Reason #4923 to quit smoking: cigarette litter

Originally posted January 19, 2008. It's much more relevant in Michigan since the smoking ban was enforced May 1, 2010.

This came through one of Wayne State University's electronic discussion lists. Good information and yet another reason to heap on the the pile of reasons to stop killing yourself while increasing Big Tobacco's profits.

Many people who would never consider throwing candy wrappers on the ground almost automatically flick away their cigarette butts. Cigarette butts may look like small bits of litter, but they're a big problem for all of us.

Some surprising facts about cigarette litter:

• About one of every three cigarette butts ends up as litter.
• Think butts are biodegradable? Think again. Filters are made of cellulose acetate and may take up to 25 years to break down.
• In the United States, cigarette butts account for more than 176 million pounds of litter every year.
• Worldwide, more than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter each year.
• 80 percent of littered butts end up in our waterways, which they pollute with such potentially harmful chemicals as cadmium, lead and arsenic.
• Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds and other marine animals. These creatures risk poisoning from the toxins in cigarette butts as well as blockage of their digestive systems.

Only smokers can stop cigarette litter. Dispose of cigarette butts in an appropriate receptacle.

Flint, MI: No, Rush, we're not going to tear down, jerk

The other day I heard an interesting New York Times Today's Business podcast about Flint, MI. The podcast was from April 21, but I couldn't locate it outside of iTunes, so I looked up this article. Basically, they are trying to save Flint by shrinking it. The idea is to consolidate it's residents by gently persuading them to move. I don't know how "gentle" it really is, since they're basically going to cut off city services to certain blocks. So if you would like a nice sidewalk, you would have to move to the areas of town that are being tended to. The article briefly mentions it and the podcast goes into the talk of turning the decrepit neighborhoods into forests. My first thought was: this might be a model for Detroit. I mean, Wayne County has like 7000 acres of land banks - throw in a little forest!

Also, I'd like to take this moment to tell Rush Limbaugh to fly a kite. What an unfortunate human being.

Natural Disasters: Fires

The Santa Ana winds are assisting blazes in the destruction of homes in Los Angeles County (read AP story HERE). Back in May, I started a post about wildfires and the latest fire news coming out of Southern California made this a good time to revisit these hot natural disaster.

The first thing I wanted to look at was the Santa Ana winds. Those are dry drainage winds that develop from high air pressure in higher altitudes. In this case it's the area of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. When upper level winds are favorable, these built up air masses spill out of the Great Basin and zip toward the southern California coastline. A lot of times the reason that the winds are dry is due to their descent from the higher desert elevations to the lower coastline elevations, not because they're coming from the desert per se.

These dry winds plus the cause of the fire (arson, lightening, etc.) are what essentially plagues the Los Angeles region on an annual basis. I found a couple of interesting resources.

• First, there's this active fire map PDF of California that you can check out. Be patient because it takes a while to load. This is a neat map because although it shows you the current fires, it also shows you areas where fires have burned in the past. I thought that was telling. Before seeing this map I never realized quite how many fires burn in northern California, too.
• There's also an active fires map from the Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center. This is cool because it gives you updates on how big the fire is, how many acres it has destroyed and what percentage of it has been contained. It's updated every Friday.
• For the absolute latest news on wildfires all over the United States, check out the National Interagency Fire Center. They have the latest news, maps and images on wildfires all over the nation.
• Finally, there's a whole boatload of resources from ye ol' Resource Shelf. Looks like a lot of the stuff was from last years wildfire debacle.

Be safe out there!

Today's Knowledge: Global Warming and Worker Safety

I don't mean to be a bummer on the Fourth of July, but whether we are hanging out at cookouts and shooting off fireworks or not - there are serious and grave issues that still surround us. Listen to and/or watch this Bill Moyers episode that covers both Global Warming and Worker Safety. Grim - yes. Important - definitely. My hope is that reporting like this will reach and infuriate the masses.

Read, watch and learn more at: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06272008/watch.html

Natural Disasters: Earthquakes

The earth has been acting quite violently lately: earthquakes in China, Iran and the Midwest, volcano in Chile, cyclone in Myanmar and other stuff. My question: is the earth behaving normally or are these disasters coming more and more frequently? In the next few weeks, I'll be researching some common natural disasters to see if there's been a spike in activity or if it's just Mother Nature's regular routine of doom.

Earthquakes:

Are there more now than before?
As far as earthquakes go, it seems that there is a steady increase of quakes each year since 2000 (see TABLES.) There's a few good TABLES and GRAPHS at USGS' website, plus a boatload of information on quakes. I have a very strong sense that a lot of the information is skewed. I base this on the fact that earthquake detection methods and technology is improved and captures more events. Another reason that the numbers are skewed: humans' incessant breeding. Then, when we're done breeding, we go find a crowded, condensed city to live in. When Mother Nature gets the taste for blood, she's got some easy, centralized targets to work with.

Can we predict them yet?
Although the obvious answer is no, I wanted to know if there's any way to predict earthquakes or if we're getting closer to something like that. NPR has good material at "Seismologist Says Aftershocks Impossible to Predict."

I found that there was a 2005 article in Wired talking about new technologies that don't claim to predict earthquakes used by themselves, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. One of the new techniques actually predicted that something was brewing 4 months before the huge 2004 tsunami. Check out the whole article at "Quake Prediction Gets Shake-Up."

Then I found this Reuters article called "Japanese gadget can predict tremors before they hit." This was published in June 2007 and my first thought was: "You didn't think it'd be a good idea to share this with the rest of the world?" The device is said to not be completely accurate, but it does give a 20-second warning.

Can animals predict earthquakes?
Twenty seconds could be enough to get you moving toward safety, but do you really need a gadget? How about a pet? Or a panda? The idea that animals can predict earthquakes is not founded in science, but rather passed along over centuries through anecdotes.

Panda Video from National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080515-tourists-video-ap.html

What's the current situation in China?
In a word: bad. There are dams, both natural and man-made that are giving way. Look at this satellite photograph of how the earthquake has caused a lake to form. And as if it couldn't get any worse, in the Anhui provice to the east about 24,000 people are infected with this child virus. The virus hasn't done nearly the damage that the quake has, but it just seems like when it rains it pours in China right now.

Here's additional quake facts from the Chinese Information office:

• The death toll has climbed over 68,000 people.
• Another 364,552 people were injured and 19,851 others were still listed as missing following the 8.0-magnitude quake that hit Sichuan Province.
• A total of 243 aftershocks were monitored in the quake zones during the 24 hours ended at Wednesday noon, according to the China Seismological Bureau.
• By Wednesday noon, 8,911 aftershocks had been detected in the quake-hit areas since May 12, according to the bureau.
• These aren't little tremors. They have ranged on the seismic scale from 3-6 points.

Here's a list of the worst 10 known earthquakes (issue date wasDecember 31, 2004, so 2004 numbers are not latest):

1. Shanxi, China, January 23, 1556: magnitude 8 (estimated); 830,000 deaths
2. Tangshan, China, July 27, 1976: magnitude 7.5; 255,000 deaths (official toll; actual deaths estimated up to 655,000)
3. Aleppo, Syria; August 9, 1138: 230,000 deaths
4. Near Xining, China, May 22, 1927: magnitude 7.9, 200,000 deaths
5. Damghan, Iran, December 22, 856: 200,000 deaths
6. Gansu, China, December 16, 1920: magnitude 8.6; 200,000 deaths
7. Ardabil, Iran, March 23, 893: 150,000 deaths
8. Kanto, Japan, September 1, 1923: magnitude 7.9; 143,000 deaths
9. Off coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, December 26, 2004: magnitude 9.0; at least 140,000 deaths
10. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, October 5, 1948: magnitude 7.3; 110,000 deaths

Source: "Accidents and Disasters: Ten Deadliest Earthquakes." Facts On File World News Digest 31 Dec. 2004. Facts On File World News Digest. Facts On File News Services. 28 May2008 http://www.2facts.com.

Map Quest

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than a map is worth a million. As I date a GIS guy, I have developed a deeper interest in maps and the information they provide. Over the past few weeks, I've been coming across all types. I've decided that for this blog, I will answer two questions for each: "What does it make me feel?" and "What does it teach me?"

Wildlife disease - http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/wdinNewsDigestMap.jsp
This first map initially made me feel that Google is the greatest thing ever. Their maps are interactive, fun to use, spectacular and getting better all the time. This particular map is interesting because it maps stories and articles from the blog http://wdin.blogspot.com/. This map, however, has much more potential. I'd like to see more international wildlife disease news; most of the stories on this particular map are in the United States. This is a great start, nonetheless, and I look forward to seeing more maps like this. I learned that Bovine tuberculosis was discovered in a 5-year-old cow in Canada and that there's some kind of fish disease killing off carp in Ontario.

Refugee and Asylum Seekers Worldwide -http://www.resourceshelf.com/2008/05/02/maps-world-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-at-the-end-of-2007-other-maps/
The first place your eye wanders when you look at this map is the Middle East, clearly the region with the highest refugee count. Another interesting point on the map is that the United States has over a million refugees and about 30,000 people seeking asylum. I'm not sure why, but I was surprised to see that. I suppose the way that this map made me feel was upset. It's horrifying to see how many people around the world have left their home country.

Displaced People - http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Wd.nsf/luFullMap/046DE177A97D9399C125743B0045F6D4/$File/lemonde_IDP_080430a.pdf?OpenElement
This map looks similar to the refugees and asylum seekers one posted above. It made me shake my head. First, you can see that the largest amount of people displaced within their own country are in those countries where there is civil unrest - Columbia and Sudan. I also found interesting that no information is coming out of China (or North Korea, for that matter). Not surprising, but interesting. China has been crushing its citizens and relentlessly displacing those who are poor by moving in industry, including coal mines as shown in this FRONTLINE video. Obviously, this map also made me upset.

Speed Traps - http://njection.com/speedtrap/default.aspx
It's always good to evade police interaction when possible. I thought this was a cool map to learn about a variety of speed traps, especially if you're visiting or moving to a city your unfamiliar with. It seems there would be more speed traps in the area, but them I'm like, "Oh yeah, Detroit cops have better things to do than sit around and clock people going fast." Although, I must say, Southfield freeway does turn into a different level of hell sometimes.

Top 50 Fortune 500 Companies - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/maps/top50.html
Only three located in Michigan - two car companies and a lame chemical company. This made me sad, because we used to have lots of headquarters here. Michigan can do better.

Flooding - http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/?m=flood%2Cmap&r=us&w=real%2Cmap
This real-time water monitoring is part of a continuing effort by the USGS to assist the National Weather Service (NWS) in making accurate and timely flood forecasts. It's cool and also a good reason not to live by the Mississippi.

Food for thought, environment, and money.

A trip to the grocery store is costing more and more these days. There's a variety of reasons for why this is happening, but I've found myself changing my diet just a little bit to try to do my part for the earth and save a little dough.

I did a little research and found some neat resources. The first couple are from a blog and e-newsletter from NutritionalData.com. Although I try to go meatless a few times a week, I find it tough to stay away from dairy products.

• One of the biggest ways to lower the energy cost of your diet is to reduce the amount of animal products you consume. It takes about ten times as much energy to produce a calorie of animal protein as it does to produce a calorie of vegetable protein. This has led some eco-conscious eaters to adopt a completely vegetarian diet. But even one or two meatless days a week can also have a substantial effect—on both your health and the health of the planet.
• Five Ways to Make Your Diet Healthier (for the Planet) - recommends people to eat local, eat seasonal, eat fewer packaged and preprocessed foods, support small farms and choose organic products.
• Find some local farms and farm markets at LocalHarvest.

I also found quite a few other issues revolving around food, including rising global food prices, biofuels and genetic modification of food. This is the darker side of the food discussion.

• The Economist had a great article discussing biofuels, demand and supply, and rich-world subsidies. The article said that the rise in food prices is "...the self-inflicted result of America's reckless ethanol subsidies." The article continues:
  

  "This year biofuels will take a third of America's (record) maize harvest. That affects food markets directly: fill up an SUV's fuel tank with ethanol and you have used enough maize to feed a person for a year...The 30m tonnes of extra maize going to ethanol this year amounts to half the fall in the world's overall grain stocks." [emphasis added]

• Another article in the Times (UK) rattles off a bunch of food one can expect to see keep rising, including chicken, beef, wine, milk, bread and rice. The only food that shows hope, not surprisingly, are vegetables.

Genetic Modification (GM) of food is also a pretty hot topic. Folks in the United States are still a little unsure about what to think of GM foods, but Europeans are much more skeptical of them. Here are some facts I gathered from the "Genetically Modified Food" chapter of Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World:

• In the US, GM foods are not required to be labeled as such.
• Advocates cite the advantages of GM: its precision, the possibilities for increasing agricultural productivity, producing health-enhancing drugs, reducing the need for pesticides and herbicides
• Chapter said,
  

  "Critics cite the dangers of creating new organisms by inserting foreign genes from one species into a completely different one. They say that while these new transgenic species may be benign in the lab, introducing them into natural ecosystems is dangerous because we can't predict how these new genes and traits will interact with other organisms. They fear that unpredictable outcomes could be bad not only for the environment, but also for human health." [underline added]

• Article said that there's really no hard evidence to support the claim that GM foods produce major health risks, but a viewing of The Corporation might make you think twice when going to the grocery store. It also might make you lose hope in humanity.

At the end of the chapter, these resources were provided for more information about genetic engineering in foods:

• Food and Drug Administration
  CFSAN Outreach and Information Center
  Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
  http://www.blogger.com/www.cfsan.fda.gov/_lrd/biotechm.html
  200 C Street SW (HFS-555)
  Washington, DC 20204
  (888) SAFEFOOD or (888) 723-3366


• Biotech Info - A website cosponsored by several consumer and environmental
  organizations, including Consumers Union and the Science and Environmental Health Network.
• Industry Council for Biotechnology Information
  www.whybiotech.com/en/default.asp
• World Health Organization UN Food and Agriculture Organization
  
  "Safety Aspects of Genetically Modified Foods of Plant Origin," June 2000
  
  "Evaluation of Allergenicity of Genetically Modified Foods," January 2001
  
  "Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Genetically Modified Microorganisms," September 2001
  www.who.int/fsf/GMfood
• Institute of Food Technologists
  www.ift.org/govtrelations/biotech
  

URC investing in 'revolutionary but feasible' energy ideas

Michigan's University Research Corridor is investing up to $900,000 of its own resources in seed grants to speed the development of "revolutionary but feasible" alternative energy research. The URC, an alliance of U-M, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, will consider faculty proposals related to novel research in energy policy, materials (including nanomaterials), clean energy sources, transmission and storage of materials that is environmentally safe, cost-effective and secure. A panel of experts from the three universities will select grant recipients, giving preference to projects that show the best potential for feasibility and impact. The universities hope the seed funding will attract further interest from industry, government and foundations.

EPA to reopen area library amid controversy

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chicago research library will re-open next month, 17 months after it shut down.

...

Federal budget cuts closed the Chicago library, regional libraries in Dallas and Kansas City, Kan., the national headquarters library in Washington, D.C., and a specialist chemical and pesticide library, also in Washington. Hours were reduced at four other regional libraries, leaving only three regional libraries without a cut in service.“We’ve called what’s gone on here sort of a self-lobotomy,” said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. He
is the founder of the group and a former California state government employee.

“Overall information is far less available to the public and to EPA’s own staff. There’s a lot less information and what’s there is a lot less accessible,” he said.

Recently, Congress approved an appropriations bill re-funding the library system.

Think tank: Climate affects security

Never quite thought of it this way, but it makes sense. As the climate gets unstable and certain resources become more scarce (water, farm land, etc), more conflict is inevitable.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands --Climate change could be one of the greatest national security challenges ever faced by U.S. policy makers, according to a new joint study by two U.S. think tanks.

The report, to be released Monday, raises the threat of dramatic population migrations, wars over water and resources, and a realignment of power among nations.

Read the entire article HERE.

Coal plants firing mess all over the world, from all over the world.

During some of my past research, I learned how bad coal-firing plants are to the environment. Their emissions contain all types of horrible particulates that embed themselves in acid rain, soil and contributes to more ozone by increasing cloud cover. Thing is, I thought that this was well known and industry was trying to find other sources. Wrong! Turns out, due to it's abundance and low cost (monetarily speaking), it's the preferred fuel all over the world.

And China's booming economy is also a booming polluted mess. Shortly, they will take our place as the world's foremost polluter. Check out these bits of article.

TAIYUAN — It takes five to 10 days for the pollution from China's coal-fired plants to make its way to the United States, like a slow-moving storm.

It shows up as mercury in the bass and trout caught in Oregon's Willamette River. It increases cloud cover and raises ozone levels. And along the way, it contributes to acid rain in Japan and South Korea and health problems everywhere from Taiyuan to the United States.

Read the rest of the article HERE.