Zombie orcas in Washington

Seattle's orcas are poisoned by PCBs and other toxic chemicals, and they're among the most toxic marine mammals in the world.  Here in "nice" Seattle, we're not-so-nice to our neighbors, dumping PCBs and other toxic chemicals into their home.  

Efforts are underway to stop the poisons, but some say we should go ahead and poison the sound because it's too costly to stop.  It's wrong to try to save jobs by poisoning our neighbors, and we have to stop.  

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Sea turtles: garbage in, garbage out

Sea turtles eat garbage. It's not because they're stupid, it's just that our garbage looks like their food.

Imagine you found a yummy-looking box of chocolates that your roommate left on the kitchen table and took a big bite only to find out it was dog poop in disguise. Yucck, that's how we trick sea turtles into doing something stupid.

How much plastic can one sea turtle eat? Look at this photo (right) of the plastic found in the stomach of one green sea turtle. And consider the story of one sea turtle that pooped plastic for a month after getting a blockage cleaned out of its gut. And those are just two of the turtles we know about.

Sea turtles are really smart at being sea turtles. And that means eating floaty, semi-transparent jellyfish and other sea creatures. Oooops, and also plastic. After 200 million years of these grand reptiles swimming in earth's oceans, will they be done in by our plastic garbage (and getting caught by fishing gear)?

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Killer whales and smoke on the water

Have you ever felt poisoned by car exhaust? Maybe in a tunnel or underground garage? That's how killer whales feel after a day of whale-watching.

Hard to believe? A new study shows that after a busy 12 hour day of nearly continuous whale-watching, killer whales suck in exhaust at levels that hurt.

Boat exhaust tends to hang on the water's surface, right where the whales breathe. And boats can be quite dirty since they're not subject to the same pollution control laws as cars. Combine this exposure with the behavior of sucking in a big breath, holding it and diving deep underwater where the pressure is high, and you have a recipe for sick whales.

According to the Vancouver Sun:

...under average conditions, killer whales have to breathe at least five times more carbon monoxide than is found 100 metres from a busy Los Angeles highway.

"That really surprised me — I didn't think it was going to be that high," said Lachmuth.

"It's because when you're out on the water there's an inversion because the ocean is so cold and in the summer the air is a lot warmer — the CO is sticking right at that interface and it's not moving vertically at all."

Ugh, I never would have expected such nasty pollution exposure for killer whales thanks to well-meaning whale watchers.

We already know that killer whales are the most contaminated wildlife on earth, thanks to eating a diet of contaminated fish. Now we can add exhaust to the list of harms.

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What's in Clorox products?

Clorox is coming clean. They're the first mainstream manufacturer of cleaning products to reveal all the ingredients in all of their products.

This means if you want to know what's in Pine-Sol before you use it in your house, you can find out. This is good green news.

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Biggest ocean oil spill ever

Almost nobody knows about the biggest ocean oil spill in history. Can you guess who is responsible?

Wrong, it's not the demon Big Oil, it's Gaia, the Green Goddess, Mother Nature. More oil is spilled naturally on earth than the amount of oil spilled by people.

As described on Green, a NY Times blog:

Natural seeps turned out to account for 600 kilotons annually, or 47 percent of the total. Consumption — from such activities as boating, urban runoff and industrial wastes — came in second at 480 kilotons, or 38 percent of the total. In third place were releases from such transportation-related activities as leaky pipes, tanker spills and cargo-hold washings. They amounted to 160 kilotons annually, or 12 percent of the total.

In last place were releases to the sea that tend to make headlines — those associated with oil extraction, like the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20. Globally, that kind of release amounted to 38 kilotons annually, or 3 percent of the total.

These figures are credible, they come from the US National Research Council.

Does this mean it's OK for Big Oil to be reckless with their drilling units? No, there are differences that matter in the timing and speed of oil leaking from Gaia's oil fields.

Size matters, and so does speed and style.

Biological systems are evolved to handle the the oil and gas coming from seeps, and many bugs and creatures live off the oil and gas, by breaking it down into food. But dump a tanker-load of oil on top of those "oil-eating" bugs and beasts, and they get overwhelmed. Natural oil seeps can be big enough to cause harm, but the harm tends to be small and localized.

Natural oil seeps (note that word--SEEP) leak oil and gas slowly, bit-by-bit, in a spread out array of sources all over the world. Sort of like solar energy spread out over the whole planet. But Big Oil's blowouts gush oil hard, fast, and huge, more like focusing sunlight with a lens into a destructive super-hot death beam.

Natural oil seeps are more like the drip, drip, drip of oil that leaks off humanity's infrastructure, roads, ships, ballast water exchange, etc. And this man-made drip, drip, drip, which is actually a bigger source of oil to the ocean than big oil spills, is still smaller than natural oil seeps. What is the effect of our slow leaks of oil? Because of the diffuse nature of these sources, they're less likely to swamp whole areas with oil, compared to a big spill. But in contained water bodies like Seattle's Puget Sound, they can have a big impact.

Based on the style of spill and harm the championship for causing the most harm from spilled oil goes to Big Oil and the Big Spills. At least, that's my guess. I'm not sure we can measure and prove who's the winner.

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Oily bottom syndrome

Are you curious where all that oil went? You know, the oil that is "gone" according to experts from BP and their supporters in government. Now we know where to find some of it...look down and you'll see Oily Bottom Syndrome.

Always embarassing and probably toxic, having your bottom splotched with oil is not a good thing. News from the Gulf of Mexico says that the Gulf has Oily Bottom Syndrome "further east than previously expected and at levels toxic to marine life."

Initial findings from a new survey of the Gulf conclude that dispersants may have sent the oil to the ocean floor, where it has turned up at the bottom of an undersea canyon within 40 miles of the Florida Panhandle. Plankton and other organisms showed a "strong toxic response" to the crude, according to researchers from the University of South Florida.

We knew those dispersants were risky, but oil companies and the government like dispersants because they put some of the oil out of sight.

Now it's coming back into the public eye, thanks to good work by scientists. But public attention has shifted, and the news is much smaller today than in the early days. No doubt BP thinks shifting some of the oil spill disaster news to August is a success.

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Shrimp, Prozac, and bad behavior

Antidepressants make shrimp more likely to get eaten, according to new research. The antidepressant Prozac, at realistic levels, made shrimp swim towards light where they are more likely to get eaten by birds or fish.

How does this work? By making shrimp less anxious, the little lovelies quit worrying so much about predators. Or to be more scientific, serotonin levels are altered by the drug, affecting behavior.

The study was stimulated by the amazing parasite mind control story--worms infect fish, alter serotonin levels in the fish's brain, and make fish swim to the surface to get eaten by birds, thus completing the parasites life cycle. Creepy.

You know, don't you, that we have drugs in our water. Think about that next time you wonder why you have a strange urge to swim towards a light and flash your shiny surfaces.

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Lobster death linked to toxic chemicals

Lobster die-offs have been a problem in Long Island Sound (NY/Connecticut) for decades. See gruesome photo at right. Now a new study says that chemicals like Bisphenol A may be the cause of dead lobsters.

According to UConn today:

Lobster shell disease has been a contentious issue in Connecticut since the beginning of a massive lobster die-off in Long Island Sound in the late 1990s. In the past decade, the state’s commercial lobster catch has plummeted, with catches falling to about one-sixth of their 1998 levels. Factors such as mosquito insecticides and warming temperatures have been implicated as potential risk factors for the disease, which creates dark lesions on the outside of the lobsters’ shells that, over time, bore through the shell to the membranes underneath.

The new research Laufer is presenting at the conference showed that chemicals found in plastic bottles and detergents may make lobsters more susceptible to the disease. He and his colleagues identified “hotspots” in the Sound where lobsters have high levels of alkylphenols – a group of chemicals derived from detergents, paints, and plastics – circulating in their bodies. The lobsters take in these chemicals from their food, mostly mollusks such as clams and mussels that filter the chemicals from the water. In the western Long Island Sound, the southern shore of Massachusetts, and Cape Cod Bay, as many as half of the lobsters surveyed were contaminated with the chemicals.

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Toxic whales

Wake up everyone, and face what is being called perhaps "the single greatest health threat that has ever faced the human species" according to an expert.

Toxic chemicals are corroding whales from the inside. "The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings," said whale scientist Roger Payne of The Ocean Alliance.

How does this threaten people? Whales get contaminated from seafood which is a primary source of animal protein for 1 billion people.

How bad is the problem? According to Payne: "you could make a fairly tight argument to say that it is the single greatest health threat that has ever faced the human species. I suspect this will shorten lives, if it turns out that this is what's going on," he said.

Hmm...worse than the plague? Worse than wars? Maybe not. This sounds bad, but the "doomsday" statement seems a bit overblown. Maybe he was misquoted.

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Oil harms cleanup workers

News reports say that nearly all cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil disaster are dead, and their life expectancy is 51 years.

Reports are circulating that BP oil disaster cleanup workers are suffering illnesses.

President Obama says in one of the video clips linked above that toxic chemical levels are not elevated in coastal communities but "that may not be the case" out where people are doing the cleanup work.

This mess is so bad we have to stay away from the contaminated area if we care for our health. OK, marine life, please evacuate if you care about your health.

...which reminds me, there's a scary new report out on toxics found in sperm whales world wide, stay tuned...

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Whale with an ocean plastic problem

Tell me what you think of this Surfider video. Does it go too far, or is it a good way to get attention for a serious problem?



I like it.

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Herbicide turns males into females

Do you use weed killers? Well, you may think twice after you hear about herbicide-doused male frogs that turn female. They don't just act female--mating with other male frogs (see photo)--they actually produce real eggs.

Atrazine, the common weed killer, can turn male frogs into females when the frogs are exposed at levels found in nature (levels that the US EPA says is safe for drinking water). In the photo at right, the frog on the bottom is a feminized male that is mating with the normal male on the top.

The feminized male frogs do more than just mate with normal males, they produce viable eggs.

So watch out for that weed killer guys, you may not like the results. And your partners may like the results even less than you do.

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Cry, the beloved oyster

Oysters are my favorite ocean animal. What can I say, they're charismatic and sexy and interesting and yummy and important and...well...beloved.

Imagine my dismay when I read this article. Actually, it wasn't a big surprise to me, I've heard about this before. But the news just keeps getting worse.

Acid in the ocean seems to be killing oysters today, as we sit on our cushioned chairs and sofas watching TV. It's not a future crime, or a distant speculation of what might be. It's here and now.

Cry, the belove oysters, while it still might make a difference. Cry, and then get off your cushions and do something. And it won't help to simply stop eating them. Indeed, eat an oyster first, and then go charging of to save them, fortified with the elixir of life.

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Victoria BC out of the Victorian age

Victoria BC finally admits that their shit stinks just like the rest of us. Well, most of them admit it, there are a few holdouts.

Thanks to Mr. Floatie (a person dressed as poop while running for major), among others, for getting Victoria to begin the process of treating their sewage before dumping it in the ocean.

Victoria will begin building sewage treatment plants soon. Welcome to the modern world, Victoria. Now about those unnamed "others" who say there's no need for treatment. I want to see you go swimming in the ocean near the outfall pipe.

Now, just for fun, enjoy the picture of Mr. Floatie one more time before he retires from politics (right).

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Trouble on the beach

Wanna get sick? Go play on the beach in one of those cute little streams that flow down to the ocean, and play in sewage. Ugh. At least that's the story for some Oregon beaches.

The good news? Things are improving. People are looking into the problems and trying to track down the causes. In some cases, solutions have been found.

It's good to see problems acknowledged and progress made. But it's still sad to have to read about yuck in the pretty little streams that run across our beaches, they'll never look quite the same to me again after reading about massive bacterial contamination and toilet paper flowing across the beach. Ugh again.

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Drugs in water

Don't ask, don't tell seems to be the US approach to drugs in water. According to an AP story,

"U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water - contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked"

But don't worry, the concentrations are low enough that the drugs and drug-making chemicals are not a problem. At least, we dont' think they're a problem even though we don't really know because we're not monitoring.

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Proper pet poop procedures

Just what you've always wanted, a practicum on proper pet poop procedures.

What's the right way to keep waterways clean and free of pet poop? The Seattle Times, feeling their oats now that their main competition (the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) has ceased print publication, gives us the scoop.

The result: putting pet poop in the garbage, inside a bag, is the preferred method for poop cleanup. And it's even better if you can get spot to do it himself (right).

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Toxic pollution scandal from ships

Do you know what is the last virtually unregulated toxic pollution scandal in the US? Air pollution from big ships burning seriously dirty diesel fuel is causing 8,300 premature deaths in the US and Canada, and it's just now getting some regulatory attention.

If you live near a port in the state of Washington, then you breathe the most toxic are in the state. Worse than near a paper mill, a freeway, or an airport. Ugh. Air pollution from ships is a huge problem that needs a solution.

How lenient are the rules on big ships? According to the Seattle Times:

Unlike most diesel-powered vehicles, these ships have largely escaped regulation, partly because most are registered in other countries. As a result, large freighters often burn thick, syrupy oil filled with sulfur, a major contributor to toxic diesel soot. The fuel in these ships averages 27,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By comparison, diesel trucks must use fuel with only 15 ppm.

Due in part to this dirty fuel, neighborhoods around ports had the most toxic air in Washington state, according to a 2006 Seattle Times analysis.

To me, it's a scandal that we've had to tolerate this situation until now. Is it really ok to allow 8,300 premature deaths, caused by ship fuel that's 2000 times dirtier than truck diesel fuel?

Finally, some action. A new proposal before the International Maritime Organization will reduce (not solve) the problem. Thank goodness for some action, and it's about time.

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Tanker spills 11 million gallons of oil

Twenty years ago, the Exxon Valdez crashed and spilled lots of oil, and the world was forever changed.

The ecosystems remain affected, although the biggest effects are over. The world was outraged and demanded action--what did we get?

Are we safer from oil pollution than 20 years ago?

Most people don't know that routine ship operations leak more oil into our oceans than spills. And we're making little progress in solving that problem.

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Robo-fish to sniff out pollution

Check out the amazing robo-fish in the video below. They look and swim like real fish.

As part of the European SHOAL project (clever name, yes?), the robo-fish that sniff out pollution will be released off Spain. The reason for using robo fish is that fish swimming is very efficient so batteries can last longer. The robo fish will swim around and look for problems, and then report back to the mother ship.

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