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Recent Posts
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
- Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
- Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
- Where to be? Links to Superfund, hazardous waste and other toxic sites in U.S.
- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum in shipping
- Why is everyone afraid of AI taking over? It makes stuff up!
- Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Category Archives: Water Pollution
550,000 abandoned mines, $50 billion to clean up the worst of them
Preface. Below are excerpts of a US House 2010 congressional hearing on cleaning up abandoned mines. Abandoned mines can cause soil erosion, heavy metal contamination (i.e., cyanide, lead, arsenic, mercury, uranium), and acid drainage that threatens thousands of streams and … Continue reading
Corn for ethanol & soy for biodiesel tremendously destructive
The Green Gold Rush to make biodiesel has begun in earnest in California. It would not be profitable without subsidies from LCFS credits, federal RIN D5 credits, and Blenders Tax Credits at $3.32 a gallon, which is enough to cover … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiesel, Peak Food, Pesticides, Soil, Water Pollution
Tagged aquifer depletion, biodiesel, corn, erosion, ethanol, pollution, soybeans, topsoil
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Water Theft
Preface. As fresh water supplies are depleted worldwide and water crises increase, water theft is becoming more common. And damage to marine environments as well. It is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the global water supply is stolen … Continue reading
Posted in Food production, Groundwater, Peak Water, Water Pollution
Tagged agriculture, pesticides, theft, treatment, water
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There are over 300,000 contaminated groundwater sites in the U.S.
Preface. If peak oil did indeed happen in 2018 as the EIA world production data shows, then let’s use the oil we still have, before it is rationed, to clean up the 126,000+ sites that threaten to pollute groundwater for … Continue reading
Posted in Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, National Academies of Sciences, Water Pollution
Tagged chemicals, drinking water, groundwater, pollution
1 Comment
Using manure for fertilizer in the future – it won’t be easy
Preface. At John Jeavons Biointensive workshop back in 2003, I learned that phosphorous is limited and mostly being lost to oceans and other waterways after exiting sewage treatment plants. He said it can be dangerous to use human manure without … Continue reading
Posted in Life Before Oil, Soil, Waste, Water Pollution
Tagged eutrophication, excrement, fertilizer, manure, phosphorus, sewage, water
8 Comments
Fresh water depletion, contamination, saltwater intrusion, & subsidence
Map of the U.S. showing cumulative groundwater depletion from 1900 through 2008 in 40 aquifers. Source: Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008), USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5079. Preface. This isn’t mentioned in the subsidence paper below, but half of USA … Continue reading
Posted in Groundwater, Peak Water, Water Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged aquifer, climate change, depletion, flood, groundwater, storm surge, subsidence, water
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U.S. Industrial farming destroys future food production for centuries
Preface. Below are excerpts from a devastating critique of current farming practices by the National research council who show the myriad ways that industrial farming is harming the land and future food production.
Toxic algae slime spreading quickly across the earth
2017-8-19. Ocean Slime Spreading Quickly Across the Earth. Craig Welch, National Geographic. Toxic algae blooms, perhaps accelerated by ocean warming and other climate shifts, are spreading, poisoning marine life and people. When sea lions suffered seizures and birds and porpoises … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Fisheries, Oceans, Water Pollution
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Threats to America’s drinking and sewage treatment infrastructure
[ Here are a few of the points made in this 170 page document about improving the nation’s water system security (excerpts follow): There are many potential threats to water infrastructure, including terrorism, failure of aging infrastructure, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, … Continue reading
Posted in CyberAttacks, Disease, Terrorism, Water Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged disease, infrastructure, terrorism, water
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