Tag Archive: oceans


The world needs optimists. Optimists like Rob Stewart: writer, director and narrator of the new documentary Revolution about the state of the world’s environmental health.

Revolution premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012, and has been received well. In fact, it had the highest opening weekend of any Canadian documentary. Rob and his team are heading to Cannes in a few weeks to try to get wider international distribution.

They want the movie to be seen by at least 1 Billion people.

As opposed to just another droning eco-lecture, Revolution is a great travelogue, and thus adventurous and relatable. It still contains a lot of unique wildlife and marine life footage, along with powerful messages throughout.

It covers a lot of important topics: coral reef destruction, species extinction, the loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, air and ocean pollution, and tar sand refining – all incredibly important and urgent matters. But is that enough? Don’t we have all the information we can take?

Of course, that’s not all there is. Rob founded an organization called United Conservationists, working to mobilize the public, and especially inform, educate and engage children and young people to take action and participate in conservation efforts on a number of issues, including overfishing, habitat loss, extinction, deforestation – basically, any leading destructive activities that are contributing to the environmental crisis of our generation.

The documentaries and the campaigns have had other positive effects, such as creating a positive and caring global community of people who are dedicated and focused on education, networking and activism. A community of the future. View full article »

on the sea

the sea is my brother,

inviting me on spontaneous travels as the true counterpart in freedom

late nights in port-side pubs and apartments immersed in hilarious conversations

gusty, salty air at daybreak

the recurring urges to escape from high civilization

and the beautiful, melancholic thievery of solitude

                              (inspired by Kerouac)

View full article »

Even though BP Oil representatives have persistently tried to put down speculations of long-term environmental damage as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, almost a year ago, there is sufficient research that shows otherwise.

The BP Oil Spill disaster impaired the productivity and resources of the habitat and its ‘carrying capacity’, weakening its potential in meeting the needs of the region and impeding its ability to renew and restore own resources.

I wrote about it here when it happened a year ago.

The delayed emergency response and the long-drawn-out cleanup have contributed to a virulent state of the region, which some critics called hopeless. The delicate Gulf ecosystem was devastated and entire chains of perfectly symbiotic habitats disrupted.

The injuries that the region is already facing and will be facing in the future may include direct impact on food stocks and fisheries, their economic and tourism losses due to environmental constraints such as contamination and pollution of waterways and land, and the many changes of policies as a result.

The cleanup was only an immediate solution, the true impact is seen and felt only after the emergency steps have been implemented, so in the long run, the spilled oil may produce oxidized compounds which increase dissolution, dispersion, emulsification and formation of tar, contributing tot he toxic exposure for the ecosystem.

The extent of it will be only visible when the damages can be measured and recorded, however it has already been almost a year since the event and the ecological schism may already manifest itself. At the rate the oil is breaking down, some of it could still be there a century from now!

can-arctic

As an area of growing strategic and economic importance, the navigable passages of the Canadian High Arctic should be unconditionally secure. Uninterrupted monitoring, consecutive patrol, and the capacity to take action when needed are top priority in terms of safeguarding. Economically, an accessible high Arctic passage facilitates maritime trade between Canada and our Northern neighbours. Combine Canada’s sparse Northern population and spotty surveillance of vast territorial waters and the world’s second largest country is limitless.

Moreover, due to bordering international waters, inhospitable climate, and isolation, infrastructure and population density are minimal. The limited availability of community resources, remoteness, and austerity restrict the growth of communities and the development of businesses.

The Canadian Forces have recently become more aware of the need for persistent surveillance of extensive proportions to cover the Canadian waters and the network of passageway within our jurisdiction.
Lack of facilities for a comprehensive and interminable monitoring of the entire area is a factor that can compromise our security.

View full article »

Seagrass

Seagrass is valued for its ability to absorb carbon, its role in the oceanic carbon budget significant as it deposits considerable amounts in below-ground tissues, with larger seagrass species having greater capacity for accumulation of carbon due to the relatively slow turnover at the roots.

Global climate change resulting from carbon emissions, is accelerating the loss of seagrass habitats and causing decline and disturbances. 

Seagrass meadows play an vital role in coastal zones and provide the ecosystem with important functions, including feeding coral reefs and marine life, protecting smaller animal species, and sheltering organisms.

Algae that cover seagrass leaves, providing nutrition for the fauna itself, constitute an important link between terrestrial and other marine habitats.

Carbon affects temperatures, acidification and changes in currents, interfering with ecosystem flow.

Unlike coral reefs which produce more carbon than they consume, seagrass reacts differently to the cycle.

Depending on the processes that occurs within it as a result of carbon cycle and in relation to other ecosystems, it reflects its high rate of carbon trade.

Global warming will inevitably lead to decreased efficiencies in sequestering carbon, resulting in the reduction of nutrient supply to deeper ocean layers. This will reduce ocean’s ability to uptake carbon dioxide, contributing to oceanic acidification.

Count on Greenpeace to rock the boat (pardon the pun) for the energy revolution and raise awareness about out ‘addiction to oil’ and the consequences of that on our natural world, the climate, and the future of our planet overall.

In order to make changes and make notable changes, we obviously must all work together for this common goal: and go beyond oil.

Their beyond oil campaign is assertive, direct, and it requires our support in any way possible, as citizens of this world. Spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, oh and hey in the real world as well, among family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, partners, clients, etc.

Even though, as a society we are currently dependent on oil and we realize that getting off that dependence will take time, big businesses can start by investing in clean, renewable energy and not climate-wrecking and environmentally damaging Arctic oil.

You can follow its exploration of a team on board of Esperanza vessel, and check out its frequently updated YouTube channel.

What Will You Do Today?

Oceans day

Today is World Oceans Day – embrace the big blue!

They need protecting and, as they cover 3/4 of our planet’s surface, it’s a very big endeavour, but extremely beneficial to the health of our environment.

WWF urges protection, as “over one billion people rely on oceans for protein, and the demand is only growing, but two-thirds of the world’s marine stocks are fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted or recovering at a slow rate.”

This includes:

- protection of marine ecosystems (full conservation of designated cultural, recreational and industrial uses);

- sustainable fishing (designating ocean zones for compatible uses that are most ecologically appropriate);

- managing shipping and trade (implementing systematic approaches to sustainable international and inter-coastal practices);

- forestallling pollution and toxicity;

- marine spatial planning (long-term benefits to coastal communities and industries);

- improving and managing ocean resources;

- not to mention performance and safety standards and emergency response (or prevention!) of disasters such as oil spills……

WWF is urging action and their Oceans Program is brilliant. Here’s the latest.

Check out a website of Oceans Project for more detailed info on what the ‘celebration’ (action) entails.

BP oil spill!

An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank down to the ocean floor, dragging sideways the pipes, which consequently burst and started pouring huge amounts of oil into the ocean – 1000s of barrels a day (some say in a range of 4-5000).

Not an oil ‘spill’ but a full-on ‘leak’ any more. Impossible to patch up or contain, the officials realized that the best solution might be to burn it, so off they went.

Saddening and quite ironic that on Earth Day something so viral and uncontainable occurs, killing our environment.

Unfortunately, it looks like it’s so out of hand, with no quick resolution in sight. Will keep a close watch on the cataclysm of the Gulf of Mexico and its ecosystem.

A briefing explaining what exactly went on

From BP themselves

From CNN news central

Treehugger timeline

A New El Nino

The National Geographic blogs about the recent phenomenon that is a variation of the well-known El Nino effect, which is a key in the climate patterns that are affecting our oceans and the weather.

The indicator is the temperature of the Pacific surface waters around the equator which signalled the upcoming El Nino and its symbolic natural calamities.

Now, there is a different pattern – of cold-water cycles that emerge every few years and also trigger weather uncertainties or abnormalities.

The difference is that those changes are like a mirror-effect of El Nino, that the Japanese scientists dubbed Modoki (meaning “similar but different”), reverse than expected.

There is a cool graphic and the rest of the blog at NGM.

I love this article from the Guardian as it is like a fairytale, very Moby Dick. Brilliant prose

Of all the deputations from the deep, a beached whale is the most astounding. Not just because of its size, but also because of the terrors it holds for the humans who may confront it.

A stranded whale was once regarded as an ill omen; a right whale that stranded in the Thames in 1658 was widely seen as an augury of the death of Oliver Cromwell.

Too fast for 19th-century hunters of Herman Melville’s era; only with the invention of the grenade harpoon did these speedy cetaceans (the name for this suborder) come within reach.

This particular animal probably died as a result of a shipstrike in the Bay of Biscay – where lucky ferry ­passengers may occasionally see these leviathans swimming across the bows.

The skeleton of one such casualty, found in Andalucia, was used by the contemporary Mexican artist Gabriel Orozoco in an installation in London’s White Cube gallery in 2006.

Extraordinarily, a still extant 14th- century edict determines that any whale, dolphin, sturgeon or porpoise washed on to English shores is the property of the monarch, a relic of an age when a whale represented great wealth.

More at the guardian.

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