An aging nuclear power station in New York State is leaking radioactivity. Currently there is a leak of radioactive “heavy water”. Tritium is leaking into nearby ground water. Health authorities are monitoring nearby wells and have pronounced that the levels of radioactivity are safe and unlikely to be harmful. The Indian Point facility is located 40 km(25 miles) from New York City. It is an aging plant that is currently operating on special permits as it has passed its “best before” dates. Entergy Corporation which operates the two reactors has called for an extension of twenty years operating time. If granted Indian Point would have a lifetime of 60 years. Governor Cuomo called for the plant to be shut down. Last year he stated in the NY Times that it was too dangerous to have a nuclear power station so close to densely populated areas. In May 2015 a transformer fire leaked oil into the ground water and into the Hudson River. No reported radioactivity was released at that time. No source of energy is absolutely safe. Interest in nuclear power is being revived as a way to curb carbon dioxide emissions, yet many of the caveats are still valid. If the power plant is too dangerous to be near the people who use the electricity, then where should it be located? Shouldn’t those who benefit the most accept most of the risk? There are currently six nuclear power facilities operating in NY State. Many people lost their faith in the safety of nuclear power in 1979 when a plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial core meltdown. The Three Mile Island incident was the worst nuclear accident in US history. The cascade of events began with a simple stuck valve and some human errors. Chernobyl started with human errors. Fukushima started with damage from earthquake action and was made worse by human errors. We know that there is no place outside of the environment. Sources: New York Times RT Indian Point Energy Center Wikipedia
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Add a new word to your everyday vocabulary. Put it next to Zika Virus. Physicians in Brazil are sounding the alarm about a pesticide added to drinking water to stop the emergence of mosquitos. Pyripoxyfen is a chemical produced by Sumitomo Chemicals, an associate of Monsanto, that is commonly referred to as a growth inhibitor. It is an endocrine disruptor that interferes with immature insect growth, preventing normal development. Pyripoxyfen was first introduced in Japan in 1995. It has been used in the US to control pests on cotton plants. Its application uses have steadily expanded to include many domestic uses from controlling cockroaches to fleas on house pets. California has researched this effective poison. They have found that it is 95% effective against mosquitos, interfering with maturation and sometimes killing the larvae. They have found that when the pesticide is introduced to water bodies, it degrades by about 50% in 24 hours. But when the water contains organic matter, the poison is absorbed into the material and persists for longer periods. The Physicians commented: “Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added Pyriproxyfen to drinking water are not a coincidence, even though the Ministry of Health places a direct blame on the Zika virus for this damage.” GM Watch While there is no definitive connection between the use of a hormone disruptor used to kill insects and developmental deformities in humans, it bears looking at. Humans are not bugs, but many metabolic pathways are similar. For the women who have had babies born with developmental deformities it matters little who is to blame. They bear the tragic results. With over 4000 babies born with microcephaly to date, women in some of these S. American countries are trying to re-open the abortion debate. Others are not waiting and have obtained clandestine abortions. Sources: GM Watch University of Hertfordshire California Department or Pesticide Regulation Abrasco Farmers and government in Argentina are battling an emerging plague of locusts. Like something out of a horror movie, locusts are set to devastate vast swaths of Argentinian cropland. Last year a major outbreak of the insects had farmers fighting a losing battle against these voracious vegetarians. A locust can eat its weight in greenery each day. The swarms can contain millions of these critters and when they settle down to eat they will strip the area bare in a few hours. While many of us have seen grasshoppers and know the damage they can do to your flower or vegetable garden if left unchecked, locusts are far more damaging. After emerging from their eggs laid the previous summer it takes only about 10 days for them to achieve flight. The hungry insects can fly considerable distances before settling down for another binge. In a day an average sized swarm(about 40 million insects) will consume as much as 2500 people. The Argentinians are fighting the threat of ruined crops by engaging swarm spotters who attempt to discern where the swarm will land for the night. Then the spray equipment descends on the area and sprays pesticides on the insects, hoping to kill the majority of them. Some of the farmers are saying too little too late. Last year saw sporadic outbreaks of swarms. Efforts to engage the government in helping eliminate the few swarms before they could lay eggs went unrewarded. There is a new president in Argentina now. Many areas around the world are subject to sporadic outbreaks of this plague. Saudi Arabia, Israel, Sudan, Madagascar have all had outbreaks in recent years. The explosive population growth occurs after a mild, wet winter which allows the eggs of the locusts to remain viable. A warming climate is predicted to cause many more serious insect infestations that were previously held in check by early, hard frosts. In N. America for instance, much of the northern pine forests have fallen victim to the pine beetle.Their explosive growth is partly blamed on climate warming. Sources: The Guardian Smithsonian Magazine But when rainfall drops, Titicaca is no longer able to counteract the evaporation rate which has increased. An average of one degree Celsius increase over temperatures in 1995 has hastened evaporation.
Bolivia’s largest lake is also fighting for survival. A combination of sewage from over two million people and industrial wastes has turned Titicaca into a virtual cesspool. The problem of water body survival is not limited to Bolivia. Many areas around the world have seen fresh water polluted by careless disposal of sewage and laissez faire attitudes towards resource extraction. Sources: The Guardian NASA Wikipedia Nutrients in the coastal areas around the world are increasing as runoff from agriculture and sewage disposal enter the waters. Ocean waters generally have increased in temperature since 1970. While the temperature rise is small, it is significant.
The sei whale is listed as endangered. It was a favourite of the whalers who logged over 200 000 kills. The best estimate of its current population is around 8000. It is sometimes targeted by the Japanese “research” vessels in their controversial hunts. Like many large animals the sei whale eats quantities of food every day. They filter the sea water through their baleen catching about 900 kilos(2000 lbs) per day. Plankton, squid and small fish are the usual fodder. Sources: National Geographic CBC News Wikipedia |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
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