North Carolina, a state known for the devastating environmental and public health impacts of industrial-scale hog production, now has more than twice as many poultry factory farms as swine operations, according to a new investigation from the Environmental Working Group and Waterkeeper Alliance. The groups’ research found that in 2018, manure from 515.3 million chickens […]
By Brett Walton State of the State speeches are where governors sketch their legislative priorities and report on the overall health of their dominions. The state of the state is almost always “strong” and water issues are occasionally mentioned. Below are summaries of the governors’ references to water, climate and the environment. This post will […]
By Daisy Dunne The scale of bleaching has been rising steadily in the last four decades, a study author told Carbon Brief, with the global proportion of coral being hit by bleaching per year rising from 8 percent in the 1980s to 31 percent in 2016. The findings indicate that “coral reefs as we know […]
Ocean dead zones quadrupled in size since 1950, while low oxygen sites around the world increased tenfold, threatening large swaths of marine life, scientists warned in a study released on Friday. “Major extinction events in Earth’s history have been associated with warm climates and oxygen-deficient oceans,” the analysis published in the journal Science stated. “Under […]
You might not think of pond scum as something that’s good for the environment, but Dutch designers have developed a bioplastic made from algae that they hope could replace petroleum-based plastics. According to Dezeen, Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros have been cultivating live algae and processing it into material that can be used for 3D […]
By Avery Friedman Algae is often considered a nuisance, but for Sweden, the rapidly growing sea plant is now an asset. As the Scandinavian country works to cut all of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, it’s using algae to sop up the carbon emissions from cement. Cement production, it turns out, is a major […]
Scientists from the University of California at San Diego and Sapphire Energy released results Thursday from the first open-pond trials of genetically engineered microalgae. The study, along with research and development of genetically modified (GMO) algae for biofuels, is occurring ahead of adequate regulatory oversight, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s process to establish and […]
By Matt Blois More than 20 feet below the surface of the water, on the sandy sea floor between Cancún and Isla Mujeres in Mexico, a lobster takes refuge beneath a miniature concrete house. Scuba divers watch as the lobster slinks underneath the foundation. Farther on, hundreds of statues stand in tight circles. A little […]
The answer to powering our devices might have been hiding in our sushi all along. An international team of researchers has used seaweed to create a material that can enhance the performance of superconductors, lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. The team, from the U.S., the UK, China and Belgium, came up with the idea to […]