The Next Aral Sea? Caspian Suffers Impact Of Pollution, Climate Change

April 24, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

Disappearing seals, plummeting fish stocks, and a falling water level all point to the deteriorating health of the Caspian Sea. Ahead of Earth Day, observed on April 22, environmentalists in Azerbaijan have warned that it will take rapid action to save the Caspian from the fate of the Aral Sea.

Sea Shepherd’s Cocos Islands Clean Up

April 14, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

In collaboration with the Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment, and Isla del Coco National Park Rangers, Sea Shepherd’s newest vessel The M/V White Holly has proven a worthy adversary against illegal fishing and marine plastic pollution on her first campaign.

Thanks to her tireless crew, The White Holly successfully loaded illegal fishing gear, marine debris, and waste from the precious Cocos Island World Heritage Site in Costa Rica. The massive and unrelenting load was no match for The Holly, a former US Coast Guard Buoy Tender. Her 10 ton crane lifted 34 tons of plastic and waste into her cargo hold and onto her decks, which was carried back to a mainland port. The collected plastics will be upcycled into apparel and sales will be contributed to future Sea Shepherd campaigns.

Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier Reacts to Changing Ocean Temperatures

April 10, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission uses ships and planes to measure how ocean temperatures affect Greenland’s vast icy expanses. Jakobshavn Glacier, known in Greenlandic as Sermeq Kujalle, on Greenland’s central western side, has been one of the island’s largest contributor’s to sea level rise, losing mass at an accelerating rate.

In a new study, the OMG team found that between 2016 and 2017, Jakobshavn Glacier grew slightly and the rate of mass loss slowed down. They traced the causes of this thickening to a temporary cooling of ocean temperatures in the region.

Narrated by OMG Principal Investigator Josh Willis.
Music: Rising Tides by Rainman [PRS] Complete transcript available.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Kathryn Mersmann