- checking login information
Dams emit dangerous methane gas.
- signatures:
- signature goal: 1,000
- Target: EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, U.S. Senate. (links below)
- Sponsored by: D.Baker
Dam building is now being sold and packaged to the public as "green" and sustainable energy that does not increase CO2 emissions or global warming but the truth is that dam reservoirs are the highest source of human caused methane gas emissions on earth, a title once held by livestock.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is 25-75 times more powerful than CO2 in causing global warming climate change. Methane is produced underneath dam reservoir waters as forests, vegetation and soils that have been flooded and killed by the dam decay.
Some dam reservoirs, such as the dam reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam in China are hundreds of miles long. (this is roughly the length of the state of Michigan in the United States).
Because of this misrepresentation of dams being "emissions free" and "environmentally friendly" many countries and companies are now using dams as part of carbon trading schemes in newly introduced carbon Cap & Trade systems in Europe and elsewhere.
http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/28777386/
This is fueling a global dam building frenzy which is going on right now by China, India, Brazil, multiple countries in Africa and Southeast Asia and almost every other country on earth. This will likely lead to a worldwide environmental catastrophe involving the destruction of many river and coastal eco-systems and fisheries which feed 100's of millions of people worldwide.
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2119
http://e360.yale.edu/content/department.msp?id=15
River damming is one of the greatest ecological catastrophes the world has ever known...some of the destructive consequences of dams includes:
1. Entire river valley eco-systems from their source point in mountains and glaciers to their end point in seas, lakes and oceans are destroyed by dams. The flooding of river valleys behind dams and the drying up of rivers in front of dams are the cause of this destruction.....many rivers worldwide no longer reach the sea but end as dry riverbeds because of dams and water diversions for irrigation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/rivers-a-drying-shame-469598.html
2. River mouth eco-systems/deltas, where dammed rivers once flowed freely into oceans, seas and lakes, are also disrupted/destroyed by dams, because dams block the flow of cool river water out into the ocean......life forms damaged by this blockage include corals and other coastal marine life/eco-systems which have depended on uninterrupted cool river water flows into oceans for millions of years to regulate coastal ocean water temperatures.
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3959
3. Some of the largest inland seas and lakes in the world along with their enormous fish stocks have been completely dried up and destroyed by dams and water diversion for irrigation. Some of these lakes and seas include the Aral Sea in Russia (destroyed by dams and irrigation diversions to grow cotton in the desert) , Lake Chad in sub-saharan Africa, and the Salton Sea in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea
4. In tropical and subtropical countries stagnation of water behind dams in reservoirs and stagnation of river water in front of dams is prime breeding ground for water parasites/worms as well as mosquitoes which cause malaria and yellow fever which sicken and kill people. This has led to a worldwide rise in malaria to 500,000,000 cases per year and 1,000,000-2,000,000 deaths (90% of those deaths are in children).....the incidence of malaria/yellow fever and water born parasites around dams and dammed rivers and poorly drained cities is 6 times higher than in non-dammed areas.
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/8/1/21
5. After dams are built many people migrate or travel to dammed areas to fish, bath and drink in the stagnant or semi-stagnant/polluted reservoir water behind dams or are forced to utilize stagnant river water in front of dams to drink from or bath. It is likely that the deaths and sickness from these polluted/stagnant waters far outweighs any gains from damming. Further studies should be done to examine this phenomenon in countries which are heavily plagued by malaria, yellow fever and water born parasites, almost certainly these studies will show higher disease rates in tropical countries which have heavily dammed their rivers and have poor water drainage and sewage systems around their cities which increases rates of stagnant water and mosquitoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akosombo_Dam#Disease
6. Extinction and depopulation of innumerable fish species that must have access to the upper reaches of rivers to spawn (lay eggs) and receive biological cues from river flows, flooding and temperature to reproduce/spawn. All these breeding instincts and migrations are disrupted or stopped completely by dams....the fish that breed in this fashion are called anadromous, diadromous and catadromous.....salmon, shad, herring, striped bass, sturgeon, atlantic whitefish, and eels are examples of the many types of fish in this species group.....many of these fish species which were once some of the most abundant freshwater fish species on earth, and are now extinct or have been driven to the brink of extinction because of dams. On one small 70 mile long river in Washington State called the Elwha River the annual salmon run was reduced from 400,000 to 4000 because of the building of a few medium sized dams that stopped fish from swimming upstream to lay eggs, multiply this figure of going from 400,000 to 4000 salmon by thousands of dammed rivers in the U.S. and worldwide and you can begin to understand the worlwide reductions in fish populations, not only in rivers but also coastal ocean waters where those fish return after laying eggs.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709204836.htm
7. Dams block the transport of soil sediment flows from upstream which would normally make riverside land fertile when floods disperse upstream sediments onto downstream riverbanks. This flooding and soil sediment dispersal is what makes "river floodplain farming" and livestock grazing possible. In many parts of the world river floodplain farming is still practiced. Dams block these sediments and flood cycles and destroy this way of life.
(read about Gibe 3 dam project on the Omo River in Ethiopia which will displace hundreds of thousands of flood plain farmers, herders and fisherman and dry up ancient Lake Turkana, one of the oldest and largest salt water lakes in the world, on which 300,000 people depend for fishing. Lake Turkana also has one of the largest remaining crocodile, hippo and giant Nile perch populations in the world).
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/1476
8. River valley flooding from dams has destroyed/drowned millions of acres of tropical and temperate forest and riverside farmland over the last 50 years and displaced 10's of millions of people worldwide.....most of them without compensation (most of these people were/are poor fisherman, farmers and indigenous people who now live in urban ghettos around the world). When these drowned forests/farmlands decay they release millions of tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which is 25-75 times more powerful than CO2 in causing global warming/climate change. Rotting trees, vegetation, farmland and soil beneath dam reservoir waters are now believed to be the largest human caused source of methane gas release, a title once held by livestock farming.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0519b3blog0519.html?&wired
9. Building of mega-dams in China, in particular the enormous Zipinpu Dam, built on a major earthquake fault line in Sichuan Province in southwest China, is now suspected to have caused the massive 7.9 earthquake in May of 2008 that killed 70,000 people. Chinese and other scientists warned the Chinese government of the risk of building such a large dam on a major earthquake faultline, yet the Chinese government chose to disregard the warning. The astronomical weight of the millions or billions of tons of water flooding into the massive Zigpingpu dam reservoir and pressing down upon the surface of the earth after the dam was completed, appears to have been the culprit.....the dam has now been emptied and is awaiting repairs from earthquake damage.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487967,00.html
10. The completion of the "Three Gorges Dam" on the Yangtze River in China has created a 410 mile long reservoir behind the dam (more than twice as long as the width of the Korean Penninsula), and has flooded and destroyed forests/farmlands/ancient villages and displaced over a million people, with another 4 million scheduled to be relocated/displaced by 2020. According to various press reports, many of these people will most likely receive very little, if any, adequate compensation for their dislocation. Riverside erosion in front of and behind the Three Gorges dam has become catastrophic and will take millions, if not billions of dollars to repair and maintain. China, India and Brazil are now planning to build 100's of more mega-dams in the coming months and years.....not only in China and India, but worldwide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam
11. Acceleration of dam removal in the United States can counter some of the river/ocean eco-system damage that will be caused worldwide by international dam and mega-dam building. Ongoing dam removal in the United States, if successful, will allow the recovery of North American fish stocks/populations and may allow the U.S. to become, once again, a leading producer, exporter and consumer of fish and fish products if we manage our fish resources in a responsible and sustainable fashion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_removal
12. China has already dammed the upper reaches of the Mekong River multiple times and plans to build an additional 12 mega-dams despite protests from many of the 60 million farmers, fisherman, governments and others downstream that have seen fish stocks and river water levels plummet drastically, to the point of stopping boat navigation on the river. The Mekong River is one of the largest tropical rivers in the world, second only to the Amazon in species diversity. After originating in China on the Tibetan Plateau the Mekong continues south through the countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar where millions of people live on it's banks and gain sustenance from the Mekong's fish, fresh water and fertile riverside land. The Mekong eventually empties out into the South China Sea. Many biologists believe that these river dams and other Mekong River dam projects with their accompanying river eco-system destruction will lead to the extinction of the Mekong River dolphin, one of the rarest species in the world. River dolphins on the Indus River in Pakistan are also threatened by upstream mega-dams.
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/2257
13.Mega-dam building upstream in India, Nepal and Bhutan will also reduce downstream water levels severely in the country of Bangladesh, affecting millions.
http://thedawn.com.pk/2009/12/21/tipaimukh-dam-india-strangulating-bangladesh/
14. China is now debating, or planning to finance, a 22 dam project in the country of Turkey on the headwaters of the Tigris River despite the refusal of most western nations and banks to finance the project because of disregard by Turkey of environmental, cultural and Kurdish human rights issues. The Illisu Dam Project will further reduce water flows to the country of Iraq, which is already suffering from a water crisis and dropping river water levels from previous upstream damming on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Turkey, Syria and Iran. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are also heavily polluted from lack of adequate sewage and water treatment facilities and years of neglect under the rule of Saddam Hussein. These upstream dams will also sabotage ongoing attempts to restore one of the largest marshes in the world in southern Iraq which is fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and was drained by Saddam Hussein to drive out marsh Arabs who opposed his rule.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4177852.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il%C4%B1su_Dam
15. The Kurdish people of southeast Turkey will be most affected by the Illisu Dam Project, and coincidentally, The Turkish Constitutional Court recently banned the Turkish Kurd's political party the DTP. The 37 members of the DTP Party were the only representation for an estimated 14-20 million Kurds in Turkey who make up 20% of Turkey's population. The Turkish Kurds have been severely oppressed by the Turkish government and the Ilisu Dam project will displace up to 55,000 Kurds in southeast Turkey and destroy/drown hundreds of Kurdish villages despite protest from the recently banned Kurds.
http://www.banktrack.org/show/dodgydeals/ilisu_dam
16. Many nations and corporations from around the world are now investing in Iraqi oil, natural gas, infrastructure and people. Dam building upstream by Turkey, will seriously sabatoge these efforts and will most likely create significant hostility against the government of Turkey by these nations. Political unrest will likely increase in Iraq because of water shortages for agriculture and drinking. Fish stocks in the Tigris River will be significantly reduced or destroyed by these dams. These fish stocks are already significantly reduced by previous upstream dam building by Turkey, Iran and Syria....these fish are a vital food source for the Iraqi people.
http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/FI-CP_IQ/en
17. Dammed rivers can no longer be cleansed of mining waste, toxic street/chemical runoff, sewage, pesticides, fertilizers, eroded soil and trash etc. because all these pollutants build up behind dams and can no longer efficiently flow out into the larger oceans to disperse and degrade. Many dams have toxic river bottom sludge piled up behind them caused by years of dumping upriver waste from mining, farming, sewage and industry. Removing these dams, without dredging the toxic sludge away, could kill almost all river/bay/delta and ocean coastal life downstream.
http://wjz.com/local/Susquehanna.River.Conowingo.2.418518.html
18. The beauty of rivers and their riverbank plant and wildlife communities are destroyed by damming.....riverbank erosion increases from wildly fluctuating water levels caused by dams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_with_the_Three_Gorges_Dam
19. The ability to canoe, kayak, boat and camp on entire river systems from source to drainage point in oceans/lakes is lost when dams are built.....only "sections" between dams can be navigated without portage. Dams are dangerous to people who fish, swim and boat on rivers.....many children, adults and animals have drowned trapped behind dams.
http://www.homepoolsafety.com.au/Content_Common/pg-Research-Drowning-Statistics.seo
20. Modern human beings and our ancient ancestors have evolved/lived/loved on rivers and their eco-systems around the world for hundreds of thousands of years. Depending on the fish and fresh water provided for sustenance. Killing river/ocean ecosystems through damming is like cutting off blood to our own hearts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4269299.stm
The damage that has been done by dam building is great and will increase as dams and mega-dams continue to be built worldwide.
We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of the author of this petition and request increased national efforts in the United States to cease dam building and accelerate dam removal, not only here but also worldwide, to save river and coastal eco-systems and fisheries. We do not believe that dam building is a useful tool in carbon Cap & Trade systems worldwide because of the tremendous environmental and human damage that dams do.E-mail contacts for U.S, senators here: http://www.theorator.com/senate.htmlExplore the below links for further info on this subject:
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/336
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2119
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/8/1/21
http://www.truthout.org/article/death-worlds-rivers
http://www.americanrivers.org/
http://www.internationalrivers.org/
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/dam_age/
http://www.savethemekong.org/
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/china/three-gorges-dam
Loading...