The Brockovich Report

Polluted water is a lot like pornography.

Justice Potter Stewart was not a pornographer but an ordinary human being (okay, being a US Justice may be a little bit more than ordinary) on the front lines of free speech, and he knews where to draw the line. And we've all heard his opinion on hard-core pornography. "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."

Like Justice Stewart knows porn, I know water. I'm not a scientist, but I'm on the front lines of our fight for potable water, and let me tell you, Stewart had it easy. It is easier to define porn is than it is to define clean water. It takes a scientist to define clean in terms of parts per million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb), and parts-per-trillion (ppt) 10^-12.

The contemporary standards for water quality need updating. That will take research. And that research is going to be expensive, will take a long time, and industry is going to try to chew our leg off while we're doing it.

The question is where to draw the line of what constitutes danger. And there's not just one line to draw. A whole lot of chemicals mean a whole lot of lines. And one chemical is not consistently dangerous to everyone; a toxin may affect children or the elderly or those with weakened immune systems differently. What if the chemical bioaccumulates over decades? What if a chemical does nothing by itself, but it reacts with a chemical that a population has already bioaccumulated in their systems?

Our scientists have their work cut out for them.

Part of the water problem is that we must be prepared for defense. No matter where the line is drawn, someone somewhere will be disagreeing with it. This is because so much of everything in nature and (and frankly, a good bit of what is outside of nature) dissolves in water. And you don't drink the same water twice. Test tap water on several different days, and you're going to find different concentrations of different chemicals.

Even if we don't talk about waterborne diseases related to sewage disposal (which is a whole other area of concern I'm not talking about here), even if we only look specifically at chemicals piggybacked into the water supply...someone is going to say that everything cannot be regulated because chemicals that occur in nature dissolve in water.

On a molecular level, if a chemical is in the ecosystem and dissolves, some of it will be in the water (whatever "IT" is.) Deciding how much is dangerous is a bit of a sticky wicket because the number is going to be different for every chemical. And how do we decide how much is too much?

It's a lot like salt and slugs. Pretty much everyone in this country has heard of putting salt on slugs. If you haven't done it yourself, you've been the one standing there with arms crossed, guarding icky little slugs from the mind-boggling ghoulish cruelty of little boys with salt shakers.

I know it is bizarre, but slugs would die without salt. Even they have a certain minimum daily requirement of salt. Granted, it is not very much, but those trace amounts are crucial for slugs to survive. But we all know what happens to slugs when they're exposed to too much salt.

So for the slug, the happy medium is somewhere more than none at all, and less than enough to dissolve the slug. As we look at the lower levels of extreme dangerous concentrations (from the slug's perspective), very slightly salinated water, over time, would certainly cause problems. We would have to keep downsizing the concentration until there is no detrimental discernable effect on snail life. (This reminds me of an old peanut butter recall I heard about years ago, regarding a certain brand having an unacceptable amount of rat hair. My first thought was that ANY rat hair is too much. But that is not the way percentages work in the real world or in science.) Remember, these scientists are sometimes measuring quantities too small to see. The scientific and political worlds have their jargon for the happy medium; they have to decide and reconcile the Maximum Contaminate Levels (MCL) and Public Health Goals (PHG). The Maximum Contaminate Level is the level below which there is no (known) health risk. And the phrase "Public Health Goal" is a term written into California law SB 1307, quoted here:

"In accordance with Health and Safety Code, Section 1165365 (California Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996, SB 1307, Calderon/Sher), the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has adopted 27 Public Health Goals (PHGs). PHGs represent non-mandatory goals based solely on public health considerations, and are developed based on the best available data in the scientific literature. "

Perhaps California voters should be asking why the levels are non-mandatory. Is health optional?

Of course we're not really talking abut one single element like salt and a simple creature like a slug. We're really talking about the host of chemicals dissolved in water and US. And our problems are not so simple, because some chemicals bioaccumulate; and some chemicals are not biodegradable.

The original 20 chemicals monitored in the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act have been increased to 91.

But there are a lot more than 91 contaminants out there. That's not even counting the 19 pharmaceuticals recently found in soil irrigated with water reclaimed from sewage. It's inevitable. What goes in, must come out...and that's sourced from the sewage I wasn't going to talk about.

The Toxic Substances Hydrology Program (The pdf of their 5 year plan is here.)is a research project studying emerging contaminants in the environment--from chemicals like arsenic which causes multiple system failure to perchlorate which causes tumors, kidney damage and cancer to bromates (a suspected carcinogen) etc. So at least there is work going on studying emerging contaminants.

Back to the EPA....
Like most convoluted government documents, even monitoring the EPA's Safe Water Act list of chemicals is not straightforward. For example, bromides are only required to be measured when water leaves a treatment plant. What about the unhealthy concentrations of bromides that develop as combined chemicals are exposed to sunlight? Why is the law so careful? Because industry is worried about being held accountable for natural processes of chemical recombination and degradation for which industry may have been a catalyst--but we consumers are worried about our lives.

Do we need to expedite the process of adding the toxins they are discovering to the list of monitored punishable toxins on the EPA list? But even if we do so, in this impoverished economy, how can we keep bleeding money to pay for essential research and to clean up after ourselves? If only business would clean up for itself, then there would be no need of fines.

Is the water clean? You'll get different answers to these questions depending on whether you ask someone whose big business pollutes--or if you ask someone who drinks, washes and bathes in the industry-contaminated water out of their tap.

Clean water?
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."

Remember when the million man march, a vast grassroots movement, conveyed to the world a different picture of the African American man?

Move over men, it's baby time.

There's another march on the way, only it's not for a million men. It's not a march either--it's the Million Baby Crawl.

Seventh Generation has invited me to be a spokeswoman for the Million Baby Crawl, a movement to focus public attention on toxins in household products.

Currently the government only tests 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals on the market. Who knows how many dangerous ingredients are sitting on our own shelves?
This movement is around to focus attention on protecting our families from toxins secreted in products on the shelves in every American home.

Yes, under our kitchen cabinets, there's a hotbed of toxic chemical soups marketed as cleansers, polishes, insecticides, etc.

The national dialogue about 'Kid Safe Chemicals ' is designed to focus national attention on chemicals used in everyday products, including those used in baby bottles and children's toys. With some attention from the public, we're hoping that Washington will amending the weakness of the current law known as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), one of the reasons for the lack of safety and consumer protection.

You can join the crawl at the website:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/million-baby-crawl/

You can visit a "crawl to action" event in in person in:
Boston,
Burlington,
Denver,
Minneapolis,
New York,
Portland, or
Seattle.
I hope many of you out there will join us on the Million Baby Crawl. The live events will include picture and sign-making opportunities, a computer station where you can join, entertainment, public appearances, a children's Crawl to the Capital area, a substance Control Act rally, free giveaways and more...

Maybe I'll see you there.

It looks like I may be paying a visit to Tennessee. Numerous residents have asked me to come to the community for a meeting on the coal fly ash disaster around Knoxville, and I think I will be going.

I know the question on everyone's lips. What is coal fly ash, and why does it need to be contained? The folks around Knoxville are getting to know a lot more about coal fly ash than they ever wanted to learn.

Coal fly ash. It sounds like someone has been burning fly poop or airborne coal. But seriously, it is akin to the creosote that coated those chimneys and chimneysweep boys of Charles Dickens ancient London.

Fly ash comes from chimneys, specifically the chimneys of power plants. The collection point determines exactly what kind of ash it is. Fly ash apparently contains silicon dioxide and calcium oxide as well as trace concentrations of heavy metals. In other words, coal ash is nasty stuff to have floating around in your river, air, and drinking water.

Anyway, thanks to the failure of a containment retention wall at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant that's where it is. In the river. Spread out on the land.

The Clinch and Tennessee Rivers are affected. So the TVA is out there collecting "cenospheres." Cenospheres are apparently little floating balls of residue which according to this TVA publication "are useful in bowling balls, paint, concrete and epoxy" --just a partial list of ways fly ash in general is used. There are 3000 feet of skimmers in place to vacuum up this stuff and some other collection devices in the water. I don't think the sludge is only made up of cenospheres, so I wonder what they're doing to control the rest of it.

The TVA publishes data on Kingston's Fossil Emissions and water data .

The TVA does NOT publish data about that retention wall. (Or maybe they do, and I just don't know where it is. The TVA is welcome to let me know that information.) So I'd like to know why they were using retention ponds to store this stuff. (You may remember I have a history with retention ponds. Don't like 'em. Never will.)

Why does it need to be contained? Well, that's a moot point, isn't it? Since it is composed of heavy metals, and other nasty things. It is better contained than it is spread out over 300 acres thirty some-odd miles away from Knoxville. Truth is, I should speculate on some other questions. Like...

Why was that fly ash sitting around a retention pond rather than being immediately ported to some Portland Cement factory, or bowling ball maker? Was there some earthquake we don't know about? Why did the retention wall give way? How much trace metal is realistically dangerous, and how much trace metal and toxin is really there? Is it truly inert?

AP has already released an article talking about how the TVA won't have retention ponds on TVA property any longer. Better late than never, I suppose. (Does that mean It's moving to private property, that it's going to be sold or that they're shooting it to trash cans on Jupiter or Pluto?) We'll have to see what their actual solution is, and if it really is an improvement over what they're doing now.

A dozen families have lost their homes to 2.6 million cubic yards of fly ash. OR a Billion cubic yards. (The numbers change depending on whose saying them.) Three hundred acres are destroyed. In fact, that number has grown to four hundred acres six feet deep.

Why is it that it takes a disaster to find the better way to do things? When are we ever going to learn to use forethought instead of hindsight?

As familiar to us as the backs of our own hands, the little main street square lives in our minds as concretely as if we walked those streets, and jumped over the actual cracks not to break our mother's backs; you know, that cozy town square and all the homey penny candy dispensing shopkeepers who know our names--straight out of the collective unconscious--or some James Stewart/Frank Capra common mythos. But that's not really main street these days. Main street has gone the way of wall street--lost to power mongers who follow the path of corruption, otherwise know as corporate sleight of hand. All around us, the big packagers, the huge corporations are shutting down branches, laying off people, and the empty buildings stare at us through their empty-window eyes, making a mockery of yesterday's affluence. In many areas of the country, formerly thriving economic retail centers are starting to look like the abandoned tenements of Urban blight. And it is spreading.

How many power brokers are like Fred Smith of Federal Express, taking a personal 20 percent pay cut and freezing wages rather than putting hundreds--perhaps thousands--out of jobs?

No, it looks like most power brokers these days take multi-million dollar bonuses seconds before their corporations are liquidated, tossing millions of people out of work, out of savings, out of pensions.

What is happening to wall street and main street is happening to the environment.

Abandoned by the corporations who caused them, abandoned environmental hot spots are collected under the Superfundumbrella, with the optimistic mission "to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. . . . ensuring that remaining National Priorities list of hazardous waste sites are cleaned up to protect the environment and the health of all Americans."

It looks like Obama has plans to make a few changes. Obama named Harvard physicist John Holden as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology policy, and Marine Biologist Jane Lubchenco as National Oceanic Atmospheric Administrator. And also he's engaged other scientific leaders like Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander. These are leading thinkers of the green movement. Let's hope they can live up to their reputations.

It's a start.

I hope when Obama met with Al Gore and talked about global warming that they talked about how to clean up all the contamination. We are committing our own genocide and don't even seem to care. Does anyone care? How do I get someone's attention here? How do we get these sites cleaned up?

I don't really mind that the old town square is fondly remembered anachronism. There's a long history: the Roman Forum; the Italian Piazza; the French Grand-Place. Somewhere, sometime, towns and their squares will be rebuilt and be vital and live again. And if not, well, town gathering places are bound to grow and evolve just as people grow and evolve. I only hope that other things that we hold dear--like clean water, clean air, unimproved land in its natural state--will not become fondly remembered relics of the past.

For those who asked, this is Iron Eyes Cody

Let me start off by saying (again) that I am as green as I have ever been. My concern for the environment and health and welfare for all of us has not lessened, nor will it. If anything, my feeling is stronger than ever, as the need for personal responsibility grows.

We are all responsible for our own sphere of influence.

I would like to address the "green" movement going on in the world today. What does that really mean to each of us as individuals? Even those who perceive themselves as being green or living green manifest their greenness in different ways.

Some people see green as a way to make money. That is okay as long as we progress and don’t jeopardize more of the environment.

Some people see it as recycling.

Others see being green in terms of carbon credits.

Being green means more than just being aware that the ice caps are melting and that global warming is upon us.

It means acting upon that knowledge in an infinity of small ways.

Being green is about fighting air pollution, and cleaning up the contamination that exists today. Being green is about changing to efficient light bulbs and being generally more energy efficient in our daily lives.

Being green is about finding other energy sources to use besides oil.

Being green means saving our oceans, our wildlife, our air, water and soil.

Being green means bypassing the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents in order to choose organics.

Being green is both a state of mind and activist issue because being green is something that is not merely spoken; it is a thing that is done. Thinking about it is the first step. Doing something about it is the next piece of the puzzle. If one doesn’t happen, the other won’t and the continuum of life will be broken.

Green is not a fad. It is a matter of survival--that’s how crucial every individual contribution and commitment is. We all caused the problem, and it will take all of us to clean up after ourselves.

Green is the natural state. It is what we come from and where we must return if we want to survive. We can only do that by working together. We must join in this commitment to this our common cause. After all, nothing is more common among us than our need for the air we breathe and the water we drink. Our very lives are contingent upon these elements.

We have got to take our places on the front lines of our battle for the environment--each and every one of us--to keep the continuum going. This is the daily battle and the long term movement inching us towards a better environment and a better life for us all.

I know I've talked before about politicians and heroes, but now I am speaking of the power and reach each of us as individuals. In this sense, we do not need politicians standing on the stump. We are all Oprahs. We are all Al Gores. We are all--if you will pardon sharing my name--Erin Brockovich--up on the big HD screen of life, fighting the fight for the environment.
Nothing in nature stands still. We need to remember if we simply do nothing, we will get pushed back. In order to have progress, in order to maintain progress we have got to keep fighting forward together.

The time has come to stop feeling that we have no hand in our own fate. We do have a hand in our fate; it is our choice to do or to do nothing.

This being nearly election time, I must also add that the best expression of freedom that I know of is the freedom to think for oneself and to act in our own defense. So with that in mind, may we always choose truth over deception, whatever political face it wears. May we always see clear enough to know which is which. And may we always choose green.

There are so many irons in the fire this week that I hardly know where to start. But I'll start with the last thing I was talking about before...Gardasil. Gardasil has been associated now with grand mal seizures, paralysis, coma, Anaphylactic shock. And of course death. Just read the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System reports. They are scary.

The Gardasil vaccine claim is about as big a tort reform as I have ever seen. I do not believe the big drug companies should be able to do what they want to do, unchecked. The high ceiling of damages is about the only thing that can touch, reach and affect a huge corporation. The problem with tort reform is that it is legislation designed to reduce liability costs through limits on damages and modification of liability rules. Simply, that means reducing the damage to fat cat Merck who has made upward of a billion and a half in profits, leaving behind a marketing battlefield scattered with the shells of sick and dying girls. (Even ONE is too many--what if she were YOUR daughter?) This kind of reform is meant to protect the corporation and allow them keep raking in money hand over fist--over the bodies of our injured daughters.

The safety and effectiveness of Gardasil is very much in question, as well it should be. Currently there are girls with damaged--and lost--lives whose very real issues are being dismissed as "anecdotal evidence." Such evidence should be evaluated for further research, rather than being dismissed as useless. Scientists talk about everything needing scientific proof, but the reality is that everything hinges on the interests or bias of the researchers.

Talking about scientific proof reminds me that Gardasil is not my only issue--I am reminded of the justification I felt last year when scientists finally at last found tangible proof that swallowing hexavalent chromium is as harmful as inhaling it. After a two-year animal study, the National Toxicology Program said there is "clear evidence of carcinogenic activity" if the chemical is consumed in drinking water.

Yes, my old nemesis hexavalent chromium is still around. That same chemical is an issue here in the US, Greece, Italy and Australia. In fact--I just got an interesting problem in from Australia concerning a large group of paramedics whose dyed clothing contains hexavalent chromium, and they are all getting sick. But I will let everyone know more about what is going on there after I start investigating. I mentioned Greece--HVC-contaminated sites in Greece cover a huge area. Remember the Asopos River has 400,000 times the amount of HVC that should be in groundwater. The Greek government made public promises to update their freshwater and wastewater handling, and fined twenty companies 1.4 million for illegal dumping; but some of the companies are protesting the fines. And the river and groundwater are still contaminated. I mentioned Italy. In Italy, there is some research on controlling HVC contamination with the use of activated carbon filtration, but people are dying of cancer there--like the fourteen employees of PM Galvanica di Tezze sul Brenta. If that doesn't convince you there's an Italian problem with HVC, do an internet search on Samanta Di Persio's book Morti Bianche, (White Death.) It's a harrowing account of pollution, corruption, exploitation and loss.

Hexavalent Chromium is like a disease that keeps spreading. No wonder the film Erin Brockovich rocked the boat. It opened Pandora’s box. It opened the door.

It opened our eyes.

Not only could it and did it affect the families featured in the film...
Not only could and did it affect my neighbors...
Not only could and did it affect people a world away...
It can and is affecting you and me right now.

It's not like Hexavalent Chromium is the only dangerously mishandled chemical there is. There are more mishandled toxic chemicals out there than any of us would like to consider. But we have to consider them all. This is our wake up call. Not a call to arms, but a call to Green.

It is time for us to live as Green as possible. That means corporate and personal responsibility. It means not spreading toxic chemicals, not causing destruction. As human beings, we can choose to live gently on the land. We can choose to give back instead of take.

Because the philosophy of being green is not so strange. It is just the philosophy of life. We have to consider what is important to us as human beings.

Do we worship at the altar of the Mighty Corporation? I say no. If we don’t address these issues, if we don’t stand up against tort reform, we lose our only defense against Industry. Public health and safety will be sacrificed. We the people are the only thing in the way; and we the people are only thing that will be reformed. And not in a good way.

Also, I wanted to reassure some of you, in case some of you may have noticed a change in my presence on the web. I'm just in the process of consolidating my resources, and putting together a new web page. I'm still here, and trust me, I'm not giving up or going away any time soon.

Stick-to-it-iveness is still my motto.

Chromium Six has reared its ugly head again. Now it has been found in Ireland, specifically at a former steel plant in Cork, Ireland. The plant has been closed since 2001 after twenty years in operation stockpiling masses of toxins. In 2003, the Irish Department of Environment took over responsibility for the property. Since then, they have been inventorying the site, which is now a toxic chemical dump. Not the healthiest job to do.

Here is something I have heard before, though it was someone other than the Minister for Environment John Gormley saying it:

"People will not be exposed to any health risk because of hazardous waste at Haulbowline in Cork." He says so because someone in his office says so, according to BBC news.

The statement was in reply to one of the people subcontracted to work on the site who found toxic levels of Chromium Six.

If it isn't dangerous, why did they stop work? Why close the door if you're denying the horses are out? But apparently someone has called a stop-work order. Lucky for those subcontractors and locals whose job it is to pick thru the half a million tons of hazardous materials buried at the dump site. I hope someone is heavily insured. Not that insurance, or lawsuits, or settlements help when people are doomed to die of cancer because their very environment is killing them.

Life is all about cycles. Open up any student biology book and it will show you animal life cycles, cell cycles, water cycles, ecosystem cycles and the like. It is all a balance between producers and consumers, and how energy flows through an ecosystem.

If you look at the big picture of our ecosystem, plants get their energy from the sun; herbivores get their energy from plants; carnivores get their energy from herbivores; and omnivores get their energy from plants and herbivores. It's pretty efficient. Most energy is recycled within our ecosystem, but there is some loss, mostly heat or kinetic. This in spite of that law in physics. The "law of conservation of energy" that states that the quantity of energy in a system is constant.

It seems that our scientists should be able to use that law, somehow, to help us find energy sources as all of this energy is constantly transitioning form one form to another to another to another.

We just have to find that balance, you know the one implied in that Disney Lion King song--Circle of Life. Not that the Circle of Life song goes into physics; but it promises "we find our place/ On the path unwinding/ In the Circle/ The Circle of Life."

For us, nature is the ultimate environmental continuum in our circle of life, one that is not overly destructive--especially as we human beings are conscious of our participation in the dynamics of life-cycles.

We just have to find our place in it.

I hate to say "I told you so." But it keeps happening.

Scientific Panel Says Erin Brockovich Was Right. "Sixteen years after activist Erin Brockovich first suggested that hexavalent chromium in drinking water might be a health hazard, a federal scientific panel has agreed with her. " That's a direct quote. And to be accurate, you have to add on a year or two more to get to the day I first started looking into and talking about the undocumented underestimated dangers of hexavalent chromium.

Now there's another batch of scientists who are verifying what I've been talking about. Again. There's an article titled AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water which says "A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows."

I won't say I told you so. It only means that it takes science a little while to catch up with what people observe. (Wait...haven't I been saying that too?)

I won't say I told you so. Though I have been talking about the importance of clean water all along. The importance of having clean water should be apparent to everyone who drinks water. (That includes all of us, right?) Where else do all the groundwater contamination lawsuits come from? There is contamination out there. Water contamination is more widespread than any of us would like to believe.

Other people are saying "I told you so" too. Even Environmental Sociologists like Michael R. Meuser, M.A. Take a look at this website that maps 179 groundwater contamination sites in Santa Clara County alone. 179 contaminated sites in a single county. Why isn't everyone up in arms over the contaminated state of our most essential resource?

But I shouldn't say "I told you so." It's not just industrial solvents, like trichloroethylene, or TCE, a potentially potent carcinogen typical of what industry allows to leach into the water table. This latest probe reveals unexpected findings like prescription drugs dissolved into our drinking water. After all, it makes sense. People take pills; pills dissolve and that water eventually re-enters the water system. The probe talks about pharmaceuticals like medications for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems, anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications, mood-stabilizers, even sex hormones. Adding chlorine, which kills biotic toxic agents, makes it worse. Reverse osmosis--a water purification method--does remove even pharmaceuticals that we don't test for but it is prohibitavely expensive, and it can't be done at every source of contamination, like leaky private septic tanks.

But I won't say "I told you so."

In history, they always talk about the pendulum swinging. First we go one way, then we swing back the other. Right now, we're still on the upswing. For years--forever maybe except for a little rebellious blip during the sixties--we have been a consumer society. Way back when our agrarian culture moved from the farms and toward the cities, the substance and spirit of being "successful" transmogrified. Forget actualization. Making it isn't really about developing who we are as much as it is about improving and increasing what we have.

I grew up in a house where if something broke, my father fixed it or had it fixed. If the television quit, we fixed it or did without. We didn't toss it out and run to the store to get a new one. No one of that generation did. Because products weren't built with planned obsolescence. They didn't have unibody plastic insides that couldn't be serviced; they had replaceable parts. They were intended to be archival--built to last. Things have changed. In a way, we are at the mercy of progress. Simply because robotic factories build fast in enormous quantities instead of slowly by hand--making our entire marketplace possible; and because technology changes so fast that we must toss out old devices to access the current thing; but also because we can only buy stuff that we are sold. And we are sold stuff that is expected to be tossed instead of repaired. Simply, products are made to be cheaper to buy than to fix.

I mentioned the buzzword last week: consumerism. Conspicuous consumerism. You know, keeping up with the Joneses. One upsmanship. Having the biggest house, the fastest car on the block. Our whole Horatio Alger rags-to-riches philosophy of life just wouldn't have the same oomph if we didn't get to show off the riches a little bit when we get to be a have instead of a have-not. Make that show off the riches alot.

We are all about shopping. I know because that's what the television tells me. And magazines. And the media.

Last week I was talking about this same thing. Shopping green is a good start--but in a sense, is it not an oxymoron? Because being green is not so much buying new stuff that happens to be organic and recyclable. It isn't so much about being a consumer. It's about being a "conserver." Remember conservation? As in people who repair what they have instead of replace it. As in conservation of resources. Recall the conservation movement: to protect plants, animals and habitats. Energy conservation: reducing energy consumption, and finding renewable resources.

How does all of this shopping we do fit in with the holistic philosophy of reduced consumption and smaller footprints?

The idea of conservation flies in the face of the construct our entire society, which hinges on consumers using up stuff that industry has to make more of. I don't want to put the cogs and wheels out of business; maybe the marketplace will keep chugging along until it finds the happy medium where new unbiodegradable pseudo-disposable-plastic-styrofoam-wasteful junk merchandise is replaced by high quality product that is intended to last. And of course, if industry will clean up after itself, or better yet, devise ways not to be destructive, then that's even better.

But still--buying green is a start; it is certainly better than the alternative. And I wonder is buying green the new gateway drug that will take us one day to a more balanced society? Only the swinging pendulum knows for sure.

Smell the freshly cut grass. It's the scent of green.

Hear each leaf whisper in the wind. It's the sound of green.

Feel the brush of the willow, the velvet of verdant moss under your bare feet. It's the touch of green.

I don't think it's an accident that green is the symbol and the name of the Green movement. It's the color signature of life. Instant recognition. The media person who coined the metaphor should have his name inscribed up there with the major media geniuses. What better to symbolize the environment and sustainability? And sustaining life--and a better quality of life--is what being green is all about.

The green movement is all about choice. Where we choose to live; how we choose to live. More importantly, it is a lifestyle philosophy. We Americans have that luxury that many other countries do not have: choice. After decades of conspicuous consumerism, how do we now choose to lessen our impact on the earth? The only way we can is to choose the "greener" options. And choose less. Waste less.

We can always choose to buy the item that is sustainable, like bamboo instead of Brazilian Rosewood, for example. Because bamboo grows fast and replaces itself, and Brazilian Rosewood is so rare they don't even import it any more. Or eating Wild Alaskan Salmon (who die when they spawn anyway) instead of slow growing Orange Roughy that can live to be 149 years old. Sometimes it is about buying less, or getting what is locally grown so it hasn't required significant transportation. But living green is not just about shopping.

It's about lifestyle choices--everything from riding public transportation to using organic produce to not using pesticides to creating a wildscape in your yard instead of a lawn to recycling instead of buying new. There's a deeper meaning beneath the action of choice. It is a philosophy of living life "naturally."

Instead of gossiping how some "green" movie star shows up in a gas guzzler, shouldn't we all be talking about groundwater contamination? Why aren't people pushing to get adequate funding for the EPA so that it isn't a failure? Where are the priorities? Without clean water there is no life. We can not live without it. It's time for all of us to make a lifestyle choice too: to write about something significant. Like clean water.

Being Green is not a trend. It's not a popular movement. It is an evolution. The philosophy not new. We've heard it at least three times. It's the philosophy of the Native Americans who lived lightly on the land. It's like the second coming of the hippies (or Sixties revenge if you prefer.) And now it's the science of "environmentalism." If it takes that triangulation to get the idea across that maybe we should waste not want not, then so be it. But whether it is couched in the terms of science, sixties or Native American mythology, the whole movement rises on a backbone of reverence for the earth, for the amazing biology that sustains us. It is amazing; and it is too frail for us to take for granted. We cannot afford for our children to drink water that gives them cancer. We cannot let the green movement fall to the wayside. We must choose Green while we have a choice.

Before it is too late.

The last day of the year, there's usually a cartoon of an old man on the newspaper's front page, news and tv shows fill up the day with pre-recorded retrospectives. It is a day of lists. Top ten actresses, top ten actors, top ten movies. If there's more space or time to fill, then the lists get longer: top fifty or top hundred sports figures, bloopers, rescues, crimes, lawsuits.

So here's my top ten, in alphabetical order and overlapping content.

Air Pollution
When you can see the air, time to start cleaning it up.
This year, California has seen our own waste management's diesel truck fleet fined for not abiding to our own state standards. Big West of California's refinery was stopped from using hydrofluoric acid which forms a toxic cloud-not that our smog needs any additional components. Air is already loaded with exhaust from airports, seaports, trucks and trains, and particulates. Unfortunately we just can't hold our breath until the air is safe. If we have a right to breathe clean air, that right has been severely compromised and we should do something about it.

Habitation Destruction.
Joni Mitchel was right.
"Don’t it always seem to go/
That you don't know what you’ve got/
‘Til it's gone/
They paved paradise/
And put up a parking lot."
From polar bears to frogs, from bison to birds, habitat loss is the leading threat to non-domesticated animals. Between global warming (anthropogenic or not), human use of the land, pesticide and nutrient contamination, habitats where undomesticated animals can survive are shrinking. Sustainable wildlife needs the undamaged ecological niche to sustain itself. If we have a right to pass on to our children the infinite exquisite panorama which is our natural world, that right has been severely compromised and we should do something about it.

Land Pollution
In the movie Field of Dreams, an Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsela, hears a mysterious whisper as he stands in his cornfield. “If you build it, he will come. If you build it, they will come." In real life, we deal with a negative corollary of that statement; if you build it, and use it, waste will come. We leave a trail of waste. We just haven't yet figured out how to manage our personal and industrial byproducts in an earth-centric way. If we have a right to live in a clean land, as a population we have severely compromised our environment, and it is up to us to do something about it.

Land Degradation
Yes, we humans degrade the land. We don't fit well in the ecosystem. We must learn how to live on the land, how to use it, enjoy it, and share it, without using it up.

Sustainable resources are only possible because life operates in a cycle of generation/ destruction/ regeneration. (Wouldn't would be nice if human population didn't specialize in the destruction cycle?) That's not to say we don't participate in generation and regeneration. We do work to add topsoil, grow crops, and clean up after our messes. We just seem to have more of a knack of destruction than maintenance.

We have to learn how to honor mother earth the way Native Americans did. As natural creatures our own selves, we have a right to nature unspoiled. That right has been severely compromised and since we are the guilty culprits, we are the only creatures on earth intelligent enough to know how to do restore it.

Resource Depletion
Water, fuels, minerals, crops, topsoil. Virtually everything is a resource. If there's anything we know how to do, it is exploit our resources. But we are only the precursors of what is to come. Our generation has a right to survive. If we have a right to, then our children and our children's children have a right to; our conspicuous consumption has severely compromised that right, and it is our responsibility to do something about it.

Superfund.
If you're not familiar with it, Superfund is the name given to the environmental program established to address the hundreds of abandoned hazardous waste sites where the EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and the Office of Superfund Remediation Technology innovation are designated to solve these unsolvable. If this fight is close to your heart, check the regional contacts in your area and see what you can do. If we have a right to live unpolluted, that right has been severely compromised and we should do something about it.

Toxins
Toxins, toxins, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Toxins, toxins, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
I can't ignore global industrial carelessness, and shifty waste management. Is it really too much to ask to expect that packaged foods (and non-foods for that matter) not come prepackaged with their own toxins? Sometimes I look at the recall lists and wonder what manufacturers are thinking. If they're that careless with what they put IN the package, it goes without saying they have some kind of magical thinking regarding industrial processing waste. I can't help but think about the horrible consequences of the pollution of the Asopos river in Greece, where industrial waste mismanagement is well on the way to killing an entire country. If we have a right to eat and drink and breathe without being poisoned, that right has been severely compromised and we should do something about it.

Waste Management
I recently read something disturbing.
Profits are falling in the waste management industry.
It seems weird to me that there is profit in waste management. I know that profit is what runs the commercial world, but it still strikes me as bizarre that waste management has a profitability factor. It would be infinitely better if efficiency rather than money were our criteria. If we have a right for our waste not to despoil everything that isn't waste, that right has been severely compromised and we should do something about it.

Water Pollution
This year toxic seepage, accidents, mismanagement, polluted water tables touched everyone, one way or another. Clean water must be a priority for us all. We must have clean water in order to survive. If we have a right to quench our thirst without fear of poison or cancer, that right has been severely compromised. It is a survival imperative to do something about it.
In the myth, Pandora opens her box and all the evils fly out. There is left only hope; and hope did not fly away, but settled in her heart. Just as "hope" was the last creature to fly from the box after it was opened, I have saved something positive to end with. So what am I thinking is our one hope?

Renewable Energy
We don't have to start living in teepees and eating cactus and pureed dirt. We can light our homes and power our appliances using solar power, wind power. We can act like custodians instead of consumers and use renewable resources.

Our right to live in an intelligent, technological civilization has been severely compromised by bad choices made in the past. We should do something about it. So my 2008 resolution is to make better choices. Green choices.

What is your resolution?

The saying "No news is good news" is not always true.

Recently I started poring the headlines looking for fresh news from OINOFYTA, Greece.

Factories have been dumping waste in the Asopos River for decades, resulting in such severe pollution in Oinofyta that the residents have been held hostage by the damage. The water is undrinkable and untouchable; the tourist beaches have been declared unfit for swimming.

In the news, a few months ago, there was brief political acknowledgement and uproar. The pollution was recognized. Politicians promised to bring down the law on the factories and industries which had compromised the safety of the water by dumping industrial waste into the river.

There were a lot of promises made. Punishment, fines levied against the perpetrators. Developments in providing fresh and healthy drinking water for the residents. Monitoring and controls put in place to prevent more pollutions. Water cleaning facilities.

So of course, I open my newspapers and turn on my computer thinking I will see plenty of articles of all of these good things coming to life--all of these promises made by politicians to protect their constituency from poisoning by industrial pollutors.

But I see nothing.

No new news.

No positive developments.

The only news I find is more public outcry by the damaged parties.

On December 6. Reuters released an article detailing the hazards of chromium 6: "Used as an anti-corrosive in the production of stainless steel, paint, ink, plastics and dyes, the metal is on the European Union's list of restricted substances and listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization."

This isn't really news. The only recent news regarding chromium 6 is that it is more dangerous than they thought it was; instead of only causing lung cancer, it is now "believed in some medical circles to cause an array of blood and intestinal cancers when ingested in water."

I continued reading the Reuters article. I did find something new, but it was not news of all of the progress that has been done.

I found a new outcry from the public.

It is true that in August, inspectors dug up 20 illegal pipelines dumping untreated waste in violation of regulations.

It is true that in November, the government imposed two million dollars worth of fines against the twenty guilty companies.

It is also true that the companies are planning to protest--and that there are more polluters out there.

In fact, one of the comments on my blog included a letter from a local detailing how the factories were polluting the aquifer by piping their polluted waste into deep wells rather than pumping to the river and getting caught.

So we hear the public outcry.

We hear the voice of biochemical engineer Thanasis Panteloglou who has been trying to get this area cleaned up since 2000. And now he asks, Why are they killing us?" said Panteloglou. "I am shouting: stop committing this crime, stop killing the people. Someone has to hear me."

We hear you Thanasis.

We hear you and we ask, how can we help?

Revisiting the Spill
Remember Exxon Valdez?

Who? Exxon Valdez, now called Sea River Mediterranean, oil tanker built by National Steel and Shipbuilding of San Diego, runs aground.

What? 11 million gallons of crude oil escapes into the Gulf of Alaska

Where? Prince William Sound, fouling 790 miles of shoreline within Prince William Sound oiled, 200 miles of which is classified as heavily oiled and in the Kenai Peninsula-Kodiak region, more than 2,400 miles of shoreline are found to be oiled. Block Island, Green Island, Sawmill Bay, Smith Island, *(EVOS Restoration Website)

When? March 24 1989

Why? 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 250 bald eagles, two dozen Orcas, billions of salmon, loons, three species of cormorants, harlequin ducks, harbor seals, herring and a partridge in a pear tree.

Exxon's scientists point to the recovery of "bald eagles, black oystercatchers, murres, pink and sockeye salmon, and river otters" and claim that the ecosystem has recovered.

The rest of the world (i.e. all of the scientists, environmentalists and study groups which are not paid by Exxon) feel the area has not yet recovered. Of course, there's no really optimal way to clean up the thin sheet of oil and the mousse (emulsified mixture of oil and sea water). Burning pollutes the air; using the boom to corral and contain is laborious. only marginally effective, and terribly inefficient; dispersants contaminate the water and food supply of indigenous species; and skimming is an equipment and manpower intensive process which is only successful under optimum conditions of calm seas, fresh, fluid oil and well-orchestrated teamwork. The NOAA's National Ocean Service study suggests "incomplete recovery (as of 1998) include species differences in infaunal populations, different grain size structures and lower population abundances at oiled sites..." (I had to look up infaunal. It means species that live on the ocean floor.)

Why am I bringing this up 18 years later?

It's the one month anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Oil spill. Call it a celebration of sorts, not that it's celebratory. Not with today's news of 66,043-110,000 barrels leaking from the Hong Kong-registered tanker in South Korean waters.

At least the cold weather froze the South Korean spill, making recovery and reclamation easier.

Some things are looking better. All those scientific minds pointed toward oil spill clean up have resulted in a improved technology--a mechanical skimmer whose surface is grooved to pick up more oil–and is scraped completely clean on each rotation. Activated carbon plays a part. It's a good thing technology is improving because the potential of the San Francisco Oil spill is just as bad as ever. Bad for the harbor seals. Bad for the sea lions. Bad for the herring, steelhead and Chinook salmon, and innumerable species. Bad for San Francisco. Bad for all of us.

58000 gallons were spilled from the Cosco Busan out of Port of Oakland. How much oil was recovered is not known. What is known is that it will take a long time for the ecosystem to recover, but optimists hope that the ecosystem can absorb the damage.

There's the rub.

Certainly the world has a balance. Certainly there have been instances of oil in the ecosystem in a natural situation, and the world wagged on. But the world is different now from any other time in history. Humans put an added stress on the ecosystem, and there's only so much natural absorption any ecosystem can sustain before homeostasis can no longer be maintained.

So come on scientists and nautical engineers It's time to put your thinking caps on and help us clean up. Find new ways, better ways. Boat designers, it's time to engineer ships which won't leak. If we can self-seal a tire, why not a ship's hold? Come on alternative fuel developers. Let's find a way to float our boats and run our cars which does not require massive oil transportation and consumption.

Come on purveyors of the new technologies. We believe in you. We have to. You're all we have.

I'm about to visit the Asopos River. You may have heard of it; it is that river in Greece that has been in the news lately. I've talked about it before. It provides toxic tap water to tens of thousands of people, who have been getting sick and dying. Perhaps they should start calling it the red river, because now, because of the toxins, it runs red. That red is a potent reminder of all the people who have fallen victim to its waters.

The Chromium 6 content is over 400,000 times the amount that should be in groundwater. Of course, this is just one of the lethal cocktails that makeup the river. 85 industries have been operating and polluting along the river with no supervision, since the Greek government had designates the Asopos not a river, but a "sludge tube!" How would you feel about having no water source except a sludge tube?

But I have news. I received this email from Carol Kalin, of the U.S. Embassy in Athens:

Here is the letter:

Dear Ms. Brockvich,

Many people contacted the U.S. Embassy in Athens to express concern about the Asopos River, including from Friends of the Earth, following your August 25 post. We thought that you and they would be interested to know that the new Greek Minister of Environment Giorgos Souflias just announced a series of measures to protect residents living near the Asopos River, as well as a major probe to determine which companies have contributed to the pollution problem.

Like other U.S. Embassies around the world, we regularly discuss environmental issues with the Greek public -- whose consciousness is rising rapidly -- as well as with NGOs and the Greek government. From the U.S. Embassy in Athens, I thank you for your interest in our work and your support for our activities on behalf of the American people.

Carol Kalin, Spokesperson

So I looked into it.

AP tells us that last week a probe exposed 10 firms which have been dumping chemical waste into the Asopos. There is bad news and good news. Bad that manufacturers have been dumping, good that they have been caught red handed. In fact, they have been heavily fined, and their licenses revoked. At this stage of the investigation, more violators are expected to be discovered. Officials are searching for secret waste disposal pipes.

I applaud the Greek government, who is finally doing something, and the Greek Minister of Environment who is leading the way.

Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias announced the following measures are planned:

• The construction of a drainage network to channel toxic waste from local manufacturers away from the river

• The creation of a new irrigation network to supply residents of Oinofyta, Tanagra and Avlida with water from the River Mornos

• Two pollution-measuring stations in Oinofyta and in eastern Attica to monitor the presence of toxic substances in the river water.

• The delineation of “protected zones” in the area of the Asopos River

• Stricter restrictions on the activities of local manufacturers

• Harsher penalties for offenders.

Local officials want regular inspections and monitoring of water quality, a cleanup effort, and "staff boosts" to get the ball rolling.

So when I go back, I might even take a side tour and visit Kifissos River and Lake Koroneia. I'd like to take a look around there, where in spite of twenty-four million in funding, the lake protection project has been delayed--and two hundred birds were recently found there, dead. I wonder why.

When I go to Greece, I don't expect to see a perfect river. But I am looking forward to seeing those bulldozers I read about in action or some other sign of clean up. There is a tough road ahead, but the hardest one--acknowledging the problem, has already begun.

I can't wait to congratulate the Friends of the Earth, Giorgos Souflias, the locals and all the others who have worked so hard to bring awareness about this crucial issue. Most importantly, if everyone does their part, there will be a reward at the end of the day; and that will be when the people of Oinofyta, Tanagra and Avlida will have healthful, clean tap water, and the waters of the Asopos River again run sweet.

The wise ones of the world know a lot about secrets.

Einstein said, "Know where to find the information and how to use it - That's the secret of success." And how right he was, more so now than in his own time. Because we live in the information age, an age when information is a commodity, easily found, sometimes bought and sold, and rarely kept secret. It's hard to believe in this day and time that there are secrets that can be kept. It is inevitable that secrets are found out, especially big ones. This all reminds me of a conference I once attended, where the speaker said "Look for the garbage." It's all there, in the garbage, and if you look long enough and hard enough, you'll find the secrets. Racine said, "There are no secrets that time does not reveal." and I believe that is true. I've seen it time and again, and now at this time, we are seeing it unfolding before our eyes in Portsmouth, where some deadly secrets have come to light.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is a former Department of Energy Nuclear facility currently involved in a case about to go to trial. The government had been keeping a secret. For many decades, the Portsmouth facility released radioactive and nonradioactive chemicals into the air, water and soil. Nonradioactive materials include chromium, fluorides, trichloroethylene (TCE), nitric acid, chlorine and asbestos.

These are some pretty harmful secrets to be keeping.

How can these things harm us? Let me count the ways:

Breathing in chromium in a compound like chromic acid or chromium trioxide, can cause irritation to the nose, such as runny nose, sneezing, itching, nosebleeds, ulcers, and holes in the nasal septum. Long-term exposure to chromium has been associated with lung cancer.

Intake of fluorine compounds over an extended period of time can cause yellowing of teeth, hypothyroidism, brittle bones, and has a corrosive effect on the mucous membrane which lines the gut.

Trichloroethylene causes fever, tremors, sinus tachycardia and loss of consciousness.

Nitric acid causes a burning sensation on the skin, serious skin burns, pain, yellow discoloration, cough, labored breathing. If consumed, it causes abdominal pain, internal burning sensation and shock. Of course all of this is just short term exposure. Who knows what it does over time?

Inhaling chlorine causes breathing difficulty, throat swelling, and pulmonary edema. That's not all. Chlorine intake can cause severe pain in the throat, severe pain or burning in the nose, eyes, ears, lips, or tongue, loss of vision, burns, necrosis in the skin and underlying tissues.

And as far as the asbestos--it causes mesothelioma, which is fatal.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the radioactive pollution: uranium and technetium. Uranium intake damages the kidneys which try to filter it out. 50 to 150 mg causes death. Technetium exposure causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. And of course, it has a radioactive half life of 212000 years.

So, let's get back to the residents of Piketon Ohio who have been exposed to all of this. No one disclosed the exposure to the residents. Yesterday, on Sept 4, Judge Walter Rice was scheduled to set a date for a jury trial.

I feel I have a personal stake in this particular fight. I've met some of the residents involved; they came to one of my speeches.

I address the last of this blog directly to you, residents of Piketon Ohio. I will we watching the news to follow the events of the upcoming trial, and I hope and pray that all goes well for you. You never waivered in your convictions.

Winning takes a fight. Though there are no pleasures in a fight, it will nevertheless be a pleasure to see you win. Stay strong. and know you are already winners!

Erin

Mythologically speaking, the Asopos River is said to
have been born a son of Oceanus and Tethys--or
Poseidon and Pero --or Zeus and Eurynome. There are,
in fact, five rivers of that name, four in Greece and
one in Turkey. All of these rivers have been
historically significant to the populations residing
on their banks; but the one I'm talking about is
possibly the most historically relevant, and currently
the most endangered.

Because death flows in the Asopos River, straight to
the town of Oinofyta.

Death by specific toxins. The river's fish are dead,
and those villages who get their water from the river
will soon be dead or dying. The river runs red-not
just a symbol of death, but literally from the heavy
hexavalent chromium content. The 30,000 residents of
the town of Oinofyta who depend on the river for
drinking water and everything else are trapped by
circumstance; they are suffering, and although the
mayor of that town has declared the water unsafe, they
have no other sources.

Statistics show cancer rates in Oinofyta have risen
from 6% in 1989 to 32% (most current available). The
water's chromium content has tested to be 400,000
times above the permissible maximum.

A number of heavy industry, paint manufacturers and
food manufacturers- at least 85 separate
industries -use the river to dispose of waste. And
even though this past year, six manufacturers were
found guilty of pollution and fined, the rivers still
run with poison.

This is not something we can ignore. The Greek people
should know their own government is turning a blind
eye to this disaster. The whole world should know.

A threefold effort must be put into place:

First, alternative potable water sources must be
secured for those residents who depend on the Asopos.

Second, the pollution must stop.

Third, the polluters must clean up the mess they have
made of the river, AND the poisoned fields whose
cultivation has for centuries depended on that
now-lethal water. For justice to be served, they must
clean up the injuries they caused in people's lives.

I will be accepting the invitation of Oinofyta's mayor
to see this for myself.

Because the crisis of Oinofyta and the Asopos River is
clearly an environmental disaster, I contacted one of
my myspace friends, "Friends of the Earth." They have
been very helpful, and I hope may be working with me
on this, in the name of humanitarian justice. I will
do my best to keep my friends here informed.

Look what's going on now...

Rocket fuel in the water.

That's right, Rocket fuel.

It's called Perchlorate. Ammonium Perchlorate is the main ingedient in rocket fuel and its been in the water of Rialto California since 1997.

The people of Rialto are understandably upset. On August 21, 2007,
the California State Water Resources Control Board has scheduled a hearing to determine who will be responsible for cleaning up the Perchlorate contamination in the drinking water of Rialto.

This is how the situation stands now. Low levels of perchlorate have been detected in 35 states in the US. What is confusing is that it occurs naturally; but that it also can show up in larger and potentially dangerous doses as a result of contamination from industrial sites that use or manufacture perchlorate, or in the soil dating back from 19th century use of Chilean fertilizer imported to the U.S..

For half a century, Perchlorate has been used as a medicine to treat thyroid because it can temporarily inhibit the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodine. However, there is no evidence that it causes brain damage, birth defects, cancer, or even thyroid damage.

The EPA has not determined a national safe level, partly because science has not adequately defined whether or not it is harmful, or if it is harmful, how harmful it is.

With 35 states having low levels of percholates in the water, isn't it PAST time to answer these questions?

And this leaves the people of Rialto hanging in the balance. Is their Perchlorate the result of industrial contamination, hundred year old fertilizer or is it naturally occurring? How will they be able to determine the truth? Who will be paying for the cleanup? The whole country will be watching and waiting to see what happens next.

What is government's responsibility to its people?
When we have governmental organizations like the EPA,
we should follow where they lead, right?

The Environmental Protection agency sets licensing
guidelines to keep communities safe. What is a
community supposed to do when they find out that for
fifteen years, a large refinery has been non-compliant
regarding the conditions of their licensing? What if
they admit they won't even be compliant for the next
fifteen years? This is where the situation stands in
Australia, regarding the Shell Australia's Corio Bay
oil refinery. Not only that, Shell Australia's Corio
Bay oil refinery's flouting of the EPA authority has
gone on since the seventies.

But you can't completely blame Shell. It reminds me
of something I see all of the time, like I saw
recently at the grocery store.

There I was, waiting in line along with all the other
people, and here came this woman with a wild child.
He was running up and down the aisles, grabbing food,
whining and screaming at his mother who was
frantically trying to go about getting her shopping
done. Even when she managed to corral him, and put
him in the basket, he kept up the screaming, the
noise, the whining, the begging, the extended tantrum.
Finally she left, dragging her son with her.

The instant she was gone, all of the parents in the
store started chiming in with their advice-after she'd
left, remember.

"She should have popped him one. She should have taped
h is mouth shut. She never should have brought him to
the store; she should have left him at home. She
should have fed him meds, the kid is obviously
hyperkinetic."

No one really had anything helpful to say. Everyone
had an opinion that something should be done, but no
one agreed on how to do it. In the meantime, the
person who could have and should have handled the
situation just went on about her business as if
nothing at all was going on. It was just like
government.

So why does this remind me of the Corio Bay situation?

There we all were in the store, minding our business,
and something was wrong. Something was really wrong;
and no one did anything about it. Not the people who
were being subjected to the wild child's unruliness.
Not the people who ran the store. Not the child's
mother. In fact, everyone got out of the way and made
it extra easy for her to get her business done and get
out. We all got out of the way so she wouldn't have
to wait in line.

Someone needs to do something when there's something
running amuck.

The EPA was just like the mother in that grocery
store. She's the one who had the power in the
situation. She's the one who could have said "No" when
she put the child in the basket; she's the one who
could have--who should have said "No" made it stick.
It wasn't just her right. It was her
responsibility--to the people in the store, to the
store itself, even to the child. She knew she should
say no, but that would take time, and distract her
from her business. But she didn't.

And everyone suffered for it, including the child.

The EPA sets the guidelines, but who has been NOT
enforcing them?

The EPA.

Non-compliance since the seventies? That's carrying
EPA's "sympathetic culture to business" a bit too far.

In 2004, when Shell could not comply, they lucked out
with an amendment giving them six more years to
comply. Six more years for Shell's benzene emissions
to freely pollute the locals, and cause aplastic
anemia and who knows what else. Because benzene just
happens to be one of the toxins they test for. There
are more chemicals being released into the environment
that aren't being tested for.

The Australian government is relying on corporations
to do their own emissions testing--even when the
corporation itself admits it hasn't, won't and isn't
going to be able to comply. So activists are
collecting samples themselves, and having them
analyzed. And hopefully the analysis well help get
the EPA back in step with its directives to ensure the
health of not only the corporate community and the
environment, but also the little people who have to
live within breathing distance of industry legally
spouting toxic benzene--and who knows what else--into
the very air the people breathe.

It's not surprising that Alcoa's alumina refinery was hit by a strike in 2001 by workers who were sick of being sick from working conditions.

We hear a lot about companies not protecting the environment--toxic waste left behind, toxic emissions poisoning the locals. Do we consider that some of the
locals work there?

Toxic chemicals make locals and workers sick. There are known carcinogens in the mix, nasty chemicals like alkaline dust, caustic mist, carbon disulfide,
and benzene. Science argues about how much poison it takes for poison to be poisonous, and in the meantime,people continue to get exposed, get sick, some of them dying. These chemicals have been connected to asthma, bronchitis, lymphomas, cancers.

So...how much poison IS safe?

Workers are getting sick. Workers at the Wagerup refinery, workers at the Kwinana refinery near Perth.

Don't forget, workers ARE the locals.

Sometimes this is just so much deja vu. Because, just like in the Hinkley case, documents have been found showing that Alcoa has known about the connection
between these toxins and disease--since 1990. In 2001, there were thirty or so documented illnesses resulting from this deliberate corporate carelessness.

How many are there now?

But things may be looking up. Perhaps we are a little optimistic, but we are hoping for at least a two step effort from the company. First, we are hoping that Alcoa will establish a buffer zone in Wagerup, moving residents to a safer proximity. And then, we are hoping they will reduce toxic emissions.

We have seen formaldyhyde in the news a lot lately.
Remember our old friend, "sick building syndrome?"
Translate this into a euphemism for indoor air pollution.

Ironically, the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the
Environmental Protection Agency was one such facility
affected and abandoned because for just such a reason.




Sealed office or home areas result in unhealthy build-ups
of chemical vapors including formaldehyde, bacteria, and
foul odor. Burning eyes, nausea, lethargy, grogginess,
headaches, coughing, and chest tightness or congestion are
just some of the symptoms reported.




One component of this sick building syndrom results from
formaldehyde in the furnishings. Carpet, pads, draperies,
particle board, laminated furnishings, paneling, and
insulation are potentially guilty of emitting carcinogenic
formaldehyde, and need to be replaced. Also, make certain
cleaning compounds do not contain formaldehyde. OSHA does
not regulate sick buildings, but it does investigate
complaints and invoke the General Duty Clause:

"Each employer shall furnish to each of his (sic)
employees employment and a place of employment which are
free from recog nized hazards that are causing or are
likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his
employees."

So while house members–including House Majority Whip James
E. Clyburn, State Rep. Juan LaFonta, New Orleans and House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi –are still touring the South to view
Katrina damages, keep in mind that
formaldehyde is not exclusive to FEMA trailers; indeed
it can be found in your own home, especially if it is
new, and tight (as opposed to old and drafty.)




Do you have a formaldehyde horror story? If you do, let me
know here on my formaldehyde contact page.

Just minutes ago this press release came across the newswire: The Department of Environmental Protection is planning May and June meetings in conjunction with the Citizens Advisory Council and the Mining and Reclamation Advisory Board. State and locally elected officials, environmental and watershed groups, businesses, foundations and economic development organizations are encouraged to attend.

What are these meetings going to be about?

". . . on the recent reauthorization of the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which provides Pennsylvania with increased funding for
abandoned mine reclamation."

The law includes a 14-year extension to grant states the authority to collect taxes to support the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Trust Fund. The taxes are going to decline by 20 percent in two stages over the next six years, but the US Treasury is going to take up the slack. The law also offers the gov't the opportunity to set aside up to 30% of its allocation for abatement and treatment of abandoned mine drainage.

Town hall meetings are a good thing--especially if the environmental and watershed groups actually get together with the businesses and affect positive change. Let's hope that business and environmentalists don't line up on opposite sides of the hall, and shoot spitballs at each other.

The issue at hand here is abandoned mines. I recall a few years ago driving past a mining site. It was like an alien landscape, harshly graded, and the creeks running down the grade were stark orange wounds against a gray sky. I have since learned that that color orange water coming from a mine has a name: AMD. AMD is caused by the oxidation of materials surrounding the coal, forming a mild acid similar to vinegar. Metals, such as iron, aluminum and manganese, are leached from these materials killing most aquatic life. That is the orange of death.

So I wonder what these town meetings will mean to Pennsylvania, and what will come of them. Is it possible that this is big business actually beginning to clean up after itself? Or is something else going on? It is too soon to tell. I hope some of you who are involved in the Orange Water Network will take this opportunity to voice your opinions of what this means.

I have been watching very closely the current movement of the "green" effect going on not only in America, but throughout the World.

I have spent the past fifteen years working on the environment, studying the impact that a wounded environment is having on health and safety.

I am grateful for the celebrities who use their fame to make statements, who start and support movements on behalf of cleaner air, cleaner water, and a healthier world for us all. It is admirable for celebrities who lend their images to the screen and grace the covers of magazines to try to get the public more involved in creating a cleaner and better environment.

However, I have to make an observation.

Celebrities are the Glitterati.

I know that's not really a word, but I hope you will know what I mean by it. The real word is "Literati" which dates back to 1621, and is derived from Latin. It means men and women of letters; the learned class as a whole.

So who are the Glitterati?

This is a play on words. You know glitter--the stuff that shines. Well that's what stars and celebrities are, and this is what they do--they shine. They cast their ornamental light, and our celebrity conscious world looks up and follows that light. It is admirable for the Glitterati to make efforts to put their fame to good use, and I can only applaud their efforts, because not all celebrities make an effort to do public good.

So the observation I am about to make reflects well on our well-meaning stars who do such good work: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who thinks that the Environmental Movement should be sexy; Matt Damon host of Journey to Planet Earth; Ben Stiller, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Will Farrell, and Jack Black who will be in two upcoming Laurie David global warming tv specials, Dan Aykroyd and Woody Harrelson who have long been involved environmentalists, Leonardo Di Caprio who's eco-site discusses such green topics as global warming, fresh water, biodiversity, the oceans and sustainability, among other topics; and Brad Pitt who is calling for entries in New Orleans Sustainable design competition....the list goes on.

The truth is that the Glitterati's only power is their popularity. Who has the real power?

Industry. And that is where we truly need to shine our spotlight.

I am concerned that in our quest for a cleaner, healthier world, we are missing one big link. The one link that people think I am after all the time.

Industry!

Yes, I said it. Corporate America.

Corporate America has the power. And what are they doing with their power, their vast resources of manpower, and science?

They are making money.

Now, I have no objection to commerce. Commerce makes the world go round. I am just suggesting a tiny change in priorities.

Let us speculate–and I sincerely doubt that anyone would argue with me about that top priority–that Corporate America's top priority is making money. Let us be charitable and suggest that their second priority is keeping the world clean and green.

What would happen if they switched those two priorities? What if keeping the world clean and green was the TOP priority and making money was the SECOND item on the list?

What if all the vast resources, the manpower, the professional think tanks of big business all focused on getting the world clean and green?

What if I didn't have to nag corporations about burning more efficient fuels, relying less and less on oil dependency in other countries, not using plastic bags, solar power, etc.?

What if the source actually stepped up to the plate?

What if I didn't have to knock on Boeing's doors about more efficient burning of fuels and evaluating how much is deposited into the air upon take off?

What if I didn't have to beg the powers that be to address the over 1,600 toxic dumpsites in America that continue to destroy the environment, our water and our air and ultimately our health?

Our Politics are failing us.

The EPA is being dismantled.

Industry isn't being held to even the low standard, much less a standard of environmental excellence.

Industry has chosen to be the villain. But if Industry changed its vision of its own priorities, it could choose to be THE HERO!! Yes, the HERO!

We advocates talk a lot but what is industry really doing?

Is Boeing addressing the fuel dumps as they take off?

Is PG&E addressing more efficient ways to have power and cleaning up all those dirty sites?

Is anyone at all cleaning up after all the dumps left behind by businesses which no longer exist?

Think of it. America is a superpower. Industry has more power in its little finger than Spiderman, Batman, Superman and the X Men combined.

Industry has the person power, the funds, and the technology to take charge of and lead us into a green America! A safer America ! The America we want our children to inherit!

The America where humans from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe, want to live!

Just image–if Exxon, Chevron, Shell, Boeing, Phillip Morris, Kraft, ConAgra, Chrysler, Ford, PG&E, Sempra Energy, Starbucks, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and all the others– Just image if they created a "committee of one" through all their resources and their trillions of combined dollars to fund the cleanup.

What if they themselves put into place all the new technology and monitoring of fossil fuels and coal burning facilities and mining companies all of which enjoy the benefits that the planet has to offer?

What if Industry took itself to give back to the very source of where all of our pleasures come from?

Think of it.
All of what we take from the planet for food, heat, clothing, shelter–
Everything we depend on–
Everything we enjoy–
If we all–led by Industry–give back by replenishing–
We would have in fact, a green world.

Just think if each one of these Corporate Giants donated 5% of their profits into one pot, think about where we would be!

Corporate America–what if your number one priority were to keep the world green, and your second priority was to make a profit? Think of the world your children would inherit.

Corporate America–we are missing our greatest allies and we need to call upon you. We, the little people, are looking for heroes.

Corporate America–join as one and each fund a little, apply new technology a little, and each get involved a little.

Think of what you could do if you made a clean world YOUR top priority?

After all, it's your world too.