Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Plastic Garbage Patch Bigger Than Mexico Found in Pacific
July 31st, 2017The ground up plastic is turning up in sea salt that people are eating now. Via: National Geographic: Water, water, everywhere—and most of it is filled with plastic. A new discovery of a massive amount of plastic floating in the South Pacific is yet another piece of bad news in the fight against ocean plastic […]
Japan Pictures Likely Show Melted Fukushima Fuel for First Time
July 22nd, 2017Via: Bloomberg: New images show what is likely to be melted nuclear fuel hanging from inside one of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima reactors, a potential milestone in the cleanup of one of the worst atomic disasters in history. Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest utility, released images on Friday showing a hardened black, grey […]
New Zealand: ‘100% Pure’ Campaign Shows Tourist Drinking River Water
July 14th, 2017haha oh sure, go for it: sosgoldenbay.nz And that’s near the most precious spring in NZ. Up where I live, in the Far North, the situation is apocalyptic. I snapped this image just a few KMs from my house: Hardly anyone cares or even notices. But they love the National Party up here. Via: Stuff: […]
Fishermen Express Fury as Fukushima Plant Set to Release Radioactive Material Into Ocean
July 14th, 2017Via: Telegraph: Local residents and environmental groups have condemned a plan to release radioactive tritium from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, say tritium poses little risk to human health and is quickly diluted by the ocean. In an interview with […]
Wind and Solar So Cheap the U.S. Will Meet Paris Commitments Even if Trump Withdraws
July 11th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Quartz: Research analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that renewable energy like solar and wind power are hurtling towards a level of ubiquity where not even politics can hinder them. Renewable energy is simply becoming the cheapest option, fast. Basic economics, the analysts say, suggest […]
1,800 Tons of Radioactive Waste Has an Ocean View and Nowhere to Go
July 2nd, 2017Via: Los Angeles Times: The massive, 150-ton turbines have stopped spinning. The mile-long cooling pipes that extend into the Pacific will likely become undersea relics. High voltage that once energized the homes of more than a million Californians is down to zero. But the San Onofre nuclear power plant will loom for a long time […]
Plastic Bottle Apocalypse
June 28th, 2017Via: Guardian: New figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the surge in usage of plastic bottles, more than half a trillion of which will be sold annually by the end of the decade. The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and […]
France to Ban All New Oil and Gas Exploration; Reduce Nuclear Power Use
June 24th, 2017Via: Independent: France is to stop granting licences for oil and gas exploration as part of a transition towards environmentally-friendly energy being driven by Emmanuel Macron’s government. Nicolas Hulot, the “ecological transition” minister said a law would be passed in the autumn. “There will be no new exploration licences for hydrocarbons,” he told BFMTV. The […]
Excessive Lead Levels Found in Almost 2,000 Water Systems Across All 50 States
June 24th, 2017Via: USA Today: While a harsh national spotlight focuses on the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation has identified almost 2,000 additional water systems spanning all 50 states where testing has shown excessive levels of lead contamination over the past four years. The water systems, which reported lead levels exceeding […]
Spectacular Drop in Renewable Energy Costs Leads to Record Global Boost
June 13th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — From Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Paris Climate Agreement: Petrofascism is alive and well in the U.S., but it’s too late to stop solar and wind. Trump’s energy policy is going up against the mathematical certainty that the costs associated with solar and wind energy […]
