Delay

As usual, I don't have enough time to post all the information I receive and from time to time it gets lost among among hundreds of emails. This time the information is about dolphins in captivity and something else... At the very beginning I didn't understand why some people were against zoos and things like. Now, I've been for several years without visiting a place in which any kind of animal is captive and more if it is for making money.

I titled this post Delay because the issue I mentione was released with a film wich now is not in the theatres but in december we'll have the opportunity to buy the DVD and help the cause at the same time. Here you have the piece of news I received and the Amazon link to pre-order the film. Now I leave you a video for you to have an idea about what I'm speaking about.

What's Up With Wind Mills?

Some times people wonder if so many windmill is something good. It seems that some of them don't like that some trees are cut down to put into place those machines or once working kill some birds hitting them with their sails.

Of course, that's not my cup of tea but now I bring up a question: People who think that about wind mills have ever thought about how the oil is extracted from the bottom of the sea? Has any one of them thought about all the dangerous situations from the point of extraction to the point of manufacturing? Oil is a big deal in relation with all the aspects in its handling. Here you are three examples: One, Two and Three. One more thing: How to find oil. I think nobody will think that oil is looked for like water diviners (people with a stick and so on). Nothing to have with that. You have to produce detonations in the bottom of the sea to find oil and... What supposes that? Everybody knows that the sound wave travels in the air at 340 m/s but in the water ir travels at 1400m/s, I think you get it... It becomes a killing wave because several hundred meters around it many animals can be seriously injured even killed (try to speak about that to divers...) . You have one example with cetaceans. Many of them are beached because the wave destroys either their ears or their entrails. And speaking on cetaceans that's not the only problem, they also have to face the sonar of the submarines but this seems to have a near solution. Any way, the ocenas are so big that... Out of sight, out of mind.

Swedish people, as nordic and good observers they are, say that birds become adopted to the wind mills. It seems that there are some reliable studies that confirm the question, thing that very, very probably won't happen with marine fauna and oil related explosions. There's no perfect system to produce energy, at least at the moment, but in general, wind power has more good thigs to offer than bad.

My point of view is that we are living in an age of transition and at the same time of destruction. I think things are not changing at the speed needed and maybe destrucition is ahead. Meanwhile, we have to deal with a mix of sources of energy and wait for what should be the solution: fusion power and hydrogen batteries.

P.S. Take into account that this post was written in January 2007. Some time later, I read that the idea of getting all the energy we need from the sun of the desert could be real but this is staff for another post, don't you think so?. Maybe nanotechnology has the key ;)

A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

We are used to the nice puppy which appears on TV advertising Scottex, one of the products of one of the biggest destroyers of ancient forests in the world: Kimberly-Clark. Greenpeace have been fighting the policy of the company since at least 2004 and, finally, both have got an agreement thanks to which by the end of 2011, Kimberly will begin to carry out a greener policy which takes into account the FSC policy (100% FSC? Who knows!).

I leave you a Greenpeace's video against the company which squatters this post and some more related links.

The links:

• Kleercut - Case Closed!
• Marc Gunther's Blog
  

Despite what I have said, I have my own compromise with the forests:

• Fisrt, I ask myself if it is completely necessary to use paper.
• Second, in case I finally needed paper, I'd use recycled for everything and in case it wasn't possible because of circumstancies, I would try to find some made from other sustanaible sources like FSC (the most restrictive) or PFEC among others.

That's all for today friends.

A Stop On The Trail

This late on in the summer, I don't know if there will be somebody going for a round by here and as I like having readers updated, I would like to tell them that is very probable not to have the blog updated on a regular basis up to middle of September. Circumstancies at present don't allow me to access to the Net on a regular basis given that I am in the middle of nowhere involved in an environmental issue. In any case, I will try to do my best to post something from time to time.

Greetings to everybody and have a nice summer.

Building a Wind Farm Out at Sea

More information here.

7

Our planet is large, more or less large if compared with the rest of the planets of the Solar System. It is large but we only have seven species of sea turtles and all of them are threatend. Since Finding Nemo turtles have become more famous, what's more, we have given to them charisma and that's good for conservation.

Many are the dangers that turtles have to face: drift fishing, plastic bags, trawling, nets, etc. Some people could think that turtles are silly animals that are usuless for the ecosystems but nothing more wrong:

• They are little ecosystems in movement.
• They are pollution bioindicators.
• They control another species as jellyfish or sponges which can threaten other species even whole ecosystems like corals.

So we already have some reasons to increase our care for sea turtles. In case you find some of them in the seashore because you could think they are ill, the easiest way to help them is to dial the emergency number. Maybe in some places you have another ways but this is the general one. Here you have some clues to give the accuratest information about the animal:

1. If she or he is completely quiet, taking a lot of care, touch their eye. Until the last breath of life they respond to your finger in their eyes.
2. Problem number one with flotation: they float more in one side (left or right). They have breathing problems, maybe an infection in their lungs or something so.
3. Problem number two with flotation: they float more in the rear part or viceversa. Maybe they are having problems with their digestive system.

I have given you several reasons to preserve sea turtles and a few clues about how to react in case of emergency. Ups! Another thing, if possible, up to the moment in which the emergency service arrive to the place, you can soak your towel and keep wet the legs of the turtle. Remember they normally live in the oceans and their skin needs humidity.

To come to an end, here you are a video to make awareness of the problem that we and they are facing.

Have a nice weekend.

This Is Serious - Part III

In January 2007, some news were about a mild-winter in Russia. That happened some weeks after I came back to Spain from my holidays in Finland.

It seemed that in Russia, like in Finland, some people were also surprised of those mild temperatures. The fact that event happened at a hemisphere scale, made us to understand it as not anything exceptional. It is true that, at a local scale, there have been, there are  and there will be colder and warmer winters, but when something happens at a much bigger scale... It should make us to think.

Just now, in the summer 2009 in the North hemisphere, I pray Gaia for polar bears which could be fighting for survival given the lack of ice that every summer is bigger. You rich countries, shame on you for a free ice Artic Ocean in the coming years.

P.S. The picture is set in the Moscu's Read Square, without snow, in January 2007. I got it from a spanish piece of news.