Lisa Margonelli: The political chemistry of oil

In the Gulf oil spill’s aftermath, Lisa Margonelli says drilling moratoriums and executive ousters make for good theater, but distract from the issue at its heart: our unrestrained oil consumption. She shares her bold plan to wean America off of oil — by confronting consumers with its real cost.

Greenland Begins Humpback Whale Hunt

article by Huffington Post

I was headed for Nuuk, Greenland, to attend the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). As the doors closed on my IcelandAir flight from JFK, my iPhone told me the International Whaling Commission (IWC), with U.S. assent, had voted to allow Greenland to kill 27 humpback whales for aboriginal subsistence.

An hour out of Keflavik, I realized the humpbacks that have now become targets of the hunt were swimming a mere vertical mile below me. I had come to know this stock of whales in the Caribbean at Samana Bay and out on the Silver Banks. They were extraordinarily friendly toward me as I filmed them underwater. We looked at each other eye-to-eye, each knowing the other was aware of the other. The idea of their being harpooned is appalling to me.

The quota granted by the IWC specified the hunt could not begin until mid-October. But Greenland has announced the hunt will begin immediately, in flagrant violation of the permit. After landing in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, I would find other violations.

read whole article

Asian, Japan to brainstorm ideas for fishing industry growth

Can you believe it? We live in a time of rapid decline, half of the fish are on the break of extinction our coral-reefs are dying. All around the world the fishery industry is in troubled water, small fisheries around the coasts of the worlds find it hard to catch any fish. But Japan and Asia are talking how to expand there fishing industry to sustain the food-supplies for a growing asian community.

Article http://www.nationmultimedia.com

With their countries major suppliers of fishery products, representatives from Asean member states and Japan will gather in Bangkok next year to map out measures for developing the industry and ensuring food security and safety in a constantly changing environment.

Negative factors such as climate change, ageing populations, natural disasters and the financial crunch could all affect food supply in the world market and trading competency, Suriyan Vichitlekarn, assistant director and head of the Agriculture Industries and Natural Resource Division of the Asean Secretariat, said yesterday.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the world population will increase from 6.2 billion last year to 9 billion in 2050. This will clearly mean an enormous rise in food consumption.

read the whole article

Gulf Oil Spill Hits Workers Hard, Aid Groups Out Of Money

article: Huffingtonpost

NEW ORLEANS — The oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, and that should be a relief. But with fewer cleanup jobs to be had, many of the people hit hardest by the huge spill are struggling as badly as ever.

Boat captains and deckhands who managed to put food on the table over the summer because they got hired by BP to skim the oil are being dropped from the payroll while huge swaths of the Gulf remain off-limits to those who haul in shrimp, oysters and other seafood.

Now, just when with the environmental and engineering crisis is easing, large charities providing food to coastal communities have run out of money, homeless shelters are filling up with men thrown out of work by the spill, and demand for drug and alcohol counseling is up.

read the whole article on Huffingtonpost.com

VOTE NOW: Should drilling for oil be banned in the Arctic?

The Guardian is unleashing a poll about drilling in the Arctic Ocean!

Follow this link and vote against Arctic Drilling: VOTE NOW

Danish warship blocks Greenpeace Arctic oil protest

article Guardian.co.uk

The Danish navy has warned that the Esperanza will be boarded by armed personnel if it breaches the exclusion zone

A Greenpeace ship protesting against deep sea drilling by a British oil firm in the Arctic has been confronted by a Danish warship, and its captain threatened with arrest.

The Danish navy has warned Greenpeace that the Esperanza will be boarded by armed personnel if it breaches a 500-metre exclusion zone around two wells drilled off Greenland by the Edinburgh-based oil firmCairn Energy.

The confrontation came as scores of climate protesters targeted Cairn Energy’s headquarters and six other businesses in Edinburgh during a day of action to protest against the funding of oil and gas industries by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The protests led to the shutting down of the RBS headquarters on the eastern edge of Edinburgh for the day, with thousands of staff told to work from home or other RBS offices. TwelveClimate Camp activists were arrested during the protest.

read whole article

Deep water dead zone predicted in the Gulf

article Discovery News

The oil gusher on the Gulf seabed may be stopped, but much of the spilled oil still lurks in a plume of oil and dissolved methane gas 3,200-4,300 feet below the surface.

New research predicts that this plume will likely create a low-oxygen “dead zone” inhospitable to life in these deep waters, as microbes consume the oil and gas entrained in the plume.

The cold temperatures in the plume will slow the growth of the microbes compared to microbes acting at the surface. Because of this slower growth, the team predicts that it will be sometime in the fall before the oxygen levels hit their minimum.

read more @ Discovery News

Britain prepares for mackerel war with Iceland and Faroe Islands

Article: Guardian.co.uk

It’s summer, and off the coast of Britain anglers are enjoying a blue-grey abundance of mackerel. Barbecued, smoked, or baked in cider, this firm favourite provides a seasonal guilt-free treat, certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

The future of mackerel as a healthy, sustainable fish is at stake after Iceland and the Faroe Islands unilaterally awarded themselves the lion’s share of north Atlantic stocks. Photograph: H Taillard/Corbis

But in a dispute echoing the cod wars of the 1970s, Britain and the EU are on the brink of a mackerel war with Iceland and the Faroe Islands, who have ripped up agreed quotas, unilaterally awarding themselves the lion’s share of north Atlantic stock.

UK fishermen are furious; the EU is condemnatory. Those in the industry, meanwhile, claim that the dispute puts at risk not only the future of Britain’s pelagic fishing industry, but the future of mackerel itself as a healthy, sustainable fish.

read the whole article

Now Atlantic is found to have huge ‘garbage patch’

A huge expanse of floating plastic debris has been documented for the first time in the North Atlantic Ocean. The size of the affected area rivals the “great Pacific garbage patch” in the world’s other great ocean basin, which generated an outcry over the effects of plastic waste on marine wildlife.

The new plastic waste, which was discovered in an area of the Atlantic to the east of Bermuda, consists mostly of fragments no bigger than a few millimetres wide. But their concentrations and the area of the sea that is covered have caused consternation among marine biologists studying the phenomenon.

A huge expanse of floating plastic debris has been documented for the first time in the North Atlantic Ocean. The size of the affected area rivals the “great Pacific garbage patch” in the world’s other great ocean basin, which generated an outcry over the effects of plastic waste on marine wildlife.
The new plastic waste, which was discovered in an area of the Atlantic to the east of Bermuda, consists mostly of fragments no bigger than a few millimetres wide. But their concentrations and the area of the sea that is covered have caused consternation among marine biologists studying the phenomenon.

read the whole article in the Independent

TEDtalk: Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he’s drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas