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Inertia
Risking that some people might think I' m an old man, I use the phrase, when I was a young boy. So, when I was about 14 years old and started my first environmental, weekly newspaper, people where laughing about me and my staff. Why? Simply because we wrote articles about pollution, that it was necessary to act now end so on. We even wrote about global warming, that un less something drastic would be done now, the warming would increase exponential, and unstoppable from about 2000 onwards. We took part in seminaries of The Club Of Rome, and didn\rquote t care about being ridiculed.
Experience has proven that we where right then. Who, in 1972, would have imagined something as silly as a Ministry For The Environment? We did, and what we learned from this was, that physics, and the law of inertia are true and as reliable as ever.
If nobody does anything nothing will happen. If some people do something, something will happen. If more people do something or people do more, more will happen. And if many people do a lot, a lot of things will change. The problem is, that we have done too little too long, and in order to prevent the worst, we have to have many people do a lot.
We ha ve invited the following people to take part in the meeting:
Updated inform ation about the meeting will be published on the Events/latest news page as soon as the meeting fase taken place and we have had time to update the site.
The Adoption Web site will open in mid June, when we have the first photographs of White-beaks from the research area, where you will find more detailed information about your possibilities to help us help the white-beaks. If you live inside Scandinavia, you can also find information about the adoption program by watching the ANIMAL PLANET.
This time disaster has struck the southern coastlines of the Danish islands Bogoe, Moen, Falster and Faroe, after the oil-tanker Baltic Carrier has collided with a cargo ship. The inflicted shorelines are nesting areas for over 10.000 seabirds, several of them belonging to endangered species. Already now, a few days after the collision, several thousand birds have died from the oil pollution, and based on the lack of facilities for cleaning birds the only option available in Denmark is to shoot birds which are covered by oil.
Too many people have already said too much about this without anything ever happening. If Viking Explorer should add anything to this voices it should be this.
Create a rapid reaction force and a law that forces vessels with dangerous cargo to take pilots on board in National Territorial Waters.
We invite all organizations and politicians to consider working on the establishment of a rapid reaction force for countries with shorelines to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This force should have the purpose to :
a) limit the spread of pollution and clean up the environment after a disaster in an coordinated effort.
b) establish mobile rescue units, based on a container system, that can be loaded on airplanes, helicopters and ships. This containers should be loaded with materials to prevent the spread of chemicals and to clean the environment. This containers must be situated in a manner that allows them to be airlifted and transported to a disaster area within the shortest time possible.
c) member countries train their civil defense troops in the use of this container systems, including training in sea bird rescue etc....
Besides this we invite everybody to lobby for as law, that forces all vessels carrying dangerous cargo to take onboard pilots within member countries national territorial waters.
As during the years 1996/ 97 the national park administration has given the oil production company RWE/DEA-AG permission to conduct seismic measurements in the national park.
As many other organizations which work for the protection of endangered marine environments, Viking Explorer is outraged about the fact, that such measurements can be allowed in protected areas, which are refuges for migratory birds and many other wildlife species.
Being confronted with questions why such a permission can be granted, the Environmental Ministry replies, that even though the seismic measurements are a considerable factor of noise pollution and disturbance of the resident wildlife, the measurements will only last a relatively short time, while the results of this measurements probably will result in the possibility to drill onto the oil reserves under the national park from a station on shore. Yet another argument is, that the oil production, resulting from these measurements are in the interest of the public. Viking Explorer asks, since when does RWE/DEA-AG represent the public interest?
There have neve r been conducted any long term studies of the effects of this kind of noise pollution, so what the real effects will be is impossible to tell. What we do know is, that 14 ships take part in the seismic measurements, and that the 190 Decibel Air- pulse detonations can be heard over a distance of minimum 6 kilometres, that approximately 14.500 ha or 3,3 % of the national park will be affected, and that there are thousands of migratory birds and about 25.000 nesting eiders in the area while the seismic measurements take place.
