Many of us will have seen the stark images of plastic in the ocean: bottles and wrappers clumped together, or rubbish trapped along the coastline. But how much of the world’s plastic waste ends up in ...

From the seafloor to turtle stomachs, scientists are finding plastic everywhere they look for it. Now, researchers in Japan have found plastic thermally adhered to coral rubble, an amalgamation they’ve termed “plasticoral,” according to a new study. The finding is raising concerns about potential ocean chemical leaching, habitat degradation and a new way for microplastics to enter the marine environment, they say. Ifenna Ilechukwu, first author of the study with the University of Ryukyus in Japan, and his colleagues found five pieces of “plasticoral” on three different beaches during a routine marine litter survey on Japan’s Okinawa Island in August 2024. “We did not set out to discover plasticoral,” Ilechukwu told Mongabay in an email. Researchers have previously described plastiglomerates, melted plastic debris fused with rocks, wood or other natural materials. However, when the team found coral rubble with plastic not just stuck on the surface but permanently adhered to it, they knew they’d found something unusual. Plasticoral is a subset of plastiglomerates, however, “plasticorals represent something different,” Ilechukwu said. “The melted polymers literally liquidized and conformed to the intricate, porous skeleton of the coral rubble.” Researchers suspect the plastic was burned into the rubble by a beach fire, though...

“The Cigarette Surfboard” is a documentary about the environmental impact cigarettes can have, and the film about a surfboard created using thousands of butts collected from beaches also serves as a cautionary tale about the damage that pollution has done and will continue to do to the world’s oceans. “The Cigarette Surfboard” online premiere will span Tuesday through Sept. 27, which is timed in conjunction with International Coastal Cleanup Day Saturday, Sept. 19. As part of the live premiere, and included with the $10 film ticket, virtual Q&A sessions are planned with pro surfers and ocean activists who appear in the film. The star of “The Cigarette Surfboard” is a surfboard that was made with cigarette butts by the movie’s co-producer, Taylor Lane, who is introduced in the film as an “industrial designer/average surfer.” Lane created the surfboard in 2017 and entered it into the Vissla + Surfrider Creators & Innovators Upcycle Contest, which was held that year in San Juan Capistrano, California. The Vissla contest features boards made of “upcycled” materials. Taylor’s cigarette surfboard won first place, and that was the beginning of a remarkable voyage of discovery. Judkins, who has known Lane since they were college students, began...

A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers shows that nearly 23% of short-finned pilot whales that stranded over 13 years in the main Hawaiian Islands ingested several pounds of plastic ropes, netting, fishing gear and plastic bags discarded in the ocean.

Global probability map for potential accumulation of floating marine debris in coastal areas, Le, Phuc T. D., Hardesty, Britta Denise, Auman, Heidi J., Fischer, Andrew M

Somewhere in the last few months, a story started doing the rounds. You’ve probably seen the shape of it even if you haven’t clocked the details. Drought is forcing the world into desalination.

YouTube video by UCD Earth Institute

Conservation research ... with bite

Listen to Inpi Mari by Dr.Nojoke.

4 track album

Minimal, Melancholic, Necessary: Inside Dr.Nojoke’s Inpi Mari

Frank Bogdanowitz, aka Dr. Nojoke, delivers Inpi Mari, a minimal techno suite that blends mournful beauty with urgent environmental consciousness. Through four immersive tracks, the EP reflects on the...

👉 Please show some ❤ and repost. Dr.Nojoke's new EP

A look at the giant garbage patch and the hope rising from it.

Experts from academia, industry and environmental groups assessed the chances for a global treaty on plastic waste at negotiations next month.

A staggering 27 million tons of nanoplastics, invisible to the naked eye, now pollute the North Atlantic Ocean, posing a significant threat. These particles, originating from plastic waste breakdown a...

Microplastics are found throughout marine environments, including the Pacific Arctic. Given their ubiquity, it is important to understand how micropla…

"It is vital."