DailyDirt: Pollution Put In Some Perspective

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Sep 28th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

There are all kinds of environmental disasters going on -- some quietly, while other stories will be in the headlines for the foreseeable future. Optimistically, all the predictions of environmental catastrophes will be avoided by technology, but it's also technological developments that can bring about various ecological quandaries. When products are new and improved, they're not always an improvement to the environment. If you live near the Great Lakes, check out some of these ecological threats in your neck of the woods.

The Great Lakes are threatened by microbead plastics accumulating in fish and the environment. We've mentioned microbead bans in other states before, but it's probably time to get rid of these tiny particles -- and just stop using toothpaste, soaps and facial scrubs that contain them. [url]
There are two oil pipelines running along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac (which connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan), operated and "maintained" by Enbridge. The pipes have been around for over 50 years (the original designed lifespan), and recent simulations suggest that a pipeline leak would be devastating to the Great Lakes region. Oil spills have occurred nearby, but hopefully, the Great Lakes won't become a disaster like Deepwater Horizon. [url]
Onondaga Lake has been called the 'most polluted lake' in America, but after about 100 years and a billion bucks, it's starting to get clean. For decades, this lake near Syracuse, New York, was polluted with mercury, sewage and chemical runoff -- and it will be a while still before anyone should even attempt to swim in it. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

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Filed Under: environmental disasters, great lakes, microbead, oil spills, onondaga lake, plastics, pollution, straits of mackinac
Companies: enbridge

10 Comments

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Pixelation, 28 Sep 2015 @ 5:49pm

" it's probably time to get rid of these tiny particles"

Or we could just start using the fish for toothpaste, facial scrub and for soap. Problem solved!
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- Ninja (profile), 29 Sep 2015 @ 5:51am
  
  Re:
  hahaha have my funny vote, dear sir!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Sep 2015 @ 7:42pm

Pollution, all around.
Sometimes up, sometimes down.
But always around.
Pollution,
Are you coming to my town?
Or am I coming to yours?
Ha!
We're on different buses, pollution,
But we're both using...
Petrol.
Bombs!
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Rekrul, 28 Sep 2015 @ 8:25pm

Onondaga Lake has been called the 'most polluted lake' in America, but after about 100 years and a billion bucks, it's starting to get clean.

It's getting clean? Damn! We can't have that! We need to get some fracking in there ASAP!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Sep 2015 @ 9:18pm

I can only imagine what the streams and lakes will look like in SW Pennsylvania after the fracking craze drains the area, a scorched earth ,poisoned and devoid of life, say thanks to the EPA for NOT finding anything wrong with the chemicals used in the process.
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kehvan (profile), 28 Sep 2015 @ 10:15pm

Ultimately the only ones who care about the environment are humans... nature goes on irrespective.
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- JoeCool (profile), 29 Sep 2015 @ 12:37am
  
  Re:
  There IS a balance in nature - it's called "death". Animals will strip the landscape bare until there's nothing to eat, then die of starvation. Herbivores as well as carnivores. Insects are particularly bad about stripping the ground bare. That's why locusts have been a feared plague for millennia.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Sep 2015 @ 5:29am

UV Degradable Plastics?
I wonder if changing microbead plastic would solve it. Of course it would also need to degrade harmlessly. Apologies for any fatfingered cellphone spam in earlier attempts.
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Ninja (profile), 29 Sep 2015 @ 5:53am

As always, the Government will only take action when the problem is insanely big and expensive to solve. While we pay the price. I'm trying to avoid products with microbeads but it's not that easy to know which ones have them.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Sep 2015 @ 2:38pm

We all will die one day, but at this rate we will die sooner... And the planet Earth will not give a fuck.
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