All Oil Spills Are Different

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140808111923.htm

The summary of the issue found in this article is oil spills and how the oil reacts and changes in its new environment. No oils spills are the same and their effect on the environment depend on particular "external factors." These factors include the amount and speed of the wind and waves and also the temperature of the objects the oil is touching (the water and air.) The main issue is that oil spills effect humans and animals in a negative way. The article states that measures are being taken to clean the spills as quick as possible and make plans for the emergency response. A barrier to the problem is that drilling for oil is unavoidable in our society and spills are unfortunately inevitable. My opinion is that these spills should somehow be avoided because of their major impact on sea life and even people's lives. I feel like huge spills should never have happened in the first place and oil companies should make it their priority to elude them at all costs.

Penguin Species Being Threatened

Scientists have recently discovered that over the past twenty years, the populations of certain penguin species have significantly been reduced. Last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature recognized eleven penguin species as ‘threatened’ , two as ‘near threatened’ , and five as ‘of least concerned’. During a study led by Dr Phil Trathan, it was concluded that the main reasons for the reduction in penguin populations are habitat loss, pollution, and fishing. Trathan explains, “Penguins and humans often compete for the same food, and some of our other actions also impinge upon penguins.” This team of scientists believes that in order to help these penguin species survive, it is vital that we protect their habitats from being destroyed. One way to do this would be to create “marine conservation reserves”, but as Dr. Trathan explained, it would not be convenient for political and practical reasons. I believe that it is important for us to understand and lessen the negative effects we have on these penguins. If we do not, they could eventually become endangered or even extinct. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140806102808.htm

Illicit Ivory Issues

The killing of elephants for their tusks has always been a problem, and now, with elephants verging on being endangered, action must be taken. The only concivable response is to close all ivory markets and destroy all stockpiles. See, once illegal ivory is laundered into the legal ivory market, its very very difficult for authorites to track and confiscate. One answer other than shutting everything down is to protect the elephants, but the cost as far as funding and human lives goes will continue to increase and become unsustainable. As long as there is a way for poachers to sell the ivory in a manner that appears to be legal, they will continue.

It would take a lot of time and effort, but I believe it to be important that the poaching of elephants be stopped, and if closing the ivory markets be the only way, so be it. Jobs would be lost, national income in some countries would be affected, and, of course, ivory would disappear. These are barriers that stand in the way of immediate action being taken. The people debating over this issue say that eventually the ivory markets could be reopened, but there would be a long time without them.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140807145458.htm

Logging Effects on Malaysian Rain forests

Researchers from the University of Tasmania, the University of Papua New Guinea, and the Carnegie Institution for Science has recently found that 80% of the rainforests in Malaysian Borneo have been affected by industrial logging and logging roads. The scientists used high definition photos taken by satellites to uncover 364,000 kilometers of logging roads in Sabah and Sarawak, two states in Borneo, which leaves only 45,400 square kilometers of forest still intact. This degradation causes not only the destruction of many endangered species’ (such as the Sumatran rhinos) homes, but also allows immense amounts of carbon to be released into the atmosphere.

One solution proposed in this article is for Malaysia to focus on different industries exclude logging altogether. The problem with this solution is that Malaysia would need to find an alternate income stream. Also, the nation could not just cut off all ties to logging; it would have to slowly phase the industry out over several years. I personally believe that this solution is too slow to respond and by the time it took full effect, almost all of Borneo’s rainforests would be gone along with all of their unique plants and animals.

http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0717-borneo-rainforest-logging.html

From Sun to Steam

 Undergraduates from MIT invented an efficient way to convert solar energy into steam. Their creation is simpler than you may think: a layer of graphite flakes and an underlying carbon foam. Because it is porous, the structure can float on top of water.  When sunlight hits, it will essentially generate a “hot spot” on the graphite which draws up water and finally evaporated it as steam. (Is anyone else having thermochemistry flashbacks?) Now, if your thinking, like I previously was “what’s so good about steam production anyway?” Dr. Hadi Ghasemi. Lead Developer, explains, “Steam is important for desalination, hygenie systems, and sterilization.”

All in all, the new structure is a significant improvement from other more complex methods with a conversion rate of approximately 85% sun energy to steam. In my opinion, this has the potential to be a revolutionary product for environmental engineering. Think about it, conventional methods require huge costly structures that convert way less steam as an outcome. MIT students made the structure out of relatively inexpensive materials, a huge bonus to the consumer.

(https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/new-spongelike-structure-converts-solar-energy-into-steam-0721)

Problems of the Deep

Through technological advances, the ocean deep is becoming more and more available to human use. However, scientists are now warning against the exploitation of it for various reasons. For example, every decade, we are able to fish an average of 62.5 meters deeper than the decade before because of advances. But fish that deep reproduce slower, so even taking a smaller amount of these fish than ones that live shallower in the ocean affects them greatly. Also, pollution that floats out to sea and sinks deeper is now proving to affect the fish that live there and are brought up for us to eat, as well as the fisher men. The most common use of the deep ocean is mining, but this is harmful for the earth as well, because sometimes the drilling stirs up the ocean floor and sends up a sediment plume which can harm the water for miles, and not simply at the site.

The obvious solution would be to set up rules limiting fishing and mining and other uses for the ocean deep, but there's a problem to this. Most deep parts of the ocean are in international territory, where no particular nation has jurisdiction. The scientists who wrote the report on the exploitation of the ocean deep say that the next step is to attach an economic value to the services the deep provides us (such as natural resources) and decide if the value outweighs the potential cost to the earth.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140730094308.htm

Noise Kills Sea Slugs!

I just read an article about how boat noise is affecting the cellular development of sea hares, specifically sea slugs. These creatures aren't just the ordinary slug... They are crucial to the environment in that they eat toxic alga that can end up harming fish that we so dearly love! Boat noise was played next to half a batch of sea slug eggs and the other half enjoyed calming reef sounds. The side with the boat noise had a success rate that was more than 20% less than the reef side. The boat sounds not only harm the development inside the egg but make the sea slug less likely to survive! A possible solution is to control boat usage in critical areas. Simply don't allow boats in during the spawning and developing period. This could be a problem because the sea slugs might spawn in a very desirable area for boating. I personally believe that this is just a problem we are going to have to face.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140731095013.htm