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Environment
Canada’s Arctic ice shelves break apart, drift away
Two ice shelves in Canada’s far north have lost massive sections
since August while a third ice shelf now is adrift in the Arctic Ocean,
said researchers Wednesday who blamed climate change.
 The
entire 50 square-kilometer (19 square-mile) Markham Ice Shelf off the
coast of Ellesmere Island broke away in early August and is now adrift,
while two sections of the nearby Serson Ice Shelf detached, reducing its
mass by 60 percent or 122 square kilometers (47 square miles).
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, which halved in July, lost an additional 22
square kilometers (8.5 square miles).
“These changes are irreversible under the present climate and
indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice
shelves in balance for 4,000 years are no longer present,” said Trent
University’s polar expert Derek Mueller.
Canada’s summer ice shelf losses now total 214 square kilometers
(82.5 square miles), which is more than three times the area of
Manhattan Island, the researchers said.
Extensive cracks in Ward Hunt, the largest remaining ice shelf, means
it will continue to disintegrate in the coming years, said Luke Copland,
director Ottawa University’s cryospheric research lab.
In an interview with AFP, Copland blamed “very warm temperatures” and
“reduced sea ice” for the crumbling ice shelves.
The sea ice usually braced the shelves and without it, wind and waves
more easily broke them apart, he explained.
The coast of Ellesmere Island has also warmed an average of two
degrees (Celsius) in the last 50 years, he said. In winter, temperatures
are now five degrees warmer, making it more difficult for ice lost in
summer to recover in winter.
“We see that warming is concentrated in the winter,” Copland said.
“It’s part of global warming. When we warm up the planet it gets
concentrated close to he poles.”
“Usually the ice shelves would use the winter to recover from the
previous summer. They would reform, ... but the ice shelf can’t recover
in the winter anymore.”
“We have now reached a threshold where (the environment) is too warm
for these ice shelves to exist anymore,” he said. “What it tells us is
that the Arctic is changing.”
Mueller told AFP: “It underscores the rapidity of the changes, how
quickly things are moving along in the Arctic.”
“Its not just the ice shelves that are changing. These changes are
occurring in concert with sea ice reduction and other indications of
climate change,” he said. The Ellesmere ice shelves were formed some
4,500 years ago, composed of sea ice, accumulated snow and glacier ice
up to 40 meters (131 feet) thick.
The detached pieces broke into numerous ‘ice islands’ (tabular
icebergs) whose fate could take many forms, said researchers.
Martin Jeffries of the US National Science Foundation and University
of Alaska Fairbanks, and who has studied the Ellesmere ice shelves since
1982, said they could float along the northern edge of Queen Elizabeth
Islands toward the Beaufort Sea or enter the Canadian Archipelago.
The Canadian Ice Service is tracking the broken pieces.
OTTAWA, Sept 3, 2008 (AFP)
Being Eco-friendly...
A small planet in a modest solar system,
a trembling pebble in the cosmic stream and yet....,
This home is built of many mansions,
carved by the wind and the fall of water,
lush with living things beyond number,
perfumed by salt spray and blossoms.
Here cool in a cloak of mist or there steaming under a brazen sun,
Earth’s variety excites the senses and exalts the soul.”
How excitingly Stuart Franklin begins his photo essay “Celebration of
Earth” in the first edition of the new millennium of the National
Geographic.
Stuart Franklin had captured the variety of Earth across the
continents: misty bastions like mountain tops of the Huang Shan of
China, orange terra cotta figures like eroded mountains of Bryce Canyon
National Park in the United States, lush greenish terraced rice fields
in Indonesia, wavy patterns of orange and brownish shades of Rub Al
Khali Desert in South - Eastern Saudi Arabia, flowery mineral formations
in the Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania, dreamy blend of blue and white
of the Iguacu Falls bordering Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, shades of
lush green and steamy Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve Northern Costa
Rica and vibrant flaming red of sun setting over Oregon Coast of the
United States.
He chose pictures simply because words would falter to describe the
true beauty and verity of the Earth.
But this pebble in cosmic stream, the beauty, the jewel of our solar
system, still is the such known jewel of the Milky Way, the galaxy to
which our solar system belonged, among billions of other stars like the
“Sun”.
This Earth is not only a true beauty but also the only known planet
with an intelligent and technologically advanced life form on it - The
Humans. The Humans are changing their own environment ever since they
appeared on the earth and come to this critical stage of energy crisis,
global warming and food and water scarcity, which are interrelated.
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Pan - polar mesopheric clouds over North Pacific Ocean |
But are the humans really using their technological advancements to
find solutions to the global warming, energy crisis or to wipe out
hunger? Simply they are not.
Instead they make bombs with the latest technology, pollute air,
water, and the environment for their own benefit.
Then what would the Eco-Friendly Daily News do? It would mirror the
Eco-unfriendly things along with the reflections of eco-friendly
efforts.
What can you do? You can let the Eco-friendly Daily News know your
eco-friendly concerns by post.
Eco-Friendly Daily News, ANCL, No.
35,D. R.Wijewardane Mawatha, Colombo 10.
Or simply e-mail to
[email protected]
Firewood hearth distiller a path-breaking innovation
Firewood hearth distiller that won recognition at the 2008 Stockholm
International Junior Water Price Competition would trap heat lost while
cooking, to distil water contaminated with chemical and biological
pollutants for drinking purposes, Kushani Padmasena, a project assistant
of the Environment Section of the Industrial Services Bureau (ISB) of
Kurunegala told the Daily News.
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From left: Sadun Gayath Sameera Dissanayake, Dasun Thakshala
Siriwardane and Sujith Madushan Silva of Harischandra National
School Negombo who won Diplomas of Excellence at the
International Stockholm Junior Water Prize contest with their
innovative low cost firewood stove water distiller.
Photo courtesy SIWI. |
According to Kushani two hours of cooking would distil around eight
litres of water which would be sufficient for a family of four for
drinking purposes. The innovation could remove 99% of the fluoride,
nitrate and salinity concentrations, the harmful substance present in
the water. ‘This could be ideal for people in the North Central
Province who are under the threat of the mysterious renal failures,’
Kushani said. Approximately one third out of the 20 million people in
country are in need of safe drinking water.
The health authorities, even WHO advice the people to boil water for
drinking, however, they could not spare extra firewood to boil water,
since the scarcity of firewood.
She said that this could be a good alternative since they do not have
to boil water using extra firewood but the lost energy while cocking is
trapped to distil water.
According to Kushani, the distiller which was a modification of the
‘Anagi Uduna’; more efficient fire wood stove, comprised of a feeder
tank, a pipe system and was basically made out of clay. ‘This equipment
could be improved to increase the efficiency’; she said.
The Environment section of the ISB with Ministry of Education had
called for project proposals from the Advanced Level students throughout
the island and had selected this project to represent Sri Lanka at the
Water Price Competition in Stockholm after evaluating 39 project
reports. We had received proposals even from Jaffna,’ she said.
SIWI annually administers the competition while ITT Corporation of
the United States sponsors the whole programme including the air fare
and expenses of the students while they participate in the competition
in Sweden.
CFLs and murky mercury
The incandescent bulbs are readily retreating the ground they have
gained for more than a century since its ground breaking invention by
Thomas Alva Edison in 1879. And the compact fluorescent bulbs of the CFL
bulbs are steadily gaining in popularity. This magic bulb consumes 80%
less energy than the conventional incandescent bulbs and had won the
hearts of energy conservators.
What one must NEVER do with a mercury spill -WHO
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Never use a
vacuum cleaner to clean up mercury. The vacuum will put mercury
into the air and increase exposure. The vacuum appliance will be
contaminated and have to be thrown away.
Never use a broom to clean up mercury. It will break the mercury
into smaller droplets and spread them.
Never pour mercury down a drain. It may lodge in the plumbing
and cause future problems during plumbing repairs.
If discharged, it can cause pollution of the septic tank or
sewage treatment plant.
Never wash mercury-contaminated items in a washing machine.
Mercury may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
Never walk around if your shoes might be contaminated with
mercury. Contaminated clothing can also spread mercury around.
Spills: Less than or equal to the amount in a thermometer: tips.
Remove everyone from the area where cleanup will take place.
Shut the door of the impacted area. Turn off the ventilation
system.
DO NOT allow or gain assistance from children.
Remember to remove all pets as well.
Mercury can be cleaned up easily from the following surfaces:
wood, linoleum, tile and any other like surfaces.
Cut and remove only the affected portion of the contaminated
carpet for disposal. |
The mercury content included in these bulbs would be a threat to the
human as well as animals if they are not properly disposed of. Developed
countries have CFL recycle plants put up to prevent hazardous material
being released into the environment.
According to Sustainable Energy Authority Deputy Director General
Harsha Wickremasinghe the authority is having discussions with the
relevant stakeholders such as the bulb manufacturers and the importers
to expedite the setting up of a such a plant here, in view of the
increased use of CFL bulbs in commercial establishments and households.
But in the meantime he suggested certain precautionary methods in
handling the burnt CFL bulbs. The Deputy Director General Harsha
Wickremasinghe of the Sustainable Environment Authority advises all CFL
consumers not to dispose of CFL bulbs haphazardly with the ordinary
dumps since the mercury compounds contained in that glass tubes will be
released into the environment.
He requested the consumers to put the bulb into a plastic container
as soon as a bulb goes off and seal it.(Polythene bag) and store it in a
safe place which is not accessible by children.
Never allow the children to play with the CFL Bulbs.
He advises to keep the burnt CFL bulbs wrapped in a sealed plastic
bag and store them safely till recycle plants are established in the
country.
But what if a bulb is suddenly broken?
Leave the room immediately.
Wait till 10-15 minutes.
Return to the room with a wet piece of cloth and collect the broken
bits of glass into the wet piece of cloth carefully without touching
them.
Put the bits of glass into a plastic container and seal it.
Mop the entire area. |
