Special Report: Mercury Contamination

We are constantly warned about mercury levels in fish.  We are told to stay away from many varieties because of the effects of long term exposure and links to brain damage, severe respiratory issues, and kidney and liver failure.  This is something that we laugh at when Jeremy Piven claims he has it, but should take all precautions to ensure our children are not exposed to it.

In a new report released about our children and their exposure to mercury, we find that it is much more common than expected and quite expensive to clean up.

In fact, in a four year period, 37,000 calls were made to the Poison Control Center  regarding possible mercury exposure.  While many are centralized to broken thermometers, there are a significant amount due to mishandling in science labs at schools.  One researcher found that of 300 schoools inspected, 40% of schools have high levels of mercury in the atmosphere due to unknown or unreported spills.

Despite the high level found in schools, 75% of mercury exposure comes from the home.  The EPA feels that the way to reduce is exposure is to educate parents and children on proper clean up techniques, as well as, reminding them what products contain mercury.  For exmple, with the positive shift to an eco-friendly lifestyle, CFL’s have become the most common household item to contain mercury.  These lightbulbs cannot be disposed of by placing them in the normal trash, where they contaminate the land fills and surrounding areas.  They need to be disposed of properly.

Mercury poisoning symptoms start within hours of exposure and are indicated by tremors, chills, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache and anxiety.  If you feel there is cause, take the individual to the emergency room immediately for treatment.

opinion: carbon calculator, week 5

 

Week 5 in the continuing series of what is missing from Carbon Calculators.  

There is a list of the things that those calculators don’t ask, thereby eliminating them from their algorithm. These are the things that are sometimes the meat of the matter, so to speak. By altering these things, you could affect your true footprint in ways unimaginable and truly make our planet sustainable.

DRYING YOUR CLOTHES

So.. you now wash your clothes in cold water.  And, despite loving the mountain fresh scent, you got rid of your Tide and replaced it with Seventh Generation.  But then you still throw everything in the dryer, effectively canceling out what you did by all the other improvements.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average household dryer consumes 1,079 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which amounts to 2,224 pounds of carbon dioxide. If every US household let one load of laundry air-dry, 250,000 tons of CO2 could be saved.  This is equivalent to shutting down 15 nuclear power plants or cutting back coal use by 30 million tons each year. 

Can you imagine what could be done if you let every load air dry?  

But I’m not done with all the benefits.  Many people have humidifiers in there home, using even more energy, as it churns away putting moisture into the air.  However, if you replace that humidifier with a standing dryer rack ($20 at most home marts) filled with wet clothes, you will have the exact same affect.  For free.

There is also the reduction in environmental contaminants.  There have been many studies lately on the harmful affects of phthalates.  These are commonly found in artificial scents, like those found in laundry detergent and dryer sheets.  These chemicals are known hormone mimickers, having harmful effects on children.  They are most often release when heated.  Every time you or your neighbor runs their dryer and the exhaust goes out into the community, the chemicals are released into the air we breathe.  In other words, you would be wise to cover your mouth and nose when you smell the spring rain as you walk your dog through the neighborhood.  By not using a dryer, you have eliminated this entire situation.

Cost.  Drying clothes is 7% of the household electricity usage.  It is estimated that your household can save $135 per year on utility costs.  It is the equivalent of energy and cost savings by draft proofing your home.

But there is a secret cost that is saved, as well.  A standard t-shirt lasts about 25-30 dryer cycles before most people decide it is faded and damaged enough to throw it away.  The damage is caused by the heat and the exposure to the chemicals.  As the clothes are dried they shrink, ever so slightly.  As you put the clothes on they stretch and either the elastic goes out, or the material thins and tears.  Also, because of the heat, your favorite kelly green shirt is now closer to key lime green and doesn’t match the jeans you bought to go with it.  When you throw away the one shirt and buy another, you are spending the $30-60, months, or years, sooner than you needed to.

environmental report: mesothelioma

 

We were contacted and asked to publish this article on our site.

Fossil Fuels, CFCs Have Long Trail of Consequences

By James O’Shea; Content Manager, Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center

January 22, 2009

Often when considering the environmental hazards presented by destructive human behavior, we fail to see further than the direct effects on our planet. However, if we look further, we can see that our behaviors are affecting not only the earth we live on but also the general human health. There are essentially two tiers to the damage posed by destructive environmental actions. Let’s examine each of them for a better understanding of this hazard.

The first effect is the direct human health costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels and the release of chlorofluorocarbons (associated with atmospheric ozone depletion) in the atmosphere. Asthma rates in areas with high smog indices (associated with fossil fuel pollution) are near double that in smog neutral areas. In South Africa and Australia, where the ozone is among the most depleted on the planet, skin cancer rates are astronomically high, as UV rays breaking our atmosphere are much more intense. These are the very real and direct impact of destructive environmental behavior.

The second tier that I wish to bring attention to is the working conditions in the processing of fossil fuels, which pose some of the greatest occupational hazards of any jobsite. Oil refineries and coal plants are laden with older asbestos fixtures, which has been directly linked to the deadly asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. Even as asbestos was banned in the late 1970s, older asbestos fixtures (which are much more hazardous) still permeate this industry. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, they lodge in the pleural lining of the lungs, which lays the groundwork for mesothelioma and other respiratory complications later down the road. Harmful asbestos exposures are only hazard in these industries however. Countless other industrial hazards such as benzene, which has been classified as a carcinogen, also have been clearly linked to the processing of fossil fuels.

We can see now that the effects of destructive environmental hazards go well beyond the direct impact on the planet. We are beginning to see now that these behaviors may ultimately cost lives if we don’t change our ways. Through change, we will preserve the planet for our children and the lives of its inhabitants today.

u.s. launches study, too

 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York is launching the largest study in children’s health ever in the United States, according to the Wichita Eagle.

The National Children’s Study will track up to 100,000 children’s exposure to environmental factors from their first trimester before birth until they’re at least 21, in an effort to learn more about the effects of pollution on American children.

The study will be funded by the National Institute of Health, with support from the CDC and EPA.  An additional intent is that they will gather enough information to advance the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases like asthma and autism, and other illnesses that environment is a strong factor.

Initially, the study will begin with a selected group of pregnant women from the Queens, NY and Duplin County, N.C. areas.  After 18 months, it will be expanded to include 100,000 children from 105 differing locations.

This study comes on the heels of an announcement of a $6-million study in Canada of environmental risks while in utero.  In either case, we should start seeing valuable data, soon, on how our living conditions are affecting our youth.