Category Archives: heavy metals

Liberal media, where are you? **edited

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Diane Ravitch has a link up to a daily kos piece on the non-coverage of issues Americans care about…

**edited to add this link.

The Sky is Pink

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…because the oil and gas industry says so…

Clearly, with all the evidence out there, the oil and gas industry has been allowed to get away with so much because Congress is so beholden to them.

Very little is said about solar or wind power when members of Congress are spouting the latest “the American people want…” schtick….and nobody ever proposes that the American public needs to reexamine their own energy usage.

Funny how during WWII, they didn’t have a problem asking folks “Is this trip necessary?” to save gas and keep tires from wearing out.

But now…?

*crickets*

It’s good to know some Americans are taking it upon themselves to reduce their gas usage by riding bikes.  I know that is not always possible especially for disabled folk…but perhaps that problem could be solved if bikes were designed with disabled in mind? Surely some nerdy engineer could figure out how to design a bike that would be safe and easy for not-so-disabled folk?

Anyway, we are part of the problem, too.  But we still need to tax the hell out of the oil and gas industry, for one–they’re less likely to cause trouble in D.C. with $$$ lobbyists if they don’t have wads of cash lying around…

Offshore fracking

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<sigh>  it took a Freedom of Information request by the AP to get this.

I rather doubt that it’s only been twelve times.  And the troubling thing is that the EPA only considers human life valuable:

In a statement to the AP, the EPA defended its oversight of offshore fracking, saying its system ensures the practice does not pollute the environment in a way that would endanger human health.

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…because killing whales and fish isn’t important.  Neither is contaminating the ocean water…oh, wait…the oil companies are putting freshy clean water back into the ocean when they’re done putting nasty chemicals that they won’t name into the ocean floor.  I mean, there is no waaay that the oil companies would lie or minimize their impact.  /snark

 

The history of pipeline spills

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Really hard to deny the massive incidents when you see this.

You can’t even see Indiana from all the “incidents”.  Nor Illinois nor Ohio.  And Texas!  A state that size that is practically obliterated by the dots should be up in arms about this.    Some folks are wisening up, though–unfortunately, it’s after they become sick and unable to put up much of a fight.

I found this timeline on wikipedia.  It’s pretty hard to deny how dirty this business is and how careless they are.  Why should they care?  They have Congress bought off….

Not only that, here are nuclear and radiation accidents…

…makes you feel all warm and cozy, doesn’t it?  No?

Koch cloud over Detroit

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Holy Crap. 

My worst fears that  I blogged about on that pile of pet coke in Detroit…Good God.  And the Koch brothers get away with murder….oh, it doesn’t look like murder because people die more slowly from emphysema, heart disease, and lung disease and God-knows-what-else….but it’s murder just the same.  Just because one doesn’t see blood spurting doesn’t mean the guilty are innocent.  Unconscionable.

 

High levels of arsenic found in wells near fracking sites

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(hat tip to organic consumers)

From the Texas Tribune.

University of Texas at Arlington researchers tested 100 private water wells in 2011 …

Those with dangerously high levels of arsenic — about one-third of the wells — tended to be much closer to natural gas wells than those that were not contaminated.

 

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The study’s authors were cautious but I think this is pretty solid.  What would be better is if the wells were tested by the university BEFORE fracking began.   Then it would be pretty hard to deny that fracking is the cause of the high levels of arsenic.   That absolutely should be a requirement before fracking is allowed in an area–the wells should be tested by independent labs (universities are great, as long as they’re not being bankrolled by corporate interests such as Halliburton) .  And they should be re-tested after fracking has commenced.

And the water usage in fracking is rarely brought up–that concerns me as much as poisoning the water.  How many gallons of precious water is used for this dirty process?  How much does this drain the aquifers?

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Biotech food launches new website

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Propaganda...gotta love it. Not.   Ninety-three percent of Americans want GMO labeling…why isn’t Congress doing what the American people want??  I mean, they keep stating “the American people want…” so they must be concerned with honoring our wishes….right?   /just a little sarcasm there, folks

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One really has to wonder if the folks at the FDA have too much time on their hands or have completely lost their minds when you read stories like this. 

I think we should all live in bubbles so there is no way that we could ever, ever, ever come in contact with salmonella or any other bad bug.  /snark

I want eggs by free range chickens, but I can’t always get them.    It makes sense that the nutrition is better with free range eggs–look at the variety in their diet.  Clearly, the FDA is infiltrated with Big Ag  corporations that want to squeeze out the organic farmer.

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Speaking of organic food–I am starting to see the fruits of my labor with the heirloom tomato, Cosmonaut Volkov.  I had one the other night with mayonnaise on it…and OMG, it was delicious!  It tasted like tomatoes used to taste like before the hybridized the taste out of them!  Oh, wow, it was just like they tasted back in the 60s.  I kid you not.

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More on the GMO war–of course, it always comes down to who is funding  it.   Gah, the “NO” list reads like a list of defense contractors.

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Organic food sales are increasing.  People are waking up to the poison in their food.  Good for them.

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Michael Pollan and Mark Hertsgaard on how sustainable farming practices can help with climate change.

Searching for Soul Food…

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Michael Twitty has a link up to an article about the loss of soul food recipes…sadly, the history seems to be lost in Asheville.   I think the diet dictocrats that insisted margarine was “good” for us…have scared many people away from food with animal fat in it.  If you recall, the book Nourishing Traditions blows those myths away, along with the myth that raw milk is baaaad for you.  Just the opposite–the enzymes that are removed in the pasteurization process are beneficial.  Folks who have difficulty digesting milk products find that they have no difficulty with raw milk.  But if you want raw milk, you have to go about it in a clandestine way because the food nazis are out to make it illegal.