National Geographic Photographer Andrew Evans arrived on Nightengale Island shortly after the spill occurred. Watch the video he put together:
Until March 17 when the freighter Oliva ran aground and spilled approximately 1,500 tons of fuel oil onto the shores of Nightingale Island, the Tristan da Cunha archipelago had been best known by devout birders as one of the world’s primo pristine aviaries. Among the rest of the world population, however, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who even knew of these islands’ existence. Now, they’ve become the latest example of the global impact of our fossil fuel economy.
The islands, populated by 263 hardy souls, have no airport, and the sea voyage to reach them takes nearly a week from Cape Town, South Africa, roughly 1,500 miles to the east. They are the needle in the haystack that is the South Atlantic Ocean. So the chance that a freighter, not bound for the islands’ port, would somehow manage to run aground was as slim as the islands are tiny. And yet, there are now approximately 300,000 gallons of crude oil spoiling what had been one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. To put this event in perspective, recall the spill that occurred in San Francisco bay in 2007 when the cargo ship Cosco Busan collided with a bridge abutment, spilling approximately 58,000 gallons of its fuel oil—less than 20 percent of what was released on Nightingale Island.
to be continue ---http://climateprogress.org/2011/04/12/the-oil-economy-stains-the-most-remote-civilization-on-earth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29
Until March 17 when the freighter Oliva ran aground and spilled approximately 1,500 tons of fuel oil onto the shores of Nightingale Island, the Tristan da Cunha archipelago had been best known by devout birders as one of the world’s primo pristine aviaries. Among the rest of the world population, however, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who even knew of these islands’ existence. Now, they’ve become the latest example of the global impact of our fossil fuel economy.
The islands, populated by 263 hardy souls, have no airport, and the sea voyage to reach them takes nearly a week from Cape Town, South Africa, roughly 1,500 miles to the east. They are the needle in the haystack that is the South Atlantic Ocean. So the chance that a freighter, not bound for the islands’ port, would somehow manage to run aground was as slim as the islands are tiny. And yet, there are now approximately 300,000 gallons of crude oil spoiling what had been one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. To put this event in perspective, recall the spill that occurred in San Francisco bay in 2007 when the cargo ship Cosco Busan collided with a bridge abutment, spilling approximately 58,000 gallons of its fuel oil—less than 20 percent of what was released on Nightingale Island.
to be continue ---http://climateprogress.org/2011/04/12/the-oil-economy-stains-the-most-remote-civilization-on-earth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29
