Clipmarks | Smog Clips

Electronic smog 'is disrupting nature on a massive scale'

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:29:19 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Mobile phones, Wi-Fi systems, electric power lines and similar sources of "electrosmog" are disrupting nature on a massive scale, causing birds and bees to lose their bearings, fail to reproduce and die, a conference will be told this week.

Dr Warnke, a lecturer at the University of Saarland, in Germany, adds that the world's natural electrical and magnetic fields have had a "decisive hand in the evolution of species". Over millions of years they learned to use them to work out where they were, the time of day, and the approach of bad weather.

His research has shown that bees exposed to the kinds of electrical fields generated by power lines killed each other and their young, while ones exposed to signals in the same range as mobile phones lost much of their homing ability.

Tags: environment, i-extinction, i-risks, i-increase

EPA Would Be On The Right Track

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:59:42 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Had they started with the automobile industry long ago. Now diddling around with lawnmowers.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

EPA tightens lawn mower, motor boat emission rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exhaust-spewing lawn mowers and speed boats will get a green make-over under tough new rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed to reduce smog and save millions of gallons of gasoline.

Gas-powered engines in lawn and garden equipment will be required to cut smog-forming emissions by 35 percent, while engines in personal watercraft will have to cut smog-forming emissions by 70 percent and reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 20 percent.

It's the EPA's latest step to reduce emissions from nonroad sources. The agency previously set new standards for farm and construction equipment, recreational vehicles, locomotives and commercial marine craft.

"When fully implemented, this rule will be the air pollution equivalent of removing one out of every five cars and trucks on the road," said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

Used Car/Truck Question Sheet

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:18:53 GMT

clipped by: wws560

Clip Source: www.edmunds.com

Used Car Question Sheet

Dealership/Name of Owner:_________________________________

Phone: _________ Make/Model: ____________________ Year: _____

Mileage: ____________ Why Low? High?_________________________

Exterior Color: _______________ Smog:______________________

Interior Color: _________________ Leather: ________ Cloth: _______

Number of doors: ______ Engine: _____________________

Transmission: Auto: ______ Manual: ______

Is there a salvage title? _______ Do you have the title: __________

Are you the first owner? ____ Is it a trade in? ____ Lease return?____

Have any major parts been replaced? _________________________

Are any repairs needed? _______ Has it been in an accident?: _______

Options/Add-ons: _____________________________________________

Is there anything else I need to know: _______________________

Asking price: _________________

Cheney Aide getting Global Warming Portfolio at Energy?

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:13:46 GMT

clipped by: Kelika
clipper's remarks: "The result: One of the most ardent opponents of government regulation within the government would be put in a key decision-making position where global warming policies are set.

Said Jason K. Burnett, who as a deputy associate administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency tangled with Hutto over global warming until leaving the government: "I can't think of a case where Chase advocated more environmental or health protections."

As for placing Hutto in the Energy Department at this late date, the Post, quoting Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists, notes: "In coming months, Hutto could make policy decisions that the next administration would find difficult to reverse quickly.""

Clip Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

From his post in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, F. Chase Hutto III has had his hands in a variety of issues.

There was the debate over clean air and global warming. By all accounts, he helped scuttle the course favored by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency for stronger regulations intended to fight emissions of greenhouse gases, as Countdown to Crawford reported a month ago.

There was the time the administration was considering greater restrictions on smog-forming ozone; he opposed them. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rule to protect North Atlantic right whales? The Bush administration is reportedly about to scale it back. Hutto was in deep on that one, too.

His role was tracked by the Washington Post, which reports today that the administration has a new job in mind for him: He will be promoted, the Post reports, from his staff position in Cheney's office to assistant secretary of energy.

Tags: cheney, global warming, gasoline, energy

Dead zones, and not just in Washington

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:36:30 GMT

clipped by: lindabeekeeper

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

In the latest sign of trouble in the planet's chemistry, the number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in coastal waters around the world has roughly doubled every decade since the 1960s, killing fish, crabs and massive amounts of marine life at the base of the food chain, according to a study released yesterday.

Low oxygen, known as hypoxia, is in significant measure a downstream effect of chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. Air pollution, including smog from automobiles, is another factor. The nitrogen from the fertilizer and the pollution feeds the growth of algae in coastal waters, particularly during summer.

Tags: pollution, ocean, dead zones

Olympic fireworks digitally faked

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:10:26 GMT

clipped by: coonhnd
clipper's remarks: Still amazing!

Clip Source: www.techradar.com

Olympic fireworks digitally faked

Giant, stomping footsteps were created by digital trickery

The fakery was unearthed by a local Chinese newspaper, The Beijing Times, which revealed that a 55-second sequence was created by a visual effects team, which included a series of giant footsteps made by fireworks.

Confusingly, this actually took place in the real ceremony, but the organisers felt that the sequence of 28 footprints would not be accurately captured live, so they faked it.

Risk assessment

Speaking to The Beijing Times, an advisor to the Beijing Olympic Committee (BOCOG) defended the decision: "It would have been prohibitive to have tried to film it live," he said.

"We could not put the helicopter pilot at risk by making him try to follow the firework route."

To emulate the shot, the visual effects team actually put a slight camera shake on to the image, and even spoke to the Beijing meteorological office to ask them how to recreate the Beijing smog.

Tags: olympics, fireworks, cgi, fake, china

The Unshakable Positions of the Anti-Drill Anti-War American Left

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:42:17 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: *Note that conservatives never have to resort to sex scandals, a practice in which the opposition revels (consider Newt Gingrich, Larry Craig and Bob Packwood).

Clip Source: directorblue.blogspot.com

There is a country that is currently waging a war for oil.

And where stand the anti-war Democrats? ANSWER? Code Pink? Democracy Now? Peace Action? Stop the War Coalition? Indymedia? NoWar?

Did you hear those crickets?

There is a country utterly destroying the environment, responsible for 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities and which has admitted nearly a half million deaths a year from smog alone.

I'm pretty sure those soft rustling sounds were some bindles of tumbleweed rolling through town.

If you needed cold, hard proof that today's hard left has pegged the needle on hypocrisy, well, I think you have it.*

Where are the environmentally conscious, anti-drilling Democrats concerned with global warming? The National Resources Defense Council? The Sierra Club? The Green Cross? Conservation International? Earth First? Earthjustice? Earthwatch?

Tags: anti-drill-anti-war democrats, code pink, democracy now, indymedia, sierra club, earth first, earthjustice, earthwatch, conservation international

China's Great Pollution Shutdown

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:08:02 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Scientist are going to measure the effects of not polluting the world.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

What happens when you turn off the pollution? Well the Beijing Olympics are giving scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe how the atmosphere responds when a heavily populated region seriously curbs everyday industrial emissions.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography is flying unmanned aerial vehicle to measure smog and its effects on weather during China's 'Great Shutdown.' The flights start at Cheju Island in South Korea, 725 miles southeast of Beijing, and directly in the path of Chinese pollution plumes.

Chinese officials have reduced industrial activity by as much as 30 percent and mandated cuts in automobile use by half, to safeguard the health of competing athletes.

Tags: greenhouse gas, environment, pollution, science

Wal-mart and Smog; what do they have in common...?

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:11:12 GMT

clipped by: Guinnevere

Clip Source: us.mc329.mail.yahoo.com

EPA Rejects Ethanol Waiver For Texas Cattle Ranchers

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:56:15 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Scott Faber with the Grocery Manufacturers Association says more than a third of the corn crop now goes to fuel and that increases the cost of food.

Faber says food prices have already risen around 6 percent and critics say ethanol hasn't lived up to its promise. It was supposed to cut pollution and reduce demand for oil.

Frank O'Donnell is with Clean Air Watch. It's not often he agrees with Texas, but he does today. He says the EPA got it wrong.

Frank O'Donnell: We are actually seeing more air pollution this summer than last. Now, maybe it's a coincidence, maybe not, but we've got more ethanol and we've got more smog.

Groups against today's decision plan to lobby Congress to ease the ethanol mandate.

Clip Source: marketplace.publicradio.org

In the heated battle over fuel versus food, you can chalk one up for fuel.

A tank holding ethanol at a fuel tank farm in the Global Petroleum

It takes more than 20 pounds of corn to make a gallon of ethanol, so you can see where I'm going. Texas and other states blame the ethanol requirement for sky high corn and food prices.

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency told Texas Governor Rick Perry that it's not going to let him cut the amount of ethanol Texas has to put in its gasoline. The energy bill Congress passed in December said states have to blend 9 billion gallons of ethanol into their fuel supplies this year.

Janet Babin: The Environmental Protection Agency said any decision it made on ethanol production now wouldn't bring down prices in Texas.

Jon Doggett with the National Corn Growers Association agrees with the EPA decision.

Jon Doggett: Many things have influenced the price of corn, not least of which is ethanol production.

Tags: epa decision, corn ethanol, texas governor rick perry, cattle ranchers, feed stock, food cost inflation, global food shortages

air purifying concrete sucks up pollution

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:42:11 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

A road in a small Dutch town is to be paved with air-purifying concrete in a trial that could lead to a new method to fight exhaust pollution.

Experts from the University of Twente in The Netherlands developed and tested the concrete paving stones which contain a titanium dioxide-based catalyst.

In laboratory conditions, the additive – under the influence of sunlight – binds the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts and turns them into harmless nitrates.

"With one rain shower everything is washed clean," the institution said in a statement.

Nitrogen oxides, produced by industry and motor vehicles, are among the main air pollutants that lead to acid rain and smog.

One half of a road under reconstruction is being paved with the new, green bricks, and the other half with the ordinary variety. "By measuring the air quality in both areas, we will be able to show the efficacy of the bricks," said the scientists.

Tags: pollution, air purifying concrete

US Olympic cyclists say sorry for smog masks

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:57:54 GMT

clipped by: pitim

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Four US Olympic cyclists who caused an outcry when they arrived at Beijing airport wearing smog masks have today apologised to Games organisers.

Revoke EPA’s Licenses to Pollute

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:00:32 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Behind the veil of “clean skies,” however, smog and soot and very small toxic particulate matter are still pouring out of the pipes of cars, trucks, the containerized shipping industry that drives global commerce, airplanes, incinerators, large farms and factories. These microscopic particles cause inflammation and injury to the lungs and the blood, killing thousands and condemning many more to life with asthma. Runoff from agribusiness, industry and suburban trophy lawns still flows through our (non-burning) rivers, creating dead zones off our shores and sickening swimmers on our beaches.

This is happening because industries have become experts at delaying and manipulating the work of EPA through political pressure and legal tactics. And EPA analysts cut and paste corporate-generated studies and analysis into their findings. As a result, the EPA often acts as if it were protecting the earnings of regulated industries rather than the public’s health.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

The next president ought to turn his attention to the Environmental Protection Agency right away because President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made EPA into a pollution protection agency.

From the moment of its inception, in December 1970, EPA was caught in a trap. The agency copied its predecessors — the giant Departments of Agriculture; Interior; and Health, Education and Welfare.

EPA relied too heavily on “end-of-the pipe” pollution controls that failed to eliminate toxins from our neighborhoods, workplaces and bodies. This meant that EPA granted factories and farms a daily quota of pollution — and by extension, if we’re being honest — gave permits to harm or kill a predetermined number of Americans.

Despite the defects of such “regulation,” we have made some progress. Rivers no longer burst into flames and the air is less visibly polluted.

Awesome Anti-Smog Architecture

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:14:10 GMT

clipped by: garcon-fille
clipper's remarks: Not only does this building just have a cool design, but it also utilizes a lot of technology that is good for the environment.

Clip Source: www.greengeek.ca

Anti-smog buildings: Clean air through architecture

Callebaut’s prototype project, being built in Paris, is covered with 250 square meters of solar photovoltaic panels and coated in titanium dioxide (TiO2). The PV system produces electrical energy for the building, with the TiO2 coating working as a catalytic system to clean the air. The TiO2 works with ultraviolet radiation to interact with particulates in the air, break down organics and reduce airborn pollutants and contaminants.

The structure also has a large green space on top for further air purification and rainwater catchment for use within the building. The other part of the building, is a ‘wind tower’, a cylindrical structure that has a spiral pattern that alternates between vertical gardens and embedded vertical axis wind turbines, that generate electricity from prevailing winds.

Vincent Callebaut Architectures via Inhabitat

Tags: environment, architecture

China pays a high price for environmental indifference!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:40:22 GMT

clipped by: bs1999bs
clipper's remarks: As it vandalizes much of the natural World in its bid to exploit natural resources China's years of indifference to environmental woes is coming to haunt its leaders. Bravo!
All the pomp and ceremony could well be shrouded by a real "pea soup" of pollution. It fits well in a nation which obscures its abuses of human rights, its willingness to tolerate so much fake in medicines, products, etc.
Its time for China to "come clean" in more ways than just its smog!

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

China struggles to combat thickening smog

Environmental officials in China have announced plans to put in place fresh draconian anti-pollution measures to combat the smog in time for the Olympics.

With the official opening of the athletes' village yesterday shrouded in pea-soup fog, pressure is piling on the government to bring the city's air quality problems under control before the start of the Games in just 11 days.

Although refusing to give details of the new measures, environmental authorities said today that they would try to give the public a little forward notice before activating them. Li Xin, a senior engineer at the Beijing Environmental Protection Buearu, said: "We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates during the August 8-24 Games."

Environmental authorities insisted that the smog is really only in the eye of the beholder and that the quality of the air itself should be determined by scientific assessment.