Kiribati, an island of 100K in the South Pacific, just banned commercial fishing. That seems like a big step.

Here’s the article, and here’s the money quote: “If you think of the ocean as a bank account in which everybody withdraws but nobody makes a deposit, then protected marine reserves are like savings accounts that produce interest,” Sala told… Continue Reading

Can we generate electricity from the oceans? Well, for damn sure China is going to try.

Actually this does happen around the world, but very rarely is it ever successful. Here’s the essential challenge: Their quest has been to create a machine that’s tough enough to withstand the constant pressure of surging water, yet sensitive enough to harness that… Continue Reading

72 percent of the Earth is covered by ocean. So desalination seems like a logical answer to drought, right? Not so fast.

California droughts right now might be the worst in 100 years, and Lake Mead’s at a fairly dangerous level (which threatens tourism mecca Las Vegas), so clearly we’re moving to the “answers” stage of our water problem. It would seem… Continue Reading

Could Jose Salvador Alvarenga really have survived 13 months or so floating at sea?

I used to read all those Alive books as a kid, because I thought there was a chance I’d be in an avalanche (I’ve never been skiing, in all honesty) or have to save my family from a fire (a small kitchen… Continue Reading