While Energy Policy Falters, Plastic Bag Laws Multiply

In the past decade, bans and taxes designed to reduce or eliminate bag consumption have swept the world. Certainly, the plastic industry continues to challenge these measures, strongly debating the environmental and energy benefits.
Marine Plastic Pollution in the South Pacific: The 5 Gyres Institute Reports

Pioneering researchers with the 5 Gyres Institute, have completed their fifth expedition through all five subtropical gyres, through the South Pacific Gyre, covering 2,300 miles, beginning in Valdivia, Chile and ending on Easter Island.
Fishing for plastic: A European Plan to Save our Coasts and Seas

An EU plan to pay fishermen to catch plastic will help save waters from waste while providing fleets with alternative income.
Slow clean up for Argentina’s worst environmental stain

The Matanza river, also known as Riachuelo or little river, defines the southern boundary of Buenos Aires and according to a number of studies it is one of the most polluted places in the world. The area has become a dumping ground for industrial, chemical and household waste.
Shell to submit Arctic offshore drilling plan

Shell Oil will apply to drill 10 wells off Alaska’s Arctic shore over the next two years under an exploration plan headed to federal authorities.
Fukushima Parents Protest Over New Permissible Radiation Levels

Japanese children can now be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously permissible. The new regulations and new standard of 20 millisieverts a year, equivalent to the annual maximum dose for German nuclear workers, have prompted outcry.
Japan’s irradiated waters: How worried should we be?

For the oceans, this is the largest accidental release of radiation we have ever seen.
The Man That Has Been Picking Plastic From Beaches For 7 Years

Francis Picco arrived in Easter Island, Chile, from France for a vacation 15 years ago, and never left. The reason was a local woman who became his wife, and a new found peace he couldn’t trade for anything else. Picco, who has adopted the native name Tutuma, has been recovering plastic garbage from Easter Island’s coastline for over seven years now.
Summerland Beach’s Oil Seepage Mystery

Before it became the quaint coastal antiquing capital of the Californian South Coast that it is today, with a reputation for stunningly scenic and often empty beaches, Summerland was the hub of Santa Barbara’s oceanic oil rush at the start of the 20th century, the beach providing ground zero for a series of piers and primitive oil rigs harvesting crude from hundreds of offshore wells.