MetaFilter posts tagged with pollution

Crazy like an Arctic Fox

saulgoodman — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:07:10 -0800

Scientific American reports: "An isolated population of Arctic foxes that dines only on marine animals seems to be slowly succumbing to mercury poisoning." Though a definitive causal link is difficult to establish, an isolated population of arctic foxes on Russia's Mednyi Island is believed to be collapsing due to mercury contamination as a result of its seafood-heavy diet. Where does all that mercury in the environment come from anyway? Why, it's another biproduct of burning fossil fuels, of course, and predictably, rates of mercury pollution are only expected to increase. In some places in the US, even rainwater is showing high levels of contamination. The neurological risks of so-called Mad Hatter Syndrome from mercury exposure have been understood for so long as to have nearly been forgotten in the fog of history. But recent findings that environmental mercury exposure may be even more dangerous than previously thought have led to renewed calls for international cooperation to address the problem, while critics argue that a recent treaty adopted by 140 countries doesn't go nearly far enough.

We're Going To Have To Find Out How To Deal With Lots Of Idle Hands

The Whelk — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:53:03 -0800

The Forces Of The Next 30 Years - SF author and Mefi's Own Charles Stross talks to students at Olin College about sci-fi, fiction, speculation, the limits of computation, thermodynamics, Moore's Law, the history of travel, employment, automation, free trade, demographics, the developing world, privacy, and climate change in trying to answer the question What Does The World Of 2043 Look Like? (Youtube 56:43)

Air Pollution in Asia: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map

KokuRyu — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:02:43 -0800

Air Pollution in Asia: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map Beijing pollution 'worst on record' Some context: Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to promote technical cooperation and explore further measures for dealing with the harmful air pollution drifting to Japan from China, a government official said. At working-level talks in Beijing on Friday, Tokyo expressed eagerness to cooperate on tackling the pollution problem, noting it not only concerns China but also has been affecting people in Japan, the official said. The Chinese government outlined its measures for fighting the pollution and said it will look into how Japan can pitch in, adding it is seeking to commence trilateral cooperation over the matter with South Korea, which has been heavily affected due to its proximity to China. The talks were held at Japan’s urging to consider measures against PM2.5 air pollution, or hazardous particulate matter 2.5 microns — 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter — or less in diameter that can cause severe health problems, after a thick blanket of toxic smog enveloped a large swath of China in January.

I love nature. I hate pollution

roomthreeseventeen — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 07:51:55 -0800

Children's Eyes on Earth 2012 photography contest The Children's Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest 2012 was initiated by IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action), in collaboration with photographer Reza. The project is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan, WPO (World Photography Organisation), National Geographic Kids magazine UK, SDN (Social Documentary Network) , FotoEvidence, Webistan Photo Agency and NGO Ainaworld.

291 diseases and injuries + 67 risk factors + 1,160 non-fatal complications = 650 million estimates of how we age, sicken, and die

hat — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:08:08 -0800

As humans live longer, what ails us isn't necessarily what kills us: five data visualizations of how we age, sicken, and die. Causes of death by age, sex, region, and year. Heat map of leading causes and risks by region. Changes in leading causes and risks between 1990 and 2010. Healthy years lost to disability vs. life expectancy in 1990 and 2010. Uncertainties of causes and risks. From the team for the massive Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010. The data visualizations page also includes a large number of static figures from the GBD 2010 study. The GBD 2010 team at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington, "spent almost 5 years building [the database of causes of death]; we have included almost 800 million deaths from 1950 to 2010, and the data come from different sources," resulting in "the biggest database for cause of death analysis in the world," according to Rafael Lozano at the University of Washington. The GBD 2010 includes:

291 diseases and injuries
67 risk factors
1,160 sequelae (nonfatal health consequences)
Estimates for 21 regions
Estimates for 20 age groups

Takeaway points from the press release (emphasis mine):

Child mortality has dropped by more than 60%, falling "so quickly that it has beaten every published prediction," though diarrhea and other infectious diseases still kill well over a million children under the age of 5 every year.
Deaths among adults aged 15 to 49 increased by 44% between 1970 and 2010, "in part because of increases in violence and the ongoing challenge of HIV/AIDS."
Undernutrition has "successfully been cut by two-thirds," and now physical inactivity and macronutrient overnutrition contribute to a 10%-and-rising fraction of the disease burden.

However,

The trends identified in GBD 2010 occur across regions with one notable exception: sub-Saharan Africa, where infectious diseases, childhood illnesses, and maternal causes of death account for as much as 70% of the burden of disease. By comparison, these conditions account for only one-third of the burden in south Asia and Oceania, and less than 20% in all other regions.

Research findings from the main publication summary (emphasis mine):

In 2010, the three leading risk factors for global disease burden were high blood pressure [...]; followed by tobacco smoking, including secondhand smoke [...]; and alcohol use [...] This reflects a substantial change from 1990 when the leading risk factors were childhood underweight [...]; followed by household air pollution from use of solid fuels [...]; and tobacco smoking, including secondhand smoke [...].
Regional differences are significant. While much of the world is burdened by obesity and high body mass index, underweight is still the leading risk factor in sub‐Saharan Africa. Other prevalent risk factors in the region include household air pollution and nonexclusive and discontinued breastfeeding.
Although child undernutrition has fallen significantly as a risk factor for all ages, it remained the leading risk factor worldwide in 2010 for children under 5, accounting for 12.4% of global DALYs [disability‐adjusted life years], followed by nonexclusive or discontinued breastfeeding at 7.6%.
A number of risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unsafe water and sanitation and micronutrient deficiencies, declined in significance in the past 20 years, with unsafe water and sanitation accounting for only 0.9% of global DALYs in 2010.
At the same time, GBD 2010 findings show the importance of household air pollution from solid fuels and ambient particulate matter pollution as major risk factors. One or both rank in the top 10 as causes of disease burden in 13 of the 21 regions. In south Asia, they are the leading cause of burden.

From the Guardian's reporting (more: 1, 2, 3):

Since 1970 the largest gains in life expectancy have taken place in the Maldives (27.3 years for men and 29.4 years for women) and improvements in life expectancy at birth in excess of 20 years were recorded in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, and Peru. But life expectancy fell by one to seven years in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, where populations were severely affected by HIV/Aids, and for men in Ukraine and Belarus, where an alcohol crisis took hold.

If you'd like to read the papers themselves, the full text is currently available for free (but registration required) at The Lancet. In addition to the data visualizations, the IHME provides GBD 2010 publication summaries: Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Healthy life expectancy for 187 countries, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Age‐specific and sex‐specific mortality in 187 countries, 1970–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1,160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Common values in assessing health outcomes from disease and injury: disability weights measurement study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010
Each of the data visualizations again:

Causes of death by age, sex, region, and year
Heat map of leading causes and risks by region
Changes in leading causes and risks between 1990 and 2010
Healthy years lost to disability vs. life expectancy in 1990 and 2010
Uncertainties of causes and risks

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation adds,

The findings are being announced at the Royal Society in London on Dec. 14 and published in The Lancet, the first time the journal has dedicated an entire triple issue to one study.

The Lancet includes The story of GBD 2010: a “super-human” effort:

“Running the programs to map the data to our cause list of 291 causes and correcting the bias can take days, even using a powerful cluster of more than 100 computers. The data that we have to store after the modelling process can take 3 terabytes.” [Rafael] Lozano estimates that the storage needed for the causes of death data was 400 times bigger than that for GBD 1990 [...] Majid Ezzati, chair in global and environmental health at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, UK, told The Lancet, As researchers, we tend to believe that more ‘data’ are better than less. I still believe so. But more data, but not all the perfect data we could wish for, means that we need to fundamentally think differently about when to stop searching for more and how to use it [...] The study brought out the well-known but far too frequently overlooked issue that people of different scientific traditions—clinicians, basic scientists, epidemiologists, and quantitative scientists—think and speak differently about the same problem. This can of course be a very powerful resource for bringing together different ways of looking at a problem and solving in the most comprehensive and interesting way—a true systems approach. It can also be a challenge, and at times a source of tension.

(Previously on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation: Is there a market for years?)

I think I mentioned we also saw an actual knife fight in this same alley! With big giant meat cleavers!

The Whelk — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:32:00 -0800

Davesecretary of TIME FOR SOME STORIES fame (previously) decided to spend a year in a smallish Chinese city to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He slowly realizes that he's not having a very good time.

I love a sun-powered country, A land of deepening mines, of ragged nuclear plants, of biomass and hydropower

Mezentian — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:36:17 -0800

While developed countries are pondering whether they should sign up to The Kyoto 2 Protocol and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2020, based on 2000 levels which may be of questionable impact, the tiny Pacific territory of Tokelau has ditched its primary source of electricity generation, costly diesel imports, in favour of 100% renewable solar power, becoming the first nation in the world to do so, at a time when the global energy systems of the 21C are struggling towards decarbonisation. Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu and several other Pacific Nations plan to achieve 100% electricity generation from renewable energy between by 2020. Energy sourcing, supply and security are vexing issues for most nations, especially against the backdrop of climate change. This week Australia's Government issued an Energy White Paper that acknowledged the need to shift to clean energy sources, (but that some say underestimates solar.) China issued its own White Paper in October discussing developing hydropower, solar power and wind power generation, nuclear power, biomass and other types of renewable energy. In Europe, economic powerhouse Germany is exported more electricity this year than ever before, despite beginning to phase out nuclear power. While Germany is getting out of nuclear, India is seeking new sources of uranium (from Canada and Australia) to solve its power woes (previously) despite reports India's nuclear regulations are not up to scratch. Japan is understandably nervous about relying on nuclear power into the future, and it is assessing greater gas-fired power from LNG imports, and geothermal for some added energy security. What the US election means for North America's energy output is unknown. The CEO of one coal company just decided to lay off 150+ workers on the news of Obama's re-election , fearing change and the "coal war" which aims to reduce coal-fired power in the US, while others feel "dirty" energy interests will keep renewables on the sidelines. Wind and solar companies feel good about the result. In other news, four teenage girls from Africa claim to have invented a urine-powered generator that will provide six hours of power from one litre of liquids (via The Guardian).

The Long, Balanced Haul

Chinese Jet Pilot — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:01:12 -0800

Cargo bikes, long a mainstay in the Netherlands and emerging as an automotive alternative in the U.S. (via bike-friendly Portland), come in many flavors: Longtails, longjohns, cycle trucks, porteurs, trikes and the traditional Dutch bakfiet. Will a cargo bike transform your life?

CO2 make dumb

stbalbach — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:25:54 -0800

Have you ever been in a room with lots of people and not great ventilation. Or even a room with normal ventilation. You may be cognitively impaired due to elevated levels of CO2 once considered safe now thought enough to make you a little dumb. 600ppm is now thought too much, but “there are plenty of buildings where you could easily see 2,500 ppm of CO2 — or close to it — even with ventilation designs that are fully compliant with current standards.. classrooms frequently exceed 1,000ppm." The 36-page paper is freely available. The 2011 average annual concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (Mauna Loa Observatory) is 391.57 ppm, and steadily rising.

Real life Gamma World

Chrysostom — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 06:01:01 -0800

Imagine a lake so polluted and contaminated that spending just an hour on its shores would result in certain death, and the only way seen fit to deal with it is to fill the entire water body with concrete blocks to keep the toxic soil underneath from moving onshore. That lake is Lake Karachay in Russia’s Chelyabinsk Oblast, and it is considered by many to be the most polluted place on the planet.

High Tech's Dirty Little Secret

nowhere man — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 06:43:32 -0800

"Of all the things the Internet was expected to become, it is safe to say that a seed for the proliferation of backup diesel generators was not one of them." Power, Pollution and the Internet [sl NY Times]

Unlivable cities

airing nerdy laundry — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:14:01 -0800

China's megalopolises are "awful places to live" claims an article in Foreign Policy by Isaac Stone Fish. Fish writes: For all their economic success, China's cities, with their lack of civil society, apocalyptic air pollution, snarling traffic, and suffocating state bureaucracy, are still terrible places to live.

I'd like to buy the world a giant garbage patch in the ocean

mrgrimm — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:16:56 -0800

Sodastream will ignore a cease-and-desist letter from Coca-Cola regarding a marketing campaign in South Africa (and ~20 other locations) referred to as "The Cage."

Lucky Act 13

gerryblog — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:46:15 -0800

Pennsylvania has adopted what may be the most anti-democratic, anti-environmental law in the country, giving gas companies the right to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning laws, seize private property and muzzle physicians from disclosing specific health impacts from drilling fluids on patients. This American Life on fracking in Pennsylvania. Fracking: Anatomy of a Free Market Failure. Previously in Pennsylvania. Earlier this month: “A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth,” Ohio oil and gas regulators said today. From Guernica in December: As a Fortune 500 company’s fracking activities in rural West Virginia leave a polluted and drastically altered landscape, locals are fighting back.

"There's no way to argue with that, except with explosives"

Burhanistan — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:12:57 -0800

END:CIV [full 75 minute movie] "If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?" Based on the book Endgame by Derrick Jensen. Movie site (includes MP4 download)

Chinese heavy metals

jeffburdges — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:01:05 -0800

About one tenth of China's farmland is polluted with heavy metals, with whole villages being poisoned. All too frequently, local governments have reacted by ignoring the problems and even denying treatment (HRW report).

A place apart, in peril

kinnakeet — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:49:51 -0800

Tangier Island, Virginia, is mere inches above the Bay around it. There isn't much dry land. Kids play on the airstrip. The people have a unique accent (which is becoming hard to find). With the land mostly marsh, folks bury their dead in their yards. It's a watery place, but charming. If Irene delivers even a glancing backhand blow, the entire island will be underwater. It's a quiet place. There are no cars. By day the men crab or fish; by night the women gossip while driving golf carts in circles, and the kids play in semidarkness where every single street is a dead end. Sadly, Irene is not the biggest threat the island faces.

We will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons.

Lovecraft In Brooklyn — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:24:38 -0800

Industrial Scars: The Art of Environmental Pollution is a serious of gorgeous, abstract photographs by J Henry Fair of polluted industrial landscapes.

Asian pollution temporarily slows global warming

stbalbach — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:00:23 -0800

Although the past 12 years have seen the warmest 10 years on record, temperatures have remained fairly steady, even while CO2 emissions grew by nearly a third. Temperatures should have been increasing during this period, rather 1998 was tied with 2010 for hottest on record. Now a study suggests why (pdf): sulfur emissions from Asian coal plants (China mostly) are so high they mimic the effects of a volcano which can cause short term cooling by reflecting light back into space. Insidiously, the long-term warming caused by CO2 (coal) has been masked by short-term cooling of sulfur (coal).

Beating the heat, and the pollution, in New York rivers

filthy light thief — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:28:40 -0800

The long-polluted New York rivers are getting cleaner, but can still be dangerous to swim in. There are efforts underway to clean up the Bronx River, but that will take years, if not decades. Until then, signs are posted, warning would-be swimmers, yet people still risk sickness to battle the heat. One current safe solution is the Floating Pool Lady, a barge that was remade into an 82-foot-long city parks department swimming pool. She first arrived in the Bronx in 2008, and she'll return to the Bronx in a week. There's a new Big Idea to bring swimmers back into the rivers: the +Pool, a floating swimming pool located within a river, designed with a series exterior walls to filter the river water and make it safe to swim in. While that's in the early design stages, you can take a chance and jump in a swimming hole.

No more seafood? So what? It was all lousy with mercury anyway.

saulgoodman — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:35:45 -0800

"Ocean Life on the Brink of Mass Extinctions," warns a new comprehensive study from "a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by [International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO)] and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at Oxford University." The most likely culprits in the unfolding, large-scale disaster? Pollution and climate change, say the experts. What else is new, you say? Well, the schedule's been changed up: "Marine life facing mass extinction 'within one human generation,'... says global panel of scientists." "The panel of 27 scientists, who considered the latest research from all areas of marine science, concluded that a "combination of stressors is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth's history". They also concluded: * The speed and rate of degeneration of the oceans is far faster than anyone has predicted; * Many of the negative impacts identified are greater than the worst predictions; * The first steps to globally significant extinction may have already begun."

Between rail and road in Beijing

wilful — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:19:29 -0800

China’s capital is restricting car numbers and pumping money into trains. Is it headed for a less congested future – or already a city beyond help?

Who cares?

cmoj — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:43:43 -0800

Coal cares! "Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself." Not really. Coal Cares was really brought to you by a group called Coal is Killing Kids (that apparently doesn't have a website) with the help of the (oft previouslied) Yes Men. Peabody's press release, however, is apparently real.

Yale's 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

wilful — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:48:26 -0800

Yale's 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 163 countries on 25 performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national government scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy goals.

The Price of the Paperless Revolution

cog_nate — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:37:26 -0800

Essays on mining and its environmental and human health costs in the Fall 2010 Virginia Quarterly Review: Digging Out; Tin Fever; The Pit; Here Everything is Poison, The Solution: Bolivia's Lithium Dream; The Underground Giant: Life in the Hard Rock Mines of Quebec and Ontario; Jharia Burning; Mother of God, Child of Zeus. Editorial: The Price of the Paperless Revolution.