Turtle Power!

Yes, it isn't just in popular 1980's cartoons. It's in the more than 45,000 people who have already signed the petition to help protect sea turtles from bottom longline fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. With 6 out of 7 species of sea turtles listed as threatened or endangered, continuing protections for these animals is critical, starting with working to limit the number of deaths each year from irresponsible fishing practices. Snared on sharp hooks or in nets, sea turtles often drown. In incidents of snaring by longlines in 2006-07 the government estimates nearly 1000 turtles were snared, with up to an 80% fatality rate. So call that 800 a year. 800 doesn't seem like that high a number, but consider that we have no idea how many sea turtles there really are because we can only track females who come to shore to lay their eggs. Male and juvenile sea turtles will spend their entire lives at sea.
But wait! There's more!
Fatality rates for sea turtle hatchlings are staggeringly high, due to natural predators alone. Add to that all the trouble man makes for them, and repopulating the oceans becomes a truly daunting task. Sea turtles are constantly losing prime nesting beaches to development, and like the polar bears and their melting ice, sea turtles are faced with the problem of global warming raising water levels and putting much of their nesting habitat under water. Even if the beaches are left alone, nearby lighting from developments can confuse turtle hatchlings, causing them to flounder inland and be run over on roads, die of dehydration, or become prey to domestic cats and dogs.
What more can you do to help besides signing the petition and donating to sea turtle conservation? Defenders of Wildlife has a list for you.

"Drill, baby, drill" is not the answer!

Courtesy of Care2:

The scope of environmental damage from Hurricane Ike is only now becoming apparent: at least half a million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and water spaces of Louisiana and Texas.

Stop Big Oil and demand the clean energy future we deserve. »

The Minerals Management Service, which oversees oil production in federal waters offshore, said the storm destroyed at least 52 oil platforms and another 32 were severely damaged.

And yet Big Oil and its allies continue to say that drilling off-shore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is environmentally safe. We cannot allow Congress to be fooled by Big Oil's smooth talk.

Urge your Representative and Senators to reject the tired pro-drilling policies of the past and move our country towards the clean energy economy we need. »

Hurricanes and damaged wetlands

From (lord help me) aol news

Coastal Build-Up

In 2003, more than half the U.S. population (or about 153 million people) lived along the Gulf and Southeastern U.S. coastline — an increase of 33 million people from 1980 — and that number is just expected to keep rising.

The buildup of these communities in recent decades and the environmental damage that development has caused exacerbate the impact of hurricanes.

"There's been an explosion of population along our coast," said Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). "That's just putting a lot more people in harm's way."

This is particularly true in Florida, Texas and North Carolina, where populations are increasing the fastest. Hurricanes are especially a threat for homes right on the beach or on barrier islands, such as Galveston, because they receive the full brunt of a hurricane's storm surge.

Coastal features such as barrier islands and wetlands act as natural protection against a hurricane's storm surge, slowing it down and absorbing some of the impact. Studies have shown that every mile of wetlands reduces storm surge by about 3 to 9 inches and every acre reduces the cost of damages from a storm by $3,300, Staudt said.

May I just take a moment to say 'duh'.

"Our wetlands and barrier islands ... are our first line of defense," she said.

But the development boom in coastal areas has damaged these natural defenses, putting coastal residents even more at risk.

"The more we develop, the more we lose," Staudt told LiveScience.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that since the 1700s, the lower 48 states have lost more than half of their wetlands. While not all of that acreage loss is right along the coast, and some is likely a result of natural changes along the shoreline, a good chunk is due to development.

For instance, some of the Katrina damage to New Orleans was partly a result of the damage to the protective wetlands along Louisiana's coast. Development and subsidence, or outright sinking, of the state's coastline today mean that Louisiana loses an area of wetlands equivalent to the size of 32 football fields every day, according to the NWF.

Many hurricane experts have warned for years against destructive coastal development and imprudent policies that encourage people to build in coastal areas, but that often doesn't stop the building.

After looking at the pictures that accompanied this article, I just have to wonder what makes people think that it is wise to build a house that close to the gulf coast shoreline. Not only are they devastating important ecosystems, but they really aren't doing themselves any favors either, to look at the pictures. Why is it even allowed to go on? Why aren't these areas more protected, or why at least are there not zoning restrictions to prevent people from building in such flood-prone places?