Good News Notes: “Corals, forecast for doom in many future climate scenarios, could be more resilient to rising temperatures and ocean acidification than scientists once thought. New research, in which scientists spent 22 months studying several types of corals in Hawaii, suggests that several species, absent other stressors, could survive even if the world warms…
Category: ocean
Inside the “International Space Station of the sea”
Good News Notes: “Fabien Cousteau has a vision for how humans can live and work in the ocean. He imagines that long-term stays under the waves could be enabled through the construction of underwater habitats, which would look and feel like houses, as opposed to just sealed, submarine-like bubbles. These habitats would have a galley,…
Refillery store offers zero-waste products
Good News Notes: “A new store in Iron Mountain is helping reduce the amount of waste you put into the world. Verde Refillery offers zero waste, zero plastic products and it features a refill section for a variety of cleaning products. The store says they buy items in bulk which can help the environment by…
Fighting Plastic Waste with Edible Food Packaging
Good News Notes: “The use of plastic packaging for food products contributes significantly to plastic waste, of which 14 million tons end up in our oceans each year. By 2050, it is predicted that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish, which will be a serious threat to our ecosystems and well…
Upcycling plastic waste into more valuable materials could make recycling pay for itself
Good News Notes: “A new and simple method for upcycling plastic waste at room temperature has been developed by a team of researchers at the Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT) at the University of Bath. The researchers hope the new process will help recycling become more economically viable. Plastic waste residing in either…
The Century-Old Renewable You’ve Never Heard Of
Good News Notes: “Japanese island of Kumejima to work as an English teacher after graduating from a business school in landlocked Arizona. Now he runs a power plant fueled by ocean water. “I don’t have an engineering degree, and I do all the maintenance for our electricity,” he said. “It’s relatively easy.” The plant, which…
Rare, pristine coral reef found off Tahiti coast
Good News Notes: “Deep in the South Pacific, scientists have explored a rare stretch of pristine corals shaped like roses off the coast of Tahiti. The reef is thought to be one of the largest found at such depths and seems untouched by climate change or human activities. Laetitia Hédouin said she first saw the…
Meet Mr Trash Wheel – and the other new devices that eat river plastic
Good News Notes: “The Great Bubble Barrier is just that – a wall of bubbles. It gurgles across the water in a diagonal screen, pushing plastic to one side while allowing fish and other wildlife to pass unharmed. The technology, created by a Dutch firm and already being used in Amsterdam, is being trialled in the Douro…
Progress for Pacific Ocean cleanup
Good News Notes: “The Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, have shared their proof of technology upon returning to Victoria Harbour with trash collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. With this confirmation, the organization will immediately return to the infamous gyre to start cleaning the ocean’s…
‘Ocean battery’ targets renewable energy dilemma
Good News Notes: “A wind turbine sitting idle on a calm day or spinning swiftly when power demand is already met poses a problem for renewables, and is one researchers think can be tackled under the sea. In one vision, offshore wind farms could use seawater to essentially store energy until it’s needed, helping wean humanity off fossil fuels….