June 2011
06/26/11Protecting migratory birdsDear EarthTalk: What are the major issues with protecting migratory birds that groups like the Nature Conservancy are working on? —Lorinda Bennet, Alnuquerque, NM Migratory birds, like other animals, need suitable habitat and food sources to survive. But unlike other animals which stay primarily in one place, migratory birds depend on the availability of food and habitat all along their migration paths, which for some are thousands of miles long. Changing environmental conditions along routes can hinder birds’ ability to survive their often arduous long distance journeys.Some 1,800 of the world’s 10,000 bird species migrate long distances every year. Typically birds fly to the far north in the summer to feed and return south for the winter to breed, but many variations... |
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06/25/11Avoiding spray sunscreensDear EarthTalk: Isn’t spray sunscreen a health and environmental nightmare when it seems that more of the sunscreen ends up going up my nose than on the kid at the beach next to me? —Lillian Robertson, Methuen, MA Spray cans of sunscreen may no longer contain chlorofluorocarbons (also known as CFCs, which were phased out in the 1990s for causing holes in the stratospheric ozone layer), but many contain other chemicals that are no good for our health or the environment. Researchers have found that the chemicals and/or minerals in the vast majority of commercially available sunscreens—even the rub-in creamy or oily varieties—can cause health problems just from ordinary use; inhaling them only magnifies the risks.And just what are the risks? According to the... |
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06/18/11Planning for the next KatrinaDear EarthTalk: Coastal areas here in the U.S. have taken a real beating in recent years due to natural disasters that many would argue are due to changing climate. What’s being done to safeguard these communities for when, say, the next Katrina hits? —Helen Kelman, Troy, NY Coastal regions in the U.S. are more popular—and more heavily populated—than ever. But even before the effects of global warming started to kick in, reports the non-profit World Resources Institute, more than half of the coastal ecosystems of the world—including the vast majority of America’s coastlines—were reeling from threats including habitat destruction, sewage outflows, industrial pollution and the impacts of non-native species introductions.Recently, though, a... |
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06/17/11Re-thinking nuclear energyDear EarthTalk: Radioactive rain recently fell in Massachusetts, likely due to Japan’s nuclear mess. Given the threats of radiation, wouldn’t it be madness now to continue with nuclear power? How can President Obama include nukes as part of a “clean energy” agenda? —Bill Mason, Hartford, CT In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, countries around the world that were growing more bullish on nuclear power are now reconsidering their future energy investments. Germany has shut down seven of its oldest nuclear reactors and is conducting safety studies on the remaining facilities; those that don’t make the grade could be closed permanently. Meanwhile, in earthquake-prone Chile some 2,000 demonstrators marched through the capital to protest their... |
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06/12/11Farm raised fish: Not necessarily free of mercury, PCBs or dioxinDear EarthTalk: I thought “farm raised” was the way to go when buying fish, to avoid mercury contamination. But are there other concerns about farm raised that make some fish a poor choice for good health? What are the safest fish to buy and which should be avoided? And what about those frozen blocks of fish I get at Trader Joe’s? Are they safe to eat? —Tim Jeffries, Springfield, MA Mercury is a neurotoxin that settles into the ocean in large concentrations after we spew it out of industrial smokestacks when burning fossil fuels like coal and oil. It is then taken up by smaller sea life such as plankton and then spread up through the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. We humans then eat the mercury-laced seafood—wild salmon, tuna,... |
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06/11/11Lead in reusable grocery bagsDear EarthTalk: I heard that some reusable bags contain lead. Is this a major health concern? Can’t these bags be made to avoid such contamination? —Donald Young, Cincinnati, OH It’s true that some reusable shopping bags for sale in U.S. stores have been shown to contain lead, a neurotoxin linked to developmental, brain and kidney problems. The non-profit Center for Environmental Health (CEH) found that about 10 percent of the reusable bags it tested last year contained at least minute levels of lead, with Disney’s “Toy Story” and “Cars” plastic reusable shopping bags topping the charts with excessive levels to the tune of 15 times the federal limit for lead in children’s products.Tests by other groups confirm CEH’s findings.... |
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06/05/11Wolf protection in the Northern Rocky MountainsDear EarthTalk: What has the nature of the agreement just forged between green groups and the U.S. government for wolf protection in the Northern Rockies? —Peggy Marshall, Boise, ID This past March, a coalition of 10 conservation groups finally reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Interior regarding gray wolf recovery and management in the Northern Rockies. The courtroom battle had raged since the Bush administration had announced in January 2009 its decision to take gray wolves—66 of which were reintroduced to the region in 1995 after their forebears were wiped out by hunters and ranchers a century earlier—off of the Endangered Species List.Today upwards of 1,600 gray wolves roam the six-state region, exceeding wildlife biologists’ expectations by a... |
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06/04/11Cleaning up the dirtiest coal-fired power plantsDear EarthTalk: Is it true that only a handful of outdated coal-burning power plants generate a sizable amount of the mercury pollution generated in the United States? If so, is anything being done to clean these sites up or shut them down? —Frank Pearson, Wichita, KS Our nation’s coal-fired power plants are increasingly being retrofitted with technologies to mitigate the output of various forms of pollution. But a number of bad apples do continue to cause more than their fair share of mercury emissions. This past March the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading non-profit, released a report showing that the top 25 emitters of mercury, a potent neurotoxin and a nasty by-product of coal-fired electricity generation, contribute only eight percent of the U.S. electric... Posted at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments |
