Category:Pollution

'Dead Zones' Due to Pollution

Around the World, Ocean Areas Severely Impacted by Human-Produced Waste and 'Run-Off'

August 2024

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-gulf-mexico-dead-zone-larger.html#google_vignette

NOAA-supported scientists have announced that this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" -- the oceans area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life -— is approximately 6,705 square miles, the 12th largest zone on record in 38 years of measurement.

This figure equates to more than 4 million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and ocean-dwelling plant and animal species, an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

○

TFAs... another type of ‘forever chemical’ seems to be everywhere

So many chemicals, whether plastics or pesticides, medicines or solvents... it's a modern world

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is a very persistent contaminant that has gained attention due to its multitude of anthropogenic sources, widespread occurrence in the environment, and expected accumulation in (semi-) closed drinking water cycles.

Trifluoroacetic acid is produced naturally and synthetically, used in the chemical industry, and a potential environmental breakdown product of a large number (>1 million) chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and polymers.

CFCs to HFCs to HFOs

The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty adopted in 1987, phased out the production of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which depleted the ozone layer. But the more ozone-friendly gases that followed, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are potent greenhouse gases that warm the planet.

The most recent climate-friendly alternatives to HFCs for cooling air conditioners, heat pumps and refrigerators, HFOs, do not deplete ozone and have a lower global warming potential, but some break down into TFA.

HFOs to TFAs

The Environmental Coalition on Standards, an international nongovernmental organization in Brussels, said the Montreal Protocol solved one problem but created another. As HFOs degrade and are converted to TFA in the atmosphere, they return to the surface through rain and other precipitation or dust...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/07/13/tfa-forever-chemical-pfas/

https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Montreal_Protocol

https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_full-cost_accounting

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Externalities

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Environmental Protection

Health and the 'Precautionary Principle'

Vorsorgeprinzip at GreenPolicy360

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorsorgeprinzip

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental_issue_report_2001_22

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental_issue_report_2001_22/issue-22-part-17.pdf/view

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/PlanetCitizen

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Pollute Me, Not

Environmental pollution — from filthy air to contaminated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world.

More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

Key points:

One out of every six premature deaths in 2015, about 9 million, was due to toxic exposure:

The worst affected countries are in Asia and Africa, with India topping the list;

One out of every six premature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure;

The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equally massive, estimated at costing some $5.9 trillion in annual losses, or about 6.2 per cent of the global economy.

Leading Causes of Deaths -- https://ensia.com/voices/leading-cause-death-developing-countries/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Health_effects_of_pollution.png

Citizen Science: What you can do about pollution -- http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Citizen_Science

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Forms of pollution

Air pollution: the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common gaseous pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight. Particulate matter, or fine dust is characterized by their micrometre size PM10 to PM2.5.

Light pollution: includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference.

Littering: the criminal throwing of inappropriate man-made objects, unremoved, onto public and private properties.

Noise pollution: which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as high-intensity sonar.

Plastic pollution: involves the accumulation of plastic products in the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans.

Soil pollution: Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground leakage. Among the significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Radioactive pollution:: Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th century activities in atomic physics, such as nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research, manufacture and deployment. (See alpha emitters and actinides in the environment.)

Thermal pollution: temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.

Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash, municipal solid waste or space debris.

Water pollution, by the discharge of wastewater from commercial and industrial waste (intentionally or through spills) into surface waters; discharges of untreated domestic sewage, and chemical contaminants, such as chlorine, from treated sewage; release of waste and contaminants into surface runoff flowing to surface waters (including urban runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain chemical fertilizers and pesticides); waste disposal and leaching into groundwater; eutrophication and 'littering', which has produced worldwide ocean debris .

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○