News

Featured Connection: The Business of Biotechnology

Featured Connection: The Business of Biotechnology

The Business of Life Science Biotechnology, simply put, is a technology that utilizes the biological systems found in living organisms (or the living organisms themselves) to develop and make new commercial products. While cutting-edge developments in areas such as...

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Craft Your Own Internship

Craft Your Own Internship

Check out our four-part video tutorial series Creating Your Own Opportunity. Creating Your Own Opportunity shows you how to create your own ocean-science-related internship or research opportunity when you have not been able to secure a spot in a more formal...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Global warming tops milestone ahead of climate summit. 2024 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded, with global warming already exceeding...

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Featured Connection: Filmmaking

Featured Connection: Filmmaking

Lights, Camera, Action! The ocean has been the backdrop for some of the greatest movies. It has also been the backdrop for many mediocre movies, but hey, that’s not the ocean’s fault. The point is that for a filmmaker, the ocean provides you with an incredibly wide...

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Where Toxicology, Food and Justice Intersect

Where Toxicology, Food and Justice Intersect

Wellington Onyenwe joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss using an environmental justice lens in looking at chemical exposure, and his passion for food and cooking. You can listen to the podcast here.

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Global warming tops milestone ahead of climate summit. 2024 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded, with global warming already exceeding...

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Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

The Science of Feeding the World According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 4.5 billion people get a significant source of their daily protein intake from fish. But that doesn’t mean billions of people are at the pier every...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. EPA Gives Chicago Decades to Replace Lead Pipes, Leaving Communities at Risk. Advocates say vulnerable communities can’t afford to wait 20 years...

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Featured Connection: Digital Media

Featured Connection: Digital Media

Whether through Twitter, Instagram, or your favorite blog, most of us now get our news online. We don’t have the time or patience to sit through a lengthy newscast or flip through pages of newsprint. Give us the headlines in 280 characters or a one-minute video, and...

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The Blue Economy

The Blue Economy

What is the blue economy? It depends on whom you ask. Here are just some of the accepted definitions of blue economy: According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. The U.N.’s Verdict on Climate Progress Over the Past Year: There Was None. An annual assessment by the world body tracks the gulf between what...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Approaching the topic of “ocean sustainability” can be a rather sensitive endeavor. One reason for this is that there doesn’t seem to be a single accepted definition of the term “sustainability.”  So, depending on your scientific, political, or environmental...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Federal Highway Officials Reach Agreement With Alabama Over Claims It Discriminated Against Flooded Black Residents. Homeowners in Shiloh say the...

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Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

The Power to End Climate Change When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming,...

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Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Shipwrecks, Underwater Cities and Adventure! Marine archaeology just sounds exciting. Spending your life sailing the high seas in search of legendary shipwrecks. Diving among treasure-laden ships in search of sunken riches. If only it were true! Marine archaeologists...

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Crafting Your Own Internship

Crafting Your Own Internship

Check out our four-part video tutorial series , Creating Your Own Opportunity. Creating Your Own Opportunity shows you how to create your own ocean-science-related internship or research opportunity when you have not been able to secure a spot in a more formal...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Why Hurricane Helene Could Finally Change the Conversation Around Climate Change. The massive personal and economic toll of unexpected inland...

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Featured Connection: Botany

Featured Connection: Botany

The Scientific Study of Plants Plants are essential to our lives. They provide – either directly or indirectly – all of our food and the oxygen we breathe. They are a source of important medicines (aspirin developed due to the study of rotting tree bark, and...

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Agents of Change in Environmental Justice

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast brings you the voices and stories of next generation environmental health and justice leaders from underrepresented backgrounds. Recent episodies include: Elijah Hutchinson joins the Agents of Change in Environmental...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. The Hague becomes world’s first city to pass law banning fossil fuel-related ads. Legislation makes it illegal to advertise fossil fuel products...

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Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Life in the Ocean Among all the ocean sciences, marine biology is one of the most popular among high school students. We are not sure if this is because of all the ocean sciences, it is the one typically offered at the high school level, or because students think...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. California Slashed Harmful Vehicle Emissions, but People of Color and Overburdened Communities Continue to Breathe the Worst Air. New research...

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Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Preserving our Greatest Resource Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas. And while the definition of marine conservation is fairly straightforward, the field of marine conservation is as vast as the ocean...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Bigger share of COP29 badges for Global South NGOs upsets rich-country groups. The UNFCCC has changed quota allocations for observers in a bid to...

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Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

The Smallest Inhabitants of the Ocean Marine microbiology is the study of microorganisms that exist in saltwater environments, including the deep ocean, coastal waters, estuaries, marine surfaces, and seafloor sediments. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, these...

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The Grist 50 – Climate Leaders to Watch

The Grist 50 – Climate Leaders to Watch

The Grist 50 is a list of 50 people across the U.S. who are tackling some of the most pressing problems of today in innovative and exciting ways. On this year’s list, you’ll find creatives bringing powerful stories to new audiences, advocates pushing for healthy and...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Fossil fuel transition back in draft pact for UN Summit of the Future after outcry. The new text of a UN pact for the high-level event brings back...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

The Politics of Place Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and...

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Microplastics Found in Human Blood

Microplastics Found in Human Blood

For the first time, scientists have found evidence of microplastics in human blood. The study, published in the journal Environmental International, found traces of tiny plastic particles in 80% of the people tested. Microplastics, defined as small pieces of degraded...

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Featured Connection: Oceanography

Featured Connection: Oceanography

Studying Our Greatest Resource Because the ocean covers over 70 percent of the planet and contains 99 percent of the living space on Earth, its composition (e.g., its physical, chemical, and biological makeup) has a significant impact on all life. This is true whether...

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Your Roadmap to Success

Your Roadmap to Success

Most of us don’t know what we want to study in college or do when we get out of school or even what our options might be. So to give you a better idea of what’s out there, we created profiles for dozens of ocean-related jobs and professions. Each profile is a roadmap...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Extreme heat increasingly disrupting child health, UNICEF warns. “Extreme heat is increasing, disrupting children’s health, wellbeing and daily...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

The Greatest Threat to the Ocean is Ignorance Ocean literacy is defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The idea of creating a more “ocean-literate” society is, in many ways, the central theme that runs throughout...

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Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Robert Bullard Any list of environmental justice luminaries has to start with Dr. Robert Bullard, the man many consider the “Father of environmental justice.” Dr. Bullard was one of the first to understand the unequal environmental burdens faced by vulnerable...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. The Aspen Institute Is Calling for a Systemic Approach to Climate Education at the University Level. Arizona State and UC San Diego will begin...

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Featured Connection: Astrobiology

Featured Connection: Astrobiology

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and existence of life in the universe. The search for life beyond Earth requires a wide-ranging understanding of not only the nature of the types...

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Principles of Climate Justice

Principles of Climate Justice

The Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change established the following Principles of Climate Justice: Establish a zero carbon economy and achieve this by limiting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the levels advocated by the...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Canada’s Olympics kit provider hit with greenwashing complaint in France. Lululemon is accused by environmental group of using “misleading”...

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Featured Connection: Climate Science

Featured Connection: Climate Science

The Science Behind Climate Change Climate change is by far the most pressing issue facing our generation. Extreme events such as flooding, heat waves, and widespread crop failures are becoming much more common. As a result, climate change has an impact on global...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Canada’s Olympics kit provider hit with greenwashing complaint in France. Lululemon is accused by environmental group of using “misleading”...

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Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Ocean Acidification and Climate Change Chemical oceanography is considered a niche area within the broader field of oceanography. Along with biological, physical, and geographical oceanography, it is one of the four main oceanographic areas. It is said that chemical...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Tribes and Environmentalists Press Arizona and Federal Officials to Stop Uranium Mining Near the Grand Canyon. Activists hope to shut down an...

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Featured Connection: Documentary Filmmaking

Featured Connection: Documentary Filmmaking

Telling Stories That Matter There’s no question that the invention of the smartphone camera has, at one time or another, turned us all into amateur documentary filmmakers. And with the professional-grade movie editing software that often comes pre-loaded on computers,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Plastics Pollution Has Become a ‘Crisis,’ Biden Administration Acknowledges. The White House strategy aims to cut pollutants, not cap production,...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Protection

Featured Connection: Environmental Protection

Restoring Nature to its Natural State The negative effects of human activity on the environment are certainly there for all to see. Air pollution, deforestation, plastic pollution, warming oceans, rising sea levels, species extinction, intensifying storms,...

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Environmental Defense Fund Internships

Environmental Defense Fund Internships

Whether you want to have a direct impact on the environment — or work behind the scenes to support such work — EDF internships are designed to provide current and recent undergraduate and graduate students with a wealth of opportunities. EDF internships support...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Global goal of tripling renewables by 2030 still out of reach, says International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The renewable energy agency...

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Friday Podcast

Friday Podcast

In a new Ocean Connect feature, we are going to recommend a worthwhile podcast every Friday (until we run out of podcasts!). We are going to start with the Conservation Careers Podcast. Conservation Careers is a conservation careers center for aspiring and experienced...

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Featured Connection: Biological Oceanography

Featured Connection: Biological Oceanography

The Interaction between Marine Life and the Ocean  Because the ocean contains 99% of the living space on Earth and covers over 70% of Earth’s surface, its composition significantly impacts all life. This is true whether you live on the coast or thousands of miles...

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NOAA Student Opportunities Database

NOAA Student Opportunities Database

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains a database of opportunities for students of any level — from kindergarten through high school, undergraduate and graduate, and even recent graduates. Opportunities include one-day events, summer...

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Climate Corps Fellowships

Climate Corps Fellowships

Climate Corps® is an innovative fellowship program that trains talented and passionate graduate students and pairs them with companies and public institutions dedicated to meeting their climate and energy goals. Climate Corps® exists to build and mobilize a diverse...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. The Supreme Court Just Pushed Environmental Justice Even Further Aside. The recently paused “good neighbor” rule was the Environmental Protection...

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Featured Connection: Maritime Transport

Featured Connection: Maritime Transport

Movement of Goods and People For many people, the idea of a life at sea has always held a certain romanticism. Setting out on the open ocean for unknown adventures, visiting exotic ports of call. There is also the excitement that comes from working in a potentially...

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A Treasure Trove of Information

A Treasure Trove of Information

We like to think that everything we offer on Ocean Connect is a fantastic resource that will help you make your unique connection to the ocean but based on the feedback we have been receiving, our database of professional societies, organizations, and institutes is...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. For Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley,’ Study Shows An Even Graver Risk From Toxic Gases. Levels of ethylene oxide more than 1,000 times higher than...

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Featured Connection: Ecology

Featured Connection: Ecology

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms – including humans – and the world around them. Ecologists seek to understand the complex connections between these living organisms and their habitats. Ecologists study plants and animals at various...

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What is the Blue Economy

What is the Blue Economy

It depends on whom you ask. Here are just some of the accepted definitions of "blue economy: According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Federal Dams Harm Native American Communities, U.S. Acknowledges. In a report released Tuesday, the Biden administration said that federal dams in...

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Celebrate Freedom

Celebrate Freedom

“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”  — Coretta Scott King

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Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

No doubt, underwater photography is an exhilarating and fun experience. When most people think of underwater photographers, they picture someone in full scuba gear treading water in the ocean’s depths (usually among sharks or the wreckage of a ship). And while this is...

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Leveling the Playing Field

Leveling the Playing Field

ocean-related academic and career opportunities between students from underrepresented communities and those from communities that traditionally have had access to greater resources. Ocean Connect is committed to providing students from all backgrounds an equal...

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Featured Connection: Aquaculture

Featured Connection: Aquaculture

The Business of Feeding the World According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 4.5 billion people get a significant source of their daily protein intake from fish. But that doesn’t mean billions of people are going down to...

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Craft Your Own Internship or Research Opportunity

Craft Your Own Internship or Research Opportunity

Check out our four-part video tutorial series Creating Your Own Opportunity. Creating Your Own Opportunity shows you how to create your own ocean-science-related internship or research opportunity when you have not been able to secure a spot in a more formal program....

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Europe’s Swing to the Right Threatens Global Climate Policy. Many populist, nationalist and far-right parties have attacked environmental, climate...

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World Oceans Day 2024

World Oceans Day 2024

On World Oceans Day, people everywhere can unite to celebrate and take action for our shared blue planet, with one ocean and one climate, which connect us all. Get together with your family, community, and /or your company, and join with millions of others around our...

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Featured Connection: Ecotourism

Featured Connection: Ecotourism

As a multi-trillion-dollars business, travel, and tourism is a vitally important part of the economy. Pre-COVID, the travel and tourism industry was responsible for over 330 million jobs and contributed over 10 percent to the global gross domestic product.  But...

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Internship & Research Opportunities

Internship & Research Opportunities

The Opportunities Database contains information on ocean-related academic programs, awards, contests, enrichment programs, externships, internships, fellowships, grants, research projects, scholarships, summer programs, and training programs available to students from...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. In a historic move, Vermont becomes 1st state to pass a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for climate change damages. Vermont has passed...

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Featured Connection: Biotechnology

Featured Connection: Biotechnology

Technology Comes Alive Biotechnology, simply put, is technology that utilizes the biological systems found in living organisms (or the living organisms themselves) to develop and make new commercial products. While cutting-edge developments in areas such as cloning...

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How Safe is Your Drinking Water?

How Safe is Your Drinking Water?

A recent study found that the increasing frequency of droughts, heatwaves, storms, and floods is threatening the availability of water and its quality across the world. Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands analyzed 965 cases of river water...

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Summer 2024 Opportunities

Summer 2024 Opportunities

New internships, research programs, fellowships and acdemic programs are being added to the Ocean Connect Opportunities Database on a daily basis. Some of the recent additions include research programs in the following areas: Sustainability Environmental Science...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Alaskan rivers turning orange due to climate change, study finds. As frozen ground below the surface melts, exposed minerals such as iron are...

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Featured Connection: Creative Writing

Featured Connection: Creative Writing

The Power of Words Creative writing has been around since the time we could first put a chisel to a stone tablet and carve out glyphs, wedges, and runes and people have been writing about the ocean for probably just as long. And why not? The ocean makes for both a...

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Your Roadmap to Success

Your Roadmap to Success

Most of us don’t know what we want to study in college or do when we get out of school or even what our options might be. So to give you a better idea of what’s out there, we created profiles for dozens of ocean-related jobs and professions. Each profile is a roadmap...

read more
The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Ron DeSantis signs bill scrubbing ‘climate change’ from Florida state laws. State, which just had its hottest year since 1895, will ban offshore...

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Featured Connection: Microbiology

Featured Connection: Microbiology

Life at the Microscopic Level Microbiology is the study of organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. These microorganisms (or “microbes”) include viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi, slime molds, and protozoa. Microbes are everywhere, and we mean...

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Toxic Communities

Toxic Communities

I highly recommend Yale Professor Dorceta Taylor's book Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility. The book analyzes the forces that constrain, compel, or encourage the movement of minorities. It examines the expulsion of...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target. Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous...

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Featured Connection: Naval Architecture

Featured Connection: Naval Architecture

The Ancient Art of Shipbuilding Naval architecture has, in one form or another, existed as a profession since at least the times of the Ancient Egyptians. Back then, carving pictures of ships into rocks was the equivalent of today’s computer-aided design. And while...

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Principles of Climate Justice

Principles of Climate Justice

The Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change established the following Principles of Climate Justice: Establish a zero carbon economy and achieve this by limiting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the levels advocated by the...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Seismic shifts are underway to find finance for loss and damage. The new UN fund can channel taxes and other innovative ways of raising money to...

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Featured Connection: Fisheries Management

Featured Connection: Fisheries Management

Managing a Vital Food Source Fisheries play an essential role by providing a vital source of food in a sustainable manner. Fisheries are also a source of employment, recreation, trade, and economic well-being for people throughout the world. Globally, fisheries feed...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. We might be closer to changing course on climate change than we realize. Greenhouse gas emissions might have already peaked. Now they need to fall...

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Feature Connection: Investigative Journalism

Feature Connection: Investigative Journalism

The Truth is Out There Throughout history, investigative journalists have been revered, reviled, and repressed, often simultaneously and resulting from the same story. That should not be all that surprising, as exposing the truth often pleases one constituency at the...

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Our world needs transformation. It’s time for the people of the world to hold governments and the private sector accountable for their role in our environmental crisis while also calling for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. This will require action at all...

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12 Eco-Friendly Ways to Support the Planet

12 Eco-Friendly Ways to Support the Planet

We need a healthy planet to thrive, and our planet needs us! Celebrate Earth Day by taking action for nature and people today and every day. Shop at eco-friendly stores Plant a tree Cook an all-green meal Pick up garbage alongside the beach, lake or around the...

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Blue Justice and Blue Growth

Blue Justice and Blue Growth

I recently found an interesting article called Blue Growth and Blue Justice that examines the social justice implications of the rapid and unchecked development of ocean resources. The article highlights ten injustices that can be produced by blue growth: (1)...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Nowhere for the water to go: Dubai flooding shows the world is failing a big climate change drainage test. Flooding in the United Arab Emirates’...

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Featured Connection: Coastal Science

Featured Connection: Coastal Science

The Sustainable Use of Resources and Conservation of Biodiversity Coastal environments contain a wealth of biodiversity and economic opportunity. Due to the interaction of terrestrial, marine, and atmospheric processes, they are one of the most complex environments on...

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Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Robert Bullard Any list of environmental justice luminaries has to start with Dr. Robert Bullard, the man many consider the "Father of environmental justice." Dr. Bullard was one of the first to understand the unequal environmental burdens faced by vulnerable...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction. A group of older Swiss women has won the first-ever climate case victory in the...

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New York Pollution Burdens Communities of Color Most

New York Pollution Burdens Communities of Color Most

The first comprehensive survey of environmental inequalities by the mayor’s office of environmental justice reveals that nearly half of all New Yorkers live in areas with “disproportionate” burdens from pollution. Most affected are communities of color, which are also...

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Featured Connection: Science Journalism

Featured Connection: Science Journalism

Making the Complex Understandable The rapidly changing scientific, medical and technical landscape requires the skills of a special type of journalist who can both understand and explain these changes to the general population. Science journalists take complicated...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Is the Fight Against Climate Change Losing Momentum? Some financial institutions are backing away from emission pledges. (read the full...

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Featured Connection: Hydrology

Featured Connection: Hydrology

Water, Water Everywhere Water is among the most important resources on our planet. Without it, life would not exist. Hydrologists study how water moves across and through Earth’s crust. They study how rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation impact river flows or...

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The Justice40 Initiative

The Justice40 Initiative

What is the Justice40 Initiative? For the first time in our nation’s history, the Federal government has made it a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to...

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The Week in Climate Change Policy

The Week in Climate Change Policy

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. World’s first-ever global emissions tax takes a step closer to reality. Two weeks of talks at the United Nations shipping agency concluded in...

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Featured Connection: Marine Mammal Science

Featured Connection: Marine Mammal Science

The Care and Conservation of Marine Mammals  Marine mammal science is a diverse field that includes the study of animal behavior, communication, evolution, physiology, ecology, and zoology. Marine mammal scientists (also called marine mammalogists) study the...

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The Biden Administration’s Environmental Justice Progress

The Biden Administration’s Environmental Justice Progress

I came across an interesting article by Lisa Whitley Coleman in the EHS Daily Advisor (a newsletter for environmental, health, and safety professionals). Ms. Coleman engages in an in-depth analysis of the administration’s progress in delivering Environmental Justice....

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. World’s first-ever global emissions tax takes a step closer to reality. “The UN is on the edge of adopting the world’s first-ever global emissions...

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Featured Connection: Scientific Illustration

Featured Connection: Scientific Illustration

The Art of Science While people tend to think of art and science as opposite ends of the spectrum, art has actually played a key role in the development of science and how scientific information and advancement are communicated. Scientific illustration, which lies at...

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Global Coral Reef Heat Stress Monitor Adds New Alerts

Global Coral Reef Heat Stress Monitor Adds New Alerts

The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes. The changes introduced by the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program come after...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Massachusetts town grapples with sea rise after sand barrier fails. A $500,000 sand dune collapsed in days after...

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Featured Connection: Fisheries Science

Featured Connection: Fisheries Science

Finding Ways to Feed the World in a Sustainable Manner Fisheries play an essential role in the sustainability and health of our planet by providing much-needed food as well as other important services. Globally, fisheries feed billions of people and offer jobs and...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. EPA hosts “Road Show” in Commerce City to help communities access historic Investing in America funding. EPA’s Community, Equity and Resiliency...

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Featured Connection: Physical Oceanography

Featured Connection: Physical Oceanography

The Key to Understanding Climate Change Physical oceanography – one of the four main branches of oceanography – involves studying the properties (such as temperature and density) and movement (such as waves, currents, and tides) of ocean water. It also involves...

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EV’s Impacts on Environmental Justice

EV’s Impacts on Environmental Justice

From a recent paper by Lisa Benjamin from Lewis & Clark Law School in the Harvard Environmental Law Review (volume 47, Harvard Environmental Law Review, 2023): Electric vehicles (EVs) are everywhere. And they are cool – consumers love them. But EVs have justice...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Biden Environmental Justice Goals Face Headwinds in Courtrooms. As the Biden administration makes strides toward more robust environmental justice...

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Featured Connection: Photojournalism

Featured Connection: Photojournalism

The Image as News Photojournalism is a form of journalism that uses images instead of words to tell a news story. Photographic images can reveal great truths, expose wrongdoing and neglect, and inspire hope and understanding through the language of visual...

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It’s International Polar Bear Day

It’s International Polar Bear Day

As reported on the WWF website: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are the poster child for the impacts of climate change on species, and justifiably so. To date, global warming has been most pronounced in the Arctic, and this trend is projected to continue. There are...

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What’s a Fenceline Community?

What’s a Fenceline Community?

A fenceline community is a neighborhood immediately adjacent to highly polluting facilities (such as oil refineries, chemical factories, concrete factories, industrial parks, military bases, or other large manufacturing facilities) and is directly affected by the...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Here’s Where Biden’s Climate Law Is Working, and Where It’s Falling Short. Electric vehicles are booming as expected, a new analysis found, but...

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State of Finance for Nature

State of Finance for Nature

The State of Finance for Nature annual report series tracks finance flows to nature-based solutions (NbS) and compares them to the finance needed to maximise the potential of Nature based Solutions to help tackle climate, biodiversity and degradation challenges. For...

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Featured Connection: Geological Oceanography

Featured Connection: Geological Oceanography

The Last Unexplored Frontier The ocean contains 99% of the living space on earth, but less than 10% has been explored. We actually know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the deepest parts of the ocean. So, when it comes to unexplored frontiers, our vote...

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Finding a Research Program for the Summer

Finding a Research Program for the Summer

The Ocean Connect website contains two great databases - the Opportunities Database and the Current Research Database (https://www.ocean-connect.org/resources/). The Opportunities Database contains information on a wide range of ocean-related programs available to...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Amazon rainforest could reach ‘tipping point’ by 2050, scientists warn. ‘We need to respond now,’ says author of study that says crucial forest...

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Who is Most Impacted by Climate Change?

Who is Most Impacted by Climate Change?

According to Amnesty International, the climate crisis is a manifestation of deep-rooted injustices. Although the climate crisis is a global problem affecting everybody, it disproportionately affects individuals and groups who are already subjected to multiple and...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Science

Featured Connection: Environmental Science

The Interconnectedness of Living Things Environmental Science integrates natural and social sciences to study how the environment and man-made processes interact with one another. It is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates ecology, chemistry, biology,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Assessing the macroeconomic effects of climate change transition policies. To meet the goal of reducing emissions in the European Union (EU) by at...

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Advancing Racial Equity Across the Water Sector

Advancing Racial Equity Across the Water Sector

The US Water Alliance has developed a Racial Equity Toolkit to enable water utilities to work to improve their racial equity practices. For too long, the water sector has been operating within systems in which race is a predictor of water access, affordability,...

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EPA Finalizes Stronger Standards for Harmful Soot Pollution

EPA Finalizes Stronger Standards for Harmful Soot Pollution

The Biden-Harris Administration finalized a significantly stronger air quality standard that will better protect America’s families, workers, and communities from the dangerous and costly health effects of fine particle pollution, also known as soot. By strengthening...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Engineering

Featured Connection: Ocean Engineering

Creating the Tools for Ocean Discovery Ocean engineers are responsible for designing, building, and testing instrumentation and equipment that can withstand the harsh conditions of the ocean environment. It is a multidisciplinary field that combines mechanical,...

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Climate Education Essentials

Climate Education Essentials

New York has joined California, Connecticut and New Jersey as states that mandate climate education from kindergarten onward. New York City, the country's largest school system, got a head start on this curriculum mandate with its efforts to compost lunches,...

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The Incredible Fish Value Machine

The Incredible Fish Value Machine

As reported by the New England Ocean Cluster, “The Incredible Fish Value Machine” displays how Icelanders have produced “an industry fishing machine” which takes pride in the fact that no other whitefish nation is utilising more of each fish than Icelanders. While in...

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World Wetlands Day!

World Wetlands Day!

A wetland is an area of land saturated with water. Given their importance to the ecosystem, wetlands are well worth celebrating today and every day. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, wetlands provide habitat for thousands of species of aquatic and terrestrial...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. ‘Literally off the charts’: global coral reef heat stress monitor forced to add new alerts as temperatures rise. Three new levels added by US...

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Featured Connection: The Business of Biotechnology

Featured Connection: The Business of Biotechnology

The Business of Life Science Biotechnology, simply put, is a technology that utilizes the biological systems found in living organisms (or the living organisms themselves) to develop and make new commercial products. While cutting-edge developments in areas such as...

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Marine Science Opportunities

Marine Science Opportunities

As all aspiring marine scientists know, participating in internships, research projects, and similar opportunities is a prerequisite for success in the field. The hands-on experience, working with experienced marine scientists, and the resulting networking...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. ‘How to greenwash’: propane industry tries to rebrand fuel as renewable. Lobbying group spent nearly $30m on ads touting the ‘clean energy’...

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Environmental Injustice Along the Houston Ship Channel

Environmental Injustice Along the Houston Ship Channel

Amnesty International’s latest report shows the harms suffered by local communities from pollution emitted by the hundreds of petrochemical plants and refineries along the Houston Ship Channel in Texas. The report documents the health and human rights consequences of...

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Featured Connection: Filmmaking

Featured Connection: Filmmaking

Lights, Camera, Action! The ocean has been the backdrop for some of the greatest movies. It has also been the backdrop for many mediocre movies, but hey, that’s not the ocean’s fault. The point is that for a filmmaker, the ocean provides you with an incredibly wide...

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The Power Of Climate Policy Literacy

The Power Of Climate Policy Literacy

If you have ever felt overwhelmed by climate policy, check out the TedX Talk The Power of Climate Policy Literacy by Emma Heiling. Climate policy often feels like a foreign language. It is filled with regulations, concepts, agreements, and acronyms that most of us...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. What If the Clean Energy Transition Costs Much Less Than We’ve Been Told? Talk about the astronomical costs of a sustainable economy is leaving...

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Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

The Science of Feeding the World According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 4.5 billion people get a significant source of their daily protein intake from fish. But that doesn’t mean billions of people are at the pier every...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Dutch Caribbean islanders sue Netherlands over climate change. Eight people from the Caribbean island of Bonaire are suing the Netherlands,...

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Studies Find More Plastic in Our Food and Bottled Water

Studies Find More Plastic in Our Food and Bottled Water

Two new studies published this week detail the alarming levels of microplastics. One study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that bottled water sold in stores can contain 10 to 100 times more bits of plastic than previously...

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Featured Connection: Digital Media

Featured Connection: Digital Media

Whether through Twitter, Instagram, or your favorite blog, most of us now get our news online. We don’t have the time or patience to sit through a lengthy newscast or flip through pages of newsprint. Give us the headlines in 280 characters or a one-minute video, and...

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The (In)Equity of Air Quality

The (In)Equity of Air Quality

As the United States tries to meet its climate goals and address environmental justice issues, cutting greenhouse gases alone might not help communities of color dealing with air pollution. In some cases, it might even hurt them, according to a study from the...

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Finding a Great Opportunity

Finding a Great Opportunity

The Opportunities Database contains information on ocean-related academic programs, awards, contests, enrichment programs, externships, internships, fellowships, grants, research projects, scholarships, summer programs, and training programs available to students from...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Ten climate questions for 2024. The US election and negotiations on a new global finance target are the most important things for the climate in...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Approaching the topic of “ocean sustainability” can be a rather sensitive endeavor. One reason for this is that there doesn’t seem to be a single accepted definition of the term “sustainability.”  So, depending on your scientific, political, or environmental...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories.    World will look back at 2023 as year humanity exposed its inability to tackle climate crisis, scientists say. Disastrous events...

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How Safe Is Your Drinking Water?

How Safe Is Your Drinking Water?

A recent study found that the increasing frequency of droughts, heatwaves, storms, and floods is threatening the availability of water and its quality across the world. Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands analyzed 965 cases of river water quality...

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Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

The Power to End Climate Change When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming,...

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Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Shipwrecks, Underwater Cities and Adventure! Marine archaeology just sounds exciting. Spending your life sailing the high seas in search of legendary shipwrecks. Diving among treasure-laden ships in search of sunken riches. If only it were true! Marine archaeologists...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories.    ‘Could be the end’: Tasmanian red handfish to be removed from wild amid marine heatwaves fears. Exemption under federal environment law to...

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Featured Connection: Atmospheric Science

Featured Connection: Atmospheric Science

The Dynamics of Weather and Climate Atmospheric scientists consider problems that are both scientifically challenging and critical for the health and well-being of modern society. Atmospheric science is an interdisciplinary field that touches upon mathematics,...

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Climate Trace

Climate Trace

A global coalition co-founded by Al Gore, the former US vice president, has released a granular database tracking global greenhouse gas emissions down to the individual polluter. And some of the world’s biggest companies plan to use this data to decarbonize their...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories.   Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels. Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit...

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Featured Connection: Botany

Featured Connection: Botany

Plants are essential to our lives. They provide – either directly or indirectly – all of our food and the oxygen we breathe. They are a source of important medicines (aspirin developed due to the study of rotting tree bark, and penicillin came from mold). They are the...

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What Does it Mean to Be an Environmental Justice Community?

What Does it Mean to Be an Environmental Justice Community?

Communities most impacted by environmental harms and risks are typically referred to as “environmental justice (EJ) communities” or, as the US Environmental Protection Agency defines them, “overburdened communities.” A few factors go into identifying EJ communities,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories.  Cop28: China ‘would like to see agreement to substitute renewables for fossil fuels’. But country’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, would not say...

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Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool is a geospatial mapping tool that indicates disadvantaged communities nationwide facing significant burdens. These burdens are organized into eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution,...

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Leveling the Playing Field

Leveling the Playing Field

Historically, we recognize that there has been a significant disparity in the availability of ocean-related academic and career opportunities between students from underrepresented communities and those from communities that traditionally have had access to greater...

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State of Climate Action 2023

State of Climate Action 2023

The World Resources Institute, Climate Action Tracker, the Bezos Earth Fund, and others have just issued their State of Climate Action report, which found the world off track in 41 of 42 important measurements. The State of Climate Action 2023 provides the world’s...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. At COP28, the Role of Food Systems in the Climate Crisis Will Get More Attention Than Ever. As food and agriculture take center stage, industry...

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Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Among all the ocean sciences, marine biology is one of the most popular among high school students. We are not sure if this is because of all the ocean sciences, it is the one typically offered at the high school level, or because students think being a marine...

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Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas. And while the definition of marine conservation is fairly straightforward, the field of marine conservation is as vast as the ocean itself.  Marine conservation ranges from...

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Find Your Research Program

Find Your Research Program

The Ocean Connect website contains two great databases – the Opportunities Database and the Current Research Database (https://www.ocean-connect.org/resources/). The Opportunities Database contains information on a wide range of ocean-related programs available to...

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The Week In Climate Change News

The Week In Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Climate Change is Disrupting Global Trade. Around 1,000 ships pass through the Panama Canal each month carrying a total of over 40 million tons of...

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Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

The Smallest Inhabitants of the Ocean Marine microbiology is the study of microorganisms that exist in saltwater environments, including the deep ocean, coastal waters, estuaries, marine surfaces, and seafloor sediments. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, these...

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Conservation Careers

Conservation Careers

Anyone interested in pursuing or just learning about a career in conservation should check out the Conservation Careers website (www.conservation-careers.com). It is full of helpful resources no matter what stage of your career – student, intern, job seeker, early...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories.  2 degrees, 40 feet: Scientists who study Earth’s ice say we could be committed to disastrous sea level rise. A new report details that ice sheets...

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Why Connect

Why Connect

We certainly devote a lot of space on this website to explaining how to connect to the ocean, but not so much as to why you should connect. And that’s because we all have our own, often unique, reasons for connecting. For some, it is an...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

The Politics of Place Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and...

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Fifth National Climate Assessment

Fifth National Climate Assessment

Biden-⁠Harris Administration Releases Fifth National Climate Assessment and Announces More Than $6 Billion to Strengthen Climate Resilience Across the Country. The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts,...

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Finding your Opportunity

Finding your Opportunity

The Opportunities Database contains information on ocean-related academic programs, awards, contests, enrichment programs, externships, internships, fellowships, grants, research projects, scholarships, summer programs, and training programs available to students from...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories. Environmental Groups Cut Programs as Funding Shifts to Climate Change. The Natural Resources Defense Council is eliminating its longstanding...

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Featured Connection: Fisheries Management

Featured Connection: Fisheries Management

Managing a Vital Food Source Fisheries play an essential role by providing a vital source of food in a sustainable manner. Fisheries are also a source of employment, recreation, trade, and economic well-being for people throughout the world. Globally, fisheries feed...

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Featured Connection: Oceanography

Featured Connection: Oceanography

Studying Our Greatest Resource Because the ocean covers over 70 percent of the planet and contains 99 percent of the living space on Earth, its composition (e.g., its physical, chemical, and biological makeup) has a significant impact on all life. This is true whether...

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Information Exchange – oceanXchange

Information Exchange – oceanXchange

Another way we are creating a more inclusive ocean community is by narrowing the gap in experiential knowledge between students from better-resourced areas and those from under-resourced communities. Our student community page – oceanXchange – will give you the chance...

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Water Insecurity

Water Insecurity

By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. Water and climate change are inextricably linked. Climate change affects the world’s water in complex ways. From unpredictable rainfall patterns to shrinking ice sheets, rising sea levels, floods,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive) list of interesting and relevant climate change, climate policy, and environmental justice stories from the past week.   America’s Stewardship of one of its most precious resources, groundwater, relies on a patchwork of state and local rules so...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

The Greatest Threat to the Ocean is Ignorance Ocean literacy is defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The idea of creating a more “ocean-literate” society is, in many ways, the central theme that runs throughout...

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Featured Connection: Astrobiology

Featured Connection: Astrobiology

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and existence of life in the universe. The search for life beyond Earth requires a wide-ranging understanding of not only the nature of the types...

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Americans Expect Climate Change to Worsen

Americans Expect Climate Change to Worsen

According to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center, 63% of Americans say that climate change is harming people in the United States and that climate impacts will get worse over their lifetime. When it comes to the personal impact of climate change, most...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week.     More than 200 medical journals are calling on the World Health Organization to deem two overlapping...

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The 2023 State of the Climate Report

The 2023 State of the Climate Report

Recently published research makes dire claims about the climate, declaring that "life on planet Earth is under siege" and that "we are pushing our planetary systems into dangerous instability." The study, titled "The 2023 State of the Climate Report: Entering...

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Featured Connection: Coastal Science

Featured Connection: Coastal Science

The Sustainable Use of Resources and Conservation of Biodiversity Coastal environments contain a wealth of biodiversity and economic opportunity. Due to the interaction of terrestrial, marine, and atmospheric processes, they are one of the most complex environments on...

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Millions for Environmental Justice Projects

Millions for Environmental Justice Projects

According to a report in the Washington Timea, the Biden administration on Tuesday announced $128 million in funding for environmental justice projects across the country meant to combat the impacts of climate change in underserved communities. The money will fund 186...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week. A Shadowy Corner of International Law Is Threatening Climate Action, U.N. Expert Warns An obscure but far-reaching system allowing...

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Featured Connection: Climate Science

Featured Connection: Climate Science

The Science Behind Climate Change Climate change is by far the most pressing issue facing our generation. Extreme events such as flooding, heat waves, and widespread crop failures are becoming much more common. As a result, climate change has an impact on global...

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A Brief History of Environmental Justice

A Brief History of Environmental Justice

In the early 1980s in Warren County, North Carolina, the state decided to place a toxic waste landfill in a poor, rural, and predominantly African-American community. This, in and of itself, was not unusual as the siting of such landfills in or near minority...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week.    Why the hydrogen tax credit has become a lightning rod for controversy. One of the most generous tax credits in Biden’s landmark...

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Featured Connection: Science Journalism

Featured Connection: Science Journalism

Making the Complex Understandable The rapidly changing scientific, medical and technical landscape requires the skills of a special type of journalist who can both understand and explain these changes to the general population. Science journalists take complicated...

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Celebrate and Remember

Celebrate and Remember

Indigenous People’s Day honors the past, present, and future of Native peoples throughout the US. The holiday recognizes the legacy and impact of colonialism on Native communities, and it also celebrates the cultures, contributions, and resilience of contemporary...

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Map of Environmental University Courses

Map of Environmental University Courses

ClimaTalk, a youth-led non-profit organization, has developed a university courses map with close to 400 environmental undergraduate and postgraduate courses from all around the world to help young people find the perfect course. ClimaTalk is based in Europe, so right...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week.   Prioritizing Justice in New York State Climate Policy: Aiming for Cleaner Air in Disadvantaged Communities. The outcome of...

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Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Ocean Acidification and Climate Change Chemical oceanography is considered a niche area within the broader field of oceanography. Along with biological, physical, and geographical oceanography, it is one of the four main oceanographic areas. It is said that chemical...

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Is Your Drinking Water Safe?

Is Your Drinking Water Safe?

A new study released today found that the increasing frequency of droughts, heatwaves, storms, and floods is threatening the availability of water and its quality across the world. Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands analyzed 965 cases of river...

read more
The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week.  Climate change: Six young people take 32 countries to court. They accuse the countries of insufficient action over climate change and...

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Featured Connection: Marine Engineering

Featured Connection: Marine Engineering

Making Ships Go Marine Engineering is a field of engineering that deals with the design, construction, operation, development, production, and maintenance of the marine equipment that forms a part of seagoing vessels, harbor installations, and docks. While naval...

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How Unjust Is Your Environment?

How Unjust Is Your Environment?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Environmental Justice Index (EJI) ranks communities across the US according to environmental health risk. EJI is the first national geospatial tool to measure the cumulative impacts of social and environmental factors,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week.  New files shed light on ExxonMobil’s efforts to undermine climate science. Executives privately sought to downplay link between fossil...

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American Climate Corps 

American Climate Corps 

President Biden announced a new initiative to train young people in high-demand skills for jobs in the clean energy economy. The American Climate Corps is designed to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community...

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Featured Connection: Hydrology

Featured Connection: Hydrology

Water, Water Everywhere Water is among the most important resources on our planet. Without it, life would not exist. Hydrologists study how water moves across and through Earth’s crust. They study how rain, snow, and other forms...

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EPA Watchdog Report: Refineries Can’t Police Themselves

EPA Watchdog Report: Refineries Can’t Police Themselves

As the Latin expression puts it, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? This is a phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which is literally translated as “Who will guard the guards themselves?”  Well, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General, the...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week. Shipping giant Maersk unveils world’s first vessel using green methanol. The new container ship, ordered in 2021, has two engines: one...

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Featured Connection: Marine Mammal Science

Featured Connection: Marine Mammal Science

The Care and Conservation of Marine Mammals  Marine mammal science is a diverse field that includes the study of animal behavior, communication, evolution, physiology, ecology, and zoology. Marine mammal scientists (also called marine mammalogists) study the...

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Ocean Connect Hits 20,000 New Monthly Users

Ocean Connect Hits 20,000 New Monthly Users

Well, we went from 10,000 new monthly users to 20,000 in just a few months - we didn't even have time to celebrate reaching the 15,000 mark (woot woot). We just keep adding information, and the new users keep coming. And we will continue doing what set out to do -...

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EVs as EJ?

EVs as EJ?

From a forthcoming paper by Lisa Benjamin from Lewis & Clark Law School in the Harvard Environmental Law Review: Electric vehicles (EVs) are everywhere. And they are cool – consumers love them. But EVs have justice implications – both positive and negative. The...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week. Experts Warn of ‘Denialism Comeback’ Ahead of November’s Global Climate Talks. Even amid a disaster-filled summer marked by record heat,...

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Biodiversity Conservation

Biodiversity Conservation

The first-ever report between UNESCO and IUCN unveils a global assessment of species biodiversity in #WorldHeritage sites. The World Heritage Convention that protects these habitats is especially unique due to the ways in which it deals with both natural and cultural...

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Featured Connection: Scientific Illustration

Featured Connection: Scientific Illustration

The Art of Science While people tend to think of art and science as opposite ends of the spectrum, art has actually played a key role in the development of science and how scientific information and advancement are communicated. Scientific illustration, which lies at...

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How Bad is Climate Change for Polar Bears? Very.

How Bad is Climate Change for Polar Bears? Very.

A new study released this week reports that scientists can now measure the impact that greenhouse gas emissions have on polar bear cub survival. This is vital because although scientists have known for years that a lack of sea ice could be devastating for polar bears,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week. African children bearing the brunt of climate change impacts. Children in 48 out of 49 African countries assessed were found to be at...

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Electric Car Revolution Puts Native Communities at Risk

Electric Car Revolution Puts Native Communities at Risk

S&P Global Mobility forecasts electric vehicle sales in the United States could reach 40 percent of total passenger car sales by 2030, and more optimistic projections foresee electric vehicle sales surpassing 50 percent by 2030. According to the U.S. Bureau of...

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Featured Connection: Fisheries Science

Featured Connection: Fisheries Science

Fisheries play an essential role in the sustainability and health of our planet by providing much-needed food as well as other important services. Globally, fisheries feed billions of people and offer jobs and livelihoods for millions more. The global market value of...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A (non-comprehensive and quite random) list of climate change, climate policy and environmental justice stories from the past week. Climate Risks Loom Over Panama Canal, a Vital Global Trade Link. Lack of rain and changing weather patterns are slowing the ship traffic...

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Featured Connection: Documentary Filmmaking

Featured Connection: Documentary Filmmaking

Telling Stories That Matter There’s no question that the invention of the smartphone camera has, at one time or another, turned us all into amateur documentary filmmakers. And with the professional-grade movie editing software that often comes pre-loaded on computers,...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A selection of climate change and climate policy news from this past week. Unusual Pacific Storms Like Hurricane Hilary Could Be a Warning for the Future. A lack of data from the Eastern Pacific Ocean makes it hard to project whether global warming will increase...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Protection

Featured Connection: Environmental Protection

Restoring Nature to its Natural State The negative effects of human activity on the environment are certainly there for all to see. Air pollution, deforestation, plastic pollution, warming oceans, rising sea levels, species extinction, intensifying storms,...

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Ocean Action Newsletter

Ocean Action Newsletter

This month, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has issued a new edition of the Ocean Action newsletter under the theme Sustainable Blue Economy.  In this issue, you will find a message on the 4th International Conference on Small Island...

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Montana Youths Get Historic Win in Landmark Climate Case

Montana Youths Get Historic Win in Landmark Climate Case

A state judge in Montana ruled on Monday that young people in the state have a constitutional right to a healthful environment, finding in a landmark case that the state’s failure to consider climate change when evaluating new oil and gas projects was causing harm....

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A roundup of climate policy stories from the past week: The world is likely to face major disruption to food supplies well before temperatures rise by the 1.5C target, the president of the UN’s desertification conference has warned, as the impacts of the climate...

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Understanding Coral Bleaching

Understanding Coral Bleaching

Corals across several countries are bleaching and dying en masse from unprecedented levels of heat stress, prompting fears that an unfolding tragedy in Central America, North America, and the Caribbean could become a global event. US government scientists have...

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Featured Connection: Biological Oceanography

Featured Connection: Biological Oceanography

The Interaction between Marine Life and the Ocean  Because the ocean contains 99% of the living space on Earth and covers over 70% of Earth’s surface, its composition significantly impacts all life. This is true whether you live on the coast or thousands of miles...

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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus, and plant species. Open to all, it is used by governmental bodies, non-profit organizations, businesses, and...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

A roundup of climate policy stories from the past week: The United Nations (U.N.) Chief Antonio Guterres declared that “the era of global boiling has arrived.” This comes as scientists “confirmed that July is set to become Earth’s hottest month on record.” (click here...

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Ocean Sustainability Reading List

Ocean Sustainability Reading List

Ocean sustainability is all about approaching ocean management in a way that protects the ocean and the services it provides. It is, in short, a balancing act between what is good for the health and well-being of the ocean and what is good for the economic well-being...

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Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming, air pollution, water pollution,...

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Global Fund for Coral Reefs

Global Fund for Coral Reefs

The Global Fund for Coral Reefs acts as an investment vehicle to fund innovative business models that increase the resilience of coral reefs and the communities that depend on them. The Global Fund for Coral Reefs provides grant funding and private capital to support...

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The Week in Climate Change News

The Week in Climate Change News

Since climate policy stories don't often make the front pages (except for the extreme heat we have all been suffering with this summer), we are highlighting important stories from the past week. US Republicans oppose climate funding whilst almost 90 million Americans...

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Ocean Connect Reaches 10,000 New Monthly Users

Ocean Connect Reaches 10,000 New Monthly Users

We are pleased to announce that for the first time we hit 10,000 new users this month. We keep adding information and the new users keep coming. We will continue on with our mission to end the disparity in access to ocean-related opportunities for students from...

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Did You Know?

Did You Know?

Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our ocean, and every year, 11 million metric tons of plastic enter our marine environments—enough to circle the Earth four times! Plastic kills marine life, destroys sensitive ocean...

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Featured Connection: Maritime Transportation

Featured Connection: Maritime Transportation

Movement of Goods and People For many people, the idea of a life at sea has always held a certain romanticism. Setting out on the open ocean for unknown adventures, visiting exotic ports of call. There is also the excitement that comes from working in a potentially...

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Climate Change and Heat Waves

Climate Change and Heat Waves

A study published by the World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who measure how much climate change influences extreme weather events, reported that human-induced climate change has played an "absolutely overwhelming" role in the extreme...

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Ocean Warming

Ocean Warming

A really insightful article on ocean warming was just published in Scientific American. It is by Katharine Hayhoe, the chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy, a distinguished professor at Texas Tech University, and the author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's...

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Featured Connection: Ecology

Featured Connection: Ecology

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms – including humans – and the world around them. Ecologists seek to understand the complex connections between these living organisms and their habitats. Ecologists study plants and animals at various...

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Environmental Justice Suggested Reads

Environmental Justice Suggested Reads

Extreme weather events. Rising sea levels. Water scarcity. Melting polar ice. Warming oceans. Extended heat waves. Declining biodiversity. Flooding. Catastrophic storms. Drought. Wildfires. All these environmentally damaging activities disproportionately impact...

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Marine Heat Wave Threatens Coral Reefs

Marine Heat Wave Threatens Coral Reefs

A marine heatwave is a period of unusually high ocean temperatures and is defined by its duration and intensity. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a marine heat wave as a period with persistent and unusually warm ocean temperatures,...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and other sources of...

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UN Ocean Decade as an Instrument of Peace

UN Ocean Decade as an Instrument of Peace

A new paper co-authored by Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions Wallenberg Postdoctoral Fellow Jean-Baptiste Jouffray and Lead Scientist Colette Wabnitz explores considerations for 'A Peaceful Ocean. You can access the article here.

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Bolstering the Natural Resiliency of Coastal Regions

Bolstering the Natural Resiliency of Coastal Regions

There is a new opinion piece by Jenna Flemma, the Director of the Ocean Defense Initiative, in the Summer issue of ECO Magazine about the importance of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act coastal restoration investments that will...

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Future of Deep-Sea Mining Hangs in the Balance

Future of Deep-Sea Mining Hangs in the Balance

As reported by the Associated Press, the International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the...

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Marine Conservation Reading List

Marine Conservation Reading List

Here's a great list from a site called Bex Band: Marine Biology: A Very Short Introduction (2013) by Philip V. Mladenov Providing a brief overview of life in the marine environment and how humans are impacting it’s fine balance. This is a good book to provide you...

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Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

No doubt, underwater photography is an exhilarating and fun experience. When most people think of underwater photographers, they picture someone in full scuba gear treading water in the ocean’s depths (usually among sharks or the wreckage of a ship). And while this is...

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EU Committee Votes in Favor of Increased Fisheries Regulation

EU Committee Votes in Favor of Increased Fisheries Regulation

The European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee has voted overwhelmingly in favour of an agreement to revise the EU’s Fisheries Control Regulation, which can increase transparency around catches at sea and combat illegal activities and hidden overfishing. Five years...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Approaching the topic of “ocean sustainability” can be a rather sensitive endeavor. One reason for this is that there doesn’t seem to be a single accepted definition of the term “sustainability.”  So, depending on your scientific, political, or environmental...

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Sustainable Products from Ocean Plastic

Sustainable Products from Ocean Plastic

It’s no secret that the ocean is suffocating with plastic waste. Some scientists predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. We discovered one company – #tide ocean material – that is collecting ocean-bound plastic waste in Southeast Asia...

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Featured Connection: Aquaculture

Featured Connection: Aquaculture

The Business of Feeding the World According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 4.5 billion people get a significant source of their daily protein intake from fish. But that doesn’t mean billions of people are going down to...

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Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

EJScreen is an EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators. EJScreen users choose a geographic area; the tool then...

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What is Ocean Literacy?

What is Ocean Literacy?

The Greatest Threat to the Ocean is Ignorance Ocean literacy is defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The idea of creating a more “ocean-literate” society is, in many ways, the central theme that runs throughout...

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Restoring Endangered Species Protections

Restoring Endangered Species Protections

The Biden administration proposed bringing back rules to protect imperiled plants and animals as officials moved to reverse changes under former President Donald Trump that weakened the Endangered Species Act. The proposals include the restoration of the so-called...

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Air Quality Equity in US Climate Policy

Air Quality Equity in US Climate Policy

As the United States tries to meet its climate goals and address environmental justice issues, cutting greenhouse gases alone might not help communities of color dealing with air pollution. In some cases, it might even hurt them, according to a new study from the...

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Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas. And while the definition of marine conservation is fairly straightforward, the field of marine conservation is as vast as the ocean itself.  Marine conservation ranges from...

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United Nations Adopts High Seas Treaty

United Nations Adopts High Seas Treaty

The UN’s 193 Member States adopted a landmark legally binding marine biodiversity agreement this past Monday following nearly two decades of fierce negotiations over forging a common wave of conservation and sustainability in the high seas beyond national boundaries –...

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Celebrate Freedom

Celebrate Freedom

“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”  — Coretta Scott King

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Current Research Database

Current Research Database

The Ocean Connect website contains two great databases - the Opportunities Database and the Current Research Database (https://www.ocean-connect.org/resources/). The Opportunities Database contains information on a wide range of ocean-related programs available to...

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Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Among all the ocean sciences, marine biology is one of the most popular among high school students. We are not sure if this is because of all the ocean sciences, it is the one typically offered at the high school level, or because students think being a marine...

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A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana

A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana

The US’s first-ever trial in a constitutional climate lawsuit kicked off on Monday morning in a courtroom in Helena, Montana. The case, Held v Montana, was brought in 2020 by 16 plaintiffs between the ages of five and 22 from around the state who allege state...

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Intersectional Environmentalism

Intersectional Environmentalism

Intersectional Environmentalism (IE) focuses on achieving climate justice, amplifying historically excluded voices, and approaching environmental education policy and activism with equity, inclusion, and restorative justice in mind. In other words, IE is an inclusive...

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Ocean Connect – The Book

Ocean Connect – The Book

We are excited to announce the publication of Ocean Connect: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Ocean-Related Career. The Ocean Connect website has over 12,000 individual resources to help students find their unique connection to an ocean-related career. But we...

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Blue Foods & Climate Policy Brief

Blue Foods & Climate Policy Brief

A new policy brief from the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions . . . To meet global climate targets, climate decision-makers will need to harness the opportunities for blue foods to contribute to net-zero food systems while protecting blue food systems from the...

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It’s Time to Put the Ocean First

It’s Time to Put the Ocean First

A healthy ocean is essential to our existence. But it is no secret that the ocean is under tremendous threat. It has never been hotter or more acidic. It is losing oxygen at an alarming rate. And pollution, especially plastic waste, is negatively impacting almost...

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Featured Connection: Ecotourism

Featured Connection: Ecotourism

As a multi-trillion-dollars business, travel, and tourism is a vitally important part of the economy. Pre-COVID, the travel and tourism industry was responsible for over 330 million jobs and contributed over 10 percent to the global gross domestic product.  But...

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Marine Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas

According to the Coral Reef Alliance, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated areas of the ocean that are set aside for conservation and management purposes. These areas are intended to preserve and protect the marine life and their habitats within them. They...

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Creating Your Own Opportunity

Creating Your Own Opportunity

We are happy to announce we have added the first two videos of our four-part video tutorial series Creating Your Own Opportunity. Creating Your Own Opportunity shows you how to create your own ocean-science-related internship or research opportunity when you have not...

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Featured Connection: Digital Media

Featured Connection: Digital Media

Whether through Twitter, Instagram, or your favorite blog, most of us now get our news online. We don’t have the time or patience to sit through a lengthy newscast or flip through pages of newsprint. Give us the headlines in 280 characters or a one-minute video, and...

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Fenceline Communities

Fenceline Communities

A fenceline community is a neighborhood immediately adjacent to highly polluting facilities (such as oil refineries, chemical factories, concrete factories, industrial parks, military bases, or other large manufacturing facilities) and is directly affected by the...

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Deep-Sea Mining May Affect Thousands of New Species 

Deep-Sea Mining May Affect Thousands of New Species 

According to a newspaper published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, Scientists have discovered more than 5,500 entirely new species living on the seabed in the mineral-rich Clarion--Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean, an area targeted by deep-sea...

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Featured Connection: Biotechnology

Featured Connection: Biotechnology

Technology Comes Alive Biotechnology, simply put, is technology that utilizes the biological systems found in living organisms (or the living organisms themselves) to develop and make new commercial products. While cutting-edge developments in areas such as cloning...

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EPA Proposes to Expand Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash

EPA Proposes to Expand Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its proposal to expand the regulation of coal ash, which is the toxic byproduct of coal combustion. The Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule finalized by EPA in 2015 exempted coal ash stored in legacy ponds and...

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Climate Refugees

Climate Refugees

Every day vulnerable people are forcibly displaced due to impacts generated by climate change. This isn’t something that will happen, this is something happening now. As reported by the Environmental Justice Foundation in its 2021 report, No Shelter From the Storm,...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

Featured Connection: Ocean Literacy

The Greatest Threat to the Ocean is Ignorance Ocean literacy is defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The idea of creating a more “ocean-literate” society is, in many ways, the central theme that runs throughout...

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The Invention of Green Colonialism

The Invention of Green Colonialism

A really insightful and interesting book review from the Inquisitive Biologist about this really insightful and interesting book by French author Guillaume Blanc: You would think that wildlife conservation organisations are a force for good in the world. Yet, despite...

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Chemical Giants Versus Grassroots Organizers

Chemical Giants Versus Grassroots Organizers

According to reporting in the Guardian, after residents of America’s “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana put a national spotlight on their fight for a healthy environment, the state’s economic interests and petrochemical giants are backing the creation of a new...

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What is Green Colonialism?

What is Green Colonialism?

Green Colonialism, also known as Eco-colonialism, Environmental Colonialism or Climate Colonialism refers to the Global North living at the ecological expense of the Global South for their green agendas. The actions of the already-developed and industrialised nations...

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Microplastic on the Mind

Microplastic on the Mind

Plastic is already found in our blood, and now it may be in our brains. Scientists at the University of Vienna have discovered particles of plastic in mice’s brains just a mere two hours after the mice ingested drinking water containing plastic. Once in the brain,...

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Topical Database

Topical Database

For each feature connection, the Ocean Connect website offers links to an abundance of resources that are designed to help you become an “expert” in the field. These resources include: Books Videos Podcasts Blogs Publications Journals Societies Schools Professional...

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Featured Connection: Naval Architecture

Featured Connection: Naval Architecture

The Ancient Art of Shipbuilding Naval architecture has, in one form or another, existed as a profession since at least the times of the Ancient Egyptians. Back then, carving pictures of ships into rocks was the equivalent of today’s computer-aided design. And while...

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President Biden Establishes Office of Environmental Justice

President Biden Establishes Office of Environmental Justice

President Biden signed an executive order Friday aimed at ensuring federal decisions consider "environmental justice," which addresses higher pollution burdens often faced by communities of color and people living in poverty. The new executive order directs agencies...

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Our world needs transformation. It’s time for the people of the world to hold governments and the private sector accountable for their role in our environmental crisis while also calling for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. This will require action at all...

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EPA Awards $177 Million to Environmental Justice Groups

EPA Awards $177 Million to Environmental Justice Groups

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it’s investing $177 million to create 17 technical assistance centers around the country to help environmental justice organizations successfully apply for federal funds. Better training on how to...

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Featured Connection: Botany

Featured Connection: Botany

Plants are essential to our lives. They provide – either directly or indirectly – all of our food and the oxygen we breathe. They are a source of important medicines (aspirin developed due to the study of rotting tree bark, and penicillin came from mold). They are the...

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Finding Your Direction

Finding Your Direction

Our mission is to inspire students from underrepresented backgrounds and communities to find their unique way to connect with the ocean and provide them with the resources they need to turn those connections into reality. To support this mission, we have prepared over...

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Blue Growth and Blue Justice

Blue Growth and Blue Justice

I recently found an interesting article called Blue Growth and Blue Justice that examines the social justice implications of the rapid and unchecked development of ocean resources. The article highlights ten injustices that can be produced by blue growth: (1)...

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Featured Connection: Creative Writing

Featured Connection: Creative Writing

The Power of Words Creative writing has been around since the time we could first put a chisel to a stone tablet and carve out glyphs, wedges, and runes and people have been writing about the ocean for probably just as long. And why not? The ocean makes for both a...

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Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Featured Connection: Marine Archaeology

Shipwrecks, Underwater Cities and Adventure! Marine archaeology just sounds exciting. Spending your life sailing the high seas in search of legendary shipwrecks. Diving among treasure-laden ships in search of sunken riches. If only it were true! Marine archaeologists...

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Racial Discrimination in Cancer Alley

Racial Discrimination in Cancer Alley

The 85-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that contains over 200 oil refineries, plastics plants, chemical plants, and other petrochemical factories that emit significant amounts of harmful air pollution is officially...

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Help Update the Key Climate Literacy Guide

Help Update the Key Climate Literacy Guide

As part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting suggestions on structure, topics, and content to help update a key national climate literacy guide used by educators, policymakers, and...

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Revitalizing Urban Waterway Communities

Revitalizing Urban Waterway Communities

The revitalizing and restoration of rivers, creeks and streams is a major focus of urban conservation activity throughout North America and Europe. This book presents models and examples for organizing multiple stakeholders for purposes of waterway revitalization―if...

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The 50 States of Climate Change

The 50 States of Climate Change

How does climate change impact your state? This informational guide from Outside magazine lists the impacts of climate change in all 50 states and how you can get involved.

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Every Drop Matters

Every Drop Matters

World Water day is celebrated on March 22 every year to spread awareness about the water crisis all over the world. World Water Day aims to achieve the vision of sustainable water and sanitation for all by 2030. The UN's World Water Development Report is an overview...

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On the Brink of a Man-Made Climate Disaster

On the Brink of a Man-Made Climate Disaster

The world is on the brink of a man-made climate change disaster. More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use have led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre -industrial levels. This has resulted in more frequent...

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Mapped: The World’s Minority Indigenous Peoples

Mapped: The World’s Minority Indigenous Peoples

A fascinating new map by Bhabna Banerjee uses data from the Indigenous World 2022 report to show the population distribution of the roughly 476 million minority Indigenous groups worldwide. Generally, the term indigenous peoples refers to social or cultural groups...

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Examining Disparities in Environmental Grantmaking

Examining Disparities in Environmental Grantmaking

A new report by Dorceta Taylor and Molly Blondell from the Yale University School of the Environment, examines the environmental grantmaking practices of 220 foundations that distributed more than 30,000 grants totaling $4.9 billion that were distributed over three...

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Ocean Connect Named Ocean Guardian

Ocean Connect Named Ocean Guardian

We are proud to announce that Ocean Connect has been named an "Ocean Guardian" by the Ocean Culture Life organization. The Ocean Culture Life Guardians is a community of organizations, charities, brands, conservationists, campaigners, and ocean experts who share a...

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Featured Connection: Atmospheric Science

Featured Connection: Atmospheric Science

The Dynamics of Weather and Climate Atmospheric scientists consider problems that are both scientifically challenging and critical for the health and well-being of modern society. Atmospheric science is an interdisciplinary field that touches upon mathematics,...

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The 12 Principles of Plant Biology

The 12 Principles of Plant Biology

We are just finishing up a new snapshot on Botany and came across the 12 Principles of Plant Biology courtesy of the American Society of Plant Biologists (makes sense, right?). We thought it a fascinating take on the importance of plants to the biosphere, our health...

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What Does it Mean to Be an Environmental Justice Community?

What Does it Mean to Be an Environmental Justice Community?

Communities most impacted by environmental harms and risks are typically referred to as “environmental justice (EJ) communities” or, as the US Environmental Protection Agency defines them, “overburdened communities.” A few factors go into identifying EJ communities,...

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Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool is a geospatial mapping tool that indicates disadvantaged communities nationwide facing significant burdens. These burdens are organized into eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution,...

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High Seas Treaty Announced

High Seas Treaty Announced

After over a decade of tough negotiations, more than 100 United Nations member countries have agreed to the first-ever treaty to protect the world's oceans outside national boundaries. The UN High Seas Treaty places 30% of the world's oceans into protected areas, puts...

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Climate Pollution Reduction Grants 

Climate Pollution Reduction Grants 

The Biden-Harris Administration is making $250 million available to develop innovative strategies to cut climate pollution and build clean energy economies. These planning grants, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are the first tranche of funding...

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Featured Connection: Microbiology

Featured Connection: Microbiology

Life at the Microscopic Level Microbiology is the study of organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. These microorganisms (or “microbes”) include viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi, slime molds, and protozoa. Microbes are everywhere, and we mean...

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Environmental Injustice

Environmental Injustice

The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, involving a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials, is only the most recent example of the dangers faced by vulnerable and often non-white communities that live close to train lines. Even in the absence...

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Life Below Water

Life Below Water

The Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone everywhere. The 17 Goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable...

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Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming, air pollution, water pollution,...

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World Day of Social Justice

World Day of Social Justice

"The equal rights of all peoples, and the opportunity for all human beings, without discrimination, to benefit from economic and social progress in all parts of the world." United Nations

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Invisible Threat, Inequitable Impact

Invisible Threat, Inequitable Impact

According to a new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, more than 14 million Americans live within just five miles of 104 cancer gas-emitting facilities. The study found that these commercial plants release large amounts of ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide, a...

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Indigenous Science Reading List

Indigenous Science Reading List

Indigenous science is a distinct, time-tested, and methodological knowledge system that can enhance and complement Western science. According to the Indigenous Science Network, "like Western science, Indigenous science relies upon direct observation for forecasting...

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Atlas of Environmental Justice

Atlas of Environmental Justice

The environmental justice atlas documents and catalogs social conflict around environmental issues. Across the world, communities are struggling to defend their land, air, water, forests and livelihoods from damaging projects and extractive activities with heavy...

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Climate Justice – A Key Pillar of Climate Action

Climate Justice – A Key Pillar of Climate Action

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, we live in an era of extraordinary climate injustice. The impacts of the climate crisis are deepening already existing vulnerabilities and inequalities within and across generations, communities, and countries...

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Climate and Environmental Justice Organizations

Climate and Environmental Justice Organizations

Once you do any reading about climate and environmental justice issues, you tend to get the urge to roll up your sleeves and do something about the rampant injustices that continue to exist in our society. To help you find your way along that path, we have compiled a...

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Finding a Great Opportunity

Finding a Great Opportunity

I am pleased to announce that Ocean Connect's first video tutorial series - Finding a Great Opportunity - is now up in the Resources section of the Ocean Connect website. The Opportunities Database contains information on ocean-related academic programs, awards,...

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Featured Connection: Climate Science

Featured Connection: Climate Science

The Science Behind Climate Change Climate change is by far the most pressing issue facing our generation. Extreme events such as flooding, heat waves, and widespread crop failures are becoming much more common. As a result, climate change has an impact on global...

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Featured Connection: Investigative Journalism

Featured Connection: Investigative Journalism

The Truth is Out There Throughout history, investigative journalists have been revered, reviled, and repressed, often simultaneously and resulting from the same story. That should not be all that surprising, as exposing the truth often pleases one constituency at the...

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Plastic Pollution in the Oceans is an Equity Issue

Plastic Pollution in the Oceans is an Equity Issue

A less recognized byproduct of plastic pollution is how marine plastic waste affects human populations and the unequal burden on different communities. A report, "Towards an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastics Pollution," outlines the current situation and attempts...

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EPA Unveils $100M for Environmental Justice

EPA Unveils $100M for Environmental Justice

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it is awarding $100 million in competitive grants for projects that advance environmental justice in communities disproportionately affected by industrial pollution and other hazards. The EPA will offer the grants in two...

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Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

Featured Connection: The Science of Aquaculture

The Science of Feeding the World According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 4.5 billion people get a significant source of their daily protein intake from fish. But that doesn’t mean billions of people are at the pier every...

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Microplastics Deposited on the Seafloor Triple in 20 Years

Microplastics Deposited on the Seafloor Triple in 20 Years

According to a study developed by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the Department of the Built Environment of Aalborg University (AAU-BUILD), the total amount of microplastics deposited on...

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Ocean University

Ocean University

We are very pleased to announce that Ocean Connect's "Ocean Shot" submission - Ocean University: A Model Internship Program to Increase Diversity in Ocean Science - was accepted by the U.S. National Committee for the Ocean Decade. From 2021 to 2030, the UN Decade of...

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Featured Connection: Physical Oceanography

Featured Connection: Physical Oceanography

Physical oceanography – one of the four main branches of oceanography – involves studying the properties (such as temperature and density) and movement (such as waves, currents, and tides) of ocean water. It also involves studying the interaction between the ocean and...

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Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Environmental Justice Thought Leaders

Robert Bullard Any list of environmental justice luminaries has to start with Dr. Robert Bullard, the man many consider the "Father of environmental justice." Dr. Bullard was one of the first to understand the unequal environmental burdens faced by vulnerable...

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Nearly 10% of Marine Life Threatened with Extinction

Nearly 10% of Marine Life Threatened with Extinction

The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution, are "devastating" marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday. More than 1,550...

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Caribbean Voices for Climate Justice

Caribbean Voices for Climate Justice

We are big fans of Professor April Baptiste, who teaches Environmental Studies and Africana and Latin American Studies at Colgate University. A few months back, we recommended watching a video of her lecture on climate justice and the Caribbean (here is a link to that...

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Vanuatu Seeks Climate Justice

Vanuatu Seeks Climate Justice

The Pacific island nation Vanuatu and 17 other countries recently published a draft resolution asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify what responsibilities governments around the world have to protect future generations from climate change. The...

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Digital Nation

Digital Nation

Tuvalu, a group of nine islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is building a digital version of itself, replicating islands and landmarks and preserving its history and culture as rising sea levels threaten to submerge the tiny Pacific island nation. Tuvalu's...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Science

Featured Connection: Environmental Science

Environmental Science integrates natural and social sciences to study how the environment and man-made processes interact with one another. It is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates ecology, chemistry, biology, hydrology, earth and soil sciences, atmospheric...

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While the World Burns

While the World Burns

If you focus on the headlines coming out of the recently concluded COP27 climate summit in Egypt, you might just believe that great progress has been made in helping vulnerable countries deal with the devastating impacts of global warming. The word that appears most...

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Environmental Justice Reading List

Environmental Justice Reading List

Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and other sources of...

read more
Featured Connection: Oceanography

Featured Connection: Oceanography

Because the ocean covers over 70 percent of the planet and contains 99 percent of the living space on Earth, its composition (e.g., its physical, chemical, and biological makeup) has a significant impact on all life. This is true whether that life is in or out of the...

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Last 8 Years Hottest on Record

Last 8 Years Hottest on Record

According to the World Meteorological Organization’s provisional State of the Global Climate in 2022 report released to coincide with the COP27 climate summit, the past eight years were the hottest on record, leaving the climate goals set out in the 2015 Paris Climate...

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Halloween Terror? Afraid Not.

Halloween Terror? Afraid Not.

I didn't see this question on last week's PSATs, but it should have been: What's more terrifying than a beach covered in garbage? (a) Two beaches covered in garbage. (b) No plan to stop the toxic runoff, industrial, agricultural and residential waste polluting our...

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Heat Waves Cost Poor Countries the Most

Heat Waves Cost Poor Countries the Most

According to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, heat waves, exacerbated by human-caused climate change, have cost the global economy at least 16 trillion dollars in the last 30 years.  This burden has disproportionately fallen on the world's...

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Promises, Promises

Promises, Promises

A new report from UN Climate Change shows that countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change. According to the report, countries are "bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward but underlines that...

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How Long Until this Reaches the Ocean?

How Long Until this Reaches the Ocean?

What is the obsession with balloons and mailboxes? Does anyone past the age of five still get excited about seeing their mailbox festooned with colorful objects for the 24 hours they actually stay inflated? I mean, just look at this - it's depressing. And worse yet,...

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The Father of Environmental Justice

The Father of Environmental Justice

Environmental justice is the principle that all people and communities - regardless of race, color, national origin, or income - have a right to equal enforcement and equal protection of environmental laws and regulations. The environmental justice movement is a vital...

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Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Featured Connection: Ocean Sustainability

Approaching the topic of “ocean sustainability” can be a rather sensitive endeavor. One reason for this is that there doesn’t seem to be a single accepted definition of the term “sustainability.”  So, depending on your scientific, political, or environmental...

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Code Red for the Planet

Code Red for the Planet

Populations of monitored animal species have plummeted nearly 70 percent in the last 50 years, according to a landmark assessment released today by the WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature). The report highlights “devastating” losses to nature due to human activity. The...

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Conservation Careers

Conservation Careers

Anyone interested in pursuing or just learning about a career in conservation should check out the Conservation Careers website (www.conservation-careers.com). It is full of helpful resources no matter what stage of your career - student, intern, job seeker, early...

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The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice

The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice

Drafted and adopted in 1991 at the National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, the Principles serve as a guidepost for the environmental justice movement. Anyone interested in pursuing a career in environmental justice should be familiar with these...

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Climate Justice and the Caribbean

Climate Justice and the Caribbean

A Professor at The University of the West Indies who is aware of my interests in environmental justice, climate change, and the Caribbean recommended this video to me, and I wanted to recommend it to all of this blog's readers. It is a recording of a presentation...

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October 10, 2022

October 10, 2022

The upcoming Indigenous People's Day honors the past, present, and future of Native peoples throughout the US. The holiday recognizes the legacy and impact of colonialism on Native communities, and it also celebrates the cultures, contributions, and resilience of...

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Featured Connection: Astrobiology

Featured Connection: Astrobiology

Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and existence of life in the universe. The search for life beyond Earth requires a wide-ranging understanding of not only the nature of the types of environments that may support life and the different planetary...

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Clean Shipping Act

Clean Shipping Act

Earlier this year, Congressman Alan Lowenthal ((California), who represents the Port of Long Beach--one of the nation's busiest cargo ports--introduced the Clean Shipping Act, legislation aimed at zeroing out pollution from all ocean shipping companies that do...

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Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

Featured Connection: Renewable Energy

When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of the environment, there is no greater imperative than ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The environmental evils caused by fossil fuels are well-documented – global warming, air pollution, water pollution,...

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Historic Coral Restoration News

Historic Coral Restoration News

They said it couldn't be done, but they did it. Scientists at the Florida Aquarium have made a major breakthrough in the restoration of the endangered Caribbean elkhorn coral. Until this latest development, elkhorn coral had been impossible to reproduce in an aquarium...

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Environmental Justice Day

Environmental Justice Day

The States of Washington and Nevada have proclaimed August 29th as Environmental Justice Day to highlight the human cost of pollution and climate change. Each state has compiled resources for its citizens to address environmental issues in their communities and learn...

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Featured Connection: Ecology

Featured Connection: Ecology

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms – including humans – and the world around them. Ecologists seek to understand the complex connections between these living organisms and their habitats. Ecologists study plants and animals at various...

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A Treaty to Preserve Marine Biological Diversity

A Treaty to Preserve Marine Biological Diversity

For the next two weeks, representatives from Member States have gathered at the United Nations to try and reach a consensus on a legally binding instrument regarding the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national...

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A Treasure Trove of Information

A Treasure Trove of Information

We like to think that everything we offer on Ocean Connect is a fantastic resource that will help you make your unique connection to the ocean but based on the feedback we have been receiving, our database of professional societies, organizations, and institutes is...

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Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Featured Connection: Environmental Justice

Communities populated primarily by ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people have long been burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards such as garbage dumps, toxic waste facilitates, scrap yards, factories, and other sources of...

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Nine Million New Ocean Connections

Nine Million New Ocean Connections

According to a study conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, over the next decade, nine million new clean jobs will be created as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. We look at it like that's also...

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Discovering Your Opportunity

Discovering Your Opportunity

How does an internship at a prestigious university sound? What about a research fellowship at NASA, NOAA, or the National Institutes of Health?  Not only will these programs look great on your college application, but they will also give you a huge jump on...

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Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

Featured Connection: Underwater Photography

No doubt, underwater photography is an exhilarating and fun experience. When most people think of underwater photographers, they picture someone in full scuba gear treading water in the ocean’s depths (usually among sharks or the wreckage of a ship). And while this is...

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Why Isn’t Climate Change Taught in School?

Why Isn’t Climate Change Taught in School?

In most public schools, climate change is not a standard part of the school curriculum. This is primarily due to a lack of resources, a lack of teacher expertise, and the efforts of climate change deniers to push back against this type of education. So students are...

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Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week

Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week

Last year, regional collaboration emerged as a driver of global climate progress. The Glasgow Climate Pact agreed at COP26 recognizes Regional Climate Weeks as a platform for governments and stakeholders to foster a credible and durable response to climate change....

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Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Featured Connection: Chemical Oceanography

Chemical oceanography is considered a niche area within the broader field of oceanography. Along with biological, physical, and geographical oceanography, it is one of the four main oceanographic areas. It is said that chemical oceanographers work at the "boundaries...

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Helping the Ocean by Reducing Single-Use Plastic

Helping the Ocean by Reducing Single-Use Plastic

On June 30, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the most ambitious single-use plastic reduction policy in the nation. California — which already has some of the most broad-reaching product stewardship and extended product responsibility (EPR) laws...

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Facing A Hostile Obstacle Course

Facing A Hostile Obstacle Course

According to a recent paper published in Nature Geoscience that studied the structural barriers to inclusiveness in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM), geoscience remains one of the least diverse disciplines with persistent...

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New Study Identifies Rapidly Emerging Threats to the Ocean

New Study Identifies Rapidly Emerging Threats to the Ocean

A recently published global study of issues impacting marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution outlines new, potentially unexpected threats to ocean ecosystems and vulnerable coastal communities. These threats are in...

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Supreme Court Limits E.P.A.’s Authority on Emissions

Supreme Court Limits E.P.A.’s Authority on Emissions

In a significant blow to addressing the causes of climate change, today the Supreme Court stripped the federal government of a crucial tool to combat air pollution. Not being either environmental or constitutional lawyers (or lawyers of any kind, for that matter), we...

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Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Featured Connection: Marine Conservation

Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas. And while the definition of marine conservation is fairly straightforward, the field of marine conservation is as vast as the ocean itself.  Marine conservation ranges from...

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Why Connect?

Why Connect?

We certainly devote a lot of space on this website to explaining how to connect to the ocean, but not so much as to why you should connect. And that's because we all have our own, often unique, reasons for connecting. For some, it is an environmental imperative. For...

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Celebrate Freedom

Celebrate Freedom

“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”  — Coretta Scott King

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Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Featured Connection: Marine Biology

Among all the ocean sciences, marine biology is one of the most popular among high school students. We are not sure if this is because of all the ocean sciences, it is the one typically offered at the high school level, or because students think being a marine...

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Phasing Out Single-Use Plastic

Phasing Out Single-Use Plastic

On World Ocean Day, the Secretary of the Interior issued an order which aims to reduce the procurement, sale, and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products on Department-managed lands by 2032.  The...

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World Ocean Day 2022

World Ocean Day 2022

On World Ocean Day, people everywhere can unite to celebrate and take action for our shared blue planet, with one ocean and one climate, which connect us all. Get together with your family, community, and /or your company, and join with millions of others around our...

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Featured Connection: Ecotourism

Featured Connection: Ecotourism

As a multi-trillion-dollars business, travel, and tourism is a vitally important part of the economy. Pre-COVID, the travel and tourism industry was responsible for over 330 million jobs and contributed over 10 percent to the global gross domestic product.  But...

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Transforming Ocean-Bound Plastic into Sustainable Products

Transforming Ocean-Bound Plastic into Sustainable Products

It's no secret that the ocean is suffocating with plastic waste. Some scientists predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. We discovered one company - #tide ocean material - that is collecting ocean-bound plastic waste in Southeast Asia...

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Featured Connection: Digital Media

Featured Connection: Digital Media

Whether through Twitter, Instagram, or your favorite blog, most of us now get our news online. We don’t have the time or patience to sit through a lengthy newscast or flip through pages of newsprint. Give us the headlines in 280 characters or a one-minute video, and...

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The State of the Global Climate 2021

The State of the Global Climate 2021

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report on the state of the global climate revealed that four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. According to the WMO...

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Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

Featured Connection: Marine Microbiology

Marine microbiology is the study of microorganisms that exist in saltwater environments, including the deep ocean, coastal waters, estuaries, marine surfaces, and seafloor sediments. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, these resilient microorganisms (or...

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Mass Extinction of Marine Life

Mass Extinction of Marine Life

A new study by two Princeton University researchers has concluded that ocean warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions could result in the extinction of marine life on par with the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Tropical waters would suffer the largest loss of...

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

And shouldn't every day be Earth Day? Thank you to all those dedicated people and organizations that do so much to keep our planet liveable.

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Microplastics Found in Human Blood

Microplastics Found in Human Blood

For the first time, scientists have found evidence of microplastics in human blood. The study, published in the journal Environmental International, found traces of tiny plastic particles in 80% of the people tested. Microplastics, defined as small pieces of degraded...

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5 Things You Can Do to Help the Ocean

5 Things You Can Do to Help the Ocean

When it comes to preserving the health and well-being of our single greatest resource, we can all do a little more (and, in some cases, a lot less). Here are five suggestions to get you started. Start a petition to get your town to ban the use of plastic bags.Cut down...

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