Puerto Rico’s tourism industry is booming as nations lift COVID-19 travel restrictions, but development is displacing people who have lived along its coastlines for years.
Coastal redwoods in Felton, California.
Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Offshore oil drilling has a long history in California, but is highly unpopular today. The latest major spill is likely to fuel efforts to wind down oil and gas production statewide.
Scientists have been consistently documenting environmental changes at research sites like this one in the Cascade Mountains for decades.
US Forest Service
The Army Corps of Engineers is planning a sea wall 6 miles long and flood gates. The infrastructure might protect downtown from a hurricane storm surge, but most of the area will still be vulnerable.
Plastic waste is the most visible component of ocean pollution.
Maxim Blinkov/Shutterstock
Healthy seagrasses form underwater meadows teeming with fish and shellfish. A successful large-scale restoration project in Virginia could become a model for reseeding damaged seagrass beds worldwide.
Empatheatre’s latest production is more than a play about three characters who live near the sea. It’s a model for collective consultation on how to save the ocean.
Mangroves along Mexico’s Yucatan coastline.
Michael Beck
Michael Beck, University of California, Santa Cruz and Pelayo Menéndez, University of California, Santa Cruz
A new study estimates that mangroves prevent over $65 billion in damage from coastal storms every year, and says mangrove protection should be funded in the same way as infrastructure like seawalls.
River erosion in Bangladesh, Sept. 12, 2019.
Zakir Hossain Chowdhury / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Bangladesh is on the front lines of climate change, but factors including money, gender and religion make some Bangladeshis much more vulnerable than others. Can it find inclusive ways to cope?
The San Pedro Mezquital River is the last free-flowing river in Mexico’s western Sierra Madre.
Octavio Aburto
Thousands of hydropower dams are under construction around the world. New research shows that by cutting off sediment flow, these dams can have big ecological effects on far-off bays and deltas.
Phragmites, an invasive species, line this marsh at Sachuest Point in Middletown, Rhode island.
Tom Sturm/USFWS
Phragmites australis, an invasive reed, has taken over wetlands across the US. But it also stabilizes shorelines and harbors many fish and birds. Is it time to compromise with this alien?
Carbon storage in Australian mangroves can help mitigate climate change.
Shutterstock
The Trump administration is sharply reducing environmental protection for wetlands and streams across the US. This roundup of stories spotlights the many benefits that such water bodies provide.
Mangrove forest in Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu, India.
VasuVR/Wikimedia
Mangrove forests along the world’s tropical and subtropical coasts store enormous quantities of ‘blue’ carbon – especially in river delta zones, where soil builds up quickly.
How much should a council pay to protect private beachfront properties?
AAP Image/Nearmap
How far will we go to protect high-risk beachfront property? New research suggests local councils are too willing to spend public money to protect private landowners from coastal climate change.
Cumberland Island National Seashore off the coast of Georgia.
NPS
How do the narrow ribbons of sand that line the Atlantic and Gulf coasts withstand the force of hurricanes? The answer lies in their shape-shifting abilities.