Plastic Ocean

“Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated — and it’s a very small amount — every bit of plastic ever made still exists,” Moore says, describing how the material’s molecular structure resists biodegradation. Instead, plastic crumbles into ever-tinier fragments as it’s exposed to sunlight and the elements. And none of these untold gazillions of fragments is disappearing anytime soon: Even when plastic is broken down to a single molecule, it remains too tough for biodegradation.

Truth is, no one knows how long it will take for plastic to biodegrade, or return to its carbon and hydrogen elements. We only invented the stuff 144 years ago, and science’s best guess is that its natural disappearance will take several more centuries. Meanwhile, every year, we churn out about 60 billion tons of it, much of which becomes disposable products meant only for a single use. Set aside the question of why we’re creating ketchup bottles and six-pack rings that last for half a millennium, and consider the implications of it: Plastic never really goes away.

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Protecting one’s own

Open borders are dangerous for a country, politically and socially. A country’s ability to protect itself relies on being able to properly analyze all who enters that territory, especially their intentions.

The maneuvering of a nation’s direction is difficult enough even when solely dealing those have been indoctrinated into the system, but imagine the disaster which can fester undetected and erupt when free agents with other loyalties find that they can enter that nation at will.

From an intelligence standpoint, The Bahamas’ presents a unique challenge. It has been proven that our politicians and people are corruptible, so it would be relatively easy for troublesome entities to enter our domain at will. There are those who do not understand that various levels of society must remain intact for the organism which is a country to be able to protect itself from within and these persons have obliterated certain hierarchies, believing that they were doing good deeds for the country. Now we are left wide open and those strangers who saw the opportunity have already begun taking advantage of it.

So what are those with assets to protect going to do when they find themselves with their backs to the wall, held hostage by foreign entities that they did not take into account or choose to monitor the activities of? If they are smart enough they will never get to that point and put in place the means for proper intelligence and strategy to be implemented beforehand.

What kind of firm would be appropriate for such activities? Preferably one that doesn’t exist, but to simplify the concept it would have to be one where the latest in counter-intelligence technology was merged with an agile, precise organization, one which does not offer a service, but a guaranteed result.

In this modern day world, protection of one’s assets is paramount. If security is not on the minds of those with some power in this nation, then for a lack of a better term, they are doomed.

All seafood will run out in 2050, say scientists

(Charles Clover, Environment Editor -guest writer)

The world’s stocks of seafood will have collapsed by 2050 at present rates of destruction by fishing, scientists said yesterday.
A four-year study of 7,800 marine species around the world’s ecosystems has concluded that the long-term trend is clear and predictable.
If the rate of over-fishing continues, the world’s currently fished seafoods will have reached what is defined as collapse by 2048.

By 2048, to be exact, catches of all the presently fished seafoods will have declined on average by more than 90 per cent since 1950.

The study, by an international group of ecologists and economists, says the loss of biodiversity impairs the ability of oceans to feed the world’s growing human population — expected to rise by 50 per cent to nine billion in 2050.

Over-fishing also sabotages the stability of marine environments, profoundly reducing the ocean’s ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants and rebound from stresses such as climate change.

Every species matters when it comes to the ocean’s ability to repair itself, says the study, published in this week’s Science magazine.

Dr Boris Worm, of Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, the lead author, said: “This is what is projected, not predicted, to happen. I am confident we will not go there because we will do something about it. But if this trend continues in this predictable fashion, as it has for the last 50 years, the world’s currently fished seafoods will have reached what we define as collapse by 2048.

“Every year a higher percentage of the currently fished stocks has collapsed. We are losing it piece by piece.”

Prof Callum Roberts, of the University of York, who was not involved in the study, said: “The animals and plants that inhabit the sea are not merely embellishments to be wondered at. They are essential to the health of the oceans and well-being of human society.”

The scientists found that in 12 regions, which include the Wadden Sea, the shallow part of the North Sea, 38 per cent of exploited marine species of all kinds, including birds, had collapsed in the past 1,000 years while seven per cent was extinct. Some 29 per cent had collapsed since 1950.

Dr Worm said the decline of cod on the Scotian shelf, off Canada, had led to changes throughout the ecosystem. But there was some good news in the paper.

Dr Worm said there was evidence that wherever protective measures were taken, species recovered rapidly and could cope better with problems such as global warming.

The catch per unit of effort — the standard scientific way of measuring fishing activity — goes up four-fold.

As wild fish stocks decline, farmed fish is expected to take over. Some 43 per cent of fish consumed is already farmed, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. But it warned that fish farming would struggle to maintain even present levels of production because the small wild fish that are fed to farmed species are being over-fished.

Willie Mackenzie, of Greenpeace, said: “This report confirms the scale of the crisis our oceans are facing. It’s clear that fish and chips will be off the menu within our lifetimes if we don’t act now.

“We need to ban destructive fishing practices and create a network of large-scale marine reserves around not just Britain, but globally”.

Despite the problem of the oceans being on a time-scale comparable to global warming, the Government appears to have scrapped plans to introduce its promised Marine Bill in the Queen’s Speech this month, the environmental group WWF said yesterday.

Man’s footprint on ecosystem of Earth ‘too heavy to be sustained’

(By Lewis Smith)

A WWF study says that we have been living beyond the environment’s means for two decades

THE Earth’s natural resources are being used 25 per cent faster than the planet can renew them, analysis by WWF indicates.
Measurements of crop yields, carbon-dioxide emissions, fishing and the use of forests suggest that Mankind’s ecological footprint is too big to be sustained.

Since 1961 it has more than tripled in size and, for the past 20 years, mankind has been living beyond its ecological means, a WWF report said. It is the equivalent, in banking terms, of living off capital rather than interest.

Using United Nations projections of the worldwide growth of the human population and economies, the report predicts that by the middle of the century “large-scale ecosystem collapse” is likely.

The world’s average footprint is calculated to be 2.2 hectares per capita but only 1.8 hectares of each person’s consumption can be regenerated by the planet each year.

Carbon-dioxide emissions are the biggest single factor within the footprint, accounting for up to 48 per cent of man’s impact on the globe, according to the WWF Living Planet Report.

The speed at which resources are being used has had the effect of destroying biodiversity at an unprecedented rate.

By tracking the fortunes of 1,313 species of vertebrates from around the world, the report indicated that there had been a 30 per cent slump in wildlife since 1970.

Tropical species, including mammals, reptiles and birds, were the most badly hit of the 695 land-based animals monitored. They declined by an average of 55 per cent, while the populations of temperate creatures have, overall, remained stable since 1970.

Marine species declined by an average of 25 per cent in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans. The index monitored 274 species and there was particular concern about the loss of cod, tuna and turtles.

Late last century the land habitat that vanished fastest were tropical grassland, flooded grasslands and savannas, and tropical dry forests. They were replaced with either crops or grazing land for livestock.

Mangroves were highlighted as the most endangered habitat, with more than a third being lost to developments between 1990 and 2000, twice the rate at which tropical forests are being destroyed.

Jonathan Loh, of the Zoological Society of London, one of the authors of the report, said: “The Living Planet Index is a stark indication of the rapid and ongoing loss of biodiversity worldwide.

“Populations of species in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems have declined by more than 30 per cent since 1970, a rate that is unprecedented in human history. In the tropics the declines are even more dramatic, as natural resources are being intensively exploited for human use.”

His colleague, Ben Collen, added: “It makes depressing reading. It’s another stark indication that we are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. But one of the messages is we do have a choice at this point. We can moderate our consumption and become a less throwaway society.”

The ecological footprint is designed to measure the extent of human demand on the land and seas, and the report concludes that, for the past two decades, people have been turning resources into waste faster than the planet can turn waste back into plants and creatures. “Humanity is no longer living off Nature’s interest but drawing down its capital,” the authors said.
“This growing pressure on ecosystems is causing habitat destruction or degredation and permanent loss of productivity, threatening both biodiversity and human wellbeing.”

They called for radical changes in human consumption, and said that a 50 per cent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions and fish catches would make it possible to close the gap between resource use and replacement by 2080.

The report added: “Moving towards sustainability depends on significant action now. Population size changes slowly, and human-made capital – homes, cars, roads, factories or power plants – can last for many decades.

“Given the slow response of many biological systems, there is likely to be a considerable time lag before ecosystems benefit significantly from people’s positive actions.

“We share the Earth with five to ten million species or more. By choosing how much of the planet’s biocapacity we appropriate, we determine how much is left for their use.

“To maintain biodiversity it is essential that a part of the biospehere’s productive capacity is reserved for the survival of other species.”

James Leape, WWF’s director-general said: “We are using the planet’s resources faster than they can be renewed. We need to stop. We must balance our consumption with the natural world’s capacity to regenerate and absorb our wastes. If we do not, we risk irreversible damage. As countries improve the wellbeing of their people they are bypassing the goal of sustainability and going into what we call ‘overshoot’ – using far more resources than the planet can sustain.”

The calculations for the report are based on figures up to 2003. In 2003 the global ecological footprint was calculated to total 14.1 hectares. Only 11.2 hectares of the world’s productive surface was restored to previous levels.

Among the animals to have suffered the largest declines is the saiga antelope, whose numbers have dropped by 90 per cent in the past decade because of hunting in Mongolia.

Wildebeest have declined by 20 per cent in the past 30 years because of encroachments on their migration routes by farmers. Polar bears have suffered population falls of up to 30 per cent, mainly because of the loss of sea ice, which is attributed to global warming.

In Britain, the corncrake was one of the animals monitored. From 1970 to 1993 there was a fall from 3,250 calling males to 478, a reduction of 80 per cent. But since then conservation programmes have halted the decline and helped the species to recover slightly.

In the marine environment, the creatures that are among the worst affected include the endangered fin whale, the jackass penguin and the dugong.

Maya Angelou’s poem

I received an email message today that claimed to contain a poem from Maya Angelou. It wasn’t the first time that I received this particular email, so this time I did a bit of investigating to find out the source of the poem (it really did not exemplify the quality that Maya Angelou’s writings usually have). Well, my suspicions were correct and I found out that the poem is a hoax that had been exposed some time ago by Maya Angelou’s representatives.

Why would someone feel that they had to use Maya Angelou’s name to lend credibility to their prejudicial point of view? On second thought, seeing how many times I received the hoax email from senders (who probably had good intentions), perhaps the strategy was effective. The problem is: Effective at what? Racial polarizing?

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Maya Angelou’s Poem – URBAN LEGEND

A notice on Maya Angelou’s Website reads as follows:

Please be aware that Dr. Maya Angelou has absolutely no affiliation with the “poem” entitled Clothes that is circulating on the Internet.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, a representative of Maya Angelou’s speakers’ agency said, “It is not her work. She is aware of it, and is very disappointed.

“Indeed, no one who a) appreciates good poetry or b) is at all familiar with the marvelous poetry of Maya Angelou could possibly mistake the horrendous example below for her work.”

Furthermore, the content of the “poem” is false and slanderous. Unfounded charges that apparel designers Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne have made racist statements on television have circulated via the Internet for many years, despite repeated debunkings. The Timberland Company, founded by Nathan Swartz in 1973, is still almost completely family-owned, with Swartz’s son and grandson controlling 98 percent of the company’s stock. The Swartz family, members of which have spoken publicly of being observant Jews, obviously has no association whatsoever with the anti-Semitic Ku Klux Klan.

Read the entire content of this URBAN LEGEND AT: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_maya_angelou.htm

Clothes

You are in love with Tommy,
Because his last name is Hilfiger,
But behind closed doors, Tommy,
Is calling you a nigger,

But you could care less,
Because you have been taught to dress to impress,
If I ask you about your true history,
You would have to look on the back of your jeans and Guess,

You come up in the club wearing Versace,
Clothes made by a homosexual male,
So even when you say you are straight,
It is very hard to tell,
And for footwear, you wear Timberlands,
Even under the sun,
That same tree that’s the symbol for them,
Could have been the same one your ancestors were hung from,

I cannot forget Nautica,
When was the last memory you have of ships,
Coming to North America in shackles,
Being beaten over the back with whips,

And to my beautiful black queens,
Whose creative womb has become barren,
I am confused because your face says Nefertiti,
But your sweater reads Donna Karen,

When was the last time you saw Liz Claiborne,
Conversing with black women,
But as soon as her name is printed on a purse,
To Macy’s you quickly go, running,

Ralph Lauren doesn’t even look at black men,
Unless they are driving him around town,
But as soon as that slave master appears on the back of a horse,
You put whatever you have picked up down,

My people reclaim your status in this world and in your life,
F.U.B.U. in case you didn’t know, stands for ( For Us By Us ),
Buying black will someday suffice,
Do you know who owns Timberland fashion?

Well, Timberland is owned by the president of the KKK,Surprised? Don’t be.
Read more books black people,
Always hope for the best and prepare for the worst,
You may not get what you pay for,
But you’ll surely pay for what you get.

~ Maya Angelou