Do you love the underwater marine life around the UK and further afield? Ever fancied…
Browsing: Environment
Two hundred years ago this month, an environmental and fuel crisis inspired one of our greatest inventions — a device so simple, efficient and useful that it’s turning out to be part of the solution to today’s environmental and fuel crises.
Two hundred years ago this month, an environmental and fuel crisis inspired one of our…
In withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated monumental ignorance about climate change and the agreement itself. As Vox energy and climate writer David Roberts noted about Trump’s announcement, “It is a remarkable address, in its own way, in that virtually every passage contains something false or misleading.”
In withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated monumental ignorance about climate…
For the fifth year in a row, leading international scientists have urged the New Zealand government to remove set netting (also called gillnetting) and conventional trawling from Māui dolphin habitat, to save the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphin from extinction.
For the fifth year in a row, leading international scientists have urged the New Zealand…
Do you remember Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak? It turns out wizards aren’t the only ones who can vanish from sight with a special coat. Marine researchers have discovered shrimp-like crustaceans called hyperiids that can hide in the open using internal nanotechnology to cloak themselves in invisibility. That’s just one among many fascinating discoveries to celebrate on World Oceans Day, June 8.
Do you remember Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak? It turns out wizards aren’t the only ones…
“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch, we are going back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy
“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether…
United States President Donald Trump has announced his intent to withdraw the US from the historic Paris Agreement, the world’s first global plan to address climate change. This announcement is a call to action to national and local governments, businesses and people worldwide to step up their commitments to address climate change.
United States President Donald Trump has announced his intent to withdraw the US from the historic…
The notion that we must conquer or dominate nature has governed human behaviour for a relatively short period of our 150,000-year history on this 4.5-billion-year-old planet. It’s an understandable impulse. Our intelligence and foresight allowed us to develop complex societies, and gave us a sense of control over our existence in the face of powerful, often threatening natural forces.
The notion that we must conquer or dominate nature has governed human behaviour for a…
Recreational scuba divers have regularly been forced to euthanise banjo sharks that have been caught, mutilated and thrown back beneath the piers of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne.
Corals are typically found within an optimal range of environmental conditions, e.g. shallow, clear and…
Some thoughts on rubbish in the marine environment and how we can help stem the…
Next time you see someone throw plastic into the ocean, inform the offender that 8.8 million metric tons of plastic waste are dumped into oceans every year. China is responsible for 2.4 million metric tons. It is time to end such destructive behaviour.
No Blue, No Green! Next time you see someone throw plastic into the ocean, inform…
Most people understand that human-caused climate change is a real and serious threat. True, some still reject the mountains of evidence amassed by scientists from around the world over many decades, and accepted by every legitimate scientific academy and institution. But as the physical evidence builds daily — from increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events like droughts and floods to disappearing polar ice to rising sea levels — it takes an incredible amount of denial to claim we have no reason to worry.
Greenpeace dumped a 2.5 tonne ocean plastic sculpture outside Coca-Cola’s headquarters in London during April 2017. The sculpture, made from sand and waste Coca-Cola bottles, was created in protest of the company’s role in ocean plastic pollution.
Greenpeace protests Coca-Cola’s role in ocean plastic pollution with giant sculpture outside their London headquarters.…
We’ve long known extracting oil and gas comes with negative consequences, and rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, increases the problems and adds new ones — excessive water use and contamination, earthquakes, destruction of habitat and agricultural lands and methane emissions among them.
We’ve long known extracting oil and gas comes with negative consequences, and rapid expansion of…
Seals are cute and lovable but their slaughter in Canada’s annual spring hunt is neither. The mass killing is seem as inhumane by many people. It has also taken a huge toll on the species.
Seals are cute and lovable but their slaughter in Canada’s annual spring hunt is neither.…
As climate change advances and triggers more frequent and severe tropical storms, floods, droughts and rising sea levels, we may wonder what could be worse. The answer is all of the above if they strike those living in poverty.
As climate change advances and triggers more frequent and severe tropical storms, floods, droughts and…
There was a time when we didn’t carry our groceries home in plastic bags. There was also a time when society was unaware of the damage plastics were creating in our oceans. Thankfully, we are more aware now.
“No Water, No Life. No Blue, No Green.” – Dr. Sylvia Earle There was a…
ARC Marine aims to protect the UK’s indigenous white-clawed freshwater crayfish population from extinction with their first custom-built reef structure at Vobster Quay, an inland water site and former quarry, near Radstock, Somerset.
ARC Marine aims to protect the UK’s indigenous white-clawed freshwater crayfish population from extinction with…
Since I started working as a geneticist in the early 1960s, the field has changed…
Before leaving a port for a voyage across the ocean, large ships take on ballast water. When they get to their destination they no longer need it so it is discharged. This works well for those who handle the ship’s wheel, but it can have negative effects on the environment.
Before leaving a port for a voyage across the ocean, large ships take on ballast…
We interviewed our director of research, Dr Enrico Gennari, to discuss white sharks, shark conservation and shark research.
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has confirmed that polluters must clean up a contaminated site in Harrietsfield, N.S., that has left many residents without access to clean, safe drinking water of an acceptable quality for nearly a decade.
Nova Scotia Supreme Court says polluters must clean up a site that left water contaminated.…
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhat Binsar Pandjaitan, has announced up to one billion dollars will be pledged to reduce Indonesia’s plastic waste by seventy per cent over the next eight years. The announcement was made at the 2017 World Oceans Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali. Luhat confirmed that Indonesia will be focussing on plastic alternatives and education initiatives to achieve their goal. Their plan is part of the global UN Clean Seas campaign to reduce major marine waste sources by 2022.
We recently highlighted the faulty logic of a pseudoscientific argument against addressing climate change: the proposition that because CO2 is necessary for plants, increasing emissions is good for the planet and the life it supports. Those who read, write or talk regularly about climate change and ecology are familiar with other anti-environmental arguments not coated with a scientific sheen.
We recently highlighted the faulty logic of a pseudoscientific argument against addressing climate change: the…
I am a surfer……and I love sharks.
For many these two passions would seem controversial and at odds, but as a shark conservationist and a surfer; for me these two things are inseparable.
I am a surfer……and I love sharks. For many these two passions would seem controversial…
In 2011, I travelled with my family down Yukon’s Hart River. It’s one of seven pure rivers in the Peel River watershed, a 68,000-square-kilometre wilderness that’s been at the centre of a legal dispute for many years and a land-use planning debate for more than a decade. For two weeks, we fished from the river’s vibrant green waters and gazed at the limestone and dolostone peaks of the Ogilvie Mountains.