saveplanetearth:

The Harper government is closing B.C.’s command center for emergency oil spills while promoting two pipeline projects that would spike tanker traffic on our coast.

Scientist mocks phone-in solution to disaster response following federal cuts @ Canada.com

Remember BP?

jtotheizzoe:

The Secret of the Ooze: Two Years After the Spill

Al Jazeera has a frightening, damning, and infuriating report on the ongoing damage to the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It’s been nearly two years since the Macondo well was ruptured, spilling almost 5 million barrels of oil and requiring almost 2 million barrels of dispersants to clean it up.

Fishermen are reporting shrimp catches full of eyeless shrimp, as well as fish and shellfish with oozing sores and black gills. The damage doesn’t seem limited to oil, either. Manganese-heavy drilling mud and dispersant lefotvers are showing up at even higher rates than petroleum.

Head over to Al Jazeera to read the full article. The Gulf has not recovered, and it will likely take most of a lifetime to do so. It’s important that scientists continue to get financial support to monitor the area and that the government keep pressure on BP to do their part. Not just this year, but until the mistake is fixed.

This is one of the most diverse and fruitful ecosystems in America, and we must repair it.

kristinaack:

Rise above plastics

I’m going to make this one a cliffhanger…

When Hurricane Irene barreled up the U.S. Eastern coastline, the storm left behind a path of widespread damage — and a generous helping of mysterious, squishy gray blobs in shallow waters and beaches from Virginia to New York, according to news reports.

“They’re pretty disgusting looking,” Cathy Hopkins of Hampton, Va., told local media outlet the Daily Press.

Hopkins spotted dozens of the nasty floating blobs — many of which give off a powerful stench — near the mouth of the Poquoson River, off the Chesapeake Bay.

So what are these strange invaders?

…you’ll have to read more