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Nature runs away from human pollution into deep sea to sustain its mysterious miracles - unidentified marine life.
Spectacular deep-sea species: newly discovered purple octopus and species of vase sponge was one of the bottom dwellers.
Australia's dragonfish uses many fangs to hook hard-to-find prey in the cold, dark depths.
Top left: Gulf of Mexico's Venus flytrap anemone acts much like its terrestrial namesake, stinging its prey with an array of tentacles. Bottom right: an unidentified sea pen discovered on Atlantic coast off Newfoundland.
Top: unrecognizable sponge species found on volcanic mounds off Newfoundland. Bottom: recently identified species of bivalve mollusk was also discovered in survey of Newfoundland depths.
Phronima sedentaria sets up house by attacking and then hollowing out a transparent jellyfish-like animal called a salpa. Inset: Found in China, the spider conch a mollusk, one of the most common groups of species in the new Census of Marine Life inventory.
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Tokyo. Who's on trial, face jail? Whalers - hunting quota cut in half - cut antiwhaling Ady Gil (Earthrace) in half
In Tokyo court on trial today stands a New Zealander detained in Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary waters when delivering a citizen’s arrest. An international case all about whales. Who is guilty: whalers who killed 507 whales? Or anti-whaler who risked his life and lost his boat to have helped save 528 whales? The 1000-ton whaling vessel Shonan Maru 2 who cut 17-ton-fibreglass anti-whaling boat in half? Key witnesses are missing: the slaughtered whales packaged for the meat market and the saved whales [some are being hunted to extinction] who are free and happily enjoying the blue oceans and nursing their offspring. Remember, oceans and sea life do not only belong to all of us regardless of cultural background, but more so to our children, and children’s children. If the anti-whaler is guilty, who is not? The Ocean is dying...
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Glaciers not just ice but lifeline. Lewis Gordon Pugh to swim in half-frozen Mt Everest lake at breathtaking altitude of 5300m
Fearless journey to awaken conscience, to unite efforts, to rescue our planet. Lewis, with warmest heart we wish you success!
"This is not just about protecting a pristine environment," Pugh says, "it's about saving ourselves." Lewis’s Pick n Pay/SAP Everest Challenge on May 22 is all about spreading awareness of climate change and its effects. He will become the first person to attempt to swim 1km across an almost-frozen lake two-thirds of the way up Mount Everest, next to the Khumbu Glacier – at the breathtaking altitude of 5,300 metres.
Pugh once said “it’s a tragedy that it’s possible to swim at the North Pole.” He put himself through intense physical strain to raise awareness about climate change; he’s an ardent environmentalist who wants the world to know about the decrease in ice in the Arctic. read more »
Choice & Consequence: solar, wind energy vs deepwater drilling..4.2 million oil spews into ocean /day..birds, turtles, fish dead
Top: "Large Air Spill at Wind Farm. No threats reported. Some claim to enjoy the breeze.". Bottom: in Gulf of Mexico, Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes, burns, sinks (2 days later on Earth Day).
Gulf Oil Spill: ~210,000 gallons of oil leaking per day.
Arbor Day. Photos: Tree, miracle of Nature, clothes of Earth, life of lives. Plant trees for a green future, ours & children's
Tree of Life
The Tree of Life in Bahrain is one of the world's loneliest trees. The mesquite tree sits at the highest point in the barren desert of Bahrain, hundreds of miles from another natural tree and is thought to have tap roots reaching hundreds of feet down to aquifers. The exact age of the tree is unknown though it's generally believed to be more than 400 years old.
Montezuma Cypress: The Tule Tree
The Tule Tree, or El Árbol del Tule, is a Montezuma cypress tree on the grounds of a church in Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It measures more than 119 feet around but is only 116 feet high (To put that in perspective, the General Sherman is 275 feet high and 102 feet around). It's believed that the tree is about 2,000 years old. Local legend holds that the tree was planted 1,400 years ago by a priest of the Aztec storm god. According to National Geographic, it is the inspiration for an annual festival in Oaxaca celebrated on the second Monday of October.
Quaking aspen: Pando read more »
Turn clock back 25 years to legalize commercial whaling? 2,039,621 whales killed, <3k fin escaped hunting, protector in cell
Left: Captain Paul Watson & 'Steve Irwin'. Top R: Skipper Pete Bethune. Ignoring 6 crew in sight, the 750-ton iron-and-steel ship Shonan Maru 2 sliced 17-ton fiberglass ecoboat Earthrace/Ady Gil into two when it was idle in the water, waiting to be refueled, 6 crew sitting on the deck, chatting.
Fin whale, the 2nd largest mammal on earth: size comparison against an average human. Scientists calculate that 2,039,621 whales were killed in Antarctica's Southern Ocean during the decades of industrial whaling, including roughly three quarters of a million fin whale.
Top L: In 2006, Iceland killed the endangered fin whale for the 1st time since the 1980s. Top R & Bottom R: free & imprisoned Pete Bethune, skipper of Ady Gil / Earthrace.
Captain Paul Watson leads Sea Shepherd, volunteers & ocean guardians, spending 8 months per year at sea, fighting illegal whalers, sealers, and shark and dolphin fishermen. The latest Sea Shepherd Whale Defense campaign cut Japan whalers’ quota in half & saved 528 whales. 750,000 fin whales, the 2nd largest creature, were killed in the S. Hemisphere alone between 1904-79, & less than 3,000 currently remain. IWC's compromise would legalize commercial whaling. The endangered fin whale would continue to be a target. read more »
Oceans die, civilizations die. Defend sea, defend cultures. Jailed: Japanese Tokyo 2 & New Zealander Pete Bethune
Bottom L: “Tokyo Two” - Junichi Sato (left), Toru Suzuki (right), and their lead counsel, Yuichi Kaido (center) face reporters at a press briefing following their first pre-trial hearing at Aomori District Court in 2009. United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has already ruled that, in the defendants' attempts to expose a scandal in the public interest, their human rights have been breached by the Japanese government. Top R: New Zealander Peter Bethune boarded Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru No 2 in the Antarctic Ocean to serve a citizen’s arrest for destruction of his ship (Earthrace aka Ady Gil). He has been held by the whalers since then and was arrested on March 12 when the whaling ship docked in Tokyo.
2010: Russian site of 1940 Katyn massacre of 20000 Poles witnesses deaths of Polish President, top political & military leaders
'A black day for Poland': The death toll included the country's President and wife, its central bank head and the country's military chief along with other senior government and military figures.
A Polish man mourns at the site where Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 plane crashed near Smolensk airport.
Respects: Polish Army soldiers salute the coffin carrying the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Warsaw, Poland.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and wife, Maria both died in Saturday's crash near the site of the 1940 Katyn massacre of 20,000 Poles.
Daughter of the late Polish president Lech Kaczynski, Marta, and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski at the coffin containing the body of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski at the Military Airport in Warsaw, Poland, 11 April 2010. read more »
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