Posts Tagged ‘pollution’

#Pollution isn’t Oxygen’s only Threat from #GlobalWarming

Posted: May 12, 2016 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll

Did you know warm water contain less oxygen?

I didn’t. Like most people when I think of what produces oxygen, I think of trees. But 70% of the Earth’s oxygen comes from the ocean, more specifically from the marine plants in the ocean.

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One need not be an environmentalist or a cynic to be aware that the average person doesn’t give a shit about marine phytoplankton. Even people tuned into environmental news are likely to think phytoplankton is a superfood juice fad. Perhaps because Googling marine phytoplankton brings up almost exclusively websites trying to sell the plant in powdered form.

“Save the Trees” may be easier to say and fit on a button/bumper sticker, but it is the phytoplankton that produces almost 3/4 of the oxygen. Maybe we can turn “Save the Phytoplankton” into a meme or gif.

Did you know we need oxygen to live?

It’s true, although it feels like suffocation to not have access to dank memes and social media, not having oxygen is actually suffocation.

So although we as humans have demonstrated a remarkable tolerance for pollution of the air we breathe, that tolerance is likely to be just a wee bit smaller with no air to breathe at all.

Evens Stevens Paradigm Won’t Cut it in the #ClimateChange Fight for the Future

Posted: September 22, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
9/21/2014

The #PeoplesClimate marches/rallies that occurred across the globe are a great representation of the good news/bad news holding pattern that pro environment supporters have been stuck in for decades. The good news is the #PeoplesClimate was so big, involving so many people, in so many of the world’s biggest cities that it literally could not be ignored by the press or anyone on the internet on 9/21/2014. The bad news is that tangible, global, legislative action is unlikely to occur for at least another full year.

This good news/bad news paradigm has most recently been demonstrated in regards to the two most talked about environment issues of the last quarter century; the ozone layer and the deforestation of the Amazon.

The good news is that scientists have discovered that the ozone layer is starting to heal. How awesome! Certainly no negative spin to put on this story. Since the 1970s attention has been brought to this issue in hopes of reversing the now notorious hole in the ozone layer that has been a direct contributor to global warming and rising skin cancer rates.

Ready for the bad news?

The Amazon rainforest is getting slashed and burned at a 30% increase. Deforestation is right there with industrial pollution as the greatest causes of global warming and climate change. We need rainforests to sustain the planet, but captains of industry seem to think we need grazing land for cattle and industrial logging more.

Good news, bad news unfortunately isn’t going to cut it, why? Because we are playing from behind. Pro environmentalists can’t keep scoring field goals while polluters and deforestrers are scoring touchdowns. It’s great that more people are aware of the negative effects of climate change, the fact that it’s man-made, and we must do something to reverse it. The problem is that this has happened because the negative effects of climate change are being felt more and more every single day. We have let so much wrong get done that the Earth is irreversibly changing all around us quicker, in real-time. It’s great to have good news to report but wildfires, droughts, and other natural disaster devastation is only going up. Is it too late? The good news is that in this fight, there is literally no reason to quit, because there is nothing else as worthy of fighting for as the future of the planet we inhabit.

Agricultural Hormone Waste is the New #Water #Pollution

Posted: August 29, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
8/28/2014

When people think of water pollution, what comes to mind? Maybe visions of sewage run offs, industrial plants, oil spills, etc?

I was certainly surprised to learn that “industrial agriculture is among the leading causes of water pollution in the United States today.”

Farms? Really? Must be corporate farms then right? Wrong. Only 4% of farms in the United States are corporate farms.

So the lonely people using FarmersOnly.com need to get their shit together. Literally, manure stored in silos and lagoons spilling into streams, rivers, and other bodies of water during storms. But animal waste/byproduct isn’t half as bad as the hormones and antibiotics that are seeping into fresh water supplies.

That’s right, it’s not just hipsters who want grass-fed beef for their steaks and burgers. You see folks, farmers pump hormones and antibiotics either into the animals directly or into their food supply so they’ll grow faster and won’t get sick before they’re slaughtered. This means farmers can make more money by having a higher quantity of physically larger meat and poultry sources. This is why there are so many fast food places with cheap burgers and chicken sandwiches and why organic, grass-fed beef and poultry is more expensive. Animals fed grass are smaller and take longer to mature.

Now the vast majority of ‘Mericans don’t care about what their meat is fed before they eat it. They want more chicken nuggets and bigger burgers as cheap and as often as possible. How else can every fast food place have a dollar menu after all?

However, the hormones and antibiotics that are getting into the rivers and streams are starting to mutate the wildlife.

If the fish are getting mutated, what is happening/going to happen to human beings who come into contact with this water?

Poisoning the #Water for 300,000 is Worth $11,000

Posted: July 16, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
7/15/2014

Did you know you could poison the drinking water for 300,000 people and the only penalty you’ll face will be an $11,000 fine?

Freedom Industries is the company responsible for the West Virgina Chemical Spill that took place in January. 10,000 gallons of the chemical MCHM (used in coal production) spilled into a river that was the main source of fresh drinking water for 300,000 civilians in West Virgina across nine counties in the western part of the state. They have been fined $11,000 by the Labor Department of the federal government.

Freedom Industries has since filed for bankruptcy, and a bill regulating chemical tanks has been passed in the wake of the spill. But $11,000 as a penalty for leaving 300,000 people without drinkable water for ten days?

My attention is pulled towards stories that involve mass poisoning of fresh water. A vast minority of the amount of water on planet Earth is drinkable. We can’t survive as a species without fresh water. Yet we seem content with having the essence of life poisoned at a rate that could be classified as habitual and doing virtually nothing about it. What does that say about us?

Poisoning the essence of life should at least carry a penalty similar to a DUI. I know people who have gotten DUI’s who have had to pay more than $11,000 when it was all said and done. Is drinking and driving a vehicle on an empty road in the middle of the night worse than poisoning water for 300,000 people?

40 people were sent to the hospital from drinking or simply being exposed to the contaminated water. If I did something that sent 40 people to the hospital, would I not face a penalty more severe than an $11,000 fine?

There is no law without order and no order without law. If people can get away with stealing, murder, and rape then it has been shown throughout history that people will murder, steal, and rape vastly more than if there are immediate and severe consequences for those evil actions.

I certainly classify poisoning water as an evil action, do you?

If we continue to let companies and corporations break the law without having to worry about the consequences everyday people have to worry about, why do we think they’ll do the right thing and follow the laws/rules? Do we think that for profit corporations will engage in a thought and decision-making process in a way that is evolved beyond human nature?

The Supreme Court has said that corporations are people. If companies and corporations are people, then shouldn’t we  punish them for hurting people the way we punish individuals for hurting people?

 

 

#BeachLife Now Means No Swimming Due to #Pollution

Posted: July 10, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
7/10/2014

I suppose my generation will be the generation that grows up to say, back in my day, you could actually swim in the water at the beach.

Thanks to massive amounts of pollution and bacteria, beaches are now strictly for selfies, volleyball, tanning, sand castle building, and of course drinking.

Poisoning of water is something that always gets my attention. Mainly because we can’t survive without water, we being human beings.

I wonder if the people who are big on the #BeachLife social media trend will care as much about the environment as they do their own self image and egos.

Some generation will eventually have to care in mass about water pollution. The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Y polluted the Earth exponentially more each time around as if there was a prize at the end. Well I guess there is, the prize is the privilege of being able to go to the beach and not being able to swim or even touch the water due to the public health hazard the bacteria causes. But I’m sure breathing the air coming off that water is still perfectly healthy. Certainly no worse than the air breathed in citing in bumper to bumper highway traffic.

Anarchy (pod)Cast System: Episode 5; #Fracking

Posted: June 30, 2014 in anarchyroll media
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by @anarchyroll
6/30/2014

#Fukushima ; The Living Nightmare

Posted: June 13, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
6/13/2014

There have been a number of articles published on this website about fracking. The other half of the Frackishima label is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Very few news events that I have no control over have kept me up at night, given me nightmares, and made me fearful for my existence on planet Earth the way Fukushima has. Let’s take a look at some of the facts as to what worried me so much:

The vast majority of people simply don’t want to think about Fukushima. Who can blame them? But not wanting to think about something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and that the problems won’t be affecting us as a human race for…ever.

Do we really think that all that nuclear waste and radioactive material that is still in the ocean isn’t going to have negative ramifications?

How much radiation in the water and land are we as a species willing to tolerate before enough is enough?

I sometimes wonder if all this radiation, oil, and chemicals that have leaked and/or spilled into so much of our water supply has something to do with the global rise in cancer rates. How about  you?

Earth is a very big planet. What happens on one side of the planet doesn’t necessarily effect what is happening on the other side of the planet. I find it hard to believe that the repeated nuclear bomb tests, bomb drops, and reactor meltdowns aren’t having/won’t have a negative effect on the planet and the people who inhabit it.

I may not be a scientist but I can do addition. I am smart enough to know that all of these toxic materials poisoning our air, water, and land have to be adding up to something. It’s not 1950, it’s 2014 there have been a lot of oil spills, chemical spills, and nuclear materials around the globe. Just because they were mistakes (mostly) doesn’t make what happens after the incidents any different from if they were on purpose.

Are we poisoning the planet?

That is not a sarcastic question. That is not a rhetorical question. That is however what has kept me up, made me worry, and given me nightmares.

Because when I wake up, splash some cold water on my face, and turn the lights on; Chernobyl still happend, Exxon Valdez still happened, Deepwater Horizon still happened, Fukushima still happened, and thousands of nuclear bombs have been tested and continue to be tested (North Korea). What effects that we know about are happening to the planet and all species who inhabit it? What effects that we don’t yet know about?

These are things that are way outside of my sphere of influence, knowledge base, and pay grade. But I think about them nonetheless and I hope other people do too, because not thinking about it doesn’t mean these events haven’t happened, aren’t happening, and won’t have consequences we as humans must deal with for generations to come.

Are we poisoning the planet?

#Fracking 201

Posted: June 5, 2014 in Frackishima
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(This is an article I wrote as a guest blog piece for a couple of different websites on the subject of fracking hence why the sources are footnotes instead of hyperlinks as I prefer.)
 

by Anthony Roll
(@anarchyroll on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr)
6/5/2014

Fracking is a term that has made its way from the underground to the mainstream in recent years. Do you know what fracking is? Fracking is a short hand term for hydraulic fracturing. What is hydraulic fracturing? In short it is a method used to extract gas from large rocks that are deep underground[1].

The most common type of rock that is fractured in the United States is shale[2]. The process of fracking involves sending highly pressurized water underground mixed with sand and chemicals to break open the shale and release the gas[3]. The process has been around since the 1940s but has become popular in the last decade as a way to reduce America’s dependency on energy producing imports. Fracking has lead to a domestic energy boom that is expected to continue for years to come[4]. The boomerang to accompany that energy boom revolves around the negative environment consequences of the fracking process.

The term fracking has become mainstream in recent years because of the controversy surrounding it. What is the controversy? The controversy revolves around negative environmental consequences that occur before, during, and after the fracking process[5]. From the pollution caused by the transportation of the water and chemicals to the blast sites. To potential as well as documented leaks of the chemicals into local water supplies[6], to tremors and earthquakes caused by wastewater disposal[7], the debate of fracking is another chapter in the battle between commerce and environmental health.

Both sides of the fracking debate have strong evidence to support their stance. Those against fracking frequently point to the documentary film Gasland which showed repeated groundwater contamination caused by fracking that famously included residents near blast sights being able to light their water on fire[8]. Proponents of fracking point the economic benefits to the country at large as well as state and local communities. The natural gas America gets from fracking accounts for 25 percent of our gas supply, meaning we don’t have to import it from overseas. In addition, Pennsylvania alone has seen around 72,000 jobs created from the fracking industry[9].

Economic benefits are great, especially in a country still recovering from The Great Recession[10]. However we as a society can’t cut off our nose despite our face in the name of economic growth. The negative effect of fracking is poisoned fresh water supplies. Although the Earth is 3/4 water, only 2.5% of the water on the planet is drinkable freshwater[11]. Humans cannot survive without freshwater. Fracking poisons freshwater. Fracking is therefore a threat to the human condition. If fracking was not a threat, then why is it banned in five countries in Europe[12]?

Fracking need not be banned forever. A moratorium until the technologies evolve to a point where water contamination has no chance of happening is all that is required. Or how about until the processes no longer cause earthquakes? Is it too much to ask for technology to evolve more in the age of the iPhone and Oculus Rift? Do we really believe oil and gas companies don’t have the money for research and development to evolve the fracking process? Ask those questions to a family dependent on the income earned from working at fracking wells, and the answers might be different. That is the double edged sword of the debate.

Fracking is helping and hurting people at the same time. Families and communities have had their freshwater supplies forever poisoned while at the same time the workers who did the accidental poisoning have jobs for the first time in half a decade. Whose lives are worth more? Fracking forces the issue of asking the tough questions. What happens if freshwater continues to be poisoned as a result of fracking? What if earthquakes continue to be caused as a result of fracking? What if both of those things happen while lots of people and communities continue making lots of money? These are all tough questions that must be asked. When the future of freshwater and energy is at stake, one thing that is not debatable, is that fracking is certainly a preeminent issue of our time.

 

[1] http://www.propublica.org/special/hydraulic-fracturing-national

[2] http://energy.usgs.gov/OilGas/UnconventionalOilGas/HydraulicFracturing.aspx

[3] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2011/apr/26/shale-gas-hydraulic-fracking-graphic

[4] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/16/doe-forecast-natural-gas-boom/4034723/

[5] http://www.dangersoffracking.com/

[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/opinion/global/the-facts-on-fracking.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0

[7] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/05/140502-scientists-warn-of-quake-risk-from-fracking-operations/

[8] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/05/140502-scientists-warn-of-quake-risk-from-fracking-operations/

[9] http://billmoyers.com/content/the-facts-on-fracking/

[10] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/great-recession.asp

[11] http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

[12] http://www.energytribune.com/73234/uk-shale-gas-numbers-could-be-stratospheric#sthash.u9Gx9CjJ.dpbs

#Oil, #Gas, #Coal > #Politicians

Posted: May 20, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
5/19/2014

300 earthquakes and no drinkable water for 300,000 people.

That is what the energy and chemical industries are doing to our planet and doing to us. I guess we should say thank you sirs may we have another, since we know more is coming. There will be more poisoned water, more earthquakes, more destruction of wildlife, more spills, all for…what exactly? And for whom?

Even the democratic party has embraced fracking for the sake of being elected.

At this rate all of America will become Frackishima. I sure hope I get to turn into the Toxic Avenger rather than just die from tumors and cancers thanks to all the contaminated fresh water. Fingers crossed…

 

 

#Fracking: Unregulated, Uninspected, Unacceptable

Posted: May 13, 2014 in Frackishima
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frackishimalogo1ajclogo2by @anarchyroll
5/12/2014

Are there people who don’t know that humans can’t survive without drinkable water? No matter how much money a person may have, they will die without drinkable water just as quickly as a person living in poverty. Fracking poisons our drinkable water and it was recently revealed fracking is poisoning even more water than originally thought or reported.

In addition to that horrendous fact, it has come to light that the federal government has failed to even inspect fracking sites and equipment in high risk contamination sites.

Neither economic booms to local economies or job creation are worth the poisoning of the essence of life. No one person’s ability to provide for their family is as important or more important to the greater population of their race if their job threatens the ability for the species to survive. Fracking companies at large and fracking workers individually should be ashamed of themselves and should be publicly shamed for what they are doing. We are talking about possibilites or probabilites of what may or may not, can or can not happen. Fracking IS poisoning our drinking water, the real world, in real-time, in the present.

Did oil and gas companies get tired of poisoning water with oil spills for 25 years?

The negatives of fracking are different from other environment movement. It’s not like clean energy or climate change debates. The negative effects of fracking are happening now! If we poison the fresh water supplies, we’ll all be dead before the sea levels can rise 10 feet due to polar ice cap melting. The ramifications of fracking won’t be felt in 20 years or in a century. They are being felt now. Fracking must be banned now. Otherwise clean water becomes the new oil. The main difference being a person won’t die in three or four days without gas to put in their car.

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