It is an indescribably sad experience to observe huge coral reefs, that you know were healthy a few years ago, and now look like graveyards of coral rubble. This has also occurred in the Florida Keys, especially in the Elkhorn coral. I have photos of healthy remote Pacific island reefs in Fiji at http://EcoDelMar.org/fiji but you can also see evidence of stress in these remote reefs, nowhere near industry. I think global warming and global ocean acidification are as real and as serious as a heart attack… and to a great extent, comparable to an unstoppable tidal wave that will last at least hundreds of years after we have stopped burning fossil fuels. Industrial dumping of known highly toxic chemicals into waterways worldwide is causing an even more acute impairment to all marine live, from coral reef polyps all the way up to the great Orcas and is even linked to the explosion of autism and learning disabilities in young children. please see http://EcoDelMar.org/youth and http://EcoDelMar.org/pcb

ps: about military impact: The US Ohio River leads nation in toxic discharge…

A national environmental group has released a study indicating two area rivers are among the top 10 waterways for total toxic discharge… The bulk of the New River’s 14 million pounds of toxic discharge is largely the result of the U.S. Army Radford Army Ammunition plant in Radford, Va. The study claims the plant is responsible for more than 13.6 million pounds of toxic pollutants into the New River. Calls to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection office in Parkersburg were referred to Charleston. After several days of leaving messages, officials in Charleston referred questions to Melyssa Savage, Title III program manager for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Savage was out of the office…

GE USA and the American Paper Industry Giants
Filed Lawsuit to block Standard Measures
previously established to protect the
American Public from toxic PCBs

General Electric Company and the American Forest and Paper Association (a trade group representing the paper industry), joined forces to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block new PCB water quality criteria designed to protect human health.

The EPA settled with industrial giants and yet another corporate action accomplished it’s profitable goal:

Hazardous PCB rulings were delayed once again so that highly profitable American Industries were allowed to continue dumping known Toxic PCBs into American Public Waterways leading to the only living Oceans in the entire universe.

http://FoxRiverWatch.com/industry_sues_to_block_safety_standards

Insurance and public health costs are expected to skyrocket as the ocean’s food chain is contaminated, more children are diagnosed with ADD and autism, and more adults are diagnosed with cancer. Immune system suppression is expected to result in incurable infections, again severely impacting corporate insurance investments and dividends.

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http://EcoDelMar.org/Green_Military

We don’t know whether the USA and the UK will renew their treaty to keep the military base following 2016. However, we do know from extensive surveys in the region that thus far the presence of the military base has not been significantly detrimental to the environment of the Chagos. The base is housed on Diego Garcia, an island in the very south of the archipelago and therefore many hundreds of miles away from much of the rest of the area. The environmental impacts from the base have been highly localised, and therefore have not affected the rest of the Chagos, which remains in pristine condition. Much of Diego Garcia itself has not been affected, and indeed a high proportion of the island not utilised by the base is already protected by conservation areas.

There is a lot of talk about protecting the Islands, but not much talk about the poeple that used to live there (and should be allowed to return there).

I also want to know if this means that the US base wants to remain there after 2016?? with its fossel fueled military hardware? that wont help the environment either -I am sure they have plenty of other places they can stay but — how much money are they dangling to the UK government this time?