Climate Change - Seas and Oceans

In anticipation to the upcoming Copenhagen Talks, I have decided to write a short series of blogs around climate change. In these blogs I will look at different environments, implications onto humans and other organisms and cause and effects of climate change.

In this blog I will focus on the seas and oceans, and how they will change the environments and consequences of these changes.

The rising levels of carbon dioxide into earth's atmosphere is having serious repercussions for marine life. This is caused by the sea/ocean absorbing the carbon dioxide producing carbonic acid, carbonate and bicarbonate. Also dissolving carbon dioxide into seas/oceans causes a rise in hydrogen ions, which all reduce the pH.

With the seas and oceans becoming more acidic it means that organisms like coral, plankton, molluscs and crustaceans cannot survive, which has a ripple effect on the rest of that food chain.

Under normal sea conditions calcite and aragonite are stable as the carbonate ions are at supersaturating concentrations, however, as the pH lowers these become unsaturated, the structures made of calcium carbonate are at risk of dissolution. This could be catastrophic for molluscs, crustaceans and corals.

So as you can see the risk of rising carbon dioxide through human activities can have disastrous consequences to marine organisms, which will have negative consequences for humans.

An Underwater Nursery

Off the coast of Fiji a group of biologist have setup an underwater nursery growing coral to rejuvenate the reefs.

BBC-South Pacific Episode 6

The project has had phenomenal results, turning one coral finger into fifty or more in just two years. The 'coral gardeners' tend the reef looking for corals that are too clustered together and uproot as to prevent them from dying, then move the coral to a new place or break it down into fingers and grow new coral heads from scratch.

Coral Reefs throughout the world are severely damaged due to being crushed by a vessel's hull, pollution, coral mining, overfishing, climate change or fishing with dynamite. The efforts of the biologist are making a huge difference, however it maybe the education taught to the local fishermen that proves far greater significants to the longevity of the coral reefs.

Give A Man A Fish And He'll Eat For A Day, Give A Man A Fishing Boat And He'll Threaten A Species

Moroccan fishing fleets oblivious to international legislation prohibiting driftnets larger than 2.5 kilometres long and are in fact using nets of up to 14 kilometres long, even though the Morocco has endorsed the legislation banning them.

Moroccan fisheries using the illegal practice of driftnets to catch swordfish in the mediterranean, (although it is not illegal to fish for swordfish). The process of driftnet fishing threatens mediterranean dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and many other species.

http://oceana.org/uploads/pics/moroccan_driftnetters_report_2006_eng.jpg

According to a report financed by the 'WWF' found that more of more than 177 fishing boats operating under the illegal practice of driftnets, fishery experts from the 'WWF' concluded from a recent visit to Morocco that no changes in the fishing activity of this illegal fleet had occurred in the past few years.

“Fragile ocean life is still being destroyed by widespread driftnet fishing – against the law – in Moroccan waters,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

An estimate found that a shocking 20,000 dolphins and 100,000 sharks have been killed in the last five years alone due to illegal driftnets!

What can be done to drive Morocco to follow up its obligation to the legislation and to put a stop to illegal methods of fishing?

“WWF urges the European Commission to send a strong signal to Morocco about its political commitment to stamp out illegal fishing – or fully apply the IUU Regulation in January 2010.”

As always feel free to send any feedback/comments.

http://twitter.com/brooky00

The Demand For Cleaner Fuel Is Destroying Habitats And The Animals Which Live There

In this blog I hope to explain why bio-fuel is destroying the plant rather than saving it and also to discuss whether or not we have an answer to global warming and the reduction of pollutants from vehicles.

To grow bio-fuels such as palm oil we have to find a sufficient space in which to grow it, however this is proving hard to come by as most of the accessible world has been urbanised, made into farm land or is protected wildlife sanctuary. So to find the space MEDC have gone to LEDC to find the area like Borneo and Brazil.













Although bio-fuels are cleaner than hydrocarbon based fuels like Petrol and Diesel, however, can we justify the destruction that occurs when clearing the space for the plantations?

Also as I said earlier do we have a solution to cleaner fuels, hydrogen is the most promising on the surface as compressed hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce water vapor, however water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas, so is our solution to one problem creating another?

Deforestation Causing Devastation In The Amazon

Looking at the Amazon Rain Forest and identifying why deforestation is happening and increasing.

So what do I hope to achieve from this blog, I hope to give people a greater understanding or some understanding of the situation in the Amazon, however I do not intend just to document the events and causes like many other blogs and reports but to also inform people as to why it is happening and thought to be necessary and in some cases possible alternatives.
The Amazon rain forest is an amazing feat of nature and home to millions of species of plants and animals, and for this reasons deforestation and destruction of this landscape must be stopped. But first lets try and figure out why it is happening, what is it being replaced, who are the ones behind and what are the consequences?

The rain forest is being destroyed for five main reasons these are; infrastructure improvement, commercial agriculture, logging and pasture land for cattle. After looking at these reasons in more depth, we will analyse the possible alternatives to these issues.

Infrastructure is necessary for many countries to develop economically, which for many impoverished countries is crucial to escape from an economic depression. However I am not going to try and explain or describe the economic situations of the South American countries in which the Amazon lies, it is only necessary that we understand why countries may want too or need to clear the forest to make room for highways and roads. One of the most ambitious projects is the highway that would link Brazil's Amazon river ports to Peru's Pacific ports, which is known as the "Transoceanic Highway" bringing commercial development benefits. However the environmental implications are far greater including; deforestation, which has a direct linked to a reduction in biodiversity, a loss in ecotourism value and this is a sustainable industry and is becoming increasingly profitable for the country and for the local community and Amazonian tribal communities. Another implication is soil erosion, which in cleared areas of forest where soil is exposed the soil is washed into to rivers and builds which causes flooding in low lying areas. So it can be argued that many countries need this highway to grow economically, however we have to consider whether or not this outweighs the environmental implications?

The soybean industry is one of the main contributors to deforestation and is ever worsening as Brazilian scientists have developed a soybean that can flourish in rain forests conditions which cuts the rain forest fringe even more.It is obvious why this is happening as Brazil is one of the world largest exporters of soybean and is fast becoming the largest. However what are the alternatives? When looking alternatives with have to make sure you are not just shifting a problem somewhere else for example using soybeans as an alternative to palm oil, which discussed in the previous blog. One alternative is cotton production, which is more conducive to the soil and climate of production.

Logging should be a controlled and sustainable industry as strict licensing limits logging to designated areas, however illegal loggers are abusing the forests and therefore creating an unsustainable industry and creating a major environmental problem. But then how do you stop someone doing it when they are already logging illegal and are risking the consequences associated with it? One way would be to increase the sanctions for any logging illegally and increase patrols, looking for them. Another way would be to have some kind of ID card, which would prove that the wood had been logged in a legal area.

Now we have arrived at the leading cause of deforestation in Brazilian Amazon, pasture land for cattle which has recently had a dramatic increase for several reasons; currency devaluation, control over diseases, improved infrastructure, and laws that mean if you put cattle on your land you can use acquire Amazonian Land. Once again an obvious measure would be to use stricter guidelines and review existing laws.

Is there a way in which man-kind and the environment of the Amazon live in equilibrium? As I see it yes, however it would require everyone follow guidelines and rules, but this is in fact an unlikely scenario unless stricter laws and law enforcers are brought in. I believe that this is a necessary and crucial action that must be taken too save the Amazon and biodiversity in turn, especially with potential cures and answers to unsolved mysteries in life.

Please feel free to leave any feedback or comments, thanks Alex.

What Is The Cost Of Palm Oil Plantations

Looking At Whether Or Not We Can Justify Palm Oil Plantations And The Effects On A Local Scale And A Global Scale

Palm oil plantations are becoming a massive problem for Indonesia, Malaysia and many other countries, which threaten animals, plant life and general biodiversity. One of the main problems is the increasing threat of extinction of the orangutan. I hope from this you will be able to understand why the current method of harvesting palm oil is unacceptable and the reason why palm oil is needed and why it is being grown where the rain forests used to be.

On a local scale palm oil is destroying the rain forests, which is putting many animal and plant species onto the endanger species list and many species that have not been discovered yet maybe wiped out when maybe the cures to illnesses and diseases that do not yet have a cure. The current state of Orangutans is so bad that it is estimated that there are 15 times more deer in the state of Colorado than Orangutans in the world. Orangutans are often severely mutilated by falling trees, machinery and torture and a few cases of Orangutan torture have seen fingers been cut; also fires that are lit to clear patches of forest to grow palm oil often get out of control and burn enormous areas of forest unnecessarily.

Many people who in poverty rely on the jobs that palm oil provides, an estimated 1.5 million small farmers grow the crops in Indonesia and 500,000 are directly employed in Malaysia. This means that we cannot just get rid of palm oil plantations but we must work together with farmers and companies to find a sustainable way in which to farm palm oil without destroying the rain forests. However you may think why do they grow palm oil in the place where the rain forest used to be, and there is one simple answer MONEY, the land owners can increase there profits by selling trees, however as the plantations are on rain forest soil, they are extremely insufficient as the forest keeps them in a constant cycle of replenishing the soil as the dead matter (leaves and trees) rots, so at first the palm oil will grow quickly but slow as the nutrients are extracted from the soil and not replaced. However it may be seen to be necessary for farmers to cut the trees as the palm oil do not grow any nuts for five years and therefore see no return and need the money from selling the hardwood.


On a global scale palm oil is used in many products and these products have high global demand, which keeps the need for this resource at high level of necessity. Palm oil is used in products which boast a 0g trans fat content, however manufactures use palm oil which has a high saturation fat content is not that much better for as it can lead to a heart attack or stroke. It is also used as a biofuel, which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released by vehicles, however Friends of The Earth and Greenpeace calculate that more carbon dioxide is released in the destruction forest than saved by biofuels in place of diesel. However there are ways of farming palm oil sustainably, one of the leading organisations WWF are setting standards for sustainable palm oil farming through "The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil" (which can be viewed at - http://www.rspo.org/resource_centre/RSPO%20Principles%20&%20Criteria%20Document.pdf), these must be met in order to prevent the destruction of rain forests and ecosystems.

From these points we can draw that although palm oil cannot just be eliminated it must be eased out of the market to ensure that the farmers and workers who are already in border line poverty can be educated to learn how to improve there farm, methods and their local environment. Replacements such as non-hydrogenated soy, canola, corn, and peanut oils, which are sustainable and healthy. For the sake of our health and reducing are 'carbon footprint' we have destroyed forests and whole ecosystems.There are lots of ways in which you can help these are: through donation, volunteering or writing letters to companies which use palm oil in there products(you can get a basic layout letter from many websites regarding palm oil).

Suggestion and comments will be appreciated.

Alex