Category archives for Pollution
Posted by Scientists are working on an eco-friendly substance that will help keep oil from sticking to birds during future oil spills. The substance, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and is currently being tested, will act like a laundry detergent; breaking the oil down and keeping it from sticking to birds’ feathers.
Heavy metals such as lead and copper flow into waterways from a variety of sources, including agricultural runoff and industrial wastes. These pollutants can be harmful to humans. But a new study shows that banana peels can remove metal contamination from river water.
During the study, Gustavo Castro, a researcher at the Biosciences Institute at Botucatu, Brazil and his team dried and ground banana peels, then combined them in flasks of contaminated water. They also built water filters out of peels and pushed water through them. In both tests, “the metal was removed from the water and remained bonded to the banana peels,” Castro said, adding that the banana peels outperformed the traditional more expensive methods of metal removal.
Other tests have shown that apple and sugar cane wastes, coconut fibers, and peanut shells, can also remove potential toxins from water.
Read more about the study on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Christina DiPaola, My Shot
Many errors made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean that led to the explosion
of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, “place in
doubt the safety culture of the entire industry,” says the final report
from President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
The companies and the government
agencies that oversaw the drilling operation were not prepared for the
risks of drilling in deep water. “The technology, laws and regulations,
and practices for containing, responding to, and cleaning up spills lag
behind the real risks associated with deepwater drilling” offshore
and thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. The commission
recommends that the government close these safety gaps and the industry
should follow suit.
Oyster reefs, once so plentiful they blocked shipping traffic, have been in decline due to overharvesting, pollution, and recent oil spill activities, experts say. But scientists are working to restore the reefs using special material called oysterkrete.
How much do you know about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Dead zones are areas of the ocean that no longer have enough oxygen to support sea life. For over 20 years, a dead zone has formed in the gulf due to run off from farms. This year, researchers are worried that the dead zone may increase in size due to the oil spill in the gulf. Microbes consuming oil from the Gulf of Mexico’s BP spill use up oxygen when they die, raising the threat of an expanded dead zone. Scientists are looking at years of dead-zone data to determine whether the dangerous region grew after the spill.
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Oil from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill didn’t affect only the animals that live in the water. As the oil drifted toward land, it moved into the coastal marshes. These areas are challenging to clean–crews can’t burn off the oil the way they can when the oil is on the open water’s surface. Oil in the marshes poses danger to many small creatures that live in marshes that could be harmed by oil seeping in. Even in places where oil is no longer visible in the marshes, the effects can be found. In marsh areas affected by smaller oil spills in years past, researchers have found oil many feet deep in the soil.
See pictures of oil in coastal marshes and learn more on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Hans Deryk, Reuters
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
You don’t see oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico any more. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that it’s gone. It may be affecting creatures such as manta rays, which are filter feeder fish that live in the Gulf. They take in seawater and filter out plankton and small animals to eat. Scientists don’t know much about manta biology, and aren’t positive how the oil that remains in the Gulf will affect the rays. It may disrupt their feeding, breeding, breathing, or migrations. The remaining oil could cause problems for the “ways mantas live their day-to-day lives for years,” said marine biologist Andrea Marshall of the Mozambique-based Foundation for the Protection of Marine Megafauna.
Read more about the manta rays in the Gulf of Mexico on National Geographic News.
How much do you know about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Quiz Your Noodle and find out.
Photograph by Jackie Reid, Flower Garden Banks NMS, NOAA
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Oil Well in the Gulf of Mexico Capped
On September 18, just under 5 months since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been stopped. A cement plug was used to seal off the well, and formal Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen has declared the well “effectively dead.” and no additional oil leaks have been detected.
No oil has leaked out of the well since a temporary cap was put on it in July. The cement plug is a more permanent solution. Between April and July, nearly 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico. Crews have been working to clean up as much as they can, but there is still a lot of oil from the spill in the Gulf.
Read more about the cap on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Gerald Herbert, AP
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Up to a billion migrating birds stop over in the Gulf of Mexico region on their annual journey southward. Although BP has capped the Deepwater Horizon leak, scientists say the birds may face ill effects from the Gulf oil spill for years to come.
The oil that began leaking with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20th continues to spill into the gulf. This oil spill is now the worst in U.S. history.
The spill is taking a heavy toll on wildlife. More than 800 dead animals, including birds, fish, and dolphins, have been found in areas affected by the spill. The number of affected animals seems to have been increasing in the last few days.
Oil is hard to clean up. Try rubbing some olive oil and canola oil on your hair to see how hard it is to clean off. Now imagine trying to clean crude oil off your whole body using your mouth. Oil-coated birds are unable to keep the oil off their feathers, but while there is oil on their feathers they are unable to fly. Rehabilitators are trying to clean some of the birds by rubbing them with vegetable oil, which breaks down the heavier oil, and then washing them with detergents. Because the oil from the spill is toxic, not all cleaned birds will survive.
Scientists are not yet sure how the deaths of so many creatures will affect the Gulf ecosystem.
See more pictures of affected wildlife on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Win McNamee, Getty Images
A massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening the wildlife and may spread all the way to North Carolina. The oil slick began to spread soon after the April 20 explosion. Eleven people died and the oil continues to pour out of leaks about 5,000 feet (1524 meters) deep. Experts think as much as 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking into the water every day–that’s about 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) of oil.
Animals like this dead Portuguese man-of-war (pictured) are beginning to be affected by the oil pollution.
Officials now plan to cover three leaks at the bottom of the ocean with a large box to contain the oil, which is now spreading closer to sensitive coastal marshes and wildlife breeding grounds along Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama.
Photograph by Alex Brandon, AP
David de Rothschild and the Plastiki crew have sailed over 3,600 miles on their journey from San Francisco, California to Sydney, Australia. David recently recorded a video that explains the impact of plastic trash in the ocean, and why it’s not only an environmental problem, but also a health problem.
Watch the video on the Plastiki blog.
Learn more about the Plastiki’s journey.
Find out what kids asked David in a recent interview.
Read an interview with David on National Geographic Kids.
Let’s celebrate planet Earth today and vow to be better stewards of the environment! Over the past 40 years, people all over the globe have participated in projects to bring attention to issues such as pollution and come up with solutions that everyone can support, like cleanup projects and tree planting!
As part of an Earth Day project last year, 100 Bulgarian students participated in a school and park beautification project led by a now Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Alison Bell of Alpharetta, Georgia (in pink shirt below). Students planted over 350
donated trees and plants.
They also cleaned up trash from the town, school grounds, and park.
Play a Peace Corps Challenge game and solve issues like volunteers.
Photographs courtesy Peace Corps
The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is only a few days away! Earth Day is a reminder to take time every day to clean up the environment, save energy, recycle plastic and paper, and reuse old items you have around the house in new ways!
If you spend time at a park this week, take a few minutes to pick up trash from the creek bed or the playground. Cleaning up your local streams can help keep waste from reaching the ocean!
After you help clean up the real world, treat yourself to an online game of Creek Cleanup!
All the fish caught in the nearly 300 streams tested by the United States Geological Survey were found to contain some level of mercury, according to a new USGS study. The wild-caught fish with the highest mercury levels are smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass. The lowest amounts were found in brown, rainbow-cutthroat trout, and channel catfish.
Most of the mercury is from coal-fired power plants.
Learn more Facts on Fish.
