“A Reef! A Reef! My Kingdom for a Reef!” – If Only Shakespeare’s King Richard III Could Scuba Dive!

It’s almost summer when my thoughts automatically turn to sand, surf, reefs and this year’s scuba diving venture in the Florida Keys. Yes, I am a “wreck trekker” at heart but I am also a reef enthusiast – both artificial and natural – and enjoy its many attractions for marine life and recreational fishing.

But perhaps most fascinating of all is the work that is being done in “building” and “restoring” reefs in the USA. Often called the “rainforests of the seas” and “the medicine cabinets of the 21st century”, coral reefs are now being grown in several “underwater nurseries” from Fort Lauderdale thru the Florida Keys to the U.S. Virgin Islands. And in New Jersey, a multi-talented artist/marine biologist/scuba instructor is making a 48-foot-long, 25,000-pound concrete sculpture of a horseshoe crab for use as an artificial reef off the New Jersey coast near Mantoloking. Let’s see then how well you know your reef-making trivia through the last twelve years.

1- Which state in America sponsors an artificial reef program that is the largest rigs-to-reef program in the world?
2- Which state in America is home to the “Ewa Deepwater Artificial Reef” sunk in 300-420 foot water which consists of two barges, two drydock caissons, 1073 tons of concrete pipes, a 43-foot cement structure, and 8000 tons of miscellaneous concrete pieces?
3- Which state in America is home to “Redbird Reef”, an artificial reef located in the Atlantic Ocean covering 1.3 square nautical miles of ocean floor made of 714-plus retired New York City subway cars, 86 retired tanks and armored personnel carriers, 8 tugboats and barges, and 3,000 tons of ballasted truck tires?
4- Which state is home to the largest artificial reef in the world made by the sinking of the aircraft carrier “USS Oriskany” on May 17, 2006 and now considered to be one of the top ten wreck diving sites in the world?
5- Which state is home to artificial reefs made mostly of quarry rock ideal for schools of rockfish, sand bass, and surfperches – and occasionally sunken light poles, pier pilings, concrete chimneys, and old streetcars?
6- What two endangered ‘deer-sounding’ coral species are being transplanted to degraded reefs in the waters off the coasts of Florida and the US Virgin Islands in what is the largest restoration project of its kind?
7- Can you name at least three causes of coral population decline due to either natural or man-made stresses?
8- There are three types of coral reefs around the world – atolls, barrier reefs, and fringing reefs. But how many types of coral are there in the world? A- Over 10,000 B-Over 100,000 C-Over 500,000 D-Over 1 Million
9- What combination of odd man-made objects have been sunk to create an artificial reef? A- Concrete Igloos & Cones B-Outdated Bridges & Docks C- Surplus Army Tanks & Navy Submarines D- Obsolete Airplanes & Helicopters E-All of the Above
10- Coral reefs are a source of food and shelter for a large variety of species including crabs, shrimp, oysters, clams, sponges, sea urchins, sea anemones, sea snakes, snails, jellyfish, and turtles. But what are corals? A) Plants B) Skeletons C) Minerals D) Colonial Animals with Limestone Homes

So whether its wrecks you wish to explore or the remarkable sea creatures hidden within brilliantly displayed coral reefs – you are guaranteed a dazzling show of aquatic magic like no other terrain in the world. If only Shakespeare’s King Richard III knew how to scuba dive—he might have thought differently about giving up his kingdom for a horse!

Answers: (1) Louisiana (2) Hawaii (3) Delaware (4) Florida (5) California (6) Staghorn and Elkhorn Corals (7) Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Disease, Pollution, Warmer Sea Temperatures, and Human Touch (8) C-Over 500,000 (9) E-All of the Above (10) D-Colonial Animals with Limestone Homes

Long Before the US Navy Rolled Out The World’s First Hybrid Warship and Algae-Run Riverine Boats — There Were the Vikings!

Yes, that’s right – the fearsome but fearless Vikings of Middle Ages yore were indeed the world’s first eco-amphibious special operations team – precursors of today’s “United States Navy Seals” – both in their ability to navigate covertly and scout out landing beaches and their success in raiding and recycling coastal defenses.   Our argument is based on four recent scientific discoveries: 1) Their use of calcite crystals in open-sea navigation 2) Their recycling of broken and captured metal weapons 3) Their portable reuse of local building and boating designs and materials and 4) Their reliance on animals for land intelligence and land mobility.  Let us now look at these eco-elements of Viking warfare and travel.

1-    Icelandic Spar – Ancient Norse legends tell of Vikings sailing the seas using a mysterious ‘sunstone’ to navigate by night and day.  Now, an international team of researchers from the University of Rennes in Brittany, France believe they have found the answer to this age-old myth in the form of a transparent calcite crystal called “Icelandic Spar” – commonly found in Iceland and Scandinavia.  In this case, the crystal was found aboard an Elizabethan military shipwreck that had sunk in the English Channel during the time of the Spanish Armada in 1592.  Because a large cannon on board the vessel would have interfered with a magnetic compass, this crystal was used instead.  When light passes thru the crystal, the light is split in two and by rotating the spar towards the sky for a point where the beams line up, one is able to ascertain the position of the sun within a few degrees even when there is thick cloud cover.  Hence, this clear Icelandic spar crystal with optical bi-polarization properties allowed Vikings to navigate and sail around the world without having a magnetic compass or being able to see the sun with the naked eye.

2-    A Viking DIY Recycling Center – On Sept. 20, 1066, in the village of Fulford, located just on the outskirts of York, England, Viking King Harald Hardrada of Norway along with 10,000 of his men battled their way against the Anglo-Saxon Northern Earls of Edwin and Morcar and violently throttled them.  Fate completely reversed itself when five days later King Harold Godwinson of England and his fast-moving army defeated these very same Viking invaders at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.  The question then arises – what was the Viking army doing between battles to better prepare themselves as archaeologists have found hundreds of pieces of swords, axe heads, arrowheads left lying around the vicinity of Fulford as well as several “smithing hearths”?  Experts now believe that the unearthed metal artifacts had been purposely gathered together by Viking iron workers and blacksmiths after the first battle had ceased and were now in the process of recycling these metal objects when suddenly they had to drop everything to rush to Stamford Bridge on the border of North and East Yorkshire.

3-    Viking Longships and Longhouses – Whether on land or sea, Vikings were master craftsmen of wood – especially in the art of joinery.  Just as benches were used to run alongside the planked walls of their rectangular-shaped longhouses, the standard ‘clinker’ designed longship of up to 30 rowing benches were the pride of Viking Kings and Earls.  Indeed the lightweight design and structure of these long-shaped raiding machines with their shallow-draft hulls and symmetrical curves of bow and stern allowed any longship to land on any beach, penetrate any waterway in Europe yet be carried over portages, and reverse direction quickly without having to turn around the ship.  Note: that on expeditionary voyages to regions where wood supply was limited, Viking longhouses were made of turf or peat as can be seen in the new “Settlement Exhibition” in Reykjavik, Iceland or in some cases stone slabs were used for construction materials as in the newly discovered Viking longhouse on Orkney’s West Mainland at the Bay of Skaill.

4-    Viking Land Intelligence & Mobility – Just as the Viking god, Odin, the god of Warriors and Battle, used two talking ravens to gather information about news of the wide world, Viking mariners carried and released caged ravens on their ships when they were out of sight of land.  These birds would instinctively head for land giving the sailors a course to steer.  The Vikings also used their collective knowledge to identify where they were by the types of seaweed floating on the ocean, the types of seabirds flying overhead and the presence of whales and seals. They also carried with them an impressive array of animal-based modes of transport for when they landed – live horses in some cases, and Viking skates, skis, and sledges made from the foot bones of horses, cows, and elk for frozen terrain.  And once on land, with their formidable single-grip shields, swords, spears, and axes, the Viking raider’s goal was to grab as much valuable booty as possible before an effective defense could be raised.  Thus their hit-and-run tactics presaged our American amphibious assault procedures by over eight hundred years.

Bioprospecting Into the Ocean Deep: Looking For Marine-Derived Medicines, Skin Creams, and Along the Way a Sunburn Protection Pill!

Therapies of the future are now taking on an interesting turn – the ocean is now the most promising frontier for tackling human diseases as a natural source for developing new pharmaceutical drugs. In addition to the fact that the ocean covers 74% of the planet’s surface – it supports the greatest diversity of life on Earth – many of them adapted to extreme environments of pitch black darkness and pressure levels that would kill a human being. And it turns out that marine invertebrates (animals without backbones) produce more antibiotic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory substances than any group of organisms on land. Many of them have evolved an arsenal of unique chemical compounds that help them survive in their ocean environment. Below are a few examples of marine organisms doing just that – enhancing our understanding of basic biochemical and physiological processes.

ALGAE – is being looked at for developing anti-inflammatory and anti-neurodegenerative compounds to treat HIV, Arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease. SEAWEED (Marine Algae) have various levels of antioxidants which can be isolated and used as food supplements or as part of medical treatments for several conditions including coronary heart disease and cancer. A chemically derived compound known as Kainic acid taken from red algae off the coast of Japan and Taiwan is now being used as an anti-worming agent and being looked at to treat Epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. It is also being used as a diagnostic chemical to investigate Huntington’s disease. Sea algae is also being used to create skin creams that promise to boost moisture levels and firm and protect against premature aging i.e. red marine algae, brown algae, and green algae as seen in many beauty product collections.

CONE SNAILS – produce a venom (neurotoxins) that paralyze and kill prey. A chemically- derived medication named “Prialt” is now being used as a powerful pain-killer in AIDS and cancer patients. It is 1000 times more potent than morphine.

CORAL REEFS – One species called ‘Sea whips’ produces substances called ‘Pseudopterosins” that reduce swelling and skin irritation and accelerate wound healing. Two other species of coral that already supply cancer medicine are the Coral ‘Sarcodictyon roseum’ found at a depth of 100 meters in the Mediterranean and the shallow-water ‘Eleutherobia’ species found in western Australia. Another species of coral found near the Bahamas has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties which is now in use in a commercial skin-care product to defeat allergic responses in the skin. And Kings College London is in the process of developing a tablet to prevent sunburn derived from the coral reef’s own chemical compound which they plan to market in two years time.

HORSEHOE CRABS – Its blood is used to test intravenous drugs and implants/prosthetics for endotoxins – byproducts of bacterial contamination.

SEA SPONGES – The first marine-derived cancer drug ever developed – now known as “Cytosar-U” and used to treat leukemia and lymphoma – was acquired from a species of Caribbean sponges. Another sponge species currently being looked at produces an anti-inflammatory chemical, “Topsentin” which may be helpful in treating diseases like arthritis – a Pacific sponge now being tested may provide potential treatment for asthmatics – and another has antiviral properties which is already being used in the AZT treatment of Aids patients.

SEA URCHINS – provide models for understanding human biology – they are specifically used to demonstrate fertilization and embryo development.

TOADFISH – Blessed with the fastest twitching muscles in the vertebrate world, the toadfish can vibrate its swim bladder muscle an astounding 200 times per second – scientists are hoping to find medicines that will help to treat human muscles of all kinds i.e. heart disease and nerve regeneration.

TUNICATES/SEA SQUIRTS – One tunicate species that lives out in the West Indies coral reefs produces a chemical “Ecteinascidin” which is now being tested in humans for treatment of breast and ovarian cancers and other solid tumors.

Time will only tell whether or not other sea creatures such as sharks, jellyfish, squids, octopuses and cuttlefishes will be the pharmaceutical-sponsored remedies of the future in today’s scientifically-monitored, FDA-approved world.

Do You Know Your U.S. Presidential Eco Trivia?

DO YOU KNOW YOUR U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ECO TRIVIA?

1-Which U.S. President planted the First vegetable garden and ornamental trees on the White House Lawn?
2-Which U.S. President created 150 National Forests, 5 National Parks, 18 National Monuments and the conservation of 230 million acres of U.S. soil?
3-Which U.S. President created the First American ornamental landscaped garden, the First ‘Regimental Gardens’ and the First American stercorary – a covered dung depository where manure could be stored, aged, and mixed?
4-Which U.S. President established the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the National Academy of Sciences, and the protection of Yosemite Valley in California?
5-Which U.S. President created a natural resource conservation program that utilized thousands of unemployed young men to restore and develop rural lands owned by Federal, state, and local governments?
6-Which U.S. President signed the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?
7-Which U.S. President signed the Soil and Water Conservation Act, the Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act, the Antarctic Conservation Act, the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and created the U.S. Department of Energy?
8-Which U.S. President saved the Australian koala bear from extinction by signing an order prohibiting the importation of koala furs?
9-Which U.S. President and agronomist campaigned for sugar maple orchards to be planted by farmers across the country in order to rid America’s dependence on British West Indies sugarcane?
10-Which U.S. President was the most respected farmer of his day – the First President of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, the First American to espouse “the symmetry of nature-the interrelationship between earth and mankind” – and the forgotten Father of American Environmentalism?

Answers:
1- John Adams, 2nd U.S. President (1797-1801)
2- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President (1901-1909)
3- George Washington, 1st U.S. President (1789-1796)
4- Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President (1860-1865)
5- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President (1933-1945)
6- Richard Nixon, 37th U.S. President (1969-1974)
7- Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President (1977-1981)
8- Herbert Hoover, 31st President (1929-1933)
9- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President (1801-1809)
10- James Madison, 4th President (1809-1817)

Eco-Archaeology Meets Disaster Archaeology – The New Frontier!

Move over Indiana Jones! Once upon a time archaeology was the favorite sport of empire builders like Napolean and over-achieving strongmen and treasure hunters like Belzoni and Heinrich Schliemann – but beginning in the 1960’s – the systematic study of ancient peoples and their culture took an interesting societal turn – from digging up ancient gravesites, tools, and pottery – to examining ancient floral and fauna samples and how civilizations like the Maya of Central America and the Rapa Nui of Easter Island related to their environments.

Today, a new branch of archaeology has emerged – the study of archaeodisasters – the risk assessment of past catastrophic events upon human ecosystems – the attempt to reconstruct vanished landscapes and societies from sudden and extremely violent events – – from man-made disruptions such as pollutant contamination to natural hazards such as earthquakes, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions. The cultural implications are many. But what of our new breed of disaster archaeologists? Where will they come from? What will they look like? For in order to better protect our own civilization, they will need to address the current political and technological impact on our natural environment as well.