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Articles in: Pollution
Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Pollution, May 9th, 2013,
The European Union recently voted to ban (or at least limit) three pesticides, which have been linked to large-scale bee die-offs. The three neonicotinoids damage the bees’ neurotransmitters so that they become lost and cannot find their way back to their hives. Neonicotinoids are used directly on seeds rather than sprayed onto foliage or fruit. A recent study by the American Bird Conservancy found that neonicotinoids have a negative impact on “birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife.” Birds can die from consuming the seeds directly and agricultural runoff from farms using neonicotinoids can poison groundwater and contaminate lakes,…
Tags: CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, honeybee die-off, neonicotinoids
Conservation, Natural disasters, Pollution, Science & Technology, May 4th, 2013,
Over the last several decades, there have been a number of headline making oil spills that have left the world with shocking images. We have seen the results of drilling in the ocean floors to find oil. We know that our dependency on fossil fuels drives an industry that requires destroying some of our most precious resources. Seeing pelicans covered in sludge and oil and other birds that can’t spread their wings, many people say that it is time we finally get off of depending on these tainted, dirty resources. These people champion electric vehicles as alternatives to regular oil…
Green living, Pollution, Science & Technology, Apr 18th, 2013,
The debate between digital books and paper books has remained an issue since the introduction of the first e-readers in the mid 2000s. The e-book reader was invented as a way for people to store many books on one device and hopefully reduce many of the costs associated with traditional books. Since e-readers have existed for several years now, it is easier to project their impact on the world today than it was when the readers were first released. It turns out; the issue is not nearly as black and white as first thought. Currently, the use of e-readers and…
Politics, Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 16th, 2013,
Acute and far-reaching effects are still being felt some three years after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Here are some updates on the fallout from the United States’ worst ever environmental disaster: Poisoned wildlife From the Independent: Scientists believe that the 1.8 million gallons of dispersant, sprayed as part of the clean-up, have cemented the disaster’s toxic effect on ocean life and human health. The dispersant, called Corexit, caused what some scientists have described as “a giant black snowstorm” of tiny oil globules, which has been carried around…
Tags: deepwater horizon spill, gulf of mexico pollution, offshore drilling
Conservation, Politics, Pollution, Apr 12th, 2013,
Last month concerns over the Canadian controlled Skouries gold mining project on northern Greece’s Chalkidiki peninsula were brought to the World Social Forum in Tunisia. Though the Hellas Gold/Eldorado Gold Corporation mine promises to bring 5,000 jobs to the region, local opposition has been strong. Previous protests have included the trashing of portacabins and equipment plus several local demonstrations as well as large shows of support in Thessaloniki and Athens. Local residents of believe that their natural riches will be ruined in order for foreign companies and the Greek state to exact a quick profit, leaving their fishing and tourism…
Tags: gold mine greece, Skouries
Politics, Pollution, Apr 4th, 2013,
As the Deepwater Horizon trial progresses in Louisiana, with US District Judge Carl Barbier pruning down the defendants to three (Halliburton, Transocean and BP), another little-known, but related story is resurfacing. Investigative journalist Greg Palast writes on his website about an almost identical blowout on another BP oil platform in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian rig blowout occurred 17 months before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which resulted in the deaths of 11 crewmembers. Both rigs had the same cement plug malfunction – a nitrogen gas explosion. To prevent blow-outs, drilled wells must be capped with…
Tags: BP, Deepwater Horizon, Greg Palast, Keystone XL
Nature, Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 28th, 2013,
A provider of sanctuary to WikiLeaks founder and champion of transparency Julian Assange and staunch ally of the recently bereaved Venezuela, Ecuador has been punching above its weight of late. In terms of international relations, that is. Ecologically speaking, Ecuador is a bonafide heavyweight. According to Conservation International, it is one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, with the highest density of biodiversity per km on Earth. The Galápagos Islands alone should cement the nation’s global environmental value, but even without them Ecuador’s natural wealth is invaluable. Half the area of the country is covered by the Amazon rainforest and…
Tags: Ecuador Amazon, oil in Ecuador
Pollution, Mar 11th, 2013,
Last summer I wrote a piece for Travel Wire Asia regarding the phenomenon of disaster tourism. I included a few examples from the continent: a village in Indonesia where a volcano killed 353 people in 2010, a museum commemorating the 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province and even one of India’s most polluted cities. The above are of course all great places for a holiday with the kids, as is Chernobyl and the nearby city of Pripyat, where busloads of tourists can wander around a once bustling community that has remained uninhabited since the infamous 1986 nuclear incident. Though I…
Tags: Abandoned fukushima, Fukushima disaster, fukushima photos
Politics, Pollution, Mar 7th, 2013,
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the ongoing battle to save a local environment and community in Chalkidiki, northern Greece from the ravages of a Canadian-owned gold mining project. This morning (Thursday) police responded violently at a demonstration against the arrest of 5 people suspected of participating in an arson attack at the Hellas Gold site in Skouries village last month. Police used tear gas against demonstrators, reportedly even firing a cannister directly into the head of a 15 year-old high school student. From ekathimerini.com: […] police spokesman Christos Manouras denied allegations police had fired tear gas in…
Tags: anti gold mine protest in Greece, Hellas Gold, police brutality greece, Skouries gold mine
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Feb 25th, 2013,
Back in September 2009 I posted about some of the fascinating and disgusting things to be found in New York Harbor. It was basically a brief commentary on a feature in New York Magazine, a sort of “did you know?” piece cataloguing some interesting trivia about strange creatures, ship and train wrecks, cars, corpses, coal tar and loads of fish and mollusks that are too contaminated by PCPs (toxic pesticides and disinfectants) to be fit for human consumption. Not much of a fishing industry in NYC. Oh, and because of the city’s antiquated sewage treatment system, New York’s waterways are…
Tags: hudson river pollution, indian point nuclear power plant, new york city pollution, new york harbor contamination
Politics, Pollution, Feb 21st, 2013,
Earlier this week masked activists vandalized a mining site in northern Greece. As many as 50 people raided the Skouries gold mining project in the Chalkidiki peninsula (Halkidiki) region, burning portacabin offices and damaging equipment. The activist allegedly carried guns and doused two guards with flammable liquid, though they did not set anyone alight. From ekathermini.com: A total of 33 people were detained on Sunday, prompting residents of the nearby village of Ierissos to hold a public rally to protest what the saw as being random detentions by the police. Many locals, environmental groups and Greece’s main opposition political party…
Tags: Greek politics, Halkidiki gold mine
Pollution, Aug 9th, 2012,
What you read or hear about Hong Kong can be confusing. Recently the semi-autonomous city state of the People’s Republic of China was named the “most liveable city” in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit bi-annual global liveability index. This year’s criteria was designed by an urban planner and judged cities based on their amount of natural and cultural assets; green space; connectivity; absence of sprawl and lack of isolation. ECA International also rated Hong Kong as Asia’s 3rd most liveable city despite rating its air quality as among the poorest. Hong Kong’s recent API (Air Pollution Index) rates…
Tags: air quality, Hong Kong, most liveable city, plastic pellets, Pollution
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 30th, 2012,
In response to public safety concerns and a general anti-nuclear sentiment in the wake of last year’s Fukushima power plant disaster, Japan was nuke-free for a couple of months. That ended earlier this month with the controversial restart of two nuclear power plants. On Sunday anti-nuke demonstrators were out in full force, forming a human chain around the parliament complex in Tokyo. Some witnesses expressed that they haven’t seen protests on this scale in Japan since the 1960s. From the Associated Press: Similar demonstrations have been held outside the prime minister’s residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not dwindled,…
Tags: anti-nuclear, protest, rally, Tokyo
Politics, Pollution, Jul 15th, 2012,
Recent protests against a giant copper plant planned for the town of Shifang in Sichuan Province, China yielded a victory for the local people against what was seen as a ramming through of a major industrial project by the local and national governments. This was just the latest in a series of victories for local communities in China standing up against what they see as industrial projects that put economic concerns above those of the environment and human health. In recent years similar people power protests have been successful in Dalian, Shanghai and Guangzhou. What characterized the success of the…
Tags: Health, Pollution, protests, Shifang
Animals, Nature, Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 13th, 2012,
Sparrows are the most widely distributed bird in the world and found virtually everywhere. They are endemic to most of Europe and much of Asia, but have been spread around the world by human intervention. House sparrows originate in the Middle East and are known for their habit of often nesting on houses and other buildings and even inside large structures like factories and barns. Though house sparrows exhibit a fondness for – or at least a tendency to take advantage of – man made constructions, some aspects of human civilization are in fact detrimental to their health. Research has…
Tags: birds, house sparrow, human, noise, sparrows, urban
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jun 26th, 2012,
Australian surfers described the phenomenon as “insane” and “out of control” and probably said “dude” a lot, but since it was Australia they may have just said “mate”. What they were talking about is the frothy, thick sea foam that covered areas of ocean along the coast of Victoria, an area popular with surfers. According to the Herald Sun the sea foam stretched 5km offshore and was meters thick. Sea foam is sometimes a “natural” phenomena caused my the agitation of organic matter such as decomposing algal blooms. However, pollution, raw sewage and stormwater can contribute to these algal blooms…
Tags: australia, sea foam, surfers
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Jun 20th, 2012,
The UN women’s group doesn’t like it. The UN children’s group doesn’t like it. Greenpeace hates it. So do Oxfam and a coalition of NGO’s known as the High Seas Alliance. I’m talking about the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, aka Rio+20, taking place 20 years after the seminal Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The agreement draft is not legally binding (it was never planned to be) and apparently has no clearly defined goals or timetables to tackle pressing issues like food security, water and energy. The leaders of many major countries are of course heralding its…
Tags: Rio+20, summit, UN
Climate Change, Green living, Pollution, Jun 19th, 2012,
Where do you think the world is heading? Are things getting better or going downhill? Obviously, the state of the Earth is no utopian fantasy, but it’s not quite the post-apocalyptic landscape of ‘The Road’ yet either. But The Road not yet traveled is perhaps more likely than some sort of new Eden. Why or why not? Over the past 20 years: World population is growing to unsustainable numbers, though it is expected to stabilize this century. Life expectancy is on the rise, though it’s still around 50 in some very poor countries. This connects with a falling global infant…
Tags: Guardian, Pollution, Rio+20
Politics, Pollution, Jun 18th, 2012,
In the ‘Great White North’ money and jobs are worth the price of regular oil spills, fires and pollution. At least that seems to be the opinion of the Canadian government, the Alberta government, the fossil fuel industry and others, including many who work for the oil business. Otherwise plans for mega pipelines to the US and Pacific coast might be deterred by the many oil leaks like the one that recently occurred in a tributary of the Red Deer River, resulting in the closure of Gleniffer Lake, a reservoir and recreation center northwest of Calgary. The spill is estimated…
Tags: Alberta, oil spill, pipeline
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 12th, 2012,
Residents and visitors of a popular beach in the US State of Oregon were stunned when a massive rectangular dock float washed up on shore last week. The float turned out to be one of four from the fishing town of Misawa, Japan, which were pulled out to sea during last year’s tsunami. Another float washed up on a nearby island, while the other two have not been found. The dock was covered in hundreds of millions of flora and fauna, native to Japanese waters, but strangers to the Pacific Coast of the United States. The structure is home to…
Tags: debris, japan, Oregon, tsunami, US
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