5 pesticides used in US are banned in other countries - The Center for Investigative Reporting. As the European Union moves to phase out 22 toxic pesticides, a new study raises the question of what will happen to crops without them. In the United States, growers rely on many pesticides that other countries have banned. Many farm groups in the U.S. argue that there are no acceptable alternatives to these pesticides – that without them, crop yields would drop. But when it comes to one major crop – soybeans – one controversial pesticide class known as neonicotinoids may actually do nothing to help soy crops, according to a new federal study. “There are no clear or consistent economic benefits of neonicotinoid seed treatments,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study says. Previous studies have shown that in most cases, there isn’t a difference in yield between soybean seeds treated with these pesticides and soybean seeds that didn’t receive any insect control.
In many cases, Europe is far ahead of the United States when it comes to banning certain pesticides. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Companies Are Fracking With Harmful Chemicals Through Regulatory Loophole. By Katie Valentine Posted on Share this: "Companies Are Fracking With Harmful Chemicals Through Regulatory Loophole" Share: A jar holding waste water from hydraulic fracturing is held up to the light at a recycling site in Midland, Texas, Sept. 24, 2013. CREDIT: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan Oil and gas companies are using a loophole in federal regulations to use dangerous chemicals in hydraulic fracturing operations without a permit, according to a new report. The report, published this week by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), found that some oil and gas companies are using petroleum-based liquids in their fracking operations, liquids that can contain harmful chemicals like benzene.
“You can use benzene in large quantities, just as long as you don’t call it diesel,” Eric Schaeffer, EIP’s Executive Director told Bloomberg. That hasn’t stopped fracking operations from using benzene — which has been linked to leukemia — as EIP’s report shows. World’s First Airborne Wind Turbine To Bring Renewable Energy and WiFi to Alaska | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building via. Pentagon says we could soon be fighting climate wars. In one of its strongest statements yet on the need to prepare for climate change, the Defense Department today released a report that says global warming “poses immediate risks to U.S. national security” and will exacerbate national security-related threats ranging “from infectious disease to terrorism.” The report, embedded below, builds on climate readiness planning at the Pentagon that stretches back to the George W.
Bush administration. But today’s report is the first to frame climate change as a serious near-term challenge for strategic military operations; previous reports have tended to focus on long-term threats to bases and other infrastructure. The report “is quite an evolution of the DOD’s thinking on understanding and addressing climate threats,” said Francesco Femia, co-director of the Center for Climate and Security. The report identifies anticipated climate impacts to basic military operations, training and testing procedures, infrastructure, and supply chains. Japan: 'solar islands' replace nuclear power. While the land is highly congested, and therefore expensive, the sea is largely unused. It therefore makes a good degree of sense to use this space for floating power plants. Two companies in Japan recently announced they are to begin building two large solar power islands that will float on reservoirs.
This follows smartphone maker Kyocera's Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar power plant, the country's largest at 70 megawatts, which opened in late 2013 and is found floating in the sea just off the coast of southern Japan. The two new solar islands, to be built by Kyocera and commercial partners, will form a network of thirty 2MW stations - adding another 60MW of solar capacity. The move comes as Japan looks to move on from the Fukushima disaster of 2011 and meet the energy needs of its 127m people without relying on nuclear power.
Shattered confidence in nuclear power Before the incident around 30% of the country's power was generated from nuclear, with plans to push this to 40%. What the California wildfires should teach us. WHAT SHOULD we know about the wildfires that grabbed the media's attention in mid-May? AS DISASTERS become more frequent across the country, it's clear that the ones that affect celebrities and wealthier people take the foreground, and push the others into the margins. But the situation with the most recent Southern California fires was extraordinary--you had 23 Marine helicopters, dozens of other firefighting aircraft, fire departments from all over the state, federal fire agencies. The message being sent to the people who live in their McMansions in the midst of the chaparral or the housing developments recently inserted into the back country is: Don't worry, you can count on us.
The wildfires in Southern California are some of the most destructive in the state's history--particularly the ones in San Diego County in the last decade, where several thousand homes were destroyed. But the message being sent is to keep building--because we can beat fire. This illustrates two things. How Wolves Change Rivers. Pipeline Safety Tracker - ProPublica. Allentown Kalamazoo Yellowstone San Bruno Sept 9, 2010 San Bruno, Calif. Organizational Deficiencies and Weld Flaws On the evening of Sept. 9, 2010 a natural gas pipeline ruptured, spewing almost 50 million cubic feet of gas into the air. While police and firefighters arrived within minutes of the explosion, it took 95 minutes for the pipeline operator to stop the flow of escaping gas. Feb. 9, 2011 Allentown, Pa. Aging Pipelines A old gas line running beneath Allen Street exploded on Feb. 9, 2011, igniting a fire that killed five people including a four-month-old boy and an elderly couple.
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission investigators said that the operator, UGI Utilities, failed to adequately monitor its lines and fix aging pipelines that showed signs of damage. July 1, 2011 Yellowstone River Fast Moving Spills of Crude A 12-inch wide pipeline owned by ExxonMobil ruptured, dumping 63,000 gallons of crude into the Yellowstone River on July 1, 2011. July 26, 2010 Kalamazoo River Map Data.