9 March 2006
Even bigger than Belgium. Honestly!
by Sara, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Walsh
After searching the web for information the other day about St Helena, and realizing that we were more than a thousand miles from land in any direction, it got me thinking about the task we have set ourselves this time - finding pirate fishing boats in a very big sea!
So, I stumbled up to the bridge, clutching my morning tea and pounced on poor old Mike, the first mate as he was coming to the end of his watch. "How big is the area we are searching? You know - if you were to compare it with the size of Belgium, say."
My eldest brother Sean (who sailed with me on the Aldersgate) says the scale of environmental destruction is always measured against the size of Belgium, so I thought I would too!
So Mike rolled out the charts, grabbed some scraps of paper, his chart dividers and we set about doing our sums.
Our search area is 3.7 million square kilometres. That, in case you want to know, Sean - is 100 times the size of Belgium!
And just to give you even more scale - the boats we are looking for are usually around 30 metres long.
It's a tall order, but I take heart from our crews that went to the Southern Ocean and found three whaling ships in 32 million square kilometres. If they can do it - so can we!
- Sara
Editor's note. We are currently nowhere near Belgium - we're in the South Atlantic! If anyone would like to tell us how many elephants or double-decker buses are equal to 1 Belgium, we'd be most obliged. Or how many Belgiums in 1 Greenland. We do reckon, however, that 1 Belgium is roughly equal to 1.5 Wales (the country, not the animal). - Dave
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Comments
Apparently the SBU (Standard Belgium Unit :) is used by conservationist in relation to anything dealing with the Amazon forest (thanks, Wikipedia).
In particular, a Greenpeace statement said: "While the
government waited, 60,000 km2 Amazon Forest -- an area the size of two Belgium countries -- disappeared".
Since you are at sea, you should know that the largest iceberg recorded was the size of Belgium. And, Dave, 1360292580.98 double-decker buses would tightly fit in Belgium. I suppose I win a cubicle in Google's headquarters?
Posted by: gillo at March 9, 2006 10:56 PM
Aha - well spotted, Gillo. Just found the Wikipedia page on Strange Units of Measurement
It seems that Belgium even has a special entry.
On the forteana mailing list, for some years now, we've been watching patterns of usage for these units of measurement, and awarded them the title of 'FUM' or - Fortean Units of Measurement.
Charles Fort would have been proud of us
Posted by: Dave - Webbie on the Esperanza at March 10, 2006 10:43 AM
"Since he came to power three years ago, President Lula failed to stop 70,000km² of rainforest being cleared - an area equivalent to that of the Republic of Ireland - says Greenpeace."
Posted by: Dave - Webbie on the Esperanza at March 10, 2006 12:34 PM
Hi Sara, Dave, Gillo...,
...and 1360292580.98 double-decker buses would tightly fit in Belgium you say? Hmmm, ...well I don't know about that, but as science would have it, ...if you took all the space out inbetween all their atoms, and electrons, ...like you would have on a collapsed neutron star, ...all the cars, buses, trucks, and double-decker buses in the world, would fit into a teaspoon. ...I wonder how much one individual Belgian would amount to? Or how big really are those ships out there you're looking for? I hope this helps... Anyway, please do be careful when you find them. These pirates can be an unsavory lot. Really though, ...I'm hoping, and I know you're preparing to consider the worst of possibilities. These people may be more desperate. Wishing you Love and Light, and safety my friends, ...GC
Posted by: Grateful Child at March 10, 2006 7:20 PM
At least something Belgium is good for except the beer and chocolate.
Fair winds to you boys/girls ;)
go get them...
Tom
Posted by: Tom at March 10, 2006 8:28 PM
Of course my source is.... the size of Wales.
Posted by: gillo at March 10, 2006 9:29 PM
Brilliant find, Gillo...
Posted by: Dave - Webbie on the Esperanza at March 10, 2006 9:40 PM
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