Why Sand Is Disappearing ; By John R. Gillis

To those of us who visit beaches only in summer, they seem as permanent a part of our natural heritage as the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes. But shore dwellers know differently. Beaches are the most transitory of landscapes, and sand beaches the most vulnerable of all.

Oil Spill Floods into Israeli Nature Reserve

Millions of litres of crude oil have gushed out of a pipeline, 18 km (12 miles) north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat, to flood 200 acres of a desert nature reserve in southern Israel. In the absence of heavy rainfall, there was little chance of the oil sluicing to Eilat and endangering Red Sea marine life.