Month: February 2009

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

February 24, 2009: J. Rosencrantz

Due to increased use of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, the amount CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere has nearly doubled.

The Ocean has served to absorb about 1/3 of this pollution, but the CO2 filtering process acidifies ocean water by by lowering its pH balance.

Currently, the Ocean absorbs about 22 million tons of CO2 per day.

Acidification of the Ocean has several potentially  catastrophic consequences for marine life:

  • Adding CO2 to seawater affects calcifying organisms by upsetting the natural equilibrium of calcium carbonate chemistry in the ocean. This means that animals such as shellfish, sea snails and corals are  not able to absorb enough calcium carbonate to build strong shells and skeletons, which effects coral reefs and food webs worldwide.
  • Carbonate also dissolves existing calcified structures of organisms at a faster rate in lower pH water, thereby exacerbating the calcification problem.
  • These threats to sea life also threaten the economy, since some of the most vulnerable species – clams, crabs, lobsters, mussels, shrimp and scallops – represent half of the $4 billion annual value of all fish harvested in U.S. waters.
  • Additionally, sea organisms “without shells, such as anemones and jellyfish, may be especially susceptible to even the smallest changes in ocean pH because their internal pH tends to vary with that of the surrounding seawater. These organisms cannot actively regulate their internal pH as mammals do.”
  • Then there are other, less obvious consequences.  Lower pH levels means that the ocean will absorb less sound at low frequencies, which makes the oceanic atmosphere noisier. While sonar using mammals might be able to communicate over longer distances, they will have to deal with more background distractions.

Acidified ocean water means the difference between a healthy urchin (1) and an unhealthy urchin (2).  It also disrupts with the homing ability of orange clownfish.  Coccolithophores (4), however, might thrive.

Of course, acidification is not the only threat to the health of the ocean.  Atmospheric warming, rising sea levels and overfishing are also taking their toll, threatening to disrupt delicate biological processes faster then they can adapt.

One study, for example, suggests that warming will create “dead zones” in the ocean that will be devoid of marine life for up to 2 millennia.

RENDITION, TORTURE AND STATE “SECRETS”

February 17, 2009: J. Rosencrantz

Obama’s administration is following Bush’s in using sweeping “state secret” privileges to block victims of the CIA’s illegal rendition and torture program from having their day in court.  (Embedded map of CIA rendition flights by T. Paglen)

From the LA Times:

A Justice Department attorney, Douglas Letter, told the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Obama administration was taking “exactly” the same position as the previous White House in calling for dismissal of a lawsuit by five terrorism suspects snatched by U.S. agents in foreign countries and delivered to secret detention sites in other countries.

The suit, Mohamed et al vs. Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. of San Jose, accused the flight services company of knowingly “participating in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program” and delivering dozens of men to foreign venues where they were subjected to torture and other treatment impermissible under U.S. law.

From the N.Y. Times:

“Is there anything material that has happened that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views,” asked Judge Mary M.Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.

“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.

Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”

Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court onbehalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

…

The court papers describe horrific treatment in secret prisons. Mr.Mohamed claimed that during his detention in Morocco, “he was routinely beaten, suffering broken bones and, on occasion, loss of consciousness.His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis. A hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death.”

The lead plaintiff in the case is Binyam Mohamed.  The ACLU is representing him and presents Mohamed’s narrative on their website:

In July of 2002, Ethiopian native Binyam Mohamed was taken from Pakistan to Morocco on a Gulfstream V aircraft registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as N379P. Flight and logistical support services for this aircraft were provided by Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. In Morocco, Mohamed was handed over to agents of Moroccan intelligence who detained and tortured him for the next 18 months. In 2004, Mohamed was rendered to a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan. Flight and logistical support services for this aircraft, a Boeing 737 business jet, were also provided by Jeppesen. In Afghanistan Mohamed was tortured and inhumanely treated by United States officials. Later that same year Mohamed was rendered a third time by U.S. officials, this time to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba where he is presently.

Read more about Mohamad here, and more analysis here and here.

UPDATE (Feb 23):

Binyam Mohamad has finally been released from Guantanamo, although Obama’s Dept. of Justice is still trying to block him from suing the companies that rendered him to other countries for torture.  He has released a statement through his lawyers.  Here is a short quote:

“I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, “torture” was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways – all orchestrated by the United States government.”
Here is an interview with his sister.

ARMY SUICIDES

February 9, 2009: J. Rosencrantz

Last month, Army suicides outnumbered combat deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing a steady rise in the number of Army suicides over the last 5 years.

This trend seems to be caused by the stress of repeated combat deployments, the trauma of returning from a combat zone, the bureaucratic obstacles at Veteran Affairs, the overuse of anti-depressants, and, just maybe, the immorality and incoherence of the wars.

John Soltz of VoteVets.org is interviewed on this topic here.

ZEALOT ZIONIST ZETTLERS

February 2, 2009: J. Rosencrantz

Here is a great “60 Minutes” segment on the zealot settlers of the Israeli Occupied West Bank. Daniella Weiss is the Mayor of one of these settlements, which are illegal according to international law. For her, the “goal” of such settlements is to “prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state”.

Weiss, a former philosophy student, thinks that the land belongs to her because, according to the Jewish book of fables, a magic sky man promised it to the descendants of her supposed ancestor.