Though we spend most of our time on land, three-quarters of this planet that we live upon is covered in water, and most of that is oceans and seas, saltwater. The oceans are a big buffer zone. They can absorb a lot of harmful changes and abuse. They can take a lot...but we have pushed the oceans beyond their limit, past their ability to adapt. Coral reefs, the home and breeding grounds of many of the fish in the sea, are dead and dying all over the world. Acting like a coal miner's canary, the reefs are the first sign of mortal danger. Our ocean's canary has fallen off the perch and is dying. Pollution in some regions, over-fishing in others, and Global Warming's carbon footprint, these are the culprits.
As go the oceans, so go the rest of the planet. Our own lives and fate are inextricably linked to the health of the ocean. In protecting the ocean, we protect ourselves. There has never been so great a threat to our well-being before. Sadly, since we live our lives on a small portion of that twenty-five percent which is land, we seldom see or recognize the damage and destruction we're doing. By the time most of us find out about it, the damage is already done, and it's nearly too late.
Corporations care only for their profits. That is why they pay the fines and continue to dump toxic and radioactive wastes into our homes. Gambling and cruise ships pour raw sewerage, including noxious chemicals, directly into the seas beneath them. Paper mills pour tons of toxic byproducts into the oceans. Plastic manufacturing plants do the same. For centuries, man has over-fished a bountiful region, driving some species to the brink of extinction, all the while spewing filth into those very waters that sustain us.
Protect The Ocean
The Cove :: Take Part
The Cove exposes not only the tragedy of dolphin slaughtering in Japan, but also the dangerously high levels of mercury in dolphin meat and seafood, the cruelty in capturing dolphins for entertainment, and the depletion of our oceans fisheries by worldwide seafood consumption. We also see how the mandate of the International Whaling Commission has been manipulated by the Japanese Fisheries Agency for its benefit and its subsequent effect on the rest of the world.
It runs from the Gulf of Mexico, around and up the eastern shores of the United States, then heads east, and finally returns to a southbound coarse, protecting the coast of Europe and the United Kingdom. Disturb that flow, alter the course and life-forms, and the entire Northern Hemisphere is in immediate danger. Europe and the UK could be thrown into chaos as the protective warm waters gave way, freeze killing off thousands of people at a time. The U.S. would not be unscathed either. Our own shores are also protected by the Gulf Stream. Now realize that the rest of the delicate balance could be thrown off by changes in the Gulf Stream. What we do in one area could realistically and seriously devastate the entire planet.
The effects are already being felt. Across the globe, storms have risen up -- hurricanes of tremendous severity, and in unprecedented numbers. Katrina was a warning shot. The hurricanes of this past year are signs of the unraveling of the balances of nature. We would be wise to heed that warning.
Who is looking out for the oceans while we live our lives up on dry land? A few organizations come to mind. Greenpeace (more so in times past,) Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd, Ocean Conservancy, and even Surfrider. Why not the fishermen themselves? Some simply don't have the know-how, the ability to recognize the differences. Commercial fishing and whaling fleets intentionally turn a blind-eye, knowing full well what the potential risks are, but daring anyway. They care more about their profits than any future price we all may pay. By their thinking, when the risk is close at hand then they must wring every dime they can from the ocean before it's too late to do so.
We're here to watch, to guard, to inform and educate, and to protect the ocean. We invite you to join us, in spirit and in action. By protecting the ocean, we bring health and life to ourselves.
BP and the government are trying to tell us that everything is fine, all is under control, and we should carry on, return to tourism, spending money and act as if nothing had really happened. Luckily for us, there’s still the 1st Amendment. Despite best efforts on the part of BP and their underlings at the U.S. Coast Guard, the truth isn’t all being covered up.
A local news station wanted to know the truth. So their investigative reporter went out and took samples of the water and sand from several locations. The results are downright frightening! Read the rest of this entry »
From the very beginning of the Gulf Oil Disaster, we’ve been bringing you facts and information that BP and its minions have been trying to cover up. We’ve also been trying to warn the EPA and Coast Guard about the dangers of Corexit as utilized… and been shut down, stalled off and stonewalled all along. Now we see that Anderson Cooper and CNN haven’t fared any better than we have.
The people we contact at the Gulf coast talk about people being sickened — lots of them. They talk about bodies of oil-soaked dead dolphins piled up, waiting to be burned before cameras and news crews can get those images out. They tell us about BP setting fire (“flaring”) the surface of the ocean, refusing to allow turtle rescuers to scoop up live victims before they ignite the surface oil. Yes, that’s right, endangered species amongst them, they’re burning these creatures alive, rather than let rescuers go in and get them! Read the rest of this entry »
The IWC meeting in Agadir has ended in a bittersweet success. The proposed end to the moratorium on killing whales was defeated. But only for this year. That several small nations were disqualified from the vote for various reasons (ranging from unpaid dues to being bought off by Japan for the price of a hooker,) had a lot to do with our success in preserving the whaling ban. But the battle isn’t even close to over.
Truth is, lifting the ban was intended to eventually put an end to all whaling — supposedly within a decade. But the best of intentions would not have held water. Japan will not stop when the agreement says to. They would just have dropped out of the IWC when the rules no longer suited them. In many ways, they’ve been doing precisely as they please all along, disregarding the intent of the Moratorium, sidestepping it with that thinly veiled Research guise. Next year, they can come back with their ducks in a row, and the IWC vote may go differently, giving them a license to kill a thousand minke whales a year, for so long as they remain in the IWC. This would put Paul Watson and the rest of the Sea Shepherd crew at a major disadvantage, because then they couldn’t claim to be enforcing the valid intent of the IWC agreement. If the lift of the moratorium passes, then Sea Shepherd becomes a “terrorist” organization. No matter how ridiculous the killing itself may be, Watson and company would be at rist of being arrested for interfering with a lawful hunt. Read the rest of this entry »
In just a few days, an international meeting will be held in Agadir, Morocco, to decide the fate of thousands of whales. To the surprise of many, there is actually some doubt as to whether they will remain protected. Japan is lobbying heavily, even bribing small poor Caribbean nations (not for the first time) and seducing them with gifts of cash, prostitutes, etc. President Obama seems to have missed the point and is also pushing for a new resolution. Here’s what they’re suggesting:
They want to reopen the seas to the take of certain whales in certain quantities — as many as 1000 a year — for a period of years. After a decade of that madness, it is supposedly to be phased out. If that sounds dicey and somehow wrong to you, give yourself points for a brain and a conscience. Rewarding Japan’s bad behavior by giving them carte blanch to kill more whales doesn’t make much sense. As it is, they have been blatantly defying the moratorium for over 2 decades now, by calling it Research. Legitimate scientists of the world should be rightly offended by that. Read the rest of this entry »
Yammer In Lieu of Solution; Obama & Jindal: a Matched Set, Palin Chimes in on Overtime
President Obama will be addressing the nation from the Oval Office, apparently as an attempt to show that he takes the situation as one of great gravity. He has visited the Gulf three or four times now. I’m sure his visits contribute greatly to the clean-up efforts.
Then there’s good ole Bobby Jindal who, filled with righteous indignation, bemoans the fate of his fair state at the hands of BP’s inept response… and then complains loudly that Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling will hurt Louisiana’s job market. Schizophrenic much, Bobby? Or is that just a politician’s parlor trick, speaking something different out of each side of the mouth at the same time? News flash, Governor: The oil money you’re so deadset on pursuing is what caused that disaster in the first place. Now you want more of it? Who are you trying to kid? Read the rest of this entry »
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