Oil Spill in the Amazon and the Politics Behind it
- In 2007 30,000 farmers living on the banks of the Amazon in the Napo region in Ecuador sued Texaco-Chevron under the claims that they had polluted the Amazon River in which their livelihood is dependent on. The lawsuit followed a rupture an oil pipeline going through the Amazon, said to be caused by “natural causes” the rupture in the pipeline had resulted in 14,000 barrels of oil spilled. There has been 117 oil spills in Ecuador in the past 30 years, activist have claimed that the total amount of barrels spilled in the past 30 years has been greater than the amount spilled during the Exxon Valdez Disaster. This is a classic scenario of Oil fields and refineries dumping their waste in the very fragile ecosystems, the only difference is that people have found the courage to step up to big corporations and case may result in Texaco having to pay multi-million dollars to 30,000 farmers
The Effect of Oil on Animals
- To date is has been almost 20 years since the Exxon Valdez disaster has occurred in the Prince William Sound, but it has been reported that Otters and other sea animals are still suffering from the effects of the oil spill. Animal recovery when it comes to oil must be very swift for any chance of survival and is due to large amount of volunteers, but that still isn’t enough ,every year half a million birds die because of spilt oil. Due to the effort of various organizations the amounts of death in birds have decreased each year because of close monitoring once released. Humans are also affected by the death of animal, for example fishing villages in along the Prince William Sound have suffered heavily because of the spill. Fish have been contaminated and their eggs also become contaminated as result villages lose their livelihoodood and it could be very hard to recover from such a disaster. This goes to show that humans should be more caring about oil spills knowing that it could affect them too
The Problem with Burning Oil
- On April 20 2010 deepwater well owned by British Petroleum exploded killing 11 platform workers. This disaster makes Exxon Valdez look like nothing; the Oil slick can be seen from space. There have been many preventative efforts in containing the Oil Spill some immediate methods have been using regular oil booms to contain the oil in a specific area and burning the oil. Burning oil as part of the recovery of oil is the most frowned upon because it is heavily frowned upon by environmentalist because of the amount of gases it releases into the atmosphere. Oil also affects the flight of bird planning up above, another reason why dependency on oil is bad because even the recovery process is harmful to the environment.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Written Summary
Oil spills occur all the time, but they are not always the large oil spills that are on TV but most of them occur discreetly and sometime intentionally. Oil is an important resource which is extremely valuable to the global economy so the drilling of it is essential. Oil spills are not necessarily the ones in which you see ten thousands of barrels being released but a ruptured pipeline owned by a major oil corporation, to avoid these types of spills the world itself needs to develop other types of energy sources and be less dependent on oil because it is evident that it’s production carries too high a risk to the environment. The reasons are not exactly evident why oil spills are detrimental the nature but it’s not humans that are most affected by it but animals.. Oil is a very dense mixture made of various hydrocarbons and different types of compounds, when this mixture gets on animals fur such as otters it ruins the entire purpose which is insulating the body and causes the animal to get hypothermia. Birds are also heavily affected by oil too when oil gets on their plumage they fail to fly and start ingesting the oil at an attempt to rid themselves of it but just end of ruining their internal organs. Intervention must be very swift when helping rescue animals from oil spills or else they end up dead, people overlook the important of animals in our ecosystem, they forget where they get their food from and who keeps the nature cycle going. The reasons why humans should be worried is that if they do not step and do something about oil spills is that nature is already in a fragile condition and without the help animals humans will be in greater trouble. This is a very global problem because almost every country economy depends on the oil industry and each of these countries has different policies on oil, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raises gas prices in Britain. They are some short term methods of preventing oil spills such as oil booms which help contain the area where the oil has spilt but the sometimes they have to rely on burning the oil which causes a great problems with environmentalist because it adds to the air pollution. It is evident that the Oil industry poses great risk to the environment and it’s essential for humans to realize this and make a good effort to stop using oil and start using different energy sources because all the problems that oil causes isn’t worth the convenience
Monday, May 24, 2010
FAQ's
How Oil Spills can be avoided?
- Environmentalists and various governments have always argued over offshore drilling in the past decade. In the US it is an extremely debated subject especially since recent events have given more proof to why it should be banned. But not all major oil spills are caused by drilling platforms leaking but from tankers grounding or sinking. The need for oil requires such a precious amenity to be transported but if countries look to other energy resources, the purchase of oil across foreign waters would not be necessary and we would not have to run the risk of major leakage of oil in fragile marine ecosystems.
What harm does the release of oil cause to the environment?
- Oil contains many different hydrocarbons and different compounds; this mixture makes oil an extremely dense product. This affects both animals and plants, an example of this is birds. Birds are always the most effected animals except for fish when it comes to oil spills, the oil sticks to their plumage and prevents them from taking off, their instincts tell them to ingest the oil but that leads to devastating effects on their internal organs and is the cause of death for the birds. Under the surface of water lies an entire ecosystem of plants, and they also require photosynthesis but the density of oil prevents any sun from accessing the plants and they die therefore affecting the food source for many fish
How is oil spills cleaned up?
- Various methods are used to clean up oil spills. One of the most preferred methods is using oil booms which absorb the oil, oil booms are comprised of sometimes regular nylon stockings filled with animal fur or hair many organizations are dedicated to gathering hair for oil spill cleanup. They are other methods of getting rid of oil in water, burning is one of them but it cause air pollution and is frowned upon by most environmentalists
How do they occur?
- Major Oil Spills are mostly caused by drilling platforms leaking or tankers grounding on reefs, some oil spills release 100,000 to 1.5 million tons of oil. The main problem is the oil spreading
Are all Oil spills accidental?
- The highly publicized Oil Spills are mostly the big accidental ones but the truth is that those oil spills account for only 5% of Oil Spills. Most oil spills are caused by municipal dumping or by industrial waste such as oil refineries or oil fields. In Ecuador 30,000 inhabitants from the Amazon sued Chevron because all the waste from their Oil Field was polluting their river
Are they any organizations against off shore drilling?
- After Exxon Valdez in 1989 many different charities and organizations sprung up against off shore drilling, and ever since it has been ongoing debate between congress and environmentalist. You can donate to Matters of Trust or different organizations but recently President Obama has created a commission on preventing Oil Spills
What are some major oil spills?
- The biggest amount of oil released by oil spill was in the Persian Gulf during the First Gulf War where it was said that the Iraqi’s released oil in an attempt to prevent the marines from landing, but Exxon Valdez incident in Alaska which does not even place in the top ten for the most amount of oil released had probably had the worst impact on the environment than any other spill
How many animals die from oil spills?
- It varies from spill to spill but one of the worst environmental disasters was the San Francisco Bay spill where 2,519 dead birds were found. It ranges from how dense is the animal population in that area
Are there any immediate methods of avoiding oil spills?
- To make sure that tankers do not ground or hit a reef they have two boats constantly attached to them to tug the boat in case of emergency, there is also a method called double hulling in which they reinforce the hull of a tanker which can prevent ships from getting damaged.
How long does it take to clean up?
- It all depends on the efficiency of the people responsible for cleaning up the spill, the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 1980’s took over a year to entirely clean up. Most spills take a few months to recover from but even after that areas affected by it continue to have problems an example of this are Alaskan villages in which the oil spill ruined the fishing industry.
- Environmentalists and various governments have always argued over offshore drilling in the past decade. In the US it is an extremely debated subject especially since recent events have given more proof to why it should be banned. But not all major oil spills are caused by drilling platforms leaking but from tankers grounding or sinking. The need for oil requires such a precious amenity to be transported but if countries look to other energy resources, the purchase of oil across foreign waters would not be necessary and we would not have to run the risk of major leakage of oil in fragile marine ecosystems.
What harm does the release of oil cause to the environment?
- Oil contains many different hydrocarbons and different compounds; this mixture makes oil an extremely dense product. This affects both animals and plants, an example of this is birds. Birds are always the most effected animals except for fish when it comes to oil spills, the oil sticks to their plumage and prevents them from taking off, their instincts tell them to ingest the oil but that leads to devastating effects on their internal organs and is the cause of death for the birds. Under the surface of water lies an entire ecosystem of plants, and they also require photosynthesis but the density of oil prevents any sun from accessing the plants and they die therefore affecting the food source for many fish
How is oil spills cleaned up?
- Various methods are used to clean up oil spills. One of the most preferred methods is using oil booms which absorb the oil, oil booms are comprised of sometimes regular nylon stockings filled with animal fur or hair many organizations are dedicated to gathering hair for oil spill cleanup. They are other methods of getting rid of oil in water, burning is one of them but it cause air pollution and is frowned upon by most environmentalists
How do they occur?
- Major Oil Spills are mostly caused by drilling platforms leaking or tankers grounding on reefs, some oil spills release 100,000 to 1.5 million tons of oil. The main problem is the oil spreading
Are all Oil spills accidental?
- The highly publicized Oil Spills are mostly the big accidental ones but the truth is that those oil spills account for only 5% of Oil Spills. Most oil spills are caused by municipal dumping or by industrial waste such as oil refineries or oil fields. In Ecuador 30,000 inhabitants from the Amazon sued Chevron because all the waste from their Oil Field was polluting their river
Are they any organizations against off shore drilling?
- After Exxon Valdez in 1989 many different charities and organizations sprung up against off shore drilling, and ever since it has been ongoing debate between congress and environmentalist. You can donate to Matters of Trust or different organizations but recently President Obama has created a commission on preventing Oil Spills
What are some major oil spills?
- The biggest amount of oil released by oil spill was in the Persian Gulf during the First Gulf War where it was said that the Iraqi’s released oil in an attempt to prevent the marines from landing, but Exxon Valdez incident in Alaska which does not even place in the top ten for the most amount of oil released had probably had the worst impact on the environment than any other spill
How many animals die from oil spills?
- It varies from spill to spill but one of the worst environmental disasters was the San Francisco Bay spill where 2,519 dead birds were found. It ranges from how dense is the animal population in that area
Are there any immediate methods of avoiding oil spills?
- To make sure that tankers do not ground or hit a reef they have two boats constantly attached to them to tug the boat in case of emergency, there is also a method called double hulling in which they reinforce the hull of a tanker which can prevent ships from getting damaged.
How long does it take to clean up?
- It all depends on the efficiency of the people responsible for cleaning up the spill, the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 1980’s took over a year to entirely clean up. Most spills take a few months to recover from but even after that areas affected by it continue to have problems an example of this are Alaskan villages in which the oil spill ruined the fishing industry.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Articles about Oil Spills
Coast Guard: Despite BP efforts, Gulf oil spill is getting worse:
This article holds a lot of information about the spread of the oil spill going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now It talks about how preventative efforts made by British Petroleum are ineffective against the oil spill which is getting larger by the day. The article also alludes to various members of congress who are questioning the people responsible to figure out if anything was done out of order and It finishes by giving the reader a bit about what is being done to prevent disasters like these. This article gives us in depths look at the political and environmental repercussions of offshore drilling.
Shashank Bengalie and Lauren French
5/18/10
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/18/1636044
coast-guard-despite-bp-efforts.html
How can Human Hair Mop up the Spill: Published by the BBC, this article gives us a different perspective on the oil spill in the Gulf and how it is being viewed in a foreign country with a different policy in oil. The main subject of the article is the efforts of various charities, one in particular who use nylon stockings and hair to use as booms to absorb the oil. It reveals to us the history and the science behind the hair mops, dating back to its Alabama roots. It’s an interesting article and gives us an idea of what little things we can do to help in preventing oil spills.
5/11/10
BBC World News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/
magazine/8674539.stm
Exxon Vessel Hits Reef, Fouling Water That is Rich in Marine Life: Exxon Valdez was the worst oil spill on the North American Continent, especially because of the importance of abundant fishing industry that was occurring in that area. Published the day after the spill it talks about the immediate effects of the spill, and the fears that environmentalist had. It talks about how salmon fishing which is one of Alaska’s leading industry was going to be affected since they were suppose to migrate at that time. It also talks about a controversial issue
Philip Shabecoff
March 25 1989
New York Times
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=
115057267&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=
PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1274238392&clientId=7827
San Francisco Oil Spill Threatens Wildlife: This article talks about the San Francisco Bay Oil Spill of 2007. What the article really focuses on is the Wildlife effected by the spill. It claims that dozens of birds have been found dead and multiple have been found injured, but birds are not the only ones affected marine mammals and fish have been hit hard. This articles gives us an example of what oil spills really do the nature and hands us the grim reality of having a large amount of wildlife die.
Terence Chea
November 9 2007
National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071109-AP-bay-spill.html
Why Deep Water Oil Spills do Their Damage Deep Down: This article talks about the effects of oil spills not on animals but on plants down in the ocean. It talks about how if hydrocarbons are released into the water, then the water is polluted. But the problem is that when the water reaches a certain depth in the ocean it becomes almost impossible to recover. This really is a wakeup call that If offshore drilling doesn’t stop and accidents like these keep on occurring, it can spin out beyond our control
Phil Mckenna
18 May, 2010
NewScientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18927-why-deepwater-oil-spills-do-their-damage-deep-down.html
This article holds a lot of information about the spread of the oil spill going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now It talks about how preventative efforts made by British Petroleum are ineffective against the oil spill which is getting larger by the day. The article also alludes to various members of congress who are questioning the people responsible to figure out if anything was done out of order and It finishes by giving the reader a bit about what is being done to prevent disasters like these. This article gives us in depths look at the political and environmental repercussions of offshore drilling.
Shashank Bengalie and Lauren French
5/18/10
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/18/1636044
coast-guard-despite-bp-efforts.html
How can Human Hair Mop up the Spill: Published by the BBC, this article gives us a different perspective on the oil spill in the Gulf and how it is being viewed in a foreign country with a different policy in oil. The main subject of the article is the efforts of various charities, one in particular who use nylon stockings and hair to use as booms to absorb the oil. It reveals to us the history and the science behind the hair mops, dating back to its Alabama roots. It’s an interesting article and gives us an idea of what little things we can do to help in preventing oil spills.
5/11/10
BBC World News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/
magazine/8674539.stm
Exxon Vessel Hits Reef, Fouling Water That is Rich in Marine Life: Exxon Valdez was the worst oil spill on the North American Continent, especially because of the importance of abundant fishing industry that was occurring in that area. Published the day after the spill it talks about the immediate effects of the spill, and the fears that environmentalist had. It talks about how salmon fishing which is one of Alaska’s leading industry was going to be affected since they were suppose to migrate at that time. It also talks about a controversial issue
Philip Shabecoff
March 25 1989
New York Times
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=
115057267&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=
PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1274238392&clientId=7827
San Francisco Oil Spill Threatens Wildlife: This article talks about the San Francisco Bay Oil Spill of 2007. What the article really focuses on is the Wildlife effected by the spill. It claims that dozens of birds have been found dead and multiple have been found injured, but birds are not the only ones affected marine mammals and fish have been hit hard. This articles gives us an example of what oil spills really do the nature and hands us the grim reality of having a large amount of wildlife die.
Terence Chea
November 9 2007
National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071109-AP-bay-spill.html
Why Deep Water Oil Spills do Their Damage Deep Down: This article talks about the effects of oil spills not on animals but on plants down in the ocean. It talks about how if hydrocarbons are released into the water, then the water is polluted. But the problem is that when the water reaches a certain depth in the ocean it becomes almost impossible to recover. This really is a wakeup call that If offshore drilling doesn’t stop and accidents like these keep on occurring, it can spin out beyond our control
Phil Mckenna
18 May, 2010
NewScientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18927-why-deepwater-oil-spills-do-their-damage-deep-down.html
Monday, May 17, 2010
News Clips
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8670586.stm
this is a news clip from the BBC about the recent oil spill that has occurred in the gulf of mexico. It shows the effects that the oil has on nearby beaches and how tar has already started to come to the shore of Alabama
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8676535.stm
This clip shows a senate hearing for the people who headed the company responsible for the recent Gulf Oil Spill. It is a clip of them being questioned and attempting the pin the blame on someone else and each other, this show the dishonesty of the big oil corporations
this is a news clip from the BBC about the recent oil spill that has occurred in the gulf of mexico. It shows the effects that the oil has on nearby beaches and how tar has already started to come to the shore of Alabama
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8676535.stm
This clip shows a senate hearing for the people who headed the company responsible for the recent Gulf Oil Spill. It is a clip of them being questioned and attempting the pin the blame on someone else and each other, this show the dishonesty of the big oil corporations
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Movies Advocating Against Oil Spills
Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster
This movie is a Bio-Pic about the people involved in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, it portrays people such as the Governor of Alaska and the Directors of Exxon Mobil.It shows who really is responsible for disasters such as these
Websites to Learn More
http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/
This site is a government website ran by the environmental protection agency, it gives you information on how oil spills are responded to and what not to dump in water
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm
Now this website is for younger people it's good for younger children because it provides a brief over view of what an oil spill is , how is it prevented,etc
https://secure.defenders.org/
This website is a website for people who want to volunteer or donate to the fight against off shore drilling, you can also adopt an animal that has been affected by oil spills
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov
This is good educational website ran by NOAA it's designed for teacher's and students who want to learn more about oil spills, the response program, and specific oil spills such as Exxon Valdez
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/oilspills
This a chapter about a book on Oceanography it's very brief but it provides and overview and some very useful statistics
http://earthsci.org/mineral/energy/gasexpl/spill
This is a piece of information from Australian Institute of Petroleum, it talks about the problem of oil spills specifically in Australia
http://www.itopf.com/information-services/data-and-statistics/statistics/
this website is ran by The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited
it provides a lot of statistics on oil spills from tankers and different types of vessels
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/oilspills
These are federal statistics about oilspills in america, they provided official numbers about the amount of oil being dumped
http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus
these are statistics about the amount of oil being dumped in oceans surrounding the united states
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100507-science-environment-gulf-mexico-oil-spill-cleanup-bacteria/
This article is about how nature is fighting back, to help clean up the gulf of mexico through natural process like bacteria eating away the oil
This site is a government website ran by the environmental protection agency, it gives you information on how oil spills are responded to and what not to dump in water
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm
Now this website is for younger people it's good for younger children because it provides a brief over view of what an oil spill is , how is it prevented,etc
https://secure.defenders.org/
This website is a website for people who want to volunteer or donate to the fight against off shore drilling, you can also adopt an animal that has been affected by oil spills
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov
This is good educational website ran by NOAA it's designed for teacher's and students who want to learn more about oil spills, the response program, and specific oil spills such as Exxon Valdez
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/oilspills
This a chapter about a book on Oceanography it's very brief but it provides and overview and some very useful statistics
http://earthsci.org/mineral/energy/gasexpl/spill
This is a piece of information from Australian Institute of Petroleum, it talks about the problem of oil spills specifically in Australia
http://www.itopf.com/information-services/data-and-statistics/statistics/
this website is ran by The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited
it provides a lot of statistics on oil spills from tankers and different types of vessels
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/oilspills
These are federal statistics about oilspills in america, they provided official numbers about the amount of oil being dumped
http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus
these are statistics about the amount of oil being dumped in oceans surrounding the united states
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100507-science-environment-gulf-mexico-oil-spill-cleanup-bacteria/
This article is about how nature is fighting back, to help clean up the gulf of mexico through natural process like bacteria eating away the oil
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