EPA Proposes Plan for Next Phase of Cleanup at Crown Cleaners Superfund Site in Herrings, New York; Agency Encouraging Public Comment

This is an example of what contaminated soil can look like. This is what was lying beneath the demolished building.

Article: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/79D00CB0659DB20385257964006C6929

The EPA has proposed a plan to demolish a building whose soil threatens to contaminate the groundwater below it and could affect the families that live around the building. The soil and sediment are contaminated by "volatile organic compounds", chemicals that were produced by the large building's laundry. The EPA will demolish the building and excavate the soil that is contaminated. The soil will be shipped off the be treated and the groundwater that may be affected will also be treated. Additionally, the surrounding wetlands will be surveyed and anywhere that may possibly have any form of contaminant will be taken care of.

I know I'm glad to hear that the EPA is taking such a huge step as to work so hard to treat this water. I know if I lived in this contaminated place, I would be very excited! I think it's also nice to hear that the EPA is taking a step in the right direction since I feel like we always hear about the EPA making a mistake or doing something stupid that goes against what they stand for.

Questions:

1.) Do you think that the EPA was right to knock down this building? Why or why not?

2.) How would you react if you were one of the people living around this contaminated groundwater/soil?

3.) Would you have handled this situation differently?

Insanely High Air Pollution in Beijing

This picture shows a man flying a kite in Beijing on a very smoggy day.
http://www.treehugger.com/fossil-fuels/air-quality-beijing-so-bad-its-literally-charts.html
Air pollution in Beijing, the capital of China, has reached record levels of horrible- going back and forth between 'very unhealthy' and 'hazardous'. It has also reached a new level on the index called "beyond index". Planes could not take off because of the low visibility, and the levels of pollution climbed up to 522 micrograms of particulate pollutants per cubic meter of air. That could give a person who doesn't have asthsma an asthsma related death. Millions of Chinese people who live and work in Beijing have to walk through all that nasty stuff every day. Chinese citizens are starting to protest against the air quality to get the government to fix the problem.

This is so disgusting. I can't even believe people choose to live there, and I wonder what the death rate from lung infections is. I also wonder how the Olympics were there as most athletes need to breathe while they compete? I would hate to breathe that stuff in. I always feel sick after spending the day in Center City in Philly and it isn't even that bad there compared to Beijing. The government should do something to protect its citizens. I won't be planning a trip to China anytime soon.
Questions
1- Why do you think the Chinese government is not fixing this problem?
2- What caused the smog in the area to get so bad in the first place?
3- If you were a citizen of Beijing, what would you do to stand up against the dirty air?
4- If you were a Chinese government official, what would you do to fix the problem?
5- Do you think this problem will be fixed in the near future? Why or why not?

Offshore Wind Turbines

The first offshore wind turbine in the atlantic ocean was deployed off the shores of Portugal last week by a company called PrinciplePower. Their design will allow wind turbines to be placed in places that were never practical or posible to place them before.

This is a very interesting idea in my mind. Just to think about all the open ocean that we could designate as an area for these wind turbines. I can picture several square mile sections of ocean set aside for rows and rows of these floating wind turbines. It is an idea that could obviously have a huge impact on our impending energy crisis and I find it very interesting as it is something that I have never thought about before.

Link to article:http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/first-floating-offshore-wind-turbine-deployed-atlantic-ocean.html

Questions:

1: Do you think that floating wind turbines are a practical idea? Why?

2: What are some other innovative possible energy solutions?

3:How could implementing these turbines help our energy problem?

David Lewis's Blog

Link to article: http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2011/11/coping-with-climate-change/

Summary: This article disscusses issues surrounding current climate change and things that we can do to slow down this proccess in its entirety. The first thing that this article talks about is how natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, droughts, and volcanic eruptions are being found more and more all over the world everyday, and every year these events are responsible for many deaths and serious injuries and they devastate comunities and damage economies. Scientists believe that Global Climate Change has the power to affect the frequency of these events occuring and is therefore causing this worldwide catastrophy increase.

The more important thing that this article talks about; however, is what we can do to prevent this global climate change. Most of the ideas that this article suggests involve us turning to alternative energy resources. Most of our current enenergy comes from burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are not only non renewable but also lead to global warming and the increase of the planets sea level. If we keep using fossil fuels at the current rate at which we are today we are going to run out of these resources. These resources will come back at some point, but that would take millions of years. Instead this article stresses the importance of using renewable resources that will not run the sun and the wind and hydroelectricity. If we really wanted to do something good for our planet we should switch to using renewable resources.

Opinion/Reflection: Those of you who read the article or this summary may find yourselves extremely bored becaused you've seen this message a countless number of times before. The truth is, this article is one out millions of reports that repeatevly state the same message: "Switch to renewable energy." Its been said a billion times and the thing that angers me the most is that people just aren't paying any attention to it. I personnally think that global warming is the scariest phenomenon in existance and I am shocked that despite this threat people don't want to do anything. I find this whole fact of interpretation to be very confusing. Even though it seems like everyone is going and alot of places are switching to using some renewable resources, in the quickly approaching future our current efforts are not going to be enough and we are going to need to do alot more. The thing that I'm scared of is that we will be too lazy to put in this effort.

Questions:

1: Do you think that in our worlds current state, that we are doing enough to avoid problems in the future? Why?

2: Do you think that people are scared of global warming, or truely just too inconsiderate? Why?

3: Do you think that people are educated enough concerning this process? Why?

NASA Satellites Reveal Decline in U.S. Coal Pollution

http://www.treehugger.com/fossil-fuels/nasa-satellite-photos-show-decline-key-coal-pollution.html

Brian Merchant
December 2, 2011

This article is about how the U.S. has cut down on the pollutants coal produces, without just flat out getting rid of it as a fuel source. These satellites have shown that the amount of sulfur dioxide has registered a very steep decline in these past years.All they had to do to make this sulfur dioxide less abundant, was add desulfurization devices. These effectively scrub the air and take out the sulfur dioxide. This "cleaner" air is much better for our earth, and reduces the chance of acid rain. They managed to achieve all of this without laying anybody off, and actually ended up hiring people to install these new desulfurization devices.

I think that this addition is extremely beneficial to us. Coal is the biggest polluter out of the fossil fuels and now we've found ways to clean it up. This will stop acid rain, and create jobs. Overall, this is just a great solution to this problem. I hope that we can keep this up and keep inventing new things that will help us stop pollutants from getting into the air. I also hope that they can find ways to do this for other fossil fuels that heavily pollute the environment.

Questions

#1: What other ways do you know of that helps us stop pollution like this? Are they being used effectively?

#2: Do you think we should continue using these fossil fuels as energy? Why or why not?

#3: Is the energy coal gives us worth the harmful effects on the environment? Why or why not?

Fracking Wastewater Disposal Plan Could Send Contaminants Over Niagara Falls

Article by Matthew McDermott.
http://www.treehugger.com/fossil-fuels/fracking-wastewater-disposal-contaminants-over-niagara-falls.html?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29
This article is about how oil drilling in Canada could, in the future, send contaminants over Niagara Falls and from there into the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The water from the treatment plant would be released upstream from the falls, and critics say that there will not be a way to know if the plant could filter out the radiation or other chemicals found in the wastewater. The Niagara river is already on a list of at- risk waterways, and the new contaminants caused by fracking, or drilling, could cause serious troubles. A way that this could be prevented may be possible through the legal system, as Niagara Falls lays across the USA/ Canada border, and the contaminated water could disobey international pollution laws. Many people are against fracking, because it is very bad for the environment, and also dangerous. Scientists believe that the plant will not be able to control the quality of the wastewater.

I was surprised that the people in charge of the drilling are actually being so inconsiderate as to send polluted water directly over the border into another country. Fracking in general seems like a very bad idea becuase of all of the risks involved, and releasing wastewater into a major water system makes it even worse. My family was hoping to vacation to Niagara Falls sometime in the near future, but I would be uneasy about going if there was radioactive polution in the area. The amount of water affected by the Niagara River is immense, and I hope the people in charge will reconsider before going through with this dangerous idea.

Questions:
1. Why do you think people want to continue drilling if it is so dangerous?
2. Do you think Canada should be allowed to release toxins over the border that Niagara Falls crosses?
3. Why isn't this type of story covered more in the news?
4. What effect will this have on us?

Bottled Water. Clean convenience, or pure phony?

This article is obviously very closely related to what we have been talking about in class over the past few days. It discusses the evils of bottled water. This is something that because of science class has become a very important issue to me because although we have many problems facing the Earth right now, this is one that we can all get behind all very easily. It makes sense. By not buying bottled water you are both saving money and the environment.

The article begins by discussing how not too long ago the idea of purchasing and consuming "bottled water", would have seemed outrageous. However now it is something that we see every day no matter where we go. It has sadly become a part of life. It then continues by saying how we have all basically been brainwashed by an overwhelming amount marketing and advertising to think that their bottled water is so much better than our tap water that we should pay several thousand times the cost for it. Imagine whats next. Pure canned air? I'm sure someone would pay for it.

The article then points out that most bottled water is just bottled or distilled tap water anyway. That is probably the one fact that everyone should know. If the general public knew that, I don't think nearly as many people would pay money for bottled water.

Link to article: http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/16/1/Bottled-water-is-evil.html

Questions:

1: What is your opinion on bottled water and why?

2: What do you think the average person can do to help solve this growing problem?

3: Who do you think is to blame for this problem and why do you feel this way?