Oceans

Plastic Threatens to Swamp the Planet

Plastic Threatens to Swamp the Planet

By Paul Brown A ubiquitous tide of plastic particles has now swept throughout the world’s oceans. The human rights activist Bianca Jagger described to a conference in London Tuesday how a substance that was invented only in 1907 and seemed to have almost magical properties, because it was practically indestructible, is now threatening an environmental […]

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    Lobster Industry Ensnared in North Atlantic Right Whale Deaths

    Lobster Industry Ensnared in North Atlantic Right Whale Deaths

    By Sam Schipani Last year was not a good one for the North Atlantic right whale. Seventeen of them were discovered to have died, about 4 percent of a total population of 455. Numbers have been low for decades—the species was declared endangered in 1973—but if the current trend continues, the North Atlantic right whale, […]

    ‘Plastic in All Sizes’ Found Everywhere in Once Pristine European Arctic

    ‘Plastic in All Sizes’ Found Everywhere in Once Pristine European Arctic

    A disturbing amount of plastic is building up in the once-pristine European Arctic. According to a study from the Norwegian Polar Institute, “plastic in all sizes” can be found throughout the Norwegian Arctic and in the Svalbard islands, an archipelago between Norway’s mainland and the North Pole that’s also one of Earth’s northernmost inhabited areas. […]

    18 Documentaries That Will Inspire, Outrage and Mobilize

    18 Documentaries That Will Inspire, Outrage and Mobilize

    By Eva Perroni Film is an incredible tool for effecting change in the food system with its unique ability to educate, inspire and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming. Film can transport viewers to unseen territories, from Colombian coffee-growing regions to the bottom of the ocean, and unveil the stories, struggles and triumphs […]

    Microplastics Pose Major Problems for Ocean Giants

    Microplastics Pose Major Problems for Ocean Giants

    Some of our oceans‘ largest creatures are being threatened by the tiniest bits of plastic that litter our seas, a new analysis published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution found. Filter-feeding marine animals such as manta rays and whale sharks swallow hundreds to thousands of cubic meters of water a day to capture […]

    Emergency Order Aims to Protect Resident Orcas

    Emergency Order Aims to Protect Resident Orcas

    Canada is losing a lot of its wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund’s 2017 Living Planet Report Canada found half the monitored mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species declined from 1970 to 2014. Threatened and endangered species continue to disappear despite federal legislation designed to protect them and help their populations recover. What’s going wrong? […]

    Sanchi Oil Spill Has Already Caused ‘Serious Ecological Injury’

    Sanchi Oil Spill Has Already Caused ‘Serious Ecological Injury’

    By Andy Rowell The Sanchi oil spill in the East China Sea could potentially be one of the worst tanker spills in decades, experts are warning, even though the spill has now largely disappeared from news reports. Work by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the University of Southampton, who have plotted where […]

    5 Recent Victories for the Oceans

    5 Recent Victories for the Oceans

    By Andy Sharpless In the last several weeks, Oceana and its allies won five important victories that will help protect biodiversity and increase abundance in our seas: 1. Belize bans offshore oil drilling in country’s marine waters, home to the largest barrier reef in the Americas. Belize made history in late December when it signed […]

    Greenpeace Slams Coca-Cola Plastic Announcement as ‘Dodging the Main Issue’

    Greenpeace Slams Coca-Cola Plastic Announcement as ‘Dodging the Main Issue’

    By Louise Edge Friday Greenpeace criticized Coca-Cola’s new global plastics plan for failing to address the urgency of ocean plastic pollution. The long awaited policy from the world’s largest soft drink company featured a series of measures weaker than those previously announced for Europe and the UK. The plan failed to include any reduction of […]