During a visit to a beach in Saint-Michel-en-Greve, Brittany, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced that the French government will pay to have the beaches of France cleaned from toxic seaweed.

“The state will assume all of its responsibilities and will take charge of the clean-up of the worst affected beaches, where there could be a public health risk,” he said.

Local communities in Brittany have long been urging the government to do something about the toxic green algae that has been flourishing on Brittany beaches for years.

Last month, a rider was rendered unconscious on the Saint-Michel-en-Greve beach and his horse died after slipping on the algae, apparently after inhaling the toxic gas hydrogen sulphide released by the rotting weed. Investigations carried out by France’s National Institute for Environmental Technology and Hazards (Ineris) showed a potentially lethal concentration of the gas on parts of the beach. Some stretches had a concentration of 1,000 hydrogen sulphide parts per million; a concentration which can be deadly in just a few minutes. Ineris recommends providing all cleaning workers with gas detectors and ban the public from the beach until its deemed safe.

The green seaweed thrives when the levels of nitrate is high, which means that excess field fertilizers and manure from local livestock flushed into the ocean by French farmers creates an ideal environment for the algae.

The algae problem is not peculiar to France; the same type of green algae is also turning up along the UK coast line, especially in Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex, and on the Isle of Wight. According to the UK Environment Agency, the algae are a threat to wildlife along the coast and tighter controls on farming fertiliser and sewage plants will be required to starve the algae of nutrients.

Yesterday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy announced that France backs Monaco’s call for an international trade ban for Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna.

“Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it’s too late – we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future. We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations,” said president Sarkozy at the close of a national stakeholder consultation on France’s future sustainable fisheries and maritime policy, the ‘Grenelle de la Mer’.

This means that France joins the growing list of countries and marine experts that wish to place Bluefin tuna under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to give the populations a chance to recuperate.

“WWF welcomes the Monaco initiative and the position of France, whose fleets have traditionally caught more bluefin tuna than any other country,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

The Principality of Monaco was the first state to announce its willingness to sponsor a proposal to ban international trade in Bluefin tuna and the country is now seeking the support of other states in whose waters this species lives.

“In terms of eligibility for a listing on CITES Appendix I, Atlantic bluefin tuna ticks every box – and then some,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme.

The next CITES conference will be held next year in Qatar, but proposals have to be submitted by 17 October to be eligible for consideration.

Many of you might have already seen this rap video but I decided to post it anyway as some of you no doubt missed it. It is a small rap video explaining how the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works and the purpose of the facility. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is located in CERN in France and have stirred a lot of controversy as some believe that it will bring about the end of the world by creating micro black holes that will grow and consume the earth and our solar system. But don’t worry, most scientist don’t believe this can happen as the black holes created are too small. Personally I will remain an optimist and don’t think the world will end this week either.

Here is the video. Enjoy!!

A carbon capture and storage facility has been built at the Schwarze Pumpe coal-fired power plant in Germany. The facility is built as a test to see how well the technology work and will be ran as a pilot project over 3 years. Another test facility will be built in France next year.

The carbon capture and storage facility uses a technique where coal is burned in pure oxygen and CO2 instead of regular air. This results is a by product of almost pure CO2 that can be collected and stored underground. The test facility in Germany is expected to capture up to 100,000 tons of CO2 each year. The CO2 is to be stored in a nearby gas field. The power plant the new carbon capture and storage facility has been built at produces 12 MW of electricity and 300 MW of thermal power which sustain about 1000 homes. The potential capture of 100,000 tons CO2 from this power plant alone might show the effect carbon capture and storage facilities might have on global CO2 emissions if they are found to be effective. Experts do however expect it to take a long time, at least 10 years, before this technology gains widespread use. Some experts also raise security concerns about the technology and the practice of burying large pure CO2 deposits underground.

It is claimed that this is the first carbon capture and storage facility in the world but I am unsure about this as Norway supposedly have been depositing CO2 underground for years. Anyone that can shedd some light on this is welcome to comment.