McAllister helped put together the ill-fated reef project with the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He helped raise several thousand dollars (the county also chipped in), organized hundreds of volunteers with boats and barges, and got tires from Goodyear.
Goodyear also donated equipment to bind and compress the tires, and the Goodyear blimp even dropped a gold-painted tire into the ocean in a ceremonial start to the project.
The tire company issued a press release at the time that proclaimed the reef would “provide a haven for fish and other aquatic species,” and noted the “excellent properties of scrap tires as reef material.”
And ocean bottom scouring pads, as it turned out.
(h/t reader Linda R.)
The link is giving a 404 error.
here’s another link to the same story.
w3.msnbc.msn.com/id/17189132/
I know that this is somewhat OT, but still on the environmental beat…
People are still voting on the cached version of the Suzuki poll and its now over 18,000.
Its a polltergeist. Dead but still causing havoc.
It just gets more embarassing for Suzuki…
Can Canada meet its Kyoto target?
Yes, and we can do it through domestic reductions. 1912 (9.00%)
Yes, but we’ll have to buy some international credits to do it. 374 (1.76%)
No, but we should still try. 774 (3.64%)
No, so we shouldn’t bother trying. 18186 (85.60%)
Total Replies : 21246
This is what happens when you mess with something you don’t quite understand.
Global warmers, take note.
All I get on the link to the article is the NY Times subscription & delivery page.
Pat
can we talk about canada?
is sask?
in usa?
Sure, George. Say what you want to say! I’m listening.
try this one.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/science/070216/g021602A.html
they could toss the concrete weighted tires in here.
http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/kampanye/cemar/industri/060718_lbmud-gasleak_pp/
For another illustration what happened when the people new better than the natural flow of things check this out http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speeches/index.html speech entitled Fear, Complexity, & Environmental Management in the 21st Century. It is rather long with a lot of illustrations, also a good read on the subject.
So far as the speech shows it is really counterproductive to be helpful busy body.
Instead of tires, next time, sink David Suzuki’s bus, marine life will love it!
they might be useful in erosion abatement if set up properly but I doub that too. in any event
who the ^%$## thought RUBBER that flexes and provides little to grip on to would be suitable as ‘habitat’?????
coral ?
nope.
aquatic plants?
nope.
fish nurseries?
nope.
zebra mussels?
clang clang clang !!!! woooo woooo woooo !!!!
the only thing good for artifical reefs are the sunken ships and big heavy gritty things like that.
rubber is too close to water in density, thats partly why they are drifting about, not heavy enough.
I think it was an clever excuse and opportunity for the tire company to gain brownie points when the knew bloody well it wouldnt work.
What a fantastic way to pollute an ocean. Rubber breaks down–where does all that bi-product go? We cannot store tires in piles on land because of the fire hazard and the toxic runoff–but the ocean life is supposed to benefit? The ignorance of our ‘experts’ knows no bounds.
“I think it was an clever excuse and opportunity for the tire company to gain brownie points when the knew bloody well it wouldnt work.”
That’s it, blame the “evil” corporation and completely ignore the involvement of the environmentalists and ACoE…
The proceeds of going forward with an unproven theort. It would have been easy enough to simulate what the rubber would do in a controlled reef model experiment…but they went ahead…my guess is coral polyps have some aversion to the chemical compounds in the rubber…easy enough to confirm before hand.
I wonder if the rubber company will be as quick to clean up as they were to donate the cast off tires?
Interesting, as a diver, I know you can toss just about anything into the ocean and it’ll start sprouting life.
I guess just not rubber.
Are they going to rrspir the reef GREENPEACE wrecked two years ago?
I have seen tire “reefs” work all right in lakes to create fish habitat. The problem was probably the lightness of the tires combined with tide action, etc., in the ocean.
Heh.
Almost sounds like something you’d read in The Onion
mhb23re
[at gmail d0t calm]
Suzuki,s poll?
3060 votes/14.40% agree to some kind of action
18186 votes/85.60% say no don’t bother
Doesn’t Dr do up your Fly realize that those poll results are just the ‘nature of things’
Somebody please send that boy a bill for running that diesel powered penismobile across Canada when a pedal bike should have done.