Holy Smoke!
global briefs
Marine Crisis
Coral Reefs May Soon Be Just a Memory
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Tyler Eddy, a research scientist who co-authored a new study at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, says, “Coral reefs have been in decline worldwide. I think that’s pretty commonly accepted. We didn’t necessarily know the magnitude of how much.” The in-depth analysis reveals half of coral reefs have been lost since the 1950s. Climate change, overfishing and pollution are decimating coral reef cover, biodiversity and fish abundance. In another study, scientists with the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network determined the world lost 14 percent of its coral between 2009 and 2018 alone. Coral reefs provide habitat for fish and protection for coastal communities, and they generate billions of dollars for the fishing and tourism industries. Corals are extremely sensitive to changes in water temperature and acidity. The living polyps rely on zooxanthellae—algae that live in their tissue—to produce food the corals need. When the polyps are stressed by changes in light, water temperature or acidity, they expel the algae in a process called bleaching. There is a brief time frame in which they can replenish the algae, but if corals are stressed for too long, their death is irreversible. “We are running out of time: We can reverse losses, but we have to act now,” says Inger Andersen, head of the United Nations Environment Program.
University of Rhode Island research published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters describes a new technique for measuring the presence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in indoor air, which found them in kindergarten classrooms, offices, laboratories and a home. We have known about toxic “forever chemicals” in food and drinking water, and it seems they are also ubiquitous in the air. PFAS are a class of approximately 9,000 chemicals used to improve stain, water or heat resistance in products. The public health concern is that they don’t break down in the environment. PFAS accumulate in animals and humans and are linked to health impacts including cancer, birth defects and immune suppression. The scientists think PFAS enter the atmosphere when compounds break off of treated products like coats or carpets and attach to dust. “It’s an underestimated and potentially important source of exposure to PFAS,” says study co-author and Green Science Policy Institute Senior Scientist Tom Bruton. According to the Institute, schools and offices can protect students and employees by replacing carpeting, but that doesn’t prevent PFAS from entering via coats or shoes. Bruton writes, “As long as they continue to be used in products, we’ll all be eating, drinking and breathing PFAS. We need to turn off the tap and stop all unnecessary uses of PFAS as soon as possible.”
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Forever Chemicals in Indoor Air
