• Water

New Report Finds African Rivers “Bleach-like” Due to Fast Fashion Textile Factories

• Africa
• fast fashion
• pollution
• rivers

By Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new report from Water Witness International (WWI) found that the world’s fast fashion brands contribute to the bleach-like pollution of Africa’s rivers. Rivers surveyed were found to have been dyed blue or made as alkaline as bleach, creating environmental and public health threats to local communities. WWI is calling on fast fashion […]

• Water

Under the Pavement, the Streams!

• rivers
• streams
• urban renewal

By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Washington D.C. is wedged between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and their tributaries once ran through the city as well. Silver Spring was once an actual stream, and people swam in creeks in the city center. But as D.C. developed, about 70% of those waterways stopped existing as natural bodies of […]

• Water

Georgia Wins Water Battle as Environmentalists Allege Ecosystem Threats

• drinking water
• Georgia
• rivers

By Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer   A judge has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not have to revise plans for dam operations along the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, a contentious win for Georgia in a series of ongoing battles over water between it and neighboring states. The decision comes after environmental groups, […]

• Water

160k Miles of Rivers Could Lose Free-Flowing Status Due to Hydropower

• dams
• hydropower
• rivers

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new study published in the journal Global Sustainability has revealed that over 160,000 miles of rivers are at risk of losing their free-flowing status due to recent hydroelectric projects. The Amazon, Congo, and Salween rivers could all be severed by newly proposed hydropower dams. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that these dams […]

• Sustainability

Protecting Nature Through “Personhood”

• #30x30
• clean water
• rights of nature
• rivers

Clean water is a human right, and some cities are ensuring it by giving their waters legal personhood. Legal rights for nature are a growing movement in environmental law, putting the natural world on more equal footing in court. 

Why this Matters: The natural world is essential for us humans to survive. From oil spills to toxic PFAS chemicals to leaking landfills, there are plenty of threats from human activity. Protecting the environment is beneficial to our own health in the short term

• Water

New Study Finds 1 in 3 Rivers Have Significantly Shifted Color

• agriculture
• algal blooms
• rivers
• runoff
• sediment

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer A new study shows that 1 in 3 rivers in the United States have significantly shifted in color since 1984. Researchers surveyed more than 108,000 kilometers of rivers at least 60 meters wide found that  56% appeared predominantly yellow and 38% appeared predominantly green. These colorations are often caused […]