Great Pacific Garbage Patch becomes ocean habitat, underground world of fungi mapped, toxic sites in California could flood, renewables cost less...

[View in your browser]( [ecowatch]( Top Posts [ ​In Today's Eco Update - Great Pacific Garbage Patch Becomes an Ocean Habitat for Coastal Species - Renewables Likely Cost Less Than Previously Thought, Study Finds - Hundreds of Toxic Sites in California Could Flood Because of Sea Level Rise By 2100 - Underground World of Fungi to Be Mapped for the First Time - 30 White Rhinos Make Largest ‘Translocation’ in Their Species’ History And a guide to your digital carbon footprint. [post_image]( [Great Pacific Garbage Patch Becomes an Ocean Habitat for Coastal Species]( The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, or the “[Great Pacific Garbage Patch]( stretches for more than 610,000 square miles between California and Hawai’i. The gyre hosts around 79,000 metric tons of [microplastics]( nets, buoys and bottles. And, in a surprising turn, coastal life. [Scientists]( writing in [Nature Communications]( Thursday have found coastal [animals]( like anemones, hydroids and shrimp-like amphipods living on [plastic]( collected from the open [ocean](. “Floating plastic debris from pollution now supports a novel sea surface community composed of coastal and oceanic species at sea that might portend significant ecological shifts in the marine environment,” the study authors wrote. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=Great Pacific Garbage Patch Becomes an Ocean Habitat for Coastal Species&body= [post_image]( [Renewables Likely Cost Less Than Previously Thought, Study Finds]( As renewable energy technologies scale up, their cost can be hard to estimate. A new report from the University of Oxford’s [Institute of New Economic Thinking]( notes that the cost of renewable energies may be less than previously thought. According to the study, predicted costs for renewables have [likely been overestimated]( as evidenced by the true costs of these energies, such as [solar]( power, falling short of early pricing model predictions again and again. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=Renewables Likely Cost Less Than Previously Thought, Study Finds&body= [post_image]( [Hundreds of Toxic Sites in California Could Flood Because of Sea Level Rise By 2100]( A new California mapping project reveals another example of how the [climate crisis]( disproportionately impacts vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. The [Toxic Tides project]( unveiled during a [virtual workshop]( Tuesday, maps more than 400 hazardous sites like power plants, refineries and toxic waste dumps that could [flood]( if [sea levels rise]( by more than three feet, which they are projected to do by the end of 2100 if little is done to resolve the climate crisis. This is a major [environmental justice]( issue, because these sites are disproportionately located in low income communities of color. "We know from past flood events that the wealthy communities are not the ones that suffer the greatest impacts," University of California (UC), Los Angeles environmental health scientist [Lara Cushing]( told the Los Angeles Times. "The vulnerabilities of environmental justice communities to sea level rise have not been front and center in the conversation in a way that it should be." [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=Hundreds of Toxic Sites in California Could Flood Because of Sea Level Rise By 2100&body= [post_image]( [Underground World of Fungi to Be Mapped for the First Time]( A unique nonprofit has set out on a mission to map the fungi that live beneath the earth. The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks [(SPUN]( announced Tuesday that it had received the largest ever donation to help map and protect these underground networks that help store carbon and transport nutrients through the [soil](. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=Underground World of Fungi to Be Mapped for the First Time&body= [post_image]( [30 White Rhinos Make Largest ‘Translocation’ in Their Species’ History]( Thirty white [rhinos]( have just made an incredible journey. The vulnerable mammals traveled more than 3,400 kilometers (approximately 2,113 miles) from South Africa to Rwanda in the “largest single [rhino translocation]( in history,” African Parks announced on Monday. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=30 White Rhinos Make Largest ‘Translocation’ in Their Species’ History&body= [post_image]( [A Guide to Your Digital Carbon Footprint – and How to Lower It]( Humanity's [digital presence is growing]( – and with it, our [carbon footprint](. In May of 2020, one-third of employed people were [conducting their jobs remotely]( as a result of the coronavirus, up from a mere 6%. While taking our work (and many other aspects of our lives) online seems more sustainable – as our need to travel diminishes and hard copies become all but obsolete – it intensifies our [digital carbon footprint]( and carries a huge environmental cost. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png]( [twitter]( [linkedin]( [email](mailto:?subject=A Guide to Your Digital Carbon Footprint – and How to Lower It&body= All rights reserved. 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