Photography - Underwater Adventures

There are many varieties of coral, including a psychedelic mushroom coral which I haven't seen anywhere else.

The water over the Great Barrier Reef is extraordinarily clear, and the reef itself is full of surprises, such as remarkably colorful giant clams.

This website is full of beautiful images taken in different oceans from around the world with bizarre and unique animal and plant life.

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Underwater/index.html

Sinking of Battleship creating environmental problems

Sinking of battleship sparks environmental fears
Tim Naumetz, For CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - The Environment Department has approved a navy plan to haul the retired destroyer HMCS Huron out onto the Pacific Ocean, where U.S. and Canadian ships and jets will use it as target practice until it sinks two kilometres to the ocean floor.
It's a plan environmentalists and one NDP MP say is fraught with problems.
"It's treating the ocean like a garbage dump," said Jennifer Lash, the head of the B.C. activist group Living Oceans says.
"No one even knows what kind of marine life there is down there."
Canadian Forces public relations officers were surprised by a barrage of questions Tuesday following the government's publication last weekend of an Environment Canada permit for the long-planned disposal of the Huron.
If all goes as expected, the Iroquois class destroyer, stripped down to 1,118 metric tonnes of raw steel but still longer than a football field, will succumb to a barrage of missiles, machine-guns, naval cannons and torpedoes in a joint U.S.-Canadian exercise off the B.C. coast next month.
The plan is for the bullet-riddled torn-up hulk of the Huron to sink about 100 kilometres west of Vancouver Island.
"This, as far as I know, is the first Canadian warship that we've sunk in that manner," said Cmdr. Jeff Agnew, head of navy public relations, who noted the practice has been common with other navies for decades.
The Huron, commissioned in 1972, served on blockade patrols during the 1991 Gulf War, intercepted illegal Chinese immigrants in 1999 and was decommissioned in 2005 to furnish spare parts to the remaining three Iroquois class destroyers.
The Environment Department permit appears to set stringent anti-pollution requirements for the event, to the point of listing the ordnance the military will use.
The attack must take place in weather conditions that allow proper positioning of the Huron, the timing must be outside the opening of any commercial fishery and the navy must ensure "all floatables and all petroleum-based products (fuel oil, hydraulic fluids, lubricants, etc.,) are removed from the vessel prior to disposal."
The permit says the route from Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt to the target site in a Canadian military firing area must be "direct."
The method of disposal is listed as: "Firing by Naval Sea Sparrow Missiles, aircraft machine-guns, and naval gunnery (including MK 48 torpedoes)...."
While it may be a Canadian precedent, U.S. and Canadian warships only last year took part in a similar exercise off the coasts of the Hawaiian Islands to sink a retired American warship, the U.S.S. O'Brien, said Agnew.
Live-fire exercises against an actual warship, rather than dummy targets, give battle crews the opportunity they require to test the lethal weaponry they control and see its effect first-hand, he added.
Agnew said the missiles and torpedoes that hit the Huron will contain no radioactive material and the ordnance will leave only "background levels" of lead on the ocean bottom.
However, Lash, Green party Leader Elizabeth May and NDP environment critic Nathan Cullen all say that sinking a massive steel ship in the ocean sends the wrong signal in this environmentally sensitive era.
"People don't just drive their car off a cliff into the lake when they're done with it," said Cullen.
Added May: "It's crazy, we've just had the kerfuffle over U.S. navy live-fire exercises in the Great Lakes."
May was referring to a U.S. Coast Guard proposal for live-fire exercises on the lakes, which was withdrawn after opposition from groups concerned about the impact on commercial shipping, recreational boating and the environment.
Agnew said the Canadian navy takes a back seat to no one in environmental protection, to the point ship captains go beyond international rules and customarily keep all ship garbage on board until reaching port.
"In today's day and age, the Canadian Forces is an exceptionally strong steward of the environment," said Agnew, noting the navy followed all Environment Canada requirements for approval of the permit.

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/ontario/story.html?id=1d7f47b9-95b8-4cd8-8224-f7e2485bf2ac&k=27603&p=1

When many people think about a battleship going down they would first ask if everyone was alright? What happened? and so on. One question that should be asked is what is going to be affected by the mass of metal falling to the ocean floor? What is this metal and chemicals going to destroy?

Global Warming - Species Disappearing

Climate change is rearranging the global landscape, threatening to wipe out 20 to 30 per cent all the life forms on earth and flood hundreds of millions people out of their homes, according to the authors of an international report to be released Friday.
Their draft report, obtained by CanWest News, says Canada will face big problems as temperatures rise - twice as many forest fires, vast tracks of melting permafrost, deadly heat waves - but they pale beside the grim forecast for the world's poorer countries and citizens.
"Hundreds of millions of people are vulnerable to flooding due to sea-level rise," says the report. By 2100, it says rising waters will drown low-lying, and densely populated coastal regions in Asia and small island countries.
It says one sixth of the world's people also face growing freshwater shortages as snow-packs shrink and glaciers recede.
Ecosystems and their inhabitants - mangroves, coral reefs, salmon runs, polar bears - are also at risk, the report says: "Roughly 20-30 per cent of species are likely to be at high risk of irreversible extinction if global average temperature exceeds 1.5-2.5 C," which could occur within decades given current greenhouse gas levels. It says many more plants, bugs, birds and mammals could disappear if temperatures climb much beyond that.
Delegates from Canada and more than 120 other countries are meeting in Brussels this week to finalize and approve the report to be released Friday. It is the second of four studies to be released this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of close to 2,000 scientists. They assess available evidence to produce "consensus" reports on climate change and what should be done about it.
The first report, released in February, said global warming is "unequivocal" and human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, is the main driver causing temperatures to climb. That report prompted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders to promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions associated with the rising temperatures. Friday's report will put more pressure on governments to cut emissions and launch programs to try adapt.
The scientists say change is already clearly underway: "Many natural systems, on all continents and in some oceans, are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases," says the final draft of the scientists 21-page summary-for-policymakers.
Melting glaciers and unstable permafrost, earlier spring runoff and bird migrations are now evident, the scientists say. But they say this is just the start of much bigger and irrevocable changes to come.
The report says there will be some benefits - more shipping through the Arctic, fewer people freezing outside in the winter, and Canadian farms and forests expanding northward.
But the list of negatives is much longer - millions more people will go hungry as droughts and crop failure worsen, billions of people will face drinking water shortages and, by the end of this century, hundreds of millions of people in "mega-deltas" in Asia and on small islands could be inundated by oceans that are rising as temperatures climb and ancient ice sheets melt.
Climate change could eliminate up to 30 per cent of life forms
Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service
The scientists note sea level rise is not something that can be turned off like a car engine.
"Sea level rise has substantial inertia compared to other climate change factors and is virtually certain to continue beyond 2100 for many centuries," they note in the final draft of their 79-page technical summary also obtained by CanWest News. "Stabilization of climate could reduce but not stop sea level rise."
The summary report predicts malnutrition and disease, particularly in Africa, Latin America and some Asian countries, will increase along with crop failures, droughts and floods that are expected to grow more severe in coming decades.
Heat waves are also expected to become more intense and deadly in North American and European cities. One scenario predicts ozone-related deaths, associated with smog and heat waves, will climb almost five per cent in North America by 2050.
Fresh water will become scarcer as glaciers and snow-packs disappear. If current warming rates continue, the report says Himalayan glaciers that supply freshwater to millions of people could shrink from 500,000 square kilometres today to 100,000 square kilometres by the 2030s. Shrinking glaciers and snow-pack in Western North America and lower water levels in the Great Lakes are also looming problems for both water security and relations between Canada and the U.S., the report says.
Fire, pests and disease are also forecast to cut a much wider swath through Canadian forests, with the amount of forest area burned each year expected to almost double by 2100.
The Arctic will experience remarkable change with "both negative and positive impacts" for people in the North, the report says.
Less summer sea ice will open up polar shipping, but will also increase frequency and severity of coastal erosion and storms hitting low-lying coastal communities. There will also be "detrimental effects" on polar bears, seals and migratory birds.
Rising temperatures will also lower barriers to species invasions. Lyme disease is forecast to move 1,000 kilometres north by 2080 along with a two- to four-fold increase in ticks, which can infect both wildlife and humans with encephalitis.
The Arctic landscape is already being transformed as tundra gives way to forests and permafrost melts turning winter roads and building foundations to mush. The reports says by 2050 up to 35 per cent of the permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere could be gone.
Ecosystems in the tropics will also be radically altered as tropical forests are stressed by the heat and coral reefs are bleached by warmer, more acidic oceans.
"The resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded this century by an unprecedented combination of climate change, associated disturbances (e.g., wildfire, insects), and other global change drivers," says the report.
Among the 20-30 per cent of species at risk of vanishing if temperatures rise just 2.5 C are 30 Amazonian trees and several mammals, birds, butterflies, frogs and reptiles. If the temperatures rise 4 C the report predicts there could be "major extinctions around the world" of about 40 to 70 per cent of known species. Hundreds of millions more people would also face water shortages and starvation, the report says.

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/ontario/story.html?id=0865f445-31a4-4ff5-8875-c6a9651b1c30&k=31613

20-30% of the species disappearing due the wiping out of their habitats from flooding, climate change, and extreme temperatures that are not regular and animals cannot adapt to. The saddening thing about this article is that we have to be the ones to assist this in not occurring (as rapidly) as we were the destroyers that did this to them in the first place.

Global Warming - Green Roof

Green roof saves green in Chicago
City Hall's unique roof yields environmental, financial benefits

CHICAGO - It's like a scene from a peaceful meadow: Where wildflowers bloom and the bees are busy. But to reach this slice of Eden, one doesn't travel out of town, one travels up, 12 stories up.
"I talked about building a green roof," says Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, "and everybody kind of looked at me whether or not I kind of lost it, ha ha ha."
But the crazy idea is paying off. Since Chicago installed a 20,000 square foot "green roof" atop City Hall five years ago, the city has saved about $25,000 in energy costs."Because there are plants on it, it's cooler than a regular flat, black roof," says Robert Berghage, an associate professor of horticulture at Penn State University.
Berghage's research has shown there are many benefits to going green.
"The water from the flat roof was about here," Berghage says as he demonstrates at a water measuring tank. "The water from the green roof is down here."
The plants can drink 60 percent of dirty rain water before it can overflow local sewer systems, soaking up some of the costs businesses pay to control storm water runoff.
"Anything you can do to get more plant material in the city is going to make a big difference in helping to make our cities more livable," says Berghage.
Ruth and Scott McElroy of Norfolk, Va., liked the idea so much, they took it home. They paid $4,000 to install a green roof.
"In the first month we had the roof installed, we saw our air conditioning bill drop by about $25," says Ruth.
It's not very often a simple idea comes along that's not only good for the environment but also the bottom line — and that's exactly what green roofers are hoping big business picks up on.
In Dearborn, Mich., 10 acres of vegetation tops a Ford assembly plant. Green roofs are sprouting up on stores, schools, even a few dog houses.
Back in the Windy City, more than 250 buildings are going green on top.
"As everybody talks about the environmental movement, they're always pushing their finger someplace else," says Mayor Daley. "They should just turn their finger right into their own backyard, their own city."
A green revolution's underfoot, and it's looking down on America from above.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15223547/

"They should just turn their finger right into their own backyard, their own city." - Mayor Daley
This statement is bold and eye-opening to the residents of the city as people talk about global warming effects yet some chose not to do anything about it as they think that other cities and people should begin and they will follow.

Global Warming - Solar power

California leads the nation on going ‘green’
From solar power to biofuel, state is way ahead of federal government

John Larson
Correspondent
SAN DIEGO - In a state where there are more hybrid vehicles on the road than almost all other states combined, two of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous Hummers now run on alternative fuels.
The legislature is considering 60 pieces of global warming legislation, everything from biofuel school buses to energy efficient TVs and computer monitors to “green” apartment buildings.
"We hope to have a million solar roofs over the next 10 years," says Mary Luevano with Global Green, an environmental group that promotes green buildings and cities.
"We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late," said Schwarzenegger in September.
Since Schwarzenegger signed landmark legislation last year to cut greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020, California has taken the lead. Anaheim on Monday hosted the world's largest conference on alternative fuels and vehicles.
"We've had a hundred years of driving around on petroleum fuel and flipping a light switch powered by coal and other fossil fuels, so it's a matter of changing our thinking and being more informed consumers," says Terry Tamminen, Schwarzenegger's environmental adviser.
Schools like Monterey Ridge in San Diego now feature lights that turn off automatically when rooms empty and a new solar farm that on Monday was generating almost 90 percent of the school's energy needs.
"It's really cool, and it's a great lesson for the kids," says Principal Rebecca Warlow.
Even public opinion polls here, which traditionally list crime as the top concern, now reflect that for many greenhouse gases have become the No. 1 bad guy.
Record low snowfall and record drought have residents this year facing a perfect storm of drought and fire conditions — obvious reasons the political climate surrounding warming is warming here as well.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17917602/

This is an incredibly smart option for California residents to take with turning to solar energy as a new means of energy. The affects are beginning to show from global warming in the climate as mentioned above as snowfall is lower and the drought that they are facing hold more negative effects for the future. Each year here we have seen snowfall on the downfall as well, but they seem to be taking a great action to prevent some further damage.

Video of Argentina flooding

http://www.sebalorenzo.com.ar/2007/03/31/entre-rios-datos-para-ayudar-a-los-inundados/

This video is in response to the article that I posted on March 31 about the flooding in Argentina as I had a comment left from Senas Lorenzo of Argentina. This video is very interesting to watch and was too posted on March 31.

Water quality

Environment Minister Mark Parent announced plans to develop an expanded water resources strategy for the province on Friday. (Peter Parsons / Staff)

Nova Scotia will spend the next three years examining the quantity and quality of its water.
"Especially in this era of climate change, it is important to all of us — farmers, industry, business, governments and citizens — to be aware of the importance of well-managed water resources," Environment Minister Mark Parent said Friday at the MicMac Aquatic Club in Dartmouth.
"It affects us all."
He said the strategy, which will receive $200,000 this year and about $400,000 in 2008, will start this spring with public consultations.
"We need . . . to begin talking and learning about the best ways to best manage this most precious resource."
The province will also begin publicly reporting the quality of drinking water, extend watershed mapping to include coastal areas, expand water monitoring networks and release groundwater and surface water monitoring data.
Liberal environment critic Leo Glavine said earlier this week the government should start collecting royalties on bottled water extracted from Nova Scotia sources.
Mr. Parent said the province will look at licence fees and royalties by Year 2 of the strategy.
He said the three companies that bottle water in the province use about 1.7 million litres a day, about one per cent of the three billion litres extracted daily.
"How do you separate out one industry from other industrial users and where do you start charging?" the minister said.
The second year of the strategy will also include the launch of an education program.
In the final year, a draft of the strategy will be released and the public will get another chance to comment before it is submitted for cabinet approval.
The minister said his department and nine others — agriculture, health promotion and protection, natural resources, Service Nova Scotia and municipal relations, tourism, culture and heritage, economic development, fisheries, agriculture and energy — will be involved in the strategy.
He said it will build on the 2002 drinking water strategy.
Marilyn More, New Democrat MLA for Dartmouth South-Portland Valley, said the strategy announced Friday is too slow and its budget is too small.
"I’m disappointed," she said. "I think we are going to miss a lot of opportunities around this province."
Tamara Lorincz, executive director of the Nova Scotia Environmental Network, said she hopes the strategy will include funding for community and environmental groups that are already working on protecting water resources.
"It’s going to require the commitment and the participation of all Nova Scotians," she said.
Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s deputy chief medical officer of health, said Nova Scotians only have to look at the deaths and illness caused by the tainted water tragedy in Walkerton, Ont., as a stark reminder of how devastating waterborne disease can be.
"Water is an abundant resource and we just assume that it’s safe, but as we place agriculture and industry and human use close to drinking water sources, you learn that you can’t take it for granted," he said.

http://www.herald.ns.ca/NovaScotia/567808.html

Fishermen worried about licenses

The owner of Inshore Fisheries Ltd. in West Pubnico, Claude d’Entremont offers input while Wood Harbour fisherman, Sandy Stoddard listens closely behind him March 6 at the NDP fisheries session in Shelburne. Mark Roberts Photo

THE COAST GUARD NovaNewsNow.com Shelburne Co. fishermen, as they are elsewhere in the province are worried their licenses will be worthless if the federal government’s proposed new Fisheries Act (Bill C-45) is passed.
Fishermen, and other stakeholders, spoke March 6 at a Shelburne information gathering session hosted by the provincial New Democratic Party. About a dozen showed up. Shelburne Co. MLA, Sterling Belliveau, who is the party’s fisheries critic, led the session. “They want to know it’s (license) a nest egg and they want to pass it on.” South Shore-St. Margarets MP Gerald Keddy said the wording for the license aspect of the Bill is basically unchanged from the present act; therefore, licenses will retain their value, he said. (See Keddy article and letter.) The owner of Inshore Fisheries Ltd. in West Pubnico, Claude d’Entremont agreed. Fishermen also stated at the NDP meeting the federal government should take as much time as necessary to directly consult fishermen and ensure the Act is written correctly. Woods Harbour fisherman, Sandy Stoddard said the Act has been in place for 139 years. He said another six months or even two or three years won’t matter if it means getting it right. Also attending was NDP leader Darrell Dexter, federal NDP candidate Gordon Earle and Pictou West MLA Charlie Parker. The party is holding meetings across the province for an upcoming discussion paper that will be used to make recommendations to both the federal and provincial government. Belliveau said another huge concern is the wording of Bill C-45 is “open for interpretation. People want to be reassured.” Dexter said Belliveau initiated the public process because he is concerned coastal communities, in general, are not thriving, and that a sustainable fishing industry that includes related manufacturing jobs could play an essential role in maintaining these communities. He said the NDP meetings are being held not just to discuss the Fisheries Act but also to ascertain, “ideas and ways to support the industry and make improvements when that is possible.” He also criticized the Act’s consultation process, which was either non-existent in his opinion or fishermen and fishermen’s groups didn’t know a new Act was coming during past discussions. Other concerns involved financing license and boat and gear transfers, especially from parent to son or daughter, and the resulting taxes that must be paid. One fisherman said he has to mortgage his house to help his son. He added most fishermen from the baby boomer generation are preparing to retire and many don’t have the ability to help their children. Belliveau said he has entered legislation through Bill 27 to deal with access to financing but doesn’t know if it will pass. The other choice, the fisherman said is to sell licenses to large corporations. This led to criticisms that some of these corporations often process fish elsewhere in the world, where labour is cheap, instead of benefiting communities near the harvest site. d’Entremont said with groundfish, all sizes of businesses are needed from the owner-operator to small and large processors. He said the lobster fishery is different. He added all sectors should cooperate. Conservation methods were debated, as was Canada’s refusal to sign onto an international agreement to stop bottom trawling. Other topics included the timing and cost of education programs, the make-up of a proposed tribunal that would hand out penalties for infractions, the growing seal population, and the increasing numbers of regulations, including those involved with stability regulations. Wilfred Smith, a Port LaTour fisherman and co-chair of LFA 33 added the average fisherman is more worried about surviving than politics. “Everything depends on the lobster fishing; that could go just as quickly as the groundfishery.”

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-83592-Fishermen-worried-about-licenses.html

This article was taken from a newspaper "The Coast Guard" that is for local news in my home town and surrounding areas. Fishing is a huge industry there as it has been for hundreds of years due to living on the coast line. Shelburne actually has one of the largest natural harbours in the world.

Underwater Photography

The following site has some pretty beautiful images of underwater excursions that John Petrak has gone on. The images depict marine life and vegetation that live and grow within many bodies of water throughout the world.

http://www.oceanphotos.com/index.html

Flooded river basins in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Rising rivers in three rain-soaked Argentine provinces have forced some 38,000 people to flee their homes as police reported seven deaths from the flooding Saturday.
Civil defence officials said Santa Fe province in Argentina’s northeast remained the hardest-hit area, with about 30,000 of the evacuees in and around the provincial capital Santa Fe and the cities Rosario and Canada de Gomez.
Among newly reported victims Saturday, coast guard officials said a woman’s body was recovered from the rain-swollen Parana River near Rosario, a city of one million people, 280 kilometres northwest of the capital.
That brought to three the number dead after a house tumbled into the river Friday, sweeping the woman and two men to their deaths. The bodies of the two men were recovered Friday by coast guard boats in the swollen river.
“It’s so unusual, I’ve never seen so much rain,” said Eduardo Wagner, a civil defence official in Santa Fe as five days of rain lashed the region.
Thousands began evacuating recently from their homes in the provincial capital Santa Fe, 390 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires.
Evacuees carrying laundry baskets with only a few possessions struggled through waist-deep waters. Some tried to load refrigerators and TV sets on trucks and escape to higher ground. Still others tried to cross flooded highways in small boats.
Residents cried as they recalled severe flooding in April 2005 that claimed 30 lives in Santa Fe city. That year floodwaters reached the rooftops of some low-lying homes.
On Saturday, authorities reported the latest victims included a 70-year-old farmer who was swept away by the Gualeguay River in Entre Rios province, when he tried to rescue some of his livestock from floodwaters.
That brought to seven the dead over two days, including a man killed Friday trying to save a dog from a stream and an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease who was alone when he drowned in his flooded home, authorities said.
Jose Salim Jodor, mayor of the Entre Rios city Gualeguay, said about 8,000 people had to leave their water-filled homes in that low-lying province on Argentina’s eastern border with Uruguay.
Meanwhile, some 400 flood victims were reported in central Cordoba province on the border with Santa Fe province.
President Nestor Kirchner pledged federal assistance for the victims and residents of Buenos Aires have begun organizing charity drives of food and other emergency assistance for the hardest-hit areas.
Uruguayan authorities, meanwhile, reported some 380 people had to be evacuated from regions near the Argentine border because of flooding of small rivers and streams.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=5a02901e-677c-4e2e-bfa4-f48d7cd2ab1e&k=93081

This flooding is simply a preview of the future which is incredibly saddening as climate change is occurring so rapidly that floods like this one are occurring more often.

Highway extinction due to climate change

WASHINGTON — A key element of the second major report on climate change being released Friday in Belgium is a chart that maps out the effects of global warming with every degree of temperature rise, most of them bad.
There’s one bright spot: a minimal heat rise means more food production in northern regions of the world.
However, the number of species going extinct rises with the heat, as does the number of people who may starve, or face water shortages, or floods, projections in the draft report show.
Some scientists are calling this degree-by-degree projection a “highway to extinction.”
It’s likely to be the source of sharp closed-door debate, some scientists say, along with a multitude of other issues in the 20-chapter draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While the wording in the draft is almost guaranteed to change at this week’s meeting in Brussels, several scientists said the focus won’t.
The final document will be the product of a United Nations network of 2,000 scientists as authors and reviewers, along with representatives of more than 120 governments as last-minute editors. It will be the second of a four-volume authoritative assessment of Earth’s climate released this year. The last such effort was in 2001.
University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver said the chart of results from various temperature levels is “a highway to extinction but on this highway there are many turnoffs.”
“This is showing you where the road is heading. The road is heading toward extinction.”
Weaver is one of the lead authors of the first report, issued in February.
While humanity will survive, hundreds of millions, maybe billions of people may not, the chart shows — if the worst scenarios happen.
The report said global warming has already degraded conditions for many species, coastal areas and poor people. With a more than 90-per-cent level of confidence, the scientists in the draft report said man-made global warming “over the last three decades has had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems.”
But as the world’s average temperature warms from 1990 levels, the projections become more dire. Add one degree Celsius and between 400 million and 1.7 billion extra people can’t have enough water, some infectious diseases and allergenic pollens rise and some amphibians go extinct. But the world’s food supply, especially in northern areas, could increase. That’s the likely outcome around 2020, the draft said.
Add another one degree and as many as two billion people could be without water and about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the world’s species near extinction. Also, more people start dying because of malnutrition, disease, heat waves, floods and droughts — all caused by global warming. That would happen around 2050, depending on the level of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.
At the extreme end of the projections, a four- to five-degree average temperature increase, the chart predicts: “Up to one-fifth of the world population affected by increased flood events...1.1 to 3.2 billion people with increased water scarcity...major extinctions around the globe.”
Despite that dire outlook, several scientists involved in the process said they are optimistic such a drastic temperature rise won’t happen because people will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions that cause global warming.
“The worst stuff is not going to happen because we can’t be that stupid,” said Harvard University oceanographer James McCarthy, who was a top author of the 2001 version of the report.
“Not that I think the projections aren’t that good but because we can’t be that stupid.”

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=871ec75a-e59b-4b29-9e02-eb4b0b9001a2&k=73537

This article is very true, serious and interesting to think about all of the aspects of the world that global warming is effecting.

Industry leaders nervous about new clean air bill

OTTAWA - A newly drafted version of the minority Conservative government's clean air legislation has produced an unrealistic plan that would cost billions of dollars to the Canadian economy, industry leaders said Friday.
The changes, forced through a Commons committee by the three opposition parties, propose tough pollution-reduction targets in the legislation, Bill C-30, along with penalties or fines for industries that don't comply.
"It is unachievable, and nothing other than a tax on economic activity in Canada," said Pierre Alvarez, the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. "The impact on every single industrial sector would be very, very significant. How much and how many? Clearly, we don't know at this point in time. But if this goes through, it will affect the investment decisions of whether companies choose to do activities that are energy intensive in Canada (versus) having it done somewhere else."
Auto-industry representatives also expressed doubts about changes in the legislation that would set new fuel-efficiency standards, which would be benchmarked against leading jurisdictions in the world, instead of on the North American average.
Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, said such changes would hurt the local industry, which has been integrated with the U.S. market since 1965. "That (revised bill) could end up having some perverse impacts, in terms of fleet turnover, and the ability of people to afford these vehicles," he said, noting the more efficient cars perform better in foreign markets with higher fuel prices.
Conservatives on the committee voted against the majority of the changes to the legislation.
As well, the government has not yet decided whether it will allow the bill to move through the Commons with new measures, which include Canada's short-term international commitments under the Kyoto protocol to cut the pollution that causes global warming by more than 35 per cent.
Environment Minister John Baird said the government would soon introduce its own set of regulations for industry, but he refused to say whether he would allow the revised legislation to turn into a matter of confidence that could force an election. "Listen, I'm not going to go there," he said Friday after question period.
But environmental groups said the government should accept the bill, while praising the work of the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats who rewrote the legislation in the past few weeks and renamed it the Clean Air and Climate Change Act.
"The committee has squeezed the hot air out of the Clean Air Act bill and has replaced it with a real bill - with the real deal," said Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. "We now have fixed caps on greenhouse gas emissions, rather than the fake caps or the emissions intensity targets that the (Conservative) government has proposed."
But Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said Baird seems to be more interested in "buffoonery" than he is in cleaning up the air and fighting climate change.
"Every answer I hear to every question put to him is a bobbing and weaving and huffing and puffing and trying to blow the house down," said McGuinty. "I have not heard a single substantive comment from this minister on C-30 since this process began."

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=01cc1a4c-573b-432b-b1dc-92b1a14e3df6&k=77405

Al Gore in Toronto for 'An Inconvenient Truth

TORONTO - The current superstar of environmentalism - former U.S. vice-president Al Gore - has added another Toronto visit to his schedule.
He will present his Oscar-winning documentary `An Inconvenient Truth' at the Green Living Show in Toronto from April 27 to 29. The Green Living Show, at Toronto's Exhibition Place, features imaginative approaches to helping the environment with more than 200 exhibitors.
Tickets for Gore's appearance, at 10:30 a.m. April 28, cost $95 and go on sale Saturday.
Gore's next visit to Canada will be March 22-23 in Toronto, where he will be the keynote speaker at the 2007 Top Employer Summit. The conference provides a forum for leading employers to meet with organizers of Canada's Top 100 Employers competition.
Gore visited Toronto and Montreal in late February to discuss his environmental documentary. His appearance at the University of Toronto sold out in just minutes.

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=24d65222-fab7-467b-b94

Al Gore has been travelling around to promote yet again a popular topic on my blog, pertaining to Global Warming. I feel asthough Gore has been promoting this topic very well as such a recognized individual by the American and Canadian public.

New species - Octapus

This article is from a Beijing website that broadcasts news with a added link at the bottom.

178 new species of fish and hundreds more new species of plants and other animals have been discovered by marine scientists during the past year, bringing the total number of life-forms found in the world's oceans to about 230,000, according to an AP report.

Those in charge of the Census of Marine Life, now four years into a planned 10-year count, say the rate of discovery shows no sign of slowing, even in European and other waters heavily studied in the past.

Some 1,000 scientists in 70 countries are participating, up from 300 scientists in 53 countries just a year earlier. The part of the census dealing with microbes, the smallest organisms, is just starting.

Once that part is done, scientists believe they will find that the oceans extending across 70 percent of the earth's surface hold 20,000 species of fish and up to 1.98 million species of animals and plants, many of them small, basic life-forms like worms and jellyfish.

So far, scientists have described 15,482 marine fish species, up from 15,304 a year ago. The number of animals and plants is up to about 214,500, several hundred more than last year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/200411/25/xinsrc_242110125105842178105.gif&imgrefurl=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/200411/25/content_2259325.htm&h=200&w=200&sz=25&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=o7sK6hgrv5EN6M:&tbnh=104&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnew%2Bspecies%2B%252B%2Bplant%2B%252B%2Bocean%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DHPIA,HPIA:2005-22,HPIA:en

Polar Bears

Thin Ice -Saattuq 7pm March 17, 2007 (This is when the entire show will be on) Polar bears, walrus, muskox and caribou are all part of a delicate ecosystem now threatened by climate change. Saattuq means thin ice in Inuktitut, and the Inuit are experiencing this first hand, forever changing their traditional way of life of hunting on the ice for food and clothing. The thinning of the ice is opening up new areas for resource exploitation and now the rest of the world wants a piece of Canada's Arctic; the planet's final frontier. Thin Ice takes us from the headlines and political speeches to the frontlines of Canada's Arctic - where global warming is not just a distant threat, its impact is now.

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/globalshows/globalcurrents/Thin_Ice/index2.html

There are numerous photos and videos about this event that is occurring way too quickly as we've heard many times, yet this is such a serious issue.

CBC.ca News - Canada

CBC.ca News - Canada

There are three great videos in dealing with three interesting cities (Sudbury, Halifax, and Toronto) in Canada going "Green" through recycling, planting trees and so on.

Deep ocean fish farms

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration wants to allow ocean farming for shellfish, salmon and saltwater species in federal waters for the first time, hoping to grab a greater share of the $70 billion aquaculture market.
A plan announced Monday by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez would let companies operate fish farms three miles to 200 miles offshore, but without some of the rules on size, season and harvest methods that apply to other commercial fishermen.
Fish farms already operate on inland and coastal waters as far as three miles into the ocean, which fall under state jurisdiction.

Environmental concerns have arisen about wastewater generated by such operations. Gutierrez, however, said the administration’s proposal had safeguards and would permit states to ban fish farming up to 12 miles off their coast.
’We believe we can do it in a way that is environmentally sound, that makes sense for our economy. And given that we are importing so much farm-raised fish, we might as well do it ourselves,” Gutierrez told The Associated Press.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17581105/

Defective pumps used to protect New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.
The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP. Col. Jeffrey Bedey, who is overseeing levee reconstruction, insisted the pumps would have worked last year and the city was never in danger. Bedey gave assurances that the pumps should be ready for the coming hurricane season, which begins June 1.
The Corps said it decided to press ahead with installation, and then fix the machinery while it was in place, on the theory that some pumping capacity was better than none. And it defended the manufacturer, which was under time pressure.
“Let me give you the scenario: You have four months to build something that nobody has ever built before, and if you don’t, the city floods and the Corps, which already has a black eye, could basically be dissolved. How many people would put up with a second flooding?” said Randy Persica, the Corps’ resident engineer for New Orleans’ three major drainage canals.
The 34 pumps — installed in the drainage canals that take water from this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city and deposit it in Lake Pontchartrain — represented a new ring of protection that was added to New Orleans’ flood defenses after Katrina. The city also relies on miles of levees and hundreds of other pumps in various locations.
The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control and irrigation pumps all over the world.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17597392/displaymode/1176/rstry/17597203/

Global Warming

Arctic ice break raises global warming fears 30/12/2006

Researchers have confirmed that an enormous ice shelf broke away from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic last year and they warn it could be another symptom of global warming.The 66 square kilometre ice island tore away from Ellesmere, a huge strip of land in the Canadian Arctic close to Greenland.The break occurred in August 2005 and was so violent that it caused tremors that were detected by Canadian seismographs 250 kilometres away. At the time no one was able to pinpoint what had happened.The Canadian Ice Service contacted geographer Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa, who reconstructed the chain of events by piecing together data from the seismic readings and satellite images provided by Canada and the United States."This loss is the biggest in 25 years but it continues the loss that occurred within the last century," Mr Copland said.He says 90 per cent of the ice cover has been lost since the area was discovered in 1906."What is important and interesting is that it is sudden, quite large even," he said."In the past, we looked to climate change [and] thought perhaps ice shelves would just melt apart by losing a little piece day by day, but it now seems that when you reach some kind of threshold, when you reach that level, the whole thing just breaks apart."Scientific director Louis Fortier of Canadian Artic research network ArcticNet says the massive break-off signals a rise in Arctic warming."This Ellesmere ice shelf was sheltering unique ecosystems on the planet; there are freshwater lakes which were forming above and under the ice shelf," he said."The break-up of the ice cover on Ellesmere Island has been going on for 12,000 years, but it seems to have accelerated in recent years which is another indicator, among many others, of warming of the entire Arctic cryosphere."Biologist Warwick Vincent of Laval University in Quebec visited the icy waters of the Arctic to view the new island and says he has seen nothing like it in the past decade."It really is incredible," he said."People talk of endangered animals, well, these are endangered landscape features and we are losing them," he said.

http://origin.abc.net.au/nature/news/NatureNews_1819606.htm

Nuclear Power in Australia

Dr Switkowski believes Labor will lift policy bans on expanding uranium mining and exports. (Getty Images)

Australians will accept nuclear power: Switkowski

The head of the Prime Minister's nuclear task force, Dr Ziggy Switkowski, has predicted that Australians will accept uranium enrichment and nuclear power generation as part of action to curb greenhouse emissions.
He has told a Sydney business lunch that he believes the Labor Party will take the first step by lifting policy bans on expanding uranium mining and exports.
"When the ALP have their national convention in April this year, the leadership have foreshadowed for some time that they will be revisiting the ALP objections to this with a view to reversing their position on this," he said.
"It may well be that this is the first aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle which sees bipartisan support for lifting restrictions on uranium mining in Australia."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1865904.htm

I figured that this website was really interesting and contradicting. There is global warming issues on the site for the Northern Arctic Ocean in Canada, yet Australia in the South accepting the use of Nuclear Power.

New marine life and plant species in Australia

Studies uncover new marine life, plant species
A three-year study by a team of scientists has discovered several new species of marine life off Western Australia's south coast.
Two volumes of the research, due to be launched in Perth today, provide extensive documentation on the underwater plants and animals found near Esperance.
Department of Fisheries researcher and co-editor Fred Wells says the information will be invaluable for future planning.
However, Dr Wells says there are still many new species to discover and more research needs to be done.
"One of the basic tools of modern science is, in fact, conserving bio-diversity and Western Australia is a hotspot of terrestrial biodiversity in the south-west," he said.
"We also have a world-class hotspot of coral reef biodiversity and in understanding what that biodiversity is, is the first step in conserving and looking after it.
Meanwhile, an environmental survey of the Pilbara, in the state's north-west, has uncovered seven new species of wattle, one of which will be named after a Karratha botanist.
Stephen Van Leeuwen has worked in the Pilbara for 20 years and did a lot of the groundwork for the three-year study which identified the new species.
The wattle to be named after him, acacia leeuweniana grows on granite outcrops in only two places in the Pilbara.
However, Dr Leeuwen says he never expected such an honour.
"We never expect to get something named after us, but it's a reward for the effort, I guess ... a great accolade, I guess, and privilege to have that happen, and [I'm] pretty chuffed," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1566992.htm

The Lionfish

I came across this fish and thought it was really strange looking and unique so I added it to my blog. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish, Dragon Fish and Scorpion Fish. The lionfish is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region of the world, but various species can be found worldwide. This type of fish is also found in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

Pubnico Renewable Energy Wind Turbines

This is a photo of 5 of the 17 wind turbines in Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia. From the East side of Pubnico you can clearly view the turbines in rows such as the one seen here.

This is a sign that is found at the beginning of the road for the wind farm in Lower West Pubnico. In case it is difficult to read the statistics on the sign for the 17 wind turbines here there are:

-Create enough energy to power 13,000 houses across Nova Scotia

-The equivalent to not driving 16,000 cars for a year

-Displaces 90,000 tons of CO2 each year

-Equivalent of planting 750,000 trees to absorb CO2 for 60 years

Renewable Energy

http://www.souwesterwindfield.com/
This link is for the renewable energy options that are available and trying to widen their prospects. There is a wind farm in Pubnico, Nova Scotia with 17 wind mills that power a ridiculous amount of houses throughout Nova Scotia. My friend Robert Selig, is the representative in my county at home trying to raise awareness and hopefully bring more sources of renewable energy to Nova Scotia.

Caribbean Sea Currents

http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/caribbean/caribbean.html
This site seems to contain quite a bit of infomation about the currents of the Caribbean Sea, I wish I would have found it before my Bibliography was due.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKtFi51o27E
In search of information for my Caribbean group project I came across this video which made me really want to go there. The beautiful coral and variety of animals would be such a great time, even though my part of the project is based on Ocean Currents and Tides I thought this was a great video as the Caribbean Sea is such a beautiful and unique habitat.

YouTube - Warming Island

YouTube - Warming Island
Interesting video about global warming and it's effects upon Greenland and the creation a a new island.

Global Warming

I thought today's class was very intriguing concerning global warming. Tonight I was switching through channels on my television seeing everything on it was related to what we were discussing today in class. It was on the news with Jakarta and the flooding, the Jon Stewart Show and the Colbert report (a late night talkshow on the comedy network). I found that much of what the Colbert Report and the Jon Stewart show was joking around about the serious issue. The Colbert Report said "Global Warming does not exist as long as one scientist says that it doesn't". One quote that flashed across the screen that really grabbed my attention was "Denial is not a river in Antarctica". I thought that these quotes were quite powerful.

Caribbean tides

An interesting URL pertaining to the tides in the Caribbean as well as the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/geol/tides.htm

Tides in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is wider than the Gulf, about 1900 miles from Central America to the Leeward Islands, but narrower, about 550 miles wide, and with a slightly larger area, 750,000 mi2. A tectonic plate occupies the area of the Sea, wedged between the subducting Pacific Plate on the west, and itself subducting beneath the Atlantic plate on the east. Its average depth probably does not exceed that of the Gulf by much, but on its northern side, in a line along the Sierra Maestra of Cuba and between the Caymans and Trinidad, is a subduction trench, the Bartlett Deep, that reaches 22,788 ft. in depth. The structure and history of the Caribbean are also not well known, but both the Gulf and the Caribbean are of great geological interest.
I have compared the tides at Biloxi, Galveston, Tampico and Progreso, Yucatan, which are spaced around the Gulf. If the tidal plots are superimposed in front of a strong light, it is found that low water occurs almost precisely at the same time at these widely-separated points. High water is almost as simultaneous, but there is some variation. It is clear that water is not sloshing from side to side of the Gulf, but the level at the centre is rising and falling with a period of one day. It would be impossible for all this water to enter and leave by the straits of Florida and Yucatan and distribute itself around the Gulf in the time available, so this simple drum-like oscillation is the only possibility.
Furthermore, the period of oscillation must be quite close to 24 hours, so that the diurnal stimulus can resonate to give the observed tidal ranges. The semidiurnal stimulus would not excite a significant amplitude, as is observed. The favoring of diurnal oscillations and the discouragement of semidiurnal oscillations explains the observed tides quite well, at least qualitatively.
Caribbean tides show more variations than Gulf tides, but are small in amplitude, less than 50 cm, and diurnal tides are prominent. In the eastern Caribbean, the tides at St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and at Willemstad, Nederlandse Antillen, are almost entirely diurnal, like Gulf tides. The amplitude of the spring tide is about 40 cm, and of the neap tide, 15 to 20 cm at both locations. High spring tide at St. Croix occurs about 3 hours earlier than at Willemstad, but low tide about 2h 20m later. As the amplitude of the diurnal tide decreases and the small semidiurnal tide increases at neap tides, the time sequence may vary irregularly. The tides are not simultaneous, as in the Gulf.
Further west, the tides at Colón, Panama and Port Royal, Jamaica have a similar pattern, the diurnal tide predominating, but with a significant semidiurnal component that is increasingly important towards neap tides. The phases at these two rather widely-separated ports are almost exactly the same, for both components. Most of the time, there is one high tide a day, with a small advance and recession between the low tide and the next high tide. The neap tide may, however be double, with two high tides about 10 hours apart. The Colón tide is about 2h later than the Port Royal tide.
At Belize City, in the far west of the Caribbean, the tide is mainly semidiurnal, but with a diurnal component that increases toward spring tides, as usual. Typically, there are two high tides with a shallow minimum between them, separated by deeper low tides once a day. The tidal range is small, from little more than 10 cm up to 25 cm. The phase of the semidiurnal tide is 180° out of phase with the semidiurnal component at Colón, so there seems to be some semidiurnal sloshing in this area.
The diurnal resonance does not appear to be as strong in the Caribbean as it is in the Gulf, nor is it as simple. There is good evidence for semidiurnal sloshing from phase relations in the western Caribbean, from north to south. The small tidal ranges show that the tidal oscillations are not part of the Atlantic tides, which have much larger amplitudes.

http://geography.about.com/library/maps/blocean.htm
This site is quite interesting as it shows a breakdown of stats pertaining to each of the oceans.

A little late I know but it is finally up and working. The video in today's class was neat to see those amazing underwater structures built from the lava flows and hot minerals from within the Earth. It is so unbelieveable that all of those living organisms could exist at such dept and temperatures.