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Air Pollution Linked To Blood Clots In Legs

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May 13, 2008 in Health, Newz and The Environment. 0 Comments

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Air pollution heavy in small particles may cause blood clots in the legs, the same condition air travelers call “economy class syndrome” from immobility during flight, researchers said on Monday.

Dr. Andrea Baccarelli of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues said they found the link after looking at 870 people in Italy who had developed deep vein thrombosis between 1995 and 2005.

When compared with 1,210 others living in the same region who did not have the problem, they found that for every increase in particulate matter of 10 micrograms per square meter the previous year, the risk of deep vein thrombosis increased by 70 percent.

On top of that, the blood of those with higher levels of exposure to particulate matter was quicker to clot when tested at a clinic, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Air pollution from automobiles and industry can contain tiny particles of carbon, nitrates, metals and other materials that have been linked over the years to a variety of health problems.

While lung diseases were an initial concern, later research has indicated it may cause heart disease and stroke, possibly because it increases the rate at which blood can coagulate, Baccarelli and colleagues said. More…

Exxon’s Founding Family Calls for Change

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May 12, 2008 in Business/Finance, Energy, Human Interest/Society, Newz, Resources, The Environment and sci-tech. 0 Comments

From Celsias:

If necessity is the mother of invention, it can also be the catalyst of change. Public Radio International reports that the Rockefeller family is taking on the CEO of Exxon Mobil, the company founded as Standard Oil by their great, great grandfather John D. Rockefeller in 1870. And this rare public engagement of the family in the inner workings of Exxon is not about current profitability, for which Exxon can boast record highs, but about lack of transition to renewable sources of energy. In fact, according to the Times Online, the press release from the Rockefellers came the day before Exxon Mobil was expected to unveil a $12 billion quarterly profit, the biggest in U.S. corporate history.

The Rockefeller family is calling for a reduction in the power of the current CEO, Rex Tillerson, and the addition of an outside chairman. Their primary concern is one of economics; Exxon needs to start looking at alternative sources of energy because it is going to run out of oil. Currently Exxon is selling oil faster than they are replacing it. Volatility and nationalism in the Middle East and other oil producing countries will only increase the difficulty in doing so. The Rockefellers point to Exxon’s lack of research and development vis a vis its competitors in areas like wind and solar technology as a key source of frustration. The family, which holds a significant minority stake in the company, is not alone among shareholders in their frustration with Exxon’s position on renewables and the climate crisis in general. Robert Monks, one of Exxon’s shareholders, is quoted in the American Public Media story saying, “Exxon is enabled to go in public discourse and say the science is unsettled. Well the science is unsettled, because Exxon paid to have it unsettled.” (See here, here and here.)

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Newer Scouting Group Serves ‘Wise Ones’, Mother Earth

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May 6, 2008 in Human Interest/Society, Newz, Religion and The Environment. 2 Comments

Editorial Comment: Hey folks I realize that the following article isn’t exactly Breaking news, or that many of the Readers of this blog are not pagan. But its nice to see an organization that promotes progressive family values. I would ask you the reader, to read the complete article before passing judgement. Enjoy, Shinai. From RedOrbit:

FRESNO, Calif. _ In two years, the Boys Scouts of America celebrates 100 years of service. Meanwhile, a lesser-known organization, SpiralScouts_an alternative to mainstream scouting programs_is only 9 years old.

According to its Web site, www.spiralscouts.org, the organization “allows individual groups to determine the exact manner in which they will pursue their own goals.” Groups are coed, and leaders aren’t subject to discrimination based on sexual orientation, religion or gender.A new SpiralScouts chapter is being organized by Clovis, Calif., resident Beckie Tetrault. She is mother to Danielle, 6, and Jack, 2. Her oldest son, Michael, 16, is a former Boy Scout.

“Boy Scouts is very Christian-centered,” Tetrault, a Wiccan, says. (Wicca is a neo-pagan religion.) “Their views aren’t consistent with my family’s beliefs.”

Tetrault, 36, does agree with the Boy Scouts’ appreciation of nature. After researching other programs, Tetrault came across the Michigan-based SpiralScouts program on the Internet. She has been working on establishing a group in the Fresno, Calif., area for the past two years.

“The closest chapter is Antioch (Calif.),” she says. “There was nothing in the San Joaquin Valley. I talked to a few friends who were interested in belonging to this group.”

Friend Beckie Stanley-Harris of Fresno has a blended family of four children ages 15, 9, 5 and 3.”I’m a Wiccan, and my boyfriend is a Christian,” Stanley-Harris, 31, says. “I want to give my children the opportunity to meet kids from other religions and cultures.”

Stanley-Harris, who was raised a Christian, was a Girl Scout when she was 8 and 9.”I remember summer camp being the highlight of my year,” she says. “It was fun to be up in the mountains, away from the noise of the city. I liked waking up on cold mornings, the campfires, the s’mores and the singing. There’s a camaraderie that comes with that.”

The first SpiralScouts meeting took place last week. Meetings, led by a male and a female, are being held twice a month at Fresno’s Discovery Center. Members pay a $15 annual fee; meetings cost $2 each to cover materials and supplies. Activities include field trips, arts and crafts and outdoor activities.

The group has three levels _ Fireflies, SpiralScouts and Pathfinders _ open to boys and girls ages 3-18. The Firefly promise reads: “I promise to serve the wise ones, to honor and protect Mother Earth, to be helpful and understanding to all people and always keep love in my heart.”

SpiralScouts won’t be selling cookies. Instead, they will raise money by recycling.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Judge orders Bush admin. to make listing decision on polar bears

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April 29, 2008 in Animal Rights, Extinction, Government, Newz and The Environment. 0 Comments

ANCHORAGE (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed with conservation groups that the department missed a Jan. 9 deadline for a decision. She rejected a government request for a further delay and ordered it to act by May 15.

“Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days,” the judge, based in Oakland, wrote in a decision issued late Monday. “Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the delay, much less further delay.”

Allowing more time would violate the Endangered Species Act and congressional intent that time was of the essence in listing threatened species, Wilken wrote.

The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast to oil company bidders.

Summer sea ice shrank last year to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles in September, nearly 40% less ice than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. Some climate models have predicted the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice by 2030. A U.S. Geological Survey study generated in response to the listing petition predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.

A decision on the proposed listing was due Jan. 9, but Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall said in January that a delay was needed to make sure it came in a form easily understood. He promised a decision within a month, but that deadline also passed and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace sued in March. More…

How low will lake levels go?

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April 29, 2008 in Foreign, Newz, Resources, State/Local Government and The Environment. 0 Comments

Courtesy MLive

West Michigan residents concerned about sinking Great Lakes water levels will get a chance to share their views this week when U.S. and Canadian officials studying the issue visit Muskegon.

The International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canadian panel that advises the two nations on Great Lakes issues, is studying water levels in lakes Michigan, Huron, Superior and Erie. A committee working on the IJC’s International Upper Great Lakes Study will host a public hearing on lake levels Sunday, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 W. Shoreline.

“We want to hear lots of people come out and squawk at this public meeting,” said John Nevin, an IJC spokesman. “We want to hear what this issue means to people when the water is really high or really low.”

IJC officials might get an earful.

Lake Michigan’s water level has dropped nearly four feet since 1997, according to federal data. The low lake level has widened beaches but created safety hazards for recreational boaters and caused freighters to run aground in Muskegon, Grand Haven and other ports around the lake.

On the flip side, record-high lake levels in 1986 caused severe beach erosion that sent several Grand Haven cottages tumbling into the lake.

The IJC study is focused on two issues: Whether dredging in the St. Clair River over the past century has caused excessive lowering of water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron; and if the volume of water flowing out of Lake Superior daily through control structures in the St. Marys River should be adjusted to account for below-average precipitation and global warming, which some studies suggest could lower lake levels by several feet over the next century.

The study could prompt changes, such as the construction of a water control structure in the St. Clair River, that would affect water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron, said Gene Stakhiv, co-chair of the International Upper Lakes Study Board.

“There are a whole range of changes in the regulation of flow and physical structures in the (Great Lakes) system that could help us control water levels,” Stakhiv said. “But we don’t know yet if there is a need for that.”

A growing chorus of critics — from scientists and shoreline property owners in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, to marina owners and shipping interests — want the U.S. and Canadian governments to plug what amounts to an unnaturally large drain hole in the St. Clair River.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

EPA scientists tell of political interference during Bush reign

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April 23, 2008 in Government, Newz, The Environment and The Executive Branch. 0 Comments

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.

The group sent an online questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences.

The report said that 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said they believe such interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than the previous five years.

The EPA has been under fire from members of Congress on a number of fronts including its delay in determining whether carbon dioxide should be regulated to combat global warming. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson also has been criticized for rejecting recommendations from science advisory boards on a number of air pollution issues including control of mercury from power plants and how much to reduce smog pollution.

In the survey, the EPA scientists described an agency suffering from low morale as senior managers and the White House Office of Management and Budget frequently second-guess scientific findings and change work conducted by EPA’s scientists, the report said.

The survey covered employees at EPA headquarters, in each of the agency’s 10 regions around the country and at more than a dozen research laboratory. The highest number of complaints about political interference came from scientists who are directly involved in writing regulations and those who conduct risk assessments such as determining a chemical cancer risk for humans. More…

Earth Day 2008

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April 22, 2008 in Newz and The Environment. 0 Comments

Tips that can help the environment, and save you money!

There are some aspects of our lifestyles that we can easily change that not only are good for the earth, they have other benefits: they’re good for our pocketbooks or other aspects of our lives. Here are five changes you can make that will be both good for the earth and for you.

TRY:
Buying powdered instead of liquid laundry detergent

OR TRY:
Making your own laundry detergent

ALSO: Hang your clothes out to dry this summer instead of using a dryer.

SAVES THE EARTH: Powdered detergent is easier to rinse away than liquid and is more efficient for your washing machine, making for less energy used and cleaner water.

For more great tips, read the rest here!

EARTH DAY QUIZ

Earth Day is an annual, international celebration intended to make us all aware of the delicate balance between man and Mother Nature. How “green” are you? Take the quiz here!

Stripping Mountains to Power D.C.

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April 21, 2008 in Business/Finance, Energy, Environmental Disaster, Government, MountainTopRemoval, Newz and Resources. 0 Comments

By David A. Fahrenthold

Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 20, 2008; Page A01

MUD, W.Va. — This is a place where “moving mountains” is no longer a figure of speech. Here, among the steep green Appalachians, mining companies are moving mountains off their pedestals to get the kind of coal that Washington needs.

It happened here, on a ridgeline called Sugar Tree Mountain, where locals once hunted for squirrels and puckery-sour grapes. Then the top was scraped off to expose the black seams in its innards, leaving a rock-strewn plateau.

“It used to be West Virginia,” said Vivian Stockman, an environmental activist. “And now it’s Mars.”

Though this isolated mine is more than 400 miles from Washington, the two places share a powerful connection: coal. The D.C. region, with its need for electricity skyrocketing, has been burning steadily more coal, buying almost a third of its supply from this part of Appalachia.

And that, analysts and environmentalists said, means that Washington’s air conditioners and iPods have helped drive the region’s “mountaintop” mining.

The coal industry and the Bush administration say the benefits of these mines, measured in jobs and energy, outweigh the damage.

But in West Virginia, where mining opponents can face back-roads intimidation, some neighbors say that Washington area residents might not know the true cost of their power.

“We have to go through a lot for them to get their electric,” said Lucille Miller, who picked grapes on the vanished mountain.

The links that bind the cathedral-ceiling suburbs of Washington to the blasted-out mines of West Virginia can be traced through federal energy records. The Washington Post analyzed almost four years of data, showing where the six coal-fired power plants across the D.C. region bought their supply.

The records make one thing clear: The plants have been buying a lot more coal. Total purchases were more than 40 percent higher in 2006 than in 2004. The increase came as the Washington region’s demand for electricity grew 18 percent since 2001, driven by population growth and an increasingly wired culture. D.C. area plants do not send their electricity straight to local homes but feed it into the multi-state regional power grid.

Records also show that about 32 percent of the coal the plants bought came from one kind of mine in this corner of Appalachia — a “surface” operation, where miners do not have to tunnel.

The region, where southern West Virginia meets western Virginia and eastern Kentucky, is home to the vast majority of mountaintop mines in the United States.

Article with Photo Gallery Continues @ Sourced Site.

Beer: Global Warming’s Next Victim? I’m so Sorry about this Bob.

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April 17, 2008 in Agriculture, Food, Newz and The Environment. 0 Comments

From Celsias:

We have seen many devastating effects of global warming in recent years – melting ice caps, damaged ecosystems, extreme weather conditions – but one troubling development might make a few more people sit up and take notice of the growing problem. Hold on to your kegs, kids – we’ve got a beer shortage on our hands.

A triple whammy of bad weather in Europe, an increase in the price of barley and a decrease in hops production in the U.S. has lead to a price increase of 20 percent for the most widely grown varieties, to 80 percent for specialty hops. The shortage is particularly hitting microbreweries, since they use more hops than major brewers.Industrial brewers like Anheuser-Busch and Miller are more insulated against the shortage because they have futures contracts with hops farmers. The contracts, which help big brewers hedge against rising prices, allow them to buy a quantity of hops for a specific period of time for a certain price. – NPR

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.