I just watched The Cove. It’s a documentary that tells a true story of how Japanese fishermen corral dolphins and kill them. They kill around 23,000 dolphins and porpoises each year. The film motivated me to declare this week as Stop Japan From Killing Week. Read my posts each day this week and take an action to get Japan to stop killing dolphins.
Here is how Japanese fishermen kill dolphins:
1. Dolphins are sensitive to sound. Many fishing boats get together and bang on pipes that are partially submerged. This causes the dolphins to herd together. When the dolphins are corralled between the boats and the land, the fisherman drop nets that trap the dolphins. They get the dolphins closer and closer to shore.
2. Some of the captured dolphins are selected to sell to dolphinariums. These animals bring the fishermen a LOT of money—often more then $100,000 per animal. These are the dolphins that are imprisoned for the purpose of letting humans touch and swim with them. Dolphins don’t smile, so if you think they are happy being trapped, you’re wrong. (Many countries are banning this practice.)
3. The dolphins that are not sold—which are most of them—are slaughtered. The movie makers had to go undercover to get this footage because the slaughtering cove is hidden from public view. Basically the water turns from blue to red with all the blood spilled. The dolphins thrash wildly trying to escape and as they go through the last throes of death.
4. The meat is often labeled and sold as whale meat . That’s because the Japanese will pay more for whale meat than for dolphin meat. (Yup, the Japanese eat whale meat and refuse to give it up. That’s another story.) It’s also sold as pet food, but likely not labeled as such.
“The bottled water industry is less regulated than municipal water systems, consumes more energy and releases more harmful toxins into the environment than tap water.”
Their website provides many facts that you might want to check out, like this one:
“For soft drink giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, revenues from bottled water per unit outstrip soft drinks.”
San Francisco, CA – Dec. 16, 2009 – San Francisco Environment and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials presided today over the launch of GLOBALTAP, a new and innovative alternative to bottled water, with the introduction of the first drinking water “filling station” at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.
Unlike traditional water fountains, GLOBALTAP provides an innovative system for people to fill reusable bottles with water in high visibility public areas.
The pilot installation at Yerba Buena Plaza will lead to the rollout of additional units throughout the city of San Francisco in 2010. Ultimately, GLOBALTAP plans to extend its reach on a global scale, from the United States and Europe to Africa, Asia, and South America, donating tap stations to cities and villages in second and third world countries. GLOBALTAP will not only be in places where clean water is more available but also where water it is not readily available.
“San Francisco has been a leader in educating people about the negative impacts of bottled water,” said Jared Blumenfeld Director of San Francisco Environment. “Today we are honored to be the first U.S. city to host a GLOBALTAP filling station. Now San Franciscans can ‘BYOB’ (‘Bring Your Own Bottle’) every day.”
“I support Mayor Newsom’s efforts to make San Francisco a model for green initiatives such as the GLOBALTAP Pilot Project,” says Fred Blackwell of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, property owner of Yerba Buena Gardens.
“San Francisco has the best tap water in the world,” said Laura Spanjian, SFPUC Assistant General Manager for External Affairs. “Our partnership with GLOBALTAP will make it easier for everyone to enjoy our great-tasting Hetch Hetchy tap water and reduce waste from all those plastic bottles.”
Snap a photo if the boat is landed. If you are in the boat and a leopard seal is chasing the penguin, toss him back into the water—FAST! You don’t want a hungry leopard seal in the boat. The seal will grab the penguin by its feet and smack it around until it’s dead. Leopard seals are also supposed to perform some fancy flipping maneuver that effectively skins the penguin, but I’ve also read the seal simply keeps flailing the penguin until it gets ripped into eatable pieces. The prospect of such a gruesome death is probably why a penguin flees so fast and will take the opportunity to jump into a Zodiac if it happens to be around. The Adelie penguin in this photo is just curious. No one chasing him.
Tap water costs 0.002 per gallon. If you filter it, the cost is about 0.25 gallon. Bottle water is about $10.66 gallon. Cost wise, giving it up is a no-brainer. If you are worried about drinking your tap water, test it. If it needs filtration, buy the proper filter.
This video shows how you can connect a simple device to the water inlet in your toilet tank to save two-thirds of a gallon per flush. For a family of four, the water savings could be as much as 4,000 gallons per year.
Use your discarded sink water to flush the toilet. Image from OZAquasaver.
Think of how much money (and water) you could save if you used the gray water from your sink to flush the toilet. The Cisternlink Aquasaver people claim that you’ll save a swimming pool’s worth of water per year. Check it out!
