The common man seems to worry about oil spills only when they occur, as happened recently in the Gulf of Mexico. However, we should be generally concerned about the ecological toll such spills and other industrial accident can have, since they can lead to the death of thousands of innocent animals and birds alongside causing tremendous habitat destruction.
Oil spill seen from aircraft
While the scientific community is tirelessly at work on mitigating such problems, they need the common man's support and participation if they are to succeed in saving our planet. Recently they took a giant leap forward in the field of oil spill management, which I thought I will share with the readers of onebluesphere, because I think its simply inspiring.
Researchers in the Tulane University, USA have literally engineered bacteria that can feed on and digest oil. Experiments conducted in laboratories on special cultures of this new bio-engineered micro-organism showed that they actively feed on oil in their surrouundings and process it to a harmless end product. If these bacteria can be further studied and adapted for mass cultivation, they could be used in the future for clean up operations of both ocean surface and coastline after oil spills.
Coast clean-up under way
It really is amazing how innovative solutions can be arrived at if we persist in our examination of new scientific avenues for solving ever more complex environmental problems. The scientists and academicians behind this particular innovation and other such breakthroughs, are leading man's effort in becoming a more responsible caretaker of the planet. They deserve our collective appreciation and moral support.
It really is amazing how innovative solutions can be arrived at if we persist in our examination of new scientific avenues for solving ever more complex environmental problems. The scientists and academicians behind this particular innovation and other such breakthroughs, are leading man's effort in becoming a more responsible caretaker of the planet. They deserve our collective appreciation and moral support.
To learn more about the oil eating bacteria, check out this link from National Geographic:
No comments:
Post a Comment