[From the diaries by susanhbu: Diane’s contribution, slightly edited for series continuity, to our BooTrib series based on the U.N.’s just-published list of the 10 most under-reported stories. You can sign up to do a story too.]
I was going to try to write some sort of happy diary tonight, but I could not come up with a good idea for one so instead I decided to write this diary on Enviromental Pollution. Not a happy diary.
Having earlier committed to Susanbhu to do a diary on Environmental Pollution, I have been thinking for a number of days about just what point from which to attack the subject.
Searching around the internet and in my mind I came to the conclusion this story is just too huge to cover in any one diary no matter how long it is, it will not take just one diary to cover this but a multitude of diaries. Perhaps hundreds.
Faced with this now daunting task I thought; there is no way I can even do this subject justice so spinning off of Susan’s earlier diary about the 10 most ignored stories, I thought I will start off a series with this diary today and then others, you bootribe members can pick this up and do another and another.
There is pollution everywhere, the ocean, rivers, streams, lakes, air, forests, everywhere and even in our homes and schools. What to pick to write about first. There is no dearth of material.
While researching this subject today, I came across this article related to Depleted Uranium and the worldwide health effects related to its use in the war in Iraq. No, the effects of DU are not limited to Iraq and surrounding countries; it can travel anywhere in the world, anywhere the wind goes and where ever it goes it will pass its minute particles of destruction.
So here is a bit of an excellent ariticle and a link:
thetruthseeker.co.uk
Iraq
“I’m horrified. The people out there – the Iraqis, the media and the troops – risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It’s going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car.”
The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr. Chris Busby, the British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk, talking about the best-kept secret of this war: the fact that, by illegally using hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that-whipped up by sandstorms and carried on trade winds – there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate-including Britain. For the wind has no boundaries and time is on their side: the radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukemia, brain damage, kidney failure, and extreme birth defects – killing millions of every age for centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time.
These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate – including Britain.
Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a dirty story in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used.”
If you would like to do a future diary on this subject please list your subject below or just that you are willing to do one or whatever feelings or views you have on the subject.
So I am asking the question, is our world cup half full, or half empty. You tell me.
Yes it’s true, but I thought I would try it for once. I hope everyone will come and take a look at my latest diary and sign up to do a future environmental pollution diary…
It’s our Earth and it is truly deplorable the state, we mankind, have brought it to.
What can be done, oh my, that a question for the ages and sages. I only hope that we can do something before it is too late.
What are your thoughts?
I am working on a diary about the consolidation of Nuclear weapons and our current Nuclear waste, Since Idaho is already a dumping ground for the Navy’s Nuke waste and the Admin would like to bring more here as well as consolidate some of its weaponry. So I want to address this from the environmental impact, etc.
If that’s ok, then sign me up.
Hugs,
Shirl
Thanks Shirl for being the first to volunteer. I am hoping others will soon join you.
I am sure many member residents of different states will have their own environmental problems locally and will want to contribute those diaries.
Cancer Risk From Air Toxins(Deisel esp.) is going to be the subject of my next diary of environmental Pollution, so I signed my self up for that.
To all Newbies this is a good chance to get your feet wet writing a diary, and some of you oldsters too, like maybe Chocolate Ink and Alohaleezy will even give it a try. I am hoping, which is kind of becoming my trademark line now, I guess.
To my statement:
I should have added Members in other countries as well will have their own particular pollution problems and can write or diary on those as well.
.
So you are filling the Jar today!
Just in case U R right – here is my 4.
PS
DU grenade is lethal upon explosion [wise guy]
and is highly dangerous in aftermath of exploding device due to radioactive dust. I have not seen convincing evidence of great harm due to DU in time. I’m not suggesting camping out on site with high concentrations, as the Dutch troops unknowingly were doing upon arrival in Iraq after Annan’s UN call.
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/europe/2001/depleted_uranium/default.stm
The above link is literally a whole page of links to stories on DU..From the gulf war vets to their children, and on and on.
What about a Cal. dry spell, we are having our wetest year in a long time in socal, 1 more inch and we break all records.
.
First four votes equally divided!
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
Revealed: health fears over secret study into GM food – Rats fed GM corn due for sale in Britain developed abnormalities in blood and kidneys
More Pollution/ some solutions, Romania, just one small example of mining pollution, would someone like to do a diary on this aspect of pollution, many of these mining problems are caused by United States companies (no surprise) operating around the world. Big topic here.
Eastern European Governments Agree to Tackle Mining Pollution
CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania, May 16, 2005 – A strategy for cleaning up old mines, smelters and processing facilities in Eastern Europe was adopted Saturday by governments at an international conference in Romania. The plan to reduce the environmental risks of mining was agreed by ministers and officials from a dozen countries in the region.
The more than 150 mining operations of concern are found in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Kosovo. Some abandoned, and some still in operation, they have been extracting and processing metals such as zinc, cadmium, copper, bauxite, silver, and gold.
Over a third of these site pose a serious risk to human health, environment and regional stability experts have concluded. Studies, carried out on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have found numerous old and abandoned sites that now present environmental, social and political problems.
Operational mines in the region also can pose a threat to the environment. In January 2000, cyanide pollution from the Baia Mare Aurul gold mine in northwestern Romania killed all the aquatic life in Hungary’s Tisza River and downstream in the River Danube after a retention dam broke, spilling 100,000 cubic meters of wastewater.
And oh yeah, we don’t want to sign the Kyota Treaty either.
What cup?
I didn’t know about the DU spreading far and wide, although it does make sense when you think about it.
There seems to be so much damage we (humans in general) are doing to ourselves and the environment that we are not willing to stop, even if able.
Thanks for bringing these topics up, diane, hopefully the series will catch on.
U.N. Studies Chernobyl Aftermath
Wed Feb 6, 2000 8:42 PM ET
By GERALD NADLER, Associated Press Writer
Nearly 16 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, 200,000 peoplestill live in highly contaminated areas and 4.5 million residents in three countries are receiving financial help — draining national budgets, according to a U.N. study released Wednesday.
The study by four U.N. agencies called for “an entirely new approach” to help those in a state of “chronic dependency” in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia by getting them jobs, fostering small businesses, and reviving agriculture in the areas most affected by the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
“If active steps are not taken to resolve the human problems relating to the accident, the fate of the communities blighted by Chernobyl will continue to haunt discussions on energy generation for decades to come,” the 75-page report said.
The explosion and fire at Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor on April 26, 1986,contaminated 23 percent of Belarus, 5 percent of Ukraine and 1.5 percent of Russia, according to the report. It also spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe.
At least 8,000 people have died, most from radiation-related diseases. Some 2,000 people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and between 8,000 and 10,000 cases are expected to develop over the next 10 years, the report said.
Although the most dangerously radiated areas near the Chernobyl plantwere evacuated, 200,000 people still live in severely contaminated areas, the report said. Many of those who were resettled still don’t have jobs.
“Focusing on their needs and helping them take control of their destinies must be a priority,” said the report.
The 4.5 million people still receiving government payments represent a severe strain to national budgets, especially in Belarus and Ukraine, the report said.
Over the last 10 years, Belarus, the state most affected by the calamity, has spent more than $1 billion to help victims of the accident, said Kalman Missel, deputy U.N. coordinator for Chernobyl.
Ukraine last year spent $100 million, he said.
Agoogle search revealed this story in Newsweek among 157,000 results:
Focus: Agent Orange Aftermath
March 25, 2005
Jodi Wynn, Newsdesk.org
Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, many seriously ill Vietnamese blame their conditions on exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) filed suit in February 2004 against 37 U.S. companies that produced the substance during the conflict in Vietnam, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto Company.
Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the case on March 10, ruling that there was no expressed rule against the use of herbicides or poisonous gases at the time.
(snip)
A photo essay on the FiftyCrows gallery website documents disabilities among Vietnamese children that may be attributed to second generation dioxin exposure.
“You can’t imagine the state of these children in Can Gie district, they can’t speak, they are paralyzed, they have only the life of a vegetable,” a Vietnamese researcher told Guerilla News Network, a leftist media outlet.
As reported by the Associated Press, a Dow representative stated, “We believe that defoliants saved lives by protecting allied forces from enemy ambush and did not create adverse health effects.”
A google search revealed this story in Newsweek among 157,000 results:
Focus: Agent Orange Aftermath
March 25, 2005
Jodi Wynn, Newsdesk.org
Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, many seriously ill Vietnamese blame their conditions on exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) filed suit in February 2004 against 37 U.S. companies that produced the substance during the conflict in Vietnam, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto Company.
Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the case on March 10, ruling that there was no expressed rule against the use of herbicides or poisonous gases at the time.
(snip)
A photo essay on the FiftyCrows gallery website documents disabilities among Vietnamese children that may be attributed to second generation dioxin exposure.
“You can’t imagine the state of these children in Can Gie district, they can’t speak, they are paralyzed, they have only the life of a vegetable,” a Vietnamese researcher told Guerilla News Network, a leftist media outlet.
As reported by the Associated Press, a Dow representative stated, “We believe that defoliants saved lives by protecting allied forces from enemy ambush and did not create adverse health effects.”
A computer glitch, said it didn’t post, hit again and found it had posted twice.
to do diaries on the environment as outlined above and throughout this diary.
This is part of the group of the ten most under reported stories and the subject just can’t be covered in one diary so I am looking to you guys to lend a hand here.
If you are interested you can always email me and I can either help or make some suggestions, especially if you have never done a diary before, it’s really not that hard, so please give it a go.
Thanks to all who have contributed to this diary.