Earth Protect Blog

  By MarÍa Verza, Christina Larson and Victoria Milko The Associated Press PROGRESO, MEXICO » When a rotten egg smell rises from the mangrove swamps of southeast Mexico, something is going well. It means that this key coastal habitat for blunting hurricane impacts has recovered...

A new study by a team of Chinese and American conservation biologists quantifies the serious consequences of China's recent economic growth on its coastal ecosystems.   By several measures, 1978 was the beginning of a hugely successful surge in the nation's ability to produce economic value, ...

Unfortunately for America’s coastal cities, Superstorm Sandy was not an aberration. The storm that left so many Northeasterners stranded in flooded homes without electricity was just the first of many to be expected as sea levels continue to rise due to climate change. Cities are constructing plans ...

by Greg Stone With his jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, oceanographer David Gallo strikes us with wonder and exposes how little we know about what lies below the surface of the ocean. The ocean is the planet's largest habitat, covering more than three-quarters of its surface, yet most...

Thirteen-year-old Adam Mendoza wants everyone to listen to the ocean. "It's calling for our help," said the South El Monte resident. The Monte Vista Elementary eighth-grader's simple drawing of a kid holding a shell and a talk bubble that says 'LISTEN' won a contest held by The Malibu Foundation f...

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2°C by 2050 to 2100, values that significantly exceed those of at least the past 420,000 years during which most extant marine organisms evolved. Under conditions expected...

Three years ago, Southern California Edison pushed basketball-size rocks from a barge off San Clemente. Little did the utility realize that the kelp reef it created would thrive the way it has, or as quickly. By Tony Barboza It was a gamble when Southern California Edison crews pushed basketball-s...

A study by the University of Exeter provides the first evidence that coral reefs can recover from the devastating effects of climate change. Published Jan. 11, 2010 in the journal PLoS ONE, the research shows for the first time that coral reefs located in marine reserves can recover from the impacts...

By Matthew Cimitile, Amanda Demopoulos, and Christina Kellogg Above: Some of the team members from the third 2009 DISCOVRE cruise. The science crew contains an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Kneeling (left to right): Mi...

By Ryan P. Moyer November 2009       Coral reefs are uniquely complex ecosystems in that they are defined by the underlying geologic structures ("reefs") that are constructed primarily by calcifying organisms (mostly coral and algae). Coral-reef habit...

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- The Center for   has formally notified the National Marine Fisheries Service of its intent to sue the agency for its failure to respond to a petition seeking to protect 83 imperiled coral species under the Endangered Species Act. These corals, all of which occur in ...

There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. This has happened before. Scientists have documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm ...

A NATION OF TRASH IN THE PACIFIC Scientists have recently discovered what they call a "plastic soup" of floating waste in the Pacific Ocean that is growing at an alarming rate, and currently covers an area twice the size of the continental United States. This massive, floating plastic garbage dump...

From: Ranga Sirilal, Reuters MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives archipelago, threatened by rising sea levels blamed on climate change, said on Monday it would introduce a new environment tax on all tourists who use its resorts and provide its economic lifeline. Famed mostly for high-end luxury resorts ...

The Scripps research vessel (R/V) New Horizon left its San Diego homeport on Aug. 2 for the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, roughly a thousand miles off California's coast. With collaborators from Project Kaisei, the team is surveying plastic distribution and abundance, collecting samples for analysis in ...

Two German ships set off on Friday on the first commercial journey from Asia to western Europe via the Arctic through the fabled Northeast Passage – a trip made possible by climate change. August 22nd, 2009 Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Bremen-based Beluga Shipping, said the Northern Sea Ro...

So much great news to report about A Sea Change. In June, the film received the Grand Prize, Feature Documentary, at the FICA International Environmental Film Festival in Brazil. We are honored, and delighted that this story of a Norwegian-American is meaningful around the world and across the lang...

By Brad Crouch SPECIAL REPORT: The first nation likely to be overwhelmed by climate change wants Australia to accept its entire population if sea levels continue to rise. Tuvalu, in the South Pacific, is one of the world's lowest-lying nations and faces inundation within a generation by rising tides...

By Laura Tull Stingrays are fascinating animals, brought to the attention of the media by a true accident with the death of Steve Irwin, and by recent discoveries of Giant Stingray's in Thailand. Though related to the sharks they are not as aggressive and are not prone to attack humans. They are ne...

February 23, 2009 09:00 AM - WWF Perth, Australia - Nine out of 10 marine species found off Australia’s south-west coast are found nowhere else on earth but less than one per cent of this globally significant region is protected. A new report found a series of globally significant “hotspots” for m...