John Laumer excitedly reports on treehugger.com on December 30, 2007 that Yellowknife, Canada is contemplating using closed gold mine for heat. The mine pumps are already shutdown and water at 50 degrees F has filled them. In theory by extracting the water out of the mines through a heating network, 20 megawatts of heat can be produced. So basically these ex-Con Mines could create enough heat for half of the city! “Early in 2008, Yellowknife will formally study what could eventually become Canada’s first large-scale geothermal heat plant.” Laumer’s post informs environmentally conscious people around the world of the “treehuggin” way of producing heat.
Tone: Informative/Excited
Do you think this will really work?
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Cremation a hazard to living
LaTimes-The Nation December 26, 2007
Dee Dee Correll’s article in the December 26, 2007 issue of the LA Times discusses the controversy over cremation in regards to the environment. When a person is cremated every part of the body is burned until ashes are produced; the problematic thing with this is that when teeth fillings are burned mercury emission vaporize. According to Correll “Amalgam- an alloy of mercury with other metal such as silver, copper, or tin-is commonly used to fill cavities.” And after being released into the atmosphere it ends up in water sources. This can causes “elevated levels of mercury in fish” which will cause sickness in humans. Minnesota state senator john Marty reported that crematories make up 3-5% of mercury emission per year in the state. “We have to go after every source” Marty says. In contrast Mark Mathews, a director for the Cremation Assn. of North America, says that “There’s a battle over something that isn’t there. The data doesn’t add up and the science isn’t there.” He says that no data has shown higher mercury levels near crematories and the EPA doesn’t regulate them. This cremation problem has almost become a war between environmentalists and cremators, and with 46% of the U.S population planning to choose cremation over burial- this argument will not go away anytime soon.
Tone: informative
Do you think cremation is potentially dangerous to the enviornment?
Dee Dee Correll’s article in the December 26, 2007 issue of the LA Times discusses the controversy over cremation in regards to the environment. When a person is cremated every part of the body is burned until ashes are produced; the problematic thing with this is that when teeth fillings are burned mercury emission vaporize. According to Correll “Amalgam- an alloy of mercury with other metal such as silver, copper, or tin-is commonly used to fill cavities.” And after being released into the atmosphere it ends up in water sources. This can causes “elevated levels of mercury in fish” which will cause sickness in humans. Minnesota state senator john Marty reported that crematories make up 3-5% of mercury emission per year in the state. “We have to go after every source” Marty says. In contrast Mark Mathews, a director for the Cremation Assn. of North America, says that “There’s a battle over something that isn’t there. The data doesn’t add up and the science isn’t there.” He says that no data has shown higher mercury levels near crematories and the EPA doesn’t regulate them. This cremation problem has almost become a war between environmentalists and cremators, and with 46% of the U.S population planning to choose cremation over burial- this argument will not go away anytime soon.
Tone: informative
Do you think cremation is potentially dangerous to the enviornment?
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