Miami vise: Rising seas put the squeeze on a sun-drenched beach town

By Greg Hanscom13 December 2013 (Grist) – It’s a balmy, mid-November morning in Miami Beach, Fla., and I’m sitting at one of the cafe tables in front of the local Whole Foods, sipping a cup of coffee, and watching the tide come up. Oh, you can’t see the ocean from here. The tide is gurgling […]

First comprehensive Gulf oil spill study reveals extensive damage in shoreline, deepwater habitats

By  Mark Schleifstein6 December 2013 (The Times-Picayune) – The extensive damage caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the ensuing cleanup efforts to natural resources along the shoreline and in deepwater habitats of the Gulf of Mexico were outlined for the first time Friday (Dec. 6) in a comprehensive environmental assessment. The assessment, […]

Rising sea levels, falling real estate values

By John Dorschner9 November 2013 (Miami Herald) – While most residents in South Florida still have no worries that global warming could dramatically lower housing prices, land-use attorney Sam Poole has already developed a plan to sell his house in a low-lying Fort Lauderdale neighborhood. Poole has heard some scientists predict that the first financial […]

Tiny parasite threatens Georgia shrimp in prime season after record rainfall in U.S. Southeast – ‘They dump the bag on the deck, and the shrimp are just dead’

By Harriet McLeod3 November 2013 (Reuters) – “Shrimpers are reporting to us that they dump the bag on the deck, and the shrimp are just dead,” one fisheries director said. Wild shrimp hauls off the southern Atlantic coast have plunged in recent months as a parasite has made it harder for the creatures to breathe, […]

Lionfish infestation in Atlantic Ocean a growing epidemic – ‘The lionfish invasion is probably the worst environmental disaster the Atlantic will ever face’

By Katie Linendoll, Special to CNN19 October 2013  (CNN) – The clear waters around Bermuda are as picturesque as you can imagine, and the brilliantly colored fish swimming around are like something from a crayon box. But a serious problem lurks behind the beautiful facade: the lionfish. Lionfish are not native to the Atlantic Ocean. […]

Cost of flood insurance rises, along with worries – ‘The flood insurance program is one big storm away from not existing at all’

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON12 October 2013 MIAMI (The New York Times) — Sharp increases in federal flood insurance rates are distressing coastal homeowners from Hawaii to New England and are starting to hurt property values and housing sales in areas just beginning to recover from the recession, according to residents and legislators. In […]

Vancouver Aquarium ‘alarmed’ at mass die-off of sea stars on ocean floor – ‘Whatever hit them, it was like wildfire and just wiped them out’

By Dene Moore7 October 2013 VANCOUVER (The Canadian Press) –Last month, a diver alerted Vancouver Aquarium staff that he had found a number of dead and decaying sunflower sea stars in the cold Pacific waters of a popular dive spot just off the shore of West Vancouver. Within weeks, the tentacled orange sea stars had […]

In South Florida, a polluted bubble ready to burst – ‘These coastal estuaries cannot take this. This cannot continue to happen.’

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ8 September 2013 CLEWISTON, Florida (The New York Times) – On wind-whipped days when rain pounds this part of South Florida, people are quickly reminded that Lake Okeechobee, with its vulnerable dike and polluted waters, has become a giant environmental problem far beyond its banks. Beginning in May, huge downpours ushered in the […]

Where sand is gold, the reserves are running dry – ‘What happens in 50 years when all that sand is gone?’

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ24 August 2013 FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (The New York Times) – With inviting beaches that run for miles along South Florida’s shores, it is easy to put sand into the same category as turbo air-conditioning and a decent mojito — something ever present and easily taken for granted. As it turns out, though, […]

National Geographic: Rising Seas

By Tim Folger1 September 2013 (National Geographic) – By the time Hurricane Sandy veered toward the Northeast coast of the United States last October 29, it had mauled several countries in the Caribbean and left dozens dead. Faced with the largest storm ever spawned over the Atlantic, New York and other cities ordered mandatory evacuations […]

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