Earth, Environment & Endangered Species 02 (Apr 11 - Sep 15)

[behappyalways]

台湾现“海啸云“吞食小镇奇景
http://xiyou.cntv.cn/v-29e8c418-6537-11 ... 69111.html

[kennynah]

[sidney]

Spectacular Cinematography of the Beauty of Life

After spending decades of filming the infinite beauty that effortlessly surrounds us, award-winning cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg presents his visually stunning project “Happiness Revealed.”

“Beauty and seduction are nature’s tools for survival because we protect what we fall in love with.”

http://www.mindbendingvideos.com/specta ... y-of-life/

Winston, thank you for sharing this video.

This kind of reminded me of Dr John Izzo's The 5 secrets you must discover before you die. The show makes you think about life, what to do with it, how to respond to it.

The DVD is available in NLB.

[winston]

So they need 267 whales for research ? Bloody clowns ...

Japan ends season's Antarctic whale hunt

Japan has ended this season's whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean having caught less than a third of its original target, the Fisheries Agency said Friday.

Japanese whalers killed 266 minke whales and one fin whale, the agency said, well below the approximately 900 they had been aiming for when they left Japan in December.

The whalers had left the southern waters by Thursday "as scheduled", the agency said. It made no reference to the frequent high-seas confrontations with anti-whaling activists.

Militant environmentalist group Sea Shepherd had pursued the Japanese fleet for much of the season.

The group has hurled stink bombs at the boats and used ropes to try to tangle their propellers in a series of exchanges, which have seen the whalers retaliate with water cannon.


Source:AFP Global Edition

[winston]

Remember Fukushima: Presenting The Radioactive Seawater Impact Map by Tyler Durden

A few days after the one year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, nobody talks about it anymore. After all it's "fixed", and if it isn't, the Fed will fix it. Remember in the New Normal nothing bad is allowed the happen. So for those who have forgotten, here is a reminder.

From ASR, a global coastal and marine consulting firm, The Radioactive Seawater Impact Map

We use a Lagrangian particles dispersal method to track where free floating material (fish larvae, algae, phytoplankton, zooplankton...) present in the sea water near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station plant could have gone since the earthquake on March 11th.

THIS IS NOT A REPRESENTATION OF THE RADIOACTIVE PLUME CONCENTRATION. Since we do not know exactly how much contaminated water and at what concentration was released into the ocean, it is impossible to estimate the extent and dilution of the plume.

However, field monitoring by TEPCO showed concentration of radioactive Iodine and Cesium higher than the legal limit during the next two months following the event (with a peak at more than 100 Bq/cm3 early April 2011 for I-131 as shown by the following picture).

Assuming that a part of the passive biomass could have been contaminated in the area, we are trying to track where the radionuclides are spreading as it will eventually climb up the food chain.

The computer simulation presented here is obtained by continuously releasing particles at the site during the 2 months folllowing the earthquake and then by tracing the path of these particles. The dispersal model is ASR's Pol3DD.

The model is forced by hydrodynamic data from the HYCOM/NCODA system which provides on a weekly basis, daily oceanic current in the world ocean. The resolution in this part of the Pacific Ocean is around 8km x 8km cells.

We are treating only the sea surface currents. The dispersal model keeps a trace of their visits in the model cells. The results here are expressed in number of visit per surface area of material which has been in contact at least once with the highly concentrated radioactive water.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/remember- ... impact-map

[winston]

China 'river pig' deaths raise extinction concerns

China says 16 endangered finless porpoise have been found dead since the beginning of the year, due in part to what experts suspect is water pollution and climate change, state media reported.

The freshwater porpoise -- which is known in Chinese as the "river pig" -- mainly lives in China's Yangtze River and two lakes linked to the waterway, and the deaths have raised concern the rare animal is headed for extinction.

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

While the film-stars try to get you to stop eating shark-fins, you get this behavior from a King. Served him right ?

The Hunting Trip Came to Light When Spanish King Juan Carlos Broke His Hip in Botswana and Was Rushed Home for Surgery

A scandal over elephant-hunting that forced Juan Carlos to make his first ever public apology has turned the popular monarchy itself into an endangered breed, experts say.

Source: AFP

[winston]

Peru says 5,000 birds, nearly 900 dolphins dead

The Peruvian government said Wednesday that 5,000 birds, mostly pelicans, and nearly 900 dolphins have died off the country's northern coast, possibly due to rising temperatures in Pacific waters.

The country's northern beaches were earlier this week declared off-limits as scientists scrambled to pin down what was causing such a massive toll, with non-government organizations blaming oil exploration work.

But Peru's deputy environment minister Gabriel Quijandria, disputed this and said warming waters, which disturbs species' food supplies, was a possible cause.

He said that although tests conducted on 877 dolphins found dead on the coast had not been completed, contamination from heavy metals or the presence of bacterial infections was not responsible.

It is probable that the phenomenon "will extend to other coastal areas," Quijandria said, noting that there could be a resulting increase in the numbers of birds and other sea life killed.

The South American nation's health ministry declared an alert at the weekend, urging the public to stay away from the beaches around Lima and on the northern coast until the cause of death of marine life is known.

One non-government conservation organization, known as ORCA, has blamed the dolphin deaths on oil exploration activities in the area, which it claims produces noises which are having an acoustic impact on the mammals.

A representative from the group, Carlos Yaipen, said Wednesday it had tested 30 dead specimens and found broken ears and damaged organs consistent with the victims suffering "the bends," also known as decompression sickness.

Weather expert Abraham Levy told AFP on Tuesday that the warming of the Pacific waters due to El Nino could be to blame.


Source:AFP Global Edition

[winston]

Sustainability By Walt Haskins

WHEN MORE ISN'T BETTER

Cancer is described as cells that just continue reproducing until the destruction of the host.

In this sense, humans could be looked at as a kind of cancer to the host Earth.


Source: www.wisdomtips.com

[winston]

Thousands of birds found dead on Chile beaches

About 2,000 birds were found dead on beaches in central Chile, a natural history museum director said Friday, accusing fishermen of snagging them in their nets and letting them drown.

"It's a horrible scene. They are spread across some six kilometers (four miles) of beach" around the coastal city of Santo Domingo, San Antonio natural history and archeology museum director Jose Luis Brito told UCV radio.

Most of the birds are gray petrels, but there are also pelicans, gannets and Guanay cormorants.

Brito accused fishermen of "doing nothing" when birds get caught up in their nets, and leaving them "to drown before throwing the bodies back into the sea."

The museum said it would file a complaint to police over the dead birds.

About 100 bird carcasses were found on central beaches on Sunday.

Thousands of dolphins and maritime birds, including many pelicans, have been found dead in neighboring Peru in recent weeks.

Environmental groups blamed oil exploration work, but Peru's deputy environment minister Gabriel Quijandria, disputed the claim and said warming waters, which disturbs food supplies, was a possible cause.


Source:AFP Global Edition