Work to clean up leaking oil off Summerland starts Monday, CA
After years of community pressure, one of the big polluting wells off the Summerlamd coast in California, will be capped in a project that starts next week.
Industry is leaking huge amounts of microplastics, Swedish study shows
Millions of plastic pellets are leaking out into the environment from a manufacturing site in Stenungsund, according to a new Swedish study. Despite several international and national sets of regulatory frameworks, the leaking continues.
Container ships use super-dirty fuel. That needs to change
About 90 percent of everything we buy will travel on ships like these at some point. And all of these behemoths burn fossil fuel, contributing significantly to the warming atmosphere and shifting climate patterns.
High levels of microplastics found in Northwest Atlantic fish
A new study finds 73 percent of mesopelagic fish caught in the Northwest Atlantic had microplastics in their stomachs, one of the highest levels globally. These fish could spread microplastic pollution throughout the marine ecosystem, by carrying microplastics from the surface down to deeper waters. They are also prey for fish eaten by humans, meaning that microplastics could indirectly contaminate our food supply.
The Ship Breakers
After their useful life is over, more than 90 percent of the world’s ocean-going container ships end up on the shores of India, Pakistan, Indonesia, or Bangladesh, where labor is cheap, demand for steel is high, and environmental regulations are lax.
Microplastics pollute most remote and uncharted areas of the ocean
First data ever gathered from extremely remote area of the South Indian Ocean has a surprisingly high volume of plastic particles, say scientists. Currently scientists can only account for 1% of the plastic they think is in the ocean.
Plastic waste ‘building up’ in Arctic
Plastic waste is building up in the supposedly pristine wilderness of the Norwegian Arctic, scientists say.
Federal penalties against polluters at lowest level in a decade under Trump
Figures released by the EPA show that 115 crime cases were opened in 2017, down from a peak of nearly 400 in 2009.
Trucking Mud to the Beaches Means More Sand but Dirtier Waters, CA
When Santa Barbara County dumps tons of mud from the catastrophic debris flow of January 9 on the shores of Goleta and Carpinteria, this wasn’t like anything that’s happened before. So residents are asking, “Will there be long-term effects? Might there be other locations that can share the impacts..?”