Homes pollute: Linked to 50 percent more water pollution than previously believed

EurekAlert

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — They say there’s no place like home. But scientists are reporting some unsettling news about homes in the residential areas of California. The typical house there — and probably elsewhere in the country — is an alarming and probably underestimated source of water pollution, according to a new study reported today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

In the study, Lorence Oki, Darren Haver and colleagues explain that runoff results from rainfall and watering of lawns and gardens, which winds up in municipal storm drains. The runoff washes fertilizers, pesticides and other contaminants into storm drains, and they eventually appear in rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

“Results from our sampling and monitoring study revealed high detection frequencies of pollutants such as pesticides and pathogen indicators at all sites,” Oki says of their study of eight residential areas in Sacramento and Orange Counties in California.

Preliminary results of the study suggest that current models may underestimate the amount of pollution contributed by homes by up to 50 percent. That’s because past estimates focused on rain-based runoff during the wet season. “Use of pesticides, however, increases noticeably during the dry season due to gardening, and our data contains greater resolution than previous studies,” Oki says.

Pollutants detected in outdoor runoff included ant-control pesticide products. Previous surveys have shown that the majority of pesticides purchased by homeowners are used to control ants. To encourage pollutant reduction, the researchers initiated community outreach programs centered on improving both irrigation control and pest management.

U.S. court blocks plan to curb mountaintop mining

Reuters
Ayesha Rascoe
Thursday, August 13, 2009

A U.S. court on Wednesday blocked an attempt by the Obama administration to overturn a Bush administration rule that made it easier for coal mining companies to dump mountaintop debris into valley streams.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said that the Interior Department’s request to vacate the regulation would have allowed the federal government to wrongfully bypass “established statutory procedures for repealing an agency rule.”

Federal agencies have to follow certain procedures, including collecting public comments, before repealing government regulations, the ruling said.

Raising environmental concerns, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on the courts in April to withdraw the rule that allowed coal mine operators to dispose of excess mountaintop debris in and within 100 feet of nearby streams whenever alternative options are deemed “not reasonably possible.”

The Bush regulation replaced a 1983 rule that allowed dumping within 100 feet of a stream if it would not “adversely affect the water quantity or quality or other environmental resources of the stream.”

Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the department is examining the court’s decision.

“This administration has shown it is determined to improve mining practices and we will do so within the context of the court’s ruling, which we are reviewing,” Barkoff said.

The National Mining Association applauded the ruling.

“The court has preserved an open and transparent regulatory process that provides for notice and protects the rights of all interested parties to comment,” association president Hal Quinn said in a statement.

More than half of U.S. electricity is generated from coal. U.S. surface coal mining is mostly done in the steep mountains of Appalachia, across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky and accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. coal production.

Major energy companies, such as Arch Coal Inc and Consol Energy, participate in mountaintop mining, which involves scraping the surface of mountains and pushing the crumbled mountaintop debris into adjoining valleys.

How to Detox Fluorides from Your Body

Natural News
Paul Fassa
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

You can rid you body of most fluorides with some easy natural remedies. Fluorides have been linked to a variety of severe chronic, even acute health issues. First a quick review summary of fluoride.

Fluoride Toxicity

Fluoride is a soluble salt, not a heavy metal. There are two basic types of fluoride. Calcium fluoride appears naturally in underground water sources and even seawater. Enough of it can cause skeletal or dental fluorosis, which weakens bone and dental matter. But it is not nearly as toxic, nor does it negatively affect so many other health issues as sodium fluoride, which is added to many water supplies.

Sodium Fluoride is a synthetic waste product of the nuclear, aluminum, and phosphate fertilizer industries. This fluoride has an amazing capacity to combine and increase the potency of other toxic materials. The sodium fluoride obtained from industrial waste and added to water supplies is also already contaminated with lead, aluminum, and cadmium.

It damages the liver and kidneys, weakens the immune system, possibly leading to cancer, creates symptoms that mimic fibromyalgia, and performs as a Trojan Horse to carry aluminum across the blood brain barrier. The latter is recognized as a source of the notorious “dumbing down” with lower IQ’s and Alzheimer’s effects of fluoride.

Another not commonly known organ victim of fluorosis is the pineal gland, located in the middle of the brain. The pineal gland can become calcified from fluorides, inhibiting it’s function as a melatonin producer. Melatonin is needed for sound, deep sleep, and the lack of it also contributes to thyroid problems that affect the entire endocrine system. The pineal gland is also considered the physical link to the upper chakras or third eye for spiritual and intuitive openings.

Various permutations of Sodium Fluoride are also in many insecticides for homes and pesticides for crops. Sometimes it is even added to baby foods and bottled waters. If you live in a water fluoridated area, purchase commercially grown fruits, especially grapes, and vegetables that are chemically sprayed and grown areas irrigated by fluoridated water, you are getting a triple whammy! Better skip that fluoridated toothpaste!

Avoiding Fluoride Contamination

As always, the first step in detoxifying is to curb taking in toxins. Purifying water by reverse osmosis or distillation in fluoridated water communities is a good start to slowing down your fluoride contamination. Distillation comes with a bit of controversy, as all the minerals are removed. A great mineral supplement such as Fulvic Acid (not folic acid) or unsulfured blackstrap molasses is recommended if you distill your water.

Avoiding sprayed, commercially grown foods while consuming organic or locally grown foods is another big step. Watch out for processed foods such as instant tea, grape juice products, and soy milk for babies. They all contain high concentrations of sodium fluoride. So do many pharmaceutical “medicines”. By minimizing your sodium fluoride intake, your body can begin eliminating the fluorides in your system slowly.

Magnesium is a very important mineral that many are lacking. Besides being so important in the metabolism and synthesis of nutrients within your cells, it also inhibits the absorption of fluoride into your cells! Along with magnesium, calcium seems to help attract the fluorides away from your bones and teeth, allowing your body to eliminate those toxins. So during any detox efforts with fluoride, it is essential that you include a healthy supplemental dose of absorbable calcium/magnesium as part of the protocol.

So Now Let’s Speed Up the Fluoride Detox

This author received a comment stating that an earlier article’s source reference to sunlight for decalcifying the pineal gland was inaccurate. He said that darkness, not light, is needed to stimulate the pineal gland into melatonin production, which should lead to breaking up the calcification of that gland. Besides being logical, further source research indicates the critic is correct!

Day time exercise, a healthful diet, not over eating, and meditation all contribute to higher melatonin production from the pineal gland. Though very helpful to many for getting a full night’s deep sleep, it appears inconclusive whether melatonin supplements will help decalcify the pineal gland. But it does seem logical that it might.

Iodine supplementation has been clinically demonstrated to increase the urine irrigation of sodium fluoride from the body as calcium fluoride. The calcium is robbed from your body, so make sure you are taking effective calcium and magnesium supplements. Lecithin is recommended as an adjunct to using iodine for excreting fluorides.

Iodine is another nutrient lacking in most diets and causing hypothyroid symptoms of lethargy or metabolic imbalances. Eating lots of seafood for iodine has it’s constantly rising mercury hazards. Seaweed foods and iodine supplements that combine iodine and potassium iodide are highly recommended over sea food by most.

Tamarind, originally indigenous to Africa but migrated into India and southeast Asia, has been used medicinally in Ayurvedic Medicine. The pulp, bark, and leaves from the tree can be converted to teas and strong tinctures, which have also shown the ability to eliminate fluorides through the urine.

Liver Cleanses are considered effective for eliminating fluorides and other toxins. There are two types of liver cleansing, both of which can be performed easily at home over a week or two of time. One of the protocols focuses on the liver itself , and the other cleanses the gall bladder, which is directly connected with liver functions. Simple instructions for both can be found on line with search engine inquiries.

Boron was studied in other parts of the world with pronounced success for fluoride detoxification. Borox, which contains boron, has a history of anecdotal success for detoxifying sodium fluoride. Yes, this is the borox you can find in the laundry aisles of some supermarkets. It needs to be taken in with pure water in small quantities.

As little as 1/32 of a teaspoon to 1/4 of a teaspoon in one liter of water consumed in small quantities throughout the day is what has been demonstrated as safe and effective. Around 1/8 of a teaspoon with a pinch of pure sea salt in a liter consumed in small quantities daily has been reported to have dramatic results. There is the possibility of a food grade version with sodium borate, if you can find it.

Dry Saunas combined with exercise releases sodium fluoride stored in fatty tissues. It can be intense enough to cause side effects or an occasional healing crisis. So keep the pure water intake high and drink some chickweed tea to protect the kidneys while using a highly absorbable cal/mag supplement. Lecithin is another useful adjunct to this protocol for fluoride detoxification.

Those Adjuncts to the Listed Remedies

Vitamin C in abundance was not mentioned as a helpful adjunct. It is now. But do not use ascorbic acid as your vitamin C source for an adjunct to any of the fluoride detox methods. Do take in as much other types of vitamin C as you can tolerate, along with a couple of tablespoons of lecithin daily. Add those to your absorbable calcium and magnesium supplements with plenty of pure water, get good sleep and rest, and the detox should be relatively smooth.

Chelation therapies are recommended primarily for heavy metal removals. Though fluorides are salts, the synthetic waste product variety, sodium fluoride, comes with a cargo of toxic heavy metals. And these pernicious salts have a way of combining more heavy metals. So including any one of several chelation therapies may be beneficial for overall health improvements while applying your chosen fluoride remedy or remedies.

Those include bentonite clay internally or externally, fulvic acid (NOT folic acid), cilantro pesto with chlorella, and even DMSA or any other chellation therapy with which you are familiar. Full article here…

How to create a drought-friendly garden

UK Guardian
Andy Hamilton
Tuesday, July 2, 2009

I always water in the evenings rather than the mornings, mainly because I don’t like getting up at 5am, but also because much of the water can be lost to evaporation. I also mulch with straw to keep the moisture in, and lawn clippings can be put to good use as a water-retaining mulch. Mulching also keeps at bay the weeds, which will compete with your plants for water.

You may have your guttering all connected up to water butts and are smugly reading this, or perhaps you don’t want to fork out for a butt. In either case, a very simple method of collecting rainwater is to leave buckets, old dustbins or old barrels outside. These should be covered in dry weather to reduce evaporation and to discourage mosquitoes.

It is the container gardener that really suffers during drought as pots can dry out quickly. These should be moved into the shade on particularly hot days or if you are going on holiday. The parts of your garden that get the most sun will also need more water, therefore you should aim to plant more drought-tolerant plants in these areas.

It is doubtful that the UK will say goodbye to rain altogether, so good practice will be to mimic the Mediterranean rather than the Sahara. This means many of the herbs that we already love can still be grown. Lavender is a good example – some strains are grown in the Balearics, such as Lavandula pinnata. Rosemary also is heat resistant and drought tolerant and can be pruned to fit into even the most manicured garden.

Vegetables would not be the first on the list of the drought gardener, yet we don’t have to do away with all edible plants. Consider beet spinach instead of normal spinach, try growing Jerusalem artichokes, and if you’re in the south-east of Britain, chickpeas.

If it is beauty you are after then sea holly (Eryngium maritimum) is a sound bet. It is an ingenious plant well adapted to drought conditions: sea holly grows to about 30cm tall but its roots can spread over a metre downwards to look for water. It’s a member of the carrot family, so its roots smell of carrots and can be eaten. Full article here…

New technique could find water on Earth-like planets orbiting distant suns

Vince Stricherz
ENN
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Since the early 1990s astronomers have discovered more than 300 planets orbiting stars other than our sun, nearly all of them gas giants like Jupiter. Powerful space telescopes, such as the one that is central to NASA’s recently launched Kepler Mission, will make it easier to spot much smaller rocky extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, more similar to Earth.

But seen from dozens of light years away, an Earth-like exoplanet will appear in telescopes as little more than a “pale blue dot,” the term coined by the late astronomer Carl Sagan to describe how Earth appeared in a 1990 photograph taken by the Voyager spacecraft from near the edge of the solar system.

Using instruments aboard the Deep Impact spacecraft, a team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether such a planet harbors liquid water, which in turn could tell whether it might be able to support life.
As part of NASA’s Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization mission, the scientists obtained two separate 24-hour observations of light intensity from Earth in seven bands of visible light, from shorter wavelengths near ultraviolet to longer wavelengths near infrared. Earth appears gray at most wavelengths because of cloud cover, but it appears blue at short wavelengths because of the same atmospheric phenomenon that makes the sky look blue to people on the surface.

The researchers studied small deviations from the average color caused by surface features like clouds and oceans rotating in and out of view. They found two dominant colors, one reflective at long, or red, wavelengths and the other at short, or blue, wavelengths. They interpreted the red as land masses and the blue as oceans.

The analysis was undertaken “as if we were aliens looking at Earth with the tools we might have in 10 years” and did not already know Earth’s composition, Cowan said. “You sum up the brightness into a single pixel in the telescope’s camera, so it truly is a pale blue dot.”

Since Earth’s colors changed throughout the 24-hour-long observations, the scientists made maps of the planet in the dominant red and blue colors and then compared their interpretations with the actual location of the planet’s continents and oceans.

“You could tell that there were liquid oceans on the planet,” Cowan said. “The idea is that to have liquid water the planet would have to be in its system’s habitable zone, but being in the habitable zone doesn’t guarantee having liquid water.”