Pollution

By Alexandra McIntur and Matthew Savoca | – Trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans, from surface waters to the deep seas. These particles, known as microplastics, typically form when larger plastic objects such as shopping bags and food containers break down. Researchers are concerned about microplastics because they […]

Climate Crisis

Dear Rats deserting Trump’s Sinking Ship: All those Times you didn’t Resign or Even criticize his Monstrous Deeds

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The rats are deserting Trump’s sinking ship, after he fomented the Great QAnon Capitol Insurrection, with two cabinet secretaries and some other officials having resigned. It is too late. The Insurrection did not tell us something about Trump we did not know. Those now leaving are perhaps attempting to avoid […]

Acidification of Oceans

It might be the world’s biggest ocean, but the mighty Pacific is in peril

The Conversation

By Jodie L. Rummer, Bridie JM Allan, Charitha Pattiaratchi, Ian A. Bouyoucos, James Cook, Irfan Yulianto and Mirjam van der Mheen | – The Pacific Ocean is the deepest, largest ocean on Earth, covering about a third of the globe’s surface. An ocean that vast may seem invincible. Yet across its reach – from Antarctica […]

Climate Crisis

Deficit Hawks: Reducing environmental damage of greenhouse gases, pollutants saves billions

Clean Energy Wire

By Charlotte Nijhuis | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Reducing the environmental damages caused by greenhouse gases, nitrogen emissions, other pollutants and human activities can save Germany billions of euros, the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) writes. The agency has updated the cost rates of environmental impact to include those for nitrogen and […]

Climate Crisis

The Caspian Sea, central to Iran & Russia, is set to fall by 9 Yards or more this century – an ecocide is imminent

The Conversation

By Frank Wesselingh and Matteo Lattuada | – Imagine you are on the coast, looking out to sea. In front of you lies 100 metres of barren sand that looks like a beach at low tide with gentle waves beyond. And yet there are no tides. This is what we found when we visited the […]

Environment

These are the plastic items that most kill whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds

The Conversation

By Lauren Roman, Britta Denise Hardesty,Chris Wilcox, and Qamar Schuyler | – How do we save whales and other marine animals from plastic in the ocean? Our new review shows reducing plastic pollution can prevent the deaths of beloved marine species. Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and […]

Donald Trump

From Salmonella to Workers’ Injuries: Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections on Way Out

ProPublica

By Isaac Arnsdorf ( ProPublica) – Six days after President Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture notified food safety groups that it was proposing a regulatory change to speed up chicken factory processing lines, a change that would allow companies to sell more birds. An earlier USDA effort had […]

Environment

Biden will be the Antidote to Trump’s Poisoning of our Environment

The Conversation

By Janet McCabe | – The Trump administration has waged what I and many other legal experts view as an all-out assault on the nation’s environmental laws for the past four years. Decisions at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department and other agencies have weakened the guardrails that protect our nation’s air, water and […]

Environment

Uh, oh: Oil field operations likely triggered earthquakes in California a few miles from the San Andreas Fault

The Conversation

By Thomas H. Goebel | – The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places. In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked earthquakes to oil field operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and […]