Tuesday, August 18, 2015

what is the fate of the oceans?

according to documents seen by Bellona, and which were today released by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, includes some 17,000 containers of radioactive waste, 19 ships containing radioactive waste, 14 nuclear reactors, including five that still contain spent nuclear fuel; 735 other pieces of radiactively contaminated heavy machinery, and the K-27 nuclear submarine with its two reactors loaded with nuclear fuel.   http://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2012-08-russia-announces-enormous-finds-of-radioactive-waste-and-nuclear-reactors-in-arctic-seas
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Eight of the top 10 contributors were in Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh, according to the study, which estimated that 4.8 million to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic wound up in the world's oceans in 2010.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-tons-of-plastic-trash-in-oceans-20150213-story.html
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2-28-2012   
Photo by Flicker user DraconianRainMining enough gold for just a single wedding band generates, on average, 20 tons of contami-nated mine waste.
  that number pales in comparison with the amount of waste that mining corporations dump into oceans, rivers, and lakes around the world each year, which tops 180 million tons. Over 85 percent of this waste comes from just 4 mines: the Grasberg mine in West Papua, the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia, the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, and the Wabash/Scully mine in Labrador, Canada. These wastes can contain arsenic, lead, mercury, cyanide and over thirty other dangerous chemicals.    http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/over_180m_tons_of_toxic_waste_dumped_into_worlds_oceans_rivers_and_lakes_ea/
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hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from non-accidental sources §.

The graph below shows how many millions of gallons of oil each source puts into the oceans worldwide each year


Down the Drain: 363 Million Gallons

    Used engine oil can end up in waterways. An average oil change uses five quarts; one change can contaminate a million gallons of fresh water. Much oil in runoff from land and municipal and industrial wastes ends up in the oceans. 363 million gallons §Road runoff adds up
    Every year oily road runoff from a city of 5 million could contain as much oil as one large tanker spill §.

Routine Maintenance: 137 Million Gallons

    Every year, bilge cleaning and other ship operations release millions of gallons of oil into navigable waters, in thousands of discharges of just a few gallons each. 137 million gallons §
      http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_pollution.html
        .....................................................................................................................................Jiji Press, June 18, 2014: Radioactive contamination of groundwater at [Fukushima Daiichi] is far from being under control [...] the source of contamination remains unclear and new record levels of radioactive substances have been detected in groundwater taken at a number of measuring points on the ocean side of the plant’s No. 1 to No. 4 reactors.  Radioactivity levels in groundwater have hit new record highs at 18 of 32 measuring points on the ocean side since April, according to TEPCO. At the most polluted well, located east of the No. 2 reactor [there's] 860,000 becquerels of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances such as strontium-90.   
      http://enenews.com/tv-new-concerns-at-fukushima-radioactive-material-spilling-into-ocean-from-layer-80-feet-deep-officials-suspect-jiji-new-record-high-radiation-levels-at-18-locations-near-pacific-problems
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          USA Today, Jul 31, 2015 (emphasis added): … weather in the Pacific Northwest is killing millions of fish
          AP, Jul 27, 2015: More than a quarter million sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying in the Columbia… wiping out at least half of this year’s returning population… [NOAA's Ritchie Graves] says up to 80 percent of the population could ultimately perish.  ...
          Seattle Times, Jul 27, 2015: … the Columbia [has turned] into kill zone where salmonimmune systems are weakened and fish die of infections… Some [are] suffering from abacterial disease. Others have backs covered with a mottled white fungusAll are expected to die… Mary Peters, a microbiologist who works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [said] “It’s crazy.”… Salmon also face challenges in the ocean… “My guess is that this is going to be one of the poorest years for salmon (ocean) survival” said Bill Peterson, a [NOAA] scientist… “Things do not look good”… Diseased fish with red marks that are signs of a bacterial infection have been found… Some of them actually have red splotches all over
          http://enenews.com/usa-today-millions-fish-dead-pacific-northwest-salmon-covered-fungus-red-lesions-all-extinction-concerns-could-be-experts-crazy-unprecedented-catastrophic-worse-anything-theyve-video-photos

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          • 26:45 — Moses Tcheripanoff, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium geographer: If you wouldn’t mind sharing with us a little about what’s going on here, it’s a really interesting observation.
          • 27:30 — Roderick Phillip, Environmental Coordinator for the Native Village of Kongiganak, AKFor about  a mile there was needlefish and smelts. Dead needlefish… It was just millions of needlefish, piles of them… and also smelts. Last year… same situation… It was the first time we heard of needlefish and smelts being flooded out of the river.
          • 29:30 – M. Tcheripanoff: How did all those fish die? … I’m trying to understand what exactly happened to cause the fish die-off… You haven’t ever seen this kind of thing happen before, other than last year?
          • 30:45 — R. Phillip: I talked to the local board and elders, they haven’t heard about this [happening before].              http://enenews.com/official-thousands-millions-fish-wash-dead-alaska-piles-ive-never-anything-like-first-time-weve-heard-video
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          • Interview with NHK journalist Morley Robertson, by the Center for Remembering 3.11, published Jun 30, 2012 (emphasis added): I begin with the radiation leakage. Radiation leakage exerts a long term effect on the environment. It contaminates our food chain, the groundwaterand the ocean. And the contaminated seawater will circulate around the globe. We never know how much this will impact on the environment… We’ll never able to study such issues with empirical certainty… [Due to nuclear testing] we have already accumulated “hidden losses” of radiation damage… how much is the [Fukushima] cesium in relation to that?   http://enenews.com/officials-trillions-becquerels-radioactive-material-flowing-sea-fukushima-map-shows-nuclear-waste-flowing-bottom-ocean-offshore-japan-tv-journalist-contaminated-seawater-will-circulate-around-gl
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          • CBS/AP, Aug 5, 2015: Toxic algae bloom in Pacific even larger than thought… ocean researchers say this one is much larger and persisting much longer, with higher levels of neurotoxins bringing severe consequences for the… marine ecosystems…  [Vera Trainer, with Univ. of Washington and NOAA’s Harmful Algal Blooms Program] said this bloom is theworst she’s seen in 20 years of studying them… “It’s been incredibly thick, almost all the same organism. Looks like a layer of hay,” said Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at University of California, Santa Cruz. Kudela told CBS… “It’s definitely the largest bloom of this particular algae seen on the West Coast, possibly anywhere, ever.”… “It’s really working its way into the food web and we’re definitely seeing the impacts of that,” Kudela said, noting that sea lions are getting sick and pelicans are being exposed… The most recent samples showed the highest-ever recorded concentrations of domoic acid in the internal organs of Dungeness crab, Ayres said. “This is really unprecedented territory for us,” said [Dan Ayres, Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife].
            USA Today, Aug 7, 2015: A massive toxic algal bloom thriving in the warm water along the West Coast may be the largest ever recorded, according to [NOAA] scientists. The bloom stretches 40 miles wide and in some places is 650 feet deep. It runs from California to Alaska, and has shuttered lucrative fisheries in several coastal states. “It’s unprecedented,” [said Trainer].       http://enenews.com/toxic-bloom-basically-eating-west-coast-alive-unusual-deaths-down-pacific-coast-all-populations-marine-mammals-down-areas-experts-really-unprecedented-territory-never-event-like-video
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          • -walnut tree
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          • 173.   Often a simple wooden icon is more cherished than a gilded one.  A miracle enters life unnoticed.  It takes time for a pure teaching to make its impress.  Live with patience.
            328.   But those for whom the cup of worldliness is sweet fly not.  Chained to their idol, their delight, whither to fly?  By experience will you learn the fruitlessness of earthly desires.  It is simple, for all things are simple.       -Leaves of Morya's Garden 1924
            II, ii, 7.   But when each one understands that the Spirit's way is simple\ and brings the call of the Mother of the World then each one will find the gates open.
            399.   Only the energy of the heart makes a man invulnerable and carries him over obstacles.  Thus one should remember the heart as a weapon. ...Whoever shall aid his near ones to find the path of the heart shall also find his own perfection.       -Morya:  Heart 1932

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