The reach of unbridled capitalism is exacerbating the delicate balance of this world that we all live on. I am mystified by the craven slovenliness that we treat our fellow residents with on this planet. As humans, we are as responsible for other species on this planet as for ourselves. There is not a continent or an ocean that has been spared the destructive footprint of homo sapiens. The more oil we drill for, precious metals we mine, the fracking of our aquifers, the toxification of our oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams, the warming and polluting of the atmosphere, and the devastation caused by nuclear reactor accidents, the more we hasten our own extinction.
The indigenous peoples of this world have learned to keep the balance of this planet's ecosystems in check. They realize that overheating, overfishing, and removing the native ground cover of their homelands will lead to their own demise. What is it about humankind that overwhelms every region of this planet? What moves humans to devastate our own homes and moves us to ruin the homes and lives of our cohabitants on this Earth?
We seem to chase wealth and comfort that allows ourselves to be free to reflect upon our lives and accumulate "things." It seems that as a species, we fool ourselves with the belief that we are superior to the flora and fauna that are here with us. There are more species lost every day. Using somewhat of a utilitarian approach to life, we overuse species that are helpful to our lives, and we devalue species that do not serve our purposes. Witness your own thoughts on exotic species that experience our misanthropic "value filter." Consider that wealthy class that has hunted various species to extinction, and feels little to no responsibility for their destructive lifestyles. At what point does freedom for one form of life irretrievably harm another? These are questions that are ignored daily by the people who are chasing power and wealth without reservation worldwide.
Recently, I have witnessed a growing alliance of Indigenous tribes, "Green thinking and acting people", scientists, progressive Christians, and students who consider themselves to be members of a larger community of species that have an interlocking bond to leave a light footprint upon Mother Earth. Conversely, we are witnessing the dying gasps of a money worshipping destructive class of earth raping, conscienceless, exploiting oligarchs who want the middle class in developing and developed nations eradicated.
There have been victories intermittently. Bristol Bay in Alaska, an undesecrated ecosystem that Native Alaskans and area Alaskan residents whose livelihood depends upon clear fresh water and clean ocean water. The streams around Bristol Bay which rise inland are treated as the treasures they are. The salmon run there is one of the world's largest.
The Arctic North Shore of Alaska inside the Arctic Wildlife Refuge has been closed to mineral development and offshore drilling for gas and oil for a decade. This area is being considered for development, mostly by several oil companies. The various environmental groups that have fought Big Oil had success in the years of the Obama Administration. Things have turned somewhat dire with the Trump people, and most environmental groups are hoping that, with enough stink made, the various industries like Big Oil will be denied entry into express their colluding to ruin Bristol Bay, The Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and other pristine ecosystems.
Under The Obama Administration, there was a concerted effort to bring various groups, companies, and states together on an issue where needs of all parties that have interests can express their desired outcomes without being shouted down and ridiculed despite their not having all of their views adopted. The outcome desired of the group as a whole was what was usually adopted. Perhaps some interest groups had a better outcome than other groups. In the end, most groups felt okay about the outcome of the process.
If we do not continue to use this process, the groups with the most money will have the best outcomes. The process will inevitably become a sham exercise that is performed simply to rubber stamp what big oil, the nuclear power groups, mining interests, or corporate farms need to continue business as usual. It is very important that each environmental group working for building pristine ecosystems and maintaining them keep the common interests of the country, state, and regions within each state at the forefront. Many industries are trying to diversify to make their interests known and can be merged into an entire position presentation for several ecological and other advocates to make known.
The oil industry probably is planning for when a paradigm shift will radically revise what energy model is used worldwide to replace Big Oil. Countries worldwide know that, like the tobacco companies in the mid Twentieth Century, that when a business plan that uses an outmoded framework is used, the companies doing so are riding on a river of change with a water fall just ahead. There are examples of partnerships where, despite being superfund status, some parties have united to build plans that make a gradual cleanup of such a site possible. There are superfund states all over the United States, and in the Marianas Islands where nuclear testing made island like Bikini Atoll unfit for native Bikini people to return to their traditional homes and fishing sites some seventy years past the testing.
When the Interstate System in the United States was constructed in the mid to late 50s and 60s, oil was the fuel dominant in transportation. As a country, we employed a huge number of people in the construction and maintenance of the Interstate System. We must look hard at the use of high speed rail in various countries around the world, and evaluate what sort of trains are apropos for long-term development. Countries such as Japan, France, and a few others have made building and maintaining such rail systems their highest ground transportation priority.
There has even been discussion of using single person high speed tubes as a possibility. The position of the Republican Party, and some people in the Democratic Party regarding energy and transportation national policy is desperately in need of revision. It is imperative that young people alive today, and the needs of people whose time has not yet arrived be considered in this important discussion.
Among the myriad organizations who fight these battles are Greenpeace, Sierra Club, The World Wildlife Fund, and dozens more. These groups must continue to build consensus among themselves and tribes/people who want a clean environment in a specific location which is of interest to the consortium of groups as a whole. Of particular interest to this writer is the various of going into the such organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, and so forth, who realize that if the ecological balance is disturbed, that there will be a ripple effect among all species. The controversies enveloping the various organizations must be set aside to effect a broader consensus that will be in effect for the environmental areas that are still salvageable. The number of sites or areas where species and plant preservation are on the agenda must contend with a Cro-Magnon Republican Party whose slogan seems to be "frack, baby, frack!
Fracking Literally Makes People Sick, New Study Finds (from Eco-Watch-1/20/14 issue)
FThe Yale-based research team that produced the study looked at families in southwestern Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region who use ground-fed water wells.
A study "Proximity to Natural Gas Wells and Reported Health Status: Results of a Household Survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania," published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that people who live near fracking sites have more health problems than those who don't.
The Yale-based research team that produced the study looked at families in southwestern Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region who use ground-fed water wells. Surveying 492 individuals in 180 households, researchers found a significantly greater number of skin and respiratory problems among those who lived within one kilometer of a natural gas well than those who lived two kilometers away.
A new study provided more ammunition for what public health experts and environmental activists have been saying since fracking became widespread in the last half decade: chemicals used in the natural gas drilling process can be hazardous to health.(See Graphic Above)
Washington County Pensylvania, where one study was done, has 624 active gas wells with 95 percent of those fracked.
"Despite assurances by the drilling industry and numerous government officials that fracking chemicals do not pose a risk to nearby populations, scientists and environmentalists have repeatedly voiced concern over the high volume of chemicals used in the process and the potential for both groundwater and airborne contamination," writes Lauren McCauley at Common Dreams.
The researchers explained the impetus for the studying saying, "Little is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities including hydraulic fracturing that occur near residential areas."
Again, quoting the same study, "While much of the hydraulic fracturing process takes place deep underground, there are a number of potential mechanisms for chemicals used in the fracturing process as well as naturally occurring minerals, petroleum compounds, and other substances of flow back water to enter drinking water supplies," they warned. "If contaminants from hydraulic fracturing activities were able to enter drinking water supplies or surface water bodies, humans could be exposed to such contaminants through drinking, cooking, showering, and swimming." That same study also suggested that there could be airborne contamination through flaring, operation of diesel equipment, and leakage. And with stress from the noise and other activities around the wells mentioned by many respondents, they suggested this could be impacting health outcomes as well.
Their conclusion: "While these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating, and the population studied was limited to households with a ground-fed water supply, proximity of natural gas wells may be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms including dermal and respiratory conditions in residents living near natural gas extraction activities. Further study of these associations, including the role of specific air and water exposures, is warranted."
They also warned of even greater potential danger lurking down the road. Since most of the wells are only five or six years old, they said, "one would not yet expect to see associations with diseases with long latency, such as cancer. Furthermore, if some of the impact of natural gas extraction on ground water happens over a number of years, this initial survey could have failed to detect health consequences of delayed contamination."
The information concerning the deleterious effects of hydraulic fracturing appeared in Eco-Watch in the January 20, 2014 issue. Article author is Brandon Baker.
Chemical Spill in Virginia Kills Tens of Thousands of Fish
The indigenous peoples of this world have learned to keep the balance of this planet's ecosystems in check. They realize that overheating, overfishing, and removing the native ground cover of their homelands will lead to their own demise. What is it about humankind that overwhelms every region of this planet? What moves humans to devastate our own homes and moves us to ruin the homes and lives of our cohabitants on this Earth?
We seem to chase wealth and comfort that allows ourselves to be free to reflect upon our lives and accumulate "things." It seems that as a species, we fool ourselves with the belief that we are superior to the flora and fauna that are here with us. There are more species lost every day. Using somewhat of a utilitarian approach to life, we overuse species that are helpful to our lives, and we devalue species that do not serve our purposes. Witness your own thoughts on exotic species that experience our misanthropic "value filter." Consider that wealthy class that has hunted various species to extinction, and feels little to no responsibility for their destructive lifestyles. At what point does freedom for one form of life irretrievably harm another? These are questions that are ignored daily by the people who are chasing power and wealth without reservation worldwide.
Recently, I have witnessed a growing alliance of Indigenous tribes, "Green thinking and acting people", scientists, progressive Christians, and students who consider themselves to be members of a larger community of species that have an interlocking bond to leave a light footprint upon Mother Earth. Conversely, we are witnessing the dying gasps of a money worshipping destructive class of earth raping, conscienceless, exploiting oligarchs who want the middle class in developing and developed nations eradicated.
There have been victories intermittently. Bristol Bay in Alaska, an undesecrated ecosystem that Native Alaskans and area Alaskan residents whose livelihood depends upon clear fresh water and clean ocean water. The streams around Bristol Bay which rise inland are treated as the treasures they are. The salmon run there is one of the world's largest.
The Arctic North Shore of Alaska inside the Arctic Wildlife Refuge has been closed to mineral development and offshore drilling for gas and oil for a decade. This area is being considered for development, mostly by several oil companies. The various environmental groups that have fought Big Oil had success in the years of the Obama Administration. Things have turned somewhat dire with the Trump people, and most environmental groups are hoping that, with enough stink made, the various industries like Big Oil will be denied entry into express their colluding to ruin Bristol Bay, The Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and other pristine ecosystems.
Under The Obama Administration, there was a concerted effort to bring various groups, companies, and states together on an issue where needs of all parties that have interests can express their desired outcomes without being shouted down and ridiculed despite their not having all of their views adopted. The outcome desired of the group as a whole was what was usually adopted. Perhaps some interest groups had a better outcome than other groups. In the end, most groups felt okay about the outcome of the process.
If we do not continue to use this process, the groups with the most money will have the best outcomes. The process will inevitably become a sham exercise that is performed simply to rubber stamp what big oil, the nuclear power groups, mining interests, or corporate farms need to continue business as usual. It is very important that each environmental group working for building pristine ecosystems and maintaining them keep the common interests of the country, state, and regions within each state at the forefront. Many industries are trying to diversify to make their interests known and can be merged into an entire position presentation for several ecological and other advocates to make known.
The oil industry probably is planning for when a paradigm shift will radically revise what energy model is used worldwide to replace Big Oil. Countries worldwide know that, like the tobacco companies in the mid Twentieth Century, that when a business plan that uses an outmoded framework is used, the companies doing so are riding on a river of change with a water fall just ahead. There are examples of partnerships where, despite being superfund status, some parties have united to build plans that make a gradual cleanup of such a site possible. There are superfund states all over the United States, and in the Marianas Islands where nuclear testing made island like Bikini Atoll unfit for native Bikini people to return to their traditional homes and fishing sites some seventy years past the testing.
When the Interstate System in the United States was constructed in the mid to late 50s and 60s, oil was the fuel dominant in transportation. As a country, we employed a huge number of people in the construction and maintenance of the Interstate System. We must look hard at the use of high speed rail in various countries around the world, and evaluate what sort of trains are apropos for long-term development. Countries such as Japan, France, and a few others have made building and maintaining such rail systems their highest ground transportation priority.
Japanese Bullet Trains are the fastest in the world with exceptional safety histories
There has even been discussion of using single person high speed tubes as a possibility. The position of the Republican Party, and some people in the Democratic Party regarding energy and transportation national policy is desperately in need of revision. It is imperative that young people alive today, and the needs of people whose time has not yet arrived be considered in this important discussion.
Among the myriad organizations who fight these battles are Greenpeace, Sierra Club, The World Wildlife Fund, and dozens more. These groups must continue to build consensus among themselves and tribes/people who want a clean environment in a specific location which is of interest to the consortium of groups as a whole. Of particular interest to this writer is the various of going into the such organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, and so forth, who realize that if the ecological balance is disturbed, that there will be a ripple effect among all species. The controversies enveloping the various organizations must be set aside to effect a broader consensus that will be in effect for the environmental areas that are still salvageable. The number of sites or areas where species and plant preservation are on the agenda must contend with a Cro-Magnon Republican Party whose slogan seems to be "frack, baby, frack!
Fracking Literally Makes People Sick, New Study Finds (from Eco-Watch-1/20/14 issue)
FThe Yale-based research team that produced the study looked at families in southwestern Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region who use ground-fed water wells.A study "Proximity to Natural Gas Wells and Reported Health Status: Results of a Household Survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania," published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that people who live near fracking sites have more health problems than those who don't.
The Yale-based research team that produced the study looked at families in southwestern Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region who use ground-fed water wells. Surveying 492 individuals in 180 households, researchers found a significantly greater number of skin and respiratory problems among those who lived within one kilometer of a natural gas well than those who lived two kilometers away.
A new study provided more ammunition for what public health experts and environmental activists have been saying since fracking became widespread in the last half decade: chemicals used in the natural gas drilling process can be hazardous to health.(See Graphic Above)
Washington County Pensylvania, where one study was done, has 624 active gas wells with 95 percent of those fracked.
"Despite assurances by the drilling industry and numerous government officials that fracking chemicals do not pose a risk to nearby populations, scientists and environmentalists have repeatedly voiced concern over the high volume of chemicals used in the process and the potential for both groundwater and airborne contamination," writes Lauren McCauley at Common Dreams.
The researchers explained the impetus for the studying saying, "Little is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities including hydraulic fracturing that occur near residential areas."
Again, quoting the same study, "While much of the hydraulic fracturing process takes place deep underground, there are a number of potential mechanisms for chemicals used in the fracturing process as well as naturally occurring minerals, petroleum compounds, and other substances of flow back water to enter drinking water supplies," they warned. "If contaminants from hydraulic fracturing activities were able to enter drinking water supplies or surface water bodies, humans could be exposed to such contaminants through drinking, cooking, showering, and swimming." That same study also suggested that there could be airborne contamination through flaring, operation of diesel equipment, and leakage. And with stress from the noise and other activities around the wells mentioned by many respondents, they suggested this could be impacting health outcomes as well.
Their conclusion: "While these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating, and the population studied was limited to households with a ground-fed water supply, proximity of natural gas wells may be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms including dermal and respiratory conditions in residents living near natural gas extraction activities. Further study of these associations, including the role of specific air and water exposures, is warranted."
They also warned of even greater potential danger lurking down the road. Since most of the wells are only five or six years old, they said, "one would not yet expect to see associations with diseases with long latency, such as cancer. Furthermore, if some of the impact of natural gas extraction on ground water happens over a number of years, this initial survey could have failed to detect health consequences of delayed contamination."
The information concerning the deleterious effects of hydraulic fracturing appeared in Eco-Watch in the January 20, 2014 issue. Article author is Brandon Baker.
Four months after the publication of a batch of internal Monsanto Co. documents stirred international controversy, a new trove of company records was released early Tuesday, providing fresh fuel for a heated global debate over whether or not the agricultural chemical giant suppressed information about the potential dangers of its Roundup herbicide and relied on U.S. regulators for help.
Gulf of Mexico's Dead Zone Could be Largest Ever, Thanks to the Meat Industry
Scientists predict that so much pollution is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico this year that it is creating a larger-than-ever "dead zone" in which low to no oxygen can suffocate or kill fish and other marine life. The Guardian reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expected to announce this week the largest recorded hypoxic zone in the gulf, an oxygen-depleted swath that's even larger than the New Jersey-sized, 8,185 square-mile dead zone originally predicted for July.
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Chemical Sources/Areas
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Range (22,000 square miles and growing)
Levels of Toxicity of Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico
(deep red zone = high toxicity causing sea life death)
Roanoke Tinker Creek After Chemical Spill
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There it is, need I say more?
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