for narrow spaces.
Best Outdoor Rug: Fab Habitat Recycled Plastic Outdoor Rug
Fab Habitat
Made from recycled plastic straws, this rug by Fab Habitat is perfect for outdoor spaces. Some people also use these indoors (I personally use an outdoor rug under my bed). The rug is fade-resistant and stain-deterrent. The material also means the rug will never be threatened by moisture.
This 5-by-8-foot rug comes in several eclectic and oceanically-colorful designs from jodhpur blue to monochromatic teal and a more practical blue. At an affordable price, it helps save both the planet and your purse.
Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars with over 1,100 Amazon ratings
Standout Review: “This rug lives up to its reputation. We just moved to Florida, and it rains almost daily since we got here. This rug doesn’t hold water, and it feels smooth under your feet.” — Katelyn via Amazon
Why Buy: The U.S. city-by-city ban on plastic straws started around 2018, but they still overtake landfills and take ages to decompose. A recycled plastic straw rug helps provide one solution to this while being stylish, stain-deterrent, fade-resistant and easy to clean. Just shake it out and hose it down.
How to Choose the Best Sustainable Rug
There are a few factors to consider when purchasing the best sustainable rug for your home:
- Natural fibers: What material is the rug made out of? When looking for nontoxic rugs, choose natural fibers like organic cotton, jute, wool and sisal. Agave sisalana is the botanical name for sisal, which is native to southern Mexico. Many fruit plants also make cozy natural textile materials in place of genetically modified cotton.
- Material harvesting and manufacturing: Was the material ethically harvested? Was the rug sustainably made? Is it an ethically made rug? Was the rug treated with any chemicals?
- Cost: A handmade rug understandably costs more than a mass-produced one. However, you should also shop around and stay within budget.
- Style: Many natural fiber and sustainable rugs are varied and unique in design. Have a look in mind when shopping for an organic rug to ensure you will be happy with the aesthetic.
Note that some natural fibers, like jute, can shed and may tend to unravel lightly in some areas over time. That’s the nature of the material.
Frequently Asked Questions: Best Nontoxic Rugs
How do you know if a rug is toxic?
A rug’s surface can consist of natural fibers. However, many don’t consider that the rug's backing and underlay padding could contain toxic materials. All parts of the rug should be produced with natural materials. Unfortunately, you may also find hidden toxins in the form of formaldehyde, stain deterrent treatments and flame retardants on the surface of the rug.
Are jute rugs environmentally friendly?
Yes, jute rugs can be very environmentally friendly. Jute is a sturdy natural fiber that many consider to be one of the most eco-conscious materials out there. Jute comes from a tropical plant and is both recyclable and biodegradable. Jute fibers are spun into durable threads to create such products as twine, mats and rugs.
Are handwoven rugs ethical and sustainable?
It is ethical to purchase from a craftsperson who used their skills and traditional practices to thoughtfully make a beautiful and sustainable rug. However, many products that are labeled “sustainable” can still be produced unethically and illegally via child labor and human rights violations. A good resource to check is Amnesty.org, which recently discovered human rights violations by larger U.S. companies in the production of “sustainable” palm oil.
Research each product and manufacturer across various platforms, always checking reviews and non-biased news sources. Where possible, purchase ethical rugs from craftspeople directly. Local maker collectives and arts organizations are great places to start.
How do you clean a natural fiber rug?
Drenching a natural fiber rug with wet shampoo or steam can cause damage and discoloration. Spot-clean natural fiber rugs with a mild detergent, or use club soda for acidic stains.
Routinely sweep or vacuum your rugs lightly, using a rug beater as appropriate. You can also buy a dry cleaning powder that is compatible with natural fiber rugs. Simply sprinkle this powder on the rug and vacuum it up. Take more heavily soiled rugs to a green dry cleaner if care instructions allow.
With fair labor practices and ethical standards in place, a rug made of natural fibers is a much more eco-friendly option than a rug made with toxic chemicals. Be wary of companies that greenwash their marketing with sustainability claims they fail to deliver on.
Where possible, consider handcrafted rugs when shopping for a rug for your home. It’s much easier to verify sustainability, and you support a talented individual and the local economy with your purchase.
Why Recycle Solar Panels?
Recycling solar panels offers much more than a minimized environmental impact. Here are a few other reasons recycling solar panels is so important:
Conserving Finite Materials
A number of the materials within a solar panel are non-renewable resources; copper, silicon, gallium and indium may be abundant, but they’re still finite. The solar boom has already placed a huge strain on efforts to acquire these materials, and we’re readily seeing forecasts of severe copper shortages over the next decade.
Recapturing these materials from solar panels presents an opportunity to ease supply chain issues and lower the need for new materials, which in the long run will only lower the cost of solar further.
An Emerging Market
Solar panel recycling offers huge potential for emerging businesses — forecasts show the solar panel recycling market has the potential to grow by $238.30 million from 2020 to 2024, and the market’s growth momentum will accelerate during the forecast period and thereafter.
How to Recycle Solar Panels
When talking about how to deal with solar panel waste and sustainable end-of-life processes, it helps to understand the different physical elements of solar photovoltaic panels. Most solar panels are made with the following basic components:
- Metal frame (usually an aluminum frame)
- Glass or plexiglass (usually 75% of the panel)
- Crystalline silicon solar cells
- Wiring (usually copper wiring)
For the purposes of this article, we’ll be examining monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon PV panels, which are by far the most common types of solar panels.
Though aluminum, glass and copper are all recyclable materials, recycling a solar panel isn’t as simple as dropping it off at your local recycling plant. The materials within the panels must be separated and recycled separately, which can be a complex process. Solar panels are also layered with polymer sealing, which can contain chemicals like ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), complicating the process of recycling glass. If the encapsulant can be removed from the glass, the glass can be recycled.
But what about recycling the silicon solar cells? Though it’s possible, it’s a little more complicated than recycling basic metals and glass.
Silicon solar cells are typically derived from quartz, a mineral made from the two most abundant elements on earth: oxygen and silicon. This quartz must be purified, a process that varies by manufacturer, in order to end up with silicon crystals pure enough for modern solar cells. However, similar to common plastic, pure silicon degrades slightly when recycled. This means that its quality will suffer with each subsequent use of the material.
So, where does this leave us?
As it stands today, there are two common methods for recycling solar panels: mechanical and chemical recycling.
Mechanically Recycling Solar Panels
The more simple form of recycling solar panels, mechanical recycling involves dismantling the solar panel and separately recycling its parts: glass, metal, copper wiring and silicon solar modules.
In recycling facilities, these various materials are crushed into small pieces and broken down into a material similar in consistency to sand. From there, the material is sent through a magnetic separation process that removes and isolates the metals within. These valuable materials can be reused to make glass, roadways, insulation and more.
The most advanced forms of mechanical recycling can recover 99% of raw materials at a pace of one solar panel per 40 seconds. Methods currently in use, such as First Solar’s recycling process, are capable of reusing up to 90% of the semiconductor material and 90% of the glass in its modules. These facilities are still limited, however, and most solar customers don’t have access to them at this point.
Chemically Recycling Solar Panels
Chemical (or thermal) recycling uses chemical treatments and heat to delaminate a solar panel, separate its chemical components and recapture the pure silicon within it. Research in this arena shows promising results, yet efficiency on a large scale still lacks. Additionally, the production and necessary treatment of potentially harmful gases associated with this recycling process still present challenges to its commercial viability.
Solar Panel Reuse & Refurbishment
We usually cite the lifetime of solar panels at 25 years, as most warranties only cover up to that mark. However, the vast majority of solar panels can be used longer than 25 years, though their efficiency suffers over time. As a result, most of the e-waste associated with solar panels comes from old panels that still produce energy, just at a lower level.
This leads to another question: Can solar panels be reused or refurbished? Certainly, this method is the most economical due to how little processing would be required relative to mechanical, chemical and thermal recycling methods.
Not every solar installation will require the best solar panels on the market, so reused, low-efficiency panels do offer solutions for small-scale solar needs, like off-grid systems, solar chargers, lights for street signs and other applications that don’t necessarily require new panels.
But what about the refurbishment of defective or broken panels? Companies like Rinovasol specialize in this type of solar panel refurbishment, extending life cycles through a process of defect analysis, refinishing and recoating with a polymer of their own development. Rinovasol’s process is garnering international attention, and it is shown to extend solar panel lifetimes by about 10 years.
Companies That Will Help You Recycle Your Panels
Though promising methods of solar recycling, refurbishment and re-use are in development, they still exist on a very small scale in the U.S. However, there are companies taking the first steps into this new area of the solar industry and may offer a convenient way for you to sustainably dispose of your solar panels.
First Solar
With facilities in the U.S., Germany and Malaysia, First Solar’s recycling process achieves high recovery rates (around 90%) and offers a convenient, effective disposal method for your solar PV modules.
We Recycle Solar
We Recycle Solar provides comprehensive solutions for manufacturers, installers and solar contractors needing large-scale solar panel disposal and PV recycling. The company’s approach allows home and business owners to cash in on any residual value of damaged panels while complying with regulations regarding panel removal.
RecyclePV
RecyclePV offers a simple process for removing and disposing of unwanted solar panels. Achieving a recovery rate of 90%, RecyclePV shows a great deal of promise for solar recycling. If it can ramp up its scale in the U.S. solar market, RecyclePV may be a leading solution to solar waste management problems.
The Future of Solar Recycling: A Closed Loop?
Have you ever heard the term “circular economy?” Well, solar panel recycling offers the perfect example to demonstrate its feasibility and benefits.
A circular economy is a system of closed loops in which raw materials, components and products lose as little value as possible. Though still in the early stages, top solar companies like SunPower are leading the charge toward a circular solar economy, designing solar panels that can be perpetually recycled. This would close the loop on the materials involved in the manufacturing process, lowering the costs and impact of solar power systems.
It should be noted that SunPower manufactures the most efficient solar panels on the market, demonstrating that sustainability (when baked into the process) has little to no effect on the price or quality of solar products.
Final Thoughts
SunPower, First Solar and other leading companies show us that closing the loop on the solar economy is possible (dare I say practical, too?). So what’s stopping the rest of the nation’s top solar companies from doing the same?
Sadly, the U.S. still lags far behind in its clean energy policies. The federal government has zero regulations in place requiring solar manufacturers to design closed-loop products, has zero laws barring the disposal of solar panels in landfills and offers zero support for solar recycling programs, despite its ambitious goals for solar development nationwide.
The government can’t be the sole driver of change, however. With any luck, our nation’s solar manufacturers will follow SunPower’s lead and realize the benefits of developing technologies that lessen solar’s growing impact.
Karsten Neumeister is a writer and renewable energy specialist with a background in writing and the humanities. Before joining EcoWatch, Karsten worked in the energy sector of New Orleans, focusing on renewable energy policy and technology. A lover of music and the outdoors, Karsten might be found rock climbing, canoeing or writing songs when away from the workplace.
Scientists writing in Nature Communications Thursday have found coastal animals like anemones, hydroids and shrimp-like amphipods living on plastic collected from the open ocean.
“Floating plastic debris from pollution now supports a novel sea surface community composed of coastal and oceanic species at sea that might portend significant ecological shifts in the marine environment,” the study authors wrote.
Coastal species hitching rides across the open ocean is nothing new. This is, after all, how many plants and animals reach islands in the first place. However, in the past these animals could only travel on biodegradable rafts made from natural materials like trees and seaweed. That meant that coastal species could move from land mass to land mass, but not find a permanent home on the waves.
Coastal podded hydroid Aglaophenia pluma, open-ocean Planes crab and open-ocean Lepas gooseneck barnacles colonizing a piece of floating debris. Smithsonian Institution
That changed with the emergence of plastic pollution. There are currently 150 million metric tons of ocean plastic, and eight million metric more tons join them every year. The understanding of how this might provide new habitats for life emerged following the 2011 tsunami in Japan, which dumped about five million tons of debris into the ocean. Researchers discovered coastal species thriving on that debris when it washed up on the North American Pacific coast and the Hawaiian Islands. These species didn’t just survive for years while travelling more than 6,000 kilometers (approximately 3,728 miles), they also grew and reproduced in transit.
“This discovery demonstrated that anthropogenic debris, which was largely composed of floating plastics, provided long-lived, habitable rafts and exceeded our expectations of coastal species survival at sea,” the study authors wrote.
To investigate this further, Linsey E. Haram and Gregory M. Ruiz from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center teamed up with University of Hawai‘i at Manoa oceanographers Jan Hafner and Nikolai Maximenko and plastic-collection nonprofit the Ocean Voyages Institute.
First, Hafner and Maximenko created a model that predicted where plastic was most likely to turn up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Then, the Ocean Voyages Institute used that information to collect a record 103 tons of plastic and other debris from the garbage patch. They sent the debris to Haram in her lab, where she analyzed them and found several coastal species.
The permanent presence of coastal species in the open ocean is a big deal.
“The open ocean has not been habitable for coastal organisms until now,” Ruiz said in a press release emailed to EcoWatch.
The researchers called the new communities of life they discovered on the garbage patch neopelagic communities (neo for new and pelagic for open ocean). And they still have many questions about what this means for ocean life. For one thing, there are already ecosystems that live in the open ocean, which the coastal arrivers could potentially disrupt.
“Coastal species are directly competing with these oceanic rafters,” Haram said in the press release. “They’re competing for space. They’re competing for resources. And those interactions are very poorly understood.”
Further, the new species could travel on the plastic to other coasts, including vulnerable islands and protected areas, once again potentially competing with the species already there.
The researchers do not know how widespread these communities really are and whether they have found a home in the other four garbage gyres. But they do represent a new way that marine plastic pollution impacts marine life.
“The issues of plastic go beyond just ingestion and entanglement,” Haram said in the press release. “It’s creating opportunities for coastal species’ biogeography to greatly expand beyond what we previously thought was possible.”
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