Again, last night I was watching the History Channel and saw a segment on the Salton Sea in California.

And now I’m a little confused!

The program (no idea what year the segment was filmed) gave the impression that the Salton Sea was an eco-disaster and was now unfit for human enjoyment and will soon be unfit for animals.

I found the Salton Sea Authority website and according to them it’s not quite so bad and in fact plans are in progress to restore/clean up the sea.

I find the history of the Salton Sea fascinating and invite you to read more about it!

Salton Sea

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

I was watching the History channel the other night (one of my favorite channels!) and saw Shweeb!

There is not much I can copy/paste here so you will have to go to their website and see for yourself.

Note: I had been trying to view their website for the past several days but their bandwidth was exceeded. If at first you don’t succeed try, try again!

I will say I would be totaly into this!
I’ve also added their link to our blog roll as I want to keep an eye on Shweeb’s progression!

Shweeb

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Scientist Claims Sperm Whales in Southern Ocean are Carbon Neutral
Written by Mariella Moon

Because of their enormous body size, whales have been thought to contribute a considerable amount of carbon dioxide to the total greenhouse gas build-up whenever they exhale. However, Trish J. Lavery of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia claims they – the sperms whales of Southern Ocean, at least – are falsely-accused and that they live quite a carbon-neutral life.

During the October 13 Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Quebec City, Canada, Lavery talked about earlier calculations overlooking the whales’ capacity to offset their carbon dioxide emissions. The 210,000 sperm whales in Southern Ocean should be declared carbon neutral, according to Lavery. The carbon neutral status is achieved by bringing iron from the depths of the ocean to the surface whenever they feed. This extra iron in the water induces plankton growth which in turn traps carbon and prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.

Prior analysis of whale carbon dioxide emissions attributes 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions total to the animals in the Southern Ocean region. Subsequent computation lowers the whales’ carbon dioxide emissions estimate to 0.3 percent, which is equivalent to 17 million tons of carbon a year. Lavery and team explain that there are low levels of iron in the Southern Ocean, and the sperm whales each contribute about 10 grams of iron to the surface. Since the iron comes from the whales’ waste material, it takes the form of liquid plumes, effectively acting as a fertilizer and encouraging growth of plankton. Depending on the exact values and environmental conditions, sperm whales can then be classified “either a net carbon sink or as carbon-neutral,” Discovery writes.

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com