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What Will it Take to Get Plastics out of the Ocean?

Anja Krieger

February 01, 2016 |

Ensia |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Manoa, Hawaii

The amount of plastic debris in our oceans and water sources - especially nanoplastics that are increasingly prevalent in our food chain - is so enormous it's often beyond comprehension, and immensely difficult to address. As countries continue to industrialize and single-use products become more commonplace, the flow of harmful plastics into the environment seems insurmountable. But a number of clever inventions and dedicated individuals are working to help get plastics out of our water - and more importantly - encourage practices to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

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How to Save a Sinking Coast? Katrina Created a Laboratory

John Schwartz

August 07, 2015 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, Louisiana and federal officials launched an audacious $50 billion master plan to rebuild the receding coast in an effort to mitigate the effects future storms. These are expensive and massive in scale, and although success is not guaranteed, they're attracting interest from cities around the U.S., and low-lying countries like Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Moving beyond engineered “solutions” of the past, many of these efforts focus on rebuilding land through methods that mimic natural processes for building land mass and vegetation.

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The Power of a Calm Sea

Russell Beard

May 18, 2015 |

Al Jazeera |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United Kingdom, Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland

As the global demand for energy continually increases, the strain on natural resources and the detrimental effects of fossil fuels become more problematic. But new developments in renewable energy technologies may provide new solutions. Minesto, a company based out of Northern Ireland, has a new device - structured something like an underwater kite - that allows for the constant harvesting of tidal power, regardless of current weather or wave conditions.

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Catching Waves and Turning Them Into Electricity

Amy Yee

April 22, 2015 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia, Perth, Western Australia

Researches off the coast of western Australia are harnessing power from the ocean's waves in a new pilot project involving buoys. In their current state, the buoys are able to generate a small percentage of electricity for a nearby military base as well as aid in powering a desalination plant.

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Can saltwater quench our growing thirst?

Brian Bienkowski

April 13, 2015 |

Ensia |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Population growth, climate change, and droughts are factors that have depleted the world’s freshwater resources. Scientists around the world have experimented with desalination of salt water to increase the supply the drinking water and have achieved positive results. In 2015, more countries and cities in the world look to provide desalination, including California’s $1 billion effort to build a plant for San Diego.

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Tiny Blue Bubbles Designed to Help Save the Planet

Alan Jeffries Amy Marino

March 16, 2015 |

Bloomberg |

Video |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Livermore, California

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has designed a new technology that captures carbon dioxide at power plants before it goes into the air. This new method, which is much more efficient and affordable than other carbon dioxide capturing methods, uses microcapsules filled with a fluid that absorbs carbon dioxide. While it’s not going to solve climate change entirely, this new technology has shown promising results for at least slowing it down.

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Scientists are putting seals to work to gather ocean current data

Chris Benjamin

December 10, 2014 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Antarctica

The Seal Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews is recruiting and tagging pinnipeds to gather details on ocean conductivity, temperature and depth, collectively called “CTD profiles.” When tagged animals surface, the data they’ve collected are relayed to a global satellite system, decoded by computers, and disseminated to researchers.

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Drinking More Vodka: A Green Solution to Melting Icy Roads?

Lorraine Chow

December 05, 2014 |

NationSwell |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Pullman, Washington

Salt has become a costly and environmental problem in the twenty first century, with consumers overusing it in cooking and melting city roads during the winter. Salt has risen in price and has infiltrated the waterways, affecting the life in the water and contaminating drinking water. As a greener alternative to salt, Washington State University scientists have learned that the biproducts of vodka can help melt ice and snow.

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On Columbia, ‘just add water' seems to be working

Lynda V. Mapes

August 02, 2014 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Brewster, Washington

New water management technology implemented along the Columbia has significantly helped the fish population - specifically salmon - return to healthy numbers and has restored much of the community and industry that revolves around the river, including for native peoples.

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Coral cultivation offers hope to devastated western Indian Ocean reefs

Wanjohi Kabukuru

March 29, 2014 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Seychelles, Roche Caiman, Victoria

Warming water has led to the collapse of coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean, essential to fisheries, protecting shorelines, and reducing beach erosion and sea-level rise. Marine scientists from Nature Seychelles, as part of an international project to protect and restore the reefs, are promoting varieties of coral that they have found to be resistant to the rise in temperature.

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