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(2.67 out of 5)Since stories have started surfacing more recently, many have wondered, if the rumors are true. Are there really ‘continents’, or massive
floating garbage patches residing in the pacific ocean? Apparently, the rumors are true, and these unsightly patches are reportedly
killing marine life and releasing poisons that enter the human food chain, as well.
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/are-there-reall.html
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EDMONTON – An independent study suggests pollution from Alberta’s oilsands is nearly five times greater and twice as widespread as industry figures say.
Thousands of west Africans besieged local hospitals in 2006, and a number died, after the dumping of hundreds of tonnes of highly toxic oil waste around the country’s capital, Abidjan. Official local autopsy reports on 12 alleged victims appeared to show fatal levels of the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide, one of the waste’s lethal byproducts.
Trafigura has been publicly insisting for three years that its waste was routine and harmless. It claims it was “absolutely not dangerous”.
It has until now denied compensation claims, and its lawyers repeatedly threatened anyone worldwide who sought to contradict its version. It launched a libel case against BBC Newsnight, forced an alleged correction from the Times, demanded the Guardian delete articles, and yesterday tried to gag journalists in the Netherlands and Norway with legal threats.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/16/trafigura-african-pollution-disaster?
What little reliable information can be gleaned from the mass of estimates, best guesses and informed speculation paints a troubling picture. According to a pioneering 2007 study by James J. Corbett and others published in Environmental Science & Technology, shipping-related emissions of particulate matter contribute to approximately 60,000 premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths each year, mostly in coastal regions along major trade routes. In a 2007 rulemaking announcement, the EPA published estimates that worldwide shipping in 2001 emitted more than 54,000 tons of PM2.5, as much as 117 power plants, and approximately 745,000 tons of NOx, equivalent to about 800 million modern automobiles. That number is not a typo ─ the global fleet of approximately 90,000 ships really is that dirty.
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Print one off and keep it in your wallet. Very handy!
Carry the pocket guide that’s right for your region to help you choose ocean-friendly seafood wherever you live or travel. Click on your state on the map below to determine the pocket guide that’s right for you. If you live near a boundary between two regions, we suggest that you look at both pocket guides and pick the one that lists the seafood items commonly found where you live.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx
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Japan’s sprawling Mitsubishi conglomerate has cornered a 40 per cent share of the world market in bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most endangered fish.
A corporation within the £170bn Mitsubishi empire is importing thousands of tonnes of the fish from Europe into Tokyo’s premium fish markets, despite stocks plummeting towards extinction in the Mediterranean.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/revealed-the-bid-to-corner-worlds-bluefin-tuna-market-1695479.html
The Valley of the Drums is a 23-acre toxic waste site in northern Bullitt County, Kentucky, near Louisville, named after the waste-containing drums strewn across the area.
It is known as one of the primary motivations for the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund Act of 1980. While the widely publicized Love Canal disaster is often credited as reason the Superfund law was passed, Love Canal activist Lois Gibbs has said that Love Canal looked like a suburban community, while “Valley of the Drums became the visualization of the problem.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Drums
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Old fridges and washing machines before they are recyled.
Indian local boys wade through the pollution and floating debris left after the immersion of hundreds of idols of Hindu goddess Durga into the River Yamuna in New Delhi, India Monday 02 October 2006.
A crowd of Filipinos frolic in the polluted shallow waters of Manila Bay in Manila, Philippines on Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008. Depsite the danger of pollution, residents from mostly urban poor communities in the city flock to Manila Bay to swim and usher in the summer season. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
An Indian boy searches for coins in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on April 4, 2008. The national capital is a major culprit in the pollution of the Yamuna, accounting for about 79 per cent of the total waste water that is poured into the river by the major towns along its banks. Despite the Indian government spending millions on trying to clean up the river, most of it going to waste-treatment stations, pollution levels continue to rise. AFP PHOTO/ Manan VATSYAYANA
Graffiti of a woman reading a book in the walls surrounding the Mapocho river in Santiago on August 21, 2008. The Mapocho river, at present gravely polluted, is being cleansed through an innovative project which includes a 28,5 km long underground tunnel where the sewage will be re-directed. AFP PHOTO/Claudio Santana
A picture made available on 27 September shows dead fishes in the Pineios river outside Larissa, central Greece on 26 Septemeber 2008. Experts took water and fish samples away for testing. EPA/VASILIKI PASCHALI
A polluted creek covered with trash in Manila, Philippines on 01 March 2009. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported in 2008 that the Philippines hosts 50 major polluted rivers, with a majority of pollutants coming from domestic waste. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
Indian scavengers look for coins and other valuable items from among the offerings of devotees in the Ganges at Varanasi on April 5, 2009. More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River. An estimated 2,000,000 persons ritually bathe daily in the river, which is considered holy by Hindus. In the Hindu religion it is said to flow from the lotus feet of Vishnu (for Vaisnava devotees) or the hair of Shiva (for Saivites). While the Ganges may be considered holy, there are some problems associated with the ecology. It is filled with chemical wastes, sewage and even the remains of human and animal corpses which carry major health risks by either direct bathing in the water (e.g.: Bilharziasis infection), or by drinking (the Fecal-oral route). AFP PHOTO/Prakash SINGH
Kosovo albanians work at an open coal mine near the town of Obilic on April 24, 2009. Air pollution in Pristina has passed all legal norms of environmental pollution regulations. While in the world?s developed countries air pollution is permitted to pass its limits only 18 times during a year, Pristina reaches this limit within three months. Experts at the Institute for Public Health warn that this pollution factor is decreasing people's life expectancy. AFP PHOTO/ARMEND NIMANI
Volunteers try to clear a dam which is filled with discarded plastic bottles and other garbage, blocking Vacha Dam, near the town of Krichim on April 25, 2009. AFP PHOTO / DIMITAR DILKOFF
Volunteers try to clear a dam which is filled with discarded plastic bottles and other garbage, blocking Vacha Dam, near the town of Krichim on April 25, 2009. AFP PHOTO / DIMITAR DILKOFF
Brown coal power plant Boxberg with brown coal open cast mining.Boxberg, GERMANY
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The first-ever comprehensive review of the state of the world’s shellfish has just been released by The Nature Conservancy and the prognosis (as you may expect) really isn’t good. In fact, when oysters are concerned it’s downright awful.Globally, about 85% of the world’s oyster reefs have vanished and in many areas oyster reefs are functionally extinct:
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