Green Options » marine pollution

Pollution Causes Cancer … in Animals

Kay Sexton — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:46:27 +0000

While there are many conservation issues that regularly top the policy bill, such as destruction of habitat, over-hunting, fisheries collapsing and so on, a new concern has recently emerged through scientific studies. Wildlife cancer. In a report entitled ‘Wildlife cancer: a conservation perspective’ Denise McAloose and Alisa L. Newton provide a range of evidence about pollution linked cancers in a number of species.

Coming Soon to LA: The Cleaner, Greener Hybrid Tugboat

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:40:13 +0000

The air at California’s San Pedro Harbor could be a bit cleaner and quieter starting next year, thanks to a new and cleaner-running tugboat now being assembled in Rainier, Oregon.

The Hybrid Tugboat is the latest green baby of Foss Maritime, a 119-year-old marine services company based in Seattle. By using technology based on the same type of drive used to stabilize deep-sea drilling rigs, the vessel will slash the energy waste and pollution generated by your typical tugboat.

Annual Tribal Canoe Journey Targets Ocean Pollution

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:13:59 +0000

The two guys sailing across the Pacific in a Kon Tiki-style junk made of actual junk aren’t the only ones taking to the waters this month to call attention to how humans how fouled the seas. The annual Canoe Journey of the Coast Salish Nation of Washington state and British Columbia is also getting under way with a science-based environmental mission.

This year’s journey of 100-plus canoes across the Salish Sea to Cowichan First Nation in Duncan, British Columbia, will include five canoes carrying water-quality probes and global positioning systems (GPS) for measuring various aspects of Salish waters: temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, dissolved solids, turbidity and pH. Leading the study will be Sarah Akin, a scientist with the Swinomish Tribe. Two scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey — Eric Grossman and Paul Schuster — are also advising the project at the request of the Coast Salish.

This is the first time the canoe journey has taken on a scientific flavor, but it comes not a moment too soon.