Environmental News April 6 to May 23, 2017

Rage Against the Dying of the Reefs
Date: January 24, 2017
May 23, 2017
By David Helvarg
I first saw coral reefs and the abundance of life they generate as a teenager on a trip to the Key West in 1967. Tropical reefs cover less than 1 percent of the ocean, but are home and nursery to 25% of all marine species; billions of fish, mollusks, and other creatures rely on reefs for food and shelter.
Read more here.

Removing plastics from the oceans is “not environmentalism, it’s good business.”
May 20, 2017
By: Akshat Rathi, Quartz
In a plush art gallery in London, Schmidt had come to promote the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, two $1million checks for innovators who can find ways of generating less plastic waste and fully recycling the plastic we end up using for packaging.
Read more here.

How to save the ocean while protecting local people
May 19, 2017
By: Michelle Ma-Washington, Futurity
Marine conservation experts call for the adoption of a code of conduct for ocean conservation that takes into consideration local populations and their concerns about land, food, and their livelihoods.
Read more here.

Fueling the Future
May 19, 2017
By: University of Pittsburgh, Environmental News Network
Numerous studies have raised critical concerns about the promise of corn ethanol’s ability to mitigate climate change and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Read more here.

If children lose contact with nature they won’t fight for it
May 19, 2017
By: George Monboit, the Guardian
With half of their time spent at screens, the next generation will be poorly equipped to defend the natural world from harm.
Read more here.

The Ocean Cleanup with begin extracting plastic from the Pacific in 2018
May 18, 2017
By: Alice Morby, Dezeen
A major initiative aimed to rid a rubbish-riddled area of the Pacific Ocean from its discarded plastic will begin work within the next 12 months.
Read more here.

All Ears on Deck! A Gallery of Noises From The Ocean Deep
May 18, 2017
By: Brian Bull, KLCC
We’re all about sound here at KLCC. And so is the Ocean Acoustics Program at NOAA’s facility in Newport. Its program manager, Bob Dziak and his team of nine researchers, analyze underwater recordings with help gauge the health and activity of the waters.
Read more here.

Microbial fuel cell converts methane to electricity
May 17, 2017
By: A’ndrea Elyse Messer, Penn State
Read more: Transporting methane from gas wellheads to market provides multiple opportunities for this greenhouse gas leak into the atmosphere. Now, an international team of researchers has taken the first step in converting methane directly to electricity using bacteria, in a way that can be done near the drilling sites.
Read more here.

Australian oil well leaked into ocean for months – but spill kept secret
May 17, 2017
By: Michael Slezak, the Guardian
Offshore oil and gas regulator says there was a 10,500 –litre spill in April 2016 but refuses to reveal where it occurred or company responsible.
Read more here.

Chinese marine park’s orca-breeding programme is indefensible
May 17, 2017
By: Keith Guo
Keith Guo says Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s new breeding programme for killer whales is simply out of step with public sentiment that increasingly finds such captivity cruel.
Read more here.

Billionaire Gives Away His Fortune to Help Save the Ocean
May 17, 2017
By: Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch
Norwegian businessman Kjell Inge Røkke is not someone usually admired for his environmental stewardship. This twist to this story? Røkke has decided to give the “lions share” of his estimate $2.7 billion fortune towards building a 596-foot marine research vessel that’s also designed to scoop up a major oceanic threat – plastic pollution.
Read more here.

How the Warming of Our Oceans is Impacting Marine Animals
May 15, 2017
By: Arianna Pittman, One Green Planet
According to NASA, 2016 was the hottest year on record around the globe, and while climate change has been a concern for environmentalists and scientists for decades, lately it’s been getting more attention than ever.
Read more here.

What could be the importance of marine and coastal cultural ecosystem services
May 15, 2017
By: Pensoft Editorial Team
A detailed scientific literature review published in the open access journal One Ecosystem confirmed that research on marine and coastal cultural ecosystem services is scarce comparted to other ecosystem service categories, revealing curious insights and identifying major knowledge gaps.
Read more here.

10 Things You’re Not Doing (But Should) To Help The Ocean
May 12, 2017
By: Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post
Plastics are overwhelming our oceans and landfills. Every year, an estimated 19 billion pounds of plastic garbage end up in the sea. In the U.S. alone, approximately 56 billion pounds of plastic are dumped annually in landfills. Here’s what you can do right now to reduce your personal plastic footprint.
Read more here.

Will optimistic stories get people to care about nature?
May 7, 2017
By: Diogo Veríssimo, The Conservation
Nature doesn’t make the news often these days. When it does, the story usually revolves around wildlife on the brink, record-setting climate extremes or ruined landscapes. However, that is not the whole story. There is also good news, but it often receives little attention.
Read more here.

Was the Amazon once an ocean?
May 3, 2017
By: Lizzie Wade
The Amazon rainforest is a treasure trove of biodiversity, containing 10%of the planets species in its 6.7 million square kilometers. How it got to be that way has been fiercely disputed for decades. Now, a new study suggests that a large section of the forest was twice flooded by the Caribbean Sea more than 10 million years ago, creating a short-lived inland sea that jump started the evolution of new species.
Read more here.

Humans Can Ease Climate Change Impacts on Oceans, Experts Say
April 27, 2017
By: Polita Glynn
While many view climate change as in intangible and overwhelming problem, they can address its impacts on the oceans, chiefly through continued investment in innovative strategies for managing the seas and the life within them.
Read more here.

Achievements of female explorers overshadowed by men
April 6, 2017
By: Jenifer Ryan, The Irish Times
“Women’s achievements in science, discovery and exploration have been overshadowed by men’s,” says environmental activist Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of legendary explorer, Jacques Cousteau.
Read more here.

Marine Harvest vs. First Nations – in court
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By: Alexandra Morton
June 1 is the first court date in the trespass suit that Marine Harvest filed against me and “John and Jane Doe” for boarding their salmon farm, at Midsummer Island, anchored in Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw territory. Marine Harvest will be attempting to separate me from the First Nations.
Read more here.