Our Oceans are Under Attack

Bangkok on river delta

I'm not so sure I would ascribe Bangkok's base origin as a sea related event? This city is built on a major rivers delta,...correct??

 

Anoxic Events

I would refer some folks back to posting #88 where I reference a film and certain portions of that film that discusses anoxic events in our oceans
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/all-things-boats-and-boating/our-oceans-under-attack-27446-6.html#post276484

 

Absolutely yes. I have long preached 'energy storage' as one of the holy grails. It would really make the use of that enormous sunlight energy we are bombarded with, usable.

 

Ha...ha...ha, what a laugh. Can you imagine what those 'ocean pipes' would look like in a couple of years of marine growth,....totally rendered ineffective.

 

Interesting perspectives, particularly considering California's current problems,...and their history of trying to 'import' water from the north.

And makes you think twice about the possibility that we could pollute that really major aquifer we have out west with tar-sands oil (very difficult to clean up, if at all) from that Keystone pipeline.

 

You may have forgotten the thread you started nearly a decade ago:

Copper-Nickel, Seawater Applications

Wish I could find a reasonable source of Cu-Ni foil that I could try adhering to a boat hull as an anti-fouling treatment.

 

Good Memory !!
I'm not so sure it would be that effective in a really close environment of that piping as I was picturing it, nor for extended number of years. But perhaps that would be a possible, albeit a rather expensive one considering the price of copper these days.

On the other hand perhaps some of these plastics these days could be utilized. I can't remember the exact names for the type, but a number of them are naturally antifoulant by their very nature,...nothing sticks to them.

I once made the rudder stocks for our Firefly trimaran out of thick blocks of these plastics rather than fancy SS fixtures with various bearing inserts. Just sawed out the shapes from thick blocks of this plastic, and drilled the holes for the rudder shaft and the kick-up pivot shafts. Worked great, and all naturally anti-foulant.

(PS:What brought it back to mind was my effort this morning to 'glue' a plastic container they sell Crystal Lt Lemonade in, to a ceramic dish.....there is just no glue, epoxy, etc that will stick to those plastic containers)

 

The article said the sea created Bangkok land region, also with Bangkok sinking 1.2 inches each year and sea level rising on top of that I would say Bangkok's future and past has much to do with the sea.

"A thousands years ago, all of Bangkok was flood land," Sanitwong explains, pointing out that the 230-year-old city itself only exists because of historic climate change.

"Somehow over a certain period, we had more than average strong winds and waves. Those strong winds and waves from the sea moved the sand and soil and accumulated in this area and it became Bangkok."

The city is therefore particularly sensitive to any alterations in the climate and seriously at risk should anything change again.

"We believe we are in the phase where we have less strong winds and storms in this particular area. So thus no more mechanism to bring in the sediments and the clay from the sea, the ocean," Sanitwong warns.

And that means Bangkok is also threatened by the rising sea level.

 

I'd like some too - it'd have to be a vast improvement over the tin foil hat I have to use right now......

PDW

 

The Arctic is 'unraveling' due to climate change, and the consequences will be global

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/climate-change/news/article.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=11434783

What’s happening in the Arctic affects all of us, writes Chris Mooney

We often hear that climate change is radically reshaping the Arctic, a place many of us have never visited. As a result, it can be hard to feel directly affected by what's happening up in a distant land of polar bears, ice floes and something odd called permafrost.

A new booklet from the United States National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council wants to change that. Synthesising much past academy work on the Arctic region, the booklet - being released just before the US assumes the chairmanship of the eight-nation Arctic Council later this month - blazons this message: "What Happens in the Arctic Doesn't Stay in the Arctic."

Here are four potential ways, drawing both upon the new report and much of the Washington Post's reporting, that changes in the Arctic will reverberate well beyond it and, in some cases, have planet-wide consequences:

1. Changing Your Weather

This is controversial, but there is growing scientific research backing the still contested conclusion that changes to the Arctic are leading to changes in weather in the mid-latitudes. The basic idea is that a warmer Arctic plays games with the jet stream, the stream of air high above us in the stratosphere that carries our weather and that is driven by temperature contrasts between the mid and high latitudes.

If the Arctic warms faster than the mid latitudes do, then the jet stream could slow down, goes the theory. It could develop a more elongated and loopier path, leading to a persistence of particular weather conditions - whether intense snow, intense heat, intense rain, or something else that is, you guessed it, intense.

2. Changing What You Eat

3. Raising Sea Levels

4. Worsening Global Warming Itself

 

http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2015/02/cold-pacific-ocean-offsetting-global-warming

Because the Pacific cooling is just one piece of an ongoing cycle, the slowdown in warming isn’t going to last, Steinman says. “It’s fair to say that over the next couple of decades, we would expect to see the trend reverse, and internal variability accelerating the warming.” Mann words it more strongly: “It’s a double-edged sword, and we’re about to see the other edge of that sword.”

Since the late 1990s, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation has been in a cool phase

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...y-2100-with-cataclysmic-results-10193506.html

Global warming: Scientists say temperatures could rise by 6C by 2100 and call for action ahead of UN meeting in Paris

The risk of hitting the highest upper estimate for global warming based on current levels of carbon dioxide emissions is now so high that it is equivalent to tolerating the risk of 10,000 fatal aircraft crashes a day, according to the 17 “Earth League” scientists and economists who have signed the joint statement.

The experts have drawn up a three-page summary of the action needed to be agreed on at the UN meeting in Paris this December, which is widely seen as the last chance for the world’s political leaders to agree on a binding treaty to prevent the global climate from slipping into a dangerously precarious state.

Scientists calculate that the world has already warmed by an average of about 0.85C over the past 120 years and that a further increase of no more than 2C is the lowest that could be tolerated without running the risk of dangerous climate “tipping points” leading to further, accelerated warming.
“2015 is potentially one of the most decisive years in modern human history on earth when it comes to determining our future prospects for wellbeing and prosperity for 9 to 10 billion people over the next century,” said Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden who chaired the Earth League group.

“The key element of this statement is that a window is still open, but just barely. There is still an opportunity to make the transition to a safe, reasonably-stable climate in the future, and the decisions in 2015 may be decisive for that opportunity,” Dr Rockstrom said.

Dr Rockstrom added: “We are on a trajectory that will leave our world irrevocably changed, far exceeding the 2C mark. This gamble risks disaster for humanity with unmanageable sea-level rise, heat waves, droughts and floods.”

 

I burned about 100 pounds of wood that I killed to celebrate Earth Day today.

 

http://www.alternet.org/environment/earth-day-commons-dream

The Big Shift Needed for Humanity to Protect the Earth: Restore the Commons

On Earth Day, let's talk about making the commons the organizing principle of social, economic and cultural life.

At a time when ecological destruction is more dire than ever, the work of protecting the planet depends on dreamers just as much as of scientists, activists, public officials and business leaders.

Earth Day, when millions of people voice support for environmental causes, is the perfect time to recognize this. While it’s critical to wrestle power away from those who believe that corporate profits are all that matter, we won’t achieve a sustainable, just future without serious attention to imagining a different kind of world. That’s why it’s great to see artists playing an increasingly active role in the climate justice movement today.

What bold blueprints for a green planet will arise if we unleash the full power of our idealism and ingenuity? What visions of new ways to lead our lives would turn the public’s indifference about climate change into enthusiasm for building a society that is more sustainable and fair for all?

The focus for most people’s dreams would be the familiar places they love—neighborhoods, cities, suburbs, villages and countryside. Think what could happen if we declared these places commons, which belong to all of us and need to be improved for future generations. Citizens would stand up, lock arms with their neighbors and demand new political and economic directions for our society. They would open discussions with business leaders, government officials, scientists and design professionals on how to create resilient, equitable, greener communities. But the conversation wouldn’t stop there. We’d plan for less carbon and waste and poverty, but also for more fun and joy and conviviality—which are equally strategic goals.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2015/apr/22/earth-day-around-the-world-in-pictures

Earth Day around the world – in pictures

From protests in Sumatra to school discussions in Assam and planting trees in Virginia, Earth Day is marked around the world on 22 April to raise awareness of sustainable practices that help protect the Earth’s natural environment