Deep Dives
Thought-provoking research providing extensive learning opportunities
Energy Solutions Fisheries & Aquaculture Plastics & Pollution
Frith Dunkley & Jean-Luc Solandt, Marine Conservation SocietyThe study examined fishing effort in all Marine Protected Areas (Special Areas of Conservation, Marine Conservation Zones and nature conservation Marine Protected Areas, hereafter collectively referred to as MPAs) in UK offshore waters (beyond 12 nautical miles) designated to protect the seabed, and the implications for biodiversity recovery and carbon storage.
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Energy Solutions Fisheries & Aquaculture Plastics & Pollution
Anna Sanchez-Vidal et al., Scientific Reports, NatureThere is strong evidence that the seafloor constitutes a final sink for plastics from land sources. There is also evidence that part of the plastics lying on the shallow seafloor are washed up back to the shoreline. However, little is known on the natural trapping processes leading to such landwards return.
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Microplastics are increasingly recognized as ubiquitous global contaminants, but questions linger regarding their source, transport and fate. We document the widespread distribution of microplastics in near-surface seawater from 71 stations across the European and North American Arctic - including the North Pole.
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Cities cover 3% of the earth’s land surface yet they create more than 70% of all carbon emissions. To keep global temperature increases to 1.5°C or below, cities have to achieve net-zero. This report provides a global framework and recommends an integrated energy approach, defined as “systemic efficiency”, as a solution to the current environmental, economic, health and social crises.
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Fisheries across the globe are already demonstrating that fishing sustainably is not only achievable but more productive too, contributing to a food-secure future.
To accelerate this change, industry, retailers, governments and consumers need to prioritise and support sustainably sourced seafood.
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“Breaking the Plastic Wave: A Comprehensive Assessment of Pathways Towards Stopping Ocean Plastic Pollution” presents a first-of-its-kind model of the global plastics system. It is an evidence-based roadmap that describes how to radically reduce ocean plastic pollution by 2040 and that shows there is a comprehensive, integrated, and economically attractive pathway to greatly reduce plastic waste entering our ocean.
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In this study, we use an innovation systems approach to construct a comprehensive roadmap for solar and wind energy to anticipate and improve impacts of a transition to a low carbon future in a manner ensuring climate goals and SDGs are mutually reinforcing.
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The ubiquity of AMP from terrestrial sources, and the ubiquity of MP in the world’s oceans raise the question whether AMP are present in the remote marine atmosphere. We searched for marine AMP during the Tara Pacific expedition, a 2.5 year research project that investigates coral reefs and plankton communities.
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From source to sea, our waters are contaminated by a plastics scourge. A new study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) offers a number of technological solutions aimed at tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues.
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Thoman, R.L. et al., NOAA Arctic Program
The Arctic Report Card (ARC) provides an annual update on the state of the Arctic's climate and environment as well as highlights of Arctic science news of the past year. ARC2020 features 16 essays, 11 of which provide updates on a wide range of Arctic science topics, from the past year's air temperatures and sea ice conditions to the latest in bowhead whale research.
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How Amazon is flooding our communities, environment, and oceans with hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic packaging and how they can stop.
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Plastics & Pollution Shipping & Ports Tourism
Emily Elhacham et al., NatureHere we quantify the human-made mass, referred to as ‘anthropogenic mass’, and compare it to the overall living biomass on Earth, which currently equals approximately 1.1 teratonnes.
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Available analytical methods cannot detect nanoplastics at environmentally realistic concentrations in complex matrices such as biological tissues. Here, we describe a one-step polymerization method, allowing direct radiolabeling of a sulfonate end-capped nano-sized polystyrene (nPS; proposed as a model nanoplastic particle representing negatively charged nanoplastics).
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Pollution by plastic and other debris is a problem affecting the world's oceans and is increasing through time. The problem is so large that prioritizing solutions to effect meaningful change may seem overwhelming to the public and policy makers.
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The purpose of this review is to examine the impacts of ocean pollution on human health and well-being, identify gaps in knowledge, project future trends, and offer scientifically based guidance for effective interventions.
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Here we undertook a proof of concept study by applying open source tracking technology (both GPS (Global Positing System) cellular networks and satellite technology), which have been successfully used in many animal movement studies, to track the movements of individual plastic litter items (500 ml PET (polyethylene terephthalate) drinks bottles) through the Ganges River system (known as the Ganga in India and the Padma and Meghna in Bangladesh, hereafter known as the Ganges) and the Bay of Bengal.
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BRANDED Volume III: Demanding Corporate Accountability for Plastic Pollution” is out, revealing the Top 10 Corporate Plastic Polluters of 2020.
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In this article, we are going to focus primarily on the net-zero carbon grid issue; can and will hydrogen replace natural gas for the U.S. electric grid? We will also concentrate on the most likely scenario, the use of utility scale solar power to generate hydrogen by electrolysis.
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Energy Solutions Fisheries & Aquaculture Plastics & Pollution Shipping & Ports Tourism
Martin R. Stuchtey et al., The Ocean PanelThis report lays out the contours of a new relationship between the ocean and humanity. Building on the latest scientific research, analyses and debates from around the world, the report showcases a balanced model for ocean management that simultaneously achieves effective ocean protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity.
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In 2019, news outlets across the world reported on a beaked whale that died after ingesting more than 88 pounds of plastic. It had starved, and its digestive acid, unable to break down the compacted mass filling its stomach, had begun eating away at the animal from the inside out. But not all incidents like this make the news.
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