The Surfers Against Sewage “No Butts on the Beach” campaign is into its 5th year, and in that time they’ve given away 8,000 pocket ashtrays to responsible smokers. A crack team of SAS (Surfers Against Sewage), Marine Conservation Society and… Read More »No butts on the beach
This one goes out to all the moms and dads. What are we leaving behind for our children’s children? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdVOfnYkyA] Via: Celsias blog
Ten-year old Kyle Counts has at least 39 toxic chemicals in his body. His sixteen-year old sister Kimbra has at least 37. And their parents have no less than 47 each.
The Counts family are part of a Star-Telegram research project testing for man-made chemicals found in homes and offices in members of the Tarrant County population. The study revealed that each one of the 12 test subjects was found to have traces of dozens of potentially harmful chemicals in their blood. The chemicals they are testing for include flame retardants in many car seat cushions and computer wires, pesticides in fruits and vegetables, and coatings often found in microwave popcorn bags and fast-food packaging, and stain-resistant fibres in carpets.
If you’ve ever wondered whether there was a use for out-of-date condoms, non-clingy clingfilm or random odd gloves, you’re going to like Recycle This. Members post up questions and ideas about reusing and recycling random objects, and comments and ideas… Read More »Recycle This
As part of their campaign against PVC – polyvinyl chloride – the Center for Health and Environmental Justice has an animated awareness video featuring Sam Suds – a private detective/bar of soap whose mission is to keep toxins out of the Johnson household. The message of the video is loud an clear: PVC is bad, it’s all around you, but it’s easy to spot – just look for the 3 or the V.
The Center for Health and Environmental Justice has called on big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target to phase out PVC sales within their stores. According to a recent CHEJ press release as a result of their efforts, “Wal-Mart has already begun to phase out PVC in packaging and children’s lunchboxes. Last October, in response to health and environmental concerns, Wal-Mart announced plans to phase out PVC plastic in private label packaging over the next 2 years.”
Donna Barnett is keeping a blog to document her search for clean air. In Donna’s blog, called aptly, Chasing Clean Air, she talks about her experiences of starting over mid-life, her struggle to breath in Los Angeles, and provides links… Read More »21st century pioneer goes in search of clean air
The push is on to find a technology that will reduce mercury emissions 90% by 2015 in the state of Michigan – a regulation more stringent than the national standard, which calls for a 70% reduction. They’re hoping a big part of the solution will be Toxecon, a new sysem designed to keep gaseous mercury from escaping wth the rest of the power plant pollutants. While there are still bugs to be worked out, researchers are optomistic about the technology.
Toxecon injects activated, powdery carbon into the superheated gas from coal incineration. The carbon absorbs the mercury and flows into a newly constructed building called a “bag house,” where it’s trapped inside the network of fabric bags.
As a bonus, designers hope the process also will remove up to 70 percent of the sulfur dioxide and 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide from the gas, along with the 1 percent of fly ash from coal combustion that isn’t captured earlier.
Leading scientists have come together to draw up a list of 100 leading questions facing the UK’s environmental future. The Guardian whittles these down to just eleven to cover the key issues for us.
How long does the seabed take to recover from dredging, wind farm construction and oil and gas extraction?
How does the ecological impact of UK farming compare internationally?
What are the ecological impacts of airports?
The Green Party has commented on the £70-million clean up bill being ‘set to rise’ as the government admit ‘considerable uncertainty still remains in relation to the cost of decommissioning and clean up.’
The Commons Trade and Industry Committee today expressed concern about continued uncertainty over the taxpayers’ bill for the disposal of civil nuclear operations.
Green Party Principal Speaker Keith Taylor commented: “This comes only 4 years after a £24 billion price rise in 2002! Costs are continuing to spiral, but the government still insists nuclear power is the way forward.Read More »Nuclear costs spiral