Posts tagged environmental destruction
'Only 50 years left' for sea fish
There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study.
Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.
Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.
But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks.
“The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we’ve completely gone through the last one,” said research leader Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada.
“What we’re highlighting is there is a finite number of stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest,” he told the BBC News website.
Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the other scientists on the project, added: “Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood.”
Fuck this is real life.
(via bradicalmang)
After the flood
Half a year on, scientists are starting to understand the ecological impact of Pakistan’s devastating floods – and it’s a mixed bag. Zofeen T Ebrahim reports.
Five months ago, floods triggered by torrential rains submerged one-fifth of Pakistan, killing 2,000 people and destroying the property, livelihoods and infrastructure of millions. Now, the waters have receded – and with them the media’s attention. But for many environmentalists, like Ghulam Akbar, senior director at WWF, work has only just begun.
Activists Disrupt Enbridge Northern Gateway Meeting in Edmonton - they Condemn the Pipeline Company and “Community Advisory Board” process. (read more at mediacoop.ca)
Days left to stop mass extinction
There are only 300 northern right whales left, and 99% of blue whales have been wiped out. These majestic giants are endangered species, and their case is being played out across the world, time and again. In fact, one third of all life forms on the planet are on the brink of extinction.
The natural world is being crushed by human activity, waste and exploitation. But there is a plan to save it — a global agreement to create, fund and enforce protected areas covering 20% of our lands and seas by 2020. And right now, 193 governments are meeting in Japan to address this crisis.
We have just 4 days left in this crucial meeting. Experts say that politicians are hesitant to adopt such an ambitious goal, but that a global public outcry could tip the balance, making leaders feel the eyes of the world upon them.
Click to sign the urgent 20/20 petition today!
Hungary's toxic sludge reminiscent of 2000 Romania disaster – but much worse
The largest, most dangerous environmental disaster in Hungary’s history is unfolding this week after a containment pond dam broke Monday, releasing more than 35 million cubic feet of toxic sludge. The red slurry has now seeped into the Danube River and authorities are worried about widespread damage to water supplies.
While there have been many other small spills throughout Europe, nothing of this magnitude has ever occurred on the continent.
see also: BREAKING - Toxic Hungarian sludge spill reaches River Danube
Red sludge kills four, injures over 100 in Hungary; state of emergency declared
$5,000,000,000,000: The cost each year of vanishing rainforest
British researchers set out the economic impact of species destruction - and their findings are changing world’s approach to global warming
British scientific experts have made a major breakthrough in the fight to save the natural world from destruction, leading to an international effort to safeguard a global system worth at least $5 trillion a year to mankind.
Groundbreaking new research by a former banker, Pavan Sukhdev, to place a price tag on the worldwide network of environmental assets has triggered an international race to halt the destruction of rainforests, wetlands and coral reefs.
With experts warning that the battle to stem the loss of biodiversity is two decades behind the climate change agenda, the United Nations, the World Bank and ministers from almost every government insist no country can afford to believe it will be unaffected by the alarming rate at which species are disappearing. The Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, later this month will shift from solely ecological concerns to a hard-headed assessment of the impact on global economic security.
The UK Government is championing a new system to identify the financial value of natural resources, and the potential hit to national economies if they are lost. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb) project has begun to calculate the global economic costs of biodiversity loss. Initial results paint a startling picture. The loss of biodiversity through deforestation alone will cost the global economy up to $4.5trn (£2.8trn) each year – $650 for every person on the planet, and just a fraction of the total damage being wrought by overdevelopment, intensive farming and climate change.
The annual economic value of the 63 million hectares of wetland worldwide is said to total $3.4bn. In the pharmaceutical trade, up to 50 per cent of all of the $640bn market comes from genetic resources. Anti-cancer agents from marine organisms alone are valued at up to $1bn a year.
Last week, a study by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the Natural History Museum in London and the International Union for Conservation of Nature suggested more than a fifth of the world’s plant species are threatened with extinction. The coalition hopes that linking the disappearance of biodiversity to a threat to economic stability will act as a “wake-up call”.
Mohammad Ramzan, a flood victim, places his hand on the door that was left after his house was washed away by flood in the Mehmood Kot village in Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan’s Punjab province September 3, 2010.
More pictures at The Big Picture
Science Editor Steve Connor @ The Independent ~ 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. (…)
via paulmalouf
This was the most emotionally disturbing video I have ever done!
A flight over the BP Slick Source where I saw at least 100 Dolphins in the oil, some dying. I also photographed a Sperm Whale covered in oil all around it’s blow hole.
Please spread this around the world. Send me any links to places it gets posted so I can follow.
I want to piss off the world. Who will answer for these gentle creatures?This is pretty devastating. It’s around 10 minutes long but it’s well worth the listen.
Oil is seen in the deep recesses of marshland in the northern reaches of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Scientists are studying the carcass of a 25-foot “sub-adult” sperm whale found in the Gulf of Mexico to see if it’s oil spill-related. We all knew local wildlife would be devastated, but who knew it would all happen so fast?
First Whale Dies in Gulf of Mexico Since BP Oil Spill
via feralnostalgia:constantflux:artislovely:artthoughts:maryjanes:melodiesndesires
The Deepwater Horizon oil leak would have to continue spilling at it’s current rate for 468 more days to have lost as much oil as the United States uses in one day.
Why I don’t own a car.
really, is there a way to reconstruct this entire oil system? like do alternative energy sources really have a chance at making a dent in the auto industry? THAT MUCH OIL…in a day. i swear we’re being punish for the way we live.
Tumble and Donate to help with the environmental disaster efforts
As we’re all aware by now, one of the worst environmental disasters in recorded history is underway in the Gulf.
As helpless as you may feel, you can do something right now by donating to a Gulf protection group like Save Our Gulf, the National Audubon Society, or the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
To get all of you involved this week, we’re replacing Tumblr’s usual ocean blue with a new heart-of-BP-executive black and letting you donate without leaving your Dashboard.
Donating will also unlock the Limited Edition Black Dashboard as an account preference.
“When we found this dolphin it was filled with oil. Oil was just pouring out of it. It was the saddest darn thing to look at,” said a BP contract worker who took the Daily News on a surreptitious tour of the wildlife disaster unfolding in Louisiana.
His motive: simple outrage.
“There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” the contractor said.
“The things I’ve seen: They just aren’t right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I’m going to show you what BP never showed the President.”
(via Dying, dead marine wildlife paint dark, morbid picture of Gulf Coast following oil spill)
