Save the Abalone Tuesday, Dec 26 2006

My trips to Florida about six or seven years ago really stick out in my memory. I would swim in the ocean and look for seashells along the shore. I would find tons of sand dollars, and occasionally I would come across pieces of shells that, when seen in the light, had hints of colors running through them. I thought they were kind of cool.  I would pick them up and run over to my mom, asking what these things were that I was finding. My mom told me they were pieces of abalone, but I just nodded along, not really knowing what that was.  I recently read an article referencing abalone, so naturally that captured my attention. I discovered that they are an endangered species in certain areas.

 Abalone.

Picture Credit: http://www.mineralminers.com/images/abalone/mins/abam101x.jpg

 A brief description of the Black Abalone would include: 7.5 cm-20 cm long; smooth outer shell of a dark brown, dark green, or blackish color; inside of shell – iridescent pink and green; black tentacles.

Under the Endangered Species Act, the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco has petitioned to protect Black Abalone (Haliotis cracherodii). Black Abalone has suffered huge declines in population along the west coast of the United States. These mollusk invertebrates used to be abundant, particularly in Southern California. But now they are almost all gone.

The reasons behind the dramatic decrease in population of Black Abalone are fishing and a spreading, fatal disease called withering syndrome. Fishing has been banned for the most part but this disease continues to be a problem for the Abalone. The virus does well in warm water, which happens to be the type of water in the California area. Global warming has been an ongoing problem not just for the Abalone but also for most of the marine life living in our oceans. The ocean temperatures will keep rising as global warming continues, thus threatening every kind of fish or sea organism that we can imagine.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, who came out with the Endangered Species Act, will be given 90 days to answer to this petition for the protection of Black Abalone.

Sources:

http://enn.com/net.html?id=1773

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_abalone

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A Great Big Wind Farm in Britain? Sunday, Dec 24 2006

Since we covered the topic of wind farms in our last unit, this article about wind farms being built in the UK caught my eye. In an effort to increase renewable energy resources, two huge wind farms are set to be constructed in the Thames Estuary in London. One of them, which will be named the London Array, will be the world’s largest wind farm that is offshore. They will use 1.3 gigawatts of electricity. This much electricity can provide for one third of the houses in London.

Environment Secretary David Miliband said: “By issuing the licences to build the world’s largest offshore wind farms in the Thames Estuary we are re-enforcing the UK’s commitment to renewable energy and combating climate change and ocean acidification.”

The building of these wind farms will be separated into two phases in order to allow for a study on the impact of the farms on birds. The plan is that these new wind farms will provide electricity for nearly 250,000 homes.

On a wind farm, turbines are used to produce electricity. One of the main motives behind this type of energy production is that it will greatly reduce the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. This is because the higher dependability on wind energy reduces the high demand for coal-burning power plants. Thus many people are in favor of wind farms because they will reduce global warming.

Two important issues that arise with the wind farm are cost and reliability. Many people feel that wind farms are too expensive and that they might not be dependable as a source of energy. Another problem has to do with birds. The windmills are spinning and birds can be killed if they collide with the turbine blades. But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the UK has said that “The available evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds.”

It will be interesting to see what happens with wind farms over the next few decades as our fossil fuel supplies start to wind down.

Sources:

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2006/2006-12-20-03.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_farms

Picture: http://www.stasys.co.uk/images/common/windfarm.jpg

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Octopus Study: Solution for the Fish? Friday, Dec 22 2006

We may one day run out of seafood. The primary reasons are 1) because fish cannot reproduce as quickly as they are caught by people, and 2) their habitats (reefs and such) are destroyed due to the wastes we put into our oceans. There has been much concern about this issue in people’s posts this year, inlcuding one of mine from a while back. We wondered if there would be a way to keep the fish in the sea and from being entirely depleted in the next 40 years. Earlier this week, there was information released about octopii catchings in Madagascar which could be a solution for the declining stocks of fish in the oceans.

Scientists are saying that if areas of marine life are protected over periods of time, the number of fish in that area will increase considerably. What needs to be done is to close off the designated area to fishermen so that no marine life is extracted from the water. A recent study in Madagascar has shown that the number of octopii in a protected area increases when the area is blocked off from fishermen. A couple 7 month bans were put on octopus fishing in Andavadoaka. During this time, the undisturbed octopii were allowed to multiply.

Photo Credit: http://www.mzoo.com/images/octopus.jpg

According to Alasdair Harris, scientific director of Blue Ventures, which is the marine conservation group that worked to protect the certain areas of marine life in the ocean,

This study shows MPAs (marine protected areas) not only serve as a powerful conservation tool helping species thrive, but can also be a powerful economic tool helping fisheries remain productive and profitable.

Well, this is good news! Do we now have some hope that our seafood stock won’t run out as soon as scientists were previously anticipating? This study seems to be a key in preventing “over-fishing,” which is one of the big problems threatening the future of so many sea creatures and even the ocean’s ecosystem.

Let’s take cod, for example. A cod is a larger fish, so its main food would include certain types of smaller fish. Yet it is also prey for fish larger than itself. In certain areas, such as off the coast of Canada, cod fish have been entirely wiped out. As we learned when we studied ecosystems, the loss of this predator/prey is going to have an impact on the ocean ecosystem. The number of smaller fish would probably increase initially because they aren’t being preyed upon so actively. But they’re bound to decline because the larger fish that once preyed on the cod cannot do so anymore, so they may have to resort to smaller fish. The loss of one sea species has an impact on the whole ecosystem. As more and more species are eradicated, the ocean ecosystem is going to suffer more and more.

Now we just have to hope that more studies are done and that more measures are taken to prolong the process of depletion. We need to keep our delicious seafood intact as long as possible!

http://enn.com/today.html?id=11878

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Oil Spills Saturday, Dec 2 2006

Has anyone ever seen the Saved by the Bell episode where there’s a huge oil spill? If you haven’t, here’s what happens: this oil company takes over the school and starts drilling on the football field, and then there’s a big oil spill. The oil ends up getting into the school’s pond and it kills all the animals in and around the pond. Whenever I think of an oil spill, I think of this episode. It shows the kind of damage that an oil spill could potentially do.

Luckily, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a plan for preventing, getting ready for, and responding to any oil spill that may occur. This is good to know because the United States, and we all are aware, uses so much oil (about 250 billions of gallons per year). At any given time while this oil is being produced, distributed, or consumed, oil can spill from the tanks in which it is kept and threaten the environment. Oil spills can happen any time, any place, and in any type of weather. The program that has been developed has reduced the number of oil spills to about 1% of the total amount that is dealt with each year.

 Graphic courtesy of West Coast Environmental Law Association.

So how are oil spills prevented? For the past 20 years or so, the U.S. EPA has had several companies working at many oil storage facilities to prevent the spilling of oil into the waters of the country. The EPA makes certain that owners of oil facilites have Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which is still enforced today, requires liability and penalty requirements should an oil spill occur. The EPA also performs inspections on oil facilities to make sure that they are taking the proper precautions in order to prevent an oil spill.

How do they prepare for oil spills? The EPA has contingency plans, which detail the steps for cleaning up an oil spill and preventing it from spreading. They also have training which prepares facilities to prevent and respond to an oil spill.

How do they respond to oil spills? Some spills can be cleaned up by the facility, but others that are more severe require help from local and state agencies, or even the federal government. The EPA is the federal agency responsible for spills that occur in inland waters, and the U.S. Coast Guard is the agency responsible for spills that occur in any ocean along the coast.

Hopefully this plan developed by the EPA will keep proving effective and reduce the number of oil spills to well under 1% so that the environment can be kept cleaner and safer.

http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/overview.htm

http://www.wcel.org/4976/18/oilspill.gif

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Let It Snow Saturday, Dec 2 2006

Oh, the amazing white blanket covering the state of Illinois that gave us a day off school: snow. I’m assuming that most of us enjoy the snow for one reason or another – whether it be playing in the snow, having snowball fights, making snow angels, sledding, snowboarding, skiing, or the one everyone can agree on - it has the potential to free us from school. However, caught up in all the excitement of snow, we don’t really think about the effects it has on the environment.

 

 http://www.edholden.com/images/wallpaper/20050107-02%20-%20Snow%20in%20Backyard-3.jpg

So, what exactly is snow? MSN Encarta defines it as “transparent ice crystals formed around dust or other particulates in the atmosphere when water vapor condenses at temperatures below the freezing point.” Now that’s a pretty complex definition for such a simple phenomenon. In other words, it is precipitation that freezes in the atmosphere and falls to the ground in the form of flakes.

I think it’s interesting that all snowflakes have some kind of hexagonal shape. The varying weather conditions cause each snowflake to be different from the next in its exact configuration.

During these big snowstorms, ice can build up. Getting rid of this ice may damage ecosystems, possibly due to excessive salts. Snow also becomes rather dirty after a while, and if it gets into the pipes that transport our water, it may contaminate the water that we drink. Snow can even knock power lines down. This causes generators to be used more frequently, which in turn causes air pollution. Another drawback about snow is that is greatly slows traffic, or, if weather conditions are exceptionally bad, driving may not even be possible. A snowstorm may also affect electricity and cause power outages.

Snow comes with benefits as well, and they go further than sledding, snowball fights, and snow days. Ironically, snow actually preserves heat and helps protect crops in very cold weather. Once the snow has fallen and the “blizzard” part is over, the fresh, white blanket gives off a calm, clean look that’s hard to beat. Let’s all enjoy the snow this weekend!

http://www.epa.gov/naturalevents/snow-ice.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574883/Snow.html

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