The ways in which we manipulate our environment in the name of progress have real consequences in the quality of life that we enjoy. When we reverse or limit the damage, we start to see improvement in many areas of our lives...
America's Real Criminal Element: Lead
"The biggest source of lead in the postwar era, it turns out, wasn't paint. It was leaded gasoline. And if you chart the rise and fall of atmospheric lead caused by the rise and fall of leaded gasoline consumption, you get a pretty simple upside-down U: Lead emissions from tailpipes rose steadily from the early '40s through the early '70s, nearly quadrupling over that period. Then, as unleaded gasoline began to replace leaded gasoline, emissions plummeted.
Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of violent crime over the past half century.
Intriguingly, violent crime rates followed the same upside-down U pattern. The only thing different was the time period: Crime rates rose dramatically in the '60s through the '80s, and then began dropping steadily starting in the early '90s. The two curves looked eerily identical, but were offset by about 20 years."
...which is why it is so important to stay on top of strong regulation to maintain the balance between needed progress to improve our lives and the degradation of our food, air, water and earth that are essential to the survival of our species.
The war against soot
"The EPA is demanding of local governments a 20 percent reduction in soot emissions. If it is successful in producing those results, the new standards will save thousands of lives and reduce the nation's healthcare costs by billions of dollars."
For without regulation, business will NEVER act in the best interest of the environment, but merely in the most economical way possible. When terms like "maintaining liability insurance", "fiscally responsible for cleanup", and "minimizing risk" are used, companies acknowledge that there will be damage. As we have seen all too often, companies - and those that profit directly from them - are never held accountable for all the damage that occurs.
Floods blamed for 2.4M gallons of spilled crude, feds say
"Regulators found flood-related pipeline spills since 1993 in California, Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Kentucky. Of the 2.4 million gallons of oil, gasoline, propane and other hazardous liquids released, less than 300,000 gallons were recovered."
Shell hoped to save millions in taxes by moving now-grounded drill rig out of Alaska
"A move by Shell to avoid millions in Alaska state taxes may have backfired when the oil rig Kulluk ran aground Monday on Kodiak Island. The rig initially went adrift while it was being towed to a shipyard and tax shelter in Seattle. Instead, the vessel found itself literally stuck inside Alaska at the start of the new year."
If these kids can understand why mountaintop-removal mining is stupid, the government can too
"Here are a couple of downer facts about mountaintop-removal mining: 500 of the oldest mountains in America have been destroyed. There are 2,000 miles of streams poisoned."
Understanding this risk and uncertainty, and knowing now - first hand! - how damaging fossil fuels can be, we should completely cease investing in new infrastructure for fossil fuel delivery. Learning the lesson from previous infrastructure investments, we know that over time, we never allocate enough resources to maintenance. It would make much more economic sense to invest in maintaining those systems we have, and use the remaining capital to invest in minimally-damaging technologies.
Decaying D.C. bridge reflects state of thousands of such structures nationwide
"That puts many of the nation’s 600,000 bridges at the end of their lives, with 70,000 of them officially judged structurally deficient last year. Pennsylvania leads the nation, with 5,906 troubled bridges. Virginia has 1,267, Maryland has 359 and the District has 30.
Bridges are just a fraction of the vast infrastructure boom that followed World War II and limped creaking and groaning into the 21st century.
Water systems need a $335 billion fix, and sewers $300 billion more, according to a series of reports by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The electrical grid requires investment of $107 billion by 2020. Airports need $114 billion over the same period. About $30 billion should be pumped into U.S. ports in the next eight years if they are to compete in global markets. Close to $40 billion is for a new aviation control system."
Crumbling pipes and underground waste: A glimpse at our nation's ailing sewer system
"As clean water regulations become tougher and sewer systems and water treatment plants become outdated, cities are struggling to stay compliant and safe. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien goes underground to discover the many ways America's sewer systems could be revamped to conserve water and save money."
To put a button on this approach to infrastructure, not only are renewable energy jobs fueling a return to manufacturing and construction in this country, but we are learning that these system are not producing the spikes in cost or drops in reliability that fossil-fuel-industry-funded skeptic groups would like the public and our politicians to believe.
Putting an End to the Myth that Renewable Energy is too Expensive
"First let's just ask the simplest question — what is the correlation between the percentage of a state's renewable electricity generation and its electricity prices? As Figure 2 shows, the two variables are essentially uncorrelated (correlation of 0.007, to be precise), meaning that a higher percentage of renewable energy generation has not translated to higher electricity prices."
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