Environment North Carolina

He calls them the Seven Natural Wonders of southeastern North Carolina. Can you guess what they are? We live in a biodiversity hotspot – for now, anyway — and environmental scientist Roger Shew is hoping that the more people learn about these natural wonders, the more they’ll care about saving them.

Land degradation is a serious problem in Africa as fertile grasslands get drier and thorny vegetation with deeper roots takes over. Wildlife and domesticated livestock alike have fewer places to graze – which, of course affects humans. But desertification is not the only form of land degradation. Deforestation and destroying wetlands are other forms. And that’s happening right here in the Cape Fear region.

In 1972, the Clean Water Act set a nationwide goal of making all waterways safe for swimming. But thanks to runoff pollution and sewage overflows, beaches in North Carolina are still falling short of that target.

Wind farms just a few miles off the coast of North Carolina could be a reality within the decade. After tax incentives for these projects were renewed in…