(Flood hunters beside the Three Gorges Dam. Photo by Cheng Min/AP. Source.)

1) An ecological succession of sorts: from the pioneer turf of the Endless Pasture to the arboreal climax of the Endless Forest.

2) “Thousands of tons of garbage washed down by recent torrential rain are threatening to jam the locks of China's massive Three Gorges Dam, and is in places so thick people can stand on it,” reports Reuters.

Pictures showed a huge swathe of the waters by the dam crammed full of debris, with cranes brought in to fish out a tangled mess, including shoes, bottles, branches and Styrofoam.

Some 50,000 square meters of water (more than half a million square feet) had been covered by trash washed down since the start of the rainy season in July, [state media] said. The trash is around 60 centimeters (two feet) deep, and in some parts so compacted people can walk on it.

3) Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) is “a coalition dedicated to ensuring swimmable waters around New York City through natural, sustainable stormwater management practices in our neighborhoods. This approach is environmentally and fiscally responsible because it utilizes stormwater, currently viewed as waste, as a resource.” Related: Urban swimming in Bern, Switzerland.

4) “A genetically modified (GM) crop has been found thriving in the wild for the first time in the United States,” reports Nature.

5) New York's Department of City Planning recently unveiled an interactive map of all 200 miles of the city's publicly-accessible waterfront: beaches, wetlands, wildlife habitats, parks, esplanades, piers, street ends, vistas and waterways.