Oil and Food Webs

This I got from the Friends for Change website."Frank Gill, president of Audubon, is worried about the long-term impact: “People depend on fish. Birds depend on fish. And fish depend on clean ocean waters. We are potentially killing the fish stocks and micro-organisms that support the entire marine food web—including birds and all of us!”"

Oil and Food Webs part 2

I got this from the Friends for Change website."Sea turtles, whales, dolphins, crabs, oysters, shrimp, and many other living things are in danger. Dolphins, whales, and sea turtles can get covered in oil when they surface to breathe, and they can get sick if they swallow oil when they do it. Hundreds of sea turtles have already died from the oil spill, and scientists are worried that many other creatures are threatened.
Many scientists say that one of the most alarming things is how the oil spill will affect the entire marine food web. BP added huge amounts of chemicals called dispersants in the water. Dispersants are used to break up thick oil slicks and prevent the oil from reaching the coast. But so many chemicals were dumped that they are now mixing with water and oil and creating a toxic stew. No one knows how this will affect all the tiny micro-organisms, fish, and crustaceans in the ocean that provide food for birds, whales, dolphins, turtles, and other sea creatures."

How Oil Affects

I got this from the Friends for Change website. "Oil is very sticky and can coat birds and other wildlife with a thick layer of goo.
Some oils also get stickier over time (scientists call this weathering) and can end up coating birds and other wildlife as a spill drags on. Since most oil naturally floats on the surface of the water it can create harmful impacts on birds and other wildlife that live in or near the water. Many birds, turtles, dolphins, and other creatures can’t avoid an oil spill. They swim, feed, and nest in areas that are contaminated with oil. Some fish are attracted to oil because it looks like floating food. This also threatens aquatic birds, like pelicans, which may dive through oil slicks to get to the fish.
Birds are especially threatened by oil. When oil gets on birds’ feathers, it can create all kinds of problems, including:
causing hypothermia by reducing or destroying the insulation they get from their feathers
matting birds’ feathers, which prevents them from flying away from predators as easily
causing birds to sink or drown because oiled feathers weigh more and their sticky feathers cannot trap enough air between them to keep them buoyant
causing birds to become dehydrated and starved as they stop drinking and can’t get to the food they need
causing ulcers and stomach bleeding when birds preen their feathers or dive for fish, and ingest the oil
causing health problems when birds breathe oil fumes"

Why Oil Is Bad

I got this from the Friends for Change website."Scientists are concerned about the spill for many reasons.
Oil itself is deadly for people, wildlife, and ecosystems. With an oil spill this size, it’s very hard to contain the oil, even though BP, scientists, EPA, and so many others are working hard to find a way to stop the leak. Scientists and government officials are worried about the health of the oceans, the beaches, and the wetlands. They are concerned about the impact on all living things—from tiny plankton in the ocean to sea turtles and birds. They are also concerned about what this will mean to the people who live near the Gulf who make their living by harvesting and selling fish that are now damaged by the spill. Scientists are concerned about what this spill means for the health of the ecosystem for years to come."

Stopping the Leak

I got this from the Friends for Change website."Since the oil started leaking, BP has been working with many other oil companies, federal agencies, and other scientists and engineers to try to find a way to stop the leak.

Photo: Kim Hubbard/Audubon MagazineThey are also working to stop the oil from spreading, including using chemical dispersants to break up the oil, burning the oil on the water surface, and using giant booms that look like large mechanical ribbons to contain the oil and keep it from coming ashore. Once oil washes on the shore, it can harm beaches, wetlands, wildlife, and people. Since oil floats, oil booms are one of the key ways BP and others are trying to contain the oil. The booms can be more than 100 feet long and two feet high and serve as giant physical barriers to stop the oil from spreading. Unfortunately, if the wind and waves are too strong, the oil can slosh over the booms. So although booms help, they can’t completely keep the oil contained.
BP and others are continuing to look for ways to plug the leak. Unfortunately, nothing has worked completely to stop the leak. They’ve had some partial success, but the oil continues to gush from the seabed as BP and others are trying new strategies and trying to cap the leak."

What is an Oil Boom? part 2

I got this from the Friends for Change website."How do they work? Because oil floats, the booms help round up and contain oil and keep it from expanding and contaminating beaches, islands, and wetlands. The boom has a weight, the floating tube, and a tall wall-like structure to help keep the oil contained. Unfortunately, during a storm, the oil can be pushed over the sides and escape. But experts are hoping that miles of boom will actually lessen the impact of the oil on our shores."

What is an Oil Boom?

"If you’ve watched photos of the oil spill in the Gulf, you’ve seen a lot of orange and yellow sausage-like tubes floating in the water to help contain the oil.
These are oil booms. They are barriers used to contain oil spills in the ocean. Coastlines from Louisiana east to Florida's Panhandle are now cradled by these booms, which experts hope will help keep oil from washing onto the shore. Within 50 days of the spill, more than 750,000 feet of orange and yellow oil containment boom were floating just off the coastlines and beaches of the states along the Gulf of Mexico. That's more than 150 miles of boom."

THE EXPLOSION!

I got this from the Friends for Change website."On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more who worked on the rig. An oil rig is a very large structure that is designed to support the workers and equipment that are needed to drill wells beneath the ocean floor. The rig that exploded was about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Some think that the explosion was caused by natural gas that escaped after they drilled a new well. But the government is still exploring exactly what happened in an effort to prevent similar disasters in the future.
After the initial explosion, the oil rig caught on fire and then toppled over, sinking into the ocean. As the rig sank, the pipe connected to the seabed broke. Almost immediately, oil started leaking into the ocean.
BP, a large oil company, leased the rig. The well was very deep—the drilling was taking place 5,000 feet below the surface and then another 13,000 feet beneath the seabed. (That depth is the equivalent of 10 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.) Oil rigs like the one that exploded are some of the largest structures in the oceans. They are designed to pump oil or natural gas from deep below the seabed, process the fuel, and pipe the oil or gas to the shore."

STOPPING THE OIL part 2

I got this from the Friends for Change website."The National Audubon Society is a conservation organization that has been working to protect the birds and habitats of the Gulf for more than 100 years. Audubon staff and volunteers are working hard with partners on the ground to help clean up habitat, monitor where the oil is hitting, and look at how it’s affecting birds and habitat, as well as people. What’s encouraging is that thousands of Volunteers have stepped up to help!"

STOPPING THE OIL

I got this from the Friends for Change website."Since April 20th, the world’s eyes have been focused on the Gulf of Mexico. Thick, brown oil has been gushing from a deep sea oil well, spilling into the Gulf and causing one of the most serious environmental disasters in the United States.
By April 26th, the oil slick had grown to the size of Rhode Island. Today, after millions of gallons of oil have flowed into the ocean, scientists estimate the spill could be bigger than the states of Maryland and Delaware combined. Scientists say this is the largest oil spill in the history of the country—threatening hundreds of miles of coastline in more than five states and creating danger for countless species of wildlife and the people who live along the coast."

WATER IN PAPER

Ok, do you know how much water is used to make paper. Well let's just say if 500,000 people bought 1 notebook each, we would save enough water to give 16,000,000 (16 million) people a shower! So if you do that, do you know how many rivers and lakes will be saved?
Your Blogger
Jessica Greene

LIGHTNING FIRE!

Just tonight when my family was driving home ,from the Bistro in Somersett, we saw smoke. So we drove towards it to see what it was. Then, about 1 1/2 miles from Del Web, there was a lightning fire! We stayed quarter mile away and watched for 2 hours. While my family and I were there we got some pics with my mom's phone. So tomorrow we are going to see how much damage the fire caused, and try to repant some of it. Maybe you can too.

Your Blogger

Jessica Greene

LEAKY FAUCET, FIXEN'

Why fix leaky faucets. Because if 250,00 faucets are fixed, over 30 million gallons of water could be saved each month.
Your Blogger,
Jessica Greene

BEACH CLEAN UP

If 500,00 people each cleaned 10 feet of beachfront, they could remove 500,000 pounds of debris. That's the same distance from Los Angeles, CA to Portland,OR! So viewers please tell your friends, to tell their friends to look at this blog on a daily bases, and together we can make a huge difference in the world!
Your Blogger,
Jessica Greene

VOMITING CRIME, SOLVED?

Last night you know how my mom and I were looking for the thing that was throwing up in our back yard. What i didn't tell you is that the only thing that we saw was a big, black, dog. So while my mom was out running this morning, she saw the very same black dog. Do you know what she realized then? She realized that every day our small Yorkie, Jack, always goes into a war over who owns my backyard, with a big black dog! So my mom and I have a hunch that, that very same dog was the "thing" that has been puking in our backyard. So whenever we see that black dog, we will grab it, write down the phone number that is on his name tag, and then let him go and call his owners. And if the puking cuntinius, we can check of DOG.
Your Blogger
Jessica Greene

CRIME NOT SOLVED!

OK, so you guys know what I wrote on my post. How there was something throwing up in my back yard. Well, that wasn't solved last night. It's not that my mom and I were not quiet enough. It's that my mom ( who refused to sleep in a sleeping back, and ended up with only 1 1/2 blankets) woke me up when it was HER shift and told me it was too windy, and it was only a slight breeze! So she made me sleep inside for the rest of the morning, and it was only 3:oo am!
Your Upset Blogger
Jessica Greene

THROWING UP RACOON OR FUNGUS?

Ok, so all you viewers out there reading my blog know that I usualy spolve mystories on this blog. But lately some kind of animal keeps yacking up in my backyard. So today I got my parents' permission to stay up all night, on our back patio, with my boa staff ( a stick that you hit people with in karate), a video camra, and a flashlight, to find out what it is. And if it is an animal, that keeps jumping the fence and yacking on our lawn, then I will catch it on tape and put it here for all of you to see.
WISH ME LUCK!
Your Blogger,
Jessica Greene

Obama Blasts GOP on Jobless Benifits

This one is coming strait from the newspaper."President Obama took aim at the Republican lawmakers Monday, accusing them of holding the public hostage to Washington politics by blocking extended unemployment benefits for millions of out-of -work Americans." Ya Obama kick some sense into them! Here's more of it, " 'It's time to do whats right, not for the next election, but for the middle class,' Obama said"
"Lawmakers have battled for Weeks about legislation extending unemployment benefits of workers who have been out of a job for long stretches. The last such extension expired at the end of May, leaving 2.5 million people without benefits, with hundreds of thousands more losing benefits each week." Wow, I sure hope it'll be millions less next year. "The Senate is set to take up the measure again today, immediately after the swearing in of a replacement for the late Senator Robert Byrd. Filling that seat will give Democrats the 60 votes they need to block a Republican filibuster." Once again, Wow.
Your Blogger
Jessica Greene

Oil Spill PROBLEM SOLVED?

Today Engineers believe that the oil spill, that had been a huge problem for three months, is finally solved. As some of you know the Government has put a cap on the well that caused the spill. What you may have not known is that they are now placing mud in the oil well to plug it up for good. In today's news paper is says,"The capping strategy hit a "snag" over the weekend when oil was discovered seeping into the nearby seabed." Do you know what I say to that? Phooey with wasting time! Why didn't thy think of this earlier? Wait there is more in the newspaper. It also says,"But that oil doesn't appear to have come from the well, said the retired Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen." Wow, that's a shocker. Really. There is more to it,"He said pollution from the well doesn't seem to be spilling into the Gulf, and pressures are acceptable." Wow, if it isn't coming from the well then where, in the name of science, is it coming from?
Your Curious Blogger
Jessica Greene

LOST SPECIES FOUND!

For 60 years us humans have thought that the Horton Plains loris had died out, become extinct. But just a week ago in Sri Lanka, this primate has been captured on tape! Viewers I think that maybe our Lord, Jesus Christ, the king of all things has finally answered our prayers. Are the extinct becoming back to life, or is it a hoax? Maybe, just maybe a new age is being born, the age of the UN-extinct! We will find out soon!
Your Excited Blogger,
Jessica Greene

Water Hazards

Hello viewers. Do you know what is going on with earth's fresh water rivers and lakes? Waste is being put into them. Now I'm not saying that you cant go river rafting or go on boat rides in lakes, all I am saying is that we should take better care of them. Here are a few examples of what you can do ; not through garbage into rivers or lakes, scuba dive into lakes and pick up waste, not bring any water balloons on fresh water trips, etc. Because of this waste many fish are dieing, soon lakes will become holes of waste and mud, and rivers will become sewers. And beautiful views like Lake Tahoe will be gone, forever!

NATURAL HOMES LOST!

Do you know what is happening to rain forests everywhere? They are being destroyed! "for what" you may ask, for mere cattle farms! We need fresh air and fruit more than we need imported furniture. Friends, we may not know one another, but I am willing to give up steaks and juicy hamburgers for the existence of our rain forests. And I hope you will do the same.

You wouldn't want to have this little guy lose his home or go extinct, would you? :(

Your Caring Blogger

Jessica Greene

OIL DISASTER! What you can do!

In the Gulf of Mexico there is a oil spill the size of Jamaca! A question you may have asked over, and over again is "what can I do?" Well I have the answer. This oil spill is killing the sea animals, so I suggest we all stop eating seafood! Fish from fresh-water areas are fine. Here is a fun fact for you, the more seafood us humans eat the less marine life there is in the ocean. In just America we eat more than 2,000 pounds of seafood in just half a year! So please don't eat seafood! Your blogger

Jessica G.