The world's first full-scale nuclear reactor, built in 13 months to produce plutonium for an atomic bomb during World War II, is now a National Historic Landmark, the federal government announced Monday.
"Building the B Reactor was a feat of engineering genius. So, too, was the construction a testament to the excellence of working Americans," said Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the Department of Interior. "There was no wiggle room for error."
-SO THEN WHY DID IT LEAK AND CONTAMINATE TRILLIONS OF GALLONS OF GROUNDWATER?!!!!-
History buffs, former weapons workers and local officials have been seeking recognition for the plant for six years to help save it from being dismantled or permanently cocooned as part of the cleanup of the highly contaminated complex in south-central Washington state.
-GOES TO SHOW YOU HOW NAIVE THE GENERAL POPULATION IS. IT'S A SHAME BUILDING A TOURIST ATTRACTION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN CLEANING UP NUCLEAR WASTE-
Hanford and B Reactor were the centerpiece of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret effort to build an atomic bomb in the 1940s. More than 50,000 workers moved to the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco for the massive project on the banks of the Columbia River.
-AND BECAUSE OF THIS SITE, THE COLUMBIA RIVER IS HIGHLY POLLUTED-
Construction began on June 7, 1943, six months after physicist Enrico Fermi turned the theory of nuclear power into the reality of the Atomic Age. Eight more reactors were built at Hanford to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, leaving a legacy of pollution that has made Hanford the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup costs expected to top $50 billion.
-CLEANUP HAS BEEN PUT OFF FOR DECADES AND THE SITE STILL CONTINUES TO CONTAMINATE THE AREA-
Five reactors have been dismantled and cocooned, a process in which buildings around the reactors are removed, all but the shield walls surrounding the reactor cores are leveled and the cores are sealed in concrete.
The B Reactor was shut down in 1968 and decommissioned. Under a cleanup schedule managed by the Department of Energy, dismantling could have begun as early as 2009. However, the department said it would maintain the reactor while the National Park Service decides whether it should be preserved and made available for public access.
Hank Kosmata, president of the B Reactor Museum Association in Richland, noted that achieving National Historic Landmark status for Reactor B took longer than building it.
-AND WAITING FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO CLEAN UP ITS "LANDMARK" CONTINUES TO TAKE EVEN LONGER!!-
About 2,000 people have visited the complex this year. Next year, Energy Department officials plan to expand the number of tours of the building without impeding cleanup, said Jeffrey Kupfer, acting deputy secretary.
-YES, THE BEST PLACE TO VISIT IS ALWAYS A CONTAMINATED NUCLEAR REACTOR. HURRY, BOOK YOUR TOUR NOW!!-
story from the AP.
comments from me.
I do not want to make this a political post... but if you're planning on voting for McCain this November, you better be prepared to lobby against his "alternative energy" plan which consists of embracing NUCLEAR POWER, the most unsafe energy. Research how many nuclear power plants or reactors have leaked. The amount of contamination produced by nuclear power is astonding. The most recent case was discovered and publicized earlier this month when The United States has admitted that a nuclear-powered submarine steadily leaked radiation at three Japanese ports, as well as the Pacific island of Guam and Pearl Harbor in Hawaii FOR OVER TWO YEARS. If you are wondering why cancer rates are rising, look no further.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Abandoned nuclear reactors generate new surge of tourism
By Hugo Martin Tribune Newspapers
11:25 PM CDT, August 23, 2008
HANFORD, Wash. — A platoon of double-crested cormorants took flight from the eastern shore of the Columbia River, skimming the sun-sparkled surface as two slender white egrets stood in the nearby shallows, hunting small fish hiding in the reeds.
Twenty kayakers, mostly tourists from the Pacific Northwest, paddled along, letting the steady current do most of the work. They coasted past mule deer grazing on the shore, coyotes stalking the sandy beaches and cliff swallows buzzing the nearby white bluffs.
But the main attraction was on the western shore: several bland, industrial-gray structures and towering smokestacks, a collection of buildings that gave birth to America's Atomic Age.
Welcome to the Hanford Reach, where one of the last free-flowing stretches of the Columbia River encounters America's most contaminated nuclear site.
Along this flat, mostly treeless scrubland, the U.S. government built nine reactors from 1943 to 1963, including the historic B Reactor that produced the world's first weapons-grade plutonium for the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II.
The reactors have leaked so much radioactivity into the air, land and water that the contamination caused by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident seems trivial by comparison.
Yet merchants and tourism directors here in southern Washington state see the river and the shuttered reactors as a growing tourist draw.
Imagine a theme park next to Chernobyl's nuclear power plant. As odd as it may sound, the idea seems to be working at Hanford.
The popular kayak tours are one example. Pat Welle, owner of Columbia Kayak Adventures, who leads two or three groups each month past the nuclear sites, said her business has more than doubled since she started it in 2004. A jet boat tour operator plans to add a second boat, and the river plays host to several bass fishing tournaments each year.
"I think the attraction is the unique combination of scenery — the white bluffs and the wildlife — and that odd collection of nuclear sites," Welle said.
The reactors have long been shut down, but the surrounding land rumbles with bulldozers, dump trucks and crews in radiation suits working on a $2 billion-a-year cleanup project — the most expensive such project in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The irony is that although the reactors contaminated hundreds of acres, government restrictions on access left the surrounding lands largely undisturbed for more than 40 years, allowing wildlife to flourish.
The effort to make the Hanford Reach a tourist hot spot got a boost in 2000 when then- President Bill Clinton proclaimed 195,000 acres along the river and around the nuclear site a national monument. About 60,000 people now visit annually, including anglers, hikers, birders and history buffs.
That number is likely to grow under a plan by the National Park Service to upgrade boat launches and picnic sites and to open the B Reactor for regular public tours. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is also expected to approve a recommendation this month to declare the B Reactor a national historic landmark.
The story began in 1942 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began searching for a plutonium production site for the then-secret Manhattan Project. With large tracts of land and access to large volumes of water to cool the reactor, the Hanford area along the Columbia River seemed perfect.
America's first large-scale nuclear reactor was built in about a year. Most workers at the B Reactor were clueless about what they were developing until the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Later, a headline in the local paper announced: "Peace! Our Bomb Clinched It!"
During the next 20 years, the federal government built eight more reactors along the Columbia River in a 586-square-mile area known as the Hanford site.
In 1948 a dike at a reactor waste pond broke, dumping 28 pounds of uranium into the Columbia River.
Today, scientists and biologists extensively test almost every creature along the river, whether a tadpole or a deer.
11:25 PM CDT, August 23, 2008
HANFORD, Wash. — A platoon of double-crested cormorants took flight from the eastern shore of the Columbia River, skimming the sun-sparkled surface as two slender white egrets stood in the nearby shallows, hunting small fish hiding in the reeds.
Twenty kayakers, mostly tourists from the Pacific Northwest, paddled along, letting the steady current do most of the work. They coasted past mule deer grazing on the shore, coyotes stalking the sandy beaches and cliff swallows buzzing the nearby white bluffs.
But the main attraction was on the western shore: several bland, industrial-gray structures and towering smokestacks, a collection of buildings that gave birth to America's Atomic Age.
Welcome to the Hanford Reach, where one of the last free-flowing stretches of the Columbia River encounters America's most contaminated nuclear site.
Along this flat, mostly treeless scrubland, the U.S. government built nine reactors from 1943 to 1963, including the historic B Reactor that produced the world's first weapons-grade plutonium for the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II.
The reactors have leaked so much radioactivity into the air, land and water that the contamination caused by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident seems trivial by comparison.
Yet merchants and tourism directors here in southern Washington state see the river and the shuttered reactors as a growing tourist draw.
Imagine a theme park next to Chernobyl's nuclear power plant. As odd as it may sound, the idea seems to be working at Hanford.
The popular kayak tours are one example. Pat Welle, owner of Columbia Kayak Adventures, who leads two or three groups each month past the nuclear sites, said her business has more than doubled since she started it in 2004. A jet boat tour operator plans to add a second boat, and the river plays host to several bass fishing tournaments each year.
"I think the attraction is the unique combination of scenery — the white bluffs and the wildlife — and that odd collection of nuclear sites," Welle said.
The reactors have long been shut down, but the surrounding land rumbles with bulldozers, dump trucks and crews in radiation suits working on a $2 billion-a-year cleanup project — the most expensive such project in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The irony is that although the reactors contaminated hundreds of acres, government restrictions on access left the surrounding lands largely undisturbed for more than 40 years, allowing wildlife to flourish.
The effort to make the Hanford Reach a tourist hot spot got a boost in 2000 when then- President Bill Clinton proclaimed 195,000 acres along the river and around the nuclear site a national monument. About 60,000 people now visit annually, including anglers, hikers, birders and history buffs.
That number is likely to grow under a plan by the National Park Service to upgrade boat launches and picnic sites and to open the B Reactor for regular public tours. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is also expected to approve a recommendation this month to declare the B Reactor a national historic landmark.
The story began in 1942 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began searching for a plutonium production site for the then-secret Manhattan Project. With large tracts of land and access to large volumes of water to cool the reactor, the Hanford area along the Columbia River seemed perfect.
America's first large-scale nuclear reactor was built in about a year. Most workers at the B Reactor were clueless about what they were developing until the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Later, a headline in the local paper announced: "Peace! Our Bomb Clinched It!"
During the next 20 years, the federal government built eight more reactors along the Columbia River in a 586-square-mile area known as the Hanford site.
In 1948 a dike at a reactor waste pond broke, dumping 28 pounds of uranium into the Columbia River.
Today, scientists and biologists extensively test almost every creature along the river, whether a tadpole or a deer.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Hong Kong smog
Air pollution is causing 10,000 premature deaths a year in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China's Pearl River Delta, according to a report published on Thursday.
Respiratory diseases caused by the worsening smog is estimated to be costing 440,000 hospital bed days and 11 million doctor visits and costing the region's economy 6.7 billion yuan ($964 million) a year.
The estimates are contained in a report on the effects of poor air quality by the Hong Kong-based think tank Civic Exchange published in newspapers Thursday.
The survey was conducted over nine months by health, science and public policy experts who based their findings on air pollution from 2003 to 2006.
Smog in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta has worsened considerably in the past decade, largely because of vehicle emissions and pollution from neighbouring industrial southern China.
Previous reports have warned that the air pollution in Hong Kong is causing thousands of premature deaths and that foreign investors are avoiding the former British colony because of its smog.
~FROM BLOG: Living In Hong Kong - Life of a Filipino web developer in Hong Kong. With descriptions of typical Hong Kong living, food, economics, entertainment, politics and just about everything else.
It's the year 2008, why the hell is the most technologically advanced country still dependent on COAL?!!
Respiratory diseases caused by the worsening smog is estimated to be costing 440,000 hospital bed days and 11 million doctor visits and costing the region's economy 6.7 billion yuan ($964 million) a year.
The estimates are contained in a report on the effects of poor air quality by the Hong Kong-based think tank Civic Exchange published in newspapers Thursday.
The survey was conducted over nine months by health, science and public policy experts who based their findings on air pollution from 2003 to 2006.
Smog in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta has worsened considerably in the past decade, largely because of vehicle emissions and pollution from neighbouring industrial southern China.
Previous reports have warned that the air pollution in Hong Kong is causing thousands of premature deaths and that foreign investors are avoiding the former British colony because of its smog.
~FROM BLOG: Living In Hong Kong - Life of a Filipino web developer in Hong Kong. With descriptions of typical Hong Kong living, food, economics, entertainment, politics and just about everything else.
It's the year 2008, why the hell is the most technologically advanced country still dependent on COAL?!!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY
During the past two weeks, I was pleased when the amount of chemtrails above Los Angeles dwindled BUT today was full-fledge government exotic weapon warfare on our immune systems!! There were TONS of chemtrail lines and circles in the sky and PEOPLE ARE STILL CLUELESS. (if you're not aware of CHEMTRAILS yet, please google "chemtrails" or read this)
If you've been living in a naive bubble than you probably haven't noticed the U.S. government is trying to DELIBERITLY poison you by releasing a cocktail of fungus, aluminium, barium, titanium and magnesium into the sky from large jets. These plumes of chemicals are usually dismissed as "contrails" but if you have an ounce of common sense and average eye sight, you will see UNLIKE CONTRAILS, CHEMATRAILS DO NOT DISSAPATE - THEY SPREAD, often covering miles of sky with wispy-looking plumes that slowly spread to resemble clouds, but they are not clouds!! Look carefully and you will see a pinkish prism or rainbow of chemicals in the plumes. Real clouds are not reflective, nor do they form multiple straight lines or cross-hatching patterns - as chemtrails do when they are being spread.
The sad part is the government is blantently poisoning us in BROAD DAYLIGHT and we are still naive and allow it to happen.
This isn't a conspiracy theory. IT IS HAPPENING ALL OVER THE GLOBE:
Germany has already admitted to using chemtrails in order to "manipulate weather" and "disrupt radar signals."
The U.K. government admitted to "conducting a series of secret germ warfare tests on the public," including spraying public with harmful toxins.
Chemtrails making news in the United States who claims it is using the chemicals for "weather modification."
Think you're safe?! Let's take a look at what the toxic ingredients can do to your health:
*Fungus eats nutrients that are used to rebuild our immume system.
*Aluminium crosses the blood brain barrier, causes Alzheimer's disease and short term memory loss.
*Barium, in addition to being a known carcinogenic, knocks potassium out of the body.
*Titanium and magnesium combined together causes blood clots.
IF YOU ARE TRYING TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE, DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO THE SKY AND BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUAILITY OF THE AIR YOU BREATHE.
Check out this WEBSITE containing scary ongoing evidence of chemtrails from 2003-2007 and here's the US NAVY CHEMTRAIL PATENT from 1974!!
WHAT CAN YOU DO???
*Educate others and spread the word about chemtrails.
*Keep an eye on the sky, take photos and collect evidence of chemtrails above your town/city
*File a Class Action lawsuit for public endangerment... here's how. TIP: Do not use the word “chemtrails.” Instead, focus on air safety, and the health, serenity and safety of those on the ground.
*Contact ALL local and national media.
*Contact environmental agencies or form your own group or organization.
WHEN FACED WITH ADVERCITY:
*When told by authorities that these plumes are “harmless” contrails, remind them that the supposedly “safe” artificial clouds caused by normal condensation trails can be seen as dangerous air pollution that robs the blue skies essential to good health and life, while altering weather and climate by drastically changing a region’s atmospheric heat balance. Then point to your temperature/humidity records to prove that the plumes you’re citing cannot be contrails because the upper air is too warm and too dry for any such artificial clouds to form – unless massive amounts of particulates are added to the air for moisture to coalesce around. The smaller the particles, the more clouds are formed. And the greater the human health hazard that results.
If you'd like to really research the topic, exclude the term "chemtrail" and search for "exotic weapons." There are bills that were passed by congress to allow the US government the right to test "exotic weapons" on civilians. "Chemtrails" are included as "exotic weapons."
Here is an excerpt of the bill. You could also research it yourself:
H. R. 2977
To preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind by permanently prohibiting the basing of weapons in space by the United States, and to require the President to take action to adopt and implement a world treaty banning space-based weapons.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
(B) Such terms include exotic weapons systems such as--
(i) electronic, psychotronic, or information weapons;
(ii) chemtrails;
(iii) high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems;
(iv) plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons;
(v) laser weapons systems;
(vi) strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and
(vii) chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons.
(C) The term `exotic weapons systems' includes weapons designed to damage space or natural ecosystems (such as the ionosphere and upper atmosphere) or climate, weather, and tectonic systems with the purpose of inducing damage or destruction upon a target population or region on earth or in space.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
YAY, LA... NO MORE PLASTIC BAGS IN 2010!!!!
LOS ANGLES (AFP) - The city of Los Angeles announced it will ban all plastic bags from retail stores as of July 1, 2010, following similar anti-pollution regulations already enforced in San Francisco.
The second-largest US city behind New York, Los Angeles, with its four million population, will ban plastic bagging in all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores, the Los Angeles City Council said in its new regulation.
After July 1, 2010, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biodegradable material from the store for 25 cents (0.25 dollar), it added.
The goal is to rid the city of some 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags that are distributed each year and end up polluting waste dumps for a long time.
San Francisco, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of here, also in California, in 2007 became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores.
Both city regulations are intended to pressure state lawmakers who are considering a bill to eliminate plastic bags across the state by 2012.
Several countries around the world have already adopted laws banning plastic bags, which often end up killing animals that swallow or get caught up in them.
HECK YES. :)
The second-largest US city behind New York, Los Angeles, with its four million population, will ban plastic bagging in all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores, the Los Angeles City Council said in its new regulation.
After July 1, 2010, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biodegradable material from the store for 25 cents (0.25 dollar), it added.
The goal is to rid the city of some 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags that are distributed each year and end up polluting waste dumps for a long time.
San Francisco, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of here, also in California, in 2007 became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores.
Both city regulations are intended to pressure state lawmakers who are considering a bill to eliminate plastic bags across the state by 2012.
Several countries around the world have already adopted laws banning plastic bags, which often end up killing animals that swallow or get caught up in them.
HECK YES. :)
Friday, June 6, 2008
DANGERS OF AMALGAM/MERCURY FILLINGS: A VIDEO BLOG
HARMFUL EFFECTS OF AMALGAM/MECURY FILLINGS:
PART 2:
VISIBLE MECURY VAPORS COMING FROM AMALGAM FILLINGS:
PART 2:
VISIBLE MECURY VAPORS COMING FROM AMALGAM FILLINGS:
MERCURY, FOUND IN CHILDHOOD VACCINES, CAUSES AUTISM.
"In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.
The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
THE GOVERNMENT AND VACCINE MANUFACTURES KNOW VACCINES ARE CAUSING DAMAGE TO THOUSANDS."
SOURCE: JEFF (AKA: VACCINETRUTH ON YOUTUBE.COM), THE FATHER OF TWO VACCINE-INDUCED AUTISM CHILDREN
Robert Kennedy Jr talks about the cover up regarding vaccines and Autism:
Jenny McCarthy debates doctors on vaccines and autism on Larry King Live 4-2-08:
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources (article from Science Daily).
Parenting website explores the dangers of vaccinations.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
*SPREAD THE WORD!!!!
*CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN
*CONTACT DRUG MANUFACTURERS
*CONTACT THE EPA
*CONTACT THE FDA
*DEMAND CHANGE!!!!
The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
THE GOVERNMENT AND VACCINE MANUFACTURES KNOW VACCINES ARE CAUSING DAMAGE TO THOUSANDS."
SOURCE: JEFF (AKA: VACCINETRUTH ON YOUTUBE.COM), THE FATHER OF TWO VACCINE-INDUCED AUTISM CHILDREN
Robert Kennedy Jr talks about the cover up regarding vaccines and Autism:
Jenny McCarthy debates doctors on vaccines and autism on Larry King Live 4-2-08:
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources (article from Science Daily).
Parenting website explores the dangers of vaccinations.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
*SPREAD THE WORD!!!!
*CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN
*CONTACT DRUG MANUFACTURERS
*CONTACT THE EPA
*CONTACT THE FDA
*DEMAND CHANGE!!!!
SPOTLIGHT ON: ACTIVIST SEVERN CULLIS-SUZUKI
Think back to what you were doing when you were twelve years old... chances are, unless you're Severn Cullis-Suzuki, you weren't lobbying for a cleaner environment or starting your own environmental organization...
In 1992, at the age of 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, the Environmental Children's Organization (a group she founded) to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Along with group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Severn presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the Summit, where she received a standing ovation for a speech to the delegates. The group also addressed delegates at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (source: wikipedia).see the moving speech she gave when she was twelve!! how sad is it that the world has only gotten worse???
here's a quote from Cullis-Suzuki from a 2002 article in TIME:
"...In the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, "We must become the change we want to see." I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change.But in the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, "We must become the change we want to see." I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change.But in the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, "We must become the change we want to see." I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change."
Severn Cullis-Suzuki now:
Cullis-Suzuki is still an environmental activist. She earned Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Yale University and continues to promote sustainable living.here are some words of wisdom from her father, fellow activist David Suzuki:
"If we don't see that everything is interconnected, then any action has no consequences or responsibility. Most of us live in cities, in a human created environment, and many people ask me: "well, who needs nature?" So, people tell me they care about the environment, yet they drive huge SUVs and never reflect on their impact on climate or weather. We buy fresh fruits and vegetables in Canada in the middle of winter, but we never reflect on the Earth cost of shipping them from halfway around the world. So the challenge is to reconnect ourselves to the world. Everything is connected to everything else." ~taken from SASS magazine fall 2004
Want to improve your sustainable living??? Take David Suzuki's Nature Challenge.
Further proof that one person CAN make a difference by impacting social change. What have you done for the earth lately???
Monday, June 2, 2008
Childhood Cancer Most Prominent in Northeast
Here is an abbreviated version of the article posted 2 hours ago by AP Medical Writer Lindsay Tanner:
CHICAGO - Surprising research suggests that childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast, results that even caught experts off guard. But some specialists say it could just reflect differences in reporting.
The study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on data representing 90 percent of the U.S. population. It found that cancer affects about 166 out of every million children, a number that shows just how rare childhood cancers are.
The highest rate was in the Northeast with 179 cases per million children, while the lowest was among children in the South with 159 cases per million. Some experts suggested that could mean cases were under-reported in the South and over-reported elsewhere.
The rates for the Midwest and West were nearly identical, at 166 cases per million and 165 per million, respectively.
A total of 36,446 cases were identified in the study, which analyzed 2001-03 data from state and federal registries. The research appears in the June edition of Pediatrics, released Monday.
Dr. Rafael Ducos, a children's cancer physician at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, said the South's low rates were perplexing and might simply reflect
under-reporting there and over-reporting in other regions.
"I'm at a loss to explain it," he said.
Environmental factors might play a role, including exposure to radiation, said lead author Dr. Jun Li of the CDC. Radiation has been linked with the most common types of childhood cancer — leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancers.
Radiation sources include X-rays, nuclear plant emissions and natural sources such as radon gas. But Li said research is needed to determine if these sources vary enough by region to affect childhood cancer rates.
Dr. Lindsay Frazier, a cancer specialist at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said pollution and housing stock that's older than anywhere else in the nation might help explain the Northeast's higher rates.
"As a parent raising a family in the Northeast, this does not at all increase my concern for my family or for my neighbors," Levy said, adding, "First and foremost, these are still very rare diseases in children."
Regional differences in rates for some specific cancers have been found in adults, but these are likely due to personal habits and lifestyle factors, Ward said. For example, lung cancer rates are high in the South because smoking is generally more popular there, she said.
But it generally takes years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as smoking before
cancer develops, she said, so this wouldn't explain children's rates.
I don't mean to sound cocky, but it doesn't take a scientist to figure out why there are higher cancer rates in the northeast portion of the United States. It is really alarming that of the scientists involved in these studies, none of them could come to the conclusion I came to immediately after reading this article. Why aren't science geniuses also blessed with the common sense gene???
HERE IS WHY THERE ARE HIGHER RATES OF CANCER IN THE NORTHEAST:
GET A LOAD OF THE PROPAGANDA THE GOVERNMENT WAS FEEDING PEOPLE IN THE 1950s. Just hide in a shelter for two weeks and rinse off fruit before eating it -- BAHAHAHA!! this one is even better:
But I regress...
Back to my point: I hope you noticed the part about the "down winds" when the map was shown in the first video. If not, here it is:
As you can see, all pollution and yes, particles from the HUNDREDS of nuclear bomb tests that have occurred in Nevada since the 1940s... get whisked to the east coast from the west by down winds. So it's no wonder why there are higher cancer rates in the northeast. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that virtually every person who has lived in the United States since 1951 has been exposed to radioactive fallout. And the fallout hovers over the east coast longer than the west coast.
I also have a problem with the author's ending statement: "...lung cancer rates are high in the South because smoking is generally more popular there, she said. But it generally takes years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as smoking before cancer develops, she said, so this wouldn't explain children's rates." ARE YOU SERIOUSLY A MEDICAL WRITER?! AND DID YOU REALLY SPEAK WITH A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL??? Smoking wouldn't explain the children's rates?!? Nobody besides myself factored in second hand smoke (oh, the irony) nor the probability of carcinogens the child faced while in the womb?!!
THIS IS COMMON SENSE. Articles like these make me livid because it proves tax payers are funding USELESS scientific studies run by clueless scientists. Not all scientists are clueless and not all scientific studies are useless, i know, but most scientists and companies are polluting the earth by creating even MORE household chemicals (that ad agencies convince you that you need) which work their way into our water supply and contaminate our drinking water.
CHICAGO - Surprising research suggests that childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast, results that even caught experts off guard. But some specialists say it could just reflect differences in reporting.
The study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on data representing 90 percent of the U.S. population. It found that cancer affects about 166 out of every million children, a number that shows just how rare childhood cancers are.
The highest rate was in the Northeast with 179 cases per million children, while the lowest was among children in the South with 159 cases per million. Some experts suggested that could mean cases were under-reported in the South and over-reported elsewhere.
The rates for the Midwest and West were nearly identical, at 166 cases per million and 165 per million, respectively.
A total of 36,446 cases were identified in the study, which analyzed 2001-03 data from state and federal registries. The research appears in the June edition of Pediatrics, released Monday.
Dr. Rafael Ducos, a children's cancer physician at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, said the South's low rates were perplexing and might simply reflect
under-reporting there and over-reporting in other regions.
"I'm at a loss to explain it," he said.
Environmental factors might play a role, including exposure to radiation, said lead author Dr. Jun Li of the CDC. Radiation has been linked with the most common types of childhood cancer — leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancers.
Radiation sources include X-rays, nuclear plant emissions and natural sources such as radon gas. But Li said research is needed to determine if these sources vary enough by region to affect childhood cancer rates.
Dr. Lindsay Frazier, a cancer specialist at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said pollution and housing stock that's older than anywhere else in the nation might help explain the Northeast's higher rates.
"As a parent raising a family in the Northeast, this does not at all increase my concern for my family or for my neighbors," Levy said, adding, "First and foremost, these are still very rare diseases in children."
Regional differences in rates for some specific cancers have been found in adults, but these are likely due to personal habits and lifestyle factors, Ward said. For example, lung cancer rates are high in the South because smoking is generally more popular there, she said.
But it generally takes years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as smoking before
cancer develops, she said, so this wouldn't explain children's rates.
I don't mean to sound cocky, but it doesn't take a scientist to figure out why there are higher cancer rates in the northeast portion of the United States. It is really alarming that of the scientists involved in these studies, none of them could come to the conclusion I came to immediately after reading this article. Why aren't science geniuses also blessed with the common sense gene???
HERE IS WHY THERE ARE HIGHER RATES OF CANCER IN THE NORTHEAST:
GET A LOAD OF THE PROPAGANDA THE GOVERNMENT WAS FEEDING PEOPLE IN THE 1950s. Just hide in a shelter for two weeks and rinse off fruit before eating it -- BAHAHAHA!! this one is even better:
But I regress...
Back to my point: I hope you noticed the part about the "down winds" when the map was shown in the first video. If not, here it is:
As you can see, all pollution and yes, particles from the HUNDREDS of nuclear bomb tests that have occurred in Nevada since the 1940s... get whisked to the east coast from the west by down winds. So it's no wonder why there are higher cancer rates in the northeast. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that virtually every person who has lived in the United States since 1951 has been exposed to radioactive fallout. And the fallout hovers over the east coast longer than the west coast.
I also have a problem with the author's ending statement: "...lung cancer rates are high in the South because smoking is generally more popular there, she said. But it generally takes years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as smoking before cancer develops, she said, so this wouldn't explain children's rates." ARE YOU SERIOUSLY A MEDICAL WRITER?! AND DID YOU REALLY SPEAK WITH A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL??? Smoking wouldn't explain the children's rates?!? Nobody besides myself factored in second hand smoke (oh, the irony) nor the probability of carcinogens the child faced while in the womb?!!
THIS IS COMMON SENSE. Articles like these make me livid because it proves tax payers are funding USELESS scientific studies run by clueless scientists. Not all scientists are clueless and not all scientific studies are useless, i know, but most scientists and companies are polluting the earth by creating even MORE household chemicals (that ad agencies convince you that you need) which work their way into our water supply and contaminate our drinking water.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Low Impact Ways to Become Low-Impact.
SIX small actions even the busiest humanoid can do to make a positive impact on the earth.
Consider this your new to-do list...
1. UNPLUG ELECTRONICS AND APPLIANCES: An easy, yet easily forgotten concept. Did you know your tv, radio, computer, VCR/DVD player and cell phone charger continue to draw electricity even when they're turned off?? FACT: The wasted electricity of leaving electronics and appliances plugged in is equivalent to continuously leaving a 100-watt light bulb on. Unplugging these items when not in use will reduce your environmental impact while reducing your electricity bill. Solution: Use power strips. The on/off switch will allow you to unplug your tv, VCR/DVD player, computer and printer at the same time.
2. STOP OD-ING ON NAPKINS: Same concept applies to toilet paper. It's not that difficult to "spare a square". (YES, although highly criticized, Sheryl Crow was on to something!!) My boyfriend and I lay out our wet paper towels on our kitchen counter and by the time we need another, our old paper towels are dry and ready to use again!! (We also use a large bath towel for our "kitchen towel" so we rarely have to rely on paper towels). FACT: If everyone in the US used ONE fewer napkin a day, we could save more than a BILLION pounds of napkins from landfills each year. Imagine the difference you can make if don't use any!!
3. STOP USING PLASTIC CUPS AND PLASTIC PLATES: Not only is plastic the most popular landfill material, but it's also been linked to cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Make a safer switch to reusable glass or ceramic mugs, cups and plates. Concerned with the amount of water and detergent you'll need to use to wash reusable dishware?? Turn off the water while scrubbing and use eco-friendly natural detergents like these.
4. SKIP THE WRAPPING PAPER: It's only on a package for a matter of minutes anyway. FACT: According to hotfact.com, Americans throw away up to 25% more garbage (five million tons more than the daily 3.5 pounds of garbage we usually throw away) between Thanksgiving and the New Year. About four million of those tons are made up of wrapping paper and shopping bags. Instead of wrapping paper, reuse newspapers (the comic section is always a favorite) and don't forget to recycle afterward!!
5. PLAY GAMES: Improve yourself while helping improve the lives of others simply by visiting http://www.freerice.com where you play a game to end world hunger while improving your vocabulary!! The concept: for every correct response, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will distribute 20 grains of rice to countries in need. "In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy." How it's possible: the money generated by the advertisements on the bottom of your game screen is used to buy the rice. Awesome.
6. CHOOSE CANVAS: The paper vs. plastic dilemma is solved by using reusable canvas bags!! Most grocery stores will offer small refunds if you bring your own bags. FACT: Using reusable bags saves 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees each year. If those facts aren't enough incentive, remember that canvas bags are sturdier and you will never have to worry about the handles ripping off while you carry your groceries.
All facts were found in the April 2008 edition of Women's Day. Kudos to them!! Some facts were also originally obtained by Deirdre Dolan at The Daily Green.
Consider this your new to-do list...
1. UNPLUG ELECTRONICS AND APPLIANCES: An easy, yet easily forgotten concept. Did you know your tv, radio, computer, VCR/DVD player and cell phone charger continue to draw electricity even when they're turned off?? FACT: The wasted electricity of leaving electronics and appliances plugged in is equivalent to continuously leaving a 100-watt light bulb on. Unplugging these items when not in use will reduce your environmental impact while reducing your electricity bill. Solution: Use power strips. The on/off switch will allow you to unplug your tv, VCR/DVD player, computer and printer at the same time.
2. STOP OD-ING ON NAPKINS: Same concept applies to toilet paper. It's not that difficult to "spare a square". (YES, although highly criticized, Sheryl Crow was on to something!!) My boyfriend and I lay out our wet paper towels on our kitchen counter and by the time we need another, our old paper towels are dry and ready to use again!! (We also use a large bath towel for our "kitchen towel" so we rarely have to rely on paper towels). FACT: If everyone in the US used ONE fewer napkin a day, we could save more than a BILLION pounds of napkins from landfills each year. Imagine the difference you can make if don't use any!!
3. STOP USING PLASTIC CUPS AND PLASTIC PLATES: Not only is plastic the most popular landfill material, but it's also been linked to cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Make a safer switch to reusable glass or ceramic mugs, cups and plates. Concerned with the amount of water and detergent you'll need to use to wash reusable dishware?? Turn off the water while scrubbing and use eco-friendly natural detergents like these.
4. SKIP THE WRAPPING PAPER: It's only on a package for a matter of minutes anyway. FACT: According to hotfact.com, Americans throw away up to 25% more garbage (five million tons more than the daily 3.5 pounds of garbage we usually throw away) between Thanksgiving and the New Year. About four million of those tons are made up of wrapping paper and shopping bags. Instead of wrapping paper, reuse newspapers (the comic section is always a favorite) and don't forget to recycle afterward!!
5. PLAY GAMES: Improve yourself while helping improve the lives of others simply by visiting http://www.freerice.com where you play a game to end world hunger while improving your vocabulary!! The concept: for every correct response, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will distribute 20 grains of rice to countries in need. "In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy." How it's possible: the money generated by the advertisements on the bottom of your game screen is used to buy the rice. Awesome.
6. CHOOSE CANVAS: The paper vs. plastic dilemma is solved by using reusable canvas bags!! Most grocery stores will offer small refunds if you bring your own bags. FACT: Using reusable bags saves 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees each year. If those facts aren't enough incentive, remember that canvas bags are sturdier and you will never have to worry about the handles ripping off while you carry your groceries.
All facts were found in the April 2008 edition of Women's Day. Kudos to them!! Some facts were also originally obtained by Deirdre Dolan at The Daily Green.
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