A Maine-based Company is Helping Fishermen Become Kelp Farmers to Adapt to Climate Change

By 2050, one study from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute suggests, warming waters could make lobster populations drop by as much as 62%. For decades, Maine fisherman Steve Train has made a living catching lobsters and other seafood. But as warming water off the Maine coast makes the future of the fishery more uncertain, he’s also now started farming kelp as part of a growing network of fishermen and women now working with a company called Atlantic Sea Farms.

Scientists Breed Threatened Florida Coral Species in Step Toward Reef Restoration

Scientists have successfully bred a threatened species of coral as part of a project that hopes to restore damaged reefs off the coast of Florida that are under threat by a relatively new disease, a coral rescue organization said on Thursday. Reefs in Florida and the Caribbean are facing growing threat of destruction by the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease that strips coral of its color and ultimately its life altogether.

Whales’ Rebound in Australia a Success Story: Duke Biologist

Australia’s decision to remove humpback whales from its endangered species list is a testament to the recovery of this majestic marine mammoth, a victory that should be celebrated and open the way for conservationists to shift attention on other, lesser known and heavily depleted ocean mammal populations, according to marine scientists. Earlier this year, the Australian Ministry of Environment delisted humpback whales, citing evidence that the population there has recovered to preindustrial whaling numbers.

Trying Everything, Even Lettuce, to Save Florida’s Beloved Manatees

Pollution has killed the sea grass that manatees feed on, and they are starving to death in large numbers. Extraordinary intervention may not be enough to protect them. At first, the manatees stayed away from the romaine lettuce. It was an extraordinary experiment in dire times: humans dumping pallets of leafy greens to feed Florida’s beloved manatees in the warm waters of the Indian River Lagoon, where decades of pollution have destroyed their delicate sea grass diet.

Where the Ice Is Still Abundant, These Penguins Are, Too

Adélie penguins have had a rough time of it on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, where warming linked to climate change has occurred faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. That and other factors have led to sharp declines in Adélie populations in recent decades. But on the eastern side, it’s a different story. “It’s just a complete train wreck on the western side of the peninsula,” said Heather J. Lynch, a statistical ecologist at Stony Brook University who studies penguin populations and how they are changing.

Plastic crisis in Arctic: Pollution just as bad as anywhere else on Earth, scientists warn

Plastic pollution in the Arctic is as bad as anywhere else on Earth, warns a new study. Debris from fabrics, personal care products, packaging and other everyday materials is flooding the pristine wilderness. Carried north by waves, winds and rivers, there are high concentrations of these plastic items and microplastic fibers on the seafloor, remote beaches, and even in ice and snow. It has serious implications. The Arctic is the planet’s “air conditioner,” regulating temperatures and circulating ocean currents.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Anniversary Is a Grave Reminder of Why Not to Trust the Oil Industry

The only thing we can truly trust this industry to do is fight to preserve its business model and secure profits for its shareholders. In the face of an acute energy crisis in Europe, global energy insecurity, war in Ukraine, and escalating geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. oil industry wants to offer us its help and advice. Give us more, they say, and we can ease the pain and bring stability: more subsidies and more access to your public lands.

In the Ocean, It's Snowing Microplastics

Tiny bits of plastic have infiltrated the deep sea’s main food source and could alter the ocean’s role in one of Earth’s ancient cooling processes, scientists say.

As long as there has been marine life, there has been marine snow — a ceaseless drizzle of death and waste sinking from the surface into the depths of the sea.

The snow begins as motes, which aggregate into dense, flocculent flakes that gradually sink and drift past the mouths (and mouth-like apparatuses) of scavengers farther down.

How Conserving 30 Percent of U.S. Land by 2030 Could Work

Achieving the 30x30 goal, as it is known, requires much more than declaring more national parks

The U.S. covers a vast array of ecosystems, from Alaska’s Arctic tundra to Florida’s tropical swamps, with prairies, snow-capped peaks and deserts in between. Like the rest of the planet, humans are putting those ecosystems under enormous strain as we convert land to agriculture and urban development, release myriad pollutants and burn fossil fuels that spew heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Seeds of Hope: How Nature Inspires Scientists to Confront Climate Change

If hope had a color, it would be the pale green of a newly sprouted seed. It would smell of pollen and damp earth. Its shape would be the swanlike arc of a stem stretching toward the sun. Every morning of this difficult spring, I have tumbled out of bed and immediately gone to check on the vegetable seedlings growing on my windowsill. Before checking my email or reading the news, I stop to gently moisten their potting soil and coo over each pair of soft new leaves.

Wind Blows the Competition Out of the Water

The winds were blowing in renewable energy’s favor last month, as U.S. wind turbines produced more energy over a 24-hour period than either coal and nuclear for the first time in the country’s history. The new record, which occurred on March 29, marks a historical first for wind power. Although wind has occasionally beat either nuclear or coal for a day, it has never produced more electricity than both at the same time. The 2,017 gigawatt-hours of wind power generated on that Tuesday late last month was enough to make wind the U.S.’s second-largest producer of electricity.