Thermal Pollution

Human activity can change the temperature of fresh water bodies such as lakes or rivers. The most common form of thermal pollution is the use of water as a cooling agent in power plants.

Water Pollution

Shipping is a major source of pollution and the dumping of waste from cruise liners and yachting. Super tanker transporting crude oil and other petrochemicals have regularly been in the news with terrible accidents causing wide-spread pollution at sea and at land. Oil slicks stay on the water for a long time and are lethal to wildlife, marine and on shore. The fisheries depending on healthy fish stocks in the affected coastal regions were never fully compensated for their loss.

Another form of water pollution arises from gold mining in the rainforest where high pressure water treatment washes clear the gold from within the soil but at the same time phosphates are released and pollute the rivers and lakes, causing harm to wildlife and indigenous populations.

Further harm is caused by afforestation of single specimen fir or pine trees which change the acidity of the soil around them. Rainwater washes this acidity into rivers and lakes, polluting the fresh water with higher acidity levels.

Inadequate treatment of sewage and storm water run-off can lead to major water pollution along coastlines and is the most common form of water pollution.

Health Risks through Pollution

Before the Olympics could take place in China, participating countries warned the Chinese government that they had to do something to reduce the air pollution and smog in Beijing. Drastic measures were needed before athletes from around the world could begin to train and compete in China. Ozone pollution can be responsible for respiratory diseases, throat inflammation, chest pains, cardiovascular disease and water pollution across the world is the cause of at least 14,000 fatalities every day of the year with poor drinking water conditions being the main factor.

In the former USSR the after effects of radioactive pollution from sites such as the ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear power station are still felt to this day and thousands of people suffer from radiation sickness and there are still many children with deformed limbs being born in the years since the nuclear disaster and an increased number of people suffer from a variety of cancerous problems.

The high number of children suffering from asthma in the UK has been linked to air pollution. Swimmers and beachgoers regularly suffer from skin rashes and eye irritation thanks to water pollution, mainly owing to sewage leaking or being allowed to enter the ocean’s water. Oil spills not only cause skin irritations to humans, they practically glue marine wildlife to the spot, clogging up feathers for waterfowl and leading to their eventual slow and painful death.

Soil pollution through heavy metal can kill and water from agricultural fields which were treated with man-made fertilisers will end up in our rivers, lakes and oceans, poisoning marine life, which will ultimately poison us as the last recipient in the food chain.

Pollution is a silent killer.

The result is a technology-led efficiency drive.  One company, for example, features what it calls “biomass carriers” in their wastewater treatment plants. These small plastic structures with a large surface area give bacteria more space to grow and thus allow biological contaminants to be consumed more quickly. The result is that the treated water can be put back in to circulation quicker.

Other companies have focused on discovering leaks in water supply networks; up until recently, suppliers only really knew they had a leak when they could hear the noise of gushing water. Technology can now be used to sift through the flow data generated by sensors that many networks now have to look for anomalies. If it only takes a persistent 1% change in flow rate to indicate a possible leak, it’s clear why this kind of monitoring system is proving increasingly popular in those places with large, complex networks.

Some of the technology that is being developed in Israel also has a wider environmental application, in the form of reducing the amount of water required to treat wastewater. It’s estimated that 2% of the world’s power-generating capacity is used to treat wastewater; an idea being trialed is the use of special bacteria that can actually convert wastewater pools into a source of energy. If they work, treatment plants could become dual-purpose: water purification and electricity generation. It’s ambitious and only in its early stages, but it illustrates the potential of technology to achieve true environmental sustainability.

As with other examples of technological innovation, a set of conditions needs to coincide for takeoff to be achieved. In the case of Israel, there are plenty of skilled scientists, a firmly ingrained entrepreneurial culture, and an obvious shortage of fresh water.; ideal conditions for Israel to become the Silicon Valley of water technology. If the technology can be fine-tuned and become viable in the global market, it’s possible to see serious growth in this area of water resource management.

Water resource management requires a range of solutions from correct pricing to increased education on the subject, but the demand for the resource is a little like a runaway train. The best hope, perhaps, for reducing water stress and the likelihood of future flash-points is by closing the gap between demand and supply and technology can play a big part in helping the supply of water keep pace.

 Reference Hybrid Cars: The Evolution of the Hybrid Car

In order to achieve the goal of reduced water usage, developers should specify products that use less water than the alternatives or which make use of recycled water. Examples of such products include:

• Toilets that use less water to flush
• Smaller bathtubs that need less water to fill
• Washing machines and dishwashers with high water efficiency ratings
• Drought resistant soft landscaping

Grey water (waste water from sinks, baths, and showers) can be recycled on-site to provide the water needed to flush toilets and wash clothes. Rainwater can also be harvested and used for similar purposes. In the future, technologies may improve to the point where black water (waste water from toilets) can also be recycled and safely used for similar purposes.

However, specifying such products will not be sufficient by itself to reduce water consumption. The residents of new developments need to be taught how to change their water usage habits. Examples of changes that they can make include:

• Fill a bowl with water when washing fruit or vegetables and use the waste water to water plants
• Not leaving  the tap running when washing teeth
• Only running washing machines and dishwashers when there is a full load
• Taking showers instead of baths, and keeping shower times to a minimum

Many developers now provide residents with information on how to minimize water usage via leaflets, brochures, and meetings. Installing water meters helps to reduce consumption, as when residents are billed for the exact amount of the water they use, they tend to use less.

As well as ensuring that water usage is kept to a minimum, developers also need to minimize the vulnerability of the properties they build by not building in flood prone areas. As global warming progresses, many areas of the world face becoming more prone to flooding. Water will become a threat to residents’ well-being and can have disastrous effects to life and property. Good planning and urban design helps to mitigate the impacts of flooding, thus ensuring the safety and security of residents.

Reducing Energy Usage of New Developments
You Are Here Reducing Water Usage of New Developments
Encouraging Biodiversity on New Developments
Reducing Construction Waste
Becoming a Sustainable Business
ISO 14001 Accreditation

It seems that some fisheries still experience severe learning difficulties when it comes to responsible, sustainable fishing practices.

Bio Diversity

Wherever we are in Britain, we’re never more than 70 miles from the sea. The UK shorelines and sea provide rich wildlife habitats to marine life of all sizes, from the larger sea mammals such as whales, seals and dolphins, to a plethora of sea birds and a multitude of fish. On a microscopic level there are single celled animals and plants, too. Kelp on the shore provides tiny creatures with shelter while kelp in the sea provides them with food and anchorage in the currents.

We enjoy going on seaside holidays where we snorkel or scuba dive in the sea, exploring the rich underwater flora and fauna of our own as well as other countries. The oceans are now so threatened by pollution and exploitation that many shorelines will soon be totally denuded of marine life. Calls for marine wildlife protection along the British shores have so far largely fallen on deaf governmental ears. Lobbyists from the greedy building industries speak louder than environmentalists it seems. Who cares about a divers’ paradise and wildlife habitats, if dredging brings such profits?

Unless we change our attitude to marine life in our oceans and start regarding it as a vital source of food, potential source for medicine and integral part to our overall richness of habitat, there is little hope that pollution and exploitation inflicted on our marine life is going to cease.

Humans are not the masters of the earth; they are merely its custodian. Bio diversity benefits us all, yet at the moment our future is as bleak as the remaining marine life in our oceans is becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

Undiscovered Country

The deep sea is largely undiscovered owing to the extreme challenges involved in deep sea diving. Recent advances in technology have enabled us to send probes to ever greater depth and underwater cameras have shown us a world that is as rich in marine life as it is alien in their nature.

Even at depths of some 10,000 metres marine life is thriving in a permanently dark world. Using ultrasound to navigate or electrical currents coursing through their translucent bodies to make themselves look more formidable, deep sea marine life astonishes us with its diversity and scale. The greater the depth the larger the water pressure per inch of body, yet marine life of all shapes and sizes thrives at the bottom of deep sea trenches.

Isn’t it about time we realised what marine life really gives to us?

Fish

Fish are a form of marine life which has undergone a different biological evolution from other large creatures. Their astonishing anatomy includes a two-chambered heart, a swim bladder, scales, fins, mouths containing sharp rows of teeth, flexible lips and eyes that can see in the dark, murky waters and at great depth.  They breathe by extracting oxygen from the oceans’ water through their gills. Fish have fins which propel and stabilize them as they swim in the water. There are huge fish like hammerhead and tiger sharks and little ones like sardines and anchovy. There are marlin and barracuda as long as a boat.

Marine Reptiles

During evolution a number of reptiles decided that living in the water was a good way to make a living, so today sea snakes, terrapins, sea turtles, marine iguanas and large salt water crocodiles are still part of marine life in our oceans. The majority of marine reptiles must return to land occasionally to breed and lay their eggs. This forces most marine reptiles, except for some sea snakes, to live close to shore. They love sheltered estuaries, islands, sand banks and shallow water.

Seabirds

Some species of sea birds love living inland, where our wastefulness provides them with plenty of food. Sea gulls can sometimes be found thousands of kilometres in land, where their squawking and aggressive nature can be regarded as a nuisance. Most sea birds, however, spend nearly all their lives out on the oceans, such as penguins, gannets, puffins, auks and the mighty albatross.

Marine Mammals

Marine life forms that developed into mammals can be divided into five main categories:

1. Those called cetaceans have sea creatures as diverse as toothed whales (sperm whales, dolphins, porpoises) and what is referred to as baleen whales (grey whales, humpback whales, blue whales) in their midst.
2. There are the delightful seals, walruses and sea lions which are referred to as pinnipeds.
3. Everybody’s favourite, the sea otter, belongs to the family of mustelidae, which incorporates land creatures such as badgers and weasels.
4. The marine life species called sirenians include manatees and the dugong.
5. Although it spends a great deal of its life on land or on ice, the Polar Bear is often thought of as belonging to the group of marine mammals.  Fishing and hunting for other sea mammals such as seal makes the Polar bear dependent on the sea.

Undiscovered Marine Life

In 1960 an American diving team recorded a white flatfish, a jellyfish and a shrimp in the Mariana Trench, which is near the Philippines. These marine life creatures were thriving at a depth of 10,924 m (35,838 ft).

We have only just begun to explore the diversity of our oceans. In recent years technological advances have made deep sea diving viable, although it still is easier to send a probe into space than to send a submarine down into the deep sea trenches.

Major volcanic eruptions can have an effect our weather patterns. Ash and smoke clouds can cool down the temperature of the oceans by blocking out the sun rays. Clouds can also reduce the salt levels in our oceans by excessive rain fall. These dramatic events can have a major impact on our weather, oceanic life and therefore on us.

Changes in water temperature can have dramatic effects on all life, not just ocean life. With ice caps melting a cooling down of our oceans will have a major effect on the world’s climate.

The Circle of Life

Ocean life is a major food source to us, but may also be a source of energy in the near future. We fish for cod, prawns, shrimp, mackerel and sardines to name but a few. Some marine plants are being investigated by medical researchers, while other scientists are looking to plankton to become the next big thing in energy resources. Hydrology is an energy source waiting to be exploited.

Medical research into certain types of fish has discovered they can jump start their hearts, which is now becoming a major topic of study for the benefit of heart patients. Ocean life has so much to teach us, we are only at the beginning of discovering this vast resource, when it is already threatened by our greed and negligence.

The humble shrimp, which is a staple part of human diet in many parts of the world, has unwittingly caused major disruption in ocean life. Trawl nets used in shrimping have been identified as a major source of mortality in several species such as cetaceans and finfish. The by-catch is discarded, thrown overboard as dead or dying. The shrimp fisheries are responsible for needlessly destroying as much as 20 pounds of other ocean life for every pound of shrimp caught. Worldwide the shrimping industry is responsible for approximately 2% of the world’s overall catch of fish in weight, but shrimping alone is responsible for a staggering 30% of the world’s overall by-catch destruction of ocean life.

Having cheerfully destroyed most of the planet’s fish stocks of cod, mankind has now set its heart on destroying the mackerel, which is also a major food source to ocean life such as shearwater, dolphins, tuna, whales, orca, marlins, seagulls and types of sharks. While Iceland, the Faroes in Scotland and Norway debate over who should catch the largest fish quota, mackerel fish stock are drifting further and further north, with depleted generations struggling to recover.

Ocean life is infinitely precious and vulnerable. Some eco systems like the Arctic Ocean are delicate and slow to recover from damage or human disruption caused by energy source exploitation or over fishing. Oceans are the circle of life and their state of health affects us all.

We can’t fail to think about what would happen to our environment, especially in the air, if this happened. The carbon dioxide in the water will somehow find a way of getting into the atmosphere and if you think of the amount of carbon dioxide that we ourselves produce, you will just pray that no more is added into our atmosphere.

The next thing that would happen is that global warming will proceed at a faster rate than before. You know what follows after this: Melting of polar ice caps and destruction of habitats for animals which live in cold regions. There will be an increase in the level of water in the oceans and thus we should worry about floods destroying our property and maybe even lives. The very things that would have somehow eased the impact of the floods are gone too and thus there is nothing more to do than run away from our homes. Global warming will also increase the temperatures both in the air and in the oceans though it happens at a much slower rate in the seas and oceans. This will keep on making the conditions unfavorable for coral reefs since they thrive well in cool waters.

No one would feel the pinch more than the scientists. They still haven’t uncovered all the secrets hidden in the oceans and so far what they have found has kept them interested more and more. They are particularly interested in the ocean because it is sort of a living laboratory to them. Medicines have been manufactured from some of the things that are found in the oceans. Coral reefs themselves are among the things that scientists find important to them in the field of medicine. When you lose a bone and you wish to get a “replacement”, the solution lies in the skeletons obtained from coral reefs because of their richness in calcium and you can bet you will never find someone to give you their bone no matter what. We still say that a whale is the biggest mammal on earth but we really aren’t sure about that because the percentage of our ocean that has been explored is still so little! Without the coral reefs and other primary producers, we might never know the answer.

Your eyes are now open to some of the possible things that might happen if coral reefs were gone. Back to reality now, scientists are scared about their disappearance and indeed they are disappearing. The water in the ocean keeps on getting warmer due to global warming and the horror might just come true. You can’t give an excuse like “I’m no one, there’s nothing I can do” because there is something that you can do no matter how far you are from an ocean. By reducing global warming, you are doing something noble.

Primary producers are those tiny organisms (especially those found in the seas and oceans) that make it their obligation to ensure that marine life will not someday disappear without warning. Without them, even the biggest animals in the oceans wouldn’t survive because they depend on these small organisms and it so happens that coral reefs are some of the primary producers. So, if you put it in another way, it would sound like this: “Kill them and get killed too”.

Due to our selfish nature as human beings, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that without us, there is no need for oceans and marine life and coral reefs that is why we must relate coral reefs to our very own pockets and to our survival too. Coral reefs are a tourism attraction and they earn any country some good amount of foreign income. This would be an alternative advantage if their biological importance wasn’t that important to you. While they may help your pocket feel a little heavier, they are also important in helping you get out of a hospital bed. You guessed it right! Coral reefs are used for medical research and so far a major breakthrough in the treatment of HIV infections can be linked back to coral reefs.

Pharmaceutical companies also found it useful because they may be used to manufacture medicines that can take care of cancer and other diseases. That is still not enough! The skeletons from coral reefs are used as bone substitutes in reconstructive bone surgery and you can be pretty sure that no human being can be willing to give you their bone for your sake. Scientists aren’t willing to stop at that and are still looking for more from them.

After all that, now you have a brief idea of why coral reefs are an important part of our lives. From filling our pockets (you don’t always see it) to sustaining marine life they still don’t know what their importance and continue living without receiving much credit. Your life is also entangled somewhere in them and thus you need to be an eco boy or eco girl to ensure that more people know of their importance too. It’s true that you may not see the need now but there is a time we all will but hopefully it won’t be too late.

The Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the planet’s oceans. Covering about 20% of the planet’s surface, the Atlantic stretches for some 106,400,000 sq km across the globe. The Atlantic is divided by the Equator into the North Atlantic Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean.

Ocean life is rich and varied, including such endangered species as manatees, sea lions, seals, sea turtles and whales.

The evil practice of drift net fishing kills thousands of dolphins, albatrosses, petrels, auks and other seabirds every year and is also responsible for the decline of sea turtles. Over fishing has caused catastrophic fish stock decline in many parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Industrial waste and sewage pollution are also responsible for fish stock decline and ocean life loss on an unprecedented scale.

The Indian Ocean

Located between Africa in the west, Australia to the east, Asia to the north, and Antarctica to the south, the Indian Ocean lays some 90% to the south of the Equator.

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of Earth’s oceans, covering some 20% of all the water on the planet’s surface.

The warm temperatures of the sea water keep the production of phytoplankton low. This major lack of food source has limited ocean life and lacks bio diversity of marine creatures. Among the threatened marine animals are the dugong, sea turtles, seals, and whales. The bordering countries surrounding the Indian Ocean compete for fish stocks as a domestic and export food source. Fishing fleets from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan regularly trawl for shrimp and tuna.

The Indian Ocean’s water volume is estimated to be some 292,131,000 cubic kilometres. Islands within the Indian Ocean are Madagascar, which is the world’s fourth largest island, the Seychelles, Reunion Island, the Maldives, Mauritius, the Comoros islands; Seychelles and the archipelago of Indonesia to the east.

Some of the few large rivers which flow into the Indian Ocean are the Zambezi, the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra River. The monsoon largely controls the currents. The dominant flow pattern of the water is determined by two large circular currents, namely one in the northern hemisphere flowing clockwise and one south of the equator moving anticlockwise. The monsoon reverses the flow of the currents in the north during the winter months.

The Importance of Ocean Life

Ocean life is a vast food resource for mankind and marine creatures alike, providing humans also with medicine and raw materials. Oceans provide recreation and bring in vast amounts of money through tourism as well as influencing the planet’s weather patterns. Of the five major oceans the Arctic Sea has the lowest salinity level owing to low evaporation, a limited connection and outflow to other oceanic seas with higher salt water content and a large influx of freshwater from streams and rivers in North America and Eurasia.

Cockles and oysters were once plentiful along the British shoreline, but today some species are no longer so plentiful and others have begun to disappear. Marine biologist study with the aid of GPS and other underwater technology how currents, tides and other factors affect marine life. Dredging up sand to create a white beach where there was none before can have a major impact on marine life and can utterly destroy a careful natural balance. The destruction of habitat has had a huge impact on fisheries, causing great unemployment.

Over-Fishing

Cod fish stocks collapsed in the 1990s and since then they haven’t really recovered. Now the humble mackerel is under threat from over-fishing. Our oceans were once plentiful when humans practiced sustainable fishing but drift net fishing on a massive scale has wiped out so many species, particularly by-catch from shrimping is responsible for mass extinction. Our oceans are at breaking point and without them we might as well forget life on earth.

Supermarkets are still not doing enough to ensure correct labelling tells consumers how, where and under what conditions fish was produced. Cans of tuna might carry a sticker telling us that no dolphins were harmed in the fishing process, but they neglect to tell us that every year thousands of rays are wiped out cruelly with the methods used to fish for tuna.

As consumers we do have the power to say what we want to see on supermarket shelves. Not buying fish at all is one way to get the message through. Lobbying for sustainable fishing methods to be used is another, as is consumer insistence on improved food labelling.

Responsible Tourism

Marine creatures in our oceans are threatened by pollution, but the larger ones are also killed or injured by irresponsible tourism. Accidents and collisions with motor boats often kill young manatees, which are slow moving and incurably curious.

Changing Weather

The oceans’ currents transport heat around the globe and this has a major impact on our weather. Horizontal currents moving north to south across the Earth will transfer either warmed or cold water for several thousand miles. Evaporation can either cool down or warm up the air. The waters from the tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean are carried by the Gulf Stream current to Western Europe, where it is directly responsible for inducing a milder climate.