The world's oceans are home to millions of species. Mammals, fish, invertabrates, and many other animals live near beaches, coral reefs, deep sea, and out in the open ocean. Pollution poses a major threat to these animals. The ocean is subject to pollution from beach-goers, fisherman, cruise ships, oil rigs, and runoff from rivers and streams.
I planned to focus this blog on oil spills, because I thought them to be one of the largest causes of pollution in the ocean. With a little reading, however, I found out that big oil spills only make up for about 5% of the ocean's oil pollution. In fact, the largest oil pollutant comes from oil that is put down the drain by people. Used car oil from getting your oil changed, for example, if not disposed of properly, could make its way to the ocean. The EPA and NOAA both are working towards eliminating ocean pollution.
Toxic waste products, pesticides, and garbage that is polluting the land, often seeps into or finds it flushed into local streams and rivers that in turn, fill into the ocean. By not taking care of the land and small bodies of water, we are indirectly affecting the ocean.
Still more laws must be made (and enforced!) about pollution, safety regulations for industrial plants and ships, and waste disposal for everyone. The world depends on its oceans already, and in the future, we will only become more dependent on them as we travel, explore, and find more ways to use its resources in our lives. It is very important that we keep it clean.
5.01.2007
We're Toast!
Last week I rented “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s movie on global warming. It was an enjoyable movie, and I’d recommend you see it if you haven’t already.
Global warming has become a topic of great discussion in the past decade, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. I’m absolutely sure we’ll be hearing more and more about it in the coming years. I’m convinced that global warming is a real issue and that something needs to be done about it.
Al Gore is working towards making people aware of the situation. In “An Inconvenient Truth”, he takes a stance that humans are the cause of global warming, primarily due to our burning of the world’s fossil fuels at an alarming rate. The best known fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas, and output a very high amount of carbon dioxide when they are used. This in turn, “clouds” the earth’s atmosphere, preventing the sun’s heat from leaving. With the solar heat building up inside our atmosphere, the temperature will continue to rise until it becomes a threat to humans and animals alike.
The movie is full of rather disturbing facts about the climate changes and events that have occurred over the past 10 years. He names off hurricanes that have occurred in parts of the world for the first time in recordable history, and that they are becoming more and more frequent. He showed photographs of some of the world’s most renowned icy attractions, and how they have changed over the past decade. They all showed that the ice had melted significantly. The same was true of the north and south poles. More so, he showed computer generated previews of how this melting would affect places near water level. Thousands of acres of land and homes all over the world would become lost to the rising tides of the oceans.
Some may think it rubbish, and others may believe every word out of Gore’s mouth. This movie proved convincing enough to get me concerned about global warming. I have a bit of skepticism towards the movie, not so much by what it did say, but by what it failed to say. I believe that we are undoubtedly a factor in global warming and we need to make some big changes before its too late (which will be in about 10 years, according to Gore).
StopGlobalWarming.org has a growing list of things you can do to help prevent global warming, and an idea of how much you could save by implementing a small change in your lifestyle! Here's a few:
Global warming has become a topic of great discussion in the past decade, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. I’m absolutely sure we’ll be hearing more and more about it in the coming years. I’m convinced that global warming is a real issue and that something needs to be done about it.
Al Gore is working towards making people aware of the situation. In “An Inconvenient Truth”, he takes a stance that humans are the cause of global warming, primarily due to our burning of the world’s fossil fuels at an alarming rate. The best known fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas, and output a very high amount of carbon dioxide when they are used. This in turn, “clouds” the earth’s atmosphere, preventing the sun’s heat from leaving. With the solar heat building up inside our atmosphere, the temperature will continue to rise until it becomes a threat to humans and animals alike.
The movie is full of rather disturbing facts about the climate changes and events that have occurred over the past 10 years. He names off hurricanes that have occurred in parts of the world for the first time in recordable history, and that they are becoming more and more frequent. He showed photographs of some of the world’s most renowned icy attractions, and how they have changed over the past decade. They all showed that the ice had melted significantly. The same was true of the north and south poles. More so, he showed computer generated previews of how this melting would affect places near water level. Thousands of acres of land and homes all over the world would become lost to the rising tides of the oceans.
Some may think it rubbish, and others may believe every word out of Gore’s mouth. This movie proved convincing enough to get me concerned about global warming. I have a bit of skepticism towards the movie, not so much by what it did say, but by what it failed to say. I believe that we are undoubtedly a factor in global warming and we need to make some big changes before its too late (which will be in about 10 years, according to Gore).
StopGlobalWarming.org has a growing list of things you can do to help prevent global warming, and an idea of how much you could save by implementing a small change in your lifestyle! Here's a few:
- Hybrid Cars
- Recycling!
- Solar, Wind, Tidal Power
- Car pool
- Turn down the thermostat
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