Categories
-
Recent Posts
- The first commercial carbon sequestration plant in the U.S. leaks
- Food peak production yet 3 billion more babies by 2050
- Chemical industrial farming does not work: Pests evolve immunity quickly
- Trump & Project 2025 want to destroy energy efficiency & raise your utility bills
- The only congressional hearing on Peak Oil was in 2005
- Tom Murphy Stubborn Expectations (on population)
- NIMBY Hydrogen production
- Can Geothermal power replace declining fossil fuels?
- Telling others about peak oil and limits to growth
- Why coal was only created once
- Failed Nations
- We have a date for the zenith of civilization: 2025-2026
- Escape to Mars after we’ve trashed the Earth?
- Spermageddon: Sperm is declining around the world
- Thorium nuclear bombs and reactors have too many challenges
Category Archives: Pollution
Because we’ve stuffed staggering numbers of cows on factory farms we live in a cow toilet
[ Book review of “Cowed: The hidden impactof 93 million cows” by Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer] Hayes, Denis and Gail. 2015. Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 … Continue reading
Posted in Antibiotics, Biodiversity Loss, CO2 and Methane, Pollution, Soil
Tagged antibiotic resistance, cattle, cows
1 Comment
Promoting soil health in agriculture at U.S. House hearing 2014
Preface. At last, many years after I first published “Peak soil: Why biofuels destroy ecosystems and civilizations” in 2007, Congress had a hearing to educate House members on why preserving topsoil is so essential for food production for future generations. … Continue reading
Posted in Biomass, Peak Topsoil, Pesticides, Soil, U.S. Congress Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged agriculture, cover crop, erosion, no-till, peak soil, soil health, U.S. House of representatives
Comments Off on Promoting soil health in agriculture at U.S. House hearing 2014
Chemicals banned in cosmetics
The environmental working group has this to say about cosmetics: “American families assume personal care products on the market today have been tested by the federal government. Unfortunately, the personal care products industry remains largely unregulated. The FDA does not … Continue reading
Posted in Chemicals
Comments Off on Chemicals banned in cosmetics
We’ll all be Flint Michigan someday: U.S. water infrastructure is falling apart
NRC. 2006. Drinking Water Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks Committee on Public Water Supply Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks. National Research Council, National Academies Press. [ According to this Free National Research Council report, most water systems and … Continue reading
Posted in Water Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged contamination, disease, failure, infrastructure, water
Comments Off on We’ll all be Flint Michigan someday: U.S. water infrastructure is falling apart
External costs of coal: probably over $500 billion per year in USA
Paul R. Epstein, et al. 2011. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1219: 73–98. This paper tabulates a wide range of … Continue reading
Posted in Chemicals, CO2 and Methane, Coal, Hazardous Waste, Water Pollution
Comments Off on External costs of coal: probably over $500 billion per year in USA
Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal and Waste Incinerators
Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal Mary S. Booth, PhD Partnership for Policy Integrity April 2 , 2014 Executive Summary Highlights Because of a perfect storm of lax regulation and regulatory rollbacks , biomass … Continue reading
Posted in Air, Biomass, Hazardous Waste
Comments Off on Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal and Waste Incinerators
Mercury pollution
August 9, 2014. Missing mercury pollution is enough for mass poisoning. NewScientist. New data suggests that we still don’t know where our emissions of toxic mercury end up. Somewhere out there are tens of thousands of tons of missing mercury. … Continue reading
Posted in Gold & Silver, Hazardous Waste
Tagged hazardous waste, mercury, pollution
Comments Off on Mercury pollution
Nuclear Winter in China: Chinese Smog will lower food supplies
Scientists liken Chinese smog to ‘nuclear winter’ February 27, 2014. by Kim Kyung-Hoon. Reuters. Air pollution in parts of China is now so extreme it could lead to conditions similar to a “nuclear winter,” scientists say. The smog that covers … Continue reading
Posted in Air
Tagged china, crop failure, nuclear winter
Comments Off on Nuclear Winter in China: Chinese Smog will lower food supplies
Pesticides & Parkinson’s in California’s Central Valley
Horowitz, J. 2012. Parkinson’s Alley. Recent studies have found statistical links between pesticide use and an outbreak of Parkinson’s disease in California farm towns. Researchers even know which chemicals are the likely culprits. What’s the government doing about it? Not … Continue reading
Posted in Pesticides
Comments Off on Pesticides & Parkinson’s in California’s Central Valley
Algal blooms more toxic due to climate change and crop fertilizer runoff
Paerl, H.W. et al. October 25, 2013. Blooms Bite the Hand That Feeds Them. Science Vol. 342 no. 6157 pp. 433-434 Eutrophication from climate change, dams, higher carbon dioxide concentrations, drought, and nutrients from farm and urban runoff is increasing … Continue reading
Posted in Disease, Water Pollution
Comments Off on Algal blooms more toxic due to climate change and crop fertilizer runoff