WWF: Baltic Sea ecosystem is on the verge of destruction
Isn't one Dead Sea sufficient?
The Dead Sea is a landlocked desert sea but the Baltic Sea is only one fragment of the entire system of oceans of our planet.
How exactly does one part die and not affect the whole?
Nina Kolyako, BC, Riga/Stockholm
The Baltic Sea's ecosystem is on the verge of destruction due to the increasing spread of the so-called marine dead zones, where nothing can survive due to lack of oxygen, says an announcement by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
"In the Baltic Sea, the marine dead zones could cause a total collapse of the entire ecosystem if their spread is permitted to continue," head of the WWF's Swedish branch, Lasse Gustavsson, said in a statement, asking the Baltic Sea region to start an urgent and active fight against the pollution.
The main reason that causes spreading of the marine dead zones is the pollution and excessive amount of phosphorus that comes from agriculture and other runoff.
Nitrogen and phosphorus in the sea water act as fertilizers and enhance the growth of algae...
For the rest, go here.
Meantime fertilizer for crops is in short supply with fast rising prices. The effect is particularly devastating for farmers in poor countries and consequently for hungry citizens. Raping - er, mining phosphorus has been unkind to some others.
The mining of phosphate on the island of Nauru, located in a remote corner of the Pacific Ocean, has devastated the island environmentally and has created financial, legal, and cultural problems for the islanders. The phosphate is used as a fertilizer around the world and the majority of it has been exported to Australia. The mineral is located among the ancient coral reefs found underground. Mining the phosphate, however, destroys the vegetation and soil of the island. Phosphate is the primary basis for the economy, and with the depletion of the mineral, Nauru is left with nothing to trade. Thus, the island faces virtual economic collapse. Today, Nauru's problems are becoming increasingly acute, as the phosphate on the island has been exhausted, and mining has virtually ceased. As such, the government of Nauru is looking into the question of responsibility for the ecological disaster raging on the island, and is looking into ways to rehabilitate the island.
http://www.american.edu/...
Lots 'a luck, people. Maybe you can become a tourist attraction like my grandmother's Lapland origins as you head towards extinction.
But what's dreary without a bit of cheer?
VANCOUVER, June 23 PRNewswire-FirstCall - Brian Nichols, President of First American Scientific Corp. (FASC) is pleased to announce that we have received an order to deliver the first of 4 KDS systems to Baltica Invest AS of Norway which will be used to a dryer/grinder of sea-bed algae found in remote regions of Northern Europe. Baltica and its partners operate several dredging and reclamation sites where water bound algae is being developed into a high nutrient fertilizer.
Hey, these penny-pitching promoters, who have had worse luck than Wil E. Coyote with innumerable schemes, may again be onto something - or maybe not.
I tried to see what Baltica Invest is really doing but failed miserably. Lots of Balticas and I don't speak Viking.
Whatever.
My main beef with the gentle organic people, so beloved here, is that not only do they prescribe band-aids for cancer but actively resist therapeutic treatment with sometimes fraudulent propaganda. In this they track the FDA divines who prevent dying patients from getting access to possibly life-saving drugs because they might not cure everyone or, worse, cost them their immortal souls. See War on Drugs for details.
Die, Baltic Sea, die. Who needs you? The Nauruvians can sink beneath the seas as well for all we care. And so the Saamis have trouble selling radioactive reindeer meat? So what? Sandy Claus can always use more reindeer that glow in the dark.
Best, Terry