For some people it can be hard to visualise, or understand the spread of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. IfItWasMyHome helps to fix that, it shows current limits of the spill centered on a Google Map [^] anywhere in the world.
Seeing that the spill has spread from Hamilton to Wangaratta certainly came as a shock to me! Moving the spill to Swindon, Wilts, England sees the spill take in the Welsh coast by Milford Haven, the Portsmouth on the English South coast, most of Greater London, and big slice of the Norfolk coast. Anyway that you look at it that’s one big mess to clean-up, and it’s only getting bigger!
Lost Shipping Containers
Have you seen pictures of cargo ships with containers stacked high above the deck? And have you wondered what happens when the ship is in a storm? Yes, containers get swept overboard, floating just below the surface for a while, then slowly sinking to the sea-floor. But what happens to them once they hit the bottom?
Out of the estimated 10,000 shipping containers that are lost every year only one has been found on the sea-floor. And that one was an accident, this container landed in an area being surveyed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
“Under the sea: Life on a lost shipping container” [^] is an interview BoingBoing’s Maggie Koerth-Baker had with MBARI’s research coordinator, Andrew DeVogelaere. In the interview they discuss some of environmental impacts of these steel boxes, such as corrosion and their possible use as a habitat for deep sea creatures. If nothing else it makes you realise how little we know about this strange, hostile environment.