Friday, October 30, 2009

Killing the oceans

Bedraggled dead seabirds tangled in sea wrack on this remote, wild beach are just some of more than 8,000 birds killed since just after Labor Day, scientists estimate. The death toll — which might eventually pass 10,000 — is from a mysterious algae bloom still off the coast that has scientists and researchers worried and mystified.

"I think it's scary. We have no record of anything like this in the past 30 years, and no one knows why it is happening," said Julia Parrish, associate director of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington. "We are not used to big natural disasters, but this is one of them."

Up and down Washington's coast, scientists are reporting the longest lasting and largest harmful algae bloom ever recorded here, and the largest recorded mass mortality of seabirds ever in Washington waters. "It's bigger than an oil spill," Parrish said.

And in the Mediterranean:



And in Australia.

Don't forget Alaska's blob nor the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, the plastic-filled gyres in the Pacific, the deep sea creatures and fish.

Global warming, rapid climate change... call it what you will. Our oceans are slowly boiling to death.

14 comments:

Mike Goldman said...

Nature will adapt, as always. This is no big deal for her. She'll shake it off like an infection. And then there won't be any more humans.

Unless we start taking better care. End petroleum dependence, because that's what is killing us.

ellroon said...

I've heard humanity compared to a virus that earth has to get rid of...

And yes. Get rid of dependence on oil because we are looking at more and more wars and more and more expenses and more and more pollution and destruction of the environment as we dig more furiously for the stuff.

Then we can start on the problem of too much meat consumption....

Mike Goldman said...

Beyond being a good replacement for petrol, hemp is nutritionally complete too... :)

ellroon said...

:D! I shooddaah known!

Steve Bates said...

Somebody has a one-track mind. At least, what's left of it... :)

Mike Goldman said...

Yes, Steve. What's left of it. Because clearly it is much smarter to ignore the truth and keep on destroying the planet. Duh.

ellroon said...

Don't make me come back there, you guys!

I bet if we all went vegetarian AND smoked pot we'd be able to save the world! Both mankind and animals would be a lot happier, we'd be healthier.... and we'd stop having wars and start singing "Don't worry, be happy" ...

Steve Bates said...

Paraphrasing a popular sign in a neighbor's yard... pot is not the answer.

C'mon, Mike. There is no drug in the world with unmitigated positive consequences. Pot is no different: there's good, there's bad, and in some cases there's ugly. It should NOT be illegal... let me say that again, just in case you had trouble reading it the first time: it should NOT be illegal. But neither is it the miracle cure for everything that ails everyone.

I am old enough to have watched my using friends from college as they lived the following 40 years. Some of them really don't have a lot of mental focus, and haven't had it for decades. For many people, the problems induced by pot are as real as the benefits. An honest commentator would admit that.

ellroon said...

Now if they ever try to criminalize caffeine...

Mike Goldman said...

Steve, you really are clueless, but this isn't the place to carry on a discussion, in Ellroon's comment thread.

Smoking cannabis isn't going to cure cancer, but taking cannabis oil surely will, and does.

ellroon said...

Oh, I don't know about that, Mike. I learn a lot from reading you guys argue it out. Not having ever 'done' pot and thus ignorant about cannabis in all of its many forms, my attitude has shifted to one of acceptance because of you.

I, like Steve, have seen acquaintances never recover from days of marinating in pot and spend their lives on the fringes of society, so it's interesting to have you argue for the amazing qualities of cannabis in all of its forms.

ellroon said...

(A badly written comment but I've just done a big family dinner party which obviously has affected my ability to write concisely....)

Mike Goldman said...

I'll probably be blogging it a bit at skippy's place, eventually. :)

As for marginalization, that's an effect of criminalization, not cannabis. Here in the Bay Area it is normal, so nobody is marginalized by cannabis. Not everybody has quite yet started being open about it but that's coming right quick.

ellroon said...

At skippy's? I will go read when you do.