AP Environmental Science

The world’s largest water storage facility, the Three Gorges Dam in China, has been significantly polluted by pesticides, fertilizer, sewage, and passenger boats. Not only has the Three Gorges Dam reservoir been polluted by the above listed causes, but also over 600 kilometers of the Yangtze River in China is “critically polluted.” This comes out after a study done by the Chinese Academy of Science, WWF organization, and the Yangtze RIver Water Resources Commission.  Along with the dam and the river, about 30% of the major tributaries to the river are “seriously polluted.”

Three Gorges along the Yangtze River, Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.org

Ever since the rapid economic growth, the condition of the environment in China has been decreasing. Approximately 14.2 billion tons of waste a year are put into the Yangtze River, which is 35% of China’s freshwater resources. China’s aquatic products in the 1950s were 427,000 tons, but in the 1990s they were down to 100,000 tons. Let’s see. 427,000 tons - 100,000 tons = 327,000 tons decrease in the amount of aquatic products in China.

The article discussed the pollution problems that are going on, but it didn’t discuss the possible solutions or if China has any plans to disrupt this pollution. I wonder if it is illegal to dump the pesticides, fertilizer, and sewage into the water. If it isn’t, the government should regulate the dumping. I don’t understand why the people would be dumping all of that stuff into the river, if it makes up 35% of their freshwater resources. Maybe it is not really having an impact now and they aren’t really looking to the future.

Article: China’s Yangtze River Extensively Polluted, Study Says  By: Reuters http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12582

A week from today 12 leaders of South American countries will meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to discuss the building of a 5,000 mile natural gas pipline. This pipeline would take OPEC nation’s gas reserves to South American nations, such as Argentina and Brazil. This meeting comes at a time when tensions are high with Brazil. Brazil has been cooperating with the United States to promote the use of ethanol. Chavez claims that an increase in use of ethanol will make world hunger increase. Chavez says that ethanol is not needed and that the countries participating in the conference should look for ways to reduce energy consumption. He is putting down the US calling for regional support for “anti-US politics.” Venezuela has the hemisphere’s largest oil reserves and is the 5th leading exporter of oil to the United States.

I agree with Chavez that new ways need to be developed to reduce energy consumption, but I am not sure that the way to go about it is by going against the United States. In my opinion, he is just trying to coax the regional South American countries into hating the US by offering them a natural gas pipeline to their countries. The article did not discuss much about why Chavez said that world hunger will increase with the use of ethanol and I am not quite sure what he means by that.

Article : Venezuela’s Chavez Challenges US with Energy Summit by Brian Ellsworth http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12580

I am sure that we all remember watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” in class. It was a very interesting movie, but how many times does someone want to watch the same movie, pointing out the same facts and numbers. Well, beginning this week there are going to be tv shows about “earth justice.”

Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.org

Next year on cable tv, there will be a network called Discovery PlanetGreen wich is aimed at helping to educate people on living a green lifestyle. “The Green” on the Sundance Channel is going to start this Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. It will be during primetime hours every Tuesday.  It will not only cover issues facing the earth, but also solutions to these problems that humans are creating. Some topics that will be discussed include: global warming, pollution, and energy depletion. Although I am sure that they give you facts, they also take you to different towns accross the United States and do different experiments. One in particular is a race between a car fueled by vegtable oil and one that is fueled with gasoline. The gasoline powered car obviously wins the race, but the experiment proves that a vegtable oil powered car does work and is sufficient.

I think that this is a great idea. I don’t know how many people will tune in to see, but they may get some channel-surfers that become interested. I like that they are not just giving you facts, but they are going around, talking to different people, taking you to different towns, and actually showing you something (rather than just explaining it to you).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18078524/       Cable Channel Plants Seeds for “The Green” by Frazier Moore

Pictures from: www.wikipedia.org

Nissan Motor Co. and NEC ( an electronics maker) have indicated that they will be partnering to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrids and electric cars, known collectively known as green vehicles by the year 2009. The lithium ion is most commonly found right now in laptops and cell phones. The corporations are investing 490 yen or 4.1 million dollars in this project. Nissan plans to release their version of the hybrid car in 2010 and electric car sometime early in the next decade. Toyota and Honda have been in the market for green vehicles for many years using the nickel-metal hydride batteries.

Researchers are making the battery based on cost, performance, safetly, and reliability. When the battery is released it will be available to all automakers.

I think that it is great that Nissan is finally coming out with a more ecologically friendly car; however, I am not sure how much money they will make from it. I feel like people who are serious about buying environmentally friendly cars have already done so, buying a Honda or Toyota. But, maybe by the time Nissan’s new cars come out, there will be more an urgent reponse to global warming. I wonder what the difference is between the nickel-metal hydride batteries and the lithium-ion batteries are as far as which is better for the environment, or even if one is.

Article from: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12568 Associated Press, Nissan, NEC To Produce Batteries For Ecologically Friendly Vehicles

Malaysian forests have been disappearing for some time being replaced by urban development. Conservationalists and residents of Malaysia are not putting their feet down and developing a trust fund to buy up the land. The groups that are joining together include: 2 residential associations near Central Petaling Jaya city and the Malaysia chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature. They will protect the land from urban development. The forests will also become national heritage sites.

 photo credit: www.wikipedia.com ….the Malaysian capital

Not only is bad to take away the forest for environment reasons, but also landslides are believed to have been caused because of the development of the area.  

I think that it is sad that these forests are being destroyed for urbanization. I don’t understand where people get the idea that they can just waltz in and destroy something, thinking that there will be no consequences. This time there have been cocnsequences environmentally and with the people. The article didn’t say that the landsides caused any damage, but I think that it is pretty safe to assume that some sort of damage was done to property, plus if anyone was injured or killed during the landslides.

http://www.enn.com/greenb.html?id=1319 Associate Press

It has been recently estimated that gasoline storage tanks that have been leaking underground will cost at least $12 billion to cleanup. This is a lot more than the $72 million per year that Congress and the Bush Administration have alloted for the clean up projects. In a report in September of 2005, it was estimated that there were 117,000 tanks that still needed cleanups because they were “faulty.”

The General Accountability Office, estimated that it would cost $12 billion to remove 54,000 tanks that have been leaking. Why does the government have to pay for these tanks? Well they are either abandoned or no one can be held accountable for the cleanup. 63,000 tanks removals are going to be paid for by pump stations, storeowners, other operators, insurers, and state funds.

It is important to be noted that this lag in cleanups or removals of these leaking tanks is not due to lack of money.

 For every gallon of gas 1/10 of a penny goes to trustfund to remove contamination caused by the leaking tanks. Lets take a closer look into what this means.

I know that when I fill up my car, a Honda Element, with gas it takes up about 15 gallons of gas. I usually fill up my tank of gas completely about one a week.

1/10 of a penny/gallon * 15 gallons = $.015.  

$.015 * 52 weeks/year = $0.78/ year/car.

It seems like a really small amount of money, but it could potentially be a lot of money if you multiple how many cars are on the road in a given year.  This trust fund has now reached $2.6 billion since it was started in 1986 and is expected to reach $3 billion by the end of 2008.

Why are the leaking tanks such a big issue? Well, methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and carcinogens have contaminated water supplies causing 150+ lawsuits.

 I think that it is a good idea to clean up these underground leaks. I am interested in seeing the outcome of the lawsuits and the evidence presented that the contaminated water supplies were contaminated by the leakages. I really like the trustfund, but I also think that something needs to be done to ensure that the government does not get stuck with the bill again for abandoned gas leakages.

Information from: www.enn.com/today.html?id=12281. Assocaited Press. Cleanups of Leaking Fuel Tanks Lag; Job Could Cost $12 Billion.

With democrats taking control of Congress this month, the disposal of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada will not likely happen. Communities such as Ventura, LA, and San Bernardino are glad that the nuclear waste will most likely not be shipped through their towns and into Yucca Mountain.

  Yucca Mountain site (Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org)

Proponents of using Yucca Mountain as disposal grounds believe that “it is a secure alternative to storing waste at nuclear plants and hundreds of other sites around the country.”

The Yucca Mountain disposal site was originally planned to open in 1988; however, with major setbacks a hopeful projection dateof opening would in be 2017.

Opposite sides go back and forth with whether Yucca Mountain will become a nuclear waste disposal site; however, we will not really know until the legislation for one side or the other is enacted.

I think that somehow another disposal method needs to be developed. I don’t necessarily know if disposing of the nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is the right thing; however, I do understand that the nuclear waste needs to be disposed off. Plus not only is it affecting the environment around Yucca Mountain, but what if the waste spills on its way to the site. That would be horrible, but I am sure that proponents would argue how unlikely it is that that would happen plus the containers would be safe, but it depends on your definition of safe.

Is the Yucca Dump Doomed? by: Lisa Friedman http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11948

According to Study Shows Louisiana Slowly Slipping into Gulf, Louisiana is “sliding” into the Gulf. It is not “sinking.” Why is this such a big issue? Well it will eventually effect the people who live in the area, but for the time being it could disturb the plans for building bigger and better levees.

The area of Louisiana that is being affected is approximately 250 miles long and 180 miles wide. This area includes the delta of the Mississippi. “The bedrock under heavily populated southeast Louisian is breaking away at a glacial speed — at the pace fingernails grow.” Over the past year, this section of the state has slid about the width of two credit cards. The delta of the Mississippi has been build up over the past 8000 years. Over about the last 70 years, over 2000 square miles of the coast of the United States in that area has disappeared. This is through sinking or erosion.

Probably one of the most important questions about the sinking is why it is happening. There are different theories on why this is occuring. One theory is that extraction of oil and natural gas has caused the sinking. We were drilling in that area in the mid and late 20th century. Another theory is that waterways, specifically the Mississippi River, were “straightjacketed by levees.” This means that the floodwaters were unable to reach the soil to replenish it with nutrients.

I think that this needs to be investigated further. It is a serious issue because now it might just be Louisiana, but what if other parts of the United States start to sink. Two credit card widths does not seem like that much, but if you take into account that Louisiana looses that much land every year it is amazing. I wonder what would happen to all those people that live on that land. I mean look at what happened when they had to leave their homes for a short period of time with Hurricane Katrina. Where would they go if they could never go back to their homes and the lives that they have built for themselves.

STUDY SHOWS LOUISIANA SLOWLY SLIPPING INTO GULF by: Cain Burdeau    http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11950