#pollution
Tumblr likes to tell people that they don’t owe the world anything. Tumblr likes to tell people that the idea of owing the world is capitalist garbage, but they’re wrong.
Of course, capitalism wants you to work from the day you’re born, that’s totally true, but you do owe the world for existing. Every human on the planet owes the world so much that they can never pay up. We all contribute to pollution, unnecessary slaughter and hatred in one form or another, and we all owe the world big time for our existence. We kill, destroy and create harmful things for the benefit of ourselves alone. We owe the world endlessly for all the death and pollution we’ve diseased it with.
Tumblr likes to tell people that they owe the world nothing to make them feel better, but I’m afraid your feelings do not come first when discussing your debt to the planet. We doowe the world, and eventually, we’ll have to pay up.
Breathing Pollution During Pregnancy Raises Child’s Risk of Autism
It should come as no surprise that if an expecting mother breathes air of poor quality, her child might suffer for it. Lung development trouble, premature births, and other complications have all been associated with severe air pollution. However, a new study has now linked air pollution with autism as well.
This is not the first time risk of autism development has been tied to maternal air pollution exposure. However, according to researcher Marc Weisskopf, the senior author of the new study, the specificity of these latest findings make the study of particular importance, as it “rules out many other possible explanation” for the results.
The study was published yesterday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, and details how Weisskopf and his colleagues asessed a cohort of more than 116,000 US mothers whose pregnancies began as early as 1989. The researchers collected data on where participants lived during their pregnancies, as well as data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other sources on localized levels of fine particulate matter air pollution.
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The EPA will reverse a critical clean energy policy so polluters can burn more coal
- The Trump administration announced today that it will take steps to repeal a federal policy that would have pushed states to abandon coal and switch to renewable energy. The move was long expected, and it’s likely to be fought in the courts by environmental groups and attorneys general from several states.
- The announcement targets the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a core climate change policy passed under President Barack Obama that aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. “The war on coal is over,” said Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt at an event in Kentucky. “Tomorrow in Washington, DC, I will be signing a proposed rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan. No better place to make that announcement than Hazard, Kentucky.”
- President Donald Trump had signed an executive order in March directing Pruitt to repeal the CPP, which the administration sees as an overreach in presidential power that kills jobs. In reality, the CPP was Obama’s attempt at tackling climate change by ordering fossil fuel-fired power plants — which are the largest concentrated source of CO2 emissions in the US — to cut carbon pollution by about 30 percent by 2030. Reducing carbon pollution has health benefits — including fewer asthma attacks in children. The regulations would also lead to an estimated $55 billion to $93 billion per year in 2030 in climate and health benefits, Obama’s EPA said. Read More
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Plants vs explosives
Did you know that plants can extract TNT and RDX from soil and water?
These two explosives, which are some of the most widely used in munitions, are classified as highly toxic.
Pollution from explosives can pose a risk to both the environment and public health, so it’s vitally important that cost-effective ways of dealing with it are found.
Research carried out by Professor Neil Bruce at the University of York uses genetic modification to combine the characteristics of certain bacteria, which are able to detoxify different types of explosives, with the larger mass and higher processing ability of plants.
Watch out for more amazing plant science in the weeks to come.
Education time: Who is Anonymous? Anonymous is exactly what it sounds like. A network of people (which makes it indestructible) who fight AGAINST injustice, corruption and inequality and for humanity, love, peace and equal rights for all! Be anon :)
Stand up for those who cant stand up for themselves
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This fake yarn is supposedly better for sheep.
Aimed at people who don’t know where wool comes from, it’s 100% plastic. Yes, plastic.
So any garment you wash will release microfibres into the sea. It’ll never decompose.
You’re supposed to believe that sheep shearing is violent and cruel. There are imbeciles out there that work in an unprofessional manner while shearing, but that’s not the case overall.
Sheep don’t suffer from having their fleece removed.
Left on, the fleece can become a home for fly eggs and the subsequent maggots which can eat the sheep. Chemical treatments are available to prevent that happening. It’s much better for the sheep, the land and the farmer to avoid chemical use.
Don’t be fooled. Wool is a sustainable material, one we should make more and better use of.
Any garment you wash will release microfibres into the sea. It’ll never decompose.
This is very important.
And you need to wash acrylic wool garment more often than natural wool. They get stinky way more easily.
In my almost-decade of owning sheep, there have been exactly two(2) bad shearers try to start up in the area. Know what happened? The first farm they went to called every other shepherd in the area and said “This guy cut one of my sheep and didn’t think it was a big deal, don’t hire him.” And neither of them ever did business in the area again.
Some farmers are less conscientious than they should be about taking care of their stock, and the occasional tiny nick will happen, but no one is going to hire a shearer who is a) incompetent enough and b) uncaring enough to actually injure the animals to the point of bleeding, let alone the kind of horrors the internet claims.
Also, most breeds of sheep will literally die if they go too long without being sheared. PETA (and let’s face it, most of this anti-wool stuff can be traced back to deliberate misinformation from PETA) doesn’t care if sheep die, they have openly stated that they would prefer every domestic species that can no longer survive without humans go extinct rather than live in “"slavery.”“
Humans and sheep have lived together for over ten thousand years, they’ve been domesticated longer than dogs!Their lives consist of doing whatever the heck they want (for the most part they only want to walk, eat, sleep, play, and make lambs) while being fed and cared for, for the low price of having their hair cut once a year. Why would anyone boycott this natural, biodegradable fiber humans have been using for so long to the benefit of both species, in favor of plastics that are killing the planet??
Sometimes, I wonder if PETA just wants humanity to die out
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This is Saratoga Springs in the state of New York in early 1900. The coloured picture shows a specific period in time where pedestrian outnumbered in presence the carriages and cars. The space division between building to building it heavily emphasized by a generous sidewalk outlined by a series of tall and lush trees that carry along the road.
In recent times we have forgotten how important is a well designed road network. Systematically we removed many pedestrian features to favor cars and its culture. The realm of public life has been ruined by the pervasive ideology that cars are the solution to public life, and also to the transportation issue.
The phenomena of removing space from sidewalks and its features has transformed North American cities into speedways. If once we had more square surface for feet, now we have more than that for rubber. All this has developed by leaving the public transportation out of the equation and pushing the notion that commuting is the way to be.
The essence of the public space extending from the edge of buildings towards the road, is the pedestrian domain of social activities which makes the urban landscape vibrant and acceptable. Without it we would give up our very own ability to claim public spaces a human experience.
The sidewalk becomes an opportunity for business to thrive and for the public to experience a better urban life by walking their neighbors.
Today we have seen the drastic changes of our cities in favor of a chaotic systems that pushes for cars to be the main feature of urbanism. As the invention of the car made its way worldwide, we slowly reduced the public spaces to a mere sequence of tarmac junctions for traffic to collect in it.
The functionality of a wide sidewalk to host plenty of people, along with a solid sequence of trees, has been proven to work pretty well in terms of urban design. As the road traffic flows along streets, the parallel parking creates a virtual barer to define the obstacles along the road in order to protect the pedestrians.
Wide sidewalks aren’t just for people to stroll by, but they provide opportunities for local business to become part of the community establishing their brand and practices. Bars, restaurants, cafes, are all in need of public pedestrian space to engage people into enjoying the city.
At the same time a solid line of tall trees enforces the safety boundary between the street and the sidewalk, while simultaneously the branches with their leaves provide the necessary shade to cool the ground and preventing excessive heat from creating heat bubbles across the city.
The trees coasting the streets will absorb the CO2 produced by vehicles and release at night the fresh oxygen, which replenish the air quality of the city. This will help the overall urban temperature from producing excessive heats during summer periods.
Trees along roads will work beyond their natural purpose. We forgot how the presence of green throughout cities has the ability to remove the grey effect of buildings, and to create a welcoming atmosphere through communities, enhancing the psychological aspect of citizens.
Municipalities ought to reconsider the way green spaces are used. Trees, bushes, and others natural elements can increase the life quality of many urban dwelling. Reshaping public spaces for pedestrians can only have positive impacts, engaging people into becoming more active among city streets while reconsidering their approach with the car.
Parks and vegetation spread out across cities works towards creating a wide and positive sense of urban beautification, which aims at defeating the grey and obsolete polluted stereotypes city dwells into. Municipalities can only benefit from implementing such natural spaces that focus on pedestrians to reclaim space from cars; also by reshaping the old concept of suburban solumes that are virtually isolated from any walking experience or commercial engagement.
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
Albert Einstein
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EVOLUTION OF AIR POLLUTION / EVOLUCIÓN DE LA CONTAMINACIÓN DEL AIRE
Source:NASA
More maps on http://geomapping.tumblr.com/
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[SUBMISSION]Some good news! Tl;dr- SWO has been found to break down about 99% of PFAS chemicals and is super viable as a technology to help clean up superfund sites like the Hudson River! We’ve been trying to figure out how to efficiently clean up PFAS for a while now so this is a big deal.
“The findings of all three demonstration studies showed a greater than 99% reduction of the total PFAS […] As a destructive technology, SCWO may be an alternative to incineration and could be a permanent solution for PFAS-laden waters rather than disposal by injection into a deep well or landfilling.”
This is one of those technological breakthroughs that doesn’t sound very exciting on paper but could make a huge difference in cleaning up polluted waterways and improving the surrounding ecosystems.
Thanks to @dreaming-of-spots for this submission!
“Shanty Stack”
“The sun is warming the air as the market is closing now. My shirt is already sticking to my skin. They advised to avoid going out, but I feel good, I’m only coughing. Uncle Alisha is saying he got sick because it’s not air anymore, he says that before we used to see the sky and it was blue. But I don’t know; maybe he’s just getting old, he’s already 37.
The Stack is constantly growing as new people are moving in. Are they coming from Above?”
By Arnaud Imobersteg
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Yes gas prices are up.. BUT
I’m happy to see so many people in my town riding bicycles instead
So, there’s apparently research coming out now about microplastics being found in people’s bloodstreams and the possible negative effects of that and I feel the need to get out ahead of the wave of corporate sponsored “be sure to recycle your bottles!” or “ban glitter!” campaigns and remind everyone:
It’s fishing nets. It’s fishing nets. It is overwhelming fishing nets It always has been fishing nets.Unless regulations are changed, it will continue to be fishing nets.
The plastic in the ocean in largely discarded nets from industrial fishing. The microplastics are the result of these nets breaking down. The “trash islands” are also, you guessed it. Mostly fishing nets and other discarded fishing industry equipment.
Do not allow them to continue to twist the story. Do not come after disabled people who require single use plastics. Do not come after people using glitter in art projects and makeup. These things make up a negligible amount of the issue compared to corporate waste, specifically in the fishing industry. Do not let them shift the blame to the individual so they can continue to destroy the planet and our bodies without regulation.Industries are incredibly resistant to taking responsibility for their own waste, to the point where “consumers are responsible for industrial waste” is somehow considered a sensible, ethical, worthy sentence.
It is actually perfectly reasonable to say that “industries are responsible for industrial waste” and “the effects of industry can, should and must be fixed by industry” and “Industry can, should and must be held responsible for its impacts on the commons, such as air, water, oceans and land.”
Not sure where OP is getting their info from, but it’s not all fishing nets (they’re still a big part of things, but OP is super overplaying things). Link to the debunking post (with plenty of sources) and some good discussion (although someone in that thread still says that fishing nets are the majority of oceanic plastic waste which also seems to be made up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allenelizabeth/2021/04/13/why-seaspiracys-focus-on-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-is-misleading/?sh=27561891148b):
So, there’s apparently research coming out now about microplastics being found in people’s bloodstreams and the possible negative effects of that and I feel the need to get out ahead of the wave of corporate sponsored “be sure to recycle your bottles!” or “ban glitter!” campaigns and remind everyone:
It’s fishing nets. It’s fishing nets. It is overwhelming fishing nets It always has been fishing nets.Unless regulations are changed, it will continue to be fishing nets.
The plastic in the ocean in largely discarded nets from industrial fishing. The microplastics are the result of these nets breaking down. The “trash islands” are also, you guessed it. Mostly fishing nets and other discarded fishing industry equipment.
Do not allow them to continue to twist the story. Do not come after disabled people who require single use plastics. Do not come after people using glitter in art projects and makeup. These things make up a negligible amount of the issue compared to corporate waste, specifically in the fishing industry. Do not let them shift the blame to the individual so they can continue to destroy the planet and our bodies without regulation.While fishing nets and other human activity on the ocean (yep, it’s oil drilling) is a significant contributor, 80% of marine MPs originate from terrestrial sources. Large sources of MPs include tires, single-use plastic bags and packaging (a particularly bad one), wastewater from washing clothing, and personal care products such as facial cleansers. So yes, our daily use of disposable plastics is harming the environment, and yes, the choices we make do hold weight. Also, your choices as a consumer influence how companies formulate ingredients. Boycotting companies that continue to formulate with MP-producing material does go a long way. It has worked in the past 10 years for other compounds such as triclosan (remember when everything was ‘antimicrobial’ and then stopped?) . When in doubt, reduce. Reuse if necessary, and remember that recycling is ineffective if you’re in the US because China won’t take our trash anymore. All that is not to say that industry should not take a large portion of the blame, but everyday use is not an insignificant culprit in the proliferation of microplastics.
And before anyone goes off on me, I do have a medical condition that does mean I have to use single use plastic. It doesn’t make me feel happy about my plastic consumption, but there isn’t much I can do in order to change that. Just do your best. If everyone cut down on what they could, things would be better than what they were going to be otherwise.
I don’t usually go off on posts, but I am a chemical engineering graduate student who is currently studying under a professor whose research is on marine microplastics, nanoplastics, and surfactants (think BP oil spill). Please, please don’t take me or OP at our words. In fact, a lot of newspapers are just not that good in properly conveying scientific information. If you want to be well-informed, there are plenty of scientific articles published in well-respected, peer-reviewed scientific journals. They aren’t a difficult read for a layperson, especially not the introduction.
Also, because people keep mentioning legos in the notes, as long as you’re not throwing them away, sticking them in your dishwasher, or chewing on them, it’s basically nothing compared to plastic bags and water bottles. They usually need high temperatures, uv radiation, and physical agitation to produce microplastics, so they’re probably gonna be fine.
Also, microplastics contaminate soil, food, drinking water, and air. So, seafood is not the biggest risk factor - most of the microplastic in our blood comes through the consumption of plastic-sealed food and water. Tap water and most produce typically contains very low concentrations of MPs in comparison to plastic-wrapped food. Parents should consider opting for safer toys and clothes for their toddlers. Children have a disproportionately high yearly MP consumption for their size because of chewing and sucking on plastic toys. We have found that microplastics can even be present in the human placenta, so anyone who is pregnant should consider cutting down on the amount of plastic they consume.
Sorry for the long rant, I just really want people to know more about this topic and to look to scientists for information. Please fact check me and correct me if I’m wrong. We all need to talk about this stuff a lot more, so I’m glad OP brought it up.
