from silent spring to silent night

**this video should be watched by everybody. because everybody who's drinking water is affected and you should know why.

would you treat a disease but not get rid of the cause?

analogy derived from the video: would you treat people for broken bones and internal organ damage, and then leave them to walk across highways amongst speeding motor vehicles?
watch this video and you will change the way you think about chemicals in our environment and what they are doing to us.

This is taken from a presentation given by Dr. Tyrone Hayes on the effects of Atrazine (a herbicide) on frogs.  But don't forget (also pointed out in the video), these effects have been demonstrated in other animals too: birds, rodents, fish, reptiles and ALSO MAMMALS (humans are mammals). 

Why are there so many different types of cancers affecting people, at such greater numbers today than before? Why are people getting fatter? Why is there a mass depletion of amphibians occurring in the world (Clue: it's not Chytrid fungus. It's another primary cause, leading to the secondary Chytrid infection)? I don't want to spoil too much, cos the video is seriously enlightening - i didn't plan on watching the entire 58 minutes (i'm supposed to be studying T__T), but it went by so quickly.



what the video enlightens: the general public not involved in the science industry cannot easily access scientific information. you can't go into a bookstore and read leading journals like "Nature", or "Science". there is no easy way to assess whether pharmaceutical companies and government agencies are telling the truth or not, because where you find the information - the scientific articles - are not easily accessible. 

for Corn and Money, generations of human health are being compromised. why don't they care? Europe, the manufacturer of this chemical has banned it. If you are in a position of power to change things, why risk your own life too and ignore what facts are telling you?

Gladstone Harbour Dredging

[Source: The Economist]

A short and generalised summary of what's happening at the Gladstone Harbour (Queensland, Australia).

Interview with Dr. Matt Landos - an independent researcher (a veterinary scientist) who will soon release a report on data collected from the Harbour - if you don't have time to watch it all, probably start from 13-14 minutes to get the more generalised explanation.

[Source: The Gladstone Observer]

To prepare the harbour for coal seam gas (methane) export (money) -  e.g. boats/equipment entering/leaving, the sediments are being dredged (dug up) and the material acquired dumped in the Great Barrier Reef. Yes, that Great Barrier Reef (link 1, 2). Excavation waste is being dumped into a UNESCO World Heritage site, a biodiverse and complex ecosystem (UNESCO wasn't notified when the project started). In addition, you'd think the government would consult experts before potentially disrupting an ecosystem - e.g. a vet in regards to animals, a coral expert, a water quality expert. Let's release the cane toad.

But the more immediate concern, is that as a result of all the digging, the water is being contaminated and to no surprise, the animals living in the water are now diseased and dying. Water to sea creatures (or anything living underwater, for that matter) is everything - how it gets its oxygen, how it gets its food, minerals, nutrients, essential ions, its toilet... it's everything. It's surrounded by its environment all the time and it cannot get away from it. The dredging is releasing materials into the water that is not usually there e.g. metals (such as aluminium) and nutrients from stirred up soil. Now, nutrients are good, but anything in excess can be toxic (seriously) - organisms like algae which produce toxins flourish in excess nutrients. This is kinda why you don't pour garden fertiliser into your backyard pool, or you don't wanna administer insecticides/fly-spray into your home aquarium. 

The government has collected some data to say that levels of some toxins (eg. some metals) are not above the levels considered to be 'toxic'/harmful. But what wasn't mentioned was the data was collected from a large body of water - ie. samples collected from where the toxins were coming from, and also further (and further and further) away from that site - where the water is only slightly contaminated. Then they combined all the numbers together and produced an average. So instead of revealing that: yes, the water is contaminated (eg. 20 times toxic levels) - the results were figuratively diluted out. Also, we/people don't entirely understand how chemicals (e.g. toxins / other substances in the water) interact with each other - even though the measurement of a certain substance may be "under" the harmful level, it may interact with something else and cause harm.

You've heard of lead poisoning and how it affects the brain, nerves and basically how the body functions. If the body cannot function well, well.. the animal cannot survive. The coral, fish, turtles, dugongs, crabs, dolphins and everything else living in or using the water - even people working in the area (such as fishermen) - are all being affected by the contaminated water (by affected, I mean getting ill and/or dying). 

When you get sick, you are more susceptible to getting more disease - the body's immune system becomes compromised (immunocompromised). Some of the authorities (govt, dredging company) are attributing some of the disease and mortalities to secondary diseases that the animals are getting, which are highly likely due to the contaminated water in the first place. (In short: contaminated water > unwell/sick fish > get secondary diseases eg. because they are less able to fight off 'the usual' load of diseases such as parasites). And the Queensland Government (their Environment department) are saying fish caught from these are still fit for human consumption. I don't think many people would want to eat emaciated fish with heart disease, fluid leaking into their body cavities, inflamed guts, brain disease; crabs with holes in their shells.  

A report that will soon be released collected data to see what the situation is actually like. Mortalities have increased, coinciding with the start of dredging. (nothing else besides that have changed - "what about the recent Queensland floods?" you ask? Well, as was mentioned in the video above by Dr. Landos, ever since that Harbour ecosystem existed (e.g. hundreds/thousands of years), there has probably been flood events - and monitoring has not seen deaths like current levels. 

(Personally, when I first heard of the situation, which was only yesterday. I naively was surprised and thought back to when I first saw the Asia Pulp and Paper (the destroyers of rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia and probably leading to its inhabitants' (eg. orangutans) extinction) TV advertisement being played in Australia  - how bluntly the public was being misled.)

Some web links (plenty more out there to research, as well - Google Scholar effects of contaminated water / heavy metal poisoning on fauna/flora, coral health etc etc etc - everything in the environment is interconnected, there is no way affecting one thing will not affect something else). Ok, enough of my rant. Spread this topic and raise awareness if you'd like.
- Courier Mail
- Weekly Times Now
- The Economist
for less objective links (not news articles):
- GreatBarrierReef.org - related blog posts
- GetUp! campaign page

*update: here's a link to the abc 7:30 queensland report news segment (the site won't let me embed the video elsewhere) - there's also a transcript of the video as well
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-04/commercial-fishermen-in-gladstone-harbour-call-for/3636740

some points to clear up (mentioned in the above news report and/or by Leo Zussino, from Gladstone Ports Corporation (working for the Port / the dredging project))
1. Overflow of barramundi, that came with the overflowing dam water (due to the floods) are increasing competition for food, and this is why the other fish are getting sick and dying - due to starvation.
No. Independent scientists (soon to be released report), not ones working for the government who approved this situation, found that there were plenty of fish for the barramundi (and other fish-eating fish) to eat, right next to where the barramundi were swimming. 

Also, it's not just fish competing with barramundi who are getting sick; dugongs, crabs, people, sharks - they're all affected and they're not competing with the barramundi for fish to eat. So this argument is moot.

2. Leo Zussino said: "We are causing an impact upon commercial fishermen's harvest in Gladstone harbour while we are dredging. But we're not causing in our view and all the scientific evidence we've seen any impact upon fish that's causing disease in fish."
Key words to take note here: "...all the scientific evidence we've seen...". I don't think "all the scientific evidence" that him and his Corporation has seen, can be compared to "all the scientific evidence" that scientists producing a peer-reviewed scientific report have seen (and to that add: and probably read and understood). 
It's like saying, 'there is no evidence' - when you didn't look in the right place!

3. the Gladstone Ports Corporation also said that diseased fish were there before the dredging started, so dredging could not be responsible for disease and deaths seen now.
Who do you believe: Fishermen who are working in the water and experiencing the problem first hand, or a Corporate Businessman who probably has not stepped foot in the actual waters or seen and touched the animals affected?

One of the fishermen interviewed said, "I caught 15 tonne of barra before the dredging started and not one of them had any sign of disease and about a month after the dredging started they started getting diseased."


You've probably now gotten a sense that the Gladstone Ports Corporation, and some  representatives of the government backing this project are willing to say things that's not backed by a lot of scientific evidence (i.e. untrue things, a.k.a lies). I really hope that someone high up gets their head screwed on right and realise what precious things they are destroying.

Camden Avian, Reptile & Exotic Pet Hospital

go here for cute baby wombat photos: http://macarthur-chronicle-camden.whereilive.com.au/photos/gallery/baby-wombats/


(but the real message is: slow down when driving in country roads at night so crossing wildlife are not hit)


this is the vet next to the uni btw! they've stopped receiving university funding, and so are in desperate need of donations. especially since they treat n care for wildlife (with no owners to pay for medical n husbandry costs). please help if you can - donate or be their client! they do have really good vets :)


>> Avian, Reptile and Exotic Pet Hospital

invisible dogs!

remember Improv Everywhere's Invisible Dogs stunt??
[i would insert video here, but net is too slow so i can't get the embedding link from youtube]
rspca nsw are having a similar thing to promote the million paws walk!
it's gonna be on monday 3rd may at 7:15am at QVB, and the walk is from there to the hyde park fountain.
i would so go but have an exam that morning T__T
so yea. anybody who wants to go (there'll be camera crews too :-o), appear at 7:15am at the QVB statue area.

hopenhagen

new sidebar widget! click for more details.

before i forget, if anyone wants/knows anybody that is looking for a pet (puppy/dog/kitten/cat/rabbit) near sydney and can't be bothered to go to the faraway yagoona rspca, leave a comment - cos i always get emails asking for people to take in animals and they are all so cute so i just stare at the jpeg and :(

yes.

national geographic magazine came!

bye.

Gorilla beringei graueri

i've mentioned this already to some people, but i probably didn't explain it all that well.. so here:

this year is actually the year of the gorilla (not chinese horoscopes, but to raise awareness etc etc)
and everywhere around the world, especially zoos and foundations like dian fossey gorilla fund and jane goodal institute (who are usually concerned with chimps, but also taking this project on), are telling people how nearly everyone of us is causing the gorillas to die out.

the story is, in every single mobile phone (literally. unless you buy one that has been recycled and replaced) there is a capacitor -to hold the electricity- that is made from a mineral called "columbite-tantalite", or more commonly known as "coltan". The major source of this mineral is in Congo - where gorilla habitats are.

Sure, there are some in other countries like Australia, where there aren't any gorillas, but because there is just so many, and most importantly: so cheap (child labour, black market, africa), companies are not buying the legitimate, legal coltan.
Yep, every single mineral mined is ILLEGAL. because once it's sold into the main, legal market, it can't be traced, so the mining continues on. Also, most of it is done by peasants, school children, and farmers (probably. most likely. not getting paid) who turn to the mines because the demand for coltan in the developed world is so great. and so, people are focusing on this mining instead of farming/cultivating food which is what's actually needed by the SIXTY MILLION PEOPLE who live in Congo.
and again, since every single mobile phone contains the mineral, ( and also laptops, pagers, cameras, printers, other electronics -though i'm not sure whether it is in every single one like with the phones), after the coltan extracted, it's refined by companies such as H.C. Starck & Cabot and sold to capacitor manufacturers such as Hitachi, Dell, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, NEC, and Vishay. Companies which we regard as doing great things for the world, but are not telling people about this, really, under-publicised issue.
(the dian fossey people also mentioned that they don't have the right contacts to approach these companies - bosses etc. so if for some weird luck someone reading this happens to know somebody... please pass on their number :D)

Finally, to the point:
the gorilla habitat is destroyed because of the actual excavation process and road constructions. The gorillas displaced are then exploited for bush meat or poaching. Because these mines are so far away from the main cities, there're also no food to buy. so the gorillas become the food. seriously, wth is this.

And what's really distressing:
there are only 3000 Eastern Lowland Gorillas left IN THE ENTIRE WORLD/PLANET/EARTH! 3000! that's only 30 uni lecture theatres each fitting 100 people. 3000! it's really seriously unbelievable. this subspecies is the ones who are affected by the illegal coltan mining. and this NINETY PERCENT demolition of the population only took FIVE YEARS.

What is realised that everyone can do:
recycle old mobile phones so that the coltan can be taken out, and replaced by another material (there is an alternative - it's obviously more expensive. since coltan is CHEAP!) and then the phone is sold again as a cheaper recycled phone (eg. to people in third-world countries.)
i know most people probably have a pile of old, outdated phones hidden away in a pile somewhere. so this is also a way of putting it to use, instead of letting it collect dust. any reason anyone want to use is fine. the gorillas will be smiling anyhow.

i'm not sure of one international address where you can send your old phones to, but from what i can tell with the help of google, all the zoos around the world are taking part in this project. and i know for taronga, the mail is reply-paid, so u don't even have to pay anything to send your old phones.
so... type something like "gorilla phone recycle" and the closest zoo near your place should pop up and u can send it to them. or you can go to the dian fossey or jane goodal site as well.

for ppl here in australia (actually, all i know is for sydney): taronga zoo site.

here's a brochure that you can print if you want to let other people know (via rapidshare):
page1 page2
(leave a comment if rapidshare's deleted it & i'll email it to you)


yes. thank you for reading
please spread news about this, and help :)



(photos from ARKive, wikipedia.)



(i've not forgotten about the orangutans. in the meantime: use as little palm oil products as you can. which means giving up those korean onion-FLAVOURED rings)

dear readers

whoever you are, even if you stumbled on this website by accident, please don't zoom back off to google just yet - become a signatory of The Prince's Rainforest Project and help raise awareness of the damaging effects of deforestation for everyone and to identify appropriate incentives that will encourage rainforest nations to stop burning down vast areas of valuable forests.

(either click on the link or sign up through the widget i added underneath my links section)

Background

Tropical rainforests absorb nearly a fifth of all man-made CO2 emissions around the world, which helps greatly to minimise the effects of climate change. However, these same rainforests are currently being destroyed at the rate of an area the size of a football pitch every four seconds.

To make matters worse, when the rainforests are burnt down - to clear land for commercial farming or mining, for example - they release all the CO2 that they have stored back into the atmosphere. The alarming scale of this rapid burning of the rainforests around the world means that CO2 emissions from tropical deforestation are actually higher than from the entire global transport sector.

Introduction to the Prince's Rainforest Project

The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP) was set up in 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales following reports from leading climate change experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to promote awareness of the urgent need to take action against tropical deforestation.

We are working with governments, businesses and non-profit organisations around the world to find solutions to deforestation - and to find them fast - with the ambition of ‘making the trees worth more alive than dead’.