Modern life would be impossible without plastic - but we have long since lost control over our invention. Why has plastic turned into a problem and what do we know about its dangers?... 51 Trillion particles of microplastics float in our oceans. Yet there is very little science of how this affects our health. This video shows why we should gain back control over plastic in our lives.

Modern life would be impossible without plastic - but we have long since lost control over our invention. Why has plastic turned into a problem and what do we know about its dangers?... 51 Trillion particles of microplastics float in our oceans. Yet there is very little science of how this affects our health. This video shows why we should gain back control over plastic in our lives.

The "Modeling the Gulf" middle school science curriculum was compiled and developed to align with research being conducted by the Consortium for Ocean-Microbial Interactions in the Ocean (CSOMIO). The CSOMIO project is working to fill critical gaps in our ability to numerically model the transport and fate of oil in coastal waters. This middle school science curriculum contains five lesson plans related to ocean modeling, including the fields of biogeochemistry, fluid dynamics, and microbiology.

The Microplastics in the Baltic project is assessing the impact of plastic in biodiversity, climate change and human health in the Baltic region. IUCN is leading the first worldwide project to study the possible impacts of plastic in ice formation and melting. We will understand if plastic has any impact in sea ice formation, how much plastic is actually "scavenged" from the water and incorporated in ice and if plastic (at high concentrations) can play a role in ice melting.

Our oceans are polluted with a wide variety of marine debris, ranging from tiny cigarette butts and plastic bags to 4,000-pound derelict fishing nets and abandoned vessels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines marine debris as any "persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes. Trash and debris along the coasts of the United States mainly comes from littering or mass dumping.

Different types of macroinvertebrates have different requirements to survive. Some require cooler temperatures, relatively high dissolved oxygen levels or certain habitats. Other macroinvertebrates may be able to survive in less-than-ideal conditions - where there are low dissolved oxygen levels or more sediment - or where the water temperature is warmer. Again, there aren't any "bad" macroinvertebrates, but the population present may indicate that there are bad stream conditions in which only the "strong" can survive.

The Mississippi River drains water from 31 different states, where rain and snowfall make their way south and make the river swell in Louisiana." This video investigates the Bonnet Carre Spillway, a flood control structure designed to prevent flooding from the Mississippi River

Louisiana is facing a land loss crisis - more than 2,000 square miles of land have been lost over the last 100 years, and an equal amount could potentially be lost over the next 50 years. This loss puts businesses, homes, infrastructure and whole communities at risk. The risk of continued land loss is concentrated in coastal Louisiana, but the economic implications will spread throughout the nation due to the state's importance in shipping, energy production, chemicals and other sectors.

Climate migrants have been invisible for many years on the migration and climate debates. Our work at IOM has been focused for over 10 years on bringing climatic and environmental factors to the light and on building a body of evidence proving that climate change affects - directly and indirectly - human mobility. Hence, it might seem paradoxical in this context not to encourage the establishment of a climate specific legal status, parallel to the existing refugees' status.

EPA's Trash Free Waters (TFW) program refers to the garbage polluting U.S. rivers, lakes, streams, and creeks as "aquatic trash." Most of the garbage that ends up in waterways comes from land-based activities. Garbage can easily become aquatic trash if it is not properly disposed of or securely contained. When garbage is littered on the ground rather than placed in a recycle, compost, or trash bin, rain and wind often carries it into storm drains, streams, canals, and rivers.