Our World and Everything in It

That story made the news last week but the event happened in August. Four bottlenose (Flipper) dolphins encircled an injured surfer after a shark attack, bringing him to shore. It’s not the first time dolphins have saved a human. An article stated that dolphins protecting humans goes back to ancient Greece. I told you that to ask you this.

Why are we allowing dolphin hunts by a small Japanese village? Dolphins have been friends with humans for centuries and we knowingly allow their slaughter? And this is not about relations with Japan. There are Japanese that want the slaughter banned also. One of the key reasons, and the Japanese government knows this, is that the dolphin meat is contaminated with high levels of mercury.

The Japanese retested the dolphin meat themselves and were surprised.

The other reason this event should not be such a big problem to stop is because it is an isolated event. It happens in a cove outside of a small fishing village in Japan called “Taiji.”  Notoriety is building about these fisherman chasing dolphins into a cove where they are trapped by nets in the thousands. Some 20,000 human friendly dolphins are caught and slaughtered. I didn’t want to read about it. There is a video of it on “You Tube.” I guess the poor little guys aren’t always dead when…

So this event happens in one small fishing village, not as a custom throughout Japan, and there are Japanese that want it stopped also. The meat is poison, and the Japanese government knows about it. It only a matter of time you might say, meanwhile, Flipper is being stripped alive.

This should not be a big problem to fix. This should be about a few talks with Japanese officials urging them to prohibit killing dolphins by a few of their citizens. The argument is there is no market for poison fish anyway. The fisherman should not only be in trouble for killing dolphins this way, but selling mercury tainted meat. Besides, knowing what we know about dolphins, this is as cannibalistic as eating bushmeat. Let me go one step further in adding that the levels of mercury in our friends the dolphins is about as rotten a deal as killing them outright. So we that pollute are no better. And for those that don’t think man pollutes enough to cause change on earth, how did those dolphins get saturated with mercury?

Our congress people will not move on this unless we make it known that we want it stopped. The world needs to realize better policy concerning the creatures of earth that are threatened by our pollution. Write your congress people about getting Japan on board to prohibit Taiji from killing dolphins.

Read about what I read about at: http://www.savejapandolphins.org/weblog.html

The dolphin rescue story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21689083/

After fighting the fight against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge throughout this administration’s tenure in office, our voice has been overlooked again. The Bush Administration is allowing Shell Oil to drill there this summer! The National Resources Defense Council thinks the only way to stop them is through the courts. They believe they can win the case because they can prove that allowing Shell to drill there is a violation of this country’s environmental laws. Every square foot of the Arctic coastline, except the refuge, is available for oil development. But Bush and Shell specifically aim for the Wildlife Refuge. It must be the least expensive route so they can put more millions in their pockets.

The oil spills that are inevitable are what is the most threatening because the oil industry doesn’t have a way to clean up in icy waters. Do you know how dangerous this drilling expedition is? They are drilling in an area known as the “Arctic Ring of Life” or the Beaufort Sea. It’s home to polar bears, walrus, gray whales, endangered bowhead whales, belugas, ringed seals, spectacled and Steller’s eider sea ducks, and migratory birds. One oil spill would be disastrous. The NRDC has one heck of a record of wins over companies like Shell, Arco, and Texaco following their spills. They need help. Click on the NRDC link to the right to go to their home page to see how.

The non-compassionate Shell Oil Co. is using seismic exploration also. Do you know about sound decibels? The noise is deafening and harmful to whales and other marine animals that rely on sound to communicate. The NRDC says, “The underwater noise produced by seismic air guns in locating oil deposits is among the most intense. I worked at Sibley Quarry. The blasting there often exceeds the seismic decibel level for the surrounding buildings in the neighborhoods. There has been a constant battle and threats of lawsuits due to the sound vibrations that many say caused large cracks in their foundations and basements. Sound vibrations cause cracks in concrete. These same sound vibrations are what are being perpetrated on the animals that live in our PROTECTED ARCTIC REFUGE!!! Refuge means free from harm. We promised.

The really bad part is that this administration has been given a scenario of what will happen if there is an oil spill by its Minerals Management Service. They predict that a spill by Shell will likely spread to the bowhead whales’ migratory route, the shores of the Wildlife Refuge, and possibly the nesting areas of the birds. But they are doing it anyway for money, money, and more money.

And if you don’t think there have been that many spills that you can remember, it’s because you don’t hear about all of them. The oil industry reported 4,534 spills across Alaska’s North Slope and Beaufort Sea from 1996 to 2004, involving 1.9 million gallons of diesel fuel, oil, and acid according to the NRDC. They say that’s more than one spill per day.

This is a disaster, not only to the animals, to American citizens whose voice is being totally overlooked again. Do you know the Teamster’s Union pushed hard to allow this to happen? Might want to give them a piece of your mind. Thinking jobs before the environment is the stupidest thing I can think of. Without a world, jobs will be useless.  This is a runaway administration that concedes nothing to the will of the people. It only listens to unions when it serves their purpose. Start blogging like you’ve never blogged before. I’m hitting abcnews.com.  Contact our reps. If you’re into NASCAR start complaining about Shell Pennzoil.
 
The phone number for Shell is: 713-241-6161. Help the NRDC do whatever they can to stop this.

  
Other things, any other thing it seems draws our attention too easily away from global warming. Last night and this morning we will hear the details of Saddam Hussein’s death. He was hung for crimes against humanity. Is anyone enlightened by these facts? No, it’s really old news. We’ve witnessed his history over and over. His death is not a big revelation. Yet the entire day will be dedicated to him in the news. Oh wait, I’m watching Tom and Katie’s wedding again on CNN, and Pam and Kid Rock’s divorce. Now that’s important old news.

 “Be Worried, Be Very Worried.” The April 3, 2006 issue of Time Magazine had this on its cover along with a picture of a polar bear standing on a small piece of floating ice. How many people read Time magazine or U.S. News and World Report? We have a great time on You Tube and My Space. We snatch up copies of Star and The Enquirer for entertainment. These are not the actions of people that should be very worried. It’s been 8 months since that cover on Time.  Organizations are now feeding the polar bears who have lost acres of icy hunting ground into open pools of arctic water. The bears are skinny. But then again, we are used to watching people grow skinny without aid, without help, as long as it’s not us.

What should be news today is a 3000 year old shelf of ice in Canada that broke off last night and fell into the sea. The ice mass was equivalent to 11,000 football fields. It was 41 sq miles of ice attached to land. The vibration from this “chipping” off was that of an earthquake. The movement was picked up by earthquake monitors 150 miles away. Global warming is to blame. Scientists say global warming is accelerating faster and faster. Entire ecosystems and some of earth’s most exotic creatures are threatened. It doesn’t even make the headlines of the day.

Shouldn’t we hang someone for crimes against the earth? Or does that mean we would have to take a hard look at ourselves? We’re not worried, very worried, not nearly enough for me. Our number isn’t up yet, but it definitely looks like it’s on its way. Will God help us or is this the turning point where any good Father like a parent lets His children flounder in their mistakes as a lesson? We are like a spoiled and apathetic child that is not prepared for this lesson.

I just got through watching Jack Hanna’s Animal Kingdom like I pretty much do every Saturday morning, 7:00 am, channel 7.  Yes I’m a baby boomer but learning about and watching animals is a passion that has no age limit. I found out about Hanna’s program from my 84-year-old mother who wakes up to it every Saturday also.

His program is a great humane education learning tool for children, and endorsed by the National Education Association. Every age group could use a dose of this type of reality.  Unlike other programs, this one connects the dots for people. He flat out tells the audience that mankind is the cause and that we can turn it around. I’ve watched other morning news programs showcase endangered species without specifically pinpointing why they are disappearing. If I have the time, I quickly email them for missing the opportunity to really hit home. Everyone ooo’s and ahhh’s over the critters, but there is rarely any statement made to the audience that mankind either directly or indirectly is the reason for their demise.  Have you ever read why many of these beautiful animals are endangered? Poaching, cutting down their habitat, and changes in weather patterns are the leading causes. Species like the gorilla are being poached out of existence for their hands. That’s right, the whole animal is killed to cut off their hands. Just like the whole elephant is killed to cut off its tusks. And yes our neighbor to the North, Canada, has just begun its annual baby seal-clubbing event.

If you want to help, e-mail or call your MI congressional representatives to support Carl Levin’s Senate Resolution 33 condemning Canada’s seal hunt.

After this past election, if you still think your voice doesn’t make a difference, then I have to ask where have you been? Hopefully with a new congress, we can get back on track as a nation to being a model for conservation and cleaning up our act. Unfortunately many people still think what I’m saying can’t be so. That although the U.S. represents .05 % of the world’s population, we produce 25% of its pollution. And although we probably have the biggest proliferation of animal rights and conservation organizations, (of which I probably belong to half, my latest being the NRDC), our pleas have fallen on deaf ears with the administration of the past 6 years. More on that scorecard tomorrow, because I think it’s important to know where we were, how we’ve back-tracked, and how much we need to catch up before we truly understand the precarious position into which we’ve plunged ourselves and all living things so quickly. You have been wondering that haven’t you? How the environment seemingly got so bad so fast?

Meanwhile, are there any other young bloggers out there that watch Jack Hanna on Saturdays? If you have something you’ve viewed about anything in particular that is endangered let us know what you watched. I try to take in everything I can, but even my mother comes up with documentaries I’ve missed. Trouble is, at 84 she can’t ever seem to remember what station, or what time, or what program she saw it on. And my recall is slowly catching up to hers that’s why this is posted right after watching Hanna’s Animal Adventures.

     There are all types of casualties we endure on a daily basis especially during times of war. Losing someone or something precious can happen moment to moment. And although our lives are upset to the point we don’t think we’ll recover, we do. I just wonder how many people realize the biggest casualty of all is happening in small increments every day that none of us will recover from if we don’t turn it around.

Our environment is taking hit after hit, and many of us still do not know that when it’s stated we have 10 years to do something, it does not mean we have ten years before we start doing something. It means if we do not start today toward reversing global warming by controlling our pollution it will be irreversible within 10 years. It’s a good idea to control pollution to begin with. By all the water bottles I see these days, I realize that everyone does get the idea that maybe our water isn’t all that clean, and probably our air.  What I also see by those same water bottles is that we really aren’t getting it at all. Where do you think those plastic bottles go? If your community recycles that’s great. If you recycle on your own, then bless you, but unfortunately only 70% of all our garbage is recycled. Those bottles end up in landfills of which there are approximately 6000 in the U.S.  Plastic takes around 500 years to decompose. Do we love our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren? Then what are we doing?

The intent of this news blog is to be in your face about our world because we’re all in this together, and if you or my other neighbors don’t jump in and help, the experience of living won’t be what we once knew. Right now it is what it is “An Inconvenient Truth” as Al Gore aptly named it. Many of our little conveniences in life may have to be abandoned to save our earth, save ourselves. It’s a rude awakening, but the sooner we snap out of it, the sooner we turn it around. No more burying our heads in the sand or waiting for “they or them” to do something. They or them is us, all of us.

Anyone who has any questions about anything environmental feel free to blog. If you know something you don’t think the rest of us are aware of blog it. If you don’t quite believe in global warming yet let us know why. Anyone who has already adapted his or her lifestyle differently to save on anything let us know how, so we might adapt. One idea becomes a ripple that becomes a wave and the whole community benefits.

None of us are perfect angels about the environment. I still drive a gas hog, although I’m looking at all hybrids and beseeching Ford to revive the cobra body style with an electric/ethanol motor. I’m a baby boomer that wants a hybrid sports car. Any baby boomers out there want to weigh in on that? Doesn’t an environmentally friendly sports car sound good? My tip to any other gas hog drivers out there, consolidate your running around. I’m down to 2 days per week. Group up and ride to work together. Quit running your kids around and enjoy family nights. Quitting our rat race can help the environment.