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Archive for September 17th, 2015
Catching up with an active, destructive California wildfire season
Posted by Mashable: Marcus Gilmer and Andrew Freedman on September 17th, 2015
Mashable: This year has provided a particularly active wildfire season for the state of California as hundreds of thousands of acres have burned, fueled by the state's ongoing drought. What's made this season particularly note-worthy is the destruction caused by this season's blazes, destroying hundreds of homes and structures and forcing mandatory evacuations across multiple communities.
Not that the severity of this season has come as a surprise. California's drought, ongoing since 2012 and officially...
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Banning Microbeads Offers Simple Solution to Protect Our Oceans
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 17th, 2015
EcoWatch: An outright ban on the common use of plastic “microbeads” from products that enter wastewater is the best way to protect water quality, wildlife and resources used by people, a group of conservation scientists suggest in a new analysis. These microbeads are one part of the microplastic problem in oceans, freshwater lakes and rivers, but are a special concern because in many products they are literally designed to be flushed down the drain. And even at conservative estimates, the collective total...
Arctic research ship probes frigid depths and 4th-lowest sea ice extent on record
Posted by Mashable: None Given on September 17th, 2015
Mashable: Through Sept. 11 of this year, the Arctic -- which serves a crucial role as the Northern Hemisphere's refrigerator -- lost an area of sea ice nearly equal to the states of Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico combined. This led to the fourth-lowest sea ice extent on record since satellite data began in 1979, continuing the long-term decline in summertime ice cover throughout the Arctic.
Both the southerly route of the famed Northwest Passage through Canada and the Northern Sea Route north...