Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Belgium: 45 Litres of Concentrated Live Polio Virus Solution Released Into the Environment
October 4th, 2014Via: ECDC: As reported to ECDC by Belgian authorities, on 2 September 2014, following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart city, Belgium. The liquid was conducted directly to a water-treatment plant (Rosieres) and released after treatment in […]
Taps Running Dry in Rural California
October 2nd, 2014Via: New York Times: State officials say that at least 700 households have no access to running water, but they acknowledge that there could be hundreds more, with many rural well-owners not knowing whom to contact. Tulare County, just south of Fresno, recently began aggressively tracking homes without running water, delivering bottles to hundreds of […]
The Sun Hive: Experimental Natural Beekeeping
September 16th, 2014Via: Milkwood: Sun Hives are a hive design coming out of Germany and now gathering interest in Britain. They’re part of the world-wide movement towards ‘apicentric’ beekeeping – beekeeping that prioritizes honeybees firstly as pollinators, with honey production being a secondary goal. The Sun Hive is modeled in part on the traditional European skep hive, […]
BP Found Grossly Negligent in 2010 Spill
September 4th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: BP Plc acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a federal judge ruled, handing down a long-awaited decision that may force the energy company to pay billions of dollars more for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier held a trial […]
Halliburton Will Pay $1.1 Billion to Settle Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Lawsuits
September 2nd, 2014Bargains. Via: The Verge: Halliburton has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle much of its part in 2010’s Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster. The incident killed 11 people, and resulted in the largest oil spill in this history of the US after offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded. Halliburton was responsible for cement […]
Mountain of Tourist Landfill Threatening Bali’s Paradise
August 27th, 2014Via: Journeyman Pictures:
6.1 Earthquake Rocks San Francisco Bay Area
August 24th, 2014Via: CBS: A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked the San Francisco Bay Area early Sunday morning, injuring at least 89 people in Napa, severely damaging historic buildings in downtown Napa, rupturing gas lines and water mains across Napa, Sonoma, and Solano Counties leading to multiple fires, plunging entire communities into darkness and buckling and cracking […]
Sea Plankton Found Outside International Space Station
August 20th, 2014Via: Stuff: It’s not quite extraterrestrial life, but scientists have discovered sea plankton growing in space. Russian space officials have confirmed traces of plankton and other micro-organisms were found living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), and it appears they’ve been living there for years. Russian astronaut Olek Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov […]
A $50 Billion Chinese Canal Across Nicaragua
August 17th, 2014Via: NPR: One hundred years ago today, the first ship passed through the brand-new, U.S.-built Panama Canal; a century later, Panama owns the canal outright, and the country is one of the most prosperous in the region. Panama’s neighbor to the north, Nicaragua, is hoping a transoceanic canal and similar prosperity are in its near […]
Biological Effects of Fukushima Radiation on Plants, Insects, and Animals
August 15th, 2014Via: PhysOrg: Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown, biological samples were obtained only after extensive delays, limiting the information that could be gained about the impacts of that historic disaster. Determined not to repeat the shortcomings of the Chernobyl studies, scientists began gathering biological information only a few months after the disastrous meltdown […]
