Oceans

‘No Plastic Chemical Can Be Classified as Safe’: Study Finds Hundreds of Toxins in Recycled Plastics

‘No Plastic Chemical Can Be Classified as Safe’: Study Finds Hundreds of Toxins in Recycled Plastics

Since its invention more than 100 years ago, plastic has become increasingly ubiquitous in the environment, from the depths of the ocean to within algae beneath Arctic sea ice. Tiny microplastics have been detected floating high in the atmosphere above the French Pyrenees, as well as in human blood. Plastics persist in the environment because […]

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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 […]

    Blue Carbon 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Blue Carbon 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Quick Key Facts What Is Blue Carbon? Carbon dioxide is one of the leading greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, with human activities like the extraction and burning of fossil fuels having raised the atmosphere’s CO2 content by 50% in under 200 years, according to scientists at NOAA.  As many look for solutions to sequester […]

    ‘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 […]