Oil Spill threatens Rockhopper Penguins

Rockhoppers on Nightengale Is.
Used with permission (photographer@penguinity.com).

It is among the most ecologically unspoiled spots on the planet, teaming with wildlife.  But while the attention world is directed elsewhere, this oceanic Eden could be lost forever.

In the early hours of March 16, the MS Olivia, a Malta-flagged 250 meter Greek freighter, en route from Brazil to Singapore, rammed headlong into an island at high velocity.  Over the past two weeks, the cargo vessel has been spilling its contents -- 60,000 tonnes of soybean oil and up to 12,000 tonnes of heavy crude oil-- into the pristine waters of Tristan da Cunha, a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic.   Pictures of the wreck are posted here.  The islands, situated almost midway between South America and the Horn of Africa are home to a variety of endangered species, including the albatross and tens of thousands of rockhopper penguins.

Thirteen known species of seabird breed on the islands. Tristan and Gough Islands are the only known breeding sites in the world for the Atlantic petrel.  One of the big worries is that rats may have escaped onto island from the sinking ship.    If rats ever made it onto the island they could multiply and wipe out the seabird population in a very short time. 

Arrow points to Tristan da Cunha. It is a British
dependentterritory claimed 1653. Administratively,
its part of St. Helena and the Dependencies.

There are three main islands in the group: Tristan da Cunha, Nightengale, and Inaccessible.   The ship ran aground on the north side of Nightengale Is, and the currents have carried the oil to Inaccessible Is.   Tristan de Cunha, the only inhabited island in the group, is home to about 300 people.  All the families farm, and all land is owned communally.  The islanders' main source of income is fishing and harvesting lobsters.   The fisheries have been closed since the disaster.

At this time thousands of rockhopper penguins are covered with oil and in desperate need of rescue.  A rescue operation is being organized from Cape Town, the closest city.  In the meantime the islanders are using what few supplies they have to clean as many of the thousands of oil soaked penguins as possible, and coral the young molting penguins behind a fence to prevent them from going into the water.

Now let's take a look at two videos: one taken just after the disaster last week, followed by a video taken previous to the disaster.

After
Andrew Evans, an outstanding citizen journalist, happened onto the scene a few days after the MS Olivia broke apart.   The traveler paints a devastating picture of what has happened in this heartbreaking video:

Andrew Evans has also written a blog post at National Geographic detailing what he encountered.

Before
Here is another video of Tristan da Cunha rockhoppers or "pinamin" as they are known locally.  Taken two summers ago, this video features members of the penguin colony on Inaccessible Is.

How to help? 
The island's website is the best place to start.  When I find out more I will let you know. As the website explains, volunteers can't be flown in because there is no airport.  The islands are a four days journey by ship out of Cape Town.

Update 1:  It may be possible to donate online to SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds).   Apparently they are sending a ship to Tristan.

Update 2:  From an email passed along to Jotman:  "SANCCOB has been requested to prepare an oiled seabird rescue and have departed to take the team and equipment to the island. It takes about 5 – 7 days to get there, depending on the weather."  This is good news.

Update 3: The Tristan da Cunha website reports that stormy seas have hampered the rescue efforts and that oil has reached the island of Tristan where one rockhopper penguin was found on the beach covered in oil.  The report includes an update on rockhopper rehabilitation efforts as of 29 March: "In the rehab shed the team are doing really well and fed every single penguin, 1593 penguins in total.  More of the cleaner penguins were moved out to the swimming pool, making 282 now in the pool. There are approx 500 penguins left in the shed which gives us room for up to 600 possible new arrivals, as the rest were all strong enough to go outside. It also provides an opportunity to put down a fresh layer of volcanic sand. Nightingale is still holding approximately 600 penguins which it is hoped can be collected soon."

On the website you will find view photos that document the rockhopper penguin rehabilitation process.   A number of penguins in the ICU have died.  

Meanwhile, at Inacessible Is. over a hundred oiled rockhopper penguins have had to be released due to the stormy conditions.  The rescue crew is focusing all its efforts on protecting some 1500 penguins that have not been exposed to any oil.   

Update 4:  On March 31st the Tristan da Cunha website reported: "There are now approximately 2400 oiled penguins in the rehabilitation centre divided between the shed, ICU, outside pens and the swimming pool. More of the cleaner penguins (less than 20% oiled) were transferred to the pool today, making 544 penguins there in total. Justin Green, one of those feeding the penguins at the pool, reported that there are now thirty penguins taking fish strips by hand. Each penguin is given up to 15 strips and some of the penguins are then pecking at the feeders' boots for more. Penguins in the 'thin' penguin pen are being fed twice a day. This means that we currently need over 450kg of fish (raw meat) each day to feed all the penguins. The rehab team on Tristan are on standby to receive 539 penguins to be transported there this evening, bringing the total on the main island close to 3000."

Ralph Nader: When does activism lead to policy change?

Ralph Nader at the Veterans for Peace Rally
in Washington, D.C..  Jotman photo.

Ralph Nader gave a short speech outside the White House Saturday afternoon, touching on themes that have been close to his heart for years, but for which evidence is more readily visible today.

“What Bush did, Obama is doing with better rhetoric,” Ralph Nader said, condemning the “two party dictatorship.” Nader talked about the need to fight the “Military Industrial Congressional Complex.” Congressional? Nader explained that in an early draft of the speech, Eisenhower inserted the word ‘Congressional’ but some aids convinced him to remove the word.

The rally had been organized by “Veterans for Peace.” Nader asked how it was that the most powerful military in the world had been held down by only twenty or thirty thousand Taliban fighters. “How is that possible? Because their cause is to expel the invader.” Perhaps alluding to the US attack on Libya,  which was just beginning, Nader added that the appeal of the call to ‘expel the invader,’ is something that Americans need to consider in relation to any future US military actions. Nader reminded the crowd of a recent comment by SecDef Robert Gates.  Gates had said that any future US defense secretary who supports a major land invasion would “need to have his head examined.” 

What should concerned citizens do? Nader spoke of the unprecedented influence of AIPAC, the Israeli lobby group. “Although today the group enjoys 95% support today on the issues it is most concerned about, they didn’t always have it so good.”  Nader said it was time for democratic activists to emulate AIPAC’s tactics. Nader described AIPAC’s “lazer-like focus on members of Congress," adding, "AIPAC has the power to absorb the time of members of Congress.” Nader said that AIPAC is so persistent that members of Congress will ask what they have to do just to get the organization off their backs. Nader suggested that civil society activists need to show this kind of persistence. “Get the names of friends and family of members of Congress. Call them, meet with them.... You have to zero-in your energy on members of Congress.”

Marching on the White House to stop occupations and torture.  Jotman photo.

After the speeches, anti-war protesters marched.  Over a hundred were later arrested.  Jotman photo.

Central to Nader’s message was that the peace movement already has public opinion on its side: public support for the war in Afghanistan is low.   The challenge is to make the politicians pay attention to the people.

Nader spoke about the need for the democratic resistance to hire paid organizers. “Full time paid organizers are necessary, every successful movement in history had them from Abolition to Cvil Rights.” Nader pulled some bills from his wallet and put them in a black bag. He said, “You’ve got to start raising money. I see $10,000 that could be raised right here, among this group standing here.” Nader then spoke about the importance of getting in touch with rich people, asking them to help fund a peoples’ movement. He said the rich want to leave a legacy; that some rich people would like to be remembered for having funded a noble cause. All you have to do is ask.

Ralph Nader takes questions after delivering a speech.  Jotman photo.

Nader took questions after his speech. Someone pointed to Egypt’s revolution as an example of a movement that did not appear to have any full-time paid organizers or to have raised a lot of money, yet had been wildly successful.

Having just returned from Egypt, I thought it rather too soon to call the Egyptian revolution a success. It remains an open question whether part time, informal activist networking can be translated into lasting policy reforms or democratization.   The destruction of the Tahrir campsite by thugs working in coordination with Egyptian soldiers -- which I witnessed -- could be viewed as an attempt by Egypt’s political establishment to undermine the roots of better funded, professionally organized, sustainable modes of political activism.    

Japan's information blackout and the revolution to come

Japanese tomatoes will resemble basketballs before anyone in a position of authority admits how bad things are.  

I lived in Japan for several years, studied the history, and speak the language.   That's why, six days ago, my first reaction to news of serious problems at the Fukushima nuclear plant was to tweet:

I am not the least bit surprised by everything that has happened so far, including statements by the US government that totally contradict reassurances given by the Japanese authorities.  

I came across a video in which a Frenchman holding out in a Tokyo apartment explains the extent to which the Japanese government is not keeping the people informed about the situation.  

"We don't want the fucking TV show with people smiling and laughing. We don't want the TV show, we want the truth here in Japan. We want to know the risk," he says.

The Frenchman who made the video and anyone else in the vicinity should either prepare to hunker down in a basement or pick up and leave.  The Japanese authorities are not about to change their tune.  Japanese tomatoes will be the size of basketballs and Tokyo cats will glow before anyone in a position of authority admits how bad things are.  

Furthermore, anyone on the Japanese island of Honshu -- foreigners and Japanese alike -- would be well advised to rely on international monitors for information about radiation risk.   It's incumbent upon American scientists and the military to make every effort distribute their own data and help the general public interpret it.   They have made a good start, but their information must flow.  Likewise the governments of Europe, Russia, China, and South Korea need to share whatever data they are collecting.  

Although it may seem early to raise this subject, I think we should recognize that events in Japan will likely have profound geopolitical consequences.  In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, the  Japanese people have been characterized in the media as patient, mild-mannered, and accepting of their fate.

But this calm will not last.   It cannot last.

A Bloomberg article explains the context of the nuclear plant disaster.  Politically explosive facts are  coming to light: 

The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan’s atomic power industry.... 

Nuclear engineers and academics who have worked in Japan’s atomic power industry spoke in interviews of a history of accidents, faked reports and inaction by a succession of Liberal Democratic Party governments that ran Japan for nearly all of the postwar period.

Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a seismology professor at Kobe University, has said Japan’s history of nuclear accidents stems from an overconfidence in plant engineering. In 2006, he resigned from a government panel on reactor safety, saying the review process was rigged and “unscientific.” 

... Tokyo Electric in 2002 admitted it had falsified repair reports at nuclear plants for more than two decades. Chairman Hiroshi Araki and President Nobuyama Minami resigned to take responsibility for hundred of occasions on which the company had submitted false data to the regulator.

Then in 2007, the utility said it hadn’t come entirely clean five years earlier. It had concealed at least six emergency stoppages at its Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station and a “critical” reaction at the plant’s No. 3 unit that lasted for seven hours.

Japanese history provides some indication of what lies ahead.  The Japanese establishment's present attempts to conceal the facts about the radiation leaks, its cover-ups, point to a political firestorm not unlike something the Japanese have experienced before.  

From the 1960s to the 1970s the Japanese government was caught attempting to cover-up the environmental poisoning of the town of Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture.  A mine released mercury into the food chain which poisoned thousands of Japanese.  It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater of a chemical factory from 1932 to 1968.  The surrounding sea was poisoned by the highly toxic chemical, resulting in the deadly accumulation of poison in the bodies of people and animals.   Wikipedia:

 According to Timothy S. George, the environmental protests that surrounded the disease appeared to aid in the democratization of Japan. When the first cases were reported and subsequently suppressed, the rights of the victims were not recognised, and they were given no compensation. Instead, the afflicted were ostracised from their community due to ignorance about the disease, as people were afraid that it was contagious.   The people directly impacted by the pollution of Minamata Bay were not originally allowed to participate in actions that would affect their future. Disease victims, fishing families, and company employees were excluded from the debate.. Progress occurred when Minamata victims were finally allowed to come to a meeting to discuss the issue.  As a result, postwar Japan took a small step towards democracy.  Through the evolution of public sentiments, the victims and environmental protesters were able to acquire standing and proceed more effectively in their cause. The involvement of the press also aided the process of democratization because it caused more people to become aware of the facts of Minamata disease and the pollution that caused it.

Although the environmental protests did result in Japan becoming more democratized, it did not completely rid Japan of the system that first suppressed the fishermen and victims of Minamata disease.

The protest movement that followed disease outbreak at Minamata contributed significantly to the democratization of Japan.

Will the present crisis lead to reforms that finally rid the Japanese of the corrupt and undemocratic system that the Minamata crisis first exposed?   We should hope so.  A democratic awakening in Japan could have significant implications for China, other countries of Asia, and the West. 

As the full extent of the corruption and lies of the Japanese establishment become more widely known,  major street demonstrations are inevitable.  Any and every manifestation of significant political upheaval is likely.   Protests may well shake the Japanese state to its foundations in the months ahead.  As I tweeted today: expect the Japanese to resemble Egyptians--only angrier.

Following the example of the Frenchman who made the above video, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Japan in their fight for transparency and openness. 

Renewed violence against supporters of Egyptian revolution

At least since I arrived in Cairo five days ago, nothing like this has happened.   In fact, it may well have been the first such incident at Tahrir Square since the revolution.

Around 9:30pm Saturday at Tahrir Square in Cairo, many people on the traffic island encampment suddenly rushed into the traffic. They had received word that some thugs were beating up supporters of the Egyptian revolution.

People rushed in between cars to cross the street. They were headed up the street on which the American University is situated.

It was a confusing situation. I snapped a picture of a seated woman who appeared very shaken.   

I saw two people who had been injured carried onto the Tahrir Square encampment.

I was having some camera problems, so I didn't get a picture of the first -- more seriously-- injured person.  But I saw the badly injured man carried to the medical tent by four men. A few minutes later I saw him lying flat on the ground outside the medical tent.  Many people were crowding the small space so I left.  When I returned to the medical tent, I was informed that that the man who had been lying on the ground had already been taken to a local hospital.

The other injured person -- pictured in the photo below -- was carried to the tent shortly after the first.  When I took this picture I was told he had bruises from being "hit with a stick."

Shortly after I took this picture a person dressed head-to-toe in a black face-veil outfit tried to pull the Egyptian flag from the roof of the medical tent.  There was a bit of a scuffle.  My camera jammed again, so I didn't get a picture of that bizarre spectacle.

Oddly, one person on the scene told me that "nothing" had just happened and that "people are just spreading rumors." Given the inconsistency of this person's inane statement with what we were presently witnessing, my interpreter suggested this person might be working for the police.

In this brief video clip, an Egyptian journalist explains his theory about what happened last night.   Other Egyptian protesters at Tahrir Square shared this journalist's interpretation of the incident.

Tahrir Square Friday

I was out on Cairo's Tahrir Square between noon and 3:00pm Friday. I went out again in the evening. The place was full of hundreds of thousands of people, many carrying flags. The people were celebrating the fact they have a new prime minister.

"Freedom!" shouted two young men I passed. That summed it up. Above all else, the day was a celebration of the new freedom of the Egyptian people.

I stopped to watch a puppet show. Hosni Mubarak danced around the stage. He wore a star on his lapel, implying the deposed Egyptian leader had been a puppet of Israel. Funniest was a comedian who did an imitation of Gaddafy. Everyone laughed at that.

Earlier I had passed a young couple carrying signs, one in English, the other in Arabic. It read: America keep your hands off Libya!

The man said, "We don't want another American occupied country on our doorstep. If they get involved, then we can't be sure they won't stay. We can't trust them."

"Don't you want to see them enforce a no-fly zone? Qadafy is bombing the cities," I said.

"The Libyans should be left to work this out for themselves."

The streets around Tahrir Square were more crowded than the traffic island where the tents are set up -- the permanent encampment.

Past the Egyptian Museum, I came to a line of tanks. Small children were seated on the armored vehicles having their pictures taken with the soldiers.

The army remains popular. The big question is what to do about the police and security services.  I have more to report  about that. 

Night at Tahrir Square, Cairo

The revolution continues: Several of the many tents at Tahrir Square in Cairo,
which continues to be occupied by thousands of demonstrators.

"You have arrived a little late, haven't you?"

With these words, Q welcomed Jotman to the encampment at the center of Tahrir Square in Cairo. This is where would he would spend the night.

Half an hour earlier, I had emerged from Sadat Station. In the underground walkway I had passed a boy carrying an Egyptian flag. He was accompanied by his parents.

Surfacing, I saw a friendly looking Egyptian student. "What's the situation here now?" I asked him.

Islam, which was the student's name, told me there was no trouble, everyone was being left alone. He emphasized that the army was their friend, and Egyptians were unified. Except for one problem: Ahmed Schafik, the prime minister. Schafik had to go.

While we were talking, various people stopped by to welcome me. Mahmoud, a forty-something year old art curator introduced himself. "Behind where we're standing now were the hospital tents," he said.

On hearing Mahmoud express doubt about whether future support for the revolution would be forthcoming from the army, Islam spoke up. Islam almost seemed to be reprimanding Mahmoud. "The army is on the side of the people," Islam corrected Mahmoud. They exchanged some words in Arabic.

We stood beside a railing that lines the usually busy road that circles the grassy island at the center of Tahrir square. There were no cars, giving the four-lane road the false appearance of a no-man's land. Across the road, on the island, was the tent city. You could see people milling about around the tents.

Headed across the street, several students approached us carrying a large road sign (photo).

The activists were carrying a large road sign.

Next a man approached us, having crossed the street from the tent city. The young man, I will call him Q, had an urgent message for me. "The curfew is about to begin. The streets will not be safe. I suggest you either get to your hotel. Otherwise you might want to stay here for the night."

"Do you expect it will be safe? What about the army?" I asked.

"The police have disappeared. The army doesn't come here. They leave us alone."

"Where is the army?"

"Some soldiers are stationed at road blocks down the streets."

I had in mind the idea of heading to a hotel down one of those streets. But Q quickly put this idea to rest, "Any hotel in that direction is probably closed. I don't suggest you head that way."

We discussed the question of me sleeping in the square, whether I was eligible or qualified.

"I'll have to see if there's tent space available. But it shouldn't be a problem; in fact, I'd encourage you to spend the night here."

Q went back to check, "I found you a tent."

Once I had made it onto the empty street, Q said, "Do you have your passport? You're going to be asked for it. We have our own security people who try to make sure they don't send people here to make trouble."

No sooner was I halfway across the road when a short round man approach us. "May I see your passport, sir?"

I showed the jolly little guy my passport.

Satisfied, he said, "Look at my passport. I work for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. See, it says so in my passport."

Sure enough, that's what it said.

Has the Egyptian Revolution only just begun?

Activists in Cairo's Tahrir Square attach a banner listing the demands of the Youth Movement.

I have not been in Cairo 48 hours, but it feels like a week-- or two. I spoke with the several of revolution's young leaders (there are many leaders). One gets the impression the Egyptian revolution has been led by the country's 'best and brightest.' Out in the square I met employees of Oracle and other big companies, Bank of Egypt, the Dept. Foreign Affairs, also physicians, and any number of university students. Such similarities to the Beijing movement of 1989 are apparent. As in Beijing, I'm told that in Cairo other social classes came out later.

Today, people of all social classes mix in Tahir square. For example, in my Tahrir tent the other night, there was an aircraft mechanic, an unemployed ceramics artisan, a pharmacist, and a bank employee. As a fellow occupant of my tent put it, "We're all friends in here, yet we're all complete strangers!" Some sleep at Tahrir, going to work in the mornings.

Tahrir Square is occupied territory of the Youth Movement, and the army keeps its distance. Needless to say, there is no uniformed police presence. I'm told that there are no (visible) police in Cairo, and the neighborhoods are self-policed. There is a curfew from 12pm to 6am, nominally enforced by the army. Among activists, there is debate about whether having some police return to the streets would be desirable or not.

P, a demonstrator told me, "In the West, the police are called 'civil servants.' In Egypt police are called 'masters.' Over the years, normal Egyptian people have been pulverized by the police."   P told me that before coming out to demonstrate on Jan 25, his mother warned him that if was caught by the police he would likely be raped.

Public opinion of the army remains favorable, but the students want to army leadership to transfer power to a joint civilian-military led interim government.

I photographed several activists putting up a large banner, listing the demands of their group. I asked P to translate the main points.

"There have been many such banners, pictures of them are everywhere on Facebook. I have my own list, of course. I'll tell you how how the points on this poster compare."

Seeming quite satisfied with the priorities outlined on poster, P proceeded to describe the four main demands of demonstrators.

1. A Presidential Council established consisting of two civilians and one representative of the military.

2. The current cabinet, having been established by Mubarak, has to go. In particular, the protesters can't tolerate the presence of Prime Minister Ahmed Schafik. The Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior also have to go.

3. The Emergency Law dating back to the beginning of the Mubarak era, has to be lifted.   P said, "Mohammed Hassanain Heikal, an intellectual, summed it up nicely: 'we're not dealing with the corruption of a state, but a state of corruption."

4. Political prisoners have to be freed. When I asked how many there were, P. replied, "We don't know."

P regarded the authors of the original Facebook page, particularly Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian Google employee who spent a week in jail -- he's married to an American -- as one person at the front of the movement. P and all the activists I spoke with were quick to say nobody is in charge.

Last night, on a Cairo street, a man approached me. He wanted me to know that he condemned Obama for his slow support for the ouster of Mubarak, before proceeding to castigate the country for its other sins. Obama wages "war." America wants "petroleum." The man added, the expression on his face contorted into one of disgust: "Britannia same as America!" Before walking off he said, "Egypt is a country of peace."

I didn't mention Egypt's costly military intervention in Yemen throughout the 1960s or the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, but had he stuck around, I might have brought these up.

An employee of an American company told me that America had better realize "that Egyptians know its game, and the game is up." His tone was severe.

Respect for the army as an institution remains high. For example, even activists seem to respect that soldiers have a right not to have their picture taken when at their posts.

There's a propaganda war happening as to who owns the revolution. I was told the Egyptian press wasn't covering the ongoing vigil at Tahrir Square.

There is speculation on the square that a coup within the army leadership is the people's' best hope for a successful transition to democracy. I don't know why anyone would be optimistic that this might happen, but two guys I spoke with seemed to think this a very real possibility.

To sum things up:

1. The army is running the state, but for the time being at least, "the people" remain the force to be reckoned with in the new Egypt.

2. In meetings with the generals, representatives of the Youth Movement have demanded that their main points -- most important of which is the resignation of the prime minister and the appointment of a new cabinet -- occur by their deadline, which is tomorrow.

Egyptian military police confront protesters outside Cairo office building

Shots fired. Army called in.

I took this picture a few seconds after military police fired shots into the air.

I witnessed Egyptian military police fire shots outside an Egyptian office building near Ramses Station in Cairo, Egypt. The allegedly corrupt head of an Egyptian newspaper firm seems to be trapped inside the building. The protesters want him to resign.

I was told by a local businessman that protesters claim that Mohasn Mahmod Bahgat, the head of Kawmea-Tawzee, a national newspaper or magazine company is collecting a wildly excessive salary and abusing workers. I'm told this is a government-owned media company. One observer claimed the chief Bahgat's salary amounts to as much as US$200,000 a month. Another observer -- a businessman who works in the building next door -- told me that Bahgat fires workers at will and there is no job security. Other onlookers suggested to me that Bahgat's money was going to "Switzerland."

I woke up to the sound of protesters marching this morning.

Protesters march prior to office building stand-off.

From the roof of a distant building, I watched demonstrators gather on a street outside the steps to an office building.

This crowd would grow considerably.

In the afternoon I went out to check on the protest. Standing among hundreds of other onlookers, I stood directly across from where I had watched the protesters gather in the morning.

The protesters were shouting loudly, some waving flags, others holding signs. I saw that military police, wearing red caps and armed with rifles were guarding the building.

The situation deteriorated suddenly. I saw that the military police, who stood guard on the top steps, were being pushed up against the glass doors of the building by the pressure of the protesters below. In response, the military police pushed back, and protesters were pushed back down the stairs. The crowd became angry and pushed back against the military police.

Suddenly, the military police fired several shots. I hit the ground. An onlooker informed me that the police had fired the shots into the air. I watched military police holding rifles move onto the roadway, stopping traffic.

About twenty minutes later the army showed up: two armored personnel carriers arrived carrying a dozen soldiers. When these vehicles pulled up in front of the office building, I heard cheers. It sounded to me like the cheers had come from ranks of the protesters.

At this time (4:22pm in Cairo), the standoff continues. It may be that the head of the newspaper company is (still) trapped in the building.

___
Photos copyrighted. If your organization is interested in purchasing photos, contact JOTMAN.COM. The email address is on the sidebar.