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Toxic Tap Water Spurs Panic Buying in China City

Sun, 2014-04-13 16:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A man pushes a shopping cart filled with bottled water after reports on heavy levels of benzene in local tap water, in Lanzhou, Gansu province, China. (Reuters photo)

phys.org - April 11, 2014

Tap water in a Chinese city was found to contain excessive levels of the toxic chemical benzene, prompting residents to rush to buy bottled water, state media said on Friday.

Tests conducted on Thursday and Friday showed that tap water in Lanzhou, the capital of northwestern Gansu province, had as much as 200 micrograms of benzene per litre, 20 times the national limit, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local environment authorities.

Benzene is an aromatic, colourless liquid and a basic raw material used in the petrochemical industry. Human exposure to the chemical increases the risk of cancer and other illnesses.

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(ALSO SEE SAME ARTICLE HERE)

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Shell, Adidas, And 70 Other Companies Call On Governments To Cap Carbon At 1 Trillion Tons

Thu, 2014-04-10 22:18 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

CREDIT: Shutterstock

thinkprogress.org - by Ari Phillips - April 8, 2014

Royal Dutch Shell, Adidas, Unilever, and some 70 other companies released a communiqué urging world governments to keep carbon emissions since the industrial revolution to a cumulative of 1 trillion metric tons. This is the emissions cap needed to keep warming below two degrees Celsius and avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which for the first time calls for a trillion ton cap. We have already surpassed the halfway mark and are somewhere around 578,935,750,000 tonnes of carbon at the moment.

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ALSO SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE LINKS BELOW:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-07/shell-unilever-seek-1-trillion-ton-limit-on-co2-output.html

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Exxon to Disclose Extent of Its Carbon Asset Exposure

Tue, 2014-03-25 18:18 — Kathy Gilbeaux

newscientist.com - by Andy Coghlan - March 25, 2014

Oil giant Exxon Mobil has promised to reveal how much of its fossil fuel reserves could become worthless if governments agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It is the first major fossil fuel company to declare the size of its exposure to the so-called carbon bubble – the over-valuation of fossil fuel companies that could result if their assets are left unused.

To save ourselves from the worst impacts of global warming, we have to leave fossil fuels in the ground instead of burning them.

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Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions

Tue, 2013-11-19 05:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           (CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR INTERACTIVE ROSTER OF THE COMPANIES BEHIND CLIMATE CHANGE)

      

Chevron, Exxon and BP among companies most responsible for climate change since dawn of industrial age, figures show

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - November 20, 2013

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.

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Gray whale dies bringing us a message — with stomach full of plastic trash

Thu, 2013-11-07 10:19 — Gina Angiola

November 5,2013, RealNews24

By: Brian,

Live Free Live Natural.

 

Image Credit: Geograph / Richard Humphrey

July 29, 2013, a sperm whale was stranded on Tershelling, a northern island in the Netherlands. A rescue attempt was attempted, but unfortunately the whale died. A young adult at 13.5 meters was taken for a necropsy at the port of Harlington. The sperm whale had plastic in its stomach, an increasing common phenomenon say researchers at the Biodiversity Centre Naturalis. In  March of this year, a 10 meter long sperm whale washed up on Spain’s South Coast. This whale had swallowed 59 different plastic items totaling over 37 pounds. Most of this plastic consisted of transparent sheeting used to build greenhouses in Almeria and Grenada for the purpose of tomatoes for the European market. The rest was plastic bags, nine meters of rope, two stretches of hosepipe, two small flower pots, and a plastic spray canister. Cause of death was intestinal blockage....

FULL STORY AND SHORT VIDEO CLIP HERE

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Chinese citizens losing patience with air pollution consequences

Tue, 2013-10-22 16:14 — admin

PBS Newshour - aired October 21, 2013 - www.pbs.org

China's tremendous growth has transformed the lives of its citizens but it has also come with a cost: significant air pollution. The major industrial city of Harbin shut down when smog levels reached record levels. Jeffrey Brown talks to Evan Osnos of The New Yorker about the ramifications of China's air quality problems.

[Read video transcript here]

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Chevron Goes to Trial in New York Over $18 Billion Ecuador Award

Sat, 2013-10-19 18:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A Chevron gas station sign is pictured at one of their retain gas stations in Cardiff, California October 9, 2013. 
Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake

reuters.com - by Bernard Vaughan - October 14, 2013

(Reuters) - Chevron Corp will try to convince a U.S. judge this week that a group of Ecuadorean villagers and their U.S. lawyer used bribery to win an $18 billion judgment against Chevron from a court in Ecuador, in the latest chapter in a long-running fight over pollution in the Amazon jungle.

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CLICK HERE - Wikipedia - History - Lago Agrio Oil Field

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Increased Mercury Levels Near Tar Sands

Thu, 2013-10-17 21:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

priceofoil.org - by Andy Rowell - October 15, 2013

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Mercury Trends in Colonial Waterbird Eggs Downstream of the Oil Sands Region of Alberta, Canada

Scientists have released yet another academic study that indicates the growing ecological impact of the tar sands.

They measured the amount of mercury in birds eggs downstream from the tar sands and compared them to eggs some distance away from the polluting region.

What they found was that the eggs of certain species of predatory birds living downstream from the tar sands were found to have “statistically significant increases” of the dangerous heavy metal, mercury.

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Tons of poisoned fish clog river in China's Hubei province

Mon, 2013-09-16 13:44 — gl

Dead fish being cleared from the Fuhe River. Stringer/AFP/Gettyimages

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Thai Oil Spill Having Extreme Impact on Tourism - Minister

Thu, 2013-08-01 09:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Thai soldiers wearing biohazard suits take part as cleaning operations continue at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet, Rayong July 31, 2013. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

reuters.com - by Amy Sawitta Lefevre - July 30, 2013

(Reuters) - An oil spill that has blackened beaches at a Thai holiday island was having an extreme impact on tourism and could spread to the coast of the mainland and affect the fishing industry, officials and an environmental group said on Tuesday.

Tourists were pouring off the island of Koh Samet, 230 km (142 miles) southeast of Bangkok, while soldiers and volunteers in white bio-hazard suits struggled to clear black oily sludge off the white sand.

"We're working to move visitors to other locations if they want to move," Tourism Minister Somsak Phurisisak told reporters.

"I'm very concerned, I didn't think this spill would impact tourism in such an extreme way."

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