11/26 'Unsustainable' seafood ban, ship adrift, Microsoft carbon credits, BC-AK accord, enviro jargon

(PHOTO: Laurie MacBride)

Eye of the Heron
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "The Great Blue heron relies on stealth and lightning quick reactions to catch its dinner – along with amazing eyesight. Its eyesight is about three times more detailed than ours, and its binocular vision gives it very good depth perception. It also has a built in “zoom lens” – allowing the bird to switch instantaneously between telescopic and macro vision (probably as good or better than our fanciest modern camera lenses)…."

Buy-Low Foods removes all 'red-listed' seafood from shelves
Buy-Low Foods is no longer selling seafood classified as "red-listed" or unsustainable by SeaChoice, a national sustainable seafood program. That means types of farmed salmon, king crab, Atlantic cod, and other popular species are gone from the store. The grocery chain, which operates in B.C. and Alberta, is the first major grocer in North America to take this step, according to SeaChoice. (CBC)

Huge cargo ship drifting off Haida Gwaii out of danger
MV North Star under power again after an electrical issue caused both engines to shut down Tuesday. (CBC)

Microsoft buys carbon credits in forest near Rainier to offset pollution
…. Microsoft bought the carbon credits in this forest under California’s rigorously verified cap-and-trade program. Washington has no such program. The purchase was part of the company’s voluntary $20 million-a-year effort offsetting 100 percent of its carbon emissions worldwide across all operations, from employee air travel to energy use. The forest, near Ashford in the Nisqually watershed, will generate 37,000 carbon-offset credits, the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road. And the total will get bigger as the trees do. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Stephen Hume: Clark needs to step up on environment
Wednesday’s agreement between Premier Christy Clark and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker promising protection for shared environments from new mining developments on trans-boundary salmon rivers won’t quell the grassroots opposition swelling in the Northern U.S. state. In fact, it might even make things more difficult for B.C.’s ambitious northwest development plans. Alaskan First Nations, fishing and environmental groups are already signalling a desire to trigger U.S. federal intervention through the International Joint Commission under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty. What happened to the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines — once promoted as a sure thing to carry Alberta’s oilsands crude to tidewater — might serve as a cautionary examples. (Vancouver Sun)

Is there a danger to environmental jargon?
The United Nations is promising a "universal climate change agreement" when leaders from almost 200 countries meet in Paris. But is the jargon used in environmental discussions actually putting people off the subject rather than enthusing them? Justin Parkinson reports. (BBC)

An Anglerfish Discovered, Thanks to an Oil Spill
Let it not be said that nothing good ever came from an oil spill, as this newly described species of anglerfish proves. Three specimens were apprehended at monitoring stations between 800-1300 m (2625 - 4265 feet) deep within a 250 kilometer (155 mi) radius of the Macondo wellhead, the Gulf oil tap that blew up on BP spectacularly in April 2010. You may know it better as "Deepwater Horizon". Jennifer Frazer reports. (Scientific American)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST THU NOV 26 2015
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON
TODAY
E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 16 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
E WIND 10 TO 20 KT RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
FRI
E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
FRI NIGHT
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SAT
SE WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
SE WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SUN
LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 7 FT BUILDING TO 9 FT.
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