Donate Bitcoin

Donate Paypal


PeakOil is You

PeakOil is You

Pollution Pt. 2

Global pollution

Unread postby arkwriter » Tue 29 May 2012, 09:19:40

I recently watched a programme called 'Life after people' where it stated that there is an area of plastic rubbish about twice the size of Texas, swirling around in the Pacific Ocean. It also stated that it would take many years for the plastic to break down and, as it only breaks down into smaller particles, it will eventually enter into the food chain.
It must surely be, assuming that every ocean and land mass is accumulating such toxic waste, a real and present danger to all life on earth. What, if anything, is being done about it?
arkwriter
Wood
Wood
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu 17 Jul 2008, 03:00:00
Location: Devon UK

Re: Pollution Pt. 1 (merged)

Unread postby dohboi » Thu 29 Nov 2012, 14:35:42

T, thanks for your ongoing work of merging and bridging these topics (I almost wrote 'binging and purging,' :lol: ).
User avatar
dohboi
Harmless Drudge
Harmless Drudge
 
Posts: 19990
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2005, 04:00:00

Re: Pollution Pt. 1 (merged)

Unread postby Tanada » Thu 29 Nov 2012, 19:30:28

Sadly Pollution has always been with the Human species since the dawn of our existence when someone defecated on the edge of the water hole to today when the factory farms dump enough manure to supply 1000 acre farm on a 100 acre plot.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
User avatar
Tanada
Site Admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 17048
Joined: Thu 28 Apr 2005, 03:00:00
Location: South West shore Lake Erie, OH, USA

mankind

Unread postby arkwriter » Sun 03 Mar 2013, 16:01:03

Evening all,
Havn't been on for a while but noticed that the problem of the expanding plastic waste sloshing around in the Pacific has again been raised; my questions are:
Firstly, Is ANYONE trying to do anything about it?

Secondly, If (or when) we, the human race anihalate ourselves what would happen (over time) to the Nuclear power stations, nuclear arsenals and nuclear dumping grounds scattered all over the earth after we have departed?

Finally, a great you-tube video shows a time-lapse of all the nuclear erxplosions across the globe since 1945, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPa ... e=youtu.be Is the earth still being affected by those explosions?

My own view is that all of our present and future glorious leaders should be publically whipped on taking Office to remind them they are not Demi-gods but that they are working for the improvement of society and in Harmony with Mother Nature!
I fear that it is to late for us as a species; we are intent on trampling and soiling all that Mother Nature has provided for us and still do not listen to the voices of those who understand Natures harmony........yes I have had a tipple, :lol: lets raise a glass and hope for someone does come along to change things!!
arkwriter
Wood
Wood
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu 17 Jul 2008, 03:00:00
Location: Devon UK

Re: mankind

Unread postby meemoe_uk » Sun 03 Mar 2013, 17:38:54

well we've killed off a lot of the mega fauna but they had it coming anyway, large animals often go extinct. Other than that i doubt the biosphere has noticed us much. We haven't wiped out as many species as ants have. Maybe you should start a new thread titled 'antkind'.

If humans disappeared, nuclear power plants would slowly crumble over tens of thousands of years or be crushed by kilometer high glaciers of the next glacial period of the current ice age. The radioactive material would decay just like it did before we took it out the ground.

Humans are nice to the environment in at least 2 key respects - (a) we free the stuff of life - long lost atmos CO2 from its underground prison, the biosphere is currently near starved of CO2. (b) we mass produce nitrate which persists in the biosphere a short while, again very helpful to life. The biosphere is still currently prospering from human activity, even though this was in coincidence with the 20th century warm period which is now over and the cooling, life extinguishing effects of a neo little ice age have been active for the last few years.
User avatar
meemoe_uk
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 948
Joined: Tue 22 May 2007, 03:00:00

Re: mankind

Unread postby Lore » Sun 03 Mar 2013, 17:53:42

arkwriter wrote:Evening all,
Havn't been on for a while but noticed that the problem of the expanding plastic waste sloshing around in the Pacific has again been raised; my questions are:
Firstly, Is ANYONE trying to do anything about it?


To my understanding not really. It just swirls out there trapped in a vortex about the size now of the state of Texas in international waters. Out of site, out of mind as we say. Here is the states we can't even clean up our own back yards let alone find the money to dredge out ours and other peoples garbage in the middle of the pacific.

Of course you're correct it all this adds up to the wall of woe which will be visited upon us shortly.
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
... Theodore Roosevelt
User avatar
Lore
Fission
Fission
 
Posts: 9021
Joined: Fri 26 Aug 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Fear Of A Blank Planet

Re: AccuWeather fallout map, time estimate to reach West Coa

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Fri 20 Dec 2013, 02:46:10

Keith_McClary wrote:This is incredibly cool:
A new project posted online by a pair of Google computer scientists, called simply Wind Map
Now worldwide:
Real Time Earth Wind Map from Earth Nullschool.net

You can mouse drag the globe to get different views.

Found on
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/real-earth-wind.html
Facebook knows you're a dog.
User avatar
Keith_McClary
Light Sweet Crude
Light Sweet Crude
 
Posts: 7344
Joined: Wed 21 Jul 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Suburban tar sands

Re: Pollution Pt. 1 (merged)

Unread postby Subjectivist » Tue 05 Aug 2014, 21:48:02

Rockman, rockdoc123, toolpush, westexas and whomever else mght know the answer to this question.

If you could gather up all the free methane in the Earths air today how many trillion cubic feet would it add up too?
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Subjectivist
Volunteer
Volunteer
 
Posts: 4700
Joined: Sat 28 Aug 2010, 07:38:26
Location: Northwest Ohio

Re: Pollution Pt. 2

Unread postby Subjectivist » Mon 17 Nov 2014, 10:53:28

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/fun- ... GoK4N08KrW

10 Facts on Pollution and Impact on Our World:

Around 40% of the lakes in America are too polluted for aquatic life, swimming or fishing.

Although children make up 10% of the world’s population, over 40% of the global burden of disease falls on them. Environmental factors contribute to more than 3 million children under age five dying every year.

Pollution kills over 1 million seabirds and 100 million mammals annually.

Recycling and composting alone have avoided 85 million tons of waste to be dumped in 2010.

Currently in the world there are over 500 million cars, by 2030 the number will rise to 1 billion, therefore doubling pollution levels.

High traffic roads possess more concentrated levels of air pollution therefore people living close to these areas have an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma and bronchitis

Inhaling Air pollution takes away at least 1-2 years of a typical human life.
25% deaths in India and 65% of the deaths in Asia are resultant of air pollution.

Over 80 billion aluminium cans are used every year around the world. If you throw away aluminium cans, they can stay in that can form for up to 500 years or more.

People aren’t recycling as much as they should, as a result the rainforests are be cut down by approximately 100 acres per minute


More not so fun facts at the link.
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Subjectivist
Volunteer
Volunteer
 
Posts: 4700
Joined: Sat 28 Aug 2010, 07:38:26
Location: Northwest Ohio

China pollution

Unread postby onlooker » Fri 09 Jan 2015, 08:56:46

Sometimes it feels like seeing Earth circa 2015 is like watching a horror movie in slow motion. The assault on the biosphere is unrelenting. This link I post is an example of Beijing becoming virtually unlivable in a natural way. I like others here feel we should post these examples if nothing more then to chronicle the reality of the Earth at this time. Here is link: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/ ... tion-china
If someone calls me a doomer I reply by saying I am a realist and reality is reality it is not an opinion, bias or state of mind.
"We are mortal beings doomed to die
User avatar
onlooker
Fission
Fission
 
Posts: 10957
Joined: Sun 10 Nov 2013, 13:49:04
Location: NY, USA

Re: China pollution

Unread postby dohboi » Fri 09 Jan 2015, 12:53:10

Since most of the goods made that created that pollution were for export, shouldn't we think of at least some of that as our exported pollution?
User avatar
dohboi
Harmless Drudge
Harmless Drudge
 
Posts: 19990
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2005, 04:00:00

Re: China pollution

Unread postby dohboi » Fri 09 Jan 2015, 13:14:33

I always try to be the one to state the obvious, I guess. :) :oops:

India's air pollution is even worse than China's, from what I've heard (at least in local polution--wrt to ghg's they come in third after China and the US).

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... lmost-half
User avatar
dohboi
Harmless Drudge
Harmless Drudge
 
Posts: 19990
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2005, 04:00:00

Re: China pollution

Unread postby onlooker » Fri 09 Jan 2015, 15:10:43

Not good, India and China trying to replicate the US. Guess they never read the "memo", as in "Houston we have a problem", Earth is being besieged with more and more obvious results. And to think not too long ago Chinese were content to ride their bicycles :shock:
"We are mortal beings doomed to die
User avatar
onlooker
Fission
Fission
 
Posts: 10957
Joined: Sun 10 Nov 2013, 13:49:04
Location: NY, USA

Re: Pollution Pt. 2

Unread postby vox_mundi » Mon 24 Apr 2017, 13:46:29

Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting biodegradable solution to plastic pollution

Image

Scientists have found that a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene: one of the toughest and most used plastics, frequently found clogging up landfill sites in the form of plastic shopping bags.

The wax worm, the larvae of the common insect Galleria mellonella, or greater wax moth, is a scourge of beehives across Europe. In the wild, the worms live as parasites in bee colonies. Wax moths lay their eggs inside hives where the worms hatch and grow on beeswax - hence the name.

A chance discovery occurred when one of the scientific team, Federica Bertocchini, an amateur beekeeper, was removing the parasitic pests from the honeycombs in her hives. The worms were temporarily kept in a typical plastic shopping bag that became riddled with holes.

Around a hundred wax worms were exposed to a plastic bag from a UK supermarket. Holes started to appear after just 40 minutes, and after 12 hours there was a reduction in plastic mass of 92mg from the bag.

Scientists say that the degradation rate is extremely fast compared to other recent discoveries, such as bacteria reported last year to biodegrade some plastics at a rate of just 0.13mg a day.

"If a single enzyme is responsible for this chemical process, its reproduction on a large scale using biotechnological methods should be achievable," said Cambridge's Paolo Bombelli, first author of the study published today in the journal Current Biology.

Colleagues point out that the global plastics industry churns out about 140 million tons of polyethylene every year. Much of it goes into the bags, bottles and boxes that many of us use regularly—and then throw out. Scientists have been trying to figure out for years how to make this plastic trash go away.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2014-12-gut-bacte ... c.html#jCp

Image
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late.
User avatar
vox_mundi
Intermediate Crude
Intermediate Crude
 
Posts: 3939
Joined: Wed 27 Sep 2006, 03:00:00

What is the top killer? Wars? Epidemics? Suicides? Drugs? ..

Unread postby dohboi » Fri 20 Oct 2017, 18:25:33

The silent killer


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-20/w ... er/9069776

World pollution kills more people annually than wars, disasters, hunger


Environmental pollution — from filthy air to contaminated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world. More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
Key points:

One out of every six premature deaths in 2015, about 9 million, was due to toxic exposure
The financial cost of pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is $5.9 trillion annually
The worst affected countries are in Asia and Africa, with India topping the list

One out of every six premature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure, according to a major study released on Thursday in The Lancet medical journal.

The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equally massive, the report said, costing some $5.9 trillion in annual losses, or about 6.2 per cent of the global economy.

“There’s been a lot of study of pollution, but it’s never received the resources or level of attention as, say, AIDS or climate change,” Dean of global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and the lead author on the report, Philip Landrigan said.

The report marks the first attempt to pull together data on disease and death caused by all forms of pollution combined.

“Pollution is a massive problem that people aren’t seeing because they’re looking at scattered bits of it,” Mr Landrigan said
.
User avatar
dohboi
Harmless Drudge
Harmless Drudge
 
Posts: 19990
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2005, 04:00:00

Re: What is the top killer? Wars? Epidemics? Suicides? Drugs

Unread postby dohboi » Sat 21 Oct 2017, 14:42:07

"...clean water and waste water treatment"

In other words...pollution...thanks. :-D
User avatar
dohboi
Harmless Drudge
Harmless Drudge
 
Posts: 19990
Joined: Mon 05 Dec 2005, 04:00:00

PreviousNext

Return to Environment, Weather & Climate

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 30 guests

cron