Environment

An artist’s rendering of a deep-sea vehicle designed by Dutch company IHC to harvest polymetallic nodules from the seabed.  Royal IHC

greenbiz.com - by Todd Woody - September 28, 2017

At the International Seabed Authority’s ocean-side headquarters, delegates from dozens of countries strolled through breezeways adorned with the works of Jamaican artists as the United Nations-chartered organization’s annual meeting began its second week. No one, however, was entering a conference room where the seabed authority’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) was in session and men in dark suits stood watch. A sign advised that the meeting was "closed."

Behind heavy wood doors, the 30 members of the commission convened in secret to discuss, among other things, confidential contracts issued to corporations and state-backed companies to explore and potentially mine vast, barely explored deep-sea habitats that scientists believe play a key role in the global ecosystem.

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Recent sampling of water in Biscayne Bay found higher than normal levels of tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope produced by nuclear reactors and used to track water leaking from Turkey Point’s cooling canals. Tim Chapman Miami Herald Staff

CLICK HERE OR SEE ATTACHMENT BELOW - Report on Recent Biscayne Bay Water Quality Observations associated with Florida Power and Light Turkey Point Cooling Canal System Operations - Directive 152884 - (24 page .PDF document)

CLICK HERE OR SEE ATTACHMENT BELOW - Turkey Point’s Cooling Canal System Overview - (69 page .PDF document)

miamiherald.com - by JENNY STALETOVICH - March 7, 2016 - updated May 17, 2016

A radioactive isotope linked to water from power plant cooling canals has been found in high levels in Biscayne Bay, confirming suspicions that Turkey Point’s aging canals are leaking into the nearby national park.

Algae bloom covers northern Lake Pontchartrain

nola.com - by Mark Schleifstein - March 26, 2018

Large areas of Lake Pontchartrain are now covered with algae that may be the so-called blue-green version, which are often toxic and can cause a variety of health effects in humans and pets, officials with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation announced Monday (March 26).

That conclusion is based on aerial photographs taken by Patrick Quigley with Gulf Coast Air Photo, and observations by boaters, both of which found a large area of green to blue-green material on the surface of the lake along the North Shore and on both sides of the northern third of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

Blue-green algae is actually made up of cyanobacteria, which can produce a variety of toxins -- or poisonous substances -- that can affect the liver, kidney and the reproductive system, and can cause abdominal pain, headaches, sore throats, nausea, diarrhea,  pneumonia, tingling or burning sensations, numbness, drowsiness, and respiratory paralysis, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A dead Bodó fish in front of stranded floating houses on the bed of Negro River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, during a drought in 2015. Photograph: Raphael Alves/AFP/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - ipbes - Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions Continue Dangerous Decline, Scientists Warn

Unsustainable exploitation of the natural world threatens food and water security of billions of people, major UN-backed biodiversity study reveals

theguardian.com - by Jonathan Watts - March 23, 2018

Human destruction of nature is rapidly eroding the world’s capacity to provide food, water and security to billions of people, according to the most comprehensive biodiversity study in more than a decade.

Such is the rate of decline that the risks posed by biodiversity loss should be considered on the same scale as those of climate change, noted the authors of the UN-backed report, which was released in Medellin, Colombia on Friday.