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After Plastic Straws, Are Balloons Next to Go?

After Plastic Straws, Are Balloons Next to Go?

We get it. Balloons are fun and make great decorations. But we hate to burst your bubble—balloons can be a big problem when they are deliberately released into the environment. The litter is not only a blight on landscapes, waterways, trees and power lines, but balloons and balloon strings can entangle, choke or kill marine […]

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    2017 Broke Records for Number of Flooded Days on U.S. Coasts

    2017 Broke Records for Number of Flooded Days on U.S. Coasts

    Due to the combined impacts of climate change and upcoming El Niño conditions, coastal high tide flooding in the U.S. will be up to 60 percent more frequent in 2018 than it was 20 years ago, the most recent high tide flooding report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announced Wednesday, projected. The […]

    We Just Experienced 400 Straight Months of Unusual Warmth

    We Just Experienced 400 Straight Months of Unusual Warmth

    April 2018 was the 400th consecutive month of global temperatures above the 20th century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) announced Thursday. That means the last time Earth was cooler than that average was December 1984—the same month Band Aid released “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” This three-decade streak is not some […]

    Emissions of Ozone-Destroying Chemical Mysteriously Rising

    Emissions of Ozone-Destroying Chemical Mysteriously Rising

    A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows an “unexpected and persistent increase” in global emissions of an ozone-depleting chemical even though an international treaty forced production to completely halt by 2010. NOAA scientists suggest that emissions are most likely from new, unreported production from an unidentified source in eastern Asia. […]

    Climate Change Threatens Kelp Forests With Invasions of Weeds

    Climate Change Threatens Kelp Forests With Invasions of Weeds

    The devastating consequences climate change is already having on coral reefs is well known, but now scientists have discovered that yet another unique marine ecosystem is threatened by rising carbon dioxide levels. A paper published in Ecology this month based on research led by the University of Adelaide found that ocean carbon dioxide levels projected […]

    Environmentally-Friendly Drones Sail Away for Science

    Environmentally-Friendly Drones Sail Away for Science

    The Mars Rover might be the most famous autonomous vehicle teaming up with human scientists today, but another type of drone is helping researchers here on Earth. The drones are wind-and-solar powered sailboats fitted with cameras, sensors and other research tools, and two of them are set to return in April from their first science […]

    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, […]

    Climate Denial Group Linked to Trump Admin Is Funding ‘Research’ on Sea Levels in Questionable Journals

    Climate Denial Group Linked to Trump Admin Is Funding ‘Research’ on Sea Levels in Questionable Journals

    By Graham Readfearn A climate science denial group with links to President Trump‘s administration has been funding work to sow doubt that low-lying islands in the Pacific are at risk from rising sea levels. The two researchers being funded—one of which is a well-known climate science denier—have targeted little known “open access” journals with dubious […]