Lebanese oil spill continues to spread

Lebanon Sequitur

Six weeks after Israel bombed a Lebanese power plant, spilling 10,000 to 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea, the disaster continues to be disastrous. The slick has traveled an estimated 90 miles north, affecting every one of Lebanon's approximately 200 beaches, and may reach Syria and Turkey. Lebanon's coastline has traded in throngs of tourists for beach-cleanup volunteers; in Beirut, 18 miles from the original site of the spill, they gaze upon black sand and yellowish-green water, breathe in the scent of petroleum, and look in vain for any sign of live fish. Lebanese divers have found oil up to four inches thick on the seabed; sea turtle hatchlings at an island nature reserve will have to crawl through an oil slick to reach the water; and coastal towns with fishing- and tourism-dependent economies are struggling mightily. Ongoing conflict has delayed cleanup, which Lebanon's Environment Ministry estimates will cost $150 million over the next year. Worst of all, there's really nothing funny to say about any of it.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Christopher Allbritton, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: Gulf News, Frank Kennedy, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: The Washington Times, David Enders, 29 Aug 2006

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Comments: (2 comments)

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saving endangered birds

The article in the Independent makes an interesting observation that conservationists are more likely to take action to protect "charismatic" bird species, and to pay less attention to others that can seem plain, or unattractive. It is possible that the California condor, not being very cute to look at in the eyes of many observers, falls into this class. More surprising, though, is that the piping plover is included, which while small is IMHO definitely cute. Same with the sage grouse. On the other hand, it would not surprise me if the large numbers of songbirds, many warblers and others, which migrate between North and South America and are vulnerable to habitat loss in a number of places, are thought not to have much stage presence.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:08 PM on 29 Aug 2006

Methane hydrate

http://www.resa.net/nasa/ocean_methane.htm

"Hydrates
These gas hydrates are actually natural methane-water ices, which form under conditions of high pressure and low temperature in many areas worldwide. Gas hydrate is a crystalline solid consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules. It looks very much like water ice. Methane hydrate is stable in ocean floor sediments at water depths greater than 300 meters and, where it occurs, it is known to cement loose sediments in a surface layer up to several hundred meters thick."

Melt this ocean bottom glacier and release overwhelming amounts of methane, with 21 times the greenhouse effect of CO 2. ( http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Emi... )

Melt the permafrost in the arctic regions and add to it.

But never fear the corporatista geniuses that keep this doom on track are planning to pump CO 2 from "clean" coal power plants under the ocean floor to stave it off. The ocean floor? Where the methane hydrate is iced over?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 5:05 AM on 30 Aug 2006

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