Repost: World's oceans in 'shocking' decline

Living next to the Red Sea, I relate wholly to the dangers posed to our marine life by "man made pollutants," and other detrimental impacts that we have on our planet. Taken from the BBC.

The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists.

In a new report, they warn that ocean life is "at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history".

They conclude that issues such as over-fishing, pollution and climate change are acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised.

The impacts, they say, are already affecting humanity.

The panel was convened by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), and brought together experts from different disciplines, including coral reef ecologists, toxicologists, and fisheries scientists.

Its report will be formally released later this week.

"The findings are shocking," said Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director and professor of conservation biology at Oxford University.

"As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the oceans, the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.

"We've sat in one forum and spoken to each other about what we're seeing, and we've ended up with a picture showing that almost right across the board we're seeing changes that are happening faster than we'd thought, or in ways that we didn't expect to see for hundreds of years."

These "accelerated" changes include melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea level rise, and release of methane trapped in the sea bed.

Fast changes

"The rate of change is vastly exceeding what we were expecting even a couple of years ago," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a coral specialist from the University of Queensland in Australia.

"So if you look at almost everything, whether it's fisheries in temperate zones or coral reefs or Arctic sea ice, all of this is undergoing changes, but at a much faster rate than we had thought."

But more worrying than this, the team noted, are the ways in which different issues act synergistically to increase threats to marine life.

Some pollutants, for example, stick to the surfaces of tiny plastic particles that are now found in the ocean bed.

This increases the amounts of these pollutants that are consumed by bottom-feeding fish.

Plastic particles also assist the transport of algae from place to place, increasing the occurrence of toxic algal blooms - which are also caused by the influx of nutrient-rich pollution from agricultural land.

In a wider sense, ocean acidification, warming, local pollution and overfishing are acting together to increase the threat to coral reefs - so much so that three-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk of severe decline.

Carbon deposits

Life on Earth has gone through five "mass extinction events" caused by events such as asteroid impacts; and it is often said that humanity's combined impact is causing a sixth such event.

Continue reading the main story

The IPSO report concludes that it is too early to say definitively.

But the trends are such that it is likely to happen, they say - and far faster than any of the previous five.

"What we're seeing at the moment is unprecedented in the fossil record - the environmental changes are much more rapid," Professor Rogers told BBC News.

"We've still got most of the world's biodiversity, but the actual rate of extinction is much higher [than in past events] - and what we face is certainly a globally significant extinction event."

The report also notes that previous mass extinction events have been associated with trends being observed now - disturbances of the carbon cycle, and acidification and hypoxia (depletion of oxygen) of seawater.

Levels of CO2 being absorbed by the oceans are already far greater than during the great extinction of marine species 55 million years ago (during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum), it concludes.

Blue planet

The report's conclusions will be presented at UN headquarters in New York this week, when government delegates begin discussions on reforming governance of the oceans.

IPSO's immediate recommendations include:

• stopping exploitative fishing now, with special emphasis on the high seas where currently there is little effective regulation
• mapping and then reducing the input of pollutants including plastics, agricultural fertilisers and human waste
• making sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon dioxide levels are now so high, it says, that ways of pulling the gas out of the atmosphere need to be researched urgently - but not using techniques, such as iron fertilisation, that lead to more CO2 entering the oceans.

"We have to bring down CO2 emissions to zero within about 20 years," Professor Hoegh-Guldberg told BBC News.

"If we don't do that, we're going to see steady acidification of the seas, heat events that are wiping out things like kelp forests and coral reefs, and we'll see a very different ocean."

Another of the report's authors, Dan Laffoley, marine chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas and an adviser to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), admitted the challenges were vast.

"But unlike previous generations, we know what now needs to happen," he said.

"The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now."

Lunar Eclipse over Hurghada

Tonight marks the night of a lunar eclipse visible in Hurghada. I've been watching it since it started. The moon was already brilliantly full, with a slight yellow haze over it . As the evening progressed, the yellow turned to a bright white moon. Now, the moon has turned red, and the black shadow is moving across it. Got a couple videos, in the last one you can barely see the moon! Times like these I wish I had a better camera!

 

Soi Dog Foundation needs your help!

As any supporter of an NGO will tell you, networking and commitment are key to its survival. With the NGOs that I myself have worked with, it has always been a team of dedicated staff members and volunteers who together will work their utmost to ensure that tangible goals are reached, and real results achieved. This crosses borders; be it human rights, animal rights, development, etc.

In Egypt there are literally hundreds of NGOs working, many of which rely primarily on volunteers and donations to survive. The Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals is one such case; less than 4 months ago a campaign was launched on the social networking page Facebook to raise 25,000 U.S. Dollars for ESMA by "liking" a facebook page.

Countless re-posts by volunteers later, and ESMA did it. Through commitment and tireless efforts, ESMA has secured 25,000 U.S. Now they are joining the fight to save another animal rights group, this time based in Thailand.

Susie Nasser (co-founder of ESMA) sent out an email blast alerting members that the Soi Foundation are in risk of losing their leased land in Thailand on which their shelter is based. They are in desperate need for help.

The Soi Foundation essentially mirrors ESMA's work in Thailand. They work tirelessly to help save animals left abandoned, beaten, neglected, and ignored.

Humphrey, one of the many cases
helped by the Soi Foundation

I went to check out their webpage, and saw some positive news. Similar to the situation with ESMA, the Soi Foundation has been pledged a considerable sum of money, only this time it comes from one of their own benefactors.

"A long time benefactor of Soi Dog has generously offered to match your donation dollar for dollar up to $66,000 (46,000 Euros). What this means is that your donation is doubled! You can help the animals like Pearl & Humphrey through your matching donation towards this goal."

So please, consider making a donation towards the Soi Foundation. We've already proven in Egypt that by working together we CAN make a difference. Let's show Thailand what that really means.

Key Lime Pie (with pictures)

I've previously posted a recipe for Key Lime Pie on the blog, but in the time since then, I've spiced it up and perfected it (well, in my humble opinion :p).

Cooking is a collaborative effort, and I find that often just reading through a recipe can be very daunting. My favourite recipes to follow have always been the ones that have step by step pictures, so at least I can see if my mixture is too lumpy, or too runny, or if something else has gone obviously wrong.

With me being in Egypt, it's impossible to find key limes here. Instead, I use lemons, and if I can find them, one or two larger limes. So technically, it's a Key Lime Pie, done Egyptian style. **note, the size of the lemons here are the same size as key limes, so the measurements are not affected - only the colouring**

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (12 to 15 key limes - depending on size) 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 egg yolks, 2 egg whites
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 packs vanilla wafers, 3/4 cup biscuits
1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

• Preheat oven to about 170 Celsius.
• Crumble your biscuits. There are a few ways to do this. If you have vanilla wafers with cream, make sure you mix up the wafers with the biscuits. I used a blender to crumble mine; if you don't have a blender on hand throw them into a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. 

• Most recipes will tell you here to use 3 tablespoons sugar, and mix in with your biscuits. Because I used wafers, I cut back the sugar to 1.5, as the wafers are already quite sweet. So mix your 1.5 spoons of sugar in with your biscuit mix. 

• Add the melted butter to your biscuits, and mix together until well mixed and slightly sticky. I melt the butter right before I use it, and I melt it in the glass pie dish that I'll use. This way I can grease the dish at the same time as melting the butter, kill two birds with one stone. 

• Press the biscuit mix into a pie pan (roughly 9 inches), and up the sides for the crust. Make sure you spread it evenly. It's easiest to start from the center and press out towards the sides. Bake for roughly 10-15 min., until slightly browned.  

The best pie crust I have ever made!

• While your pie crust is cooking, prepare the filling. Start with zesting your limes, you'll need the zest off of about 5 limes. 

• Cut your limes in half, and juice them. Strain out the bits and pips 

• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and lime zest until the mixture is slightly green. Add the condensed milk and your lime juice, mix well. Set mixture aside until your crust is cooled. 

• Once your crust has cooled, add your filling. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the centre is solid but wobbles like jelly. 

• Remove your pie from the oven and let cool to room temp. Once cooled, refrigerate for three hours or until solid. 

And the end result! Bon appetit!

Egyptian Lion Fighter

I was sent this article by a friend of mine today (you can find the article below), about a man in Egypt who claims to want to revive the Egyptian economy by staging fights against a lion. I do not mean lion on lion; this man claims to have "super-human" strength and will fight the lion in an enclosure himself. He has already received a lot of flack from animal rights lovers, but clearly not enough.

Although I do not doubt that such a story deserves media attention, I deplore how al-Masri al-Yawm has gone about presenting the article. A man who will willingly aggravate an animal to the point of an animal "fighting" him should not be positively reinforced in any way, shape, or form.

But don't worry animal lovers, he won't kill the lion. "If he chooses to withdraw, or surrender, and lets me tie him up." Which seems brilliant, minus the fact that this man has had little to no contact with the lion at all, fearing that he may get "too attached." Wonder how many minutes he'll last in the ring before the lion attacks him.

As to where he got the lion, it's up for anyone to guess. The black market trade of animals in Egypt is no stranger to lion cubs; speak to the right animal breeder and you'll find them in Cairo for sale.

Evidently this man is violent, as he claims that his "training" involved fighting dog breeds, including the "three most aggressive."

When, Egypt, when will you learn that the biggest threat to our planet and the species living here is mankind. When will society here learn that as the animal at the top of the food chain, we have a responsibility to ensure that other animals are protected. This man should not be allowed to fight, be it a secret location or not! He should be arrested for animal abuse!!

To read the article in full, click here. 

Desert Storm

Summer heat = summer weather. Which in the desert usually means very very hot, and very very dry. On the rare occasions that the heavens do actually open over the desert, the result can be some cracking storms.

**side note, it turns out that in old Egyptian folklore, rain meant that the gateways to the seven heavens were temporarily open, and each raindrop would grant you one wish - Just a nice bit of trivia for you **

These pics were snapped about 100 km outside of Hurghada, where you are literally miles away from anyone. It was amazing to drive in to; on one side was blazing sunshine, the other side dark thunderheads. The next thing you know, you're being pelted by mad rain, and watching as the few people around scramble to figure out what to do with themselves. (Have I mentioned that rain appears to be the only thing that slows Egyptian drivers down?) 

Anyhow, I thought these were beautiful shots, so decided to share! 

Dark clouds on the horizon

Driving right into the storm (and empty, empty roads!)

Sunny one second, rain the next!

The sun still fighting to get through

A taste of Egypt: Molokheya, Molokheya, Molokheya!

I know, I know. Those of you who have tried molokheya will either shout out "YES, finally a recipe for it!" and those that don't, will find this repulsive. haha. Molokheya is a traditional Egyptian dish, which falls into either "you love it" category, or "you hate it." Obviously, I love the stuff.

I first tried this with my family while we were on a Bedouin camping trip through the Bahareya Oasis. Our Bedouin guide placed a bowl of green "stuff" in front of us, offered us bread and chicken, and warned not to eat too much because it may cause "stomach issues later." Now, we've all been raised that no matter what is put in front of you, when you are being offered food as a guest, you have to try. Even just one bite. Turns out, my sister, mum and I all loved this "green stuff" whose name we were unable to discern.

I spent the next two years in Egypt trying to describe to people what I had eaten in the desert, and it wasn't until one of my Egyptian friends actually gave me molokheya, that I realised this was the delicious "stuff" we'd had in the desert.

The closest comparison I can draw, is to spinach dip. There's nothing quite like this outside of Egypt, and I am lucky enough to have been "inducted" into the crowd that can actually make molokheya.

So here it is, a step-by-step guide to making molokheya, with pictures so you can easily follow along. Bil hana wa shiva!

What you'll need:

Molokheya (Sold in bunches in the supermarket)
Minced garlic (4 tablespoons)
Butter (2 tablespoons)
Coriander (2 1/2 - 3 teaspoons)
Chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and Pepper

1. Take your bunch of molokheya, and strip the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems, and wash the leaves well under cold water.

2. Begin your stock. You want your stock hot when you add the Molokheya. There's really no definite ruling as to how you should make your stock; if you want to use chicken bones, go ahead! You'll need approximately 2 cups of stock.

3. The fun part :P Crush your molokheya leaves. You want them the consistency of ground spinach, not runny, but more of a paste-consistency. I was advised AGAINST using a blender, as it will make the molokheya watery, and will affect the taste. This is all about old-school cooking.











4. When your stock comes to a boil, add your molokheya leaves. Cover, and let boil.

5. Meanwhile, take your garlic and add to a small frying pan. Cover your garlic with coriander, and add the butter. Cook the garlic until browned, about 5 minutes.











Now here's the trick. Add the garlic sauce to your molokheya soup. It will spit, so you'll want to add the molokheya, and cover again promptly. Let come to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. Cook for 3 minutes longer, and remove from heat.

Serve your molokheya with rice. Goes great with chicken as a side dish too.