Photo
May 24, 2012
98 notes
other-stuff: doctorswithoutborders: Nigeria Lead Poisoning Crisis—Now Is the Time for ActionNigerian Government Must Ensure Clean Up of Affected Area, Along With Necessary Medical Care and Safer Mining Practices The Nigerian government must commit significant resources to respond to a lead poisoning epidemic in Zamfara State, which has sickened thousands of children since 2010, the international medical humanitarian organization MSF and other delegates at an international conference on the epidemic said today. Decision-makers from the Nigerian government and the ministers of mines, environment, and health were not present at the International Lead Poisoning Conference, held May 9–10 in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. No concrete action by the Nigerian federal government was announced. “There has been plenty of talk, but now is the time for action,” said Ivan Gayton, MSF country representative in Nigeria. “MSF will consider this conference to be a success when all of the poisoned children are living in a safe environment and receiving treatment.”Photo: A 10-year-old worker at the gold processing site in Bagega Nigeria 2012 © Olga Overbeek/MSF It’s enough to put you right off gold.

other-stuff:

doctorswithoutborders:

Nigeria Lead Poisoning Crisis—Now Is the Time for Action

Nigerian Government Must Ensure Clean Up of Affected Area, Along With Necessary Medical Care and Safer Mining Practices

The Nigerian government must commit significant resources to respond to a lead poisoning epidemic in Zamfara State, which has sickened thousands of children since 2010, the international medical humanitarian organization MSF and other delegates at an international conference on the epidemic said today.

Decision-makers from the Nigerian government and the ministers of mines, environment, and health were not present at the International Lead Poisoning Conference, held May 9–10 in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. No concrete action by the Nigerian federal government was announced.

“There has been plenty of talk, but now is the time for action,” said Ivan Gayton, MSF country representative in Nigeria. “MSF will consider this conference to be a success when all of the poisoned children are living in a safe environment and receiving treatment.”

Photo: A 10-year-old worker at the gold processing site in Bagega
Nigeria 2012 © Olga Overbeek/MSF

It’s enough to put you right off gold.

(via randomactsofchaos)

Tags: lead poisoning nigeria

Photo
May 23, 2012
187 notes
cognitivedissonance: joegressivism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer Of course you know oil pipelines never leak or rupture or anything like that right? Seriously, show this to anyone that ever says the words Keystone XL as if it were some sort of magic bullet that would save the economy. It isn’t even a complicated environmental issue, it clearly cuts through something that if anything were to go wrong would absolutely FUCK this country. Right here. Right here is why you should be concerned.

cognitivedissonance:

joegressivism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

Of course you know oil pipelines never leak or rupture or anything like that right?

Seriously, show this to anyone that ever says the words Keystone XL as if it were some sort of magic bullet that would save the economy. It isn’t even a complicated environmental issue, it clearly cuts through something that if anything were to go wrong would absolutely FUCK this country.

Right here. Right here is why you should be concerned.

(via randomactsofchaos)

Tags: aquifer water oil don't mix keystone xl pipeline Environment energy

Video
May 21, 2012
5 notes

laboratoryequipment:

Tree Rings Show Mega-Fires are Atypical, New

Today’s mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests a new study that examined hundreds of years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods.

Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model that encompassed 1,500 years of climate and fire patterns to test, in part, whether today’s dry, hot climate alone is causing the mega-fires that routinely destroy millions of acres of forest, according to study co-author and fire anthropologist Christopher Roos, Southern Methodist Univ.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Tree-Rings-Show-Megafire-are-Atypical-New-052112.aspx

Tags: forest fires

Link
May 21, 2012
140 notes
Climate Deniers: By Type

climateadaptation:

• Honest skeptics (ordinary folks who genuinely and sincerely don’t understand the science, and raise questions accordingly)
• Independent deniers (ordinary people who just don’t understand the science, and choose to be very noisy about their ignorance)
• Astroturfers, as described by George Monbiot (these are apparently ordinary members of the public, in fact paid by PR companies to swamp websites with misinformation and inaccuracies, they hide behind anonymity and post furiously in comment threads, and only on climate change issues)
• Media deniers (Fox News, even though Rupert Murdoch himself is not a denialist; Melanie Philips, etc)
• Scientific deniers (almost invariably, denialist scientists are not climate scientists; some are no doubt paid to be sceptical, and others are sincere; the overwhelming majority of working climate scientists do not doubt the fundamentals of human-induced climate change science)
• Proxy interests (Think tanks: Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, George C. Marshall Institute, Senator James Imhoffe, etc)
• Industry associations (American Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute)
• Vested interests (Big oil, big coal: the likes of Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, and possibly the Russian intelligence services)

More, here: Lepageblog

Tags: Climate Deniers Environment

Photo
May 17, 2012
79 notes
lickystickypickywe: Kyocera Announces Plan for Japan’s Largest Solar Farm Kyocera announced that it will partner with two other companies to build Japan’s largest solar farm. Located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, the 70-megawatt solar power plant is the start of an effort to explore opportunities to integrate solar within Japan’s electricity grid. Kyocera estimates the cost of the project at approximately $309 million (¥25 billion)

lickystickypickywe:

Kyocera Announces Plan for Japan’s Largest Solar Farm

Kyocera announced that it will partner with two other companies to build Japan’s largest solar farm. Located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, the 70-megawatt solar power plant is the start of an effort to explore opportunities to integrate solar within Japan’s electricity grid. Kyocera estimates the cost of the project at approximately $309 million (¥25 billion)


Tags: japan solar

Quote
May 17, 2012
4 notes
"

After two years of research, UCS found that the most important strategies for reducing a person’s carbon footprint are to change “what and how you drive, the energy you use at home, and what you eat.”

Those are answers we already knew. The vast majority of the green advice you’ll read? It’s irrelevant. There are four primary activities that dump carbon into the atmosphere: traveling from place to place, keeping buildings at pleasant temperatures, creating electricity, and raising animals for meat.

The rest of the green living pantheon—bamboo utensils, composting, eating local, reclaimed wood tables, organic cotton sheets—are nice gestures. And they often have other benefits: they might keep chemicals out of the water or provide a livelihood for local farmers. Many are also better than the alternatives they’re replacing. But when it comes to tackling climate change—not only the most dangerous environmental issue the world faces, but also a looming human rights problem—choosing these green products can only make a tiny difference.

"

—

GOOD magazine, of course.

YES YES and YES! It’s frustrating that the ‘green’ conversation has changed to bamboo utensils, which takes the focus off of REAL lifestyle changes that people are afraid to address head-on. For the love of god, read the rest, it’s good stuff.

(via twigl)

(Source: GOOD, via twigl)

Tags: green advice

Photo
May 17, 2012
131 notes
thepoliticalnotebook: Picture of the Day: Port Harcourt, Nigeria. An aerial shot of an illegal oil refinery along Awoba Creek north of Port Harcourt, an oil hub city. The illegal oil industry in Nigeria is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Will you look at that oil sheen on the water.. Fun fact: Over the last five years, Shell Oil has dealt with an average of 172 spills a year. 63 of them last year were “operational,” or over 100kg. Shell has announced that it paid $1.1 million in reparations to affected communities last year.  Bonus: Read this report on environmental and human rights abuses in Nigeria. Credit: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters. Via. View more Picture of the Day posts. Submit a photo.

thepoliticalnotebook:

Picture of the Day: Port Harcourt, Nigeria. An aerial shot of an illegal oil refinery along Awoba Creek north of Port Harcourt, an oil hub city. The illegal oil industry in Nigeria is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Will you look at that oil sheen on the water..

Fun fact: Over the last five years, Shell Oil has dealt with an average of 172 spills a year. 63 of them last year were “operational,” or over 100kg. Shell has announced that it paid $1.1 million in reparations to affected communities last year. 

Bonus: Read this report on environmental and human rights abuses in Nigeria.

Credit: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters. Via.

View more Picture of the Day posts. Submit a photo.

(via randomactsofchaos)

Tags: illegal oil Nigeria =

Video
May 17, 2012
5 notes

dxo:

Vermont Becomes First State to Ban Natural Gas Fracking (by democracynow)

Tags: fracking virginia

Video
May 16, 2012
31 notes

climateadaptation:

Excellent video showing “four examples that clearly illustrate the impact of a warming planet — the reduction of summer Arctic sea ice, shrinking alpine glaciers, ocean temperature, and global sea level rise.”  

Tags: global warming video global sea level rise

Quote
May 16, 2012
160 notes
"One-third of American girls start developing breasts by their 9th birthday. And this is earlier than even 15 or 20 years ago."

— On today’s Fresh Air, science writer Florence Williams explains why breasts are getting bigger and arriving earlier, why tumors seem to gravitate towards the breast and how toxins from the environment may be affecting hormones and breast development. (via nprfreshair)

(via nprfreshair)

Tags: breasts toxins