Marine Construction Done Right

Winter Songs Inspired By the Season

2010-12-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

The holiday season is full of songs about winter, but many are about Christmastime and have that "holly, jolly" feel to them. There is an extensive collection of other winter-inspired songs that embrace the feelings of the season but aren't specific to the holidays.

* "Wintertime Love," The Doors: A warm tune about winter love sung by the charismatic Jim Morrison.

* "Winter," The Rolling Stones: This song is about dreaming of warmer, happier times for individuals looking for winter to end quickly.

* "Winter," Tori Amos: One of Amos' better known songs can be interpreted as the relationship between a girl and her father, who eventually goes on to eternal rest.

* "Hazy Shade of Winter," Simon & Garfunkel: A faster-paced winter song but one that can be read as bleak times with hopes that better things are on the horizon. The song was also covered by The Bangles during the 1980s.

* "Snowblind," Black Sabbath: For those looking to purge all of the happy-go-lucky holiday tunes from their heads, this heavy metal song, with its chilling imagery, can certainly do the trick.

* "Winter Love/Rose Awake," Wings: A poignant song about waiting for love to bloom.

* "California Dreamin'," The Mamas and the Papas: Anyone who is daydreaming about the warm, west coast on a chilly day will likely be inspired by the timeless lyrics of this well-known song.

Greg's Marine Construction wishes everyone from Maryland to Florida and along the east coast a Merry Christmas. We thank our current clients and look forward to making new relationships in the upcoming year.

TF111262

Common Water Pollutants Still Doing Significant Damage

2010-03-25T18:25:00.004-04:00

As much of the world grows increasingly earth-conscious, water pollution continues to be one of the biggest issues concerning the environment. While global warming and the ongoing debate surrounding its effects might garner the most headlines, water pollution remains a considerable concern for environmentalists .

Part of the problem is the lack of understanding as to just what is contributing to pollution. Simply put, nearly everything we do has an impact on the water, be it positive or negative. Oftentimes, we are even contributing to ocean pollution without so much as knowing how or why. The following are among the chief contributors to water pollution across the globe:

* Sewage. Anything going down our drains falls under the category of ocean sewage. This includes what we flush down the toilet to dishwater and even any chemicals we might dispose of through our drains. Sooner or later, what we flush or wash down our drains makes its way into the ocean. This ocean sewage often results in oxygen depletion that harms marine life as well as significant nutrient loading, which occurs when excessive nitrogen and phosphorous is deposited into the ocean's ecosystem. The result is the formation of algae blooms, which consume substantial amounts of oceanic oxygen supply. That reduction, or depletion, of the oxygen supply makes it extremely difficult for many organisms to breathe, oftentimes resulting in death.

Ocean sewage disposal also increases the level of bacteria and parasites in the ocean. That creates a ripple effect that negatively impacts the fishing industry. It might also be hurting the tourism industry, since the increased presence of bacteria and parasites in coastal ocean waters oftentimes leads to beach closures. Sewage treatment facilies exist throughout more developed countries of the world to counter this problem, but less developed countries, including many popular tourist locales, do not necessarily have as many effective treatment facilities.

* Garbage. Perhaps nothing has done more harm to the ocean over the years than marine garbage disposal. While laws written to safeguard the oceans have helped reduce ocean dumping, such laws have not banished the problem entirely. That means garbage is still finding its way into the ocean, threatening wildlife in several ways. Sadly, starvation is a common side effect of marine garbage, a result of plastic bags and even balloons lodging in the digestive systems of whales, making it impossible for the whales to digest their food as they slowly starve to death.

Oxygen starvation is another unfortunate side effect of marine garbage. When marine life gets tangled in discarded fishing nets, marine animals include dolphins, sharks and whales become entangled in the fishing nets, slowly and painfully suffocating to death.

Perhaps most disconcerting about marine garbage is the prominent role many seemingly innocuous pieces of garbage we don't give a second thought play in the pollution of our oceans. Plastic pop tabs from aluminum cans, for instance, can find their way into the mouths of marine wildlife and choke unsuspecting wildlife to death. Consequences are similar with poorly disposed plastic six-pack wrappers. But simply cutting up your six-pack wrappers before discarding them is enough to keep wildlife from being harmed.

* Toxic pollutants. Arguably nothing is more detrimental to the world's oceans than toxic pollutants, which can cause birth defects in wildlife and might even contribute to instances of cancer among human beings. Lead and mercury poisoning collect in the tissue of whales and sharks, leading to birth defects and nerve damage to marine life. According to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), researchers have found that other wildlife, including polar bears and frogs, have experienced decreased fertility, thyroid dysfunction and feminization, and demasculinization in males as a result of exposure to pesticides and industrial chemicals.

Among the other toxic ocean pollutants are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which typically are used to manufacture electrical equipment and have been known to cause reproduction problems in marine animals. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the result of burning wood and coal as well as oil pollution and have resulted in genetic abnormalities in marine animals.

To learn more about ocean pollution and what you can do to help, visit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site at www.epa.gov.

Check out Greg's Marine website for more information on "Staying Blue", Marine Construction and Marine Trasportation.

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METALIZING AND MARINE CONSTRUCTION

2009-10-20T00:53:00.001-04:00

Lately many people have asked us what is metalizing? Is it a form of painting for protection?

I'm going to briefly try to explain it here in this blog post. Metallic coating materials are heated in to a powder or liquid form and sprayed on to the oject to be metallized. This heated metal beomes a coating. It then becomes a thin metal layer or film to the product to which it is evenly applied.

This is used because it's cost effective and easy to maintain. It's longer lasting than other applied products such as plastic or metal sheetings, again making it more cost effective.

For more on metalizing and marine construction be sure and visit our website.