oceans

Why It’s Time We March for the Ocean

Why It’s Time We March for the Ocean

By Sylvia Earle & David Helvarg We’ve recently seen the remarkable capacity of youth to mobilize and to inspire us with a message of change in their march against gun violence. Theirs is also a generation equipped with technologies not just to connect to each other but to better understand our blue planet in ways […]

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    ‘A Scourge on Our Seas’: UK Government Takes Aim at Single-Use Plastics

    ‘A Scourge on Our Seas’: UK Government Takes Aim at Single-Use Plastics

    The UK government announced plans Wednesday to end to the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton swabs in England. “Single-use plastics are a scourge on our seas and lethal to our precious environment and wildlife so it is vital we act now,” Environment Secretary Michael Gove said. “We have already banned harmful […]

    With Eco-Friendly Jerseys, Major League Soccer Kicks Off Earth Day in Style

    With Eco-Friendly Jerseys, Major League Soccer Kicks Off Earth Day in Style

    Major League Soccer (MLS) is scoring a goal against plastic pollution this Earth Day, with help from a unique, eco-friendly product. All 23 MLS teams playing Earth Day weekend, from Friday, April 20 to Sunday April 22, will wear special Adidas jerseys made from Parley Ocean Plastic™, an Adidas press release announced April 10. Parley […]

    Scientists Accidentally Develop ‘Mutant’ Enzyme That Eats Plastic

    Scientists Accidentally Develop ‘Mutant’ Enzyme That Eats Plastic

    Researchers in the UK and the U.S. have inadvertently engineered an enzyme that eats up plastic. The enzyme is able to digest PET (polyethylene terephthalate)—the same material used in the ubiquitous plastic bottle that’s clogging up landfills, coastlines and oceans around the world. Amazingly, this discovery only happened by chance. Scientists from the University of […]

    UK Pledges £61.4 Million to Fight Ocean Plastics

    UK Pledges £61.4 Million to Fight Ocean Plastics

    In a speech Sunday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced her government would earmark £61.4 million towards cleaning the world’s oceans of plastics, Resource reported Monday. The announcement came the night before the start of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting from April 16 to 20. May hoped to encourage other Commonwealth countries […]

    Slow Motion Ocean: Why Are North Atlantic Currents Weakening?

    Slow Motion Ocean: Why Are North Atlantic Currents Weakening?

    By Alex Kirby The Gulf Stream is slowing, the North Atlantic is cooling. An international scientific study has found new and harder evidence that one of the planet’s key heat pumps, the currents which exchange warmth between the tropics and the Arctic, are weaker today than at any time in the last thousand years. The […]

    Marine Heatwaves Now Longer, Hotter and More Intense

    Marine Heatwaves Now Longer, Hotter and More Intense

    It’s not just land-based heatwaves that have become more intense and frequent. Marine heatwaves are similarly on the rise as a direct result of warming oceans, according to a new international study. The research, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, shows that from 1925-2016, the frequency of marine heatwaves increased on average by 34 […]

    Plastic Bag Bans Actually Work, Study of European Waters Shows

    Plastic Bag Bans Actually Work, Study of European Waters Shows

    If you ever feel like the world’s plastic nightmare might never end, a new study shows proof that plastic pollution legislation actually works. There are significantly fewer plastic bags on the seafloor ever since a number of European countries introduced fees on the items, according to a 25-year study from the UK government’s Centre for […]

    Antarctica Lost a London-Sized Area of Underwater Ice in Only 6 Years

    Antarctica Lost a London-Sized Area of Underwater Ice in Only 6 Years

    Antarctica’s ice sheet is retreating due to warm ocean water circulating beneath its floating edge, researchers from the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds have found. The study, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that the Southern Ocean melted 1,463 square kilometers of Antarctica’s underwater ice between 2010 and 2016—an […]