8 Eco-Conscious Instagram Accounts to Follow on Earth Day

Did you know that the solubility of oxygen in water is inversely proportional to temperature? That means that the colder the water is, the more dissolved oxygen it contains. But then if you try to dissolve salt in freshwater you’ll find that the hotter the water is, the more salt you can mix into the solution. So what gives? Why does a gas dissolve more easily in cold water while a solid dissolves more easily in hot water? A great explanation came from Henry Louis Le Châtelier, a French chemist who developed the “Equilibrium Law” also known as Le Châtelier’s principle. He discovered that a system will counteract a disturbance in its equilibrium. Because dissolving oxygen in water is an exothermic process, a drop in temperature of the water (energy removed from the system) is balanced by more oxygen dissolving into the water, which releases energy to counterbalance what was removed. Dissolving salt into water is an endothermic process, meaning that the opposite balance of equilibrium occurs. This balance between water, oxygen, and salt is extremely important to the health of our oceans. In parts of the world where water is extremely warm, the water can absorb lots of salt and very little oxygen. This can create what are called hypoxic or “dead zones”. Here the oxygen content in the water is so low and the salt content so high that life cannot survive.

A post shared by Waterlust (@waterlust) on Jan 20, 2016 at 10:41am PST

Closeup of stranded iceberg, Ross Sea Antarctica. #iceberg #ice #whiteisland #explore #photography #meltingaway #climatechange #camilleseaman #antarctica

A post shared by Camille Seaman Photography (@camilleseaman) on Apr 17, 2016 at 3:23pm PDT

Today, @cristinamittermeier and I are off on a @sea_legacy expedition to dive at God’s Pocket on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Bill and Annie Weeks have been running God’s Pocket Resort for over 20 years. The water is cool, the currents are strong and some of the roughest seas in the world froth up around here. All of these conditions make for some of the finest diving in the world. When there is an area this magical on our planet, we need to draw a line around it, create a marine protected area and then watch it thrive. Here, a lion's mane jellyfish drifts through one of the narrow passages. This was taken 13 years ago on film and I can't wait to use new technology in a land that I love. #naturelovers #nature @natgeo @seacam

A post shared by Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen) on Apr 18, 2016 at 8:49am PDT

Tainted Waters #9 - Water Pollution in Jakarta --- #asia #indonesia #jakarta #pollution #waterpollution #environment #plastic

A post shared by Sean Gallagher (@sean_gallagher_photo) on Mar 25, 2016 at 6:39am PDT

Photo by @BrianSkerry. A surprised Yellow Gobi welcomes us into his makeshift home – an abandoned soda can - on the volcanic sandy bottom of Suruga Bay, off the coast of Japan. Oceanic pollution has reached alarming levels, with one estimate citing 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic currently circulating within the ocean. This pollution has put many aquatic populations at risk of endangerment or extinction, while forcing others, such as this Yellow Gobi, to adapt to detrimental conditions. @thephotosociety @natgeocreative #yellow #gobi #pollution #trash #oceanography #oceans #pollution #fish #cute #animals #conservation #photooftheday #protect #oceans

A post shared by Brian Skerry (@brianskerry) on Apr 19, 2016 at 4:51pm PDT

A river meanders in the gorgeous Okavango delta, Botswana. Another one of my favorite places on the planet! The rich biodiversity of all reserves and national parks in Africa is critical for landscape resilience, which contributes to the stability of the Earth system! #mattiasklum #okavango #botswana #africa #elephants #resilience #conservation #protectbiodiversity @thephotosociety @natgeocreative @bigworldsmallplanet @mattiasklumcollection

A post shared by Mattias Klum (@mattiasklumofficial) on Feb 3, 2016 at 5:03am PST

The Bossons Glacier ice cascade is receding fast. Less than 30 years ago, it used to fill this entire ravine. Its descent from the flanks of Mt. Blanc averages about 50%, meaning it travels twice as fast as the Mer de Glace Glacier attaining the lowest elevation of all Alpine glaciers, roughly 1,200m (3,900ft). The Bosson Glacier has receded 1/2 km (1/3 mi) since 1996 and over 1 km (2/3 mi) since 1983 due to rapid global warming. #climatechange #globalwarming#glaciers #meltingglaciers#recedingglaciers #ice #water #alps #french #bossons #chamonix#montblance #jameswhitlowdelano

A post shared by jameswhitlowdelano (@jameswhitlowdelano) on Apr 11, 2016 at 2:47am PDT

This post in support of the #longmarch from #Dhaka to the #Sundarbans, protesting the 1320MW coal-fired power plant to come up at Rampal, just outside the #mangrove forest home to the tiger, six kinds of dolphins, crocodiles, the endemic masked finfoot, and on which hundreds of thousands of artisanal fishermen depend. -------------------------------------------------- This is a photo of #pollution a week after the heavy fuel #oilspill was taken deep in the #Sundarbans --------------------------------------------------- Imagine the wastes a thermal plant at the head of the #Sundarbans will generate: fly ash and bottom ash, hazardous wastes that contain arsenic, lead, mercury, and radioactive elements which will be buried or transported off site. Either way, the wastes pose danger. Buried, it will leach into the groundwater, affecting nearly a million people living in and near the forests. Transported, it will traverse through the forests again, with the constant threat of capsizing and polluting the fragile ecosystem. The rebuttal to such arguments is fired from the moral high ground of ‘development’: Don’t we want progress, don’t we want our citizens to prosper? And if the answer is yes, why should the Sundarbans be a factor in deciding the growth trajectory of a country? Because: 1) Khulna is in the top ten cities that stand to suffer the most as a percentage of GDP in the event of rising sea levels and increasing storm surges. 2) Bangladesh is in the top five countries most in peril when it comes to climate change and coastline degradation. The Sundarbans is the main — in fact, only — defense against a future that threatens rising seas and destructive monsoons. The brute force of Aila and Sidr was a teaser of what is to come, and the fact that the damage from those two cyclones was relatively contained is proof enough of the effectiveness of the mangrove buffer. ‘Development’, with its shiny GDP badge, will be for naught if the Sundarbans were to die. See: http://peepli.org/stories/rampal/ #stoprampal #climatechange

A post shared by Arati Kumar-Rao (@aratikumarrao) on Mar 11, 2016 at 11:38pm PST