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Water hazards

26 Apr 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the First Letter of John this Sunday warns that not all of those who say they keep the commandments may be telling the truth. While there are federal laws governing release of harmful chemicals into the public water supply, investigators wonder if pharmaceutical companies and regulators are telling the whole story about the risks. U.S. manufacturers, including major drug companies, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that provide drinking water--contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press (AP) investigation. To date, drug makers have dismissed the suggestion that their manufacturing contributes significantly to what's being found in the water. Federal drug and water regulators agree. But some researchers say the lack of required testing amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy about whether drug makers are contributing to water pollution. "It doesn't pass the straight-face test to say pharmaceutical manufacturers are not emitting any of the compounds they're creating," said Kyla Bennett, who spent 10 years as an Environmental Protection Agency enforcement officer before becoming an ecologist and environmental attorney. Pilot studies in the U.S. and abroad are now confirming those doubts. Last year the AP reported that trace amounts of a wide range of pharmaceuticals--including antibiotics, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones--have been found in U.S. drinking water supplies. Pharmaceuticals have been detected in the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans. Most cities and water providers still do not test for pharmaceuticals. Some scientists say that wherever researchers look, they will find pharma-tainted water. They are also increasingly concerned that the consumption of combinations of many drugs, even in small amounts, could harm humans over decades. Source: An article by Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza, and Justin Pritchard for the Associated Press

Water associated press water supply pharmaceuticals pharmaceutical companies drinking water kyla bennett pollution
Sea-worthy recycling effort raises awareness

01 Aug 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth,” counsels the Letter to the Colossians in this Sunday’s second reading. With their eyes on the night sky but their thoughts on land far ahead, an environmentally conscious group of friends spent four months navigating the Pacific Ocean on a sailboat largely constructed out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles. The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran, and its six crew members weathered fierce ocean storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea. It left San Francisco on March 20, stopping along the way at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa. It docked Monday in Sydney Harbor. The journey was intended to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste. Expedition leader David de Rothschild--a descendant of the well-known British banking family--said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 that pollution “and particularly plastic waste” was seriously threatening the world's oceans. He figured a good way to prove that trash can be effectively reused was to use some of it to build a boat. The Plastiki--named after the 1947 Kon-Tiki wooden raft that sailed across the Pacific--is fully recyclable and gets its power from solar panels and windmills. The boat consists almost entirely of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made of sugar cane and cashews, but includes other materials, too. The mast, for instance, is recycled aluminum irrigation pipe. "The journey of the Plastiki is a journey from trash to triumph," said Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, who greeted the team after they docked. Although the team had originally planned to recycle the boat, de Rothschild said they are now thinking of keeping it intact and using it as a way of enlightening people to the power of recycling. Source: An article by Kristen Gelineau for the Associated Press

pollution jeffrey bleich waste plastic plastiki david de rothschild
Reservoir failure drags Hungarian villagers through the mud

17 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

God secures the rights of his people who call out to him day and night, Jesus assures us in this Sunday’s gospel. It is not yet clear where victims of a huge toxic mud spill in Hungary can turn to secure their rights. The managing director of the company responsible for the spill, taken into custody Monday and accused of negligence by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was released from custody Wednesday by a court which cited lack of evidence of wrongdoing, at least at this stage of the investigations. A week ago nearly 200 million gallons of caustic red mud--a byproduct of the conversion of bauxite to alumina, which is used to make aluminum--poured out of a reservoir after part of its containing wall collapsed. The cascade killed nine people and injured more than 120. Many more have been forced from their homes, and private property worth tens of millions of dollars has been destroyed. The spill also polluted a tributary of the Danube River and spread heavy metals into the soil, damaging farmland. Samples taken in the vicinity of the spill contain high levels of arsenic, for example. The environmental group Greenpeace measured air pollutants on Tuesday and said on its website the concentration of atmospheric fine dust particles was up to six times higher than safe levels. “Those in the area are at risk of very grave health consequences without protective equipment,” Greenpeace said. The prime minister has blamed “human negligence” for Hungary’s worst ecological disaster. The company involved said it was not at fault, blaming “natural conditions” for the spill. The plant will restart production by Friday and will stay under state control for up to two years while investigations continue. Source: Marton Dunai for Reuters and Dan Bilefsky for the New York Times

pollution viktor orban spills toxic mud hungary aluminum greenpeace
Indigenous of oil-soiled Amazon finally get their day in court

27 Feb 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the gospel Jesus asks us to consider the birds of the sky and the wild flowers that bloom and fade, while Saint Paul promises the Lord will bring to light what is hidden. Damage to wildlife in the Amazon prompted one indigenous Ecuadoran woman to spearhead an effort in 1993 to bring to light the damage done by oil companies in the area. She has no legal training and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito, but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a long-awaited landmark judgment against U.S. oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home. The diminutive grandmother whose modest house sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of this David-and-Goliath case and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage. This Sunday we hear that only in God will the psalmist’s soul be at rest. Aguinda will not rest until justice is done. "Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old told a reporter at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents has become a fact of life. "Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge that Texaco (bought in 2001 by Chevron) dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes, soil, and wildlife and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities. Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the state of Rhode Island. "When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never,” Aguinda said. “Then they began to drill a well and set up burn pits. It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished." Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the U.S. firm departed in 1992, for not doing its part in the cleanup agreed on with the state. The oil company called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable" and has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal. Source: An article by Valeria Pacheco for Agence France Presse

pollution oil lawsuit ecuador chevron texaco mary aguinda
Oceans away?

26 Jun 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The divine word and law have been entrusted to Israel as a blessing, the psalmist reminds the people this Sunday. From the moment God first separated land from sea and entrusted the oceans to humanity, they have blessed us with abundance. But a new study warns of the imminent and catastrophic extinctions of sea life--the worst collapse of life in millions of years--because of climate change and overfishing. Time is running short to counter hazards such as the collapse of coral reefs or the spread of low-oxygen "dead zones," according to the study led by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO). "We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation," said the expert study which will be presented to the United Nations. "The findings are shocking," Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, wrote of the conclusions from a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by IPSO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature at Oxford University. Jelle Bijma, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the seas faced a "deadly trio" of threats: higher temperatures, acidification, and lack of oxygen known as anoxia that also have factored in several past mass extinctions. A buildup of carbon dioxide, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate scientists on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. Absorbed into the oceans, it causes acidification, while runoff of fertilizers and pollution stokes anoxia. Fish are the main source of protein for a fifth of the world's population, and the seas cycle oxygen and help absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities. The study said that overfishing is the easiest contributing factor for governments to reverse, while countering global warming will require a major shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energies such as wind and solar power. Source: An article by Jan Harvey for Reuters

global warming oceans overfishing ipso coral reefs alex rogers jelle bijma acidification anoxia fertilizers extinction climate change pollution fossil fuels
U.S. recycles lead risks to Mexico

18 Dec 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The angel Gabriel brings wondrous news to young Mary in this Sunday’s gospel: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” The news is not so good for pregnant women in Mexico who live near lead recycling shops. Increasing numbers of spent batteries are shipped from the U.S. to poorly regulated shops for recycling, exposing workers and local residents to toxins that may cause birth defects and other damaging health effects. The rising flow of batteries southward is a result of strict new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards on lead pollution, which make domestic recycling more difficult and expensive but do not prohibit companies from exporting the work and the danger to countries where standards are low and enforcement is lax. Mexican environmental officials acknowledge that they lack the money, personnel, and technical capacity to police a fast-growing industry now operating in many parts of the country, often in dilapidated neighborhoods. Batteries are imported through official channels or smuggled in to satisfy a growing demand for lead, once cheap and readily available but now in short global supply. Lead batteries are crucial to cellphone networks, solar power arrays, and the exploding Chinese car market, and the demand for lead has increased as much as tenfold in a decade. An analysis of trade statistics shows that about 20 percent of spent American vehicle and industrial batteries are now exported to Mexico, up from 6 percent in 2007. About 20 million such batteries will cross the border this year, and that does not take into account batteries smuggled in as mislabeled metal scrap or second-hand goods. In September, more than 60 18-wheelers full of old batteries crossed the border each day, trade records show. Lead interferes with neurological development and can cause high blood pressure, kidney damage, and abdominal pain in adults and developmental delays and behavioral problems in young children. When batteries are broken for recycling, the lead is released as dust and during melting as lead-laced emissions. Lead pollution remains in the ground for decades, further adding to the risk. “If we export, we should only be sending batteries to countries with standards as strict as ours, and in Mexico that is not the case,” said Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of Occupational Knowledge International, a San Francisco group devoted to reducing lead exposure. Source: An article by Elisabeth Rosenthal for the New York Times

lead pollution mexico battery recycling
Pollution darkens health forecast in northern China

14 Jul 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reveals the will of God to people who might prefer a more hidden deity. People living in northern China may not have willed polluted skies obscured from the sun by coal burning, but that is the reality half a billion residents must contend with. Life-expectancy in northern China was 5.5 years shorter than in the south of the country in the 1990s, and a health risk disparity lingers today, a difference almost entirely due to heart and lung disease related to air pollution from the burning of coal, a new study shows.Drawing on what they said was the most comprehensive data set ever compiled in the developing world, researchers aimed to provide a yardstick public policymakers can use as they consider the implications of decisions now being made on energy. The findings come at a time when coal is on track to surpass oil as the world's top energy source, and 2.8 billion people rely on wood, crop waste, dung, and other polluting biomass to cook and to heat their homes.For 30 years, from 1950 to 1980, the Chinese government provided free coal for home and office winter heating systems to anyone living north of the Huai River and Qinling Mountain range. Coal is no longer free in the north, but it is still subsidized, while there are still very few cities in the south with heating systems like those in the north.Though the policy's purpose was to provide warmth in winter to those who needed it most, the result—the new research shows—was a dramatic rise in mortality due to cardiorespiratory illness. "It's not that the Chinese government set out to cause this," said Michael Greenstone, the MIT economist who conducted the study. "This was the unintended consequence of a policy that must have appeared quite sensible."Homily hint: Our need for warmth in winter and fuel for cooking is basic, but so is the body’s need for clean air to breath. Congregations that find non-polluting ways of meeting their own energy needs serve as a model and inspiration for surrounding communities. If we want to be the good neighbors Jesus calls us to be, we can start by keeping our shared atmosphere clean! Source: An article by Marianne Lavelle for National Geographic

china pollution air pollution coal cardiorespiratory disease michael greenstone
Pollution darkens health forecast in northern China

14 Jul 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reveals the will of God to people who might prefer a more hidden deity. People living in northern China may not have willed polluted skies obscured from the sun by coal burning, but that is the reality half a billion residents must contend with. Life-expectancy in northern China was 5.5 years shorter than in the south of the country in the 1990s, and a health risk disparity lingers today, a difference almost entirely due to heart and lung disease related to air pollution from the burning of coal, a new study shows.Drawing on what they said was the most comprehensive data set ever compiled in the developing world, researchers aimed to provide a yardstick public policymakers can use as they consider the implications of decisions now being made on energy. The findings come at a time when coal is on track to surpass oil as the world's top energy source, and 2.8 billion people rely on wood, crop waste, dung, and other polluting biomass to cook and to heat their homes.For 30 years, from 1950 to 1980, the Chinese government provided free coal for home and office winter heating systems to anyone living north of the Huai River and Qinling Mountain range. Coal is no longer free in the north, but it is still subsidized, while there are still very few cities in the south with heating systems like those in the north.Though the policy's purpose was to provide warmth in winter to those who needed it most, the result—the new research shows—was a dramatic rise in mortality due to cardiorespiratory illness. "It's not that the Chinese government set out to cause this," said Michael Greenstone, the MIT economist who conducted the study. "This was the unintended consequence of a policy that must have appeared quite sensible."Homily hint: Our need for warmth in winter and fuel for cooking is basic, but so is the body’s need for clean air to breath. Congregations that find non-polluting ways of meeting their own energy needs serve as a model and inspiration for surrounding communities. If we want to be the good neighbors Jesus calls us to be, we can start by keeping our shared atmosphere clean! Source: An article by Marianne Lavelle for National Geographic

china pollution air pollution coal cardiorespiratory disease michael greenstone
Pollution preys on world health

30 Mar 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s Psalm 23 responsorial evokes images of “verdant pastures” with “restful waters” that refresh the soul. The present environment, however, is considerably less healthy and hospitable, with pollution killing about 7 million people worldwide each year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).One of the main risks of pollution is that tiny particles can get deep into the lungs, causing irritation. Scientists also suspect air pollution may be to blame for inflammation in the heart, leading to chronic problems or a heart attack, the WHO reported Tuesday.Around the world one out of every eight deaths is tied to air pollution, the agency determined—twice as many as previously estimated. Its report identified air pollution as the world’s single biggest environmental health risk.“The big news is that we have a better understanding of how large a role air pollution plays in strokes and coronary heart attacks,” said Dr. Carlos Dora, coordinator of public health and the environment at the organization. “Given the astronomical costs, countries need to find a way to prevent these noncommunicable diseases.” Last year WHO's cancer agency classified air pollution as a carcinogen, linking dirty air to lung and bladder cancer.The report found that those who are most vulnerable live in a wide arc of Asia stretching from Japan and China in the northeast to India in the south. Exposure to smoke from cooking fires means that poor women and children in the home are especially at risk, the agency said.Indoor air pollutants loomed as the largest threat, involved in 4.3 million deaths in 2012, while toxic air outdoors figured in 3.7 million deaths, the agency said. Many deaths were attributed to both. Breakneck urbanization in the developing nations of Asia, especially China, is a major force contributing to the air pollution problem.Homily hint: The number of deaths from air pollution worldwide is more than die in many wars. Why are we killing ourselves by poisoning the air we breathe? We will have to answer to future generations on what kinds of stewards we have been—that is, if future generations get the chance to ask us. Sources: Articles by Maria Cheng for the Associated Pressand Andrew Jacobs and Ian Johnson for the New York Times

world health organization who air pollution carlos dora
Court clears the air on EPA regulations

04 May 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the First Letter of Peter this Sunday describes God as one “who judges impartially according to each one’s works.” By a wide margin, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted impartially and reasonably in requiring 28 states to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which can lead to soot and smog.In doing so the justices upheld a federal regulation requiring states to limit pollution which contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states, reversing a lower court ruling and handing a victory to President Barack Obama.Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the EPA rule a cost-effective way to allocate responsibility for emission reductions among so-called upwind states, and that the EPA need not consider each state's proportionate responsibility for the emissions in question.She also called the rule a "permissible, workable, and equitable interpretation" of the "good neighbor" provision of the federal Clean Air Act. This provision limits cross-border emissions that make it harder for downwind states to comply with federal air quality standards.Obama has promised to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels and has used EPA's clean air regulations to help achieve that goal. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the Supreme Court win validated the agency's broader efforts to protect national health."Today's Supreme Court decision is a resounding victory for public health and a key component of EPA's efforts to make sure all Americans have clean air to breathe," McCarthy said in a statement.Homily hint: The air we breathe is so essential to life that its contamination can be viewed in one sense as a violation of a basic human right. While we all rely on industry, industry produces waste and pollution, and regulations are essential to keep the damage limited. The Spirit may blow where it will, but pollution should not! Source: An article by Lawrence Hurley for Reuters

environmental protection agency supreme court pollution ruth bader ginsburg emissions epa

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