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Author Topic: Pollution  (Read 58230 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #735 on: September 16, 2018, 07:24:40 pm »
Media Coverage of Hurricane Florence Leaves Out Crucial Information

September 15, 2018

Analyses of the media coverage of hurricane Florence show that most outlets leave out the link to climate change and the real dangers the hurricane presents for creating toxic spills. 😠

We speak to Lisa Hyams 👍 of Media Matters for America 👍


Story Transcript

DIMITRI LASCARIS: This is Dimitri Lascaris, reporting for The Real News Network from Montreal, Canada.

Today we look at Hurricane Florence and two important issues that relate to this major event. One is the media’s coverage of the ties between climate change and hurricanes. Another is a story that demands media attention, how hurricane-caused spills from coal ash pits and hog manure ponds in North Carolina, which is in the path of the hurricane, could harm low income People of Color. Our guest is longtime climate journalist, Lisa Hymas, director of the climate and energy program at Media Matters and senior editor at Grist. She joins us from Washington, D.C. Thank you for joining us today, Lisa.

LISA HYMAS: Thank you for having me. Happy to be with you.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: So, Lisa, let’s start with something Media Matters and Public Citizen reported on last year. They found that major outlets dropped the ball while covering hurricanes. They often did not connect them to climate change, and after Hurricane Harvey, a devastating hurricane, two groups of scientists published studies that link the record breaking rainfall to climate change. Now scientists are warning of a similar pattern of rainfall and effects from climate change, and last year, your reporting revealed that the media’s lack of coverage on this connection was quite significant. Thus far in your view, have the media done a better job of covering Florence and its to global warming?

LISA HYMAS: Well, it’s been a mixed bag so far. I mean, you are definitely right that coverage last year was very poor, coverage that connected the devastating hurricanes that we saw to climate change. So, we here at Media Matters did an analysis of broadcast news coverage of Hurricane Harvey and found that both the ABC and NBC never once mentioned climate change in all of their coverage of Hurricane Harvey. And we found that they didn’t do much better on Irma or Maria either. And as you said, Public Citizen is another organization that has done some analysis on this, and they looked at TV coverage and radio and newspapers last year, major newspapers, and found that just four percent of the stories about last year’s hurricanes mentioned climate change.

So, that is much less coverage than this issue deserves. I mean, not every story about a hurricane needs to mention climate change, but we should be seeing a lot more explanation to Americans of the ways that climate change exacerbates hurricanes and makes them more dangerous. So, this year so far, we have seen some good coverage explaining how climate change is making hurricanes worse, and even making Hurricane Florence in particular worse. So, I’ve been encouraged by some of the coverage that I’ve seen in outlets like The Washington Post, but also some regional newspapers like The Baltimore Sun and The Miami Herald have been explaining this connection.

On the other hand, we’ve seen some bad work in this area. Particularly, I’ve been looking at what USA Today has been doing. So, the paper USA Today ran a decent editorial this week talking about the connections between climate change and hurricanes, but then they ran a couple of pieces on their editorial page that disputed the link. And one of one of them outright denied that climate science is a settled thing. And another piece that they published was by a known climate denier who argued, contrary to the science, that we can’t see any influence of climate change on hurricanes. So, I’m optimistic by the good coverage that I’m seeing, but we still have a ways to go.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And you mentioned The Washington Post was one of the more responsible media outlets. Do you know how the readership of The Washington Post compares to USA Today? I would imagine that USA Today has a substantially larger readership. Is that fair?

LISA HYMAS: You know, I believe you’re right but I’m not actually sure.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Okay. Now let’s move on to the recently loosened rule on coal ash disposal. This was the first Obama-era EPA rule changed by new incoming acting head of the EPA Andrew Wheeler. This move saves power companies like Duke Energy in North Carolina millions of dollars. But as Duke University’s Avner Vengosh observed in terms of the environmental impacts of coal ash, scaling back requirements in particular could leave communities vulnerable to potential pollution. And he said, “We have clear evidence that coal ash ponds are leaking into groundwater sources.

The question is, has it reached areas where people use it for drinking water? We just don’t know. That’s the problem.” How do you assess this problem, and is there anywhere in the country where sufficient groundwater testing is taking place?

LISA HYMAS: That’s a good question. I mean, we’re really concerned and a lot of people are concerned right now about these coal ash pits in North Carolina in the path of the storm. Coal burning power plants create massive amounts of toxic waste and they’re stored oftentimes alongside rivers and waterways in these pits, or sometimes they’re called ponds, that oftentimes aren’t properly lined, they’re not properly covered. Even when there isn’t bad whether, they can leak into waterways. So, there’s a lot of worry right now that if there is substantial flooding, major winds, that could really contaminate water supplies.

I mean, one of the real problems here is that that is likely to hurt low-income folks the most. They’re the ones who tend to live near power plants. They don’t put power plants in rich neighborhoods, they tend to be located near low-income people and minority communities. And so, the media and public health officials definitely need to be watching whether there are spills that will affect drinking water supplies.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And I understand another important aspect of this that you have been imploring the media to cover is hog farms and their impact on low-income communities of color in North Carolina. While some of the print press seem to be on top of one aspect of the story namely, the dangers of hog waste getting into local waterways, you bring up a part that they are missing, which could potentially have profound impacts on the type of pollution on People of Color, and also, the role of the Trump administration loosening of regulations that could make these spills more likely.

North Carolina is home to thirty-one coal ash pits that house around, as I understand it, one hundred and eleven million tons, a stunning amount, of toxic waste produced by hogs. These ponds store about ten billion pounds of waste. Now, with the heavy rain from Hurricane Florence, this creates, as you call, it a “noxious witch’s brew that might be headed into people’s homes and drinking water. Please elaborate a little bit about the nature of this threat and whether you think enough is being done both to deal with the threat and to cover the threats, to make the public aware of the threat.

LISA HYMAS: Yeah, so you’re are exactly right. I’ve been glad to see that some outlets in the past few days have written about the danger of spills from hog manure waste pits as well as coal ash pits, but none of them have been picking up on the environmental justice angle and the people who will be hurt the most by this. Just as power plants tend to be located by low-income and minority communities, so do hog facilities.

So, North Carolina is home to many, many industrial hog facilities. You might call them factory farms, or the industry calls them concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs, but factory farms pretty much captures it. So, you have huge numbers of hogs in small confined spaces, and they produce massive amounts of waste. And that waste is, again, like the coal ash, oftentimes stored in pits that aren’t properly protected, that can overflow near waterways. And that waste is really noxious stuff that could have serious impacts on water quality.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: As most of the nation’s scientific community has expressed, extreme weather patterns appear to be on the rise. And as California’s governor Jerry Brown discusses, his state’s devastating wildfires are the new normal. North Carolina appears to have seen it a little differently in 2012, when the GOP-controlled state legislative body passed a law banning state officials from considering the latest science regarding sea level rise when doing coastal planning. The law was drafted in response to an estimate by the state’s Coastal Resources Commission that sea level will rise by thirty-nine inches in the next century, prompting fears of costly were home insurance and alarm from many quarters.

But residents and developers in the state’s coastal Outer Banks region pushed the bill, signed by a Republican Governor, saying, “if science gives you a result you don’t like, pass a law saying the result is illegal.” I’m sorry, that actually was a comment by Stephen Colbert, not by the Republican governor. However, as you write, the problem is not solved. Will Hurricane Florence and the pro-environmental Democrat Roy Cooper, who was elected governor in 2016, in your view, be able to mute the influence of developers and Republican majority legislature in that state? How does this become something that we solve in North Carolina given the political realities?

LISA HYMAS: I think it’s going to be a challenge. I mean, you’re right to contrast California, which is really pushing ahead and trying to prepare for climate change and trying to fight climate change, with a state like North Carolina, where they really have been trying to move backward and pretend that climate science doesn’t even exist. I’ll be curious to see whether Hurricane Florence has some influence on that. When people’s homes are damaged or destroyed and their lives are affected and their communities are hurt, sometimes they can get a new view on things and maybe come to realize that climate change isn’t just an idle threat, but it’s something that’s already happening right now to communities.

So, I am hopeful that North Carolina can start moving in a more realistic direction, both preparing for climate change and fighting it, but we we will have to see. They don’t have a great record so far.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Well, we’ve been speaking to Lisa Hymas about Hurricane Florence, the media’s coverage of this major weather event and its connection to climate change, and the political rallies in North Carolina. Thank you very much for joining us today, Lisa.

LISA HYMAS: Thank you for having me on, it’s been great to talk to you.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And this is Dimitri Lascaris, reporting for The Real News.

https://therealnews.com/stories/media-coverage-of-hurricane-florence-leaves-out-crucial-information

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #736 on: September 19, 2018, 02:08:44 pm »


September 19, 2018

💥Gas Explosion Rocks MA

Pressure in a natural gas pipeline that fatally exploded last week in the Boston suburbs was 12 times higher than what "the system intended to hold," Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to the pipeline's parent company Tuesday.

The explosion, the largest natural gas pipeline accident in the US since 2010, killed an 18-year-old, injured at least 25, damaged dozens of homes and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate.

The senators are seeking answers to 19 questions about the explosion, while residents of the three impacted towns filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against Columbia Gas and its parent company NiSource.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-explosions/lawsuit-targets-massachusetts-utility-over-deadly-gas-explosions-idUSKCN1LY2QX


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #737 on: September 23, 2018, 02:50:35 pm »
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie.

Is It Time To Ditch That Loud, Polluting, Hard-To-Start, Smelly, Obnoxious Gas-Powered Weed Whacker❓ 

September 23rd, 2018 by Steve Bakker

SNIPPET:

Good question. Has the battery-powered device revolution evolved enough to make the gas-fired weed eater an endangered species? Could be. I’m going to share with you the experience I recently had when purchasing a weed eater to whack some seriously overgrown vegetation on my property. Since my past experience with such implements of mass destruction have always been of the gas-powered variety I started pricing just such a beast online. In spite of the fact that I’ve spent quite a bit of time educating myself on advances in Lithium-ion battery tech, converted every battery-powered tool and gizmo in my house to rechargeable batteries, and even have a battery-powered car on order (Tesla Model 3), it didn’t occur to me to think green when buying a weed eater.

Very informative article and comments:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/23/is-it-time-to-ditch-that-loud-polluting-hard-to-start-smelly-obnoxious-gas-powered-weed-whacker/

Agelbert comment: I have an old Sears electric weed whacker I purchased 20 years ago. It still works fine on a one third acre lot with a LONG extension cord. I never have to worry about batteries to recharge. 😀

I purchased a push lawn mower at the same time. We still use it. 😎

The last time I had a gasoline powered weed whaker was from 1983 - 1986. It was a bad investment.

ALL gasoline powered yard maintenance machines are horribly polluting and should be banned.

Quote
EPA Statistics: Gas Mowers represent 5% of U.S. Air Pollution

Cleaner Air : Gas Mower Pollution Facts

Noisy Noisy Mowers make bad neighbors...Noise Charts

And if that weren't enough...calculate your gas mowers emissions.

FACT: one hour of mowing is the equivalent of driving 350 miles in terms of volatile organic compounds. 😨

Fact: One gas mower spews 87 lbs. of the greenhouse gas CO2, and 54 lbs. of other pollutants into the air every year.

Fact: Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipmentmore oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. 🤬

Gardeners Spill More than the Exxon Valdezcleaner mowing, the effect of gas powers for one hour

Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing tons of air pollutants. Garden equipment engines, which have had unregulated emissions until the late 1990's, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing up to 5% of the nation's air pollution and a good deal more in metropolitan areas.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a new gas powered lawn mower produces volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 new cars each being driven for one hour.

In addition to groundwater contamination, spilled fuel that evaporates into the air and volatile organic compounds ☠️ 🚩 spit out by small engines make smog-forming ozone when cooked by heat and sunlight.


The EPA does NOT admit that electric everything can do all our yard work (AND farm work AND transportation needs) without polluting, but it does say almost the same thing (see below). Of course the Hydrocarbon Loving Hellspawn 😈 will jump in and say that coal power plants are giving us all that electricity (NOT true!), but we know that is a BALONEY excuse to perpetuate the planet killing hydrocarbon "business model".

The replacement of every 500 gas mowers with non-motorized mowers would spare ✨ the air

✔ 212 pounds of hydrocarbons (smog ingredient)

✔ 1.7 pounds of nitrogen oxides (smog ingredient)

✔ 5.6 pounds of irritating particles 1,724 pounds of carbon dioxide


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #738 on: September 26, 2018, 06:06:40 pm »
North Carolina CAFOs Turning Waterways Into Toxic Toilets

September 26, 2018
 
These factory farms produce enough pig waste to fill more than 15,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year. And that doesn't even include the 2 million tons of dry waste created by the poultry CAFOs. So where does it all go? Normally, thousands of waste lagoons contain it. That is, until a devastating hurricane hits.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

֍ Following Hurricane Florence, at least 132 CAFO waste lagoons had released pig waste into the environment or were at risk of doing so

֍ It’s estimated that 5,500 pigs and 3.4 million chickens drowned due to Florence flooding

֍ Before-and-after satellite images from the U.S. Geological Survey of a section of North Carolina coastline clearly show massive amounts of brown sludge pouring from inland waterways to the coast

֍ Liquefied pig waste may sicken people and contaminate water with pathogens like salmonella, giardia and E-coli

֍ Hog waste leaching or overflowing into waterways can also lead to algae overgrowth, depleting the water of oxygen and killing fish and other marine life in expansive dead zones

 Full article >>
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #739 on: October 02, 2018, 12:52:31 pm »
Toxic building materials

A hidden epidemic


How manufacturers lie on safety data sheets

This summer I was severely poisoned and made chronically ill by a combination of two factors:

1. Toxic mold

A negligent landlord failed to repair water damage and allowed toxic black mold to grow hidden in the walls and ceiling of an office they owned. Then they rented the office to me.

They knew the mold was there because they periodically came (at night) to patch things up. I had no idea there was a problem and neither did the dozens of people who visited my office over the years.

For five years, my immune system was quietly being chipped away at until it finally collapsed one day "suddenly."

2. "Legal" toxins

Toxic chemicals were used to put a finish on some cabinets in my home. 

Because of my weakened immune system, the fumes from these cabinets had an immediate and catastrophic impact on my health.

I won't go into all the grim details - it would take a book - but I wouldn't wish what's happened to me on my worst enemy.

Getting information about the chemicals used in construction is nearly impossible.

Manufacturers are given all kinds of "outs" and - would you believe it? - they lie.  >:(

Here's why this is important:

People with weakened immune systems are often pushed "over the edge" by home renovation work because of the toxic chemicals used.

How many people are impacted this way?

80% of the people who experience a sudden catastrophic collapse of their immune systems have it as the result of home or office renovations.

Have you ever heard of this before?  ???

Probably not.  >:(

You or someone you know may be gravely or chronically ill for a "mysterious" reason that the so-called doctors can't figure out. (If they can't write a prescription based on 3 seconds of evaluation they can't figure ANYTHING out.) 🤬

In my case, I was lucky. The impact on me was massive and immediate. There was no doubt I was poisoned by the fumes.

Then I realized I'd been tired and sick-feeling at the end of every work day in my office for years, so, on a hunch, I spent the many hundreds of dollars necessary to have the place tested for mold and the test discovered toxic mold.

Dozens of people had been in and out of my office over the years and no one noticed anything. I sure didn't and I'm usually pretty observant. Then again, the building's owner - a church! - took great pains to keep a lid on the problem.

Mold from shoddy building and maintenance practices and "modern" chemicals are silently destroying the health and lives of millions of people each year.

The multi-billion dollar chemical industry   makes sure you NEVER hear about this because their liability would be astronomical.

A source to start your research: Book - "The E.I. Syndrome: An Rx for Environmental Illness" by Sherry Rogers MD.

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/toxic-building-materials.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #740 on: October 26, 2018, 03:16:42 pm »
Truthout

Octobert 26, 2018


Air Pollution Causes Up to 33 Million ER Visits for Asthma Annually

https://truthout.org/articles/air-pollution-causes-up-to-33-million-emergency-room-visits-for-asthma-annually/

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #741 on: November 09, 2018, 06:41:05 pm »
EcoWatch

By Ken Roseboro

Nov. 05, 2018 11:01AM EST

SNIPPET:

Of all the genetic engineers who have renounced the technology—Arpad Pusztai, Belinda Martineau, Thierry Vrain, John Fagan and Michael Antoniou, among others—because of its shortsighted approach and ability to produce unintended and potentially toxic consequences, Caius Rommens' story may be the most compelling.

Rommens was director of research at Simplot Plant Sciences from 2000 to 2013 where he led development of the company's genetically engineered Innate potato. But over time, Rommens started to have serious doubts about his work and worried about potential health risks from eating the GMO potatoes, which are now sold in 4,000 supermarkets in the U.S.

Rommens' concerns about the GMO potato led him to write a book, Pandora's Potatoes, which was recently published. The book is a case study on how a scientist's initial enthusiasm about genetic engineering turns to doubt and fear as he realizes the hazards the technology can create.

I recently interviewed Caius Rommens about his work developing the GMO potato and the misgivings he now has about it.

The title of your book is Pandora's Potatoes. What led you to choose this title?

Caius Rommens: During the five years after my departure from Simplot, I realized that I had not been rigorous enough in considering the possibility that my modifications might have caused unintended effects. I then studied the publicly available literature that was relevant to my past work, and identified a number of issues that had been hidden from my view. My GM potatoes had "hidden" issues—like Pandora's Box.

What do you think should be done with these GMO potatoes?

Caius Rommens: I believe that, for the short term, GM potatoes entering the consumer market should be evaluated for the incidence of hidden bruise and infections and the range in levels of toxins such as alpha-aminoadipate and tyramine. 👨‍🔬  🔬 👀

Full Eye Opening 😲 article:


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #742 on: November 13, 2018, 02:42:37 pm »
EcoWatch


This World War I Battlefield Is a Haunting Reminder of the Environmental Costs ☠️ of War ☠️

By Olivia Rosane

Nov. 12, 2018 12:14PM EST

SNIPPET:

World War I ended 100 years ago on Sunday, but 42,000 acres in northeast France serve as a living memorial to the human and environmental costs of war.

The battle of Verdun was the longest continuous conflict in the Great War, and it so devastated the land it took place on that, after the war, the government cordoned it off-limits to human habitation. What was once farmland became the Zone Rouge ☠️, or Red Zone ☠️, as National Geographic reported.

An excellent Twitter thread by writer Paul Cooper, excerpted here, explains more:

Full article with more graphics:

https://www.ecowatch.com/world-war-environmental-costs-2619382756.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #743 on: November 15, 2018, 02:30:05 pm »

Quote

No. 54, Nov. 15, 2018

SNIPPET:

Scientists are calling for more research to understand why many insect populations are declining and what we can do about it.

Subscriber bonus:

We have a special thank you for our subscribers this week: a free copy of Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology and Politics in Science [/font]by John Grant, courtesy of publisher See Sharp Press. This must-read new book dives into the sordid history of how corporations and politicians — including the Trump administration — have twisted or attacked scientific expertise. As a subscriber, you can download the e-book in any of these formats: PDF, Mobi (Kindle) or Epub. Enjoy — and thanks for subscribing!

In case you missed it:

Wildfires are on top of our minds right now as California battles its most deadly and destructive wildfire in state history. Wildfire historian Stephen Pyne explains why we need to have different strategies for fighting different kinds of wildfires 🔥, especially those at the intersection of wildlands and our developed communities.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #744 on: November 24, 2018, 02:09:31 pm »

The Guardian

Fri 23 Nov 2018 23.38 EST

By Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro @domphillips

Brazil records worst annual deforestation for a decade

Nearly 8,000sq kms lost in the year to July amid alarm new president Jair Bolsonaro will make situation worse

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/brazil-records-worst-annual-deforestation-for-a-decade
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #745 on: November 28, 2018, 10:02:34 pm »
How Inequality Increases Environmental Damage for Everyone (But Not Equally)

November 27, 2018


James Boyce of PERI discusses how inequalities in power encourage the creation of environmental damage. Inequality disempowers some communities while allowing the powerful to profit at the environment’s and everyone else’s expense

https://therealnews.com/stories/how-inequality-increases-environmental-damage-for-everyone-but-not-equally
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #746 on: November 29, 2018, 11:36:22 am »
November 29, 2018

How Climate Change is Impacting Health Now

Rising temperatures as a result of climate change are already exposing populations around the world to an unacceptably high health risk, new research published in The Lancet medical journal shows.

The 2018 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, produced by 150 experts from 27 global institutions, documents how vulnerability to heat is rising in all regions of the world, with 157 million more vulnerable people subjected to a heatwave last year than in 2000, and 18 million more than in 2016.

The dire and wide-ranging report also finds that 153 billion hours of work were lost in 2017 due to extreme heat as a result of climate change, that rising temperatures and unseasonable warmth are responsible for cholera and dengue fever spreading, and that aging populations—especially those living in cities in Europe and the East Mediterranean—are particularly at risk to heat exposure. "These are not things happening in 2050 but are things we are already seeing today," Countdown executive director Nick Watt told the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/28/climate-change-already-a-health-emergency-say-experts
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #747 on: December 05, 2018, 09:49:26 pm »
The Most Toxic Retailers on the Planet

Written by Dr. Joseph Mercola

December 05, 2018


toxic chemicals in consumer products

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

► In recent years, researchers and scientists have raised warnings about mounting toxic exposures, leading to efforts to rein in the use of chemicals known to be hazardous to human health

► About half of the 40 retailers evaluated by the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ Mind the Store campaign have made “slow but meaningful progress at improving the chemical safety of the products, food and packaging they sell”

► Retailers that received a failing grade include Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, Subway, Publix, Panera Bread, Macy’s, Ulta, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Dollar General, Sally Beauty, TJX Companies and Ace Hardware

► Apple, Target, Walmart and IKEA received A-grades “for their work to protect customers from toxic products and packaging”

► Walgreens, Rite Aid and Amazon were ranked “most improved” during 2018

Full article with detailed list of "F" grade retailers:

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/05/toxic-chemicals-in-consumer-products.aspx
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Re: Pollution
« Reply #748 on: December 16, 2018, 05:42:36 pm »


U.S. Coast Guard to Tackle 14-Year-Old Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico

December 14, 2018 by Mike Schuler

Oil slick at the Taylor MC20 site. Credit: U.S Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard has partially assumed federal control over the operation to contain an oil dishcarge from the site of MC20 platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that has likely been leaking since the platform toppled back in 2004.

The platform, owned by Taylor Energy 🦕, LLC, was located in Mississippi Canyon Block 20, approximately 11 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It toppled in September 2004 during Hurricane Ivan after storm surge triggered an underwater mudslide. The incident left the platform well conductor pipes buried in more than 100 feet of mud and sediment, impacting 25 of 28 connected wells. The spill went unnoticed for years until 2008 when it was identified as the source of daily sheen reports.

Now more than fourteen years after the hurricane, crude oil continues to discharge from the site and surface on the Gulf waters.

IN 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated that oil continues to leak at a rate of approximately 1 to 55 barrels of oil per day. >:(  Satellite imagery and overflights have shown oil slicks on the surface varying in size, sometimes ranging up to 30 miles in length.

Even still, the specific source, or sources of the discharge at the MC20 site are not fully known. 🙉 🙊

Federal officials have directed Taylor Energy 🦕, as the Responsible Party, to remove the platform deck, remove sub-sea debris, decommission the oil pipeline, attempt to contain the leaking oil, and plug nine of the 25 impacted wells that were deemed highest risk.

Following several scientific studies conducted over several years by federal and industrial experts, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) issued Taylor Energy an administrative order back in October requiring it to propose a final viable plan to install a containment system. Last month, however, the FOSC ultimately issued Taylor Energy a Notice of Federal Assumption, and assumed authority for containing the oil. 

Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Coast Guard will now be able to access the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and assume authority for containing and disposing the oil.

“While the safety of response personnel is paramount, we don’t want to delay response activities,” said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Kristi Luttrell, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) for the MC20 response. “We plan to leverage every weather window available from now until the system is installed and collecting oil,” she said.

In November, Coast Guard contracted a specialized team to conduct a comprehensive site survey, fabricate a containment system, and install it at the source to start collecting the oil, however, as of now, the team is still in the planning phase. The Coast Guard says weather and sea state will largely dictate operations, which is expected to involve cumulative weeks at sea, extensive dive and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations, and underwater equipment installation.

“We are committed to public safety and preserving the Gulf marine environment,” said Luttrell. “As we move swiftly to develop and install the containment system, we will continue working with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure a permanent solution is in place,” she said.

As the Responsible Party, Taylor Energy 🦕, which is now defunct 😈, is required to pay for oil spill recovery and response costs under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). It also has a continuing legal obligation to respond to the ongoing oil discharge and also must comply with the Coast Guard Administrative Orders.

https://gcaptain.com/u-s-coast-guard-to-tackle-mc20-oil-spill-containment-fourteen-years-after-it-began/

Agelbert NOTE: It's the CAPITALISM, stupid! WHY? Because the people that ran Taylor Energy (into the ground) are NOT "defunct". They have money. They have assets. THEY should be made ro PAY. BUT, since the LIABILITY is deliberately, AND ARTIFICIALLY "LIMITED" under CAPITALISM's "rules" for
😈 corporations, the COST of this cleanup will be SOCIALIZED to WE-THE-PEOPLE.

A "responsible LLC" is an oxymoron. It is a SICK JOKE for the Coast Guard to talk about "responsibility for cleanup"
under this or that Law  "ensures compliance" when applied to ANY Corporate polluter in the USA, ESPECIALLY the Fossil Fuelers, who are well practiced in the ethically bankrupt "art" of declaring bankruptcy and running off with the profits to start another Hydrocarbon Hellspawn operation with "limited liability". 

We are all dead if we do not stop pretending this IRRESPONSIBLE AND CRIMINAL behavior is "okay". What's it gonna take, people?



 The Fossil Fuelers 🦖 DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or   PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!   
« Last Edit: December 16, 2018, 10:15:36 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #749 on: December 21, 2018, 06:21:10 pm »


Spain’s Supreme Court Upholds 1.6 Billion Euro Prestige Oil Spill Ruling 

December 20, 2018 by Mike Schuler

 
The bow of the Prestige oil tanker floats above water moments before sinking in waters off northwestern Spain in this November 19, 2002 file photo. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

The bow of the Prestige oil tanker floats above water moments before sinking in waters off northwestern Spain in this November 19, 2002 file photo. A Spanish court on November 13, 2013 found the crew and the government not guilty of responsibility in Spain’s Prestige disaster, a 2002 accident caused by a leaking tanker which coated the northwestern coastline with thousands of tonnes of oil. REUTERS/Paul Hanna (SPAIN – Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Spain’s Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s ruling that Spain is to be paid 1.6 billion euros in damages over the 2002 Prestige oil spill.

The definitive ruling confirms an earlier ruling handed down by a lower court in La Coruna, Galicia, where the oil spill occurred, in November 2017. France will also be awarded 61 million euros as its coastline was also impacted by the oil spill.

The bulk of the damages will be paid by Prestige’s insurer, the London P&I Clud, as well as Prestige’s captain.

The single-hulled oil tanker Prestige broke in half and sank off the northwestern coast of Spain after being denied a port of refuge after one of its tank was damaged in a storm.

The wreck is estimated to have spilled some 63,000 tonnes of oil, which severely impacted Spain’s Galicia coast and closed some of the country’s richest fisheries. The oil spill is considered one of Europe’s worst-ever environmental disasters.

Prestige’s captain, Apostolos Mangouras, was initially clear of criminal wrongdoing, but Spain’s Supreme Court in 2016 overruled and convicted Mangouras of recklessness resulting in catastrophic environmental damage. Mangouras was sentenced to two years in prison, and the ruling opened the door to damage claims against him and the insurer.

https://gcaptain.com/spains-supreme-court-upholds-1-6-billion-euro-prestige-oil-spill-rulingspains-supreme-court-upholds-1-6-billion-euro-prestige-oil-spill-ruling/

Is this the Writing on the Oil Tanker Hull Wall for Big Oil?
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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