News
Featured Connection: Astrobiology
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and existence of life in the universe. The search for life beyond Earth requires a wide-ranging understanding of not only the nature of the types of environments that may support life and the different planetary...
EPA to Make Racial Equality a Bigger Factor in Environmental Rules
In a historic move, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is establishing a new national office charged with advancing environmental justice and civil rights. The creation of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights is part of...
Clean Shipping Act
Earlier this year, Congressman Alan Lowenthal ((California), who represents the Port of Long Beach--one of the nation's busiest cargo ports--introduced the Clean Shipping Act, legislation aimed at zeroing out pollution from all ocean shipping companies that do...
Featured Connection: Renewable Energy
When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming, air pollution, water pollution,...
Historic Coral Restoration News
They said it couldn't be done, but they did it. Scientists at the Florida Aquarium have made a major breakthrough in the restoration of the endangered Caribbean elkhorn coral. Until this latest development, elkhorn coral had been impossible to reproduce in an aquarium...
Environmental Justice Day
The States of Washington and Nevada have proclaimed August 29th as Environmental Justice Day to highlight the human cost of pollution and climate change. Each state has compiled resources for its citizens to address environmental issues in their communities and learn...
Featured Snapshot: Ecology
Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms – including humans – and the world around them. Ecologists seek to understand the complex connections between these living organisms and their habitats. Ecologists study plants and animals at various...
A Treaty to Preserve Marine Biological Diversity
For the next two weeks, representatives from Member States have gathered at the United Nations to try and reach a consensus on a legally binding instrument regarding the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national...
A Treasure Trove of Information
We like to think that everything we offer on Ocean Connect is a fantastic resource that will help you make your unique connection to the ocean but based on the feedback we have been receiving, our database of professional societies, organizations, and institutes is...
Featured Connection: Environmental Justice
Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and other sources of...
Nine Million New Ocean Connections
According to a study conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, over the next decade, nine million new clean jobs will be created as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. We look at it like that's also...
Discovering Your Opportunity
How does an internship at a prestigious university sound? What about a research fellowship at NASA, NOAA, or the National Institutes of Health? Not only will these programs look great on your college application, but they will also give you a huge jump on...
Featured Connection: Underwater Photography
No doubt, underwater photography is an exhilarating and fun experience. When most people think of underwater photographers, they picture someone in full scuba gear treading water in the ocean’s depths (usually among sharks or the wreckage of a ship). And while this is...
Why Isn’t Climate Change Taught in School?
In most public schools, climate change is not a standard part of the school curriculum. This is primarily due to a lack of resources, a lack of teacher expertise, and the efforts of climate change deniers to push back against this type of education. So students are...
Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week
Last year, regional collaboration emerged as a driver of global climate progress. The Glasgow Climate Pact agreed at COP26 recognizes Regional Climate Weeks as a platform for governments and stakeholders to foster a credible and durable response to climate change....
Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography
Chemical oceanography is considered a niche area within the broader field of oceanography. Along with biological, physical, and geographical oceanography, it is one of the four main oceanographic areas. It is said that chemical oceanographers work at the "boundaries...
Helping the Ocean by Reducing Single-Use Plastic
On June 30, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the most ambitious single-use plastic reduction policy in the nation. California — which already has some of the most broad-reaching product stewardship and extended product responsibility (EPR) laws...
Facing A Hostile Obstacle Course
According to a recent paper published in Nature Geoscience that studied the structural barriers to inclusiveness in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM), geoscience remains one of the least diverse disciplines with persistent...
New Study Identifies Rapidly Emerging Threats to the Ocean
A recently published global study of issues impacting marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution outlines new, potentially unexpected threats to ocean ecosystems and vulnerable coastal communities. These threats are in...
Supreme Court Limits E.P.A.’s Authority on Emissions
In a significant blow to addressing the causes of climate change, today the Supreme Court stripped the federal government of a crucial tool to combat air pollution. Not being either environmental or constitutional lawyers (or lawyers of any kind, for that matter), we...
Featured Connection: Marine Conservation
Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas. And while the definition of marine conservation is fairly straightforward, the field of marine conservation is as vast as the ocean itself. Marine conservation ranges from...
Why Connect?
We certainly devote a lot of space on this website to explaining how to connect to the ocean, but not so much as to why you should connect. And that's because we all have our own, often unique, reasons for connecting. For some, it is an environmental imperative. For...
Celebrate Freedom
“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” — Coretta Scott King
Featured Connection: Marine Biology
Among all the ocean sciences, marine biology is one of the most popular among high school students. We are not sure if this is because of all the ocean sciences, it is the one typically offered at the high school level, or because students think being a marine...
Phasing Out Single-Use Plastic
On World Ocean Day, the Secretary of the Interior issued an order which aims to reduce the procurement, sale, and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products on Department-managed lands by 2032. The...
World Ocean Day 2022
On World Ocean Day, people everywhere can unite to celebrate and take action for our shared blue planet, with one ocean and one climate, which connect us all. Get together with your family, community, and /or your company, and join with millions of others around our...
Carbon dioxide now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
Carbon dioxide measured at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2022 at 421 parts per million in May, pushing the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from...
Featured Connection: Ecotourism
As a multi-trillion-dollars business, travel, and tourism is a vitally important part of the economy. Pre-COVID, the travel and tourism industry was responsible for over 330 million jobs and contributed over 10 percent to the global gross domestic product. But all...
Transforming Ocean-Bound Plastic into Sustainable Products
It's no secret that the ocean is suffocating with plastic waste. Some scientists predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. We discovered one company - #tide ocean material - that is collecting ocean-bound plastic waste in Southeast Asia...
Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator
With more than one-third of the world's shark and ray species now facing the threat of extinction, this new book by marine conservation biologist Dr. David Shiffman could not have come at a better time. Overfishing and unsustainable bycatch numbers are the biggest...
Featured Connection: Digital Media
Whether through Twitter, Instagram, or your favorite blog, most of us now get our news online. We don’t have the time or patience to sit through a lengthy newscast or flip through pages of newsprint. Give us the headlines in 280 characters or a one-minute video, and...
The State of the Global Climate 2021
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report on the state of the global climate revealed that four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. According to the WMO...
Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology
Marine microbiology is the study of microorganisms that exist in saltwater environments, including the deep ocean, coastal waters, estuaries, marine surfaces, and seafloor sediments. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, these resilient microorganisms (or...
Mass Extinction of Marine Life
A new study by two Princeton University researchers has concluded that ocean warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions could result in the extinction of marine life on par with the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Tropical waters would suffer the largest loss of...
Happy Earth Day!
And shouldn't every day be Earth Day? Thank you to all those dedicated people and organizations that do so much to keep our planet liveable.
Microplastics Found in Human Blood
For the first time, scientists have found evidence of microplastics in human blood. The study, published in the journal Environmental International, found traces of tiny plastic particles in 80% of the people tested. Microplastics, defined as small pieces of degraded...
5 Things You Can Do to Help the Ocean
When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of our single greatest resource, we can all do a little more (and, in some cases, a lot less). Here are five suggestions to get you started. Start a petition to get your town to ban the use of plastic bags.Cut down...