Oceans

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    Environmental Groups Launch Global Plastic Laws Database

    Environmental Groups Launch Global Plastic Laws Database

    A group of environmental organizations has produced the Global Plastic Laws Database, which is launching ahead of the next round of the United Nations Plastic Treaty negotiations in November. The Global Plastic Laws Database will track plastic-related legislation around the world and allow researchers to study laws relating to all cycles of plastic production and […]

    Scientists Find Two Ways That Hurricanes Rapidly Intensify

    Scientists Find Two Ways That Hurricanes Rapidly Intensify

    Rapidly intensifying hurricanes are some of the most frightening and destructive types of extreme weather. Predicting them has been notoriously difficult for forecasters who have been unable to fully understand why some tropical storms or tropical depressions that seem commonplace can suddenly turn into major hurricanes with devastating winds and deadly storm surges. Now, researchers […]

    Time to Treat Climate and Biodiversity Crises as One Global Health Emergency, Major Editorial Argues

    Time to Treat Climate and Biodiversity Crises as One Global Health Emergency, Major Editorial Argues

    A new editorial published in more than 200 health journals challenges health professionals and world leaders to look at global biodiversity loss and climate change as “one indivisible crisis” that must be confronted as a whole. The authors of the editorial call separating the two emergencies a “dangerous mistake,” and encourage the World Health Organization […]

    ‘Uncharted Territory’: Human Activity Pushing 20 of Earth’s 35 Vital Signs to the Limit, Scientists Warn

    ‘Uncharted Territory’: Human Activity Pushing 20 of Earth’s 35 Vital Signs to the Limit, Scientists Warn

    According to a new study, life on our planet is “under siege” from humans and its “vital signs” have been pushed to the limit. As wildfires rage and record temperatures cause everything from coral bleaching to widespread drought and water shortages, the international team of scientists who declared a climate emergency back in 2019 have […]

    Deepest Known Evidence of Coral Bleaching Discovered in Indian Ocean

    Deepest Known Evidence of Coral Bleaching Discovered in Indian Ocean

    Coral bleaching occurs when stressors such as changes in temperature, nutrients or light cause corals to expel the zooxanthellae algae living in their tissue, turning them white. The most common cause of coral bleaching is warming ocean temperatures due to climate change. Now, a new study by scientists from England’s University of Plymouth has found […]