Due to the recent tragedies in Japan and particularly the disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant I’ve been asking myself a series of questions that many of you may be asking: What is radiation poisoning/sickness exactly? How much radiation does a person have to be exposed to to get ill? What are the symptoms? What are the treatments? Why was a nuclear power plant built in a freakin tsunami zone!?!?!?!?! (This last question is off topic and will not be discussed here – it just pisses me... [Read more]
Almost 1 year after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico officials in New Orleans are baffled by the appearance of another massive oil slick, possibly 100-miles wide, spotted in the Gulf over the weekend. Though the oil sheen is close to the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster authorities have no idea where it came from. Word from on high (meaning no one is sighting a source) is that the Deepwater Horizon well is not leaking. Reports so far have been, as one news outlet stated, “sketchy and... [Read more]
In a historic ruling Chevron Corp. has been ordered to pay $9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs for oil drilling contamination in a Rhode Island sized section of Ecuador’s northern jungle. Handed down by an Ecuadorean judge on Monday the ruling eclipses the $5 billion in damages that Exxon was ordered to pay to the victims of the Valdez spill (that number was later reduce to $507.5 Million by the U.S. Supreme Court). Many doubt that the plaintiffs, including indigenous groups who’s... [Read more]
According to retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen and former Alaskan Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer the United States is woefully unprepared to deal with a major oil leak off Alaska’s Northern Coast. Allen, who led the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, reported that only one of the three Coast Guard icebreakers is available to respond to a disaster in the area which is ice bound most of the year. Ulmer stated that before the US can consider drilling in the region it must “invest... [Read more]
Hope may be on the horizon for the endangered bluefin tuna as a worldwide ban on trade gains momentum. A number of countries including France, Italy and Australia are considering or implementing bans in the catch and trade of the sushi staple approaching a critical vote during the Convention on International Trade in Endanger Species (CITES) in March. Without limitations or even elimination of bluefin fishing many biologist and environmentalist believe the bluefin population will not recover... [Read more]
If Eben Bayer has his way the evil that is extruded polystyrene foam , generally referred to as Styrofoam, will be replaced by mushrooms in the next few years. Polystyrene is in everything: packaging materials, coffee cups, takeout containers, insulation, even flotation devices. Made in part from petroleum, polystyrene is basically indestructible and thus non-biodegradable – it is estimated that polystyrene takes up 25% of U.S. Landfill space. To replace polystyrene Bayer, with partner Gavin... [Read more]
Last week an unbelievably complex movie set rose out of what use to be the Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles, CA. The production team of Transformers 3 built one floor of an office building. Utilizing cranes and huge hydraulics they tilted and lifted the floor at odd angles. As the sun set huge lights illuminated the fake floor replicating daylight and casting eerie shadows on the surrounding hillside. All in all it was a feat of engineering awesome to behold. Unfortunately, its environmental impact... [Read more]
