View Full Version : Bananas And Oil
TommyMacLuckie
06-05-2010, 10:36 AM
It's highly likely that along the water in the town where I live we're going to get oil. With a hurricane. I'm guessing all plant life will die from this based on what I've seen. Does anyone know if that is the case? I've never heard of plants liking oil. Since Louisiana and now east of us along the Gulf Coast is getting scrude, I'm wondering if, well, I guess it doesn't matter what I do. If we get oil, it's not going to go away. It might be a good experiment. But I doubt I'd ever be able to eat my own grown bananas again.
The reeds and various marsh plants are dying. Along with all the animals (if anyone wants a link to some pictures of this I have it) and then jobs and so on.
jeffreyp
06-05-2010, 11:16 AM
It's saddening for sure. But on a positive note, oil is a natural substance and even after the disaster in the persian gulf and alaska the wildlife recovered surprisingly. Even today you can't tell there was a disaster in the persian gulf or after the valdez disaster.
LilRaverBoi
06-05-2010, 12:08 PM
Excellent point, Jeffrey. I feel sorry for all those affected by the oil spill. It seems like we end up with one major disaster after another lately, huh? I would have to agree with you that bananas probably do NOT like oil LOL. Hopefully they won't be too badly affected. I wish you the best.
MediaHound
06-05-2010, 01:41 PM
Hope the mess gets cleaned up quickly and damage is minimized.
rich985
06-05-2010, 01:56 PM
Hopefully you won't get a huge amount of oil coming your way Tommy. Oil contaminates the plants by coating the roots and leaves to stop gas exchange and block the uptake of nutrients. When oil soaks into the soil, it quickly lowers the amount of nitrogen available to plants, and once the nitrogen is tied up, the plants die.
It really is a shame to see the environment destroyed by ignorant human activity. There have been so many man made disasters such as oil spills and deforestation, that people don't get the picture that we are essentially killing ourselves.
palmtree
06-05-2010, 03:25 PM
It really gets me angry to see the pictures of dieing birds, fish, and plants all covered in oil. This should not have happened. Hopefully it will get cleaned up but I have my doubts. There is a good chance that a major hurricane will float around that area this year and it will bring oil inland and also bring oil all over the gulf making it nearly impossible to get rid of all of it. This is the biggest oil spill in our history and its still growing. It may be growing until August and then you still have to clean the oil up. Fisherman are not the only ones suffering because people are canceling there vacation plants leaving many hotels suffering as well. And fish prices are going up so we are all paying for BP's stupidity in many ways.
Im not sure if the oil will kill bananas if you manage to get rid of the oil fast enough, but I wouldnt eat it and I dont think it will be very happy for a while.
saltydad
06-05-2010, 04:29 PM
My (admittedly parochial) fear is that the oil will be caught by the Gulf Stream and end up destroying the Chesapeake Bay. The Gulf, the Keys and the Chesapeake- what a disaster in the offing.
Bananaman88
06-06-2010, 12:34 PM
Living along the Gulf Coast as I do I have been keeping a very close eye on this entire debacle. Luckily, I live in TX and it looks like we are in the clear (barring a hurricane) but it just as easily could have been us. I'm not right along the coast (about 40 minutes away) but I really feel for all those whose way of life will be altered/taken away for a long time to come. It's horrible to see what it is doing to the marsh and all the wildlife.
Abnshrek
06-06-2010, 01:18 PM
Well hopefully the ground saturation is contained to the coast and you don't have to worry about whether or not you can eat your own fruit. :^)
TommyMacLuckie
06-06-2010, 11:29 PM
The current that comes out of the Bay Of Campeche and up the Gulf Coast by Texas to Louisiana? It switches direction around mid August from what I understand. So it's very likely that Texas will see oil from this.
Especially since the top hat isn't working.
From people I've talked with and things I've read you can still find oil under the rocks in Alaska and the fish have yet to return (as well as a lot of the people according to news reports). So the effects are still seen and felt up there.
Oil is natural alright - below the surface of the earth. It's poison above the surface. The leaking Macando well is basically a very huge slow creeping bomb going off. As it is now, with the Gulf currents changing and the weather/wind changing and the possibility of a few hurricanes it won't be known how much it will influence/change/destroy until we start getting the fall/winter fronts coming through that will carry it to Florida's Gulf Coast and into the Gulf Stream. And the current going to Texas as well.
There's just not one good scenario with this. We're just plain ol' scrude.
Nicolas Naranja
06-10-2010, 11:16 AM
It's highly likely that along the water in the town where I live we're going to get oil. With a hurricane. I'm guessing all plant life will die from this based on what I've seen. Does anyone know if that is the case? I've never heard of plants liking oil. Since Louisiana and now east of us along the Gulf Coast is getting scrude, I'm wondering if, well, I guess it doesn't matter what I do. If we get oil, it's not going to go away. It might be a good experiment. But I doubt I'd ever be able to eat my own grown bananas again.
The reeds and various marsh plants are dying. Along with all the animals (if anyone wants a link to some pictures of this I have it) and then jobs and so on.
I don't think you will have to worry about eating your own bananas. A lot of people will mix spent motor oil with herbicide to kill hard-to-kill weeds and brush and plants eventually come back.
mango_kush
06-10-2010, 02:00 PM
It's saddening for sure. But on a positive note, oil is a natural substance and even after the disaster in the persian gulf and alaska the wildlife recovered surprisingly. Even today you can't tell there was a disaster in the persian gulf or after the valdez disaster.
<i>April 14, 2010
British Columbia. Canada
Wildlife Still Exposed To Exxon Valdez Oil 20 Years After Disaster
Prince William Sound Still Experiencing Impacts of Exxon Valdez Spill - Polar News - SciencePoles - Polar sciences and research (http://www.sciencepoles.org/news/news_detail/prince_william_sound_still_experiencing_impacts_of_exxon_valdez_ spill/)
Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by wildlife more than 20 years after the disaster. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how the consequences of oil spills are measured in decades rather than years.</i>
Volcanic Ash is a natural substance as well
Jack Daw
06-10-2010, 02:10 PM
...disaster in the persian gulf or after the valdez disaster.
Persian Gulf? I don't know. If I were a fish, I surely wouldn't like to live there. Mainly because of the traffic.
Gulf War oil spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill)
Not sure enough, whether the same cheap scenario is not being used yet again.
Hope the mess gets cleaned up quickly and damage is minimized.
Agreed. But this particular mess didn't really have to happen, if it weren't for ignorance and greed. Yet those affected by it haven't done anything to suffer the consequences.
April 14, 2010
British Columbia. Canada
Wildlife Still Exposed To Exxon Valdez Oil 20 Years After Disaster
Prince William Sound Still Experiencing Impacts of Exxon Valdez Spill - Polar News - SciencePoles - Polar sciences and research (http://www.sciencepoles.org/news/news_detail/prince_william_sound_still_experiencing_impacts_of_exxon_valdez_ spill/)
...
Volcanic Ash is a natural substance as well
Yup, don't want to see any ashes in another 100 years. Record cold in May, record precipitation in May... 1 000 000 people suffering from a 160 years old record held by the infamous European "deadly water" back in the 19th century, hundreds of houses destroyed (for the first time in our recorded history)...
CoryS
06-10-2010, 08:03 PM
This thread is very informative and I have a special interest since most of our rain comes from the gulf stream. One problem I haven't seen mentioned, however, is the chemicals they are using to break up the oil. I've heard a lot of concerns that those might end up in the rain. Does anyone have any insights about this?
Abnshrek
06-10-2010, 11:09 PM
I hope the oil particles can't evaporate attached with the water particles or it will be an awful slimy rain coming down.. Now that would suck..!!!! It'd be raining suntan lotion w/o the spf...:eek: :(
LilRaverBoi
06-10-2010, 11:14 PM
As far as that's concerned....I've heard the excessive suntan lotion in the ocean is bleaching the great coral reef and killing it off. Anyone else heard of this?
Jack Daw
06-11-2010, 04:13 AM
This thread is very informative and I have a special interest since most of our rain comes from the gulf stream. One problem I haven't seen mentioned, however, is the chemicals they are using to break up the oil. I've heard a lot of concerns that those might end up in the rain. Does anyone have any insights about this?
That's difficult to really predict, but you can read this:
(this is not an official media, but I consider it more free than the official ones. On the other hand, what else could Russian scientists officially say?) Toxic Oil Spill Rains Warned Could Destroy North America | EUTimes.net (http://www.eutimes.net/2010/05/toxic-oil-spill-rains-warned-could-destroy-north-america/)
You can choose to believe that, or be optimistic about the future or just wait for yourself and see. Maybe we will get a clearer picture in winter, when the persistent layer of snow will really show, whether something else is present in it.
Still, I wonder if the heads of BP (who, by the way, sold lots of their shares (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html) before the oil spill, just as the most "popular" American investment bank Goldman and Sachs (http://www.eutimes.net/2010/06/goldman-sachs-sold-44-of-its-bp-stock-3-weeks-before-the-oil-rig-disaster/), second article here (http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/gulf-oil-spill-to-drag-goldman-sachs-into-trading-scandal-a246855)) will be trialed for causing (by intentianally not doing the prevention) this catastrophy. My guess is that they won't.
And to answer one another question: American's use chemicals (such as the one mentioned in the article, or one of these (http://www.valdezlink.com/evos/others.htm)), while Russians developed microbial agent, that is able to literally eat the the oil and keep anything else intact. However it takes time (until the microbes are in sufficient numbers), but there are no post catastrophical effects.
I hope the oil particles can't evaporate attached with the water particles or it will be an awful slimy rain coming down.. Now that would suck..!!!! It'd be raining suntan lotion w/o the spf...:eek: :(
Oils can evaporate, but due to their high boiling point and water vapor in the air, they evaporate (in the atmosphere) slowlier than water.
As far as that's concerned....I've heard the excessive suntan lotion in the ocean is bleaching the great coral reef and killing it off. Anyone else heard of this?
I've heard that Global warming's doing that. And many other reasons too. :)
TommyMacLuckie
06-11-2010, 09:49 AM
From what I've heard on TV from various weather people and having read up on it here and there rain will not and can not have oil in it because it simply can't do that. It's physically impossible for oil to evaporate and condense the same way water does. As the saying goes, water and oil doesn't mix.
Spray, on the other hand, from storms blowing waves in and carrying the spray in the wind, and of course hurricanes, is a possible and very likely.
jeffreyp
06-11-2010, 02:03 PM
you could always spray the area with detergent as that breaks up the oil.
Jack Daw
06-11-2010, 04:34 PM
From what I've heard on TV ...
:) Don't take this the wrong way, but TV is not a reliable source of information. Still the most reliable source of information are books. ;)
TommyMacLuckie
06-14-2010, 10:35 AM
We're sorry - we are currently out of current books on the oil "spill" in the Gulf Of Mexico as none have been written yet. Check back next month.
Abnshrek
06-14-2010, 11:31 AM
We're sorry - we are currently out of current books on the oil "spill" in the Gulf Of Mexico as none have been written yet. Check back next month.
I think one is "When Tarballs hit the fan"
I think we will be seeing the consequences of this spill for a long time and in areas far outside of the Gulf of Mexico. We will never know how many fish and other wildlife will be killed by this spill--we will just know that the fish are not there anymore. Even bluefin tuna populations that are fished worldwide will be affected. The unseen plumes of oil under the surface will suck the oxygen out of huge areas, killing fish and other food organisms.
I think it is entirely possible that oil will show up on Altantic Coast and even reach the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic. The components of the oil that evaporate will probably even reach the Arctic as have compounds like DDT.
Herring fisheries have never returned in Alaska after being wiped out by the Valdeze oil spill. What fisheries will be wiped out here? How many?
Jack Daw
06-14-2010, 03:54 PM
I think we will be seeing the consequences of this spill for a long time and in areas far outside of the Gulf of Mexico. We will never know how many fish and other wildlife will be killed by this spill--we will just know that the fish are not there anymore. Even bluefin tuna populations that are fished worldwide will be affected. The unseen plumes of oil under the surface will suck the oxygen out of huge areas, killing fish and other food organisms.
I think it is entirely possible that oil will show up on Altantic Coast and even reach the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic. The components of the oil that evaporate will probably even reach the Arctic as have compounds like DDT.
Herring fisheries have never returned in Alaska after being wiped out by the Valdeze oil spill. What fisheries will be wiped out here? How many?
Well, this is the worse part:
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill will affect Europe | GDS Publishing (http://www.euinfrastructure.com/news/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-will-affect-Europe/)
Meaning that the entire gulf stream route will be... well, we will see what will remain of the life out there.
Also, to add insult to an injury:
Feds Approve New Gulf Of Mexico Oil Well Near Louisiana (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/feds-approve-new-gulf-of_n_598199.html)
I know it is a petty complaint, but I can't even go fishing in areas where the oil has not reached due to the booms which close off prime fishing areas.
They have closed recreational fishing in the Gulf off Pensacola Beach.
Jack Daw
06-15-2010, 03:21 PM
Just thought that this belongs here:
http://www.kalerab.sk/pic/forum/b/bpstation_cisl3tsgb.jpg
Bananaman88
06-16-2010, 12:20 PM
Just thought that this belongs here:
http://www.kalerab.sk/pic/forum/b/bpstation_cisl3tsgb.jpg
My wife sent me that the other day. Quite ironic, huh?
Jack Daw
06-25-2010, 04:55 AM
And these kinds of images are starting to spread really fast. Even our news covered it... (* at the bottom says: may cause cancer)
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq201/Jackob_Daw/Exotika%20-%20banany/Other/florida_surfing.jpg
You are right Jack--the real hazard to humans is the long term exposure thru our food chain. The PAHs in oil are carcinogens and they will bioconcentrate in all of our seafood--these PAHs will be spread all over the Gulf and even into the Atlantic before this is over. They will be there for decades because they do not degrade.
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