Water Environment - Lakes, Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers, Groundwater - Water (h2o) Environmental Issues: Conservation, Sustainability, Preservation, and Ecology

Water Environment - Lakes, Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers, Groundwater - Water (h2o) Environmental Issues: Conservation, Sustainability, Preservation, and Ecology

By Joseph PuentesSociety & Culture
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Water Environment - Lakes, Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers, Groundwater - Water (h2o) Environmental Issues: Conservation, Sustainability, Preservation, and Ecology episodes

  • GL09 Citizen Activism
    GL09 Citizen Activism - Lack of political leadership from on Dow Chemical's dioxin contamination of Michigan's largest watershed and the overall lack of leadership in the State of Michigan on the Great Lakes. The preservation and protection of the Great Lakes need to be taken to the people to drive the issue then elected officials will follow and do what's right. Elected officials do not lead as a rule. Michigan needs a handful of legislators who will rise up out of these waters, so to speak, and focus their efforts on protecting what is Michigan's greatest economic resource and our greatest legacy.
    3 min
  • GL08 Water Diversion
    GL08 Water Diversion - It's a modern cliché: Water is the oil of the 21st Century. It also happens to be true. About one-fifth of the world's fresh water is harbored in the Great Lakes. Raging wildfires in the West and a sudden water scarcity in the Southeastern U.S. have raised public awareness of the significance of fresh water. The Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces are seeking to prevent water exports through a new regional compact and agreement. Unfortunately, a giant loophole in the agreement allows unlimited exports in containers under 5.7 gallons in size: bottles, for example. Citizens need to support compact ratification and demand that the states go beyond it by shutting the loophole down.
    3 min
  • GL07 - State of the Great Lakes
    GL07 State of the Great Lakes - Are the Great Lakes getting cleaner or dirtier? The answer is mixed. Pollutants that were top priorities in the 1970s like phosphorus and PCBs have been on the decline while new contaminants have worsened. The loss of wetlands, which filter pollutants and provide habitat, and increases in pollution from poorly planned development are causing new problems. As the successes of the 1970s showed, the key to further progress is citizen activism. Government only follows where citizens lead.
    3 min
  • GL06 General Discussion: Dow's Dioxin
    GL06 General Discussion: Dow's Dioxin - Michelle's advocacy and the difficulty posed when the polluter, Dow Chemical, also happens to be a powerful Fortune 50 company. State of Michigan sets a standard of 90 ppt and we have in excess of 100,000 ppt in the rivers. Because of the very high levels of dioxins/furans every study to date has shown dioxin being taken up by every living creature on the flood plain. Taking a page out of the tobacco industry hand book, Dow's PR machine continues to manufacture debate and create uncertainty about the toxicity of dioxin to neutralize public opinion. And under the guise of "uncertainty" public officials are given a place to retreat and not take a position.
    4 min
  • GL05 Fish Advisory Dow Dioxin
    GL05 Fish Advisory Dow Dioxin - Dow Chemical's dioxin contamination from its world headquarters in Midland, MI. For decades Dow Chemical has used the Tittabawassee River for a sewer. In geographic proportions this site is enormous. 52 miles of river , the Tittabawassee and Saginaw leading out to Lake Huron, thousands of acres of floodplain and properties through several communities. A study done by the Michigan Department of Community Health highlights the environmental justice issue of this contamination. The less educated people are, people of color, migrant workers and indigent residents are more likely to eat the fish from these waters as well as eating the fish most contaminated. In the summer of 2006 Lone Tree Council and a number of state wide groups and citizens petitioned the federal government (CDC) for a Health Consultation. We are awaiting a determination. The MDCH Fish Consumption Study can be viewed at
    http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/FCS_Final_rpt_061407_199288_7.pdf
    4 min
  • KM03 Repetition of a Lie
    Agribusiness repeatedly claim that the complaints and lawsuits about the stink from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are coming from urban and suburban folks who have moved to the country and don't like the smells. This is nothing more than a lie - the complaints and lawsuits come from long time rural residents and farmers. Here is the address to Ken Midkiff's website: http://www.kmidkiff.com
    9 min
  • KM02 Feeding at the Public Trough
    While family farmers are perfectly capable of "feeding the world", most of the government largess flows to Corporate agribusinesses - millions of dollars in subsidies and grants. Consumers have become convinced that factory farms are a necessity This is not at all true, but rather is the hype spewed out by agribusinesses' hacks, lackey, lobbyists, and marketing gurus. Here is the address to his website: http://www.kmidkiff.com
    10 min
  • KM01 CAFO 101
    An introduction to CAFOs (CAFO "101"); issues in common; how operations differ for hogs, broiler chickens, laying hens, dairy cows, and beef feedlots; and how all are similar in air and water pollution.
    10 min

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Water Environment: Lakes, Rivers, Oceans, Seas, Groundwater, Wells - Water Conservation, Water Sustainability, Water Preservation, Water Ecology, and other H2O Environmental Issues