Our planets seems awash with sand with the stretches of sandy beaches along the coastlines and the vast expanses of inland deserts. Sand, however, is not an unlimited resource when a particular type of sand is used to make construction materials and required for the nourishment of beaches eroded by storms and wave action. Point of fact, coastal sand is in such high demand that it is second only to water as the most used natural resource in the world. Women Mind the Water posted A worldwide shortage of sand to explore this topic.

When a juvenile North Atlantic right whale carcass washed ashore in Martha’s Vineyard, MA in January it provided the long-awaited evidence that Maine’s lobster gear is involved in entanglements that threatened the survival of this beleaguered whale. According to NOAA, entanglement and vessel strikes are the primary causes for the decline of the species which is thought to number about 360 with fewer than 70 breeding females.

Sea level rise is threatening the survival of species not only those that live their entire lives on dry land. Three of the five species considered most threatened on the US Endangered Species list are the Florida Key deer, loggerhead sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals are all threatened by increases in sea level. It is surprising that the latter two are classified as marine animals living the majority of their lives in the ocean.

How hot is it? The answer is no laughing matter because hundreds of sick and dying sea lions and dolphins have been seen on beaches, the result of toxic algal blooms associated with warmer ocean waters and linked to high levels of domoic acid. Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin that can make humans and marine mammals sick. The biggest takeaway is that as ocean temperatures changed, there is the potential for more frequent and more extreme harmful implications.

I’ve spent many hours at the beach and building with Lego bricks, I’d never put the two together. Tracey Williams’ book Adrift has given me new eyes and curiosity. But no matter how colorful or whimsical the items found on the beach aren’t always artful. My latest post Stories of castaway plastic on Women Mind the Water looks at Lego, books, and other artistic ways that plastic flotsam is used and other ways to address the problem.

Coral reefs cover an extremely small amount of the Earth’s surface, but support 25 percent of all marine life. People worldwide rely on coral reefs for food resources, protection from the damaging properties of waves, and economic benefits including recreation and tourism. Coral reefs are negatively impacted by changes in water chemistry (e.g., ocean acidification) and increases in water temperature and sediment levels. Because heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent across the globe and ocean temperatures are rising, it is important to understand how reefs are impacted and promote their survival. This article discusses what is being done.

Everyday should be Earth Day! You do your part to contribute to the solution. Women Mind the Water (womenmindthewater.com) has created a guide to help you reduce trash consumption when purchasing takeout or bringing leftovers home from a restaurant. There’s a list of things of what to do at home to reduce your footprint when consuming takeout food. There’s a second list to share with your local restaurant. Help them switch to recyclable/renewable take-out containers.

Seagrass meadows are critical marine habitat because they are the foundation of a highly productive marine food web. Their degradation results in increased coastal erosion, wave action, and ocean acidification as well as declines in commercially important fish and shellfish species, water quality, and carbon storage contributing to further effects of global warming. Seagrass meadows are being lost at a rate of around 7% annually, equivalent to two football fields every hour.