The Story of Bottled Water

Hummers and other SUVs are hurting our children

To illustrates how cars should be more efficient and regulations changed and reinforced; the Hummer H2, an expensive car, less safe than standard cars because of high center of gravity weighing 6,400 pounds that puts the Hummer into the category of truck, for which a tax deduction may be taken on its purchase if the vehicle is to be used for business, Hummer owners are able to deduct about $38,000 from their taxes. However, the H2 releases about 40 pounds of smog-causing pollutants for every 15,000 miles driven. 

Polluters should pay for their pollution. The Hummer driver must pay a higher share than the drivers of a fuel efficient cars. About 70% of our oil consumption is used for transportation and need political strong and comprehensive initiatives to be changed. Obama new objectives announced in its States of the Union’s speech, and want to bring reforms. The first step for a strong reduction in carbon emissions is to give incentives for more efficient cars.

The future of America dependent on a clean energy and if we are ready to fight oil consumption, SUVs and Hummers must be out of the market, CAF standards reinforced and hybrid drivers should be rewarded.

Carbon emissions reduced by the economic slowdown while climate negationists pollute Congress

Emissions of carbon dioxide fell 6% in 2009 and were at their lowest level since 1995. The economic slowdown and a shift from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas to produce electricity, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, have contributed to the decline. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Cuccinelli, a Virginia’s attorney general, a right-wing conservative/Tea Party is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its ruling that carbon dioxide and other global warming gases pose a threat to human health and welfare, describing the science behind the agency’s decision as unreliable and unverifiable.

In reality, in human urban areas, up to 90% of CO is emitted by motor vehicles. There is a terrestrial dimension to air pollution that we can’t ignore any longer. Human well-being is better served by controlling the accumulation in the atmosphere of carbon monoxide than to let air pollution ruining people's health, the environment and altering global climate, for the wealth of few lobbyist in Washington.

The Story of Cap & Trade

210,000 gallons a day of toxic mining waste into 23 acres lake in Alaska

On Monday June 24, 2009, the Supreme Court hurt the Clean Water Act in a court decision by opening the door to industrial dumping into our water. An American gold mining company was allowed to discharge 210,000 gallons a day of potentially toxic mining waste into 23 acres lake near Juneau in Alaska. 

This decision was made possible by an amendment pushed by the Bush Administration and voted on May 9, 2002. The Wetland page on EPA’s website explains “the Federal Register published a final Corps and EPA rule reconciling their previously differing Clean Water Act section 404 regulations defining the term "fill material" and amended their definition of "discharge of fill material”. While working on infrastructures such as bridges or levees, the Army Corps of engineer was the only institution using the right of discharging “fill material” in water. Bush Administration enlarged the definition to include contaminated mining in the “fill material” to serve the interest of the Mining industry. “This is the same regulatory trick the corps relies on to allow coal mining companies in Appalachia to dump the waste from mountaintop mining into the valleys below — a practice that has obliterated 1,200 miles of streams.”

NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) requires Federal Agencies to allow public participation on their actions involving the environment. The intent is to have the public engaged into Federal decision-making process and be better informed on environmental matters. Federal agencies when conducting environmental reviews determine the level of documentation and actions needed. Therefore, they conduct an analysis to determine if an Environmental Impact Statement, (EIS) and an Environmental Assessment (EA) would be necessary. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) defines CEs as "a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment." (40 C.F.R § 1508.4), and for that reason, do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS. The purpose of CE is to save agency resources when certain activities have a limited environmental impact. However, CEs are also directly responsible for public involvement, if an agency agree on a CE, no environmental review or public participation are mandatory.

Federal agencies like the BLM have utilized CE beyond their intended purpose and this extensive used can have a negative environmental impact. The goal of the NEPA and the idea of the entire process are to have better qualified and improved Federal agencies. Conversely, the abuse of CE can lead to incomplete analysis and harmful activities and can affect communities, as public concerns are not including into their decisions. The GAO investigation found that BLM illegally approved some oil and gas drilling applications on public lands from 2006 to 2008”. BLM used categorical exclusions to approve more than “a quarter of applications during those years about 6,100 of 22,000 and to modify hundreds of existing permits”.  

In this case and other involving CEs, the BLM decided that environmental analysis where not necessary neither the public participation nor eventual examination of extraordinary circumstances that might have conducted to further analysis. Science and full public participation provide a foundation for equitable and sustainable development and CE an instrument to serve political and economical special interest.   

References:
Final Revisions to the Clean Water Act Regulatory Definitions of "Fill Material" and "Discharge of Fill Material" http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/fillfinal.html
NEPA, the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970. Sec. 1508.4 Categorical exclusion. http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/Nepa/regs/ceq/1508.htm#1508.4

New York Time. Editorial. June 24, 2009. One More Threat to Clean Water. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/opinion/25thu2.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Clean%20Water%20Act%20&st=cse

Market price fails to reflect costs of negative external impacts leading to excessive production and consummation of goods.

In regard to impacts of pollution we may not be able to measure all relevant costs and benefits in economic terms.  A good example is the automobile industry with the enormous cost on pollution and human health that is not part of our economical indicators. Environmental regulations aim to set the optimal level of pollution because corporations do not take responsibility for the marginal social costs. They produce pollution at a level that is scientifically and socially unacceptable and irresponsible in terms of damaged to the environment.


Market externalities must be taking into account, when a company pollutes, it produces a negative externality on the ecosystem, the health of the people, the sack of future generation, and we all are affected negatively by the polluters. To guarantee the future of our planet and our own survival, we need to accept market failure and take into account in our economical approach all negative externalities.  “One approach to pollution control is to internalize external costs by a system of green taxation or other instruments that requires producers and consumers of the polluting good to take these costs into account”.


Reference:
Harris, J. M. (n.d.). Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (Second edition ed.). USA:
Hougthon Mifflin Company. (Original work published 2006)

Carbon emissions are expected to post their biggest drop in more than 40 years

The International Energy Agency will announce this month that global carbon emissions are expected to post their biggest drop in more than 40 years. The reason behind this drop in carbon emissions is the decrease of industrial activity and trade around the world due to the economical downturn as well as some government’s action. IEA expects to see global carbon emissions fall 2.6 percent this year. However, an improving economy is expected to increase domestic carbon dioxide emissions 0.7 percent next year. According to the Energy Information Administration, Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of energy sources account for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.


This news shows how human activity is decisive to climate change and how humans have the solution in their hands to make the economical changes needed. Economically as well as scientifically we have the tools available to resolve the problem of global warming or at least lighten the effects. We must start efficient production of renewable energy we will have to stop subsidizing the fuel industry and have the price of fossil reflect his real cost including health, environmental and military costs. Fuel prices must go up; our market economy is driven by short term-financial incentive while an alternative economy based on renewable energy would require efficient inter-temporal resource allocation. The massive investments made in fossil fuel infrastructures, the low cost policy of government to encourage industrial growth must be shift to break the unsustainable and uneconomically path of fossil fuel dependence.


The obligation and responsibility of governments is to signed international treaties to reduce emissions and create global institutions to deal with the emergency. There is a terrestrial dimension to climate change that we can’t ignore any longer. Human well-being is better served by controlling the accumulation in the atmosphere of Carbone dioxide and trace gases than letting climate becoming out of control.


Climate refugees, tribes in Amazonia, Inuit women infect by PCB and so much more challenges are to be addressed immediately. Global climate challenges are waiting for our policies to adjust. History will judge our actual governments on their action today because the actual changes made to climate by humans are unsustainable and are directly related to human health and well-being as well as the survival of future generations.


References:
Emissions of CO2 Set for Best Drop in 40 Years. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/earth/22emissions.html
Harris, J. (2006). Environmental and resource economics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Berg, L.R., & Hager, M.C. (2009). Visualizing environmental science (2nd Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

DTT will not cure Malaria

In 2008, the National Geographic reported that Heidi Geisz, a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science declared "we were surprised to find that levels had not declined but had stabilized”. Scientists discovered, when studying the melting ice of the Arctic, that a high level of DDT in the fat and eggs of penguins. In the past, researchers had found different results and made interpretations on the toxicity of DDT, however, since it was first used after WW2, DTT effects have been observed by scientists with years of studies and observations identifying side effects of DDT; bio-accumulation in animal fats and the ecosystem as well as by the resistance of mosquitoes to DTT. After more than 50 years of utilization, scientific observations have proved the supporters of DDT wrong.

The publication of “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carlson in 1962, started a debate between scientists on the use and ban of DTT. Doctor R. Roberts, critics of the ban on DTT echoing a publication on the Science Magazine stated that critics of DTT were “phantasmagorical allegations” and declared that “history has shown that each and every one of these claims and predictions were false"(Easton 311). The first point advanced is that DDT degrades from living creatures. However, DDT has been observed in animal fats for years but this fact could not be measured immediately. According to the EPA “even though DDT has been banned since 1972, it can take more than 15 years to break down in our environment. Fish consumption advisories are in effect for DDT in many waterways including the Great Lakes ecosystem.” The second argument is that DDT cannot reach concentrations in water (Easton 311). 

Nevertheless, the phenomenon observed in the Great Lakes according to EPA, indicates “atmospheric deposition is the current source of new DDT contamination in our Great Lakes” leading to dangerous fish consumption for humans. The third argument is that DDT has no effect on animal population number (Easton 311). Yet, EPA has established the Endangered Species Protection Program (ESPP) and places “geographically specific use limitations on pesticides in order to protect endangered and threatened species from pesticides”. If this programs had been launched is because along the year it has been observed that DTT and other chemicals can poison plants and animals if they are not used correctly. The Fourth assumption is that there are no evidences that the Sea Lions’ population was affected by DTT. However, the Environmental Health Perspectives published in 2009 the result of a study where the observation on sea lions “demonstrate that embryonic exposure to DDTs leads to asymptomatic animals at completion of neurodevelopment with greater sensitivity to domoic acid–induced seizures,” furnishing the evidences needed to DTT opponents.

Theories on DDT are verifiable by more than half centuries of observations and scientific evaluations of DTT and most of them had shown that insects are resistant to DTT and that the long term damaged on the environmental are and will be present for years to come. However, both side agree of the urgent necessity to invest more in researches to combat malaria and that the developed countries cannot let millions of people dying around the world while simple sanitary measures such as bednets, the eradication of stagnant water in slumps and the education of women can make a difference. Malaria will not only be cured by spreading insecticides but buy improving living standards and education. The problem of malaria is not just toxicological problem but also a humanitarian and social problem.
 

References:

Stemp-Morlock, G. (2008, May 12). Antarctic Melt Releasing DDT, Tainting Penguins. National Geographic News, 1. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/ 080512-penguins-ddt_2.html
Taking Sides: Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Environmental Issues, 13th Ed.
Publisher: McGraw-Hill. Paperback,
N.d. (n.d.). Pesticides: Endangered Species Protection Program [Learn more about Threatened and Endangered Species]. Retrieved from Evironmental Protection Agency database.
N.d. (n.d.). Pesticides: Topical & Chemical Fact Sheets [DDT - A Brief History and Status]. Retrieved from Evironmental Protection Agency database.
Tiedeken, J. A., & Ramsdell, J. S. (2009, January). DDT Exposure of Zebrafish Embryos Enhances Seizure Susceptibility: Relationship to Fetal p,p′-DDE Burden and Domoic Acid Exposure of California Sea Lions [Marine Biotoxins Program, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratio. Environmental Health Perspectives, v.117(1) . Abstract retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2627867/