All posts tagged: pollution

52: A Voice Lost in a Sea of Echoes

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Photo Credit: Lonely Whale   Hello! Can anybody hear me? Is anybody out there- listening? Radio silence….. Imagine, sending out a plea for connection, only to have your cry become lost in a sea of echoes. The “52 Hertz Whale,” also known as the “Lonely Whale” has for years wandered the ocean solo. Living a life of solitude- completely cut off from bonding and connecting with other whales. Tragically, it is believed that this lonely whale sends out a frequency unlike any other whale; a unique call. To date, it is said that no other whale has responded to this lone whale’s cry. Dr. William Watkins theorized, lonely whale, “was either the first of its kind, the last of its kind, or a whale with a malformation in its call, resulting in its inability to mate or form a bond with any of his species” (Lonely Whale). At the heart of the matter, this gentle giant is a hero with a story to tell. Lonely Whale has spent an entire lifetime roaming through the abyss …

Happy World Environment Day 2014!

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  Happy  World Environment Day!  Help educate your community and raise awareness about global environmental issues as well as ways to help protect the environment. 10 Eco Facts 1. The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year. 2. Over 75% of waste is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it. 3. North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. 4. We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year. If we composted that food, it would reduce the same amount of greenhouse gas as taking 2 million cars off the road. 5. A plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. 6. Fish ingest an estimated 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic per year in the Pacific Ocean. 7. Over 100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds die each year from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic. 8. 14 billion pounds of garbage are dumped into the ocean every year. Most of it is plastic. 9. …

Digital Dump: Creating an E-Wasteland

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  Living in the digital era, our lives have become deeply intertwined with technology.  If someone asked you to place one item in a time capsule that best describes your generation, what would it be? Probably, a smartphone, tablet, i-Pod, laptop, these are a few items that come to mind.  Each new generation is becoming more and more dependent on technology.  Our reliance on technology is at times worrying, for instance, think how some of us react when the  power goes out, there is an islandwide or citywide blackout, or our phone is left at home so we run back and get it, or our phone battery dies and we have no charger with us, or God forbid our internet crashes and we have a meltdown because we have temporally been disconnected from the social media bubbles we live in.  Sometimes, it seems we are reaching a state where we are constantly  plugged in, to social media, the internet, and communicating through every digital or technological channel made available to us.  Perhaps, what may be …

Fracking: A Mad Rush For Colourless Gold…

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Lately, I have been on a bit of a documentary kick, re-watching documentaries and discovering new ones.  In particular, I find environmental documentaries inspiring and thought provoking.  For example, Josh Fox filmed and produced two powerful and informative documentaries, such as Gasland and Gasland 2.  Both documentaries create awareness about the devastating effects fracking is causing on the environment.  Fracking continues to pose many harmful repercussions which impose lasting effects such as contaminating water supplies so much that it is toxic to the point in can catch on fire, air pollution, earthquakes, and illness in animals and human beings.  Thank you Josh Fox for filming and producing two very powerful and informative documentaries about fracking and the toll it is placing on the environment and mankind. Watching a documentary like Gasland, reminds me that art is a powerful tool which can help create positive change in a world that is heavily weighed down by so many issues and problems.  Art has the ability to encourage people to look more critically at the world around us …

Be classy, don’t trash the ocean

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When I think of the ocean, I picture the gorgeous Caribbean Sea that surrounds my lovely island.  The water is inviting and crystal clear.  It is truly a blessing to be surrounded by such clear water, that is filled with an abundance of marine life, and coral reefs. However, unfortunately some people may not be so lucky, and don’t think of such a picturesque image, instead startling images of the ocean being polluted comes to mind.  For instance, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  Here is a snapshot of the state the Pacific Ocean is in, “The Pacific Ocean is home to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which also is known as the “World’s Largest Landfill,” according to the European Commission. An estimated 3.5 million tons of trash reside in this landfill that are the result of whirling currents in the Pacific Ocean that pull trash and pollution into the ocean.” (http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/statistics-pollution-pacific-ocean-20311.html) It is simply heart wrenching to see the ocean in such a state of distress as trash is continually being dumped in, polluting the …