Category Archives: big coal

Moving the pet coke

by

Well, of course….they’re dumping pet coke in Chicago…and Whiting, Indiana….

“Petcoke tends to have higher metal content than coal – like nickel, vanadium and selenium,” added Geertsma. “Coal can have higher mercury content, so they’re both bad in terms of toxic heavy metals content.”

~~~~~~~~

The report says that Canadian exports of petcoke to the U.S. more than doubled between 2010 and 2012, and BP Whiting’s expansion will triple its petcoke production to 6,000 tons per day.

~~~~~~~~~

And I got my answer to where the petcoke piles were moved to–Ohio.

 

More on Fukushima **edited

by

The comments on the last blog have some good links:

Nearly a third of all babies born after 3/11/11 are more likely to have thyroid issues.  If you recall, radiation interferes with the thyroid.  A good page here on what happens to the body.

More here.

Another link to a comments page about nuclear fallout and its affects on those in the military:

We think there are 150,000 more Atomic Veterans across the U.S. who do not know that their oath of secrecy has been recended, since 1963, and who also may not know that they may be entitled to VA benefits. The National Association of Atomic Veterans ( NAAV ) was formed in 1979 to assist Atomic Vet’s in accessing the VA system, for the purposes of getting treatment and compensation for a host of health issues precipitated by their exposure to ionizing radiation particles while proudly serving their country, as Mr. Beatty did, at Operation Crossroads… We continue to get phone calls, weekly, from A-vets who have recently been made aware of our organization, and who are in need of assistance in these areas. We look forward to hearing from anyone who may read this article…… Our website is: http://www.naav.com

R J Ritter – Nat. Commander
NAAV, Inc.
Member: Veteran’s Advisory Board on (radiation) Dose Reconstruction.

~~~~~~~~~

Pass the word–perhaps this will help someone affected and not knowing where to go for help.

~~A side story on the chemical spill in West Virginia…criminy, if this isn’t nature slapping us in the face, warning us that we’re inept in dealing with this stuff, I don’t know what is…nature can only endure so much.

The attitude that the river will “take care of it” is utter bullshit.  It’s just going to go somewhere else and cause health issues for the unfortunate ones.

Meanwhile, the Koch brothers have a pile of petcoke right next to the river in Detroit…**edited:  I stand corrected. It has been removed….but the report fails to tell us where the pile was moved to..?  Wanna bet it was to some poor neighborhood?

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

More bad news for orcas

by

This is a disturbing report on our stupidity and carelessness and its impacting ecology, and specifically the orcas.

Here’s a Puget Sound indigenous group trying to help the orcas.

Of course, thinking of the west coast, my mind wandered towards the impact of Fukushima.  A member of the mercury support group has stated that she felt much worse after moving to the west coast.  She left after a year.

From the article:

Barrett-Lennard says the southern resident orca pod, which is found in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland, has lost seven matriarchs over the past two years, and he’s noticed a lack of vocalizations from the normally chatty mammals.

~~~~~~~~~~

More here.  This is even more sobering in detail.  There is an animated video of the radiation trail towards the United States and Canada.  Be sure to click on the Laura James video –a picture says a thousand words.  It made me nauseous looking at all the dead and dying sea stars.

They also make note that it is happening in Maine and New Jersey, so they question the Fukushima connection…but perhaps the radiation didn’t stop at the West Coast, but has traveled inland, as they say?

They also make note that the moose population is dying off–so much so that Wisconsin called off its moose hunt this past year.  The deer population, as I’ve blogged about, is suffering and dying, too.  And nobody questions GMO’s and their possible impact on these animals.

 

Understanding the gravity of NAFTA

by

Idle No More has a post up on the far-reaching effects of NAFTA.  This is especially important because now we have NAFTA on steroids with TPP being fast-tracked through Congress.

Here’s an update on Blackfire.

More here.

From the article:

Though officials did meet with NGOs opposed to the mine, they accepted Blackfire’s take that protestors were out to squeeze money from the firm, says MiningWatch’s analysis of the emails.

~~~~~~

Of course….because the mining company execs see everything in $$, they think everyone *else* thinks as they do.  It is inconceivable to them that there are people who value the environment, their health, their children’s health, the Earth, etc.

Note how the company was unable to substantiate claims against Abarca.  It appears he was thrown in jail under false claims.

NAFTA, and I fear TPP, are all about taking power and control away from the local people.  It means losing their autonomy to decide what happens in their communities, as the mega million dollar lawsuit illustrates.

These trade agreements are not supportive of the democratic process, rather a dictatorial process.  How is this representation of taxpayers?

Dealing with Celiac haters

by

They have a good discussion going on at celiac.com on the “haters” who treat people with Celiac as whiners who should just eat whatever is put in front of them….never mind that it is poison to their bodies.

The comments are spot on–not exaggerating in the least about how hateful people are towards Celiacs–as if we asked to get this disease…

…note the comment that a doctor, a doctor, scoffed at gluten free diet as a hoax.  And a nurse did it, too.  No wonder I never got diagnosed by a *cough* medical professional.

On those rare occasions when I get to go out to eat, it is the rare restaurant (in my area) that has a gluten free menu or will make accommodations (gluten free bread, for instance).

I have been met with hostility from servers who couldn’t be bothered to find out if a menu item had gluten in it.  Not even when I asked each time she returned to the table.  I finally just had to pick off the ala carte menu and order mash potatoes (even though potatoes were not supposed to be part of my diet until I healed my gut with GAPS).

It happened the other night when I was in a diner and when I asked the owner about gluten free, she actually told me that another customer had asked about it, and requested the ingredient list for hamburger buns.  The customer actually fed the hamburger buns to her child!!  So…the restaurant owner, who obviously doesn’t know and doesn’t care about poisoning her customers, took it that the buns were safe for Celiacs.  She asked me what gluten was, and I had to explain it was wheat, rye, barley, and oats.  She suggested an entree of chicken.  There were two reasons I would not order it:  1.  Since she didn’t know and didn’t really want to be bothered with finding out about gluten, I wasn’t about to order anything more complicated than a burger without the bun.  2.  I eat chicken nearly every day….going out to eat is supposed to be something special–so yeah, I’m not going to eat more chicken.  Blech.

Another comment on the site spoke about:

As for the hostility of others, I sometimes wonder if it is because they know they need to change their diet but don’t want to, so they become resentful of those of us who do.

~~~~~~

I’ve wondered this, myself.  Once I started the GAPS diet, it still took me awhile to get it in my head that I was indeed a Celiac.  You might recall that I cheated for awhile with a snack that had wheat in it–a powerful draw to continue with something destructive.  And it’s still hard at times–favorite foods with gluten in them still make my mouth water.  But after a few times of cheating and becoming ill from it…yeah, you’re pretty much cured of cheating.  Nothing tastes so good that throwing it all up later  (or worse) makes it worth it.    Sticking to my diet is tough, so it is puzzling why others would be resentful…

Mall of America…not for *that* America

by

The women of Idle No More tried to hold a Native American dance in the Mall of America, which promptly had them arrested.  I kid you not.

123 years after Wounded Knee, and they’re still objecting to the Native Americans dancing.

 

What is the harm in that?  I thought it was quite moving.

 

 

They won’t even give her the respect of telling her a valid reason why they can’t be there….because they don’t have one…

 

DIY Solar Power **edited

by

I have the bah humbugs for the New Year…can’t get too worked up over the new year–too many times hopes have been dashed…

So…I thought I’d go looking for something to lift my mood...here’s a neat thing–do it yourself solar panels.  I think even if someone only wanted to do one panel, it would still help reduce their electric bill, and that would reduce the country’s needs for energy produced by oil or other environmentally toxic stuff, like fracking.  Note that the author recommends a professional installation, or having a professional inspect your work if you do it yourself.

Eartheasy also has a page on energy efficient lighting, with LED lights.  I was happy they did not have the dreaded mercury-filled lightbulbs.

Enjoy.

**edited to add:  As I read the comments, the author mentions they have a small generator when the sun is not available.  It flashed in my head that with the stupid chemtrails creating a solid mass of “clouds” it could also interfere with available sunlight for the solar panels.

Oklahoma earthquakes and fossil fuel wastewater

by

I suspected this all along.

Also–someone posted this link in the comments section on the Top 10 ingredients used in fracking.  You might recall that Nurse Cathy Behr was made ill when coming in contact with these toxins!

U.S. wetlands in danger

by

80,000 acres have been lost. 

“While they comprise less than 10 percent of the nation’s land area, they support 75 percent of our migratory birds, nearly 80 percent of fish and shellfish, and almost half of our threatened and endangered species. We can’t sustain native wildlife for future generations without protecting and restoring the coastal wetlands that support them,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

~~~~~

A commenter from Florida says 60% of their wetlands have been lost.

A depressing aspect is that some would like to attach a monetary value to the wetlands.  In my view, there isn’t any way to adequately do such a thing.  It’s priceless.  When it’s gone, we are too.  And when I say “we”  I mean every living thing–the fish, the birds, the no-see-ums…all those things that are connected.

And this article doesn’t even take into account the pollution of plastic, mercury, and other toxins to the remaining wetlands.

…our “kidneys” are failing because of our neglect and lack of proactive life changes.  It’s so haaard to make adjustments. /snarky and whiny, for sure.

 

Shrimp season canceled

by

According to this report, the shrimp season has been canceled due to warmer than normal waters.    And then I wonder how many other fish have been affected…especially those that eat shrimp in their diet.

The comments were sobering, of course:

Its like watching a disaster movie in super slow motion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep.