The rainforest

A large body of water (a major part of the hydrosphere) that is located in the region adjacent to either side of the equator receives the sweet waters of the rainforest, a luxuriant, dense forest rich in biodiversity, found typically in tropical areas with consistently heavy rainfal.

While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990, Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor. To save money, Texaco chose to use environmental practices that were obsolete, did not meet industry standards, and were illegal in Ecuador and the United States. The result was, and continues to be, one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet. Contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface streams has caused local indigenous and campesino people to suffer a wave of mouth, stomach and uterine cancer, birth defects, and spontaneous miscarriages. Chevron has never cleaned up the mess it inherited, and its oil wastes continue to poison the rainforest ecosystem. (from Chevron Toxico)

Trapped in the spill

Dark wave

Down on the bayou, reporters and activists have been pulled over and questioned by British Petroleum security guards and local police because they might be “terrorists.” Journalists have been kicked off public property, detained, harassed, and forced to hand over their photographs – and their Social Security numbers. They’ve been prevented from renting boats or flying below 3,000 feet over the coast. They’ve been threatened with arrest.

The Coast Guard put new rules in place to prevent the public, including the press, from coming within 65 feet of any response vessels or booms on the water or beaches, or face a civil penalty of up to $40,000. The Coast Guard called it a “safety zone.” Violators of the “safety zone” could face charges of a Class D felony under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act.

The federal government has thrown a perimeter around an entire region of the southeastern seaboard. The public – now seen as “the enemy” – is left in the dark, while BP and negligent federal regulators disguise the true nature of the devastation.

The Gulf Slick

2º C above

Down at the Abyssal Plain

'Most of the stories you hear about wild fish involve their disappearance, usually because of over-fishing. Now for a fish tale that's more upbeat. Marine biologists working in the Pacific Ocean say they found a tasty deep-sea fish that is unexpectedly thriving. '

Melting Ice

The oily skin of the oceans

Irreversible

'The interactions between environmental change and human societies have a long and complex history spanning many millennia. They vary greatly through time and from place to place. Despite this spatial and temporal variability, a global perspective has begun to emerge in recent years and to form the framework for a growing body of research within the environmental sciences. Crucial to the emergence of this perspective has been the dawning awareness of two aspects of Earth System functioning. First, that the Earth itself is a single system within which the biosphere is an active, essential component. Secondly, that human activities are now so pervasive and profound in their consequences that they affect the Earth at a global scale in complex, interactive and apparently accelerating ways; humans now have the capacity to alter the Earth System in ways that threaten the very processes and components, both biotic and abiotic, upon which the human species depends.'

excerpt of Global Change and the Earth System.

A Planet Under Pressure. (2005)

The IGBP Series

The Anthropocene

Without major catastrophes like an enormous volcanic eruption, an unexpected epidemic, a large-scale nuclear war, an asteroid impact, a new ice age, or continued plundering of Earth's resources by partially still primitive technology (the last four dangers can, however, be prevented in a real functioning no6sphere) mankind will remain a major geological force for many millennia, maybe millions of years, to come. To develop a world-wide accepted strategy leading to sustainability of ecosystems against human induced stresses will be one of the great future tasks of mankind, requiring intensive research efforts and wise application of the knowledge thus acquired in the noösphere, better known as knowledge or information society. An exciting, but also difficult and daunting task lies ahead of the global research and engineering community to guide mankind towards global, sustainable, environmental management.

Prof. Paul J. Crutzen´s "The Anthropocene"

The Garbage Patch

"It began with a line of plastic bags ghosting the surface, followed by an ugly tangle of junk: nets and ropes and bottles, motor-oil jugs and cracked bath toys, a mangled tarp. Tires. A traffic cone. Moore could not believe his eyes. Out here in this desolate place, the water was a stew of plastic crap. It was as though someone had taken the pristine seascape of his youth and swapped it for a landfill. How did all the plastic end up here?"

Susan Casey´s "Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic... Are We?"

Map of the gyre. The blue square represents one study of the garbage patch.
My fractal image wants to represent the surprise before the horror. I think it is the first time the Garbage Patch has been graphically represented, except for photos. For those that want to read the six page description which leads me into the adventure of making an image tied with the reality, it is here:

The Newtown Creek spill

One of the world’s largest underground oil spills lurks beneath the shores of Newtown Creek in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, courtesy of oil companies such as ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and others. At approximately 17 million gallons and 55 acres, the spill is at least 6 million gallons larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The spill is the result of leaks in the 1940s and 1950s. ExxonMobil neglected the spill for more than two decades, as it slowly migrated under the community and into the creek.

excerpt of Greenpoint Oil Spill on Newtown Creek,

from riverkeeper.org

Pollution´s real image at Newtown Creek

Devastating Beauty

When it comes to mixing oil and water, oceans suffer from far more than an occasional devastating spill. Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from non-accidental sources.

Used engine oil can end up in waterways. An average oil change uses five quarts; one change can contaminate a million gallons of fresh water. Much oil in runoff from land and municipal and industrial wastes ends up in the oceans.

Every year oily road runoff from a city of 5 million could contain as much oil as one large tanker spill.

Every year, bilge cleaning and other ship operations release millions of gallons of oil into navigable waters, in thousands of discharges of just a few gallons each.

Air pollution, mainly from cars and industry, places hundreds of tons of hydrocarbons into the oceans each year. Particles settle, and rain washes hydrocarbons from the air into the oceans.

Only about 5 percent of oil pollution in oceans is due to major tanker accidents, but one big spill can disrupt sea and shore life for miles.

excerpts from "Ocean Planet," a 1995 Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition

Oil on the Sea

from "The Indian Ocean - A Perspective"