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Description: Studeing Environmintal Aspects Location(s)
Yanbu Industrial CitySaudi Arabia
Research Released Today Reports Almost 3,000 Endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtles Washed Up Dead on Baja California Sur Beaches Over Five-Year Period For Immediate Release: October 13th, 2008 Media Contacts: S. Hoyt Peckham ( hoyt@biology.ucsc.edu; 831.566.0510) Wallace J. Nichols, PhD ( wallacejnichols@me.com; 831.426.0337) Conservation efforts needed to protect endangered species from accidental and deliberate capture; SEE Turtles conservation tourism offers one solution to high death toll Santa Cruz, CA - Wallace J. Nichols of California Academy of Sciences and University of California Santa Cruz researcher Hoyt Peckham have been counting endangered sea turtle carcasses; one part of their work to assess and eliminate threats to endangered loggerhead sea turtle populations in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Their co-authored research, which was published today, yielded shocking results - almost 3,000 sea turtles were found dead along a 27-mile stretch of coast during a five-year period from 2003 to 2007. The full report can be accessed freely online in the open access journal Endangered Species Research [ http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/bycatch/bycatchpp13/]. "We have counted so many dead turtles. We have piles of data on thousands of carcasses. What we need now are conservation actions, viable solutions and real alternatives for these fishermen," said Wallace J. Nichols, co-author and Research Associate with California Academy of Sciences. With publication of their findings, the scientists are increasing awareness of the problems facing sea turtles in this area, which are accidental capture during fishing operations, known as "bycatch", and illegal fishing for turtles, or "poaching". Along with their Mexican coauthors and colleagues, they hope this report will encourage Mexico's government agencies to finalize creation of a refuge that protects turtles and encourages sustainable fishing in the area. The study underscores that bycatch, and to a lesser degree poaching, are significantly impacting this endangered animal's chances for survival. "We're seeing what are apparently the highest documented bycatch and stranding rates in the world," commented lead author Hoyt Peckham of UC Santa Cruz. "But the high bycatch rates offer us all an unexpected conservation opportunity. By working with just a handful of fishermen to diminish their bycatch we can save hundreds of turtles," added Peckham. The authors partnered with local fishermen not only to assess bycatch but also to increase awareness of its far-reaching effects and work towards ending the threat. "Once aware of the ocean-wide impacts of their local bycatch," commented Hoyt Peckham, "fishermen strive to fish more cleanly by switching to different techniques, target species or areas – as a result, bycatch levels were down in 2008." Additionally, local fishermen are calling on the Mexican government to designate a sea turtle refuge that would officially protect the turtle bycatch "hotspot". One of the best solutions to these problems is to increase awareness among fishermen about the consequences of their actions and to offer an alternative livelihood. Conservation tourism can help provide an alternative for Baja California's fishermen. Some fishermen look to turtle conservation tourism as an alternative to dwindling, inefficient fisheries. Through training and a steady tourism market, many fishermen and former poachers have come to value sea turtles more alive than dead, as giving eco-safe tours can yield more income than fishing. SEE Turtles is a conservation tourism program that highlights communities protecting sea turtles. SEE Turtles helps by bringing much needed income tocommunity-based sea turtle conservation efforts, providing economic alternatives to fishermen and poachers, and inspiring travelers to take a more active role in protecting sea turtles. The program links travelers with critical sea turtle conservation sites so that vacation dollars make a difference for sea turtles and for the livelihood of community residents who protect them. North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles travel more than 7,000 miles from Japan to Baja California Sur to feed and grow in nearshore waters, spending up to 30 years there before returning to Japan to breed. The number of nesting females in Japan has declined by 50 to 80 percent over the past 10 years. For more information about sea turtle conservation tourism opportunities and how to book a trip, visit www.seeturtles.org or contact Brad Nahill ( brad@oceanrevolution.org) Bookmark/Search this post with:
Are 'microplastics' marine pollutants? Experts start to ask if tiny particles might be clogging ocean food chain By Jessica Marshall Discovery Channel We've all heard about sea turtles, dolphins or seabirds dying from entanglement in six-pack rings, plastic bags or other detritus - or from bellies full of mistakenly swallowed plastic. But some marine researchers are concerned about the effect that much smaller bits of plastic may be having on the seas. So-called "microplastics" may concentrate pollutants, be ingestible by the ocean's tiny denizens - from zooplankton to filter feeders like clams and mussels - and move up the food chain. A group of scientists gathered this month to identify what's known about this problem and where more research is needed. "We know that stuff breaks down, and as it breaks down, it forms smaller and smaller pieces of plastic," said workshop organizer Joel Baker of the University of Washington, Tacoma. "But there's another story, and that is that there are some processes that either purposefully or inadvertently create microplastic particles in their own right." One such source is nurdles, the little plastic pellets used as the raw material that's molded or extruded into plastic products. A growing source is tiny plastic spheres - less than a millimeter across, and in some cases just microns in diameter - used in new industrial abrasives or in cosmetics as exfoliants, Baker said. "Because they're used as abrasives, presumably they're pretty hard and pretty resilient to breakup," he said. "The general rule of thumb is, if it doesn't break down pretty quickly, it ends up in the ocean. We don't have any way of monitoring for them. We have no idea, really, if they're having any impact on any organisms." Estimates of exactly how many particles are in the ocean give a wide range. "You tend to have numbers that are much less than one per cubic meter," Baker said. "But if you do that in terms of the number of pieces per square kilometer of sea surface, it's tens of thousands." Amphipods, lugworms, barnacles and mussels take up microplastic in aquarium experiments. Fish and birds in the wild have been found with microplastic pieces in their bodies. But the extent and effect of this ingestion is not yet known. Plastic specks in the oceans appear to adsorb poorly water-soluble pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and persistant pesticides like DDT. This might give creatures that ingest pellets a superdose of toxins that can accumulate up the food chain. "There's some indication that when the animal ingests those, they not only get the physical damage to the gut, but those pollutants can desorb into the animal," said workshop participant Douglas Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program, in Silver Spring, Md. On the other hand, the pellets might act like pollutant sponges that mop up the contaminants and sequester them out of harm's way, Baker said. One study presented at the meeting suggested that the amount of pollutant accumulated by one type of marine worm decreased when more plastic was added to sediment in an aquarium, suggesting the latter mechanism may work in that case. One of the outcomes of the workshop was to identify areas where the greatest effects are likely to be seen. "There are probably areas where it floats on the surface, and those are lagoons and marshes," Baker said. "The other place is coastal urban sediments, where it has settled to the bottom." These are good starting points for additional research, because if microplastics are causing problems, such locations should show the effects most directly, he added. In the meantime, taking steps to reduce plastic debris - large and small - is a good idea, Helton said. "I don't think there's any right amount of plastic to dump in the ocean." (c) 2008 Discovery Channel URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26994478/ Bookmark/Search this post with:
We have have over 1000 Environmental based Experiments, labs and lesson plans for Teachers/Home Schoolers and their students. Search topics like Global Warming (of course), climate change, air pollution, science, ocean etc.. *The site is fun and easy to use *You do not have to hassle with any login procedure *Grade ranges are from K-12 *The site is 110% kid safe www.greenplanetsearch.com is also: *An environmental search engine with over 3000 sites indexed and adding more green sites daily (we are an actual search engine, this is not another Google custom search) * Original Environment related News Aricles *Green Website Awards for sites that deliver great content in a unique qnd captivating way *Submit your Green Website feature Below is a screenshot of our home page showing the ECO LESSON PLAN ENGINE on the top of the page. Directions for LESSON PLANS, go to www.greenplanetsearch.com on the top of the page it will say ECO SEARCH ENGINE. On the right of that you will see the black which states "switch to eco lesson plans" Click It, then you will see it change to the ECO LESSON PLANS, type in your search and learn!!! 
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Students at Keck Graduate Institute have created a blog of their own to discuss and present ideas about sustainable biotechnology. More specifically, they are investigated the growth of algae, the subsequent use as a biofuel, and the issues promoting or hindering this process. Check it out at the website below. http://sustainablebiotech.wordpress.com/ Bookmark/Search this post with:
The first Flash Search Engine is an Environmental Search Engine!! http://www.greenplanetsearch.com is now live! When Mike Haney first presented the idea behind the technology behind www.greenplanetsearch.com, he was laughed down. Virtually, of course. “Everyone can dream,: scoffed one, erroneously. A few people were intrigued. The combination of Haney’s vision of a Flash-driven search engine, and the plan to create a dazzling environmental education resource, eventually attracted a loose-knit corps of collaborators, most of whom have never met in person first among them Andre Roussille, a French computer programmer, and now part owner of the company. The upshot from this collaboration, apart from the stunningly beautiful homepage, is the only people involved in the creation of the search engine, is that the only people involved in the development devoted environmentalists, who genuinely wish to disseminate good information to students and educators. Later, through a similar serendipity, Mr. Haney teamed up with a veteran journalist who agreed to lend his services to the site, building from scratch a source of environmental news and policy analysis. Advertisers will be strictly vetted by the companies shareholders, limited to companies that are making a meaningful contribution the planet’s health. The final result, which was launched this week, is the culminating of thousands of hours of work, and more than a few false starts. It boasts easily navigable information, experiments, lesson plans, presented in an interactive and graphically enhanced format, and has an exclusive global climate change resource section for teachers and kids. If you would like more information about greenplanetsearch.com, or to schedule an interview with Mike Haney, please call Mike Haney at 305.531.3746 or e-mail info@greenplanetsearch.com. Bookmark/Search this post with:
I type this lying next to my sound asleep wife that is carrying our 19 week baby, a fully developed soul ready to be brought into this sometimes challenging and cruel world, but also a world of great joy and beauty. We are the bridge and the torch is in our hands when it comes to saving the earth and curtailing higher mean temperatures, depleted arctic rock, rising sea levels and abnormal weather patterns. The choices we make, the advocacy we harness and the communication we spread are key in letting know that when this next generation is presented with what could be the biggest problem to ever face man kind that at least we got the ball rolling. But do we have the ball rolling or are we talking and going in circles and not really appreciating the great magnitude of what is actually happening and even more so, the speed at which the change is occurring? I am for the most part a very optimistic person and I tend to also consider myself a realist but I have to tell you that the data on climate change, the "anomalies" that tend to not become "anomalies" anymore when we see severe shifts in ocean currents, movement of glaciers and not only escalated heat in the biosphere, but also underground. When this pattern continues to snowball, what do we tell our kids and grandchildren when they ask, "What were you thinking?" or "Why could you let this happen?". Seems innocent and simple enough. After all we are their predecessors and humankind puts the largest toll on the planet. We cannot use the excuse that we had good intentions, were keenly aware that our actions were degrading mother earth but that policy change in government was too tied up in a love fest with the enemies and regimes that contribute to the climate crisis. I hope we can empower ourselves and in turn empower our young to make this the work of their time and not take it for anything less then it is-the pressing issue that will determine how long human species remains on this earth and the quality of life in the meantime on the whole human race. This torch that we need to pass and hold on to as well will only stay lit if we really get young people sold on the idea of the power of politics and the power to influence people. A thousand people can stand at the White House lawn and the President will not even blink an eye as he peers through the window and later prepares to sign a bill that just satisfies the minimum miles per gallon requirement for new vehicles will still staying friends with the people at Mobil-Exxon and Conoco Phillips, that line his pocket and fuel indirectly a big machine we call congress, senate, and the house. So, to curtail this vicious and seemingly hopeless wave one good idea came out of the 11th hour that I would love to see a leader present and have the audacity to push-cut income tax and raise tax on carbon emissions. This is a small step that could make people who otherwise do not care (so to speak) whether or not the world burns into a fiery mass to at least think about what they drive, their fuel consumption habits and make alternative plans. They do this because of money and that is not ideal, but certainly a start. The one good thing that these higher gas prices have done is brought more and more SUVs, large trucks and other inefficient guzzlers off the road. For all I car, let the oil price rise and this will force companies to innovate and research, develop, market and dissiminate new technologies that are hopefully cleaner, cheaper and will one day show those that did not get the climate crisis and did not realize the impacts-that they were and are real. Life after big oil and coal can be sweet, enterprising and fit nicely into the capitalistic society we are forced to live in. And I am confident that my children will be pioneers in this great ambitious quest. Until next time, for the environment, Casey Bookmark/Search this post with:
The following is largely extracted from two articles:Twilight of the Psychopaths, by Dr. Kevin Barrett (http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/01/02/02073.html) and The Trick of the Psychopath’s Trade by Silvia Cattori (http://www.tinyurl.com/53qjml). Both articles are recommended. Both articles reference the book Political Ponerology: A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes, by Andrzej Lobaczewski. Cattori’s article is longer and includes an interview with the book’s editors, Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Henry See. I make the effort to share this information because it gives me, at last, a plausible answer to a long-unanswered question: Why, no matter how much intelligent goodwill exists in the world, is there so much war, suffering and injustice? It doesn't seem to matter what creative plan, ideology, religion, or philosophy great minds come up with, nothing seems to improve our lot. Since the dawn of civilization, this pattern repeats itself over and over again. The answer is that civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths.
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Base philosophy,
If you imagine for a moment that the earth and everything on it was on a laboratory slide and that through a microscope you were conducting a study in the same way a biologist or other scientist might view microscopic organisms. Your objective was to understand the Symbiotic relationships of the organisms that you could see going about their complex interactions and life cycles.
It would become rapidly clear to you that the relationship between the dominant organisms (Humankind) and everything else was PARASITIC in nature, in other words :
PARASITISM
A type of symbiosis where two (or more) organisms from different species live in close proximity to one another, in which one member depends on another for its nutrients, protection, and/or other life functions.
The dependent member (HUMANKIND, the parasite) benefits from the relationship while the other one (EARTH, the host) is harmed by it.
You would determine that at a finite point in time, the HOST would not be in a position to satisfy the needs of the PARASITE and the PARASITE would become extinct. We know this to be true, we extinguish tens of thousands of species every year, through soil erosion, deforestisation, global warming, pollution of Air, Sea, Earth and water.
We have to move to a more sympathetic Symbiotic relationship with our host organism.
MUTUALISM
A type of symbiosis where two (or more) organisms from different species live in close proximity to one another and rely on one another for nutrients, protection, or other life functions. Both (or all) of the organisms involved benefit from the relationship.
There are many, many ways to achieve this future state, BUT THE COMMON KEY IS THAT WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR THINKING. WHAT WE THINK, DETERMINES OUR ACTIONS, OUR ACTIONS DETERMINE THE OUTCOME.
With our current actions the outcome is inevitable - EXTINCTION
Join the 11THHOURACTION movement and CHANGE YOUR THINKING
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Description: use of solar energy around home Location(s)
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