What's on Kushibo's iPod: miscellaneous Newshour pieces

All right, this is what's left for now, the stuff that doesn't fit into the economic, military, and political categories. At least not exactly. A lot of environmental stuff and education-related stories (for which I should make their own category in the future).

The first one, about a touching documentary on North Korean refugees and how they escape, is worth looking at as a preview to the actual documentary, which is a must-see.

• 'Kimjongilia' Film Highlights Harrowing Stories of Escape From North Korea

• Classroom Culprits? Invasive Crayfish Threaten Western Waterways

• Laura Bush, Melinda Gates, CARE President on Women's Issues, U.S. Foreign Aid

• Transportation Secretary: Electronic Issue Not Cause of Toyota Recall Woes

• Chicagoland Students See Success Hitting the Gym, Then Hitting the Books

• In California, a Rescue Mission for 'Iconic' Franciscan Manzanita Plant

• Big Sky Country Struggles With Yellowstone Oil Spill Aftermath

• Oil Spill Probe Reveals Need to Balance Precautions, Profits

• After Haiti Quake, Using Science to Build Sturdier Buildings

• Robert MacNeil on Jim Lehrer's 'Stealth' Exit

• The Films Are Alive With the Art of Foley

• Photographer Alec Soth on a Life of Approaching Strangers

• New York Times' Brantley Previews Upcoming Theater Season

• Weekly Poem: 'The Winter's Wife'

• Abigail Washburn Uses Banjo as Tool for Diplomacy

Is there an Exxon-Valdez on the other side of the Yellow Sea?

A former University of Alaska expert on marine conservation is warning that China's recent oil spill in the coastal city of Dalian, which is only a hop across the Yellow Sea from the fishing grounds and coastal areas of the Korean Peninsula, may actual be dozens of times larger than China is letting on.

From AP, via the Washington Post:

China's government has said 1,500 tons (461,790 gallons) of oil spilled after a pipeline exploded two weeks ago near the northeastern city of Dalian, sending 100-foot- (30-meter-) high flames raging for hours near one of the country's key strategic oil reserves. Such public estimates stopped within a few days of the spill.

But Rick Steiner, a former University of Alaska marine conservation specialist, estimated 60,000 tons (18.47 million gallons) to 90,000 tons (27.70 million gallons) of oil actually spilled into the Yellow Sea.

"It's enormous. That's at least as large as the official estimate of the Exxon Valdez disaster" in Alaska, he told The Associated Press. The size of the offshore area affected by the spill is likely more than 400 square miles (1,000 square kilometers), he added.

That's a thousand square kilometers in a shallow sea (an average depth of 44 meters and a maximum depth of 152 meters) that itself is only 338,000 km in size. Who knows if that slick will eventually hit the South Korean EEZ with its important fishing grounds? If North Korean landmines in wooden cases can get washed out to the Yellow Sea and then float to South Korean islands, why not tar balls?

above: In 2004, fifteen years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Dr Rick Steiner shows how oil is still present at Rua Cove in Alaska.

Though Dr Steiner is obviously an activist working with Greenpeace and has been a vocal critic of BP for progressive institutions, the foundation of his claims rings true:

Steiner said his estimates came from the fact the oil storage tank that was destroyed had a capacity of about 90,000 tons (27.70 million gallons) and reportedly had just been filled by the tanker.

He said his lower estimate of 60,000 tons (18.47 million gallons) came from the rate of oil recovery by thousands of fishing boats dispatched for the cleanup.

"They've already collected more oil than the official estimate of the spill size," he told The Associated Press.

He praised the makeshift cleanup efforts: "Very low-tech. The thing is that it worked."

But he said the thousands of cleanup workers face possible health concerns after being told to help out, receiving no protective gear and being coated in crude.

If it is even close to accurate, this report is disturbing and alarming, but wholly unsurprising. China has a history of strenuously trying to keep unpleasant things under wraps (including previous major environmental disasters), even when the deliberate failure to disclose important information to the public leads to health risks, injury, and even death.

China has already tried to remove the spotlight from this nasty incident, with the mayor of Dalian declaring victory over the oil spill. I guess they had a bunch of made-in-China "Mission Accomplished" banners left over, and they had to use them for something.

Still cleaning up in Taean

John Glionna of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at T'aean County in South Ch'ungch'ŏng Province, site of the worst oil spill in South Korean history, and suggests it provides a cautionary tale for communities along the Gulf of Mexico who are trying to rebuild after the massive BP oil leak:

The collision dumped 11,000 tons of crude oil — a third of the amount in the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and a mere fraction of what the broken BP rig has spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill spread tar across 120 miles of pristine tourist beaches and fouled a national maritime park, coating seabirds, defiling the local sea catch and ruining 1,000 saltwater farms cultivating oysters, abalone and seaweed.

Seven thousand miles from the Gulf of Mexico's shores, this tiny town 90 miles southwest of Seoul provides a possible scenario for fishermen and others along the coasts of states such as Alabama and Louisiana who are wondering what the future holds.

Two and a half years after the accident, Taean is a ghost town. Tourism has dropped 86% and has just begun to bounce back. As scientists predict the ecosystem will take at least 20 years to heal, livelihoods that took generations to develop have been cut short. Today, only 30% of the area's nearly 5,000 fishermen are back at work. Many others are scrambling for government loans to see them through the crisis.

Even though BP has already promised a $20-billion compensation package for the gulf, grim-faced Taean residents offer some solemn advice: Take nothing for granted.

Along the same theme, PBS's "Newshour" had a piece on the challenges facing the rehabilitation efforts in Louisiana and other Gulf states, with a heavy focus on the aftermath up in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez spill.

At any rate, the severity, regularity, and seeming inevitability of such accidents really makes me wonder why we take it for granted that oil-based fuel is such a necessity and make so little effort to effect a change in that status quo.