DRILLING MAY KILL MEDITERRANEAN ECOSYSTEM: WWF

WWF WARNS ABOUT GAS DRILLING
THREATENS MARINE LIFE IN MEDITERRANEAN

ROME (AFP) - Deep-sea Leviathan gas fields - 135km off the coast of Israel - eastern Mediterranean Sea, are causing a scramble to start drilling - while concerns for irreversible damage to outstanding marine biodiversity are being ignored, says WWF. A rush to drill in the gas-rich Mediterranean may do permanent damage to the sea’s wildlife as it takes at least a millennium for an ecosystem to grow, the World Wildlife Fund warned last Wednesday. Drilling in the Mediterranean’s eastern region shared by Turkey, Israel and Egypt, “could cause irreversible damage” to its biodiversity, said Sergi Tudela, head of WWF’s Mediterranean Fisheries Programme. The area hosts rare and millennia-old species such as deep-sea sponges, worms, mollusks and cold water corals, and therefore are “particularly fragile and vulnerable to external interference,” he added in a statement. Once a deep-sea floor has been drilled, “it can take a millennium or more before the unique micro-ecosystem grows again, so the most fragile and valuable species and under-sea areas must be left untouched by gas development.”

The recently discovered Leviathan gas field, 135 kilometres off the Israeli coast, is the world’s biggest deep-water gas discovery in a decade, with an estimated volume of 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. Earlier this year the West Nile Delta gas field was discovered, lying in Egyptian waters 80 kilometres off Alexandria.
The green group called on a handful of Mediterranean countries and the European Union to ban industrial development and drilling in deep-sea areas where the biodiversity is rich.


Biodiversity in the eastern Mediterranean Sea could take a deadly hit if drillers rush in on recently discovered gas-rich fields, the World Wildlife Fund warned Wednesday. The international environmental organization warned that gas drilling in the area shared by Turkey, Israel and Egypt could ravage the sea’s ecosystem, which would take at least a millennium to regrow. However, gas drillers have been eager to capitalize on the recently discovered Leviathan gas field, a deepwater area off the Israeli coast that may hold a lot of gas. The excessive desire to obtain money and wealth has led the gas drilling industry to grow, regardless of the damage to the ecosystem and other living beings.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Hindu tradition gives us three principles: yajna, dhana and tapas - sacrifice, giving and penance. These are the three ecological principles for replenishment of the earth. ... This Hindu view of ecology has social, political and economic implications. Pilgrimage, fire sacrifice, and other aspects of Hindu life, have many dimensions. These rituals were designed symbolically to create a healthy relationship with the three environments: the natural environment, the social environment, and your own inner environment. Hindus say ‘Om shanti, shanti, shanti’ - ‘Peace, peace, peace’ - before every prayer. The first ‘shanti’ means peace with nature, ecological peace; the second means peace in society, between human beings, communities, nations and peoples; the third means ‘shanti’ within myself, spiritual peace. Ecological peace, social peace and spiritual peace - for the Hindus, environment embraces all three.

Ranchor Prime (Śripad Ranchor Dasa) :
“Hinduism & Ecology - Seeds of Truth”
Chapter 9: “Life of Sacrifice”
http://sites.google.com/site/ranchorprime/home
Friends of Vrindavan (FOV) - WWF
http://www.fov.org.uk/hinduism/hinduism.html