Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen

A new study by scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading attributes the dramatic reduction in Arctic summer sea ice since the 1970s to human activity.

The study found that the 40% loss since the 70s is at least 70% man made, with the rest down to natural variability in the Atlantic. And that is only a conservative estimate, with as much as 95% of ice loss estimated to be caused by humans.

The study’s leader, Jonny Day, is quoted in the Guardian on one of the accelerating causes of Arctic ice melt, which relates to climate change:

[There is] something called the ice-albedo feedback, which means that when you have less ice, it means there’s more open water and therefore the ocean absorbs more radiation and will continue to warm.

Though the Arctic warming trend is disastrous for the region’s wildlife, fossil fuel and shipping companies are rubbing their hands at the ice melt, as areas for drilling for oil and gas open up and new, shorter sea routes are created.

Fossil fuel giant Shell can’t wait for more ice melt. They may have jumped the gun on an extended drilling season in the Bering Sea off western Alaska, as ice cover there is more extensive than expected. Shell is also struggling to meet emissions standards for air quality and has requested the US Environmental Protection Agency to increase its limits on nitrogen oxides and eliminate its limits on ammonia emissions. What development wants – development usually gets.

Read more on that story from Reuters.

Meanwhile in Greenland, ice melt has also gone way up. From the 8^th to 12^th of July, surface snow and ice melt increased from 40-97%. Though the melting corresponds with climate scientists predictions of Greenland’s melting sea ice and glaciers, NASA scientists have cautioned against linking the situation to climate change, since according to ice core data, similar melting periods occur every 150 years.

See Al Jazeera for more.

indigenous 'water laws' protest in Ecuador, 2010; photo by Lou Gold (visionshare on Flickr CC)

A rainbow coalition of indigenous groups and social/political activists recently hit the streets of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, in protest of large-scale mining projects approved by the country’s president Rafael Correa.

Correa praised the Chinese mining project, claiming they will bring 50,000 jobs and billions in revenue.

Though Correa is popular in Ecuador, the project is facing opposition.

Ecuador has already suffered a massive oil spill in the Amazon region, and some 50% of the country is already covered by mining and oil extraction projects. So Ecuadorans are understandably wary of more major mining operations.

See the following video report from Al Jazeera English for more:

Far away and on a much smaller scale, Yorkshire in northern England is also in the throws of what looks to be a mining revival. This time it’s potash in the region’s North York Moors National Park.

Though most press on the recent discovery of large, high quality potash deposits in Yorkshire has been positive, one video report by Deutsche Welle addresses the potential environmental impacts of mining.

And it’s not just a question of 5,000 jobs vs. spoiling the sights of a beloved national park. There are also issues of pollution to consider.

Environmentalists fear that building the huge mine and the countless tons of waste material that will be produced will destroy part of the national park. The mayors of surrounding communities, in contrast, are celebrating. They hope that, after decades of decline, the pits could provide new impetus for reviving the local economy.

– Deutsche Welle

Check out the video report for more:

photo by mtsofan (Flickr CC)

In preparation for the eventuality of oil spills resulting from drilling in the icy Arctic region, Shell Oil might be enlisting the help of sniffer dogs as an inexpensive contingency plan.

Shell plans to start drilling off the northwest coast of Alaska as early as June.

Since there are as of yet no methods for detecting oil spills that are covered by ice and snow, the use of dachshunds and border collies could be the best the minds of Shell and other companies have been able to come up with. Personally, I have no idea if this is an effective way of detecting oil spills or not, but Greenpeace doesn’t like it one bit.

From the Guardian:

The idea that small dogs can track leaking oil deep under the Arctic pack ice in the middle of winter is absurd. The fact that they are paying good money to seriously use this as an option shows how much they are scrabbling around for a solution.

–Ben Ayliffe, Arctic campaigner for Greenpeace.

Another environmental group, the US Arctic Program for the Pew Environment Group, described the use of sniffer dogs as ‘embarrassing’.

According to the research, the dogs detected oil 5km (3.1mi) below the surface, were well behaved and tolerant of the harsh Arctic environment.

Shell claims there are as of yet no plans to use the dogs while drilling for oil off Alaska.

photo by DianeWorth (Flickr CC)

The oil reserves of the Canadian province of Alberta are second in size only to those of Saudi Arabia. They are also more polluting and expensive to extract.

In response to the European Union’s plans to label oil imports from Alberta’s tar sands as ‘highly polluting’, which they are, Canada has threatened a ‘trade war’ with Europe.

Recent revelations of collusion between the UK and Canadian governments with fossil fuel companies who source their oil from the tar sands show plans to use underhanded tactics to mitigate any damage to the ‘Canadian brand’ of oil. In short, they’d like to muddle things by not singling out tar sands oil and ‘tarring’ all types of fossil fuel with the same brush, if you’ll excuse the pun.

Canadian representatives dispute claims that tar sands oil is more polluting than other fossil fuels, maintaining that they are unscientific. But the European Commission and environmental campaigners maintain that the science is correct.

Colin Baines, the toxic fuels campaign manager from the Co-operative, is quoted in the Guardian:

There is a wealth of independent science stating that tar sands fuels emit significantly more carbon than conventional oil, no matter how many briefings Canada gives claiming otherwise. […] The Canadian government’s aggressive lobbying and attempted intimidation of the EU is making it look increasingly desperate. But its threat of a WTO challenge faces one massive problem: tar sands oil is not a ‘like product’ with crude oil so no unlawful discrimination exists under WTO. The EU must adhere to the science and penalise the higher emissions.

The US recently rejected controversial plans for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring tar sands oil from Canada to distribution centers and refineries in the US. Now Canada is planning a different pipeline to its West Coast in order to export oil to China.

Todd Paglia, executive director at ForestEthics, was quoted in the LA times, chiding that Canada is on its way to becoming an ‘authoritarian petro state’ and ‘resource colony for China’.

Read more about these stories in the Guardian and the Los Angeles Times.

map by NormanEinstein (Wikimedia Commons)

On Sunday a Russian oil platform capsized between Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk off far eastern Russia.

The oil rig, which was manned by 67 people subcontracted by Russian oil giant Gazprom, was being towed during a storm when heavy winds toppled it into the sea.

So far Russian authorities have confirmed 16 deaths and a rescue raft with 15 people has been spotted, but it is not known how many on the raft – if any – are alive.

According to regional emergency services, the accident poses no environmental threat, since the drilling platform’s fuel stocks are sealed.

Read more on that story on CNN and BBC and check out yesterday’s video report on the accident by Russia Today below.

Meanwhile a cargo ship is lying beached on France’s Atlantic coast since Friday, leaking fuel into a giant nature preserve. The ship beached due to a storm, which raged across France, leaving some 320,000 homes without power.

More on that story in the Guardian.

image credit: Abaconda Management Group (Flickr CC)

Oil leaking from the stranded container ship off New Zealand’s coast has washed up on local beaches and could continue polluting for weeks, according to authorities.

Beautiful Mt Maunganui Beach in Tauranga has been hit with “tar balls”, aka toxic blobs of oil, prompting authorities to issue a public warning to stay away from the stricken beach.

So far some 10-50 tons of oil are estimated to have leaked from the Liberian container ship, the Rena, since it hit Astrolabe Reef, near the city of Tauranga on Wednesday, poisoning local wildlife. Weather conditions this week are predicted to hamper rescue and clean up efforts, which are minimal even in the best conditions.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key responded to criticisms on the rescue/cleanup response on a national breakfast program.

He is quoted in the Guardian:

Every year around the world there are ships that get into grief, but not ones that normally just plough into a very well documented reef in calm waters at high speed.

A report by APNZ adds:

Another concern was a number of containers on board that were holding hazardous material, with 11 of the containers holding goods classified as “dangerous”. Another two held goods that could give off flammable gases if they came into contact with water.

According to BBC News some 500 people are involved in the joint effort to salvage and clean up this worsening environmental tragedy.

photo by Evan Goldenberg (Naveg on Flickr CC)

A large container ship is stranded on a reef off the coast of New Zealand and is leaking oil.

The ship, named the Rena, ran aground on Astrolabe Reef near the city of Tauranga on Wednesday, causing a 5km (3mi) long oil slick to leak into the Bay of Plenty.

So far 4 sea birds have been found dead in the slick, while 4 blue penguins and 2 shags have been rescued by New Zealand Wildlife Response.

From the New Zealand Herald:

The Rena was carrying about 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and about 70 tonnes of marine diesel when it ran aground this week.

23-25 Filipino crewmembers remain aboard the Liberian container ship and are working to minimize the leak and salvage what they can of the cargo.

From BBC News:

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation said the Astrolabe Reef was covered with colourful sponges and anemones, with seals and gamefish such as marlin common in surrounding waters.

Watch the below video from the Telegraph:

photo credit: Fred Dott/Greenpeace

The oil leak in the North Sea, which was discovered by Shell last Monday – but not announced until Friday – has been mostly staunched, according to the UK government.

Yet another, albeit much smaller, leak has been found stemming from the same offshore platform and it is spilling some 2 barrels of crude oil per day. The second leak is proving difficult to stop, according to Shell, due to its ‘awkward’ positioning.

Last Monday’s oil spill is already being called the worst to occur in UK waters in the last 10 years.

From an article in the Independent:

An estimated 216 tonnes (1,300 barrels) has already spilled into the sea following the initial spill, which began at the Gannet Alpha platform 112 miles east of Aberdeen last Wednesday.

Though nowhere near the scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last year and is considered the worst marine oil spill ever, environmental groups have expressed concern over the recent events in the North Sea.

A spokesperson for the Scottish branch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is quoted in an article for the Guardian:

We know oil of any amount, if in the wrong place, at the wrong time, can have a devastating impact on marine life. Currently thousands of young auks – razorbills, puffins and guillemots – are flightless and dispersing widely in the North Sea during late summer. So they could be at serious risk if contaminated by this spill.

Greenpeace and WWF Scotland have also voiced concerns and criticism of Shell’s practices in the North Sea and their handling of the oil spill.

photo by Sosialistisk Ungdom - SU (Flickr CC)

Lest we forget, Nigeria’s Ogoniland region is still poisoned and ecologically damaged by 50 years of unsafe, irresponsible oil drilling practices.

A new UN study (paid for by the Shell and the Nigerian government) puts the damage to the area, located on the Niger Delta, at levels even worse than previously thought. Clean up could cost $1bn and take 30 years to complete.

Meanwhile the local fishing community has seen their livelihood suffer and health issues linked to environmental toxicity plague residents.

Drinking water is contaminated, with some areas experiencing benzene levels at 900 times acceptable levels.

From BBC News:

The report, based on examinations of some 200 locations over 14 months, said Shell had created public health and safety issues by failing to apply its own procedures in the control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure.

Spills have also been blamed on illegal refining and criminal sabotage of pipelines as well as an overall failure of successive Nigerian governments to protect Ogoniland and its people.

Click here to see a slideshow on Shell oil spills in the Niger Delta from the Guardian.

photo by Rainforest Action Network (Flickr CC)

Around 35% of Ecuador’s residents live below the poverty line. The economy of this South American nation depends overwhelmingly on its natural resources and agriculture. Half of the area of Ecuador is covered by the Amazon rainforest.

The Ecuadoran Amazon is one of the richest, most bio-diverse place on the planet and the “lungs of the Earth”, supplying crucial oxygen and taking in vast amounts of CO2.

However, beneath this extremely important carbon sink and treasure of natural life that the entire world benefits from is a huge amount of oil – $7bn worth.

From a piece by Johann Hari:

[…] underneath that rainforest, there is almost a billion barrels of untapped oil, containing 400 million tones of planet-cooking gases. We crave it. We howl for it. Unlike biodiversity and a safe climate, it’s tradable for cash. Here is a textbook example of what is driving both the sixth great extinction and global warming. We have been putting short-term profits for a few ahead of the long-term needs of our species.

Ecuador’s government is willing to take $3.5bn to preserve the rainforest and not cut it down to extract the oil – that’s half of what they could earn from drilling. By forgoing the big temporary pay off, this poor country would receive much needed cash and the world would keep a big part of its lungs and biodiversity.

The offer has been on the table for 5 years and Ecuador is running out of time. If they don’t get $100,000 by the end of the year they will have to start clearing the precious Amazon.

But now, according to an article in the Guardian, small donations from private citizens are now being accepted through the Yasuni ITT Trust Fund.

From the Financial Times:

So far only token amounts have been raised: Spain has given €1m ($1.3m), Chile has donated $100,000 and Belgium’s regional Walloon government has provided €300,000. All the money goes into a UN trust fund and Ecuador plans to use it for renewable energy, conservation and reforestation projects.

Is it going to work? Will the world’s governments step up and cough up for Ecuador’s and everyone’s future? Wait and see or chip in to help out yourself.

photo by wisley (Flickr CC)

The International Whaling Commission is currently holding talks on the British island of Jersey.

Issues being dealt with at the IWC talks include the effects of oil and gas exploration on gray whales in Russia’s far eastern waters. Western gray whales are an endangered species and number only 130. Seismic guns, used to find underwater oil and gas deposits off the coast of the Russian island of Sakhalin, have been shown to disturb the whales. The gray whales’ only summer feeding ground is located in a small area off of Sakhalin.

Read more on that story in this BBC News report.

Another report in The Ecologist explores how the ban on commercial whale meat is being circumvented, namely by Iceland and Japan. Some whale meat is even being processed in the UK:

Iceland’s biggest whaling company Hvalur has killed 273 endangered fin whales and exported more than 1,200 tonnes of fin whale meat and blubber to Japan since 2008, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), in a trade worth estimated US$17 million.

And it’s not just hunting and the fossil fuel industry that threaten these gentle giants of the deep. Military sonar, pollution, climate change and tourism by supposed whale lovers all contribute to threatening the survival of whales.

Read more about that topic in the Guardian.

Also check out this report from the IWC by Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

According to the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) recent years have seen the Philippines experience a sharp rise in the production of energy from hydro and natural gas, and especially from geothermal and other renewable sources.

At the same time, power generated from coal and oil peaked and began a somewhat steady decline during the last decade (though figures are only shown up to 2005).

What’s sure is that large cities, especially Manila, suffer from heavy pollution due to road traffic.

Check out the following video report from Al Jazeera English on how the government in the Philippines has begun implementing programs to replace fuel burning jeepneys and trikes (three-wheeled auto rikshaws) with silent and much cleaner electric counterparts. As this policy takes off, it is hoped that air pollution in the Southeast Asian capital will significantly decrease.

photo by kris krüg (kk+ on Flickr CC)

Documents accessed under the Freedom of Information Act show BP attempting to influence independent research into the effects of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmental activist group Greenpeace got a hold of incriminating emails and passed them on to the Guardian.

Those concerns go far beyond academic interest into the impact of the spill. BP faces billions in fines and penalties, and possible criminal charges arising from the disaster. Its total liability will depend in part on a final account produced by scientists on how much oil entered the gulf from its blown-out well, and the damage done to marine life and coastal areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The oil company disputes the government estimate that 4.1m barrels of oil entered the gulf.

Not a big surprise, really. After all, the White House disagreed with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about how much oil had been cleaned up last summer. With that kind of support of course BP is going to feel emboldened to skew any findings concerning the impact of the spill.

Read more in the Guardian.

Also check out this slideshow of the BP oil spill in the Telegraph and this ITN video report of an anti BP protest in London by activists joined by victims of the spill.

image by Thierry Ehrmann (Abode of Chaos on Flickr CC)

Time Magazine has cited a source close to Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya claiming that the North African dictator may sabotage oilfields and pipelines to the Mediterranean Sea.

In the first Gulf War of 1991, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered engineers to burn oil fields and blow up wells in Kuwait, burning one billion barrels of crude and creating an ecological catastrophe which killed vegetation and wildlife, polluted groundwater and poisoned the local human population.

Besides cutting oil supplies to Europe, if Gaddafi carries out such an act of wanton destruction, a serious environmental tragedy may add to the human tragedy already taking place in Libya.

Information coming out of Libya is scarce and unreliable and the Time source acknowledges that Gaddafi may be bluffing.

Read more here and see the below video report from ITN for more on the story.

see also:

War and the environment: The Garden of Eden recovers

photo by Rainforest Action Network (Flickr CC)

An Ecuadoran court has found oil giant Chevron guilty of contaminating the South American country’s Amazon basin.

A judge in an Ecuadoran court levied a fine of $8bn (€6bn) against Chevron for deaths, illnesses and monetary losses sustained by the local inhabitants of the rainforest from spills of toxic waste and crude oil. The spills are estimated by a Swedish University study to total 30bn gallons (113bn liters). This amount dwarfs the 205m gallons spilt by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

Though the suit is being touted as a hard fought victory for the indigenous people of Ecuador, the amount fell far short of the $27.3 sought by plaintiffs.

The epic and bitterly fought lawsuit over the “Amazon Chernobyl” has been going on for 18 years. It was brought on behalf of 30,000 people whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco’s operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.

–Guardian

Chevron blasted the judgment, calling it “illegitimate”, “unenforceable” and a “fraud”. Due to appeals, the US-based multinational energy company will probably be able to avoid paying out for years. This seems to be par for the course for Chevron.

From a statement by Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network via a BBC News report:

Chevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and lobbying campaigns to avoid cleaning up the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest.

Read more on the story in the Guardian and from AP, including a video report.

photo by Jungbim (Wikimedia Commons)

Members of the Cree Nation have come to London in order to draw attention to the plight of their native lands in Canada.

Alberta, Canada’s oil sands or ‘tar sands’ are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil, previously considered too costly and difficult to extract. Yet with pressure to get off ‘foreign’ oil and the high fuel prices of the last decade, extracting bitumen via surface mining has become more economically viable, despite its high environmental and human costs.

What’s happening in Alberta is shocking when witnessed: dirty stretches of smoking wasteland, dotted with refineries in what once was a rich ecosystem of pristine forest. This is the land of native Canadian tribes such as the Cree, who are concerned about how their habitat is being destroyed and contaminated by the tar sand oil industry.

Click here to see a BBC News video report with more on the story.

For more on the tar sands, including startling video footage, see the following video featuring Greenpeace Executive Director Kumi Naidoo as he flies over the tar sands for a birds eye view of the destruction.

Read about NASA scientist James Hansen’s objections to Alberta’s tar sands from All Headline News:

NASA Scientist Urges Canada Not To Touch Oil Sands

image credit: Rose/Greenpeace

The aborted 10:10 campaign film ‘No Pressure’ has elicited a lot of hate, anger – or at least pretend outrage – because of its questionable attempt at satire. Meanwhile, some actual, dangerous behavior is happening off the UK coast, near the Shetland Islands, in the form of deep sea oil drilling.

Where is the outrage and vitriol about that?

The Gulf of Mexico recently got fouled and workers died – actual people rather than pretend characters in a short film. Billions of dollars in livelihoods, an ecological catastrophe, blah blah blah… What? Oh yeah sure, go ahead and ‘drill baby drill’ again off of Greenland and Scotland. We need oil, have no choice, yada yada… just please stop building those ugly wind turbines. They spoil our nice views.

Without waiting to learn the lessons from the Gulf of Mexico and without waiting for public and expert opinion, Huhne [UK government Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change] has made the bizarre decision that there is a low risk of harm from Chevron’s deep-sea drilling and there is no need for an environmental assessment of its affects.

–John Sauven, Greenpeace executive director

The UK’s ‘greenest government ever’ is really starting to take the piss. I bet they even laugh at that ironic moniker themselves. Maybe it was satirical – like the No Pressure film. Again, not as controversial or offensive, however. For that they would need to make a film where Cameron and Clegg pretend throw a bag of seal pups into a biomass generator, which fuels the actual drilling ship in the North Sea, all the while laughing maniacally.

Read more on the story in the following article from Guardian:

Chevron to begin deepwater drilling off UK coast

Additional resources:

gobeyondoil.org

image credit: ©Will Rose/Greenpeace (26/9/10)

After four days of Greenpeace activists hanging in a survival pod attached to an oil drilling ship in the North Sea, a court in Edinburgh, Scotland issued an injunction yesterday ordering the campaigners to leave on grounds of safety.

According to an article in the Observer, oil giant Chevron claimed the need to move their ship due to rough seas, though Greenpeace countered that Chevron simply intends to venture into another site for exploratory deep-sea drilling. Greenpeace announced that it would comply, nonetheless.

Yet just one day later, Greenpeace has renewed its efforts to stop deep-sea oil drilling in the North Sea by swimming in front of the drilling ship, named the Stena Carron.

From a Press Association report:

That oil drill ship is the size of a sky-scraper on its side and as it cut through the water towards us I felt really scared, it’s like nothing I’ve ever done, but we are determined to stop it reaching its deep water drilling site.

–Greenpeace activists Ben Stewart

The swimmers haven’t stopped the massive Stena Carron from reaching its goal, but the action is just one effort in a new wave of tactics from the environmental campaigner in its fight against deep water drilling.

photo by David Astley (banyanman on Flickr CC)

The environmental and geopolitical ramifications of melting Arctic glaciers and the rush of different nations for the region’s mineral wealth is fraught with conflict and change.

Melting ice in the Arctic spells trouble for some of Greenland’s traditional indigenous Inuit and for low-lying nations vulnerable to rising sea levels. A warming climate will also change shipping routes in the region, contributing further to the opening up of the region for economic exploitation.

The Arctic is becoming the new battleground for the environment. Groups such as Greenpeace, the WWF and Climate Camp actively confront the activities of oil companies, like Scotland’s Cairn Energy, as they rush headlong into the pristine and ecologically sensitive area.

The main conflict, however, is not be between environmentalists and oil companies, but between the different nations eager to assert their rights to access the reserves of gas and oil which lie under the Arctic’s icy waters – mainly, Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark and Norway. A 2008 document on polar resources, signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, even contained a provision for military force.

Russian Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev told journalists last week that Moscow estimates its Arctic sector contains 100 billion tons of oil and gas, plus a cornucopia of other valuable mineral resources.

–Christian Science Monitor

Read more in the Christian Science Monitor:

Russia’s Putin says he wants peaceful division of Arctic

And see the following two videos from Al Jazeera English:

Greenland glacier ‘shrinking fast’

Scrambling for the Arctic’s oil

image credit: Greenpeace UK

A Chevron vessel has been occupied by Greenpeace activists in an attempt to stop oil drilling in the waters of Scotland’s Shetland Islands.

The US oil firm has dubious company in the region, which is deemed to have some 2 billion barrels of oil, in the form of the BP who also plan on drilling near Shetland for oil and gas.

They are preventing the anchor from being pulled up and effectively blocking the ship from moving to its drill site. We are calling on North Sea governments to adopt a ban on all deep-water drilling.

–Greenpeace (via UPI)

According to a report in the Guardian, Greenpeace claims it could continue occupying the Chevron ship for up to a month.

The activists are based on the same Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, that only last month confronted Cairn Energy’s exploratory drilling project in the Arctic off the coast of Greenland.