Canada Makes Pollution Progress

There must be something wrong with human ‘progress’ if progress is killing humans!

Haze and smog obscure the Toronto skyline and waterfront in this file photo from May 10, 2007. REUTERS/J.P. Moczulski. Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

Air pollution will kill more than 21,000 Canadians this year, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA )said on Wednesday, raising the Canadian government’s estimate of 5,900 premature deaths linked to pollution by about 4 folds.

Pollution-related illnesses such as asthma and cardiovascular disease will lead to about 30,000 emergency-room visits and 620,000 doctor’s visits this year and cost about $8 billion in medical bills and lost productivity

In the United States, an estimated 64,000 people die from causes attributed to particle air pollution each year, according to a U.S. environmental group.

About half of Europe’s population have been exposed to concentrations particulate matter (PM) above the European Union limit, the European Environment Agency reports. (Source)

Related Links:

• Canada: A Cesspool of Industrial Pollution
• Carbon Footprint of Your Dollar

Week 32 Volcano Watch

6 August-12 August 2008

New Activity/Unrest:

• Asama, Honshu, Japan
• Bezymianny, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Kasatochi, Andreanof Islands
• Kliuchevskoi, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Mayon, Luzon , Philippines

Plume from Kasatochi Volcano, Aleutian Islands
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: Aug 9, 2008

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team,
NASA GSFC

Kasatochi Volcano is one of many mostly submarine volcanoes whose summit emerges from the waters of the Bering Sea off the southwest coast of Alaska. After earthquakes and other seismic activities starting on or around August 7, Kasatochi began erupting large plumes of ash and gases. On August 8, 2008, skies were cloudy when the MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead and captured this natural-color image. The bright clouds provided good contrast for the volcanic plume, which is dark brown.

The ash plume spread southeastward from the volcano over the Pacific Ocean. Weather patterns caused the plume to diffuse as it swirled counterclockwise. Beneath the plume, which is dark brown, a few breaks in the clouds reveal that the normally deep blue waters of the Pacific are turquoise-colored. This brightness may be the result of ash or rocks debris settling on the water’s surface. According to an article in an Anchorage newspaper, the ash cloud forced cancellation of scores of flights into and out of Alaska, stranding as many as 6,000 passengers. (Caption NASA)

Ongoing Activity:

• Anatahan, Mariana Islands (Central Pacific)
• Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia)
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Chikurachki, Paramushir Island
• Cleveland, Chuginadak Island |
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Krakatau, Indonesia
• Okmok, Fox Islands
• Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Reventador, Ecuador
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu
• Semeru, Eastern Java (Indonesia)
• Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Soufrière Hills, Montserrat
• Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan)
• Tungurahua, Ecuador

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program. This page is updated on Wednesdays, please see the GVP Home Page for news of the latest significant activity.

Out of the sinking pan, into the fire!

Global Warming Tolls the Death Knell for Tuvalu

Massive tides, high winds and rising sea levels are causing erosion to the four reef islands and five true atolls that comprise the tiny country of Tuvalu.

Map of Tuvalu

Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, the low-lying Polynesian islands are located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Australia. The nine-island cluster contains 600 sq km of ocean, but only a total of 25 sq km of land.

Tuvaluans reaching end of the road. (AP Yonhap). Image may be subject to copyright!

“The residents of Tepuka Savilivili, an island 10 kilometers away from Funafuti, also sense the crisis. One day in 1997, an uninhabited island simply vanished. The residents explained that gale winds blew and covered the island during the night. The next day, the coconut trees had vanished.” Wrote Nam Jong-yeong.

Drinking water is mixing with salty ocean water; the coconut trees are vanishing; during high tides seawater covers most parts of the islands.

Thousands of Tuvaluans have already left the shrinking islands, most of them arriving in what they believe to be a safe destination: New Zealand.

Their new home, however, could breakup and sink in the south-western Pacific Ocean as a result of massive earthquakes. It’s rather like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire!

Related Links:

• Will one or both of New Zealand islands break up and sink …

Rocks to halt overfishing rolls!

Activists drop rocks on seabed to stop overfishing

Environmental activists dropped large granite rocks on the North Sea bed off the German coast on Tuesday to stop trawling, which decimates fish and other marine life.

Deep net trawling near the seabed and other destructive fishing methods are decimating stocks of plaice and sole near the Sylt Outer Reef and destroying the reef itself, a feeding ground for creatures such as common and grey seals, activists said.

The Island of Sylt, Northern Germany. [A screenshot from NASA’s globe software World Wind using Blue Marble, Landsat or USGS layer.]

.

The stone reef, an EU-protected area, is similar to a coral reef but made of rock, and is located off one of Germany’s North Frisian Islands, near Schleswig Holstein and Denmark, Reuters reported.

“The harbor porpoise population is one of the most threatened species of whale and dolphin in Europe and giving protection to this species was one of the primary objectives for the area,” said Greenpeace.

“We believe what they’ve done is illegal and risks the lives of fishermen,” said the general secretary of the German Fishing Association, denying that German fishermen used nets in the area or that the reef was in any danger.

Greenpeace said its tactics of dropping rocks on the seabed was not endangering marine life.

“We have a very clear knowledge of this and are placing the stones next to the old reef, effectively extending it. There is no damage,” Greenpeace oceans campaigner Iris Menn told reporters. (Source)

::

What’s New in the Atlantic TS Front?

THE NORTH ATLANTIC CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO

Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook. NHC. NOAA
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
800 AM EDT WED AUG 13 2008

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC…CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO…

1. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN DISORGANIZED IN ASSOCIATION WITH A
BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE AND A TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED ABOUT 300
MILES EAST OF THE LESSER ANTILLES…AND THE AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT
HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT MISSION SCHEDULED FOR TODAY HAS BEEN
CANCELED.  ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE ONLY MARGINALLY FAVORABLE
FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION
DURING THE NEXT DAY OR TWO HAS DECREASED.  THIS SYSTEM WILL
CONTINUED TO BE MONITORED AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 TO
15 MPH.

2. SHOWER ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A BROAD LOW PRESSURE AREA LOCATED
ABOUT 700 MILES WEST OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS HAS BECOME A LITTLE
MORE CONCENTRATED THIS MORNING. SOME ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS
SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS IT MOVES
WESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH.

ELSEWHERE.. TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS.  —   FORECASTER BROWN/PASCH

East Pacific Tropical Weather Outlook

THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC TS OUTLOOK

East Pacific Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook. NHC. NOAA.

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
500 AM PDT WED AUG 13 2008

FOR THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC…EAST OF 140 DEGREES WEST LONGITUDE..

1. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
CENTERED ABOUT 200 MILES SOUTH OF MANZANILLO MEXICO HAS INCREASED
IN ORGANIZATION THIS MORNING.  ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS APPEAR
SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION AND THIS SYSTEM
COULD BECOME A TROPICAL DEPRESSION LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT.  RAINS
ALONG THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF MEXICO SHOULD DIMINISH AS THE SYSTEM
MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH.

2. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
LOCATED ABOUT 800 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE SOUTHERN TIP OF BAJA
CALIFORNIA MEXICO REMAINS DISORGANIZED.  UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE
EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNFAVORABLE FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION OVER
THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS THE LOW MOVES SLOWLY WESTWARD.

ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS. — FORECASTER PASCH/BROWN