As California beaches reopen, seawall construction becomes legislative battleground
In a move this month that outraged environmentalists and caught coastal regulators off guard, a Republican senator pushed forward legislation that would revise a key section in the state’s landmark Coastal Act and allow homeowners in San Diego and Orange counties to build seawalls by right.
Michigan dam failures force 10,000 to evacuate and could leave one city under 9 feet of water
Rapidly rising water overtook dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in central Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be “under approximately 9 feet of water.” Experts are describing this as a 500-year event…
Put ‘super beachfront’ lots off limit
Super beachfront lots, many platted in the 1940s and ’50s, are properties that were reclaimed by the ocean but have since re-emerged, thanks to taxpayer-funded beach renourishment.
The Great Lakes are higher than they’ve ever been, and we’re not sure what will happen next
Lakeside living comes with a new premium: flooding and lots of uncertainty.
470,000 US dollars worth of illegally mined sand seized in 2019, Algeria
Beyond the direct threat to the littoral, illegal sand mining in Jijel has become a matter of sand mafias, and the numbers of cases handled increased compared to 2018.
The end of plastic? New plant-based bottles will degrade in a year
A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.
Thirty-six Thousand Feet Under the Sea
Scientists estimate that in thirty years the oceans will hold a greater mass of plastic than of fish. Almost every biological sample that dredged up from the hadal zone and tested in a lab has been contaminated with microplastics.
Modern sea-level rise linked to human activities, Rutgers research reaffirms
New research by Rutgers scientists reaffirms that modern sea-level rise is linked to human activities and not to changes in Earth’s orbit. The paper reconstructed the history of sea levels and glaciation since the age of the dinosaurs ended.
Editorial: Oppose barrier island development, South Carolina
A $100 million project for a high-end resort on Bay Point Island didn’t meet Beaufort County’s definition of “ecotourism” in December. But now they do.