Panama installs Trash Wheel to get handle on plastic

May 2023

Ecuador

Double dose of good news for Galápagos archipelago

This month Ecuador surprised the world by reaching the biggest debt-for-nature swap in history. Under the deal, the country will avoid more than US$1 billion ......

U.S.–Mexico (Free Read)

Whale survived strike believed to have killed mother

Whale conservationists in Mexico and the United States were overjoyed to learn last month that Aria, an orphaned humpback whale calf, lives. Aria was between eight ......

Uruguay

Drought takes toll in Uruguay, exposing vulnerability

Uruguay in the last week of May emerged from the deepest and most prolonged drought it has experienced since the 1947 inception of its modern-day ......

Panama

Panama installs Trash Wheel to get handle on plastic

Rather than resembling green oases, urban rivers across the tropical Americas too often qualify as eyesores, their trash-lined channels containing gray-tinged waters and pungent scents ......

Argentina

Push for first Argentine jaguar-hunting prosecution

Argentina’s federal government, one of its provincial governments, and an environmental group are pushing for the country’s first criminal trial of a person for hunting ......

Around the Region

Mexican reserve planned to protect rare mangroves

Wan-ha, meaning “river quail,” was the original Mayan name for the San Pedro Mártir River in Tabasco State, Mexico. The name Wan-ha has been chosen ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

Worry in ‘Lithium Triangle’ about mining impact

Verónica Chávez is the elected president of Santuario de Tres Pozos, an Argentine Indigenous village of earthen houses, unpaved roads, and about 400 residents. Among ......

Q&A

Argentina’s Nicolini sees need for new approaches to climate funding

Cecilia Nicolini has served since February 2022 as state secretary for climate change in the administration of Argentine President Alberto Fernández. In that post, she ......

Panama installs Trash Wheel to get handle on plastic

Panama

Panama’s trash wheel removes floating debris guided to its conveyor belt by floating booms. (Photo courtesy of Marea Verde)

Rather than resembling green oases, urban rivers across the tropical Americas too often qualify as eyesores, their trash-lined channels containing gray-tinged waters and pungent scents of sewage. Panama City, Panama, is using an odd-looking contraption called a “trash wheel” to remove floating debris from the Juan Díaz River. One of Panama’s most polluted rivers, the Juan Díaz flows through Panama City to wetlands fringing Panama Bay. Sporting a water wheel and an arched canopy roof providing cover for a conveyor belt, the stationary, hydro- and solar-powered “trash interceptor” is the first non-U.S. version of the Trash Wheel invented to help clean up Baltimore, Maryland’s Inner Harbor. The original interceptor, called Mr. Trash Wheel, has become a beloved Baltimore waterfront sight since it began operating in 2014. It inspired the installation of trash interceptors in three other Baltimore-area locations. Like Mr. Trash Wheel, they are... [Log in to read more]

Would you like to Subscribe?

May 2023

Ecuador

Double dose of good news for Galápagos archipelago

This month Ecuador surprised the world by reaching the biggest debt-for-nature swap in history. Under the deal, the country will avoid more than US$1 billion ......

U.S.–Mexico (Free Read)

Whale survived strike believed to have killed mother

Whale conservationists in Mexico and the United States were overjoyed to learn last month that Aria, an orphaned humpback whale calf, lives. Aria was between eight ......

Uruguay

Drought takes toll in Uruguay, exposing vulnerability

Uruguay in the last week of May emerged from the deepest and most prolonged drought it has experienced since the 1947 inception of its modern-day ......

Panama

Panama installs Trash Wheel to get handle on plastic

Rather than resembling green oases, urban rivers across the tropical Americas too often qualify as eyesores, their trash-lined channels containing gray-tinged waters and pungent scents ......

Argentina

Push for first Argentine jaguar-hunting prosecution

Argentina’s federal government, one of its provincial governments, and an environmental group are pushing for the country’s first criminal trial of a person for hunting ......

Around the Region

Mexican reserve planned to protect rare mangroves

Wan-ha, meaning “river quail,” was the original Mayan name for the San Pedro Mártir River in Tabasco State, Mexico. The name Wan-ha has been chosen ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

Worry in ‘Lithium Triangle’ about mining impact

Verónica Chávez is the elected president of Santuario de Tres Pozos, an Argentine Indigenous village of earthen houses, unpaved roads, and about 400 residents. Among ......

Q&A

Argentina’s Nicolini sees need for new approaches to climate funding

Cecilia Nicolini has served since February 2022 as state secretary for climate change in the administration of Argentine President Alberto Fernández. In that post, she ......