#river cleanup

[gpstudios]

Title: World Rivers Day: Celebrating and Protecting Our Vital Waterways

Celebrate World Rivers Day on September 22 by engaging in activities that protect and appreciate our vital waterways. Join cleanup efforts, support conservation organizations, and advocate for river protection.

Introduction World Rivers Day, observed annually on September 22, highlights the importance of rivers and their role in sustaining ecosystems, communities, and economies. This day aims to raise awareness about the challenges facing our rivers and encourage actions to protect and preserve these vital waterways. Join in the celebration by learning about local rivers, participating in cleanup…

[starrynightsforever]

It's just me and my brightly-colored, knee-high rubber rain boots that I've had since undergrad against the world.

[alliterative-endlessknot]

It’s #NationalRiverCleanupDay – so here’s our #TeamSeas video about cleaning up waterways.

[lacymoonchild]

[insightfultake]

Reviving the Yamuna: A Political and Environmental Imperative

The Yamuna River, a lifeline for millions in Delhi and neighboring states, has long suffered from severe pollution, unchecked sewage discharge, and industrial effluents. Successive governments have made grand promises, yet the river continues to be one of the most polluted in the country. Now, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has unveiled a massive initiative to rejuvenate the river, seeking assistance from the central government to fund and execute critical projects aimed at restoring its health. With an estimated ₹9,000 crore set aside for overhauling water and sanitation systems, the Yamuna cleanup has become a high-stakes political and environmental issue.

[tealfruit]

thinking again about the idea of a Celeste movie adaptation by Ghibli

[rig-a-rendal]

Elliot Islinger on the set of "Half Moon City Cleanup Collective" (S1 E3)

[lakeshorerestorationllc]

Get Cleaning and Remediation Services for Your Property

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[reasonsforhope]

@kilodelta Thanks for the addition, this is so true

LA isn't just deploying similar systems, it has literally officially teamed up with the Ocean Cleanup, using one of their river cleanup systems! To absolutely massive success

That article actually appears to be non-paywalled right now, but here's a guaranteed no-paywall Internet Archive copy just in case!

"After a historic winter hit California with dozens of atmospheric rivers, the last line of defense protecting the Pacific from much of L.A.’s trash held strong.

In the first storm season of a two-year pilot project, Ballona Creek Trash Interceptor 007 stopped nearly 155,000 pounds of garbage from flowing out to the ocean.

“Its performance has exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Boyan Slat, founder and chief executive of the Ocean Cleanup. The Dutch nonprofit partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works to introduce the interceptor in October.

The system floats a few hundred yards from the outlet of Ballona Creek into the Pacific Ocean, its twin booms extended to the shoreline to funnel trash to a solar-powered system that lifts objects from the water with a conveyor belt and drops them into six dumpsters. The trash collects in the dumpsters and awaits manual removal...

In all, the first rainy season of the interceptor’s operation saw the collection of 77 tons of material, the vast majority of which went to landfill.

This first pilot year “had all the challenges we wanted it to have: heavy pollutants, lots of flow,” said Mark Pestrella, the Department of Public Works director. In January, storm-generated waves caused one boom to tear, and it had to be replaced.

According to Lee, L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors maintenance crews noted “a 75% reduction” in trash along local beaches adjacent to the interceptor."

-via Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2023

““The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can now be cleaned,” announced Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat, the wonderkid inventor who’s spent a decade inventing systems for waterborne litter collection.

Recent tests on his Ocean Cleanup rig called System 002, invented to tackle the 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic pollution, were a success, leading Slat to predict that most of the oceanic garbage patches could be removed by 2040.

Intersections of ocean currents have created the massive floating islands of plastic trash—five slow-moving whirlpools that pull litter from thousands of miles away into a single radius.

The largest one sits between California and Hawaii, and 27-year-old Slat has been designing and testing his systems out there, launching from San Francisco since 2013.

GNN has reported on his original design for the floating device, but his engineering team improved upon it. System 002, nicknamed “Jenny,” successfully netted 9,000 kilograms, or around 20,000 pounds in its first trial.

It’s carbon-neutral, able to capture microplastics as small as 1 millimeter in diameter, and was designed to pose absolutely no threat to wildlife thanks to its wide capture area, slow motion, alerts, and camera monitors that allow operators to spy any overly-curious marine life…

Slat estimates ten Jennies could clean half the garbage patch in five years, and if 10 Jennies were deployed to the five major ocean gyres, then 90% of all floating plastic could be removed by 2040.” -via Good News Network, 10/19/21

[westcoastmidnightrun]

CLEANING UP A CITY ISN'T EASY,

ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS PARIS

The French have trying to clean up their Seine river since 1990 … and failing at it. Now the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Centennial (100 years since their most recent hosting of the Games) are almost here and they are once more beating themselves up trying to make their fabled river swim worthy for the Decathlon competitions and Olympic swim events. They have been the laugh of the American news media, if you can read between the lines.

Meanwhile back in the USA, for the past decade, Hyperion and a host of sewage treatment facilities have been belching, spewing and pouring 100,000s even millions of gallons of untreated sewage in our Southern California beaches on an annual basis, forcing authorities to close off the beaches until the pollution fades away into the Pacific. From Malibu to Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Long Beach and International Surfing Competitions Destination Huntington Beach, all have been hit for the past decade with closure due to sewage spills.

Catch the story and have yourself a laugh or two. On the House!

(When following our links avoid when you can using a cell phone or small viewing screen and please use only large display screens for desktops for proper format viewing).

[wolfbirbisme]

gotta say, not being able to find an organization that does weekly litter cleanups within the city I just moved to after what I've seen this past week is a fucking crime

"we strive to maintain our waterways 😊" where are your events for the year. where are your cleanups. how do I sign up, how do I report the absolute landfill spots I've seen passing through a STATE PARK while on the commuter train.

granted it only recently got warm out but climate change might as well as be working in our favor because that means we can start cleaning NOW. LEMME AT IT GDI

[belpop]

Regarding the last post I could go on and on about this forever. Everything you eat in Europe has got colonialism all over it I'm sorry to say. Eating bananas and chocolate and coffee which yes, I do too, are all directly degrading ecosystems because of the way they are farmed in huge swathes, and personally cutting things out of your diet might make the tiniest difference but it won't do anything serious until the underlying mechanics of profit are dismantled. How green is your electric car or bike when the battery needed for it is comprised of precious metals people mine for in dangerous conditions for shit wages. And I FUCKING hate tourists going to islands paving over the nature and the local's lands then getting helicoptered out when it's all on fire. And if you don't understand how the colonial powers will do everything they can to maintain this skewed relationship to its (ex)colonies despite the consequences for the entire planet because it directly benefits them, you really should not be talking about saving the environment.

[insightfultake]

Reviving the Yamuna: A Mission To Save India’s Sacred River

The Yamuna River, once a symbol of purity and prosperity, has now become a victim of unchecked pollution and administrative neglect. Flowing through the heart of northern India, it serves as a crucial water source for millions, yet it has been reduced to a toxic stream filled with industrial waste, untreated sewage, and encroachments. Over the years, numerous efforts have been made to rejuvenate the river, but tangible results remain elusive. The latest initiative by the Delhi government aims to restore the river through large-scale cleaning drives and stricter pollution control measures. However, given the scale of degradation, a singular approach will not suffice—reviving the Yamuna requires a concerted and collaborative effort across states.

[alliterative-endlessknot]

It’s #NationalRiverCleanupDay – so here’s our #TeamSeas video about cleaning up waterways.

[technofeudalism]

Residents of Jersey have been recommended bloodletting to reduce high concentrations of “forever chemicals” in their blood after tests showed some islanders have levels that can lead to health problems. Private drinking water supplies in Jersey were polluted by the use of firefighting foams containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) at the island’s airport, which were manufactured by the US multinational 3M. PFAS, a family of more than 10,000 chemicals, can build up in the body and are linked to conditions such as kidney and bladder cancer, thyroid disease and immune deficiency.

you read that correctly. bloodletting. like leeches.

before you freak out, if you are an American, this is the island of Jersey in the United Kingdom. i wanted to get that out of the way first so i can address this fucking travesty.

since the 1950s, 3M and Dupont have concealed information about the harmful effects of PFAS. the movie Dark Waters with Mark Ruffalo is specifically about Dupont and it's rampant pollution. 3M has been dumping PFAS in rivers and waterways not just in the United States, but across the globe for decades despite knowing with full detail the risks involved to the public. they even managed to intimidate a 3M scientist into staying quiet and pulled her off research into the toxicity of their products when she made the discovery.

at the same time, Jersey authorities were aware of this problem as early as the 1990s but didn’t switch the water source for the affected areas until 2006. they continued using contaminated storage tanks for foam until 2022 despite knowing the risks. this is blatant criminal negligence all around.

this part of the article in particular is so disgusting:

Despite the growing evidence of health effects, compensation remains unlikely. Jersey’s government signed a confidential deal with 3M in 2005, agreeing not to pursue legal claims for £2.6m towards cleanup. Jersey must also assist 3M in defending any future claims. A source who asked not to be identified said Jersey needed 3M’s permission to proceed with blood tests to avoid corporate backlash. “The state got an agreement to do individual blood tests, but not screening, as that could be the first step towards a possible class action lawsuit.”

3M’s gross profits in 2023 totaled over $14 billion and they can’t spend $3 million to clean up a mess that is quite literally responsible for killing people because by doing so, it opens them up to litigation involving every other mess around the globe where they’ve directly poisoned people with PFAS (or continue to poison).

but by far the most prescient part of this is the fact that Jersey's government had to obtain permission from 3M, a US corporation and the suspected perpetrator of a crime that has left at least one of their citizens terminally ill, if they could even do blood tests to check if they were responsible. the oligarchy truly knows nothing of borders.