Sustainability

Eco IQ Quiz #7 : The Downside of Fracking – Click to Learn More

Hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. Hydraulic fractures  is one means by which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks.

While that sounds pretty benign, there are some real downsides to high-volume hydraulic fracturing.  How much do you know about this topic?

Here was the question: What are the known downsides of Fracking?

A) Potential contamination of groundwater
B) Road damage to rural roadways
C) Releases radioactive particles into air
D) All of the Above
E) A + B
F) A + C
G) B + C

The answer is (E).  Of the 501 people who took this quiz, 18.85% chose the correct answer.

Congrats to Christine S. who won the $50 Nutiva Gift Certificate drawing.

 

Alternative Energy: Will U.S. Lead or Follow?

By Seth Doane

In the wake of the Gulf oil disaster, calls for cleaner, greener energy, are growing louder.

“Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation to seize control of our own destiny,” President Obama said in June.

If that rallying cry sounds strangely familiar, it should.

In January 2006, Mr. Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush said America “must move beyond a petroleum-based economy to make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” [click to continue…]

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A Battle in Mining Country Pits Coal Against Wind

photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

LORELEI SCARBRO’S husband, Kenneth, an underground coal miner for more than 30 years, is buried in a small family cemetery near her property here at the base of Coal River Mountain. The headstone is engraved with two roosters facing off, their feathers ruffled. Kenneth, who loved cockfighting, died in 1999, and, Ms. Scarbro says, he would have hated seeing the tops of mountains lopped off with explosives and heavy machinery by mining companies searching for coal.

Critics say the practice, known as “mountaintop removal mining,” is as devastating to the local environment as it is economically efficient for coal companies, one of which is poised to begin carving up Coal River Mountain. And that has Ms. Scarbro and other residents of western Raleigh County in a face-off of their own.

Their goal is to save the mountain, and they intend to do so with a wind farm. At least one study has shown that a wind project could be a feasible alternative to coal mining here, although the coal industry’s control over the land and the uncertain and often tenuous financial prospects of wind generation appear to make it unlikely to be pursued. That, residents say, would be a mistake.

“If we don’t stop this,” Ms. Scarbro says, adjusting the flowers on her husband’s grave, “one day we’ll be standing on a big pile of rock and debris, and we’ll be asking, ‘What do we do now?’ ”

For many renewable-energy advocates outside the region, the struggle at Coal River Mountain has become emblematic of an effort across the country to find alternatives to fossil fuels. They have lent money, expertise and high-profile celebrities like Daryl Hannah and James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist, to help residents advance their case for wind power and to make it a test case for others pursuing similar projects nationwide.

The mountain, which is privately owned and leased to coal interests, is also one of the last intact mountaintops in a region whose contours have otherwise been irreversibly altered by extreme surface-mining techniques. Preserving its peaks for a wind farm, plan advocates say, could provide needed job diversification for impoverished towns that otherwise live or die by the fortunes of coal.

Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of Massey Energy, the largest coal company in West Virginia and the one planning to cut into Coal River Mountain’s peaks, has repeatedly called assertions of long- and short-term environmental damage exaggerated. [click to continue…]

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News Flash! Hexane in the Mix: From Soy Milk and Snack bars to iPod factories!

The latest news on the toxic chemical hexane is coming out of China this week with 4 workers reportedly died from work hexane exposure at the United Win iPod factory at which they worked.

Nutiva has been a leader in the organic food world alerting people to the dangers of hexane for both workers and consumers, and was one of the first brands to label its products non-hexane.  We look forward to a day when hexane is banned from food production altogether.

Many well-known food brands offer soy-based products that are processed with hexane.

Such brands include Clif, Luna, Kashi, Silk, Nature’s Way, Bragg’s,  and Genisoy, to name just a few.

Listen to this explosive YouTube Health Ranger Mike Adams  on hexane HERE.

From WIKIpedia: In the industry, hexanes are used in the formulation of glues for shoes, leather products, and roofing. They are also used to extract cooking oils from seeds, for cleansing and degreasing all sorts of items, and in textile manufacturing.

In in the news, from China Daily:

Workers protest over pay, toxic chemicals

SHANGHAI: Angry employees who attacked a Taiwanese company in Suzhou, Jiangsu province over management and pay disputes last Friday said yesterday they were not satisfied with the local government’s investigation into the case.
“The truth has been hidden from public view. There are people dying from long-term exposure to the toxicant used in the factory but no one is paying attention to that. There needs to be further investigation,” a worker surnamed Zhu, who took part in Friday’s gathering yet declined to give his full name, told China Daily yesterday.
He said at least four workers had died from overexposure to hexane, a toxic chemical workers had been asked to use for cleaning touch panels manufactured at United Win (China) Technology Ltd Co. The company is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Wintek Corporation, one of the world’s leading producers of small mobile phone panels and touch panels.

SHANGHAI: Angry employees who attacked a Taiwanese company in Suzhou, Jiangsu province over management and pay disputes last Friday said yesterday they were not satisfied with the local government’s investigation into the case.

“The truth has been hidden from public view. There are people dying from long-term exposure to the toxicant used in the factory but no one is paying attention to that. There needs to be further investigation,” a worker surnamed Zhu, who took part in Friday’s gathering yet declined to give his full name, told China Daily yesterday.

He said at least four workers had died from overexposure to hexane, a toxic chemical workers had been asked to use for cleaning touch panels manufactured at United Win (China) Technology Ltd Co. The company is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Wintek Corporation, one of the world’s leading producers of small mobile phone panels and touch panels.

Continue reading this important article at ChinaDaily

Help spread the word about this vital issue,  please Twitter, Blog, and Facebook this story and ask food suppliers their position on hexane in their foods.

Shoppers have the power to shift this debate and create a more healthy and sustainable world for all.

Remember Don’t Panic- Go Organic ~!

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What do YOU Think of Copenhagen: the Climate Summit?

Here is a good article providing an excellent overview on the issues.  While some climate doubters claim that temperatures are not rising, the acidification of the oceans and melting of Greenland is increasing every year at an upward pace.

From the Boston Globe.

More than 190 countries are meeting in the Danish capital through Dec. 18 to negotiate an international treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The talks are the latest in a series of United Nations meetings dating back to 1992 to respond to man-made global warming, which scientists say is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Here is a look at the science, the summit, and the stumbling blocks to reaching a deal there.

THE CHANGES

Hotter: Air temperatures have warmed about 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 100 years. They are expected to rise 3.1 to 7.2 degrees by the end of the century if worldwide emissions continue to grow unchecked.
Rising seas: Melting glaciers and the larger volume of warmer seawater have contributed to a sea level rise of about .12 inches a year since the 1990s, and sea level is projected to rise 7 to 23 inches, and perhaps more, by the end of the century.
Acidic oceans: Seawater’s absorption of carbon dioxide from the air is causing the ph of the world’s oceans to drop, threatening corals, shell-building animals, and possibly other marine life.
Extreme weather: The frequency and intensity of rainstorms and droughts are increasing in some places.
Changing seasons: Spring is lengthening in some places and starting earlier, in some instances changing bird migrations, egg laying, and flowering of plants.
Species shift: Ranges of plant and animal species are shifting toward the poles.

THE SCIENCE

Doesn’t the climate change naturally?

Yes. Changes in the earth’s orbit and the sun’s intensity, as well as volcanic eruptions, can cause climatic changes. Also, natural fluctuations in the ocean and atmosphere, such as El Niño and La Niña, can affect climate.

So how do we know humans are causing warming?

It’s well accepted by scientists that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere and warm the planet. Humans have released more of these gases in the last 100 years by the burning of fossil fuels — chiefly coal and oil — amplifying the natural greenhouse effect. Scientists can find no other explanation for the recent temperature rise without including humans’ contribution. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body that is the scientific authority on global warming, says most of the global temperature increase since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man.

Global_warming_polarbear_400

Continue Reading this story at the Boston Globe site HERE.

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The Green Economy

Our Future is the Green Economy.

Are you in?

Be sure to visit Green For All.org HERE.

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