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THE CANADIAN PRESS
10 June 2009 11:49:00
MONTREAL – A new report suggests the United States and Mexico should take a page from Canada when it comes to public reporting of toxic industrial releases.
A tri-national study released today by the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Co-operation found a 57 per cent increase between 1998 and 2005 in the number of Canadian facilities that publicly report emissions.
Project manager Orlando Cabrera Rivera says the United States saw a decrease in the number of reporting facilities over that period.
Canada is also the only country reporting on dangerous hydrogen sulfide releases by the oil and gas sector which accounted for more than 90 per cent of all toxics reported by the petroleum industry in 2005.
The study found 90 per cent of the 5.5 billion kilos of toxic pollutant releases and transfers reported across North America in 2005 could be traced back to just 30 substances from 15 industrial sectors.
In Canada, mining, oil and gas extraction and municipal wastewater treatment facilities were responsible for producing the greatest levels of pollutants.
Source: http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/canadianpressarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=1066747
Diana Mehta, THE CANADIAN PRESS
10 July 2009 13:10:00
TORONTO – If the huge trout you caught from one of the Great Lakes ends up on your dinner table you might be at risk from alarmingly high levels of toxins, says a new report from advocacy group Environmental Defence.
And at least four years of government data shows the condition of the fish isn’t improving, according to the report released Friday. “It’s something so subtle. You’re not going to eat a piece of fish and suddenly get cancer,” said Mike Layton, Environmental Defence program manager and one of the report’s authors.
“Like the fish, it’s going to accumulate in your own body.”
The report, “Up to the Gills,” focuses on toxic chemicals in Great Lakes fish by examining advisories published by the Ontario Ministry of Environment for eight species of fish in 13 locations across the Great Lakes.
Many fish were found to be partly or completely unfit for human consumption, with bigger fish being the worst for a meal. The toxins in the fish included mercury from coal-fired power plants, dioxins from industrial processes and pesticides.
Some species of fish around the Toronto area need to be avoided entirely, the report found. These include lake trout and large carp. Even small fish with lower levels of contaminants should only be consumed in certain amounts, said Layton.
The report also analyzed advisories from 2005 to 2009 and found that the condition of fish was not improving. Fish from the water bodies like Lake Superior had the lowest contamination level while Lake Ontario was the worst.
But that doesn’t mean people should forego fish altogether.
“We just want people to be careful about where their fish comes from,” Layton said.
A provincial publication – the Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish – was central to providing the report’s data. The guide, which is published every other year, gives consumption advice for species tested in waterways across Ontario. The advice is based on health protection guidelines from Health Canada.
Layton said the guide, while useful, may not be getting into the right hands. Making the guide more accessible and distributing it to targeted groups who fish in problem spots is an important step that needs to be taken, he said.
Tackling the source of the problem by reducing pollution from industry, sewage systems, agriculture and urban run-off into the Great Lakes was also recommended.
The report also urged federal and provincial governments to update the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement, which was signed in 1972 to protect and restore the Great Lakes, has not been revised since 1978.
“We need to take immediate action, we need stronger government action,” Layton said.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment will examine the recommendations made by the report, said spokesperson Kate Jordan.
“We are a world leader in monitoring contaminants in sport fish,” said Jordan, adding that the provincial consumption guide has specific advice for children and childbearing women.
The guide is available at numerous locations including bait and tackle shops, select liquor store outlets, Ontario travel offices, provincial parks and the ministry’s website, said Jordan.
A generally stable trend has been noted for consumption advisories in Great Lakes fish, Jordan said. Releases of mercury into the Lakes have also declined by 88 per cent since 1988, she added.
The province has invested in upgrading five sewage treatment plants in Ontario as well as remediation of sediment in the Hamilton Harbour, among other efforts, said Jordan.
“We know there is more work to be done, that’s why we’re prepared to providing funding to clean up hot spots in the Great Lakes,” she said.
Things may not be as bad as they seem, said the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
“We don’t want to send out the ’sky is falling message.’ There’s a lot of good news that’s being overshadowed here,” said the federation’s fisheries biologist Jeremy Holden.
Significant clean-up efforts around the province’s lakes have left them in better shape than before, said Holden.
“There are a lot of healthy fish in the Great Lakes and a lot that provide unbelievable angling opportunities,” he said. “We don’t want to take the worst-case scenario and paint it across the province.”
Source: http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/canadianpressarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=1078933
Jason Dearen, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
10 July 2009 22:24:00
SAN FRANCISCO – A fast-growing kelp from East Asia has spread along the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay, worrying marine scientists and outpacing eradication efforts.
In May, scientists for the first time found the invasive seaweed called Undaria pinnatifida clinging to docks at a yacht harbour in San Francisco Bay, fouling boat hulls and pier pilings.
“I was walking in San Francisco Marina, and that’s when I saw the kelp attached to a boat,” said Chela Zabin, a biologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Tiburon, California.
“It was 6-foot (1.8-meter) long, and there is nothing here in the bay that gets to that size,” Zabin said. “I didn’t want to believe what it was, it’s depressing.”
Before Zabin’s discovery, ocean scientists believed the northward spread of the invasive kelp had been stopped at Monterey Bay. But last year, federal funding used to buy equipment for volunteer divers dried up, reducing the number of people working on eradication.
The seaweed – known as wakame by Japanese food lovers and used in miso soup – was first discovered in Los Angeles Harbor in 2000.
A year later, the kelp, which can grow an inch (2.5 centimetre) a day as it creates dense underwater forests, showed up at Catalina Island, off the Los Angeles coastline, and Monterey Bay.
Studies have concluded the kelp was likely introduced to California by accidental transport on shipments of oysters, vessel hulls and people who cultivated it in the region for cooking.
On Thursday, four divers spent hours at Pier 40 on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf peeling pieces of kelp off of the docks, yachts and pier pilings. But few believe the effort removed all traces of the seaweed. Scientists will be checking monthly for signs of further spread.
“On any invasion, the window of opportunity to successfully eradicate that species is usually narrow,” said Steve Lonhart, one of the divers and a senior scientist with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
“You want to do it as soon as it becomes established. The longer you wait, the less chance for success,” he said.
The seaweed concerns marine biologists because it can damage fragile ocean ecosystems by choking off the sunlight needed by native kelps. The native kelp forests provide key habitat for otters, fish and other marine life.
The seaweed spreads by releasing millions of spores that can be dispersed by currents in the open ocean, but in a protected marina lighter currents could slow its reach. While it is native to Japan, China and Korea, studies have found the kelp in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Coast of Europe, New Zealand and Argentina.
“If it’s restricted to two docks in the marinas in San Francisco Bay, we’ll have a chance,” Zabin said. “If it’s spread beyond those places, it may be a lost cause.”
Because of its wide range, it has been nominated as among 100 of the world’s worst invaders, according to the Global Invasive Species Database.
Though Thursday’s dive may remove the immediate threat to the bay, Lonhart believes they are fighting a losing battle against a persistent pest.
“In 10 years I’m guessing Undaria is going to be all over the place. It’s not a problem getting smaller in scope, it’s getting worse and worse,” he said.
Scientists say the waters from Baja California to British Columbia are the perfect temperature for Undaria to spread even further up the Pacific Coast of the United States.
For about six years, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration had organized monthly volunteer diving efforts to yank the stubborn kelp out of Monterey harbour to help root out the kelp.
The program helped, but it failed to stop the kelp from entering San Francisco Bay, scientists say.
“This is not well studied enough, and we’re really quite nervous about it getting out in the ecosystem,” Zabin said. “It will attach to about anything.”
Source: http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/canadianpressarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=1079049
Friday marks the 153rd birthday of one of the greatest geeks and most amazing minds of all time: Nikola Tesla. This genius is almost certainly why you have electricity in your house. What’s more, most of the gear you own is powered by parts that use his ideas. We owe this man the modern age.
So what better way to celebrate his birthday–and thank the man–than to share a video of two Tesla coils playing the Super Mario Bros. theme song? We couldn’t think of one either. It’s not the newest or most impressive Tesla coil demonstration on YouTube, but it’s probably the most fun.
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