#environmental protection

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[reasonsforhope]

Article | Paywall-Free

"The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday [October 8, 2024] requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade, a move aimed at eliminating a toxic threat that continues to affect tens of thousands of American children each year.

The move, which also tightens the amount of lead allowed in the nation’s drinking water, comes nearly 40 years after Congress determined that lead pipes posed a serious risk to public health and banned them in new construction.

Research has shown that lead, a toxic contaminant that seeps from pipes into the drinking water supply, can cause irreversible developmental delays, difficulty learning and behavioral problems among children. In adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead exposure can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function and cancer.

But replacing the lead pipes that deliver water to millions of U.S. homes will cost tens of billions of dollars, and the push to eradicate them only gathered momentum after a water crisis in Flint, Mich., a decade ago exposed the extent to which children remain vulnerable to lead poisoning through tap water...

The groundbreaking regulation, called the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, will establish a national inventory of lead service lines and require that utilities take more aggressive action to remove lead pipes on homeowners’ private property. It also lowers the level of lead contamination that will trigger government enforcement from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb.

The rule also establishes the first-ever national requirement to test for lead in schools that rely on water from public utilities. It mandates thatwater systems screen all elementary and child-care facilities, where those who are the most vulnerable to lead’s effects — young children — are enrolled, and that they offer testing to middle and high schools.

The White House estimates that more than 9 million homes across the country are still supplied by lead pipelines, which are the leading source of lead contamination through drinking water. The EPA has projected that replacing all of them could cost at least $45 billion.

Lead pipes were initially installed in cities decades ago because they were cheaper and more malleable, but the heavy metal can wear down and corrode over time. President Joe Biden has made replacing them one of his top environmental priorities, securing $15 billion to give states over five years through the bipartisan infrastructure law and vowing to rid the country of lead pipes by 2031. The administration has spent $9 billion so far — enough to replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes, the administration said.

On Tuesday, the administration said it was providing an additional $2.6 billion in funding for pipe replacement. Over 367,000 lead pipes have been replaced nationwide since Biden took office, according to White House officials, affecting nearly 1 million people...

Environmental advocates said that former president Donald Trump, who issued much more modest revisions to the lead and copper rule just days before Biden took office, would have a hard time reversing the new standards.

Erik Olson, the senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the Safe Drinking Water Act has provisions prohibiting weakening the health protections of existing standards...

Olson added that the rule “represents a major victory for public health” and will protect millions of people “whose health is threatened every time they fill a glass from the kitchen sink contaminated by lead.”

“While the rule is imperfect and we still have more to do, this is by far the biggest step towards eliminating lead in tap water in over three decades,” he said."

-via The Washington Post, October 8, 2024

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

Today, the EU adopted a seat of conservation measures to strengthen the environmental protection of five Natura 2000 sites in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Baltic Sea. The initiative, put forward by Germany and agreed by all Baltic EU countries, prohibits fishing with mobile bottom contacting gears in areas of the Fehmarnbelt, Kadetrinne and Pommersche Bucht mit Oderbank and in the entire sites of the Westliche Rönnebank and Adlergrund. The measures will protect sensitive seabed habitats, such as sandbanks and reefs, and will contribute to revert the unfavourable environmental status of species and biotopes.

[h0neyfreak]

helping “The Environment” as an individual is such a nebulous and ever changing concept and seems to be very much in the Discourse™️ at the moment so I just want to take a minute to shout into the void with some reminders I gave my enviro students when they got to the “oh dear god we’re all gonna die” phase of the class:

“Individual choices don’t matter” is like. true(?) for climate change (unless you’re a kardashian or CEO or something) but that just means you can’t reusable tote bag your way out of a private jet society. NOT that you can’t have any impact through community initiatives and activism. Advocate for municipal composting and public transit!! Get involved locally!!!!! Write weekly to your representatives! Do whatever you can to get unstuck and scrape together some modicum of hope.

Also on individual choices. There are some that “matter” but be very wary of outsized benefits promised for seemingly small choices (e.g. the straw debacle). An app is not the thing to save us from a hundred years of industry. Going out and collecting litter DOES have an impact even if that impact is just “this area of the world no longer has trash in it.” It’s not solving the issue of microplastics or whatever but it is helping local birds. And it’s helping YOU feel more connected to your local environment and getting you involved with the world and your community.

Finally, the best thing you can be is well informed, persistent, and kind. Be willing and able to help if you bump into someone who is open to the idea of not letting Shell and SHEIN pour toxic sludge directly into every river. It’s more people than you think. But most people only know how to buy things that are “better.” (Electric cars, reusable bags, expensive neutral clothing made of flax). They want to do SOMETHING but we’re all just kind of vibrating balls of anxiety all the time. Know what sort of things are going on around you and invite them! My go to’s are composting initiatives, textile recycling programs, and pollinator friendly/grass free gardens.

Again, it would be great if we were all willing to drag the Shell and Nestle CEOs out to account for their crimes but being paralyzed by fear is not gonna help. Neither is another ethical clothing brand selling $400 linen underwear (probably). I’ve found time and time again that people who have any amount of tangible connection to the world outside have a much more visceral reaction to billionaire super yachts than defeatist suburbanites who drive EVs and have a kitchen full of dubious organic snacks.

[alyfoxxxen]

A New Marine Sanctuary Off California Will Be Co-Managed by Indigenous Peoples | Smithsonian

[homeofhousechickens]

Yesterday, I went exploring abandoned fort ruins by this radioactive creek on a trail that is pretty popular.

This creek is infamous because of Mallinckrodt nuclear waste contamination. Mallinckrodt basically made a deal with the federal government to have exclusive rights to produce weapons-grade uranium. When the nuclear waste from the project was less profitable, then they thought it would be they dumped and transported the waste out on uncovered trucks to local landfill sites and left barrels along the creekside. The factory producing the uranium ended up contaminating the creek and the groundwater due to their actions.

There were no animals around when i was there, and the water smelled strongly like metal. It was weird because even in winter places like this usually have quite a few birds like at least some squirrels or sparrows, but there were none. I'm sure it's different during the other seasons but for an uncomfortably warm day it was very eerie.

Anyway the government has been cleaning the creek for decades but refuses to share how radioactive it is.

There are a few schools that are close to this creek and kids and residents who live near it have higher cancer rates.

Still, despite the evidence that this creek is dangerously radioactive from multiple different testing companies and the cancer statistics, our officials still deem this creek "safe." The company was never really punished for the dumping and mishandling of radioactive materials either in fact they company denies ever handling uranium despite the proof.

In my opinion, it's wild to me that people still swim in this creek during the summer, especially after I have gotten close enough to smell it.

Sources

Kite, A. (2024, February 21). Records reveal 75 years of government downplaying, ignoring risks of St. Louis radioactive waste. Missouri Independent. https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/12/st-louis-radioactive-waste-records/

‘This is a moral failure.’ A Missouri community says leftover radioactive waste is making them sick. (2024, December 20). PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/after-decades-of-nuclear-waste-exposure-this-missouri-community-wants-action

“I was heartbroken”: Radioactive waste found at Jana Elementary School outside St. Louis. (2022, October 19). CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/radioactive-waste-found-jana-elementary-school-outside-st-louis/

[archaeologysucks]

PSA: if you ever hear this sound, or see one of these birds exhibiting this behavior, you are near a killdeer nest, and should watch your step!

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The owner of one of the 15 properties removed from -- then returned to -- the Greenbelt has launched a constitutional challenge of a law that reversed Premier Doug Ford's plan to open up the protected land for development. Lawyers for Minotar Holdings Inc. filed the application Thursday in Ontario's Divisional Court, arguing that the way the law is written violates "the constitutional principle of the rule of law." The Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act is the legislation fulfilling Ford's promise to restore Greenbelt protections to 15 parcels of land. His government had removed them last year, but scathing auditor general and integrity commissioner reports found the process unfairly favoured certain developers and Ford was forced to reverse course.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[safety-pin-punk]

[ecoamerica]

Apply or nominate: https://ecoamerica.org/american-climate-leadership-awards-2025/

Calling all organizations, individuals, and small businesses successfully engaging Americans on climate! Showcase your creativity and climate solutions by applying for @ecoamerica’s 2025 American Climate Leadership Awards. You can win $1K - $50K by submitting your efforts for consideration by a stellar line-up of judges and individuals leading on climate. It’s quick and easy to submit your application or nominate inspirational climate leaders. Apply or nominate today!

[bookmothic-dyke]

Just to clarify for anyone here on my blog of reblogs, shitposting, mental break downs, selfies, and occasional coherent ideas.

Im a socialist.

I think capitalism as it exists and has existed is inherently exploitive, harmful, and stupid.

So like, yeah. That’s it.

Anyways, go unions!

[diogenesz2020portugal]

Nem fér be a kartondoboz a szelektív hulladéktárolóba? Aggodalomra semmi ok: segít Margit, a környezettudatos konfettigyártó macska! (Mellesleg így kényelmesebb is.)

[thatsleepymermaid]

Y'all!

There's a new expansion being approved to expand the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge that would protect 22,000 acres of the swamp, including where the Twin Pines Mineral LLC wants to strip mine!!

Needless to say, this is a hopeful proposal that will protect this iconic swampland for years to come. Go ahead and click the link to tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that expanding the protected area would help preserve the swamp and mitigate climate disasters like floods and wildfires.

[er-cryptid]

Sphenopsida

-- often called "horsetails"

-- tracheophytes

-- only 25 living species

-- true land plants

-- vascular

-- true roots, stems, and leaves

-- small leaves

-- scale-like pattern on leaves

-- grow in tropical and temperate climates

-- use alteration of generations

-- cell walls in leaves and stems contain silica

.

Patreon

[alyfoxxxen]

First Salmon in Over a Century Returns to Klamath River After Dam Removal - Active NorCal