Where's An Eco-Super Hero When You Need One?

Mama gnome donned her pointy hat and green cape. She raised her arms up towards the sky and flew like a majestic Philippine Eagle ...thud
Mama gnome fell on the wooden floor of the gnome house, her housecoat tucked around her like a wilted cape.

"You alright, Mama gnome?" asked Daddy gnome.

"Uh...think so. I dreamt I was saving Planet Earth, that's all."

Mama gnome shook her head because no matter how hard she tries, she doesn't have super powers to save planet Earth.

And Earth needs an Eco-Super Hero now more than ever.

Last Saturday, April 3rd a Chinese ship ran aground into Douglas Shoals, part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park of Australia, one of the most delicate marine environments and is supposed to be protected.

According to this report, "The ship hit the reef at full speed, nine miles (15 kilometers) outside the shipping lane."

The Chinese ship, Shen Neng 1, was transporting 72,000 tons of coal from Gladstone, Australia back to China. The coal freighter was also carrying 1,075 tons of engine fuel.

It's reported that Shen Neng 1 "has at least one punctured fuel tank."

Operations are underway to stabilize the vessel and unload the fuel.

But from this picture, you can see the long oil slick trailing from the vessel.


photo from whitealley

The oil slick was reported to be 3 km long.


video from current

The Australian reports this disaster has the "potential to become one of Australia's worst environmental disasters."

And Mama gnome would like to add, indeed one of planet Earth's worst environmental disasters.

Mama gnome looks down at her short gnome legs and arms. She can't fly and she doesn't have super strength. She's at a loss.

Where's an Eco-Super Hero when you need one?

Right now, the eco-heroes are the humans working to clean up the oil slicks and prevent further leaks into the waters.

But human action is needed to prevent future accidents like this from happening.

Please help save planet Earth in your own way, do something which has the potential to be help save this planet, and Go Green.

(c) 2010 Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog

"Oh, by the way, meet my Frenemy..."

Mama gnome is back.

She's not giving up.

As long as there is one seed left or one sapling standing, Mama gnome will fight for Planet Earth.

And oh, by the way, meet my Frenemy....


What is a Frenemy?

According to dictionary.com a frenemy is:

(noun): a person who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy; a rival with which one maintains friendly relations.

Do you know a frenemy? Do you have a frenemy?

Mama gnome wants to expose a frenemy.

A big one.

It is one of Mother Nature's Frenemies.

And Mama gnome describes Mother Nature's Frenemy as:

(noun): something disguised as eco-friendly, but is actually an eco-enemy.

An eco-frenemy!

And here is one of Mother Nature's Biggest Eco-frenemy:


The Three Gorges Dam

It is a behemoth of a dam that cuts through the Yangtze River in China.

photo by: Christoph Filnkößl

"It is the world's largest electricity-generating plant of any kind."

This is the supposedly eco-friendly part.

For this, about 1.3 million people were displaced from their homes. That doesn't sound friendly to me.

They touted this dam as a step to reducing greenhouse gases.

Yet even before completion, this news report came out.



video from: NTDTV

This article also reports:

"One of the most worrying consequences of the project has been the sharp increase in landslides around the dam. Studies by geologists have shown that the water seeping out of the reservoir and the huge pressure changes are weakening the banks."

The construction of the dam also "flooded several important archaelogical sites" according to an article by Time.

What do you think? Eco-friendly or truly eco-frenemy?

I think I'll check the eco-frenemy column.

Um, did I mention the dam sits on two major faults?

As in possible earthquake major faults.

As quoted from this article by Scientific American:

One of the greatest fears is that the dam may trigger severe earthquakes, because the reservoir sits on two major faults: the Jiuwanxi and the Zigui–Badong. According to Fan, changing the water level strains them. When you alter the fault line's mechanical state," he says, "it can cause fault activity to intensify and induce earthquakes."

Now is this eco-friendly or eco-frenemy? Try eco-frenemy and eco-crazy.

And don't even get me started on its effects on wild life. Too late.

You got me started.

The baiji is/was a freshwater dolphin found only in the Yangtze river. What happened to it?
According to this the baiji is now "functionally extinct."

Organizers declared the Baiji "functionally extinct", which would make it the first aquatic mammal species to become extinct since the demise of the Japanese Sea Lion and the Caribbean Monk Seal in the 1950s. It would also be the first recorded extinction of a well-studied cetacean species (it is unclear if some previously extinct varieties were species or subspecies) to be directly attributable to human influence.

They explain that even though there might be one or a few baiji left, it is "not enough to save a functionally extinct species from true extinction."

Another fish in trouble is the Chinese sturgeon. Found only in the Yangtze river, it is classified endangered by IUCN.


video from National Geographic


So far I've counted a gazillion eco-frenemy points. Eco-friendly points? Zilch.


Now don't take my word for it.

Please watch this.


Video from: News Revue


So Mama gnome's just going to call it as it is.

This Dam is not Eco-friendly.

It's not even Eco-Frenemy.

It's truly Eco-Scary.

Rally around Mother Earth.

Rally around her and Go GREEN!


(c) Jenaelha Friendly Gnome's Blog

Mama gnome gives up...

Sometimes, Mama gnome just wants to surrender to the environmental saboteurs,

put up her hands and say, "You win. I got nothing."

Mama gnome is in a sad dark place tonight.

Planet earth is in great peril.

And there's nothing Mama gnome can do to save the Chinese sturgeon, the Philippine Eagle, the elephants, polar bears, great whales or even the birds in her garden.

Because man will never change. And all is lost.

You go tell Planet Earth.

You go tell all her children.

For I haven't the heart.

I got nothing left.


video from: The Secret

(c) Jenaelha Friendly Gnome's Blog