Articles by Andrew Sharpless

Chlorine plant goes mercury free

Now that cell phones are choking hazards and television is high def, it's hard to believe some chlorine plants are still using mercury-cell technology developed back in 1894. The good news is that in the last 48 hours, one of these technological dinosaurs has agreed to enter the 21st century. Each plant that uses this technology emits hundreds of pounds of mercury pollution to our environment every year. So it is cause to celebrate when another one of these dinosaurs agrees to go mercury free.

Tuna populations are in decline

Bluefin tuna have a lot of admirers. Marine biologists are intrigued by their size and speed, they're a noteworthy source of revenue for many fishermen, and many sushi lovers are willing to spend a little more for their favorite tuna roll. In fact, this fish is so important to so many, that it warrants a five-day meeting of the world's five biggest tuna fisheries -- accounting for 77 countries and regions.

Animals on diet and exercise regime

The number one new year's resolution for Americans is to lose weight, which is no surprise considering that 60 million of us are obese. But 16 days into this year, chances are many of us have already traded in our granola for Krispy Kremes or asked for our movie popcorn with extra butter.

Such is not the case at Sea World, where walruses, dogs, manatees, and pigs are counting calories and doing crunches. See for yourself.

Of course, the best weight-loss regimen would be living in the wild oceans. But that might be difficult for the dogs and the pigs.

UN Declares ’07 Year of the Dolphin

Happy New Year! As you may have heard, the Chinese have confirmed 2007 as the Year of the Pig and Newsweek has coined it the Year of the Widget. But my personal favorite designation comes from the United Nations, which has declared 2007 the Year of the Dolphin.

We've got our work cut out for us over at Oceana to do justice to this special year. In 2006, we stopped Congress from weakening the Marine Mammal Protection Act, thanks to a little help from our friends on the right. Some members of Congress tried to eliminate the "Dolphin Deadline," a key provision of the Act that sets the timeline to reduce the death and injury of marine mammals by commercial fishing operations to insignificant levels. Hopefully, this year we'll be able to do even more to protect the dolphins.