Save the Ocean Life and Save Earth

How Things Got So Bad for the Great Barrier Reef One of the world's greatest wonder is on the verge of complete collapse. What happened? By  Avery Thompson Oct 25, 2018 GETTY IMAGES  DANIEL OSTERKAMP A Carnival Cruise Line ship accidentally  spilling more than 7,000 gallons  of wastewater in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef is a catastrophic event by any measure, but if you consider the full picture of human toll on this fragile ecosystem, it's tragically unexceptional: A recent  study  found that half the corals in the reef had died over the last two years. Another found that the reef will  likely disappear completely over the next few decades . So how are humans destroying such a sprawling natural feature? And is it already too late to save it? Threats From All Sides A section of the Great Barrier Reef still vibrant with life.   GETTY IMAGES  DANIELA DIRSCHERL The Great Barrier Reef has been around in some form for  nearly half...

Single-use plastics ban approved by European Parliament 24 October 2018           Ocean plastic is often eaten by sea animals, with fatal results.  GETTY IMAGES The European Parliament has voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastics across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans. MEPs backed a ban on plastic cutlery and plates, cotton buds, straws, drink-stirrers and balloon sticks. The proposal also calls for a reduction in single-use plastic for food and drink containers like plastic cups. One MEP said, if no action was taken, "by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans". The European Commission proposed a ban in May, following a surge in public support attributed to documentaries such as David Attenborough's BBC Blue Planet series. The measure still has to clear some procedural hurdles, but is expected to go through. The EU hopes it will go into effect across the bloc by 2021. The UK will also have to incorporate ...

California’s Underwater Forests Are Being Eaten by the ‘Cockroaches of the Ocean’ By  Kendra Pierre-Louis Oct. 22, 2018 ALBION, Calif. — Early on a gray summer Saturday, an unusual assemblage — commercial fishermen, recreational boaters, neoprene-clad divers — gathered for a mission at Albion Cove, a three-hour drive north of San Francisco. “Our target today is the purple urchin,” said Josh Russo, a recreational fishing advocate who organized the event. “The evil purple urchin.” Top, the bull kelp found off Northern California Josh Russo, left, organized a group of divers and boaters to remove purple urchins from Albion Cove.  Credit:  Gabriella Angotti-Jones/The New York Times Five years ago, assigning wickedness to the purple urchin, a shellfish the size of a plum with quarter-inch spikes, would have been absurd. That was before the urchins mowed down Northern California’s kelp forests. The underwater forests — huge, sprawling tangles of brown seaw...