Plastics harm human health at all stages of the life cycle, a first-of-its-kind study has found. The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, published in the Annals of Global Health March 21, revealed the extent to which plastics harm those that interact with them, from the unique lung diseases suffered by coal miners to […]
Like something out of a classic sci-fi film, marine scientists are tracking a giant seaweed blob approaching Florida’s Gulf Coast. The 5,000-mile-wide swarm of seaweed — which scientists say could be the biggest in history — is so large it can be seen from space. The colossal seaweed mat was caused by a huge sargassum […]
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy initiated the Waves to Water Prize. The contest’s goal was to encourage the development of small desalination systems which could help coastal communities in times of climate disaster and recovery and also to help provide clean drinking water to areas where water is scarce. In April of 2022, […]
The amount of plastic floating in the world’s oceans rose by an “unprecedented” degree over the last decade and a half to reach more than 170 trillion plastic particles in 2019. That’s the shocking finding of a new study from scientists at the 5 Gyres Institute, the University of California, Riverside, the Stockholm Resilience Center […]
The phenomenon known as red tide — caused by large amounts of the toxic algae Karenia brevis — has come earlier than usual to Florida this year, and in concentrations that are higher than normal. The harmful algae produce brevetoxins that can kill marine life and pose health problems for humans, reported BBC News. The […]
On Saturday, March 4, world leaders finally agreed on a treaty to protect the high seas. The accord reached by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction establishes a mechanism for sharing the benefits of scientific discoveries from marine life, enforces environmental impact assessments for new human activities in international waters […]
Negotiators working on a legally binding United Nations treaty to end plastic pollution will need to be as ambitious as possible with the final document. That’s the main takeaway from a new report from Back to Blue — a collaboration between Economist Impact and the Nippon Foundation — released Monday. The report modeled what would […]
After more than a decade of talks, the 193 United Nations (UN) member states have reached a landmark international agreement for a new Treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas of the ocean outside national jurisdiction, known as the “high seas.” In New York late Saturday night, President of […]