Took a long time for me to exhale it after the visit to the stinky zoo:
"Agency cites air pollution as a cause of cancer" by MARIA CHENG | Associated Press October 18, 2013
LONDON — The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared on Thursday that air pollution is a carcinogen, alongside known dangers such as asbestos, tobacco, and ultraviolet radiation.
The decision came after a consultation by an expert panel organized by IARC, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, which is based in Lyon, France.
‘‘The air most people breathe has become polluted with a complicated mixture of cancer-causing substances,’’ said Kurt Straif, head of the IARC department that evaluates carcinogens. He said the agency now considers pollution to be ‘‘the most important environmental carcinogen,’’ ahead of second-hand cigarette and cigar smoke.
More important than the nonexistent fart mist.
The agency had previously deemed some of the components in air pollution such as diesel fumes to be carcinogens, but this is the first time it has classified air pollution in its entirety as cancer causing.
The risk to the individual is low, but Straif said the main sources of pollution are widespread, including transportation, power plants, and industrial and agricultural emissions.
Air pollution is a complex mixture that includes gases and particulate matter, and the agency said one of its primary risks is the fine particles that can be deposited deep in lungs.
‘‘These are difficult things for the individual to avoid,’’ he said, while observing the worrying dark clouds from nearby factories that he could see from his office window in Lyon on Wednesday. ‘‘When I walk on a street where there’s heavy pollution from diesel exhaust, I try to go a bit further away,’’ he said. ‘‘So that’s something you can do.’’
The fact that nearly everyone on the planet is exposed to outdoor pollution could prompt governments and other agencies to adopt stricter controls on spewing fumes.
I knew it! A way more important problem.
Straif noted that the WHO and the European Commission are reviewing their recommended limits on air pollution.
Previously, pollution had been found to increase the chances of heart and respiratory diseases.
Great.
The expert panel’s classification was made after scientists analyzed more than 1,000 studies worldwide and concluded there was enough evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer.
In 2010, IARC said there were more than 220,000 lung cancer deaths worldwide connected to air pollution. The agency also noted a link with a slightly higher risk of bladder cancer.
Straif said there were dramatic differences in air quality between cities around the world and the most polluted metropolises were in China and India, where people frequently don masks on streets to protect themselves. China recently announced new efforts to curb pollution after experts found the country’s thick smog hurts tourism. Beijing only began publicly releasing data about its air quality last year.
Related: New Delhi’s air called worst in world
Other experts said that the cancer risk from pollution for the average person was very low but virtually unavoidable.
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Can't breath under water:
"Global agreement targets mercury; Near elimination seen in 3 decades" by John Heilprin | Associated Press October 18, 2013
GENEVA — A new global treaty could eliminate within three decades the commercial use of mercury in everything from batteries, paints, and skin-lightening creams to utility plants and small-scale gold mining, the head of the UN’s environment agency said Thursday.
Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN Environment Program, describes the Minamata Convention on Mercury as a game-changer for a naturally occurring element that, once released into the environment through an industrial process, tends to accumulate in fish and work up the food chain.
And they say fish is good for you!
The agreement still needs ratification by dozens of countries, and includes a concession to nations with small-scale gold mining — one of the biggest sources of pollution.
The first new global convention on environment and health for nearly a decade was formally adopted as international law to little notice worldwide at a gathering in Japan last week of nearly 140 government delegations, UN officials said. More than 90 nations plus the European Union signed on.
No mention of Fukushima at the little noticed conference? That might be a worse problem than the mercury right now.
India and Russia did not sign, but China did and the United States intended to but could not last week because of its government shutdown....
What bull$hit!
Ambassador couldn't put pen to paper because of the shutdown?
So when did war operations and drone flights get grounded?
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Speaking of war:
"Groups seek help in fighting pollution; Organizers look to add diversity" by Kevin Begos
| Associated Press October 18, 2013
PITTSBURGH — Thousands of young environmentalists from across the country are heading to Pittsburgh, planning to strengthen the green movement by involving more people of different races and backgrounds.
The environmental movement is racist?
The four-day Power Shift conference beginning Friday takes on some traditional issues in a new way. Organizers are fighting coal mining, fracking for oil and gas, and climate change but doing it through sessions such as ‘‘Racism and the Climate Movement,’’ “Sex and Sustainability,’’ “Young Leaders from Puerto Rico’s Frontlines,’’ and ‘‘Lessons from Transgender Activism.’’
Gross.
Why bring such divisions into something that affects us all?
Power Shift, the Sierra Club, and other groups are making a concentrated effort to reach working-class black, Hispanic, and Asian communities in an effort to change the typically mostly white and upper-class membership of national environmental groups. The meeting in Pittsburgh is the first Power Shift conference outside of Washington,where conference organizer Energy Action Coalition is based.
The hallmark of controlled-opposition agenda-pushing.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, chief executive of Green For All, said the lack of diversity in the environmental movement is ‘‘shocking.’’ She said it’s important to note that ‘‘communities of color really have a strong environmental record, they just don’t have a strong connection’’ to national groups.
‘‘We just didn’t call it environmentalism. We just did it to survive,’’ she said of such practices as recycling.
Ellis-Lamkins said the challenge for the environmental movement is to get minority and working-class people to expect and demand both good jobs and clean air and water.
Why is that a challenge? I was told they go hand-in-hand. Banking is best, 'course.
About 8,000 people are expected at the meeting, which includes training sessions and evening music concerts.
Conference spokesman Whit Jones said the group does not ask attendees to list their race so a breakdown on those attending is not available. But he estimated hundreds of students are coming from historically black colleges and universities.
There’s little debate that minority communities suffer from excessive pollution. A 2012 report from the NAACP found that in areas near the 12 most-polluting coal-fired power plants in the United States, people of color were about 76 percent of the population.
That's the northeast for you.
Allison Chin, a past president of the Sierra Club, said environmentalists will not become a more diverse group ‘‘without us rolling up our sleeves.’’ She said the Sierra Club has launched programs to provide environmental training, scholarships, and even jobs to those from minority communities, as well as a Spanish language website, Ecocentro.
That kind of outreach helped attract Erica Thames, a 23-year-old woman with a multiracial background who lives in Inland Empire east of Los Angeles and now works for Sierra Club.
‘‘In the past, the environmental movement has been upper-middle class, white male. I’m really excited that it’s getting more inclusive,’’ said Thames, who’s working on a project to bring rooftop solar panels to her heavily polluted, working-class community, which also suffers from high unemployment.
The unemployment ties into corporations, and we won't go there. I'm a little stunned when we all know environmental organizations have been 80% women for a long time, but what's one more lie?
Bill McKibben, a leader in the national climate change group 350.org, said in an e-mail that diversity is critical to the fight to limit damage from climate change.
‘‘It’s people on front-line communities who are crucial to leading this fight — and the hardest hit front-line communities, not surprisingly, are full of poor people and people of color,’’ said McKibben, who plans to speak at the conference.
Isn't he an upper-middle class white guy?
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Would you like to step outside?
"While small, older buildings might not make for an impressive skyline, they may be better for cities than massive, gleaming office towers, according to a study released Thursday. Neighborhoods and commercial areas with a mix of older, smaller buildings make for more vibrant, walkable communities with more businesses, nightlife, and cultural outlets than massive newer buildings, according the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s study."
Bo$ton gonna be no good 'cuz they building up!
"Firms put climate change into their business plans; Many take steps for withstanding extreme weather" by Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff May 21, 2014
While little action is expected from Congress on climate change, many businesses in Boston and beyond are taking matters into their own hands, preparing for a warmer world in which severe weather, rising sea levels, and increased flooding threaten property, operations, and earnings.
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“We think the time for debating [climate change] is over,” said Ed White, vice president of customer strategy and environmental for National Grid, a British company with its US headquarters in Waltham. “We see it occurring. We’ve lived through the flooding, we’ve seen the damage that it had to our communities and our equipment.”
I agree; we are in a cooling phase, and the floods are due to government neglect of the infrastructure and record snowpacks.
Recent evidence has added to these worries. Earlier this month, a federal study warned that the climate in the United States was changing at a faster pace due to the burning of fossil fuels — such as oil, coal, and natural gas — that emit greenhouse gases blamed for rising global temperatures.
Bankrupt government gotta get that carbon tax!
Never you mind the radiated Pacific, the gooey Gulf, or the pollution of the air, sea, and water.
That has resulted in longer droughts and more wildfires in the West, stronger hurricanes in the South, and degraded air quality in the Midwest, the study by a panel of scientists concluded.
They mean $cienti$ts.
The Northeast, the study found, would be particularly hard hit as climate change accelerates, baked by heat waves and flooded by rising sea levels and torrential downpours.
FM Global, a commercial insurance company based in Rhode Island, is receiving more requests from its clients for climate-related risk analysis and quotes for flood and drought protection, the company said. Businesses are increasingly worried that severe weather could delay shipments or flood buildings, such as data centers that contain expensive equipment and even more valuable corporate and customer information, said Lou Gritzo, a vice president and manager of research for FM Global.
Oh, IN$URANCE COMPANIES and CON$ULTANTS are going to BENEFIT, 'eh?
The number of FM Global engineers studying flood issues will soon grow to 15, more than triple the number five years ago. The researchers are doing significantly more testing of flood barriers and other products aimed at keeping water out of doorways and parking lots to determine their effectiveness, with the idea of offering business clients discounts for using the approaches that work.
Never forget that it is a corporate paper!
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Insurers, too, are concerned about hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires occurring more frequently. Three of the top six years for catastrophic insured losses have occurred since 2005 with a combined $142 billion in expenses, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry research group that has tracked the costs since 1989.
Data about climate, which was primarily used by federal agencies and insurance companies in the past, is now sought by all types of businesses and organizations, from health care providers to banks to manufacturers, said Kyle Beatty, the president of Verisk Climate. Verisk, headquartered in New Jersey, bought a Lexington climate research firm six years ago in anticipation of growing demand for climate information.
A retailer may want to know the likelihood of major storms downing power lines and triggering blackouts that would close stores, Beatty said. A manufacturer might want to diversify suppliers if a particular contractor is in a flood-prone region.
“The business reaction is to the fact that they’re experiencing impacts to their operations and earnings that they haven’t in the past, they need strategies to address that,” Beatty said.
While corporations are adapting their businesses to more severe weather threats, many have been criticized by environmentalists for doing too little to curb activities that contribute to climate activities. A global survey of business executives in December by the MIT Sloan Management Review found that fewer than half said their companies were taking such steps as improving energy efficiency or cutting pollution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Smaller businesses remain unprepared for a changing climate, said Cynthia McHale, director of insurance programs at Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of investors and environmentalists. Many still don’t have the necessary insurance to cover all the potential losses, such as business interruption coverage that can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Getting more information to these companies so they better understand the threat can help, McHale said, but businesses alone can’t prepare for the effects of climate change. If coastlines are going to shift and streets turn into canals, governments must be ready to invest in measures such as elevating roadways, building seawalls, and placing utilities underground.
“Ultimately,” McHale said, “we’re headed to a very different future.”
Looks like a Brave New World to me.
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Related: Slow hurricane season predicted
The government liars they call "forecasters got it wrong last year."
Globe hot air starting to feel stale.
