News
While the World Burns
If you focus on the headlines coming out of the recently concluded COP27 climate summit in Egypt, you might just believe that great progress has been made in helping vulnerable countries deal with the devastating impacts of global warming. The word that appears most...
Last 8 Years Hottest on Record
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s provisional State of the Global Climate in 2022 report released to coincide with the COP27 climate summit, the past eight years were the hottest on record, leaving the climate goals set out in the 2015 Paris Climate...
Heat Waves Cost Poor Countries the Most
According to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, heat waves, exacerbated by human-caused climate change, have cost the global economy at least 16 trillion dollars in the last 30 years. This burden has disproportionately fallen on the world's...
The Father of Environmental Justice
Environmental justice is the principle that all people and communities - regardless of race, color, national origin, or income - have a right to equal enforcement and equal protection of environmental laws and regulations. The environmental justice movement is a vital...
Environmental Justice Reading List
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...
Featured Connection: Ocean Engineering
Creating the Tools for Ocean Discovery Ocean engineers are responsible for designing, building, and testing instrumentation and equipment that can withstand the harsh conditions of the ocean environment. It is a multidisciplinary field that combines mechanical,...
Promises, Promises
A new report from UN Climate Change shows that countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change. According to the report, countries are "bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward but underlines that...
Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability
Approaching the topic of “ocean sustainability” can be a rather sensitive endeavor. One reason for this is that there doesn’t seem to be a single accepted definition of the term “sustainability.” So, depending on your scientific, political, or environmental...
Featured Connection: Oceanography
Because the ocean covers over 70 percent of the planet and contains 99 percent of the living space on Earth, its composition (e.g., its physical, chemical, and biological makeup) has a significant impact on all life. This is true whether that life is in or out of the...
Halloween Terror? Afraid Not.
I didn't see this question on last week's PSATs, but it should have been: What's more terrifying than a beach covered in garbage? (a) Two beaches covered in garbage. (b) No plan to stop the toxic runoff, industrial, agricultural and residential waste polluting our...
How Long Until this Reaches the Ocean?
What is the obsession with balloons and mailboxes? Does anyone past the age of five still get excited about seeing their mailbox festooned with colorful objects for the 24 hours they actually stay inflated? I mean, just look at this - it's depressing. And worse yet,...
Code Red for the Planet
Populations of monitored animal species have plummeted nearly 70 percent in the last 50 years, according to a landmark assessment released today by the WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature). The report highlights “devastating” losses to nature due to human activity. The...