Halibut Herald October 3

H

ALIBUT HERALD October 3, 2008

Bits and Bites Photos of the Day: Animal Mothers and Babies

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/pod-animal-mothers-babies

****************************** Fish Tale Has DNA Hook: Students Find Bad Labels Many New York sushi restaurants and seafood markets are playing a game of bait and switch, say two high school students turned high-tech sleuths. In a tale of teenagers, sushi and science, Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, who graduated this year from the Trinity School in Manhattan, took on a freelance science project in which they checked 60 samples of seafood using a simplified genetic

fingerprinting technique to see whether the fish New Yorkers buy is what they think they are getting. They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species. What may be most impressive about the experiment is the ease with which the students accomplished it. Although the testing technique is at the forefront of research, the fact that anyone can take advantage of it by sending samples off to a laboratory meant the kind of investigative tools once restricted to Ph.D.’s and crime labs can move into the hands of curious diners and amateur scientists everywhere. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Kate%20Stoeckle&st=cse&oref=slogin%20http://www.pacificfishi ng.com/news/news2.html&oref=slogin

****************************** Research: Sounds Travel Farther Underwater As World's Oceans Become More Acidic http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=39821017654

Invisibly Emptied Oceans http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/emptied-oceans/

****************************** GREEN HOME 101 - Buying Water Saving Appliances

This blue planet we call home is covered in water – from majestic mountain lakes, to expansive seas, to windy creeks, to home faucet flows. With a seemingly endless supply of fresh potable water coming through our pipes each day, its easy to remember that the Earth’s Surface is 71% H2O, but difficult to articulate how our individual consumption habits contribute to worldwide water shortages and pollution. With the average US citizen consuming between 100 gallons per day, according to the EPA, we continue to drink up, soak up, and waste up, this finite resource, even as one third of the world’s population live in countries experiencing moderate to high water stress. But don’t fret just yet. Read on to find out how you can minimize your water consumption through smart choices in appliances > Consider that 10% of US water consumption comes from residential use – and lessening this 10% gives consumers the opportunity to help slow this growing trend (even while we wait for agricultural and industrial consumers – accounting for 87% of the consumption in the US - to catch up). While we at Inhabitat don’t believe in buying our way out of this looming global crisis, we do admit that we can go a long way toward

mitigating our personal and household water usage by making smart purchases for our water-consuming appliances and using them to their maximum efficiency. READ ARTICLE HERE: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/10/01/green-home-101-buying-water-saving-appliances/

More News Links With the upcoming election, David Suzuki’s recent blog posts in regards to it may be helpful: http://www.voteenvironment2008.ca/blogs/fromthedes~2?author=dsuzuki Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/ecuador-constitution-grants-nature-rights/

This site offers comprehensive, up-to-date riding by riding information http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/

Archival Photo

Purple Urchin by Margaret Butschler, February 2006

Green Team Ride-Sharing for Employees of the Vancouver Aquarium The Vancouver Aquarium has its very own Ride Share site for Aquarium employees! Jack Bell Ride-Share allows you to find ride matches with coworkers to fill your personal car, find a driver to carpool with, or use a Jack Bell fleet vehicle! This calculates both costs and greenhouse gas savings at the same time! Registration is restricted to email addresses ending in @vanaqua.org. Register today! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Go to http://vanaqua.ride-share.com/en/my/ Register for free with your @vanaqua.org email address Enter your home address Search for matching commuters with adjustable search options Click matching commuters to suggest a ride-share Start ride-sharing!

Quick Tip: Did you know that approximately 45% of commuters in Metro Vancouver travel alone in their vehicles? Ridesharing with just 1 other person would eliminate over 1 million cars a day crossing in and out of Metro Vancouver. This is equivalent to 1.6 million litres of gas saved, and 4000 tonnes of greenhouse gases not emitted. Other sustainable modes of transportation: Don’t forget, every day is a good day to walk, bike, or swim to the Aquarium! Did you know that the Vancouver Aquarium has shower and locker facilities as well as secure bike storage for cyclists? Secure bike storage is found on the east side of the building near the Grounds office, and the shower and locker facilities are in the washrooms on the 1st floor (basement) of Aquaquest.

Green Tip A Green Tip from our Senior IS Coordinator, Oliver Kuehn: Did you know that you can recycle not only your Styrofoam packaging, but also many hard and soft plastics that aren’t accepted in Municipal Blue Box programs and electronic waste items that are not accepted by some ewaste recyclers at a mobile recycling depot set up monthly in North Vancouver? Pickup depots are set up every third Saturday of the month at Presentation House Theatre 333 Chesterfield Ave (North Vancouver) from 9am - 12noon For a list of items you can drop off for recycling, go to: http://pacificmobiledepots.com/services.php Pickup can also be arranged for larger quantities for a small fee.

Events

******************************

For Sale

****************************** FREE GLASS SHELVING We have an abundance of various glass shelves that we are no longer able to use, and are offering it to any department, or person who would like to make use of it. We have also have lots of glass cubes that can be built to suit your needs, along with all the connector pieces (they build cubing storage just like our t-shirt cubes in the store) All glass is provided AS IS, and must be taken away by you. Please contact John Miller or Carey Griffin at ext 3420 for more details