Natural Gas IS NOT the Answer

New Gas ~ Same as the Old Gas

Have you seen the commercial about how the United States has 100 years worth of natural gas just lying under our feet? How about the commercial that states that new natural gas can make solar and wind power viable? Viable? It is already viable--and happening.

View these and other commercials at NewNaturalGas.org, brought to you by Amerca's Natural Gas Alliance. The old natural gas companies want you to think it is all new natural gas and everything is groovy. These commercials and websites illustrate a classic case of greenwashing.

Natural Gas Mining Pollutes Air and Water

The exploration and production of natural gas is just as polluting as the exploration and production of oil. Natural gas is located underground and must be discovered and mined.

During the exploration process, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, methane, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter are released into the air. These chemicals and toxins are known to cause asthma, cancer, neurological disorders, pulmonary reduction, coronary problems, endocrine disruption and debilitating headaches.

For color photographs and 3D generated images of gas fields, please visit Sky Truth.

Hydraulic Fracturing (FRACKING)

Hydraulic fracturing occurs when fluid is injected under high pressure into a gas well. These pressurized fluids, often containing toxic and radioactive substances, crack the underground rock formation to allow the oil or gas to flow. Studies show that, while some of these contaminated fluids are returned to the surface, some remain underground.

Fracturing is highly unpredictable and may lead to contamination of ground water and drinking wells. Fracturing should be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Yet, in 2005, Congress exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. This Halliburton loophole should be closed ASAP. For more information, please read more about then fracturing process here.

Runoff and Consequences

This gas well was hydraulically fractured with radioactive sand propellant, and tagged with radioactive material . . . . When the gas well was operable, the run-off was piped directly from the site to a point and then left to run uncontrolled down a hillside gully, through a culvert, and down a ravine where it then emptied into the slough behind our house . . . Please read the article about one family's fight.

First responders may suffer from exposure to toxins in hydraulic fluids. Cathy Behr, an emergency room nurse in Durango, Colorado, treated a miner in a fracking fluid spill at a natural gas rig. Read about how she almost died because the gas company would not disclose exact composition of the fracking fluid.

Abandoned Wells

• Gas from oil layers can come to the surface through the well bore and collect in buildings with potentially explosive results.
• Gas can also contaminate drinking water wells.
• Surface runoff can use the well bore as a conduit to contaminate nearby water wells.
• Oil that reaches the surface from abandoned wells pollutes the soil and surface water.
• Salt brine from the oil bearing layers can use the well bore to reach and pollute fresh water layers or discharge at the surface into nearby streams.
• In coal mining areas, well bores allow gas to reach mines and acidic mine water to reach the surface.
• Abandoned wells that collapse inward are a physical threat to outdoor enthusiasts.

Natural gas may be clean burning,
but the process to bring it to your stove is
D - I - R - T - Y.

It is oil and gas that are no longer viable options! If we want to breathe the air around us and drink water from our faucets, we must say NO to OIL and GAS.

Tags: hydraulic facturing, gas exploration, radioactive runoff, toxic drilling fluid

Climate Change is Harder on Women

Women are disproportionately burdened with the impacts of climate change. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) released a new report, State of World Population 2009, that takes a closer look at this imbalance:

• Girls drop out of school to help their mothers, who must work harder to secure food, water, and energy for their homes.
• As climate change affects their livelihoods, women feel the financial burden and often must take on extra jobs to support their families.
• This cycle of deprivation, poverty, and inequality undermines the social capital needed to deal effectively with climate change.

As global leaders join forces to combat climate change, it is important for them to keep these gender considerations in mind when developing climate adaptation policies. Women and men should be contributing equally to the solution so that one group is not faced with more challenges.

Think about how your mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and friends are affected by climate change around the world, and how they are adapting to it. Share your story with us on the Climate Board, encourage the women you know to share theirs, and tell us how It’s Getting Personal.

Climate Change is Personal

Tags: unfpa, state of the world population 2009, climate change

Pests are Moving North as Earth Warms

Some unforeseen problems caused by global warming:

Almost 2000 jellyfish species have increased in population, expanded their range northward and now appear earlier in the year.

Ticks that transmit Lyme disease have spread northward into Canada, once too cold for them.

Giant squid have reached British Columbia in Canada, threatening fisheries along much of the western North American coast.

Mosquitoes carrying malaria are now found in South Korea, the Papua New Guinea highlands, places previously not warm enough for them.

Bark beetles expanded their range and have devastated forests across North America and Canada.

A microscopic parasite flourishing in warmer water is spreading a deadly disease among salmon in Alaska.

Tags: global warming, pests are coming, jellyfish, ticks, mosquitoes, bark beetles, parasites

Toxic Lake Viewed from Space

Berkeley Pit: Butte, Montana

Image credit: NASA

In 1955, copper mining in the area expanded with the opening of the Berkeley Pit. The mine took advantage of the existing subterranean drainage and pump network to lower groundwater until 1982, when a new owner suspended operations.

After the pumps were turned off, water from the surrounding rock basin began seeping into the pit. By the time an astronaut on the International Space Station took this picture on August 2, 2006, water in the pit was more than 275 meters (900 feet) deep. The water, with high concentrations of copper, arsenic and other metals, is highly acidic and toxic to life.

The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology estimates the Butte hill produced more than $48 billion in mineral wealth. The costs included 2,300 deaths from mining accidents, not including chronic illness sparked by mine exposure.

The site is the largest Superfund environmental clean-up project in the country! This Superfund site has become a tourist attraction, complete with gift shop.

Tags: berkeley pit, superfund site, toxic lake, tourst attraction, lake without life

Give Thanks to a Veteran Today

They Did Their Share

On Veteran’s Day we honor
Soldiers who protect our nation.
For their service as our warriors,
They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;
Some were volunteers;
For some it was just yesterday;
For some it’s been many years.

In the jungle or the desert,
On land or on the sea,
They did whatever was assigned
To produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.
They defended us everywhere.
Some saw combat; some rode a desk.
All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,
For low pay and little glory,
These soldiers gave up normal lives,
For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;
Don’t let politics get in the way.
Without them, freedom would have died.
What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,
Who kept us safe from terror,
So when we see a uniform,
Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

By Joanna Fuchs

Tags: veterans day, honor veterans, give thanks

Nuclear Power Plants are Not Sustainable

Art work from chernobyl-international.org/pavel.html

Read about the bailout at UCS: Nuclear Energy Industry Wish List Would Hurt Taxpayers | Union of Concerned Scientists

Excerpt:

. . . the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) . . . released a proposal asking for billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and radical changes to the federal regulatory process that would shift even more risks and costs from the industry to the public (emphasis mine) . . . . . . . At the heart of NEI's proposal is the implicit admission that the industry cannot compete in the private sector market without massive financial support from taxpayers and reduced liability for cost overruns and safety hazards.

Download: Nuclear Loan Guarantees (2009) | Nuclear Loan Guarantees Fact Sheet

-------No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes!------

• Nuclear power is 20th century technology with 20th century problems.
• Nuclear power has never produced the limitless power for pennies touted last century.
• Proponents of nuclear power may be right in that the technology is now safer, but no one can answer the question: What to do with the spent, radioactive fuel rods?
• No one wants this radioactive waste in their state or nation.
• Nuclear power is unsustainable.
• Why play Russian roulette with the health of our children, ourselves and our nation?

-------No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes! No Nukes!------

Tags: nuclear power, no nukes, nuclear power bailout, chernobyl, nei

Dona Nobis Pacem

Dona Nobis Pacem is Latin for Grant Us Peace

See the peace globes, from this year and past years, at the Peace Globe Gallery. Visit Mimi Writes blog to learn about peace globes.



This powerful prayer was said by 900 delegates at the Assembly of World Religions convened by the Patriarch of Moscow to coincide with the second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.

This is probably the first time (and the last time) that members of leading religions have prayed together, with one prayer, a prayer for peace. Find the prayer for peace in Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Welsh versions here.


Namaste,


CyberCelt

Tags: peace blog 2009, dona nobis pacem, grant us peace, pray for peace