How an Oil Spill Affects the Ecosystem



You may have seen dramatic pictures and footage of birds and sea animals covered in black oil. These poor creatures have been affected by oil spills. There is a lot more than that on what an oil spill can bring. When there is an oil spill, the oil can go anywhere because of the tides and wind that leads to harmful effects to the ecosystem.

Oil spill happens when there is an accidental release of petroleum into the environment. It can be eliminated easily when it strikes on land. But on water, it appears to be the opposite that it can result to oil pollution over the wide areas and can give serious danger to the ecosystem.

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The Red will Save the Dead – Israel-Jordan Peace Canal Project



The Israel-Jordan Peace Canal project is back in news as engineering studies find it more feasible to build a canal leading water from the Red Sea through the Jordanian desert to the Dead Sea in order to save the shrinking Dead Sea waters from drying put completely. If approved, it will be reckoned as the world’s biggest desalination plant.

It was in 1885 when William Allen first proposed using the Dead Sea as a ‘new route to India’ instead of using the Suez Canal. Connecting the Red Sea to the Dead Sea was later conceived by a British military engineer as a project for hydropower generation. After considering the Mediterranean Sea as the Dead Sea’s ‘savior’ for decades – intermittently – experts are now turning to the Red Sea for replenishing Dead Sea’s shrinking waters via a would-be canal of 168 km length. The canal will save the shrinking Dead Sea from drying out completely. Currently, the water level of the Dead Sea is 420 meters below sea level and remains the lowest point on earth.

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Greenhouse Effect, Carbon Dioxide, and the ‘Death’ of Oceans



‘Global warming is largely irreversible for the coming 1000 years even if the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are stopped at once.’ This conclusion of a recent study at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA, can potentially dampen the proactive spirit of environmental remediation by eco-friendly individuals and groups. But then, we need to ask, ‘what happens if we don’t stop the alarming level of CO2 emissions at once. An unbearably hot planet may be the common answer but at least some of us now know that our marine environment may also become ‘dead’.

A global rise in sea level has long been predicted by researchers investigating the long-term effects of greenhouse emissions and global warming. Lately, over 150 scientists have warned against the threat of the acidification of oceans due to an increased buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere. Since oceans are one of largest natural sinks for CO2, marine waters are more rapidly growing acidic by dissolution of CO2 in ocean waters, forming carbonic acid. In addition, part of the acidification of marine waters comes from precipitation from atmosphere (what we know as ‘acid rains’). Increased acidification of marine waters poses a serious threat to marine life and the food web. In fact, acidification of oceans has already stared to affect colonies of marine organisms, e.g. the coral buildups like the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

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