Its easy to see why the fishing industry is bullish on Tuna farming. Imagine the prospects of farming this exquisitely revered fruits de mer. One can easily expand the demand for this exquisite culinary fish without compromising on what is already a difficult and collapsing wild population stock, if the method could be perfected. Research after a recent article about break-through progress as written on Times Magazine as an highly important innovation of 2009 maybe at this point, rather panglossian.

The idea of Tuna Aquaculture is not new. Like chickens or any commonly available livestock for meat, its is the semblance of the progression of  hunter-gatherer methods towards an industrial farming method. However, it is because farming tuna is not so much like rearing chicken and more akin to taming bisons for meat that has, till this day made Tuna farming still more elusive commercial practice unlike other species like Salmon and Cod. That while a tuna, may need as long as 12 years to reach sexual maturity, that they are voracious eaters, require plenty of space and still wild in relation to human civilization has not deterred the most dedicated of breeders, notably the Kinki University of Japan, CleanSeas Tuna Ltd Australia and Hawaii Ocean Technology.

Previous Tuna farming, cannot be considered as true aquaculture because its not a closed cycle in which Tunas were bred and grown from brood stocks, rather Fisherman herded wild Tuna into pens and fed them an artificial diet to rapidly increase their size and fat content. This has lead to an even greater demand of wild Tuna and have brought Mediterranean stocks of wild bluefin Tuna dangerously to the brink of collapse, this was highlighted 7 years ago in a 2002 - European WWF report.

Today, these companies are testing methods to increase the percentage of successful Tuna breeding to new heights by re-applying previous methods of growing stock as land based animals, such as spearing timed hormone injections to artificially boost sexual maturity and the development of more cost-effective feeding solutions. Feed made less of raw fish material, which are mainly made out of fishing out smaller fish species on which poor developed nations require and more out of vegetable material, such as soy beans, gluten and wheat.

That however, against the backdrop of a demanding new market of this profitable status rendering food item is merely inheriting the same problems that the chicken and bovine industry is going through. Namely land and coastal pollution through the negligent discharge of sewage and fecal matter and the increasing strain on agricultural land, fresh water and fossil fuels to supply the demand for luxury seafood.

An article on the Japanese Daily Yomiuri closes with a caution and advise to eat less ‘toro’, the prized fatty cut. “To keep enjoying ‘toro,’ we must exercise self-control,” it said.

The Cap and Trade scheme is based on the rhetoric that we should ‘put a price on carbon’ and that governments do their duty of reducing the allotted permits given to industries towards a goal of reducing emissions to a theoretical sustainable limit of 350ppm. That polluters will innovate to reduce their emissions through a vast global trading scheme that allows polluters who cannot meet their caps purchase it through innovators and to pay off developing nations to ‘mitigate’ and ‘adapt’ to climate change.

It’s a scheme that, while making regulatory sense, is filled with loopholes that allows many industrials lobbyists and financiers to manoeuvre their existing corporations without vastly restructuring their business model. After all, paying off others is just another Business As Usual model.

The UN has the proposed CDM, while several other organizations have proposed various standards for carbon trading, such as the CER, VER, CCX, WWF gold standard. While the value of such markets can be an incentives for many companies to find ways to reduce carbon emissions and generate credits, and that developing nations may benefit,  there is little certainty that ‘polluter pays’ principles will be carry fully to the hilt of the law, especially among the most those with political clout. Meanwhile, all sorts of ponzi schemes will certainly pass through without being scrutinized, or slip by through creative technicality.

Far from the mere promise of acting diligently, let us recall the lack of action since the Kyoto Protocol and the current dithering at the COP15. we call on world leaders not only to act firmly upon the rule of environmental law, but also offer stronger incentives to spur genuine sustainable efforts.

Annie Leonard has managed to present the situation in an engaging manner, watch The Story of Cap N Trade

Today on RT news, from the University of Western Australia, Professor Cliff Olier of the School of Earth and Geographical sciences, represented a part of the scientific community that counters much of the ‘alarmists’ claims about climate change. In particular, rising sea levels due to ice cape and glacial melt. The professor has made himself known as an opposing voice against this theory since the 80s.

Then while it may be reportable news for us, spotting a 100 ice bergs near the waters of New Zealand and Australia may after all, not constitute as climate change related news, perhaps we are simply awed by mother nature cyclical work. If you’re driven by facts and like to challenge your opinions, perhaps you should pay heed to contradictory science made available at the COP15, the next 2 days (Dec 9, Dec 10th).

Personally, I wouldn’t debunk the accumulated facts or sentiments of the times. We do not need scientist further to explain to us the visible fact that man consumes and pollutes the environment all around him, that we’ve managed since the age of industralization to practically cover the globe, and we have always tightly contested for resources. That the formation of oil requires thousands of years and we go through that stuff at an irreplaceable rate. I could go on for many more examples of man ruining rather than respecting his environment, for me there is no doubt about the industrious amounts of CO2 we put into the atmosphere through decades of civilization, but whether man-made CO2 pumping the earth’s temperature up by 2C will cause a catastrophic change to the planet in the near future is a science you’ll have to weigh in.

While the world watches and waits for their leaders deal their way towards a working agreement on the future of the environment. Denmark has the opportunity to present the history and development of its own achievements in the fields of clean tech and environmental stewardship.

Denmark has always came across to me as a modern civilized society who by and large, has a profound respect of nature and understand the complexities of our relationship towards it. According to polls, Danes live in one of the top ten happiest places in the world. This is the same place that has one of the best cycling infrastructure, social service and of course, cleanest air.

So how does Denmark govern its Marine environmental protection? An online search reveals the existence of The Helsinski Commission. Which governs the national geographical boundaries of the Baltic Sea region.  A most impressive organization.

Take note of some of its highlighted achievements over 30 years.

• Lower discharges of organic pollutants and nutrients from point-sources.
• A 20-25% overall reduction in the emissions of oxygen-consuming substances (BOD) from the 132 originally identified hot spots since the early 1990s, with about 50 hot spots deleted from the list.
• Fewer beaches closed for bathing, thanks to improvements in the treatment of industrial and municipal wastewater.
• Significant reductions in atmospheric nitrogen deposition.
• Dramatic reductions in emissions of organo-halogen compounds such as toxic dioxins and furans.
• National regulations banning hazardous substances like PCB and DDT.
• Stricter controls on industry (permits are now compulsory for industrial emissions).
• Improved joint monitoring of the state of the marine environment.
• The recovery of seal and white-tailed eagle populations.
• Better special legislation to prevent the pollution of the Baltic Sea by shipping, developed together with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
• Measures to eliminate all illegal discharges by ships into the Baltic Sea.
• A major international plan to combat marine pollution, with active co-operation involving all the Contracting Parties through HELCOM.

Where will China’s  marine environment be in 30 years? With its current the scale of pollution so much higher and its socio/political will much to be accounted for. Will Chinese citizens take up the mantle beyond a NIMBY protest of incinerators? Now that President Obama has signaled his intention to visit the Copenhagen when the summit’s end draws near, will the Chinese not pledge more than ‘a notable margin’?

Five NGO’s were invited by the American Chamber of Commerce to present their programs and how staff can be involved in the programs as volunteers. Marinedream has 2 staff programs:

1. Beach Cleanups; To protect our rivers and oceans from pollutants we organize every year a beach cleanup. Companies can join these cleanups for RMB 75 per person. For each person that attends the beach cleanup; a student volunteers will join.

2. Climate Change ambassadors: Initiatives by employees to reduce their carbon footprint in the office are awarded by the company to offset the same amount by planting real trees in Inner Mongolia.

In total 40 different companies attended this meeting.