‘Houses On The River Will Fall’: Cambodia’s Sand Mining Threatens Vital Mekong
Cambodia is experiencing a building boom that is transforming its capital, Phnom Penh. Sitting at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap rivers, the city’s low-slung French colonial architecture is being replaced with high-rise apartment buildings, malls and luxury car dealerships. Sand from the Mekong’s sediment is key to that construction growth.
Sea level rise impacts to Canaveral sea turtle nests will be substantial
Sea level rise and hurricanes are a threat to sea turtle nesting habitat along national seashores in the Southeast, but a new study predicts the greatest impact to turtles will be at Canaveral National Seashore.
As Myanmar farmers lose their land, sand mining for Singapore is blamed
Both the Myanmar government and the company whose ships do the dredging in Chaungzon, deny the dredging is causing exacerbated erosion, as local farmers and politicians worry.
Ocean oddities: ghost ships
As long as a boat stays afloat, it can still keep moving, even if there is no one onboard. For vessels abandoned at sea, currents and winds become captain and crew. With that endless kinetic energy to drive them, and a vast, often empty ocean to roam, the ghost ships may eerily sail on indefinitely.
Half of the world’s beaches could disappear by the end of the century, study finds
Climate change poses an existential threat to the world’s sandy beaches, and that as many as half of them could disappear by the end of the century, a new study has found. The study was published Monday in the scientific Journal Nature Climate Change and was conducted by scientists from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, as well as universities in Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
A mini-Mississippi river may help save Louisiana’s vanishing coast
A scale model of a bend in the river in Louisiana, painstakingly recreated at 1/65th scale, right down to the simulated sand. The model is one of the most striking parts of an ambitious project to rebuild Louisiana’s vanishing coast.
New York plastic bag ban comes into force but opponents tote exceptions
California and Hawaii have implemented bans on plastic bags but New York, another bastion of progressive policymaking, has been stymied amid fierce lobbying by the plastics industry and concerns over the impact on low-income residents.
Tell Your Representative to Support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act!
Tell your representatives it’s time to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, for the health of humans, animals, waterways, oceans, and the environment. A Plastic Pollution Coalition Petition.
Environmental damage to coral reefs in South China Sea
New research reveals the unseen environmental damage being done to coral reefs in the hotly contested South China Sea, as China and other nations jostle for control of the disputed sea lanes.