ocean

US Court Upholds Ruling on Vast Marine Monument Established by Obama

US Court Upholds Ruling on Vast Marine Monument Established by Obama

By Jon Queally Defenders of ocean habitats celebrated Friday after a federal court upheld a lower court ruling defending the right of the U.S. executive branch to set aside marine areas as national monuments. Citing the authority found under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish marine national monuments, the U.S. Court of Appeals in […]

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    Plastics in Fossil Record: ‘This Is What Our Generations Will Be Remembered for’

    Plastics in Fossil Record: ‘This Is What Our Generations Will Be Remembered for’

    When future archaeologists attempt to dig below the earth’s surface to understand contemporary civilization, they will likely find one ubiquitous substance: plastic. The first detailed study of plastic accumulation in the sediment layer found that its presence there has increased exponentially following the end of World War II, The Guardian reported. “Our love of plastic […]

    10,000 Gallons of Oil Spills Into Chile’s Pristine Patagonia

    10,000 Gallons of Oil Spills Into Chile’s Pristine Patagonia

    Forty-thousand liters (approximately 10,600 gallons) of diesel oil have spilled into the waters of Chile’s Patagonia, a biodiversity hotspot at the tip of South America. The Chilean navy confirmed the oil spill Saturday after receiving a call from CAP, a mining company, informing it of a spill from its terminal on Guarello Island, The Associated […]

    More Microplastics in Deep Sea Than Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    More Microplastics in Deep Sea Than Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    Microplastics have infiltrated the earth’s largest ecosystem: the deep ocean. Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) used small drone submarines to take sea-water samples from the ocean surface all the way down to the floor, at 3,200 feet. They found that there were actually more microplastics 1,000 […]

    Biodegradable Bags Buried for 3 Years Still Work

    Biodegradable Bags Buried for 3 Years Still Work

    The advantage of biodegradable shopping bags is supposed to be that they will not linger as long in the natural environment as conventional plastic bags. However, a new study from the University of Plymouth suggests that might not be the case. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Sunday, found that bags billed as […]

    1,100 Mutilated Dolphins Have Washed Up on French Beaches Since January

    1,100 Mutilated Dolphins Have Washed Up on French Beaches Since January

    A record number of dolphins have washed up dead and mutilated on French beaches, and scientists don’t know exactly why. Activists say 1,100 dolphins have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since January, but the number could be as much as 10 times higher than that, as many likely sink instead of washing ashore. Researchers […]