All hazardous containers removed from Rena’s deck – Environmental effects of chemicals unknown

24 January 2012 (Radio New Zealand) – Salvage work on the Rena reached a milestone on Tuesday with all containers holding hazardous material now removed from the upper decks of the vessel. Thirty-two containers of dangerous goods, including flammable and toxic chemicals, were on board the Rena when it ran aground on Astrolabe Reef on […]

Oceanographer: Debris from Japan due in Washington State any day now

By Michelle Esteban 11 November 2011 SEATTLE – Debris the size of California is headed for the U.S. coast. The materials were swept out to sea after a massive earthquake and a tsunami hit Japan last March. A local oceanographer says while the bulk of the debris will take several years to arrive, items that […]

Sen. Cantwell says debris from Japanese tsunami a threat to Northwest U.S. coast

By Jake Ellison 3 November 2011 Calling it an “emerging threat,” Sen. Maria Cantwell testified in congress yesterday that a floating debris field five-times the size of the state of Washington is heading for the West Coast and could disrupt the state’s economy when it lands in 2014. “After the tragic tsunami that struck Japan, […]

The oceans crisis: ‘Driving toward a cliff while taking copious notes along the way’

By Richard Black 14 April 2011 Just how …….d are the world’s oceans? I’ve put the dots in that sentence so you can insert the word of your choice. According to a high-level seminar of experts in Oxford earlier this week, there’s one word starting with the letter S that would fit quite well, a […]

Image of the Day: The plastic found in a single turtle’s stomach

Hundreds of shards reveal the threat to wildlife from debris floating in our seas By Adam Sherwin24 March 2011 This collection of hundreds of coloured, jagged shards could be a work of abstract art. But the objects in the photograph to the right are the contents of the stomach of a sea turtle that lost […]

Fellow travelers: World Catastrophe Map

[UPDATE 4 October 2011: Sadly, World Catastrophe Map has closed down for good.] Occasionally, Desdemona runs across a site or a blog that’s uncannily dialed into the Des vibe. All dedicated Doomers know the Apocadocs and Wit’s End, but the World Catastrophe Map is a new and delectable find for Des. “Let the End Times […]

Ingestion of plastic found among small ocean fish – 35 percent of northern Pacific Ocean fish found with plastic in their stomachs

By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles TimesMarch 11, 2011| Southern California researchers have found evidence of ingestion of plastic among small fish in the northern Pacific Ocean in a study that they say shows the troubling effect floating litter is having on marine life in the far reaches of the world’s oceans. About 35% of the […]

‘250 billion’ plastic fragments in Mediterranean

PARIS (AFP) 30 December 2010 – Some 250 billion microscopic pieces of plastic are floating in the Mediterranean, creating a biological hazard that reverberates up the food chain, according to research supported by green campaigners. The estimate comes from French and Belgian marine biologists who analysed water samples taken in July off France, northern Italy […]

‘Washed Ashore’ art exhibit explores plastic pollution

By Jaymi Heimbuch in San Francisco, California 18 October 2010 Inspired by Chris Jordan’s photography of birds killed by ingesting plastic, Angela Haseltine Pozzi, artist and Executive Director of Artula Institute, came up with an idea that would put the problem of plastic pollution in perspective. Why not make the issue of birds killed by […]

Ministers drop marine litter and agree to ‘Declaration of Delay’

  Bergen, 24th September 2010. Ministers attending today’s North East Atlantic Environment Summit in Bergen, Norway have failed to take marine environmental issues seriously and have signed an unambitious ”Declaration of Delay”, ignoring a whole raft of urgent issues that demand action from them NOW, rather than vague commitments to do something in the future. […]

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