Growing oceanic dead zones cause rapid loss of crustaceans.

A study lead by Raquel Vaquer Suner of Spain’s Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies has found that the oxygen-deprived regions known as dead zones, formed from fertilizer runoff, animal wastes and fossil fuel pollutants, are growing at a steady rate each year. Dead zones, which were unknown to the world before 1970, have now appeared in such regions as Chesapeake Bay on the US east coast, South America, Ghana, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Britain. The greatest threat is to fish as well as crustaceans that are not able to escape the low oxygen areas. Global warming has now also been linked to the expanding dead zones, since oxygen dissolves less readily in warmer waters. 

Our thankfulness, Dr. Suner and colleagues, for your revealing studies. We pray that all will turn to animal-free lifestyles that bring a lighter footprint to our planet for the preservation of our vital oceans and their co-inhabitants. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48S8FS20080929?sp=true 

UK’s Prince Charles reiterates urgent call to address climate change.

Addressing the European Parliament earlier this year and in an interview more recently with the Royal Meteorological Society, His Royal Highness pointed to extreme weather events the past few years as clear evidence of global warming’s impact. He said, “It is a problem that will only worsen dramatically, and at an accelerating rate, until we start to take much more determined action to tackle carbon dioxide emissions." With his international organization, the Rainforest Project, the Prince is urging immediate protection of the forests, over 70 percent of which in the Brazilian Amazon are being felled for cattle grazing or raising livestock feed. He stated, “Everyone accepts the necessity of paying for water, gas or electricity - so now we must start to pay for the ecosystem services these great forests provide to us.”

We respectfully commend your wise leadership, Your Royal Highness, and pray for people the world over to return to a more giving way of life to harmonize our balance with nature.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hA4Ear5s6ry1CuLaZSZne1_PE7fw