Home/Posts Tagged ‘TOXIC’
Posts Tagged ‘TOXIC’
Health, Pollution, Nov 23rd, 2011,
The use of mercury in gold mining and gilding (covering something in a thin layer of gold) has a long history of poisoning in the Western world and a continuing legacy of death and disease in developing countries as the global demand for gold increases. What was commonly known as ‘gilder’s palsy’ occurs due to inhalation or unintentional ingestion when the toxic metal comes in contact with a worker’s hands and later mixes with their food or water. See the following historical example of mercury poisoning in Russia, from the Montreal Gazette: About 100 kilos of gold were mixed with…
Tags: Africa, gold, gold mining, mercury, poisoning, TOXIC
Pollution, Feb 15th, 2011,
An Ecuadoran court has found oil giant Chevron guilty of contaminating the South American country’s Amazon basin. A judge in an Ecuadoran court levied a fine of $8bn (€6bn) against Chevron for deaths, illnesses and monetary losses sustained by the local inhabitants of the rainforest from spills of toxic waste and crude oil. The spills are estimated by a Swedish University study to total 30bn gallons (113bn liters). This amount dwarfs the 205m gallons spilt by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Though the suit is being touted as a hard fought victory for the indigenous people of Ecuador, the…
Tags: amazon, Chevron, court, Ecuador, Ecuadoran, oil, Pollution, rainforest, spill, TOXIC
Pollution, Oct 7th, 2010,
Today Hungary’s toxic sludge leak reached the Danube, Europe’s second longest river, possibly threatening Serbia, Croatia and Romania, though officials believe PH levels in the Danube are now safe. On Monday a reservoir at an aluminum plant broke, releasing torrents of poisonous red sludge into an area 160 km west of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, killing 4 people, injuring 120 and prompting the evacuation of 250 residents. According to a CNN report the reservoir has since been repaired and the leak of halted, yet the sludge already leaked into the area still poses a danger. The spill has been…
Tags: aluminum, Danube, Hungarian, Hungary, river, sludge, TOXIC
Health, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Oct 5th, 2010,
So far at least four people have died and 120 have suffered injuries after a flood of toxic red sludge covered several villages in Hungary on Tuesday. The poisonous sludge comes from an alumina plant and began spilling into the surrounding area when the plant’s reservoir failed. So far it has leaked some 1 million cubic meters of the substance into a 40 square km area. 390 residents have been relocated and 6 people are still missing. The sludge, a waste product in aluminum production, contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested. Many of the injured sustained burns as…
Tags: disaster, Hungary, red, sludge, TOXIC
Health, Videos & Documentaries, Oct 3rd, 2010,
Toxics in, toxics out. Once again, Annie Leonard asks important questions about things that most people may not even consider, but are nonetheless important to the safety and wellbeing of every single one of us. Leonard, who brought us the informative films The Story of Stuff, The Story of Bottled Water and The Story of Cap and Trade, also explores the issue of toxic chemicals present in many common personal care products in her latest work, entitled The Story of Cosmetics. If you’ve ever wondered what those chemicals with long names in your shampoo, lipstick or deodorant, are and what…
Tags: Annie, chemicals, cosmetics, Leonard, personal care, products, story of stuff, TOXIC
Politics, Pollution, Uncategorized, Sep 7th, 2010,
The European Union (EU) established the REACH system (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) an integrated system for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals and establishing a European agency for these products. This system requires companies that manufacture and import chemicals to assess the risks arising from their use and take the necessary measures to manage any risk to be identified. The burden of proof with regard to the safety of chemicals manufactured or sold is on the industry. The regulation aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health…
Tags: alogen, bfr, environment, Europe, government, Pollution, research, TOXIC
Green living, Aug 25th, 2010,
I’d choose paper bags for my groceries, but since plastic bags are offered for free in shops and said to be not that bad for the environment, it’s hard to resist them. What is more eco-friendly: plastic or paper shopping bags? A: Neither. We have been conditioned to believe that paper bags are eco-friendly. Paper is made from trees, which are logged by clear-cutting methods. When the collected trees are dry, they are cooked into a pulp for many hours in a chemical mixture. The pulp is then washed and bleached; both stages require thousands of gallons of clean water….
Tags: biodegradable, bioplastics, chemicals, clear-cutting, eco-friendly, fertilizers, fossil fuel, GMO, paper bags, pesticides, petroleum, plastic bags, Pollution, re-usable, Recycling, shopping bags, TOXIC, transport
Green living, Aug 18th, 2010,
A: The environmental impact of meat and dairy products is a complex problem. The livestock industry is damaging our planet in many ways. It is polluting the air – according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, it generates more greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 (18%) and methane, than the whole world’s transport (13,5 %). It is polluting the water – gigantic containers called “lagoons”, where livestock animals’ manure and urine are stored, may leak or even break under heavy rains and storms. The waste is highly toxic and very often contains lots of antibiotics and dangerous bacteria….
Tags: Air Pollution, biodiversity, co2, dairy, ecosystem collapse, environment, lagoons, livestock, meat, methane, overfishing, TOXIC, water pollution
Pollution, Aug 1st, 2010,
China’s worst flooding in ten years has resulted in widespread problems including over 1,250 people dead or missing, thousands of homes destroyed and billions of euros in damage to infrastructure. One of the latest worries is that around 7,000 barrels, some containing toxic chemicals, were swept into the Songhua River on Wednesday. Authorities in China claim that nearly 3,000 have been recovered, but whether the barrels were empty or full is unclear. From a BBC News report: It is a source of drinking-water for several million people and is being tested for possible contamination, but officials have said there is…
Tags: Amur, Barrels, chemicals, China, Chinese, leak, river, Russia, Russian, Songhua, TOXIC, water
Health, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 13th, 2010,
Did you know that the Peace Lily is actually toxic; that corn was responsible for a nasty illness which affected 3 million Americans in the early 20th century; and that although beautiful, the Water Hyacinth is actually the world’s worst aquatic weed? If not, then there’s a book you should definitely check out. Last week, I picked up a new book, called Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities, by Amy Stewart. This book teaches the reader about more than 60 plants that are deadly, illegal, painful, offensive, dangerous, intoxicating, or destructive. These are plants…
Tags: book, botanical assassins, dangerous plants, deadly plants, destructive, dinner, flowers, fruit, garden plants, harmful plants, herbs, houseplants, illegal, mistaken identity, offensive, painful, TOXIC, trees, vegetables, weeds, Wicked Plants, wild plants
Climate Change, Pollution, Jun 26th, 2010,
It was only a matter of time before oil started raining down from the sky. It’s just ironic that it’s happening after we’ve past peak oil. It’s as if God is saying, ‘you want it that bad? Here, have some!’ I’m just waiting for someone to call it a renewable natural resource – after all, it’s plant-based and falling from the sky. Geo-engineering has unintentionally made this possible. In all seriousness, the whole ‘it’s raining oil in Louisiana’ scare comes from a shaky YouTube video in which it appears to be raining oil on a Louisiana street, but it could…
Tags: amazon, BP, Corexit 9500, dispersant, Ecuador, EPA, evaporate, Hari, Johann, Louisiana, oil, rain, raining, TOXIC
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 24th, 2010,
Oil-covered dolphins have been spotted swimming in the Gulf of Mexico exhibiting both unusually agitated and ‘sluggish’ behavior. Both journalists and professional dolphin spotters have noticed dolphins ‘acting drunk’, some with their dorsal fins encrusted in reddish crude. When we realized what we had discovered, we called Daryl Carpenter, owner of Reelscreamers, and asked him if anyone else had noticed the oiled dolphins or reported it. Carpenter said that news crews had taken video footage, but he did not know if any of the images had been broadcast. So far none of the images have surfaced, and wildlife officials, if…
Tags: BP, dolphins, drunk, Gulf, Louisiana, oil, spill, TOXIC
Climate Change, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 2nd, 2010,
In light of BP’s repeated failures when it comes to dealing with the Gulf oil spill disaster, LogoMyWay.com has decided to hold a contest. They (like many other people) are of the mind that BP is really in need of a new logo. Their current logo you can check out here. Call me crazy, but that image does not seem fitting for a company responsible for the worst oil spill in US history. So, I’ll get to the point. The BP Logo Redesign Contest wants you to redesign BP’s logo in a creative way that will be a strong brand…
Tags: $200, BP, contest, dead wildlife, incompetence, logo, LogoMyWay.com, oil spill, redesign, TOXIC
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, May 23rd, 2010,
Over the past month, BP has scrambled to clean up the disaster that is the Gulf Coast Spill. One of their methods involved the use of a chemical dispersant which is known to be quite toxic and may have contributed to the deaths of a number of animals in the area. Federal regulators ordered BP to switch to something less toxic, but of course the BP people refuse to listen and more habitat and wildlife will probably be damaged or destroyed, thanks to their incompetence. BP chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, wrote about their currently used chemical (Corexit 9500) in…
Tags: BP, chemicals, cleanup, Corexit 9500, dispersant, EPA, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, TOXIC
Climate Change, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 27th, 2010,
The Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia is one of the most toxic waterways in the world. The river is choked with industrial pollutants, garbage and sewage – yet some 30 million people depend on its waters. Villagers who live near the Citarum have no choice but to use the toxic river water for bathing and drinking. Though they boil it to kill bacteria before drinking, poisonous heavy metals and chemicals remain. Scavenging for trash and recyclables has replaced the once plentiful fishing in parts of the river. Furthermore, extensive logging and farming are contributing to flood conditions in near…
Tags: Al Jazeera, Citarum, CNN, Eco Solutions, flood, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Pollution, river, TOXIC, water
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 19th, 2010,
Frogs can’t seem to get a break. Yet another enemy of the vulnerable amphibians – at least in cold countries – is sodium chloride, or NaCl, which is used in many parts of the world to grit icy roads in the winter in order to make them more drivable. The problem is that it’s toxic to aquatic animals and plant life – especially frogs. This becomes an issue as soon as the weather warms up and the snow and ice begin to melt. According to a New York Times piece, sodium chloride runoff is particularly taxing for Chicago’s frogs, fish…
Tags: aquatic, Canada, chloride, frogs, grit, Guardian, NaCl, New York Times, salt, sodium chloride, TOXIC, winter
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 11th, 2010,
As international gold prices rise, demand for the precious metal increases and prospectors in search of fortune – or simply trying to eek out a living – are flooding into gold mining areas. Peru, Honduras and The Congo have all been in the news as nations where gold mining is linked to environmental, political and human disaster. Sensitive ecological regions of Venezuela – including rainforest– are also suffering the effects of a toxic gold rush. Toxic – because of the mercury used for gold mining, which is not recycled or disposed of properly and in turn contaminates the water, poisoning…
Tags: ecological, environmental, gold, gold rush, illegal, mine, rainforest, TOXIC, VBS, Venezuela
Climate Change, Dec 3rd, 2009,
When I was a kid I used to hear stories about all sorts of creatures that mutated and grew to terrible proportions from being exposed to toxic radioactive waste. Giant alligators lived in the New York City sewer system, ferocious gangs of rats scurried underneath the Manhattan streets and packs of wild dogs roamed abandon buildings. Heck, it was the 80s – every week they were making a new movie about that kind of stuff. But what’s really going on in the sewers of the Big Apple? Something decidedly less fascinating, but no less dangerous: toxic sewage overflow. According to…
Tags: New York, New York Times, sewage, sewer, TOXIC, Toxic Waters
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Nov 13th, 2009,
Though ‘clean coal’ is considered to be an audacious marketing scam by many, it may in fact be (sort of) possible. Or at least cleaner coal – they still have to mine and burn the stuff and then bury vast amounts of CO2 underground. But if they really can ‘eliminate more than 95%’ of the CO2 then that would be a big step up from the coal powered pollution that’s currently going on around the world. NBC News anchor Brian Williams delivers a skeptical intro to this story. ‘Cleaner coal? Researchers say yes.’ Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News,…
Tags: carbon emissions, cleaner coal, coal, mining, TOXIC
Climate Change, Pollution, Oct 21st, 2009,
It’s the environmental equivalent of someone posting dorky junior high school photos of you on facebook, except it’s not funny. Instead of braces, feathered hair and bad skin, this time carcinogens, chemical pesticides and industrial compounds are returning from the past to haunt us. Starting to feel nostalgic? Me neither. Glaciers melting in the Swiss Alps due to higher than normal temperatures are apparently releasing toxic chemicals that have been stored in ice for up to 50 years. Swiss researchers are finding evidence of dangerous buildups of banned chemicals like DDT, dioxins and other out-dated POPs – or Persistent Organic…
Tags: chemical, glaciers, Swiss, temperatures, TOXIC
