Defending our Oceans

For too long, marine life has been largely open for the taking by anyone possessing the means to exploit it. Rapid advances in technology have meant that the ability, reach and power of vessels and equipment used to exploit marine life now far outweigh nature's ability to maintain it. If left unchecked, this will have far reaching consequences for the marine environment and for people who depend on it.

Ocean life comes in an incredible array of shapes and sizes - from microscopic plankton to the largest of the great whales.

Yet many species have been, or are being, driven towards extinction through devastating human impacts.

The Defending our Oceans campaign exposes these threats, confronts the villains and promotes solutions such as a global network of ocean parks called marine reserves.


The key threats facing our oceans include:

Industrial fishing

Bycatch

Unfair fisheries

Unsustainable aquacultureGlobal warming

Pollution

Defending our oceans

David Roland Cook (born December 20, 1982) is an American rock singer and songwriter. On May 21, 2008, he was declared the winner of the seventh season of the reality television show American Idol. His single, "The Time of My Life," is on sale on iTunes.

its gettin hot in hir!

its gettin hot in hir!seriously, if global warming continues, d

polar ice caps will melt & eventually flood ol d earth's low areas &

posibly even flood everest! its either we'llive in boats or floating

man-made islands or create a giant space craft dat will launch 2

space which can hold only about 1/4 of usa's population or option 4,

which no 1 wil choose, WE ALL DIE, so wna live happily nver after? i

bet u dont so what d f*ck r u doin?if u love ur bf/gf, plant a tree,

increase oxygen, save ozone, no more flood, & our fave artists can

sing 2 us thru d rest of ur lyf! 4ward ds 2 every1 f u care. SAVE

MOTHER EARTH!.

top 10 as of today (May19,2008) new7wonders of nature

top 10 as of today (May19,2008) new7wonders of nature

Ha Long Bay
VIET NAM
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.

Cox's Bazar, Beach
BANGLADESH
Cox's Bazar is a major city and district in Bangladesh. It is also one of the world's longest natural sandy sea beaches (120 km) including mud flats.

Ganges, River
BANGLADESH/ INDIA
The 2,510 km long Ganges is a major river in the Indian subcontinent flowing east through the eponymous plains of northern India into Bangladesh. The river and its tributaries drain a large and fertile basin with an area of about one million square kilometres that supports one of the world's highest density human populations.

Amazon River, River/Forest
BOLIVIA/ BRAZIL/ COLOMBIA/ ECUADOR/ PERU/ VENEZUELA
The South American Amazon is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total flow greater than the top ten rivers worldwide combined. It accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.


Mount Everest, Mountain
NEPAL
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, with the summit 8,848 meters above sea level. The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China.

Mount Fuji, Mountain
JAPAN
Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 meters, and has an exceptionally symmetrical cone. A dormant volcano that last erupted in 1707, it is surrounded by five lakes: Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Sai, Lake Motosu and Lake Shoji. It is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

Cocos Island, Island
COSTA RICA
Cocos Island, located off the shore of Costa Rica, measures 23,85 square km and is a national park. Many hammerhead sharks, rays and dolphins live in the deep waters with counter-currents that surround it.


Tubbataha Reef
PHILIPPINES
Tubbataha Reef is an atoll coral reef in the Sulu Sea that belongs to the Philippines. It is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park. The reef is composed of two atolls, North and South Reefs. Each reef has a single small islet that protrudes from the water. The atolls are separated by a deep channel 8 kilometers wide. Over one thousand species, including many that are endangered, can be found at on the reef. These include manta rays, lionfish, tortoises, clownfish and sharks.


Chocolate Hills
PHILIPPINES
The Chocolate Hills is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills, all about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 sq km The hills are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, giving them the name ''Chocolate Hills.''


Colca Canyon, Canyon
PERU
Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River, in the Andes mountain range, in southern Peru. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States, but is not as steep. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces.

Obesity contributes to global warming

study By Michael Kahn

GENEVA (Reuters) - Obesity contributes to global warming, too.

Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the

population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says.

This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal

Lancet on Friday.

"We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility," Edwards said in a telephone interview. "Obesity is a key part of the

big picture."

At least 400 million adults worldwide are obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects by 2015, 2.3 billion adults will be

overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.

In their model, the researchers pegged 40 percent of the global population as obese with a body mass index of near 30. Many

nations are fast approaching or have surpassed this level, Edwards said.

BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with more than 25 considered

overweight and above 30 obese.

The researchers found that obese people require 1,680 daily calories to sustain normal energy and another 1,280 calories to maintain

daily activities, 18 percent more than someone with a stable BMI.

Because thinner people eat less and are more likely to walk than rely on cars, a slimmer population would lower demand for fuel

for transportation and for agriculture, Edwards said.

This is also important because 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture, he added.

The next step is quantifying how much a heavier population is contributing to climate change, higher fuel prices and food

shortages, he added.

"Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food," Edwards and Roberts

wrote.

is my lunch causing global warming?

Did you know, the food system is responsible for 1/3 of global greenhouse emissions?

With every meal you eat, you have the power to reduce climate change.

Eating right

By Trystan L. Bass

You've heard of low-carb diets, right? Atkins, South Beach ... but what about a low-carbon diet?

Just like our cars and the power plants the light our houses create CO2 emissions, the food we eat can contribute to climate

change. Livestock creates 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, so meat and dairy products have a high carbon count.

Processed, packaged goods shipped across the country consume a lot more energy than fresh, local foods.

You can calculate the approximate climate impact of your meal at EatLowCarbon.org, a nifty tool created by the food service

company Bon Appétit. Just drag and drop ingredients into your virtual sauté pan, and dish up an earth-friendly dinner.

I visited a couple places where Bon Appétit provides food service and encourages eco-friendly dining. See for yourself how college

students and tech workers went low-carb this Earth Day.

Bon Appétit brought its low-carbon diet to more than 400 corporate and university cafés across the U.S. this year. The company

contracts with places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adidas, Seattle Art Museum, Oracle Corporation, eBay, Monterey

Bay Aquarium, Best Buy, and even Yahoo!.

At Santa Clara University, I talked to students and staff to see how they enjoyed the sustainable lunch choices. The response was

very positive. An environmental studies major complimented the cafeteria for emphasizing local produce. The students also

admired how Bon Appétit and the university worked together to educate people on making smart food choices.

Lindsey Cromwell, the university's sustainability coordinator, pointed out that the low-carbon diet is in line with the institution's

long-term goal of going carbon-neutral. "As a Jesuit university, we're concerned with the ethical implications of all our decisions,"

she commented. Stewardship of the planet -- down to the food we choose -- is part of the life education Santa Clara University

provides.

Bon Appétit's Director of Culinary Support, Marc Zammit, gave me a tour of the university's kitchen and pointed out what made the

Earth Day meals 'low carbon.'

Cutting out beef is a big part of it, but this doesn't have to mean going totally vegetarian. Raising chicken, pork, and fish uses

fewer resources than beef. If you can go meat-free a few days a week, that's great (and pretty healthy too). But trying a tilapia fish

taco instead of a hamburger like some satisfied students did is a start.

Cheese is a tough one for many of us to give up. But at the university deli, Zammit showed how you can create delicious

sandwiches without a slice of cheese. Yummy spreads like hummus and pesto add creamy texture and loads of flavor without

dairy. Definitely worth trying at home!

I also checked out the corporate café at SAP Labs. Executive chef Melissa Miller showed me around her kitchen, where she makes

tasty meals like chicken pho. This Vietnamese noodle soup traditionally has beef, but her low-carbon version was just as popular as

the standard.

Miller's crew also makes potato chips from scratch -- this avoids packaging, since they can serve them from big glass jars. And fresh

chips taste better too! What a treat.

The café also provides crackers for soups in jars (instead of individually wrapped), and condiments like ketchup and mustard are

served in refillable containers (not packets). All of this reduces garbage.

This is something we can easily do at home too. Buying in bulk is often cheaper than buying lots of individually packaged items.

We'll spend less and have less trash, so it's a win-win.

Both cafeterias encourage diners to use real china and silverware whenever possible. Paper and plastic to-go containers are

frequently not recyclable or just not recycled, so they end up in the landfills. At Santa Clara University, the cafeteria uses 7,200 to-go

boxes each week. If you stacked them up, that'd be almost as tall as the Empire State Building!

That's something we should remember when we get take-out food or are tempted to use paper plates at home for parties.

Want to learn more about how you can go low-carb? Check out Bon Appétit's low-carbon diet tips, including research behind

why this helps the planet.

And get a recipe from the chef at San Francisco's de Young Museum for seafood stew to whip up your own sustainable dinner

tonight.

take tym to watch this...

Godbless to all...

Check This Out... =c

(Part 1 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAtgPaggeTM&feature=related

(Part 2 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FodtX8C2SCA&feature=related

(Part 3 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txFNP3A5WnM&feature=related

(Part 4 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoIMDq-ckhk&feature=related

(Part 5 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA0TDBSReO0&feature=related

(Part 6 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vfn9ss2nwQ&feature=related


owner of the site
http://www.youtube.com/user/EmbarkToHeaven


Global warming (READ THE INFO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6GPTB4Tio

Global Warming: Point of No Return? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FVZSUsT-Ws&feature=related

Banned Documentary about Global Warming part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6XB6WTwTNU&feature=related

Banned Documentary about Global Warming Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu0tfSFjRVQ&feature=related

Banned Documentary about Global Warming Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUnMduflrg&feature=related

An Earth Day Message
http://www.youtube.com/user/pmasoned

A PERFECT LOVE...

"Perfect love is rare indeed -
for to be a lover will require
that you continually have
the subtlety of the very wise,
the flexibility of the child,
the sensitivity of the artist,
the understanding of the philosopher,
the acceptance of the saint,
the tolerance of the scholar and
the fortitude of the certain."

I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay

“I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.”

do we???

i was walking under a tree, minding my own business..then a fruit fell down my head & it hurt, i looked up & i thought.. "do we really need to get hurt first, before we look up!?...uuu

Solving Global Warming

The Tipping Point

The time to put global warming solutions into place is now.

We can't wait any longer. Scientists say we need to turn the corner on global warming within 10 years to prevent very dangerous impacts from becoming inevitable. Each year that passes without tackling global warming head-on makes the problem more difficult and expensive to solve.

But at the same time, global warming has finally gotten our attention -- Americans are increasingly aware that a warming climate is a real threat to our way of life, and that we have a choice about how bad it will get.

The choice lies here: $16 trillion dollars will be invested in energy development over the next two decades. Will it be poured into polluting, obsolescent technologies that will bring on the worst of global warming? Or will these investments be shifted into to advanced, low-polluting technologies that will create the new energy economy that's needed to shut down global warming?

It's up to all of us to increase the heat on our elected officials: we need the right policies -- and we need them now -- to ensure that the technologies described here are deployed on the scale and timeframe that is needed to achieve deep reductions in global warming pollution by mid-century.

1. Boost Energy Efficiency

The cheapest and fastest way to cut global warming pollution is to make things that use electricity -- like appliances, industrial equipment and buildings -- more energy-efficient. We know this works -- most of us have bought an Energy Star appliance or two, and have seen firsthand how much money and energy they can save. But there's still much room for improvement, and we must continue to push for products that waste less energy. Likewise, "green building" design and construction can dramatically reduce the enormous amounts of energy that buildings consume in heating, cooling, lighting and water use.

2. Better Cars and Smart Growth

Our gasoline-burning cars are the second-largest source of U.S. global warming pollution. But Americans will put more than 300 million new cars on the road over the next 20 years -- if these cars are the best, most efficient vehicles Detroit can make, we'll take a big step toward solving global warming.

Using hybrid engines and other ready-to-go technologies in today's cars could nearly double the mileage they'd get from a gallon of gas, saving a lot of money at the pump. By 2050, fuel-cell technologies and other advancements could boost efficiency to 54 miles per gallon.

We can curb our appetite for oil even further by adopting "smart growth" principles in our cities and towns, encouraging developers to build compact, walkable communities that allow people to spend less time behind the wheel.

3. Biofuels and Renewable Energy

Business-friendly, cost-competitive and ready to meet a significant portion of America's energy needs, renewable energy has gone mainstream. Wind power is the fastest growing form of electricity generation in the United States, expanding at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent. Solar energy employs more than 20,000 Americans in high-tech, high-paying jobs. And clean-burning biofuels made from plants show great promise as a replacement for gasoline -- ethanol producers already make 4 billion gallons of fuel a year, and new methods for making ethanol from farm wastes or energy crops could compete with oil on a very large scale in addition to providing extra income for farmers. By 2050, renewable energy and biofuels could meet a significant chunk of our energy needs.

4. Return Carbon to the Ground

Coal is the most carbon-intense of fossil fuels. Reducing use of coal through energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies will be the cornerstones of the solution to global warming, but the plain truth is that hundreds of new coal-fired power plants will probably be constructed around the world in coming years. Coal generates more than half of the electricity we use today, and it is in plentiful supply in such countries as China, India and the United States.

A critical choice remains. Power plants have a long lifespan -- build the new coal plants with dirty, 19th-century technologies and we lock ourselves into high levels of global warming pollution for decades. We can instead choose a 21st-century alternative: Using existing technologies -- each in commercial operation today -- we can convert coal into a clean-burning gas and capture and dispose of the carbon dioxide deep underground, dramatically reducing air pollution from this dirtiest of fuels. If the United States doesn't invest in this technology, neither will China, India and other countries with large coal supplies.