As oceans fall ill, Washington bureaucrats squabble

[defendandprotect]

As oceans fall ill, Washington bureaucrats squabble

McClatchy's Les Blumenthal talks about the bureaucratic infighting over ocean legislation
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Off the coast of Washington state, mysterious algae mixed with sea foam have killed more than 8,000 seabirds, puzzling scientists. A thousand miles off California, researchers have discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex roughly twice the size of Texas filled with tiny bits of plastic and other debris.

Every summer a dead zone of oxygen-depleted water the size of Massachusetts forms in the Gulf of Mexico; others have been found off Oregon and in the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Erie and the Baltic and Black seas. Some studies indicate that North Pole seawater could turn caustic in 10 years, and that the Southern Ocean already may be saturated with carbon dioxide.

A recent bird kill off the coast of Washington state came without warning, said Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "There will be more surprises than that," she said.

The danger signals are everywhere, some related to climate change and greenhouse gases and others not:

Every eight months, 11 million gallons of oil run off the nation's roads and driveways into waters that eventually reach the sea, the Pew Oceans Commission said in 2003. That's the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez-size oil spill.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the oceans have absorbed 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide. They're now absorbing about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide a day. As that happens, the oceans become more acidic, threatening the marine food chain. The acidity could eat away the shells of such animals as the petropod, a nearly microscopic snail with a calcium carbonate covering that's eaten by krill, salmon and whales.
More than 60 percent of the nation's coastal rivers and bays are moderately to severely degraded by nutrient runoff from products such as fertilizer, creating algae blooms that affect the kelp beds and grasses that are nurseries for many species of fish.



http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/78489.html

[MadHound]

1. I've come to the desperately cynical conclusion that nothing is going to be done

By any government, corrupted as they are by corporations and blinded as they are by their own short sighted needs and petty squabbles. Sure, token gestures will be made, hot air will be expended, but we're going to basically sit back and watch the biosphere collapse while we continue to add fuel to the fire. One good thing is that nature is very resilient, and as soon as we have killed ourselves off, she will rebound and rebuild life on this earth. And humanity will simply become another interesting layer in the earth for some future sentient race to ponder over, marveling at our suicidal stupidity.

[defendandprotect]

3. I agree . . . we've known this since the late 1950's . . . it means a change of culture ...

that is, no more burning fossil fuels --

Those wealthy elites who control our natural resources simply weren't going to go

for something that made sense -- they're suicidal and they'll take us all with them.

ExxonMobil is still honking the anti-Global Warming propaganda even tho they were

called out on it a year or two ago by the Royal Academy of Science.

I hope the planet keeps turning after us -- but I think there are some question about

that given the extreme damage we've done.


AND, needless to say, an entire change in corporate culture -- waste disposal -

creating and spreading filth around.

Even more sadly, it seems that the Russians threw nuclear stuff into the North Sea and

we threw ours into the Pacific Ocean! It was in barrels, or something like that -- but

the Russians wanted us to help gather it all up after the Wall fell and we declined!!!

[Forkboy]

2. We need a health care bill for the Earth.