Nordic ferries go gas-powered

BBC News, Malcolm Brabant, Stockholm, 11 May 2013

The Viking Grace is the first in a series of new green passenger ferries

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The Finnish flag is fiercely clacking at the stern as the Viking Grace carves through spring ice, past scores of small islands on the route between Stockholm in Sweden and Turku in Finland.

A maritime revolution is taking place in this narrow waterway and its archipelago of hundreds of small islands. The Viking Grace, a brand new cruise ferry, is fuelled entirely by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is the first of a new generation of green passenger ships.

"It's very important for us at Viking Lines to be a pioneer and save our environment," says Captain Magnus Thornroos on the ship's wide bridge.

Down in the bowels of the ship, the engines are running on 100% gas, although they are capable of using old-fashioned diesel as a back-up propellant if necessary.

"LNG is the cleanest of the fossil fuels we have on Earth," says First Engineer Victor Gingsjoe.

"Compared to running on diesel oils, the particle matter that we release into the atmosphere is virtually nothing. The sulphur oxide emissions are practically nothing. And also we can reduce the CO2 [carbon dioxide] by up to 30%."

Dirty sea

The Bergensfjord will also be
fuelled by LNG

But Dr Kaare Press-Kristensen, an air pollution expert from Denmark's Ecocouncil, adds a caveat.

"We know that LNG can significantly reduce harmful substances," she says. "However, if LNG escapes the engines without being burned, it will contribute significantly to global warming as well."

Viking Lines say its ship is fitted with the latest technology for monitoring the ship's systems.

By using LNG, the vessel is complying with new emission controls that come into effect in the Baltic Sea in 2015. Similar rules will begin simultaneously in the North Sea and along the east and west coasts of North America.

It is hoped the changes will make a significant difference to the ecology of the Baltic Sea, which is heavily polluted, in part from Russian ships coming from the east.

The bottom of the sea is said to be dying and the reason it is so dirty is that it is almost entirely enclosed by land and does not have a flow of fresh water to flush out the grime.

On deck, it is easy to see how still are the waters of the Baltic. As far as the eye can see in the Swedish part of the archipelago, the sea is covered in ice.

'Huge cost'

The project's supporters say the new regulations will not just benefit nature, but also public health.

"In Europe, we know that about 50,000 premature deaths are caused from air pollution from shipping," says Dr Presse-Kristensen.

"And the cost to society is about 55bn euros [£45bn; $72bn] every year, so it's a huge cost."

Inside the Viking Grace, a Bruce Springsteen video is entertaining passengers in the music bar.

On deck it is cold, and taking the air is Mohammed Hassan, from London.

"I have a carbon footprint," he says. "And I think it's being reduced because technically it's being driven by gas and it's very environmentally friendly as well. So I would say it's fantastic. I am being responsible by using less carbon."

Two new ferries, the Stavangerfjord and the Bergensfjord, both entirely powered by liquid gas, are currently being completed at Rissa, Norway, and they are due to start sailing between Denmark and Norway this summer for Fjord Line.

As is often the case when it comes to green technology, the Nordic countries are showing the way.

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Swedish salmon sales 'breached EU ban' over dioxins

BBC News, 8 May 2013

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Firms in Sweden have sold about 200 tonnes of Baltic salmon in Europe despite an EU ban targeting toxic chemicals in fish, officials say.

The ban does not apply to Baltic salmon sold to domestic consumers in Sweden, Finland and Latvia. But the sellers are required to give advice about safe limits for consumption, set by the EU.

Dioxins found in Baltic herring and salmon prompted the EU ban in 2002.

A French firm imported 103 tonnes of Swedish salmon, but no longer does so.

Pecheries Nordiques told the AFP news agency that its tests had found no problems with the fish, imported in 2011 and 2012. "Nobody told us it was illegal," chief executive Francois Agussol said.

Jan Sjoegren of Sweden's National Food Agency told the BBC that Baltic salmon had also been exported illegally to Denmark and the Netherlands from Sweden.

The agency has alerted the European Commission, which deals with national food safety authorities.

A firm in Karlskrona has been reported to the Swedish customs authorities over the salmon exports, and a firm in Hammaroe is also being investigated, Mr Sjoegren said.

Dioxin hazard

The latest alert about Baltic salmon exports follows a horsemeat contamination scandal in the EU which affected many countries.

"We don't think more salmon is being exported now, but because of the horsemeat scandal we are stepping up action on food fraud," Mr Sjoegren said.

Sweden's National Food Agency says the average intake of dioxins among adult Swedes is well below the "tolerable weekly intake" set by the EU.

Children and young women, it adds, should especially limit their consumption of wild Baltic fish because dioxins pose the most risk to babies and young children.

Dioxins spread by incineration and chemical pollution can accumulate in the body over years and can trigger cancer or reproductive abnormalities.

The European Food Safety Authority says that, on average, Baltic herring and wild Baltic salmon are respectively 3.5 and five times more contaminated with dioxins than non-Baltic herring and farmed salmon.

PHOTO: The Six-Story Rubber Ducky That's Gracing Hong Kong

NPR.org, Mark Memmott, May 06, 2013

That's one big duck floating in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor this month.(Li Peng /Xinhua /Landov) .

At least one YouTube prankster has posted video of the big yellow guy blowing up. (Rest easy, that hasn't really happened.)

But "tens of thousands" of other people came to Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor over the weekend to be charmed by a six-story tall rubber duck floating along a dock, says the South China Morning Post.

According to The Associated Press, "Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman created the bright-yellow duck, and it was built of PVC material in New Zealand by a company specializing in large sails. ... The duck has been transported around the world since 2007, bringing a message of peace and harmony. It has previously been to Osaka, Japan, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Auckland, New Zealand, and Amsterdam. It will be anchored at a Hong Kong terminal for display until June."

Of course, this reminds some of us of an old song — one that might help make your day a bit brighter.

SesameStreet/YouTube

(H/T to NPR's Maureen Pao.)

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Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman’s ‘Rubber Duck’ floats, deflated

 and flattened on Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, China, 15 May 2013. It is

 not immediately known why the duck, scheduled to float outside Ocean Terminal

in Tsim Sha Tsui until June 9 deflated. (EPA Photo)

Scientists warn of Arctic Ocean's rapid acidification

Google – AFP, 6 May 2013

A picture taken on September 3, 2010 from NASA's Aqua satellite

shows the Arctic sea ice (NASA/AFP)

OSLO — Scientists expressed alarm on Monday over the rapid acidification of the Arctic Ocean caused by carbon dioxide emissions, which could have dire consequences on the region's fragile ecosystem.

Acidity levels in the planet's oceans have risen by 30 percent since the start of the industrial era, and are now at their highest levels in at least 55 million years, delegates said at a conference in Bergen, Norway dedicated to the subject.

The Arctic Ocean is more vulnerable than other oceans because its cold waters absorb more carbon dioxide. It is also fed by fresh water from rivers and melting ice, which makes it less able chemically to neutralise the acidification effects of the carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, the increase in melting ice exposes greater expanses of water, which leads to greater absorption.

In the Iceland and Barents seas, pH levels have decreased by around 0.02 per decade since the end of the 1960s.

Even if carbon dioxide emissions were to be brought to a halt today, it would take tens of thousands of years for the oceans to return to the acidity levels they had before the industrial era began two centuries ago, according to Norwegian researcher Richard Bellerby, the main author of a scientific study on the subject.

A little-known phenomenon that is spread unevenly in bodies of water, including in the Arctic, acidification poses a threat to corals, mollusks and other shell organisms such as pteropods, also known as sea angels and sea butterflies, whose ability to calcify has been altered.

Some species, such as the brittle star which is similar to a starfish, face a direct risk of extinction, and fish stocks may also be affected.

As a result, industrial fishing, tourism and the lifestyles of indigenous peoples are at stake.

However, other species could benefit from the rising acidification, scientists said.

"Uncertainty is not an excuse for inaction," said Sam Dupont of Sweden's Gothenburg University.

Scientists called for politicians to once again put climate change at the top of the political agenda, regretting that the issue had been overshadowed by the economic crisis.

"We have to think beyond this bank crisis," said Carol Turley of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in Britain.

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“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth. ...."

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version) 

"...The Weather... Again

My partner has been "against the grain" in the past years, giving you what I have channelled about the weather. Is it global warming? No. Is it going to get better? No. This is a two-generation cycle. There will continue to be earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and storms. This is a recalibration of life in the ocean, and humanity must go through this in any way they can. This is a cycle, a known and expected one, but since you haven't gone through it in modern times, it's not well understood yet. ..."

Hong Kong risks losing its pink dolphins: groups

Google – AFP, 6 May 2013

Pink dolphins playing in the waters off Lantau in Hong Kong, in a photo by

 the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society (Hong Kong Dolphin

Conservation Society/AFP)

HONG KONG — Conservationists warned Monday that Hong Kong may lose its rare Chinese white dolphins, also known as pink dolphins for their unique colour, unless it takes urgent action against pollution and other threats.

Their numbers in Hong Kong waters have fallen from an estimated 158 in 2003 to just 78 in 2011, with a further decline expected when figures for 2012 are released next month, said the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society.

"It is up to the government and every Hong Kong citizen to stand up for dolphins. We risk losing them unless we all take action," said society chairman Samuel Hung.

Two weeks ago a tour guide from Hong Kong Dolphinwatch spotted a group of pink dolphins helping a grieving mother support the body of her dead calf above the water in an attempt to revive it.

The scene, captured on video and widely shared on Facebook, has raised fresh concerns about the dwindling population in a city where dolphin watching is a tourist attraction.

"We're 99 percent certain the calf died from toxins in the mother's milk, accumulated from polluted seawater," said Hong Kong Dolphinwatch spokeswoman Janet Walker, who added it was the third such incident reported in April alone.

Fewer than 2,500 of the mammals survive in the Pearl River Delta, the body of water between Macau and Hong Kong, with the majority found in Chinese waters and the rest in Hong Kong.

Experts say their number has dropped significantly in the past few years due to overfishing, an increase in marine traffic, water pollution, habitat loss and coastal development.

Hung said proposals to build a third runway on reclaimed land at the Hong Kong international airport would place further strain on the dolphins' habitat.

Campaigning against such developments and lobbying boat companies to divert traffic away from dolphin-inhabited areas are some of the ways people can support the mammals, he said.

The Chinese white dolphins, a population of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin species, are listed as "near-threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The pink dolphin was the official mascot at the handover ceremony when the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997

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Video of grieving pink dolphin mother underscores plight of disappearing species

Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 - Essay on 2012 by Matthew (Channeller: Suzy Ward)

“..  Animals in the wild will instinctively know not to overpopulate and those that are   carnivorous will turn to the plant kingdom for sustenance.  The albinos being born in several animal species have both spiritual and transitional significance.  You associate white with peace, and these rarities that are appearing are symbolic of the coming changes in animal nature that will end the predator-prey food chain and restore the peaceable relationship that once existed among all species, including humankind.  The instances of unlikely cross-species friendships and even nurturing of the young from one species by mothers of another are more indications of Earth’s return to her original paradise self.  Still, an extremely important factor in this is the inspiration in many souls to be advocates for the animal kingdom and alleviate their manmade plight. …”

Pink elephant is caught on camera

Rare white killer whale spotted off Russian coast

Whale watchers get world's closest encounter yet with Migaloo the albino humpback off the coast of Australia

Australia's Barrier Reef set for heritage downgrade: UNESCO

The Daily Star, May 04, 2013

In this Jan. 23, 2006 file photo provided by Centre of Marine Studies, The
 University of Queensland, fish swim amongst bleached coral near the
 Keppel Islands in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. (AP Photo/Centre for
Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg)

                              

SYDNEY: Australia insisted it was committed to protecting the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday after the UN warned that the natural wonder's world heritage status could be in downgraded in 2014.

UNESCO said little had been done to address concerns about rampant coastal development and water quality raised a year ago with the Australian government in a warning that its heritage status was at risk.

"The state party has made progress on some key issues and actions but progress on several recommendations, including those related to water quality and measures to prevent coastal development ... remains limited," UNESCO said ahead of its annual congress next month in Phnom Penh.

"Urgent and decisive action is needed to address these issues."

Without a "firm and demonstrable commitment on these priority issues" UNESCO said the reef should be considered for inscription on the list of world heritage sites in danger in 2014.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government had taken steps to increase protection of the reef, including Aus$200 million (US$206 million) towards the Reef Rescue water quality project.

"We are very committed to keeping the Great Barrier Reef as the wonderful heritage area for the world that it is and for our nation," Gillard told repoters.

But environmental group WWF said UNESCO had "put Australia in the sin bin".

"The expert bodies are so concerned that they are recommending an immediate halt to approvals of coastal development projects that could individually or cumulatively impact on the reef's world heritage values until (Australia's state and national) governments have properly responded to their recommendations," said WWF's Richard Leck.

Australia's environmentally-driven Greens party said the latest UNESCO report was a "slap on the wrist" for the government, with most sites on the heritage in danger list in developing nations or war zones.

"This is the world heritage body warning us that we need to (do) better or our reef, our most precious tourism icon, will be put on the world heritage endangered list, along with other countries like Yemen, the Congo and Afghanistan," said Greens Senator Larissa Waters.

Australia is riding an unprecedented wave of resources investment due to booming demand from Asia, with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of resource projects in the pipeline.

Last June UNESCO said the sheer number and scale of proposals, including liquefied natural gas, tourism and mining projects, could threaten the reef's status.

Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Peter Voser to retire

BBC News, 2 May 2013

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Royal Dutch Shell is Europe's

largest oil and gas company

Royal Dutch Shell has announced that its chief executive will step down in the first half of 2014.

Peter Voser, 54, said he wanted to spend more time with his family and that he was leaving for a "change in lifestyle".

Mr Voser was appointed chief executive in July 2009 and has been an executive director since 2004.

The news came as Shell reported first quarter profits of $7.95bn (£5.1bn), up 3.5% from last year.

"After such an exciting executive career I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to having more time available for my family and private life in the years to come," Mr Voser said in a statement on Thursday.

A Shell spokeswoman said the company would seek internal and external candidates for his replacement.

Growth projects

The revelation came as a surprise for investors. Mr Voser is widely credited for turning around the company and transforming it into a leading provider of liquefied natural gas, which now makes up about half of Shell's business.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Mr Voser said: "These results were underpinned by Shell's growth projects, an improvement in downstream profitability, and were delivered despite a difficult security environment in Nigeria."

But he warned that the industry continued to see "significant" energy price volatility due to economic and political turmoil. Revenue was down to $112.8bn in the January-March period from $119.92bn last year.

Shell said total oil and gas production grew to 3.559 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter, from 3.552 million in the same period in 2012.

It also said it would increase its first quarter 2013 dividend to $0.45 per ordinary share, up 5% from last year.

"Shell has emulated its rivals in beating expectations for the quarter, although investors are well aware that this is only part of a long game strategy," commented Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"The volatility of the oil price is a factor which Shell is trying to mitigate over a period of time, whilst the search for a replacement CEO will be an unwelcome distraction.

"Even so, the company remains committed to selective acquisitions, non-core asset sales where appropriate and an extensive project plan which currently numbers 30 in an effort to underpin future production across several energy sources," he added.

Shell has announced investments in a number of projects including a deep-water project in Nigeria and an oil recovery project in Oman. It also agreed to purchase part of Repsol's liquefied natural gas portfolio outside North America. In the UK, it increased its majority stake in the offshore Schiehallion oilfield west of the Shetland Islands.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Shell had beaten France's Total to a £10bn deal to develop the Bab gas field with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Statoil profits down

Shell's first quarter results were also boosted by proceeds from asset sales, which included sales in its pipeline business in the United States, its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) venture in Vietnam and the majority of Shell's shareholding in its downstream business in Uganda.

Downstream activities generally refer to the refining of crude oil and distributing its by-products including gasoline, natural gas, LPG and diesel.

Shell's better-than-expected results compared with a 60% plunge in first-quarter profits for Norwegian rival Statoil because of production cuts and operational disruptions after its plant in Algeria was attacked in January.

Net income in the January to March period was 6.4bn kroner ($1.1bn, £0.7bn), down from 15.4bn kroner a year earlier. Revenue also fell in the quarter by 17% to 162bn kroner.

New Year's Eve grounding of its drill rig the Kulluk.

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The word is out: Shell 'screwed up' in 2012

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”