Industrial fishing fleets can catch fish in numbers unimaginable to fishermen a few decades ago. The capabilities are more than unimaginable, though. They are also unsustainable. With bluefin tuna on the brink of extinction, fishing quotas are set for these…
Oceans Without Fish in 40 Years?
Ok, “without fish” is a little bit of an overstatement, but a new report out by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and leading economists warns us that if fishing policies don’t change, all commercial fisheries could collapse in the…
Hormone Disruptor BPA is in the Water Now
Scientists have now confirmed that an increasingly infamous chemical (or hormone disruptor) that is linked to obesity, miscarriage, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other health concerns is not just in our plastic bottles, soda cans and canned food, but it’s…
How Much Clean Water is Available for Human Use?
We know that the world is covered in water. Continents are like large islands in the planet’s much more expansive oceans. 75% of the Earth is covered in water. Yet access to clean, fresh drinking water is a major world…
Turtles Tracked Around the World
Starting on Christmas, yesterday, two sea turtles that are being tracked by scientists as they swim around the world’s oceans can also be tracked online by common, interested folks. The turtles, named Noelle and Darwinia, are both females and are…
Atlantic Ocean is Rising Faster than Previous 4,000 Years
An international team of scientists has determined that the Atlantic Ocean rose faster in the 20th century than at any time in the last 4,000 years, but not uniformly along the coast. One of the researchers, assistant professor Benjamin Horton…
1st High Seas Marine Protected Area in Southern Ocean — More Diverse than Galapagos Islands
Fishing and refuse disposal are to be banned in the 1st high seas Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Southern Ocean, an area of the ocean that contains more species than the Galapagos Islands. This will allow scientists to monitor…
Oceans’ Ability to Absorb Carbon & Protect Against Climate Change Weakening
Oceans regulate our climate. They play a key role in keeping the world’s “homeostasis” in tact. However, their ability to absorb carbon & keep the climate in balance is dwindling, a new report shows. In a year-by-year study from 1765…
Lasers from Space Show Ice Sheets Thinning — Greenland and Antarctica
This week in the journal Nature scientists give the most comprehensive view of thinning ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to date. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Bristol analyzed 50 million satellite measurements (from NASA)…
Global Collapse, Human Survival & the Planet’s Boundaries
A new study by nearly 30 of the world’s best scientists concludes that we have crossed three of the world’s nine thresholds. It is not only about climate change.