BP Oil Slick: I Have No Words

I've not seen any video quite as disturbing as this, outside the context of war. 

More coverage can be found here

Warning: Extinction Event In Progress

Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change. Source

Whilst I think the time frame might be a little too pessimistic (I believe humans are numerous enough and inventive enough to keep going a little bit more than another 100 years, which might not be such a good thing for planet Earth but there you go), I think Frank Fenner is bang on in pointing out the obvious; we are in the middle of an extinction event of our own making.

We continue to have children when we are constantly involved in making their lives even harder through our consumption rates. It's illogical and simple logic dictates it can't go on. Species are dying out constantly thanks to our need to exploit our world, and we shall reap the costs of that upon on our descendants.

Sadly few seem to understand this and, I suspect, even fewer care. They don't care about their children's future and they don't care about our planet's near future (I have no doubt once we are gone, the planet will "quickly" (in geological terms) repopulate itself). Alas.

Royal Bank Of Scotland: Not In Our Name!

Seems the Royal Bank of Scotland has not only been squandering taxpayer money on bonuses. They've also been using it on destroying the environment!

It's time we took over the banks and break them up!

Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear.

After Sea Shepherd's "Ady Gil" disappeared beneath the waves following a collision with a Japanese whaler, one might think that environmentalists at sea had been delivered a decisive blow. Alas, for the nasty old whalers and other defilers of the ocean, there is more where that came from on the way.

Greenpeace has broken with tradition and commissioned a totally brand new ship to take over from it's flagship Rainbow Warrior II.

German and Polish shipyards will shortly start work on Greenpeace's £14m flagship, a mega-yacht that will become the third Rainbow Warrior next year. It will be one of the biggest yachts to have been commissioned in the last decade with, say the designers, a massive 1,300 sq metres of sail supported on two A-frame masts.

Back at Sea Shepherd a new ship, the Bob Barker, has already been launched to defend the whales (ironically it's a former whaling ship), and moves are afoot to raise more money for a bigger and better ship which will hopefully now replace the Ady Gil.

And another environmental ocean going group, Oceana, has plans to lease a third ocean going vessel.

All in all it's a bad day for illegal fishing, whaling and other assorted environmental crimes.