The term "biodegradable" when used for marketing purposes includes a time component regarding the length of time it takes for the plastic to fully degrade. According to the Federal Trade Commission's "Green Guides": "It is deceptive to make an unqualified degradable claim for items entering the solid waste stream if the items do not completely decompose within one year after customary disposal.

In its infancy, gentrification was a word used to describe changes in urban neighborhoods. Now, gentrification has been documented in suburbs and rural areas around the world. It is even sweeping through Washington, DC's suburban counties, where farmlands are being converted into housing and mixed-use developments. The "Farm Road" case in Maryland's Montgomery County is a troubling example of rural gentrification and historical erasure.

Next in our Faces of the Delta series, you will meet Reverend Tyronne Edwards: 5th generation resident of Phoenix, La., community leader and organizer and coastal restoration advocate. How has coastal land loss impacted your life? 'We lost everything we had during Hurricane Katrina. It was frightening to us. We now realize that if we had the right protection, the proper barriers-wetlands-we could protect our communities.

The term "gentrification" tends to evoke images of luxury condos rising from the rubble of public housing developments and the replacement of community-run businesses with high-end commercial real estate development. Officially, it is defined as the renovation of under-developed neighborhoods to make them suitable for more affluent residents, often resulting in the displacement of low-income people of color who can no longer afford to live in their homes.

There is currently no international legal framework to address environmental disasters and climate change as drivers of migration. There is also no consensus on what terminology should be used to describe individuals moving due to environmental factors. The 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Refugee Protocol, multilateral agreements that define "refugee" and set states' obligations for protection, were not crafted with the environment, climate change, or environmental disasters in mind - and therefore do not mention them as grounds for refugee protection. U.S.

Wetlands seem to be especially vulnerable to invasions. Even though ?6% of the earth's land mass is wetland, 24% (8 of 33) of the world's most invasive plants are wetland species. Furthermore, many wetland invaders form monotypes, which alter habitat structure, lower biodiversity (both number and "quality" of species), change nutrient cycling and productivity (often increasing it), and modify food webs.

In the wake of this summer's record-breaking heat - hottest June on record, the hottest month ever in July - students and teachers have returned to their classrooms. But in what classes should the diverse causes and consequences of climate change be covered? If meeting the challenge of climate change will affect, in some way, nearly every aspect of contemporary life, should it be covered, in some way, in every course? This month's bookshelf features books about climate change education. The first part covered books that address the general theory and practice of teaching climate change.

In Louisiana, and in many places, the term "delta" is widely used. That's mainly because we live on a delta - the Mississippi River Delta - and much of the land that comprises coastal Louisiana was built by the Mississippi and other rivers creating new deltas over millennia. From a more technical standpoint, identifying what a delta is and its various components may not be as easy for most people. Many people picture a delta as a place where a river meets open water, and land protrudes outward as sediment accumulates near the mouth.

We know that average sea levels have risen over the past century, and that global warming is to blame. But what is climate change doing to the saltiness, or salinity, of our oceans? This is an important question because big shifts in salinity could be a warning that more severe droughts and floods are on their way, or even that global warming is speeding up. Now, new research coming out of the United Kingdom (U.K.) suggests that the amount of salt in seawater is varying in direct response to man-made climate change.

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) includes aquatic grasses (seagrasses) and attached macro-algae. SAV is highly valuable habitat since it provides numerous important ecological functions that are difficult to replace; yet it is especially vulnerable to coastal development and water quality degradation.