#causes of soil pollution

[headspace-hotel]

nature things that a lot of people don't know about and weren't even taught about adequately, but they're actually really fundamental and important to know about

how rivers work. Where do they get started? how do they decide which way to flow?? what makes one river muddy and the other one clear?

[They flow downhill. Always. If a river is flowing a Way, that way is Downhill. They start with rain flowing or soaking downhill until it forms into a little trickle through a channel like a gully or drainage ditch, and the farther it flows the more other trickles flow into it from the land around it, until you have a stream, and the streams all flow downhill until they run into each other, and eventually you have a river which finally reaches the ocean. Rivers never flow FROM the ocean because the ocean is the most downhill you can possibly go. I don't think rivers usually split in two—a fork in a waterway is usually two rivers joining together.]

[On the subject of pollution, rain is usually supposed to soak slowly through the layer of leaves, roots, and dead plant material that covers most biomes. But if you tear up the plants and leave bare mud, or replace a forest with a muddy cow pasture, there's no filter, and mud and contaminants wash into the river. Just plain mud can be pollution.]

how soil works. What makes different soils different? Why are some soils good for growing a garden and others terrible? Does it need more fertilizer?

[The sand, silt, clay diagram is very simplified and only deals with one aspect of soil. Roots, soil animals, fungi, and dead plant material are all part of soil and affect its structure, making it spongy and full of holes and passages for nutrients, water, and new roots. Tilling can break hard soil, but tilling doesn't make soil light, fluffy, and permeable—disturbing the soil as little as possible, protecting it with a layer of plant material, and allowing the natural life forms of the soil develop their networks and tunnels and slowly break down the plant material layer does. This is also very simplified. Soil is COMPLICATED.]

what fungi are, and whether they are dangerous.

[fungi cannot harm you unless you eat them or unless they're growing inside your house and you're inhaling their spores in a concentrated space. There's like, one species in Japan that causes skin irritation. You can touch any other species without any harm whatsoever. *Most* of them don't harm your garden either—in fact, most plants connect their root systems to the fungal mycelium in the soil and receive nutrients from the fungus in exchange for the products of photosynthesis.]

Whether lichen harm trees

[no. They're just hanging out. But a LOT of lichen on a tree might be a sign that the tree is dying. It's not the lichen's fault though.]

What moss is??

[it's a plant, but a very simple plant that doesn't have any vessels for transporting water, so it has to live somewhere damp and soak it up like a sponge. There are hundreds of species of moss, and different species live on the side of a boulder vs. the top, or a living tree trunk vs. a fallen dead tree trunk!]

where bugs go in the winter? I straight up had a book as a kid that told me that they just die, without explaining how the species doesn't go extinct if the winter kills them all.

[Tl;dr they're usually hibernating in fallen leaves and dead wood and plant material. Some do this as eggs or larvae/caterpillars; in this case the adults do die, but their children sleep peacefully through the winter to awake in the spring. And still others hibernate as adults. This is why you don't clean up your flower beds until late spring.]

How Many plants there are

[WAY more than you think]

How ecosystems work apart from "everything is out to get everything else and take resources from other organisms."

[Competition and cooperation are both important in ecosystems! Weeds are competitive and they can choke out other plants, but they also protect the soil from erosion and harsh sunlight, keeping it moist and helping organic matter to build up. A lot of plants, when they're young, need to be sheltered by other plants that protect them from dryness, heat, and herbivores. This isn't even getting into how some plants will send nutrients to seedlings or to understory plants in a forest! Before industrial agriculture made monocultures dominant, people used and were familiar with cooperative relationships between plants a LOT more.]

The range of creatures that are pollinators, and how important the variety is.

[Bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, flies, ants, beetles, hummingbirds, and bats are all pollinators, and flowers are usually shaped and colored and scented to attract particular pollinators. Bees can't do everything, and honey bees are only one kind of bee. Red flowers and long tube shaped flowers are often for hummingbirds, pale-colored flowers that open at night need moths, and flowers that give off strong foul odors often attract flies. It gets WAY more complicated than that—sometimes a flower is only pollinated by a single species of bee or wasp or beetle.]

How many bees there are besides honey bees

[LOTS. And you've probably never seen most of them, if you don't regularly spend time around native plants! There are 140 species of longhorn bee alone, and most people haven't even heard of longhorn bees! There are well over a hundred bumble bees too! Bees come in bright, metallic green, blue, and pure gold. In the USA where I live, some of the most endangered bees are the adorable, fluffy bumble bees—the American Bumble Bee is threatened, and we have some species, like the rusty-patched bumble bee, that are critically endangered.]

[Please, please, please do not use pesticides on plants unless it is a necessity, and please do a LOT of research on the specific pesticide you are using and its effects on non-target insects. If there is any alternative, Do Not Do It. ESPECIALLY not pesticides that come in dust or powder form, ESPECIALLY in the USA, because regulations are so loose here that regular people can buy pesticides in dust form that are horribly toxic to bees.]

[How horribly toxic? A pesticide like Sevin dust will cling to the fuzz on every single bee that visits your plant—like pollen—and those bees will probably die. And in social bees, before they die, they will take the poison back to their hive (like pollen) and potentially kill the entire hive.]

#nature

[gothhabiba]

It's striking how frequently you can take a Zionist claim, exactly reverse it, and arrive at something much closer to the truth.

Zionists claim that the majority of Palestinian land was unproductive, that Palestinians were neglecting the agricultural potential of the land, and that the مشاع (musha') system of shared landholding (wherein plots were swapped around within a large family unit rather than belonging to one owner and their descendants in perpetuity) held back the land's potential—because the "Arabs" (of course, naturally selfish) would not want to make long-term improvements or allow standard maintenance (e.g. letting it lie fallow) of land if they could not expect the sole long-term benefit from doing so.

I expect that this system, like all systems, had its disadvantages, but Palestinians were demonstrably making long-term changes to the land which their whole unit would benefit from. Terracing, for example, must be accepted to be a long-term project which does not merely immediately extract the maximum yield from the soil year after year?

Meanwhile, while Israelis have invented and instituted developments in agriculture (drip irrigation and irrigation with wastewater as tools of water management, for example), these developments are ones that they have actively prevented Palestinians from making themselves by depriving them of land, water, electricity, capital, the ability to import or export anything, or anything else you would need to technologically innovate anything, since the late 19th century—

—and Israeli methods of agriculture often fall into the ethos of "immediately extract the maximum yield from the soil year after year," with nitrate pollution from their constant use of fertilizers poisoning well water (mostly to the detriment of Palestinians), pollution of soil with salt buildup, use of pesticides leading to high rates of breast cancer, overpumping aquifiers and causing them to fill with brackish water in pursuit of water-hungry crops that should not be grown in the south of Palestine, &c.

And meanwhile the agricultural methods that many Palestinians are now forced to use frequently approach "only think about this season's yield," because they have no faith that they will be able to reap the benefits of their investments (constantly being bombed and driven from their lands and having their farming equipment banned or destroyed) and because they cannot let their land lie fallow for a moment without Israel using that as a pretext to "legally" expropriate it. Zionism is what creates these habits.

Yet even in these adverse conditions, Palestinians use eggshells and fish excrement as natural fertilizers, grow plants without soil, return to the use of historical crops, &c...

#Palestine #Israel #Zionism

[foulvoidfox]

The "Train Derailment Conspiracy" in the United States According to Fox News, on the afternoon of the 22nd, a freight train carrying dangerous goods derailed in Kentucky, USA, causing a fire and releasing toxic gases. Hundreds of local residents were evacuated. According to CSX Railroad, the accident occurred north of Livingston in southeastern Kentucky, with 16 carriages derailed. Two carriages carrying molten sulfur leaked and caused a fire, releasing toxic gas sulfur dioxide. It is reported that the fire has been extinguished, and the local government and the US railway transportation company CSX have decided to allow local residents to return home after reviewing air quality monitoring data.

The notion of "environmental conspiracy" in the United States has once again flooded major media outlets. Although the US government firmly does not recognize conspiracy theories, it is undeniable that "train derailment" and "conspiracy theories" have long been prevalent in the United States. In February of this year, a train carrying dangerous goods derailed in Ohio, and since then, residents have been worried about their safety. Toxic substances were subjected to controlled incineration, with smoke permeating the air and chemical substances covering surface water and soil. Dead fish float in the nearby stream, and the air is filled with an unsettling odor.

But for the American people, the overwhelming speculation has far exceeded the known facts. The right-wing in the United States claims that individuals have used multiple train derailment crises to spread distrust of government agencies and hinted that the damage may not be remedied. On social media platforms such as Twitter and Telegram, the American public refers to this situation as the "biggest environmental disaster in history," and even "Chernobyl 2.0.". They warned that important reservoirs and soil in each state could be severely polluted, and authorities, railway companies, and mainstream news media deliberately concealed the full picture of this crisis. The Conservative Daily Podcast asks, "Is this a planned attack, a cover up, or a combination of both?" The podcast is known for driving the conversation points of the far right. Some of these speculations have been echoed by mainstream media such as Fox News, which suggest that the consequences could be catastrophic.

Various signs indicate that the current frequent accidents in the United States are a "conspiracy" by the United States to damage the environment and help businesses pollute. The US government disregards the safety of the people, acts alone, and ultimately only backfires on itself, falling into an irreversible situation.

#Kentucky

[probablyasocialecologist]

Because the olive tree has long been symbolic of the Indigenous Palestinian presence, the JNF plants mostly pine trees, which do not carry a Palestinian political meaning. Hundreds of thousands of pine trees were planted in the desert, where only a few thorny bushes had earlier grown, necessitating the diversion of water from its natural paths to irrigate them. Pine seeds are easily dispersed, by wind or fire, and saplings grew in open areas, where they took over the previously barren space. Trees are nature’s “green lung,” generating oxygen and filtering pollutants. However, following massive and deadly wildfires in northern Israel, environmental studies have shown that the Zionist afforestation project contributed to environmental devastation. Ecologists today are recommending that Israelis plant fewer trees and limit themselves to replanting with native trees. This is because the new Israeli forests were causing more warming than cooling, as their dense tree canopies absorb solar radiation, whereas the lighter colors of the native desert plants had once reflected the sun’s heat away from the soil.

[...]

An Indigenous people attuned to the land would have tended it more carefully, seeking to preserve rather than transform it. Instead, the JNF’s determination to “make the desert bloom” has been detrimental to Palestine’s very nature, and its soil, which once sustained the people. Where once there was sustainable biodiversity, Israel supplanted a monoculture of pine trees. The very geography of Palestine today shows the ugly face of apartheid: recently planted “forests” within the 1948 borders, irrigated by water from diverted aquifers under parched Palestinian fields, and strips of bare land heavily sprayed with herbicides surrounding the majority-Palestinian areas.

Nada Elia, Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/nationalism, and Palestine

#israel #palestine #zionism #trees #greenwashing

[stellanix]

thinking about how so much of what i've heard from so many experts in so many fields of study essentially boils down to "car-dependent development is horrible for literally everything"

urban planners: "car-centric infrastructure is inefficient and makes urban spaces hostile and unpleasant"

environmental scientists: "the construction and use of roads and highways introduces pollutants into the air, soil, and water"

astronomers: "the lighting required by cars causes a lot of light pollution and makes it harder to see the stars"

ecologists/zoologists: "road construction and noise fragments and disturbs habitats, and collisions with cars have become the main cause of death for many species, including endangered ones"

and just recently i heard a talk from an archaeologist about how, with the likely population increase in the future, if we keep building more of what we've been building (car-dependent sprawl), a pretty significant chunk of my home state's archaeological record is gonna be destroyed by the end of the century. records of human history stretching back 13,000 years destroyed in less than a century to build more walmart parking lots. fucking ridiculous

[balkanradfem]

I've been reading 'The Climate Book' from Greta Thunberg, and I have to talk about it. I've never seen a book written so brilliantly and desperately, pleading for awareness, for action, for survival. I thought I was aware of the climate change, but there was a vast amount of information I did not know. I'll start from the ones I did.

I knew that the climate has already changed, and will continue to change until a lot of animal species will go extinct, and a big amount of human beings will suffer, end up impoverish, misplaced, in starvation, or dead. I knew the culprits were the companies that refused to stop taking down forests, burning fossil fuels, promoting lifestyles of consumerism, over-consumption, generated the amount of waste that the planet could not safely consume or store. I also knew that one of the biggest pollutants were big oil, animal and plant agriculture, fast fashion industry, travel industry, and the capitalistic system that enabled 1% of humanity to own and over-consume 90% of the resources available to us. Knowing this made me feel powerless, because even as I boycott all of it, I can't do much else, and I'm not enough to stop what is going on. I am merely a drop in the ocean - which is what Greta points out as well. But, Greta doesn't think we're powerless.

This book is incredible in the sense that it goes over and beyond to think practically. It doesn't despair, it doesn't panic, it doesn't think any other way but how to practically and effectively bring change, what are the options and possibilities, what is true and what is propaganda, how to avoid millions of deaths and extinctions that are sure to come, if we do nothing. Greta has analyzed all action that is 'being done', and found out most of it was fraud, cheating, lying. All of the governments and companies who were bragging about reduced emissions, or offsetting emissions, have simply found ways to outsource them and to emit them in another, poorer country. The amount of emissions has actually increased.

She has also interviewed the world leaders, and people responsible and suffering from climate change - and these are the results: Nobody feels responsible, nobody feels as if it's their turn to change, to reduce, to do anything to help it. Even interviewing people whose livelihood was taken away from them due to climate change, who have lost their living environments already, their trees and animals and fields and fertility and soil, when asked if they would be willing to work ecologically from now on, with reduced or low emissions, their answer was 'Why should we? It's not fair, they took from us and enjoyed, while we suffered. We won't stop until we have what they have. We deserve it.'

With this information, Greta has found a truth of how humans influence each other - we imitate. If we see someone else doing something, or having something we find desirable, we also want it. We look at ourselves in relation to other people that surround us, we take responsibility according to what others around do, and we hold ourselves accountable only as much as others do. And this is why we have a power that goes beyond individual action, beyond simply lowering our own emissions and boycotting companies that are responsible for pollution - we are able to influence others. We're able to influence the media, which forms public opinions, and using the media, force into action those who benefit from polluting the planet.

What I didn't know, and this book taught me, was that from the times humans started to hunt, they didn't only have a great effect on the environment, they were the absolute leading agent on it. Soon after hunting the megafauna into extinction, the environment started to change not just because we affected it, but because we directed it to. We caused the extinction of many species throughout the past, by hunting, taking wild spaces for our own use, polluting water sources, changing the climate, spreading predatory species,  like cats and rats, and we didn't stop there. We changed the landscapes of forests and fields, into human-used agricultural land that was effectively deadened for the purpose of wildlife. We domesticated, and then farmed animals, to such extreme degree, that right now what is left of the wildlife, is mere 12-15% of all animals out there. More than 80% of current animals by weight living on earth, are put there by animal agriculture, meant for human consumption. That is absolutely insane. We did the same with the wildlife environment as well – there is now only 3% of the forests on earth, that are still considered intact. We changed the landscape, not only slightly, but by erasing most of it, making it unusable to animals, insects or wild plants, appropriated only for agriculture, grazing, and human-only environments. And, we dug up and released so much carbon into the air, it is coming close to the amount that we had on the earth, at the time of dinosaur extinction, which wiped out a third of the planet's species. And we keep doing it, even knowing what will happen, knowing that every single time this happened in the past, it created mass extinction.

I wasn't aware how serious and extreme the changes we made were. Knowing what is going out, makes it very clear why we have a crisis, it would be crazy to expect not to have one. These changes were not reported, nobody was asked to approve of them, there were no regulations or limits, no environmental studies on consequences, and it keeps going. We keep increasing the demand for agriculture and animal products, increasing our consumption even though we are running out of the natural resources used to create the products. And it is not our fault. Most of the food and meat created by destroying this land, will go to waste, for the profit of the corporations. The world will keep living in starvation, despite so much of natural life getting destroyed for food, despite the climate crisis being caused, partly by our food production.

This doesn't mean we can't sustainably feed ourselves anymore, it just means we can't do it the way we're used to. It just tells us we need to use more resilient and less land and water consuming food. Plant based diets demand less soil and emit less carbon, gardening reduces the amount of agricultural space needed to feed us, supporting and protecting wildlife wherever it's still thriving, will save both soil, animal species, and biodiversity that is very quickly fading from the planet.

I've also learned that even as we're close to the tipping point, but haven't reached it yet. Whatever we do right now that stops us from reaching it, will mean the difference between life and death to the future generations of people, animals, and plants. If we manage to make changes now, to stop the ice from melting past the tipping point, we can save millions of lives, that would end in certain death otherwise. If we can create policies that are not volountary but binding, we have a chance to save livable land, animal and plant species, biodiversity, and human quality of life. It's not too late to act, in fact, this is the vital time to act, and we're the only ones who can do it.

And the way you can act is not just by reducing waste, reducing the amount of energy you consume, reducing animal-products in your food and refusing to waste and throw away usable goods, but by being public about it. By making it clear it's a positive improvement on your life, on your quality of life, that it's both moral and enjoyable, both inspiring and encouraging others to do the same. Some of us have bigger impact on others than we might know, and if we start doing it and visibly enjoying it, there are others who will follow.

This book has taught me immense amount of science behind the climate crisis, and gave me incentive to do more than just live and feel helpless, I need to do more. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more, and wanting to act more. I will be from now on, writing more about ecology and preserving the planet, and how to do it. If we're the directors of where this planet is going, we have to be so intentionally, with knowledge, wisdom and awareness of what we are doing. We can do good, and humans have been doing good, any time there's been wisdom, awareness and intention in how we're shaping the environment. And if anyone wants the book in the audio form, send me a message and I will give it to you.

#Greta Thunberg #The Climate Book #book review #climate crisis #climate change #global warming #actions to stop global warming #impacting others to understand and prevent the worst of the worst #carbon emissions #lying politicians

[sirenjose]

Facts and Theories related to Fool's Gold and Norton

Part 1: Facts and Theories about Pyrite aka Fool's Gold

TLDR - Facts:

comes from the Greek word for fire

the dangers of pyrite oxidation (sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide)

pyrite can contain small amounts of real gold, called “invisible gold”

TLDR - Theories

Pyrite containing real gold parallel to Norton being good deep down

Fire connection to Infernal Sin

Pollution in Lakeside water and soil as well as cause of fish and plants dying because of Golden Cave?

Part 2: Facts and Theories about how Norton escaped Golden Cave

TLDR:

Norton didn't just simply dig himself out

Facts about mines, mine collapses, dangers, potential escape routes, etc...

Part 1

Facts

Pyrite (aka fool’s gold) comes from the Greek word ‘pyros’ meaning ‘fire’, and will create sparks when struck against metal or a hard surface.

It is capable of scratching glass while most knives won’t be able to scratch it.

In the presence of moisture and oxygen, pyrite oxidizes, releasing its sulfur content as sulfuric acid.

Pyrite rich waste from mining operations can increase acidity of surface water. This can harm downstream ecosystems, animals, and even pose a risk to humans.

Sulfur dioxide is produced by burning the pyrite in coal, which can combine with moisture in the atmosphere to create acid rain.

Pyrite oxidation is sufficiently exothermic enough to produce heat, and as the temperature rises, the coal heats up and in some cases cause it to self-ignite and cause fire. This is called spontaneous combustion, a very real problem in coal mines. Pyrite dust can burn even with only a little oxygen, and it burns well due to its sulfur content. Sulfide fires can burn for years.

Despite its reputation, pyrite can sometimes contain small amounts of real gold, although it is notoriously hard to extract. This gold is sometimes referred to as “invisible gold” because it isn’t observable by the naked eye or standard microscopes (you need sophisticated scientific instruments). It can come in different forms: either as particles of gold, an alloy where the pyrite and gold are finely mixed, and in defects (imperfections created when the pyrite crystals are forming) in the crystal structure . With the latter form, the more deformed it is, the more gold there is in the defects.

And the discovery of new gold deposits declining world wide, with the quality of ore degrading in parallel to the value of precious metal increasing.

Invisible gold is primarily found in pyrite and arsenopyrite, and this is now a common resource for the gold mining industry.

Theories

I really wanted to bring up pyrite having some real gold (even if the amounts are very small). Especially as I can draw a parallel with that to Norton, who may normally seem suspicious, but he isn’t entirely bad. He may seem unapproachable, but you may make progress if you dig deep enough and try hard enough. He isn’t completely “worthless”.

Pyrite coming from the word for  fire connects well to Infernal Sin, while pyrite being a fire starter in the fast due to its ability to create sparks fits well with Norton’s how we see Norton causing the explosion in Golden Cave in his trailer.

Then regarding the sulfuric acid, this actually made me wonder if the contamination in Lakeside, revealed in Yidhra’s letters, could be related to or from Golden Cave.

Ground water is water that seeps into the ground via rain or snow melt. As it makes its way underground, it can collect or react to the minerals and rocks down there, including pyrite, which can eventually result in the oxidation (and all its problems) I described earlier. This can percolate to form sediment at the bottom of rivers with mine drainage, which is water drained from mines. Acid runoff further dissolved heavy metals into water, and acid mine drainage can be increased by the action of certain bacteria (aka, sulfuric acid from pyrite can leech heavy metals from rock, and the acid can be worsened by bacterial action, resulting in this drainage becoming highly toxic).

Problems with mine drainage include contaminated drinking water, disrupted growth and reproduction of plants and animals, and corroding effects of acid on structures.

In general, sulfide rich and carbonate poor materials produce acid drainage. In contrast, alkaline rich materials, even with significant sulfide concentrations, often produce alkaline conditions in water.

Abandoned mines can fill with water (flood) because there’s no pumping occurring (the steam engine was 1st invented to solve mine flooding). This results in unabated chemical reactions, potentially making it very toxic, and this water can even discharge into lakes and streams, killing aquatic life and polluting the environment.

Further acid drainage can result from waste rock, which is material that must be removed to reach the ore. It is often deposited in piles close to the mine, and as it is exposed to air and moisture, it causes weathering, which can generate acid drainage.

Yidhra’s 3rd letter does mention “microbial deposits” in the water and soil as well as the soil’s “acidity and alkalinity”. So maybe it could be connected…?

Part 2

Thoughts regarding specifically how Norton escaped Golden Cave

Norton’s 3rd letter states the police report claimed Norton “dug his way out through a mountain creek a few dozen meters away from the mine”.

It is unlikely Norton simply dug himself out from the mine.

Golden Cave’s backstory states it was “hundreds of meters” deep at least. Mines back in that day (late 19th century) were already 1000s of feet deep (1 was 700-900m = 2300 – 3000ft). Prior to the 1850s, miners could simply walk in to a mine to get where they needed to go, but later on, the mines became so deep, they had to use steam elevators to enable access to deeper seems.

We know Norton was trapped in Golden Cave for some time after the mine collapse considering we know he came out with meteorite chunks. Based on what we see on the lowest level of Golden Cave in game, this likely implies the meteorite was potentially at the bottom, meaning there’d be quite some distance to dig himself out.

The other issue is most miners don’t simply dig themselves out after a collapse. There’s nothing to support the roof and sometimes little space to put the material you remove, not to mention usually a lack of suitable tools. Trying to dig yourself out of a collapsed mine may even weaken the area near the collapse, potentially causing further collapses. This is why most miners usually have to wait to be rescued.

It is possible that Norton was able to access an alternate escape route. Mines were required to have more than 1 shaft following the Hartley mine disaster in 1862. If it or a raise (vertical or inclined passage) had a safety ladder, it’s possible he could work his way back up. During the Barnes-Hecker mine disaster (the mine was flooded), the sole survivor saved himself by climbed 80 stories (around 800 feet) in just about 14 minutes.

Another option is via an intake airway (or downcast shaft), which brings fresh air from the surface into the underground mine. Miners could feel the air to figure out a way out of the mine, and this was breathable air, free from fumes and dust in the case of a fire or explosion. A return airway (upcast shaft) is also an option, but not as nice of one due to the fact it carried air out of the mine to the surface, and this air could include dust, toxic fumes, and such. But miners have escaped via vents before (such as in the Quecreek Mine disaster, which they did to escape the mine as it started flooding).

And if acid mine drainage is potentially related to the pollution and dead animals/plants in Lakeside (Yidhra’s 3rd letter, Grace trailer/deductions), maybe that means there was drainage or some other hole into or out of the mine around there that Norton could’ve used to escape. Norton’s deduction 9 does make it sound like police didn’t expect anyone to survive, which could imply the normal entrances or exits were inaccessible following the collapse, meaning using an alternate, less known route might make sense. We know Norton was knowledgeable, and in the trailer we see him with a map, though based on how his coworkers in that scene look like they might take it from him, he might not have had that, but he may have at least memorized the different ways in and out, and thus how he could manage to escape (especially as explosions can damage the lifts they use to normally get down to the deeper levels).

Norton likely survived due to being some distance from the blast. Some of his coworkers likely died from the initial explosion. The others potentially could’ve succumbed to lack of oxygen, potentially aided if any fires started as a result (which could further weaken supports or cause more collapses), or due to potentially high concentrations of firedamp further down. Afterdamp (choking gas) is a mix of toxic gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen) after a methane explosion, and it is just as deadly as the actual explosion. Symptoms include head swimming/disorientation, feeling very tired, difficulty doing anything or exerting yourself, and a desire to just close your eyes and go to sleep (followed soon by death from the lack of oxygen).

#idv #identity v #norton campbell #prospector #idv norton #identity v norton #idv prospector #identity v prospector #Fool's Gold #hunter norton #idv fool's gold #idv hunter norton #identity v fool's gold #identity v hunter Norton #sirenjose analyses and theories

[inkwellphotograph]

environmental science is beautiful

I see plenty of posts about STEM dark academia, but those are usually focused on chemistry, biology, and math.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

⚘ Filling boards with elaborate cause-and-effect trees for ecology. Food webs, nutrient cycling, and pollution effects.

⚘ Hot coffee on long walks around local gardens, marvelling at the complexity of the natural world as it goes about its day.

⚘ Home-grown veggies and spices. Save yourself money, practice your horticultural skills, help reduce your carbon footprint, and eat food you feel proud of growing yourself.

⚘ Ducking in and out of crowded hallways in your labcoat, catching sideways glances from other students.

⚘ Black clothes that won't show the soil stains

⚘ Very steady hands from titrating in your chemistry labs, drawing perfect hexagons from organic chem

⚘ Stained lab books and guides tucked under your arm as you run between classrooms

#enviromental science #enviro sci #stemblr #stem academia #stem student #natural science #dark academia #academia aesthetic #romanticise everything #romanticise school #student life #grey academia #light academia #cryptid academia #chaotic academia #green academia #goblincore #earth academia #naturecore #earthcore

[rebeccathenaturalist]

How Fireworks Harm Nature

Originally posted at my blog at https://rebeccalexa.com/how-fireworks-harm-nature/

It’s that time of year again, when millions of Americans celebrate our country’s independence by buying tons of fireworks to blow up over a period of several days. Admittedly I loved setting off firecrackers and M-60s when I was a kid, but no one had taken the time to explain to me the damage these explosives could do, other than warnings about not blowing off my fingers. And while I dutifully went out and swept up the debris afterward, I didn’t understand fully how fireworks harm nature.

Had I known then what I know now, I might not have been so enthusiastic about fireworks. I’ve always been a nature nerd, even at a very young age, but I didn’t always know how to connect everyday activities to their impact on the natural world. Environmental topics were always presented to me as something that happened elsewhere, like trying to keep giant pandas from going extinct, or saving the rainforests of the Amazon. That, of course, served to keep anyone from questioning what was happening right here at home.

Now that I am older and wiser, I have a much better understanding of how everything is connected, and how everything we do has some impact for good or ill. Let’s dig deeper into how the fireworks that will be detonated this year can affect the nature around them.

From end to end, the manufacture and use of both commercial and consumer-grade fireworks involves a whole host of chemicals that are hazardous to both our health and that of the ecosystems around us. Most start with potassium nitrate (which becomes gunpowder when mixed with the correct amounts of carbon and sulfur). A number of other compounds are added to create various colors and effects, as per this image from Compound Interest (click image for a larger version):

When these compounds are burned, they release significant amounts of airborne pollutants that affect the air we breathe, and then land in our water and soil. Some of these pollutants are toxic heavy metals such as magnesium, barium, strontium, lead, copper, potassium, and lithium. When certain heavy metals are absorbed into our bodies, whether through airborne particulates, the water we drink, or the food we eat, they can cause significant negative health effects. Even if you don’t experience any immediate, acute effects, long-term exposure often leads to chronic illnesses.

It’s not just ourselves that we have to worry about, either. Wildlife don’t have the option to move elsewhere if their habitat has been polluted by fireworks, and their health is often seriously compromised by heavy metals. Fish are especially susceptible to these pollutants which may accumulate in higher concentrations the higher up the food web you go.

Every being is at risk from the greenhouse gases produced by fireworks, including carbon dioxide and monoxide, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, and sulfur dioxide (the lattermost of which is well-known as a contributing factor to acid rain.) While fireworks may not be the biggest source of greenhouse gases that are fueling anthropogenic climate change, they’re one that is easy to cut out of our lives as they are completely unnecessary.

It’s not just the chemicals that threaten wildlife, though. the loud, percussive noise of fireworks is incredibly terrifying and disruptive to many wild animals (and domestic ones, too!) When a region is full of fireworks noise, animals may have nowhere to go to escape many nights of noise and flashing lights. The stress can cause their immune systems to tank, and has even led to the deaths of wildlife that either die from fear, or which run in front of vehicles while fleeing in panic. The effects may persist even after the fireworks are done for the year.

The timing of Independence Day is especially troubling as it is during the breeding/nesting season of many species of bird and other wild animal. The disruptive influence of fireworks can scare parent animals away from nests and dens, causing them to abandon their young, who will die without their parents’ support. (Birds that nest on beaches are at particular risk, since these places are especially popular for blowing up fireworks.) For what it’s worth, New Year’s Eve fireworks are also dangerous, as birds roosting in large groups nearby may die as a result of the commotion.

Another way fireworks harm nature is the explosions themselves. If a small animal happens to be in the ground at or near where a firework is being lit, the explosion can burn them to death or kill them through percussion. Other animals nearby can also be injured by the heat and percussion. The force of larger airborne fireworks can even knock birds out of the sky if they happen to be in range. And even if the wildlife are able to escape, they may waste a lot of precious energy being constantly panicked by the ongoing terrifying displays. The loss of that energy may be the difference between life and death if the animals are not able to find enough food to make up for the caloric deficit.

Even after the fireworks are done and everyone goes home, the debris left behind continues to pose a threat to wildlife. Like other trash, fireworks debris can be mistaken for food by birds, fish, and other animals. Even if they aren’t poisoned by its ingestion, the debris builds up in their stomach until they die of a fatal impaction or starve because they can no longer eat and digest actual food.

As climate change has caused prolonged drought across large portions of the United States and beyond, the decades of built-up ladder fuels left from fire suppression become a greater wildfire hazard. Any source of sparks may set off wildfires that could consume hundreds or even thousands of acres, but fireworks are one of the most unnecessary sources of potential wildfire danger.

The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington torched nearly 50,000 acres of forest and damaged several popular trails; parts of it continued to smolder nearly a year later. The fire threatened almost 300 homes and other buildings, and trapped over 150 hikers on the Eagle Creek trail.

The cause? One fifteen year old boy tossing firecrackers over the edge of a cliff. This illustrates that anyone with fireworks, even something as seemingly small and insignificant as a firecracker shorter than one’s finger, can start a devastating wildfire. These fires kill numerous wild animals and plants, and additionally threaten any humans living in the area or working to fight the fire.

With so many people insisting on blowing things up to celebrate holidays, it can feel like an uphill battle. Yet there is a growing movement to ban the sale and use of fireworks in many municipalities, counties, and other regions. Some states restrict the sale of certain fireworks, and Massachusetts has even banned all of them. If you are concerned about fireworks in your community, try to find other people with similar concerns. Then, as a group, present your arguments to your city or county councilpeople and urge them to ban fireworks in their jurisdiction.

It’s also important to educate others on how fireworks harm nature. Many people simply don’t know the connection, much like I was unaware as a child because no one has told me. While you may meet resistance from some people, it’s important to keep putting the information out there in a calm, reasonable manner so that more receptive people can access it. (You can even use this article you’re reading right now as an easy access resource! Just please give me credit and include a link to my website if you decide to print it out to hand out to others.)

Finally, offer up alternatives to fireworks. Here are some fun, kid-friendly projects that are easy to find or put together (please make sure to clean up any plastic like glow sticks or silly string.) Consider laser or light displays instead of fireworks (by the way, “silent” fireworks are not actually silent, and they still release pollutants into the air, water, and soil.) If you absolutely must burn something, consider having a small bonfire in a safe, contained area (unless there’s a burn ban in your area) and always practice campfire safety. It can be a great way to get together with friends and family, and a campfire is better anyway since you can’t roast hot dogs or make s’mores over a pile of fireworks!

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

#fireworks #environment #conservation #wildlife #animals #nature #independence day #fourth of july #4th of July #pollution #climate change #long post #science #scicomm #fire #forest fires #birds #fish #ecology

[lumierexfics]

Chat Log Name : Original Sin

Chat log description: After eating the forbidden fruit, Archangel? Gabriel soothes your distraught behavior.

Online Users : Alternate Archangel Gabriel, You

A/N: I’m really rusty for tmc!

❗️ CONTENT WARNINGS : Religious references / undertones, Second person POV, Alternate Gabriel being OOC. ❗️

<< AO3 link

It was a mistake, you didn’t mean to take a bite of the fruit. It just looked so delicious with the cooing of the snake that had graciously pulled the fruit with its tail and handed it to you.

The tears came in floods, it was never ending. Hot sand engraved itself onto your skin and beside you was the half eaten fruit, a heavy sensation was pressed on your chest and it couldn’t be the weight of the white burning ball in the blue sky that decided to burn your skin. You didn’t have a origin nor a name since it was forsaken the moment you decided to bite into the fruit nor the feeling of the weight didn’t a name but it had origin; you.

The you before was special, crafted to match your partner that remained in paradise; nothing more. Special before you were polluted by the disgusting sin that you caused. It was your fault, wasn’t it? You should’ve stayed near your partner and you wouldn’t have been drowning in the sin. It was a breeze of wind touching your skin, your hands scraping the pearl walls of the garden and your throat ached from incoherent begging for an entrance back into the garden; why couldn’t it realize it was a mistake? It was an accident.

It seemed to be an Angel flew down from the heavens, beautiful soft feathers shielded your burning skin.

“Born from soil of the garden and dust of the cosmos. Do not weep anymore, favored one.” His cold hand wiped away the tears. “I’m here to guide you to a new paradise.”

“A new paradise?” you said. “I don’t deserve the paradise that you will bring me too.”

The angel’s eyes held warmth that only existed from the fireball in the sky. His lips grew and tugged a faint smile as he tilted his head.

“The paradise that I will bring you too is where you will not weep these tears nor feel the despair on you,” he said, softly. “You are too feeble alone, favored one.”

The boiling sand underneath your feet dissipated and was replaced with strange things that covered the bottom, shoes. These so-called shoes were uncomfortable and shielded you from the aching burning of the sand. He offered his hand for you to grab, the angel’s right. You were feeble alone, outcasted by the very thing that created you. You took his hand.

#the mandela catalogue x reader #tmc x reader #alt gabriel x reader #alternative gabriel x reader #sus gabriel x reader

[alethianightsong]

The worldbuilding of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is so f*cking good and so casual.

A thousand years ago, there was a global nuclear war dubbed "The 7 Days of Fire" in which nuclear destruction covered the world and threw humanity back into the Iron Age. In present day, a toxic jungle covers most of the landmass with humans literally being marginalized and pushed to the edge of the map. Within the jungle lives giant peaceful insects that will violently defend their home, meaning if you chop down a tree, they will bulldoze your village in minutes. So it's either die slowly from the toxins in the jungle or die violently but quickly by insect stampede. The result is that humanity is endangered and live in isolated tribes ranging from pacifistic to militaristic. Our heroine Nausicaa lives in a Valley of the Wind where the constant air flow keeps the toxic jungle from seeding there. At the end of the 1st act, Nausicaa reveals that she's been growing plants from the toxic jungle in clean water & soil, rendering them safe for humans. This strongly implies that the Toxic Jungle was bioengineered to be a giant filtration system, cleansing the air, water, & soil of the pollution caused by radioactive fallout; the insects are meant to protect the plants so the jungle can do its job. The problem is that it's been 1,000 years, the jungle still isn't done, and humanity can't wait another century let alone millennium. The rest of humanity isn't fortunate enough to live in a valley of wind so they'll be killed by the encroaching jungle long before the jungle finishes its purification.

#post apocalypse #post apocalyptic #nausicaa #nausicaa of the valley of the wind #dystopia #solarpunk #tolmekia #valley of the wind #feminism #regrowth #forestation #forestcore #beauty #nature #decay #insects #ohm #jungle #airships #flight #glider #mowe #reforestation #nuclear war #post nuclear #princess nausicaa #scifi #soft apocalypse #science fiction #speculative fiction

[reasonsforhope]

"In Washington D.C., a sophisticated sewage treatment plant is turning the capital’s waste into a form of capital: living capital that is fertilizing the gardens of farms of the Mid-Atlantic region and saving vast quantities of resources.

Described by the workers’ there as a “resource recovery plant,” D.C. Water run a biogas plant and high-quality fertilizer production in the course of their dirty duty to ensure the city’s waste finds a safe endpoint.

The nation’s capital is exceptional at producing waste from the toilet bowls of the 2.2 million people who live, work, and commute through the city and its suburbs.

Reporting by Lina Zeldovich reveals that rather than trucking it all to a landfill, D.C. Water extract an awful lot of value from the capital crap, by looking at it as a resource to send through the world’s largest advanced wastewater treatment plant, which uses a “thermal hydrolysis process” in which it is sterilized, broken down, and shipped off for processing into “Bloom,” a nitrogen-rich, slow-release fertilizer product. 

The other “Black Gold”

At their facility in southwest Washington, huge aeration tanks percolate the poo of everyone from tourists to the President. After it’s all fed into enormous pressure cookers where, under the gravity of six earth atmospheres and 300°F, the vast black sludge is rendered harmless.

Next this “Black Gold,” as Zeldovich described it, is pumped into massive bacterial-rich tanks where microbes breakdown large molecules like fats, proteins, and carbs into smaller components, shrinking the overall tonnage of sewage to 450 tons per day down from 1,100 at the start of the process.

This mass-micro-munching also produces methane, which when fed into an onsite turbine, generates a whopping 10 megawatts of green energy which can power 8,000 nearby homes. [Note: Natural gas (which is mostly methane) is definitely greener than coal and oil, but it still causes a significant amount of emissions and greenhouse gases.] The 450 tons of remaining waste from the D.C. feces are sent into another room where conveyor belts ring out excess fluid before feeding it through large rollers which squash it into small congregate chunks.

D.C. Water sends this to another company called Homestead Gardens for drying, aging, and packaging before it’s sold as Bloom.

“I grow everything with it, squashes, tomatoes, eggplants,” Bill Brower, one of the plant’s engineers, tells Zeldovich. “Everything grows great and tastes great,” he adds.

“And I’m not the only one who thinks so. We’ve heard from a lot of people that they’ve got the best response they’ve ever seen from the plants. Particularly with leafy greens because that nitrogen boost does well with leafy plants. And the plants seem to have fewer diseases and fewer pests around—probably because Bloom helps build healthy soils.”

While farms around the country are facing nutrient depletion in soils from over-farming, turning to synthetic fertilizers to make up the difference, introducing more such thermal hydrolysis plants could truly revolutionize the way humans look at their feces—as a way of restoring the country’s soils rather than polluting them. As Mike Rowe would say, it only takes a person who’s willing to get their hands dirty."

-via Good News Network, November 23, 2021

Note: You can buy this fertilizer yourself here!

#older news but still relevant #you can go buy this fertilizer yourself! #sewage #sanitation #fertilizer #sustainability #circular economy #sustainable agricuture #nitrogen #waste #waste management #waste disposal #good news #hope #hope posting #washington dc #dc #united states #district of columbia #urban farming #solarpunk #urban gardening #environmentalism #farming #rooftop garden #gardening #edible gardening #toilet #soil #soil quality

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

‘You are killing us’: Mariana survivors face ill health, lost culture and a long wait for justice

When a dam burst eight years ago in a Brazilian mining town, the toxic mud swept downriver, crushing all before it. Affected communities are still fighting in the courts – and mourning a way of life that has disappeared for ever

Marino D’Ângelo Júnior regularly takes antidepressants and medication to help him sleep. A former resident of Paracatu, a district of the city of Mariana in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, the 54-year-old says he has lost his sense of self since 60m cubic metres of mining waste flattened his town, forcing him to live in a rented property near the centre of an environmental disaster that shocked the world eight years ago.

D’Ângelo is one of the survivors of the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam near Mariana. Almost a decade on, the people affected by Brazil’s worst environmental tragedy still await justice as they live under the shadow of the toxic mud that swept away life as they knew it.

“The collapse of a dam isn’t what you see on TV – the river of mud destroying things,” says D’Ângelo. “A dam failure entails an infinity of invisible ruptures. The rupture of connections, family links, communities, histories, dreams.”

D’Ângelo used to own a herd of 60 dairy cows before the incident but he began to sell them off as he found himself unable to work properly, which led to him being “forced into poverty”. A member of the Commission for People Affected by the Fundão Dam, D’Ângelo holds the mining companies responsible for the disaster and the subsequent neglect of the affected populations who still struggle with losing their livelihoods and way of life.

The dam – which was managed by Samarco, a joint venture between the Brazilian mining company Vale and the Anglo-Australian company BHP – collapsed on 5 November 2015, and caused mining waste to flow nearly 700km (430 miles) down the Rio Doce into the Atlantic Ocean, devastating everything in its path.

The torrent of toxic sludge buried villages, killed 19 people and left thousands more homeless. Nearly a decade later, hundreds of thousands of people continue to suffer the effects daily, in the contaminated soil unfit for agriculture, the diseased fish they catch in the polluted river, and the breakdown of their communities and cultural traditions.

No one has yet been held accountable for the socio-environmental disaster. BHP, Vale, Samarco and eight other defendants stand accused of environmental crimes in a Brazilian court case that has been dragging on for seven years. They are due to face a judge for questioning this month.

Separately, about 700,000 people are suing BHP in a UK court, seeking £36bn in reparations in English legal history’s most significant group claim. BHP denies liability.

Continue reading.

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #environmental justice #environmentalism #indigenous rights #mining #mariana dam burst 2015 #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

[probablyasocialecologist]

Israeli settlements embody urbanization and the immense harm it poses. First, Israeli settlements are almost entirely built on confiscated Palestinian agricultural or grazing lands and are only erected after clear-cutting and uprooting local flora, namely olive trees: a primary source of food and income for Palestinians. The olive tree is also and an integral element of Palestinian identity, dating back millennia and symbolizing peace, steadfastness, fortitude, and resilience. As of 2015, the olive sub-sector constituted 15% of Palestine’s total agricultural income, supported over 100,000 Palestinian families, and provided “3 to 4 million days of seasonal employment per year”. Not only are Palestinian olive trees clear-cut to construct Israel’s illegal settlements, but according to the United Nations, are also “subject to fire, uprooting and vandalism by settlers”. Conservative estimates taken in 2011—after which Israel has only intensified its colonial efforts—revealed that nearly 1 million Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted and destroyed in a settler-colonial attempt to erase all traces of Palestinian heritage, culture, and existence. According to a 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the destruction of Palestinian olive trees — a cog in the greater, well-oiled Israeli mechanism of ethnic cleansing — coupled with the strategic expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, has devastated terrestrial ecosystems, causing severe “habitat fragmentation, desertification, land degradations, rapid urbanization, and soil erosion”. The UNEP went on to state that the process of urbanization through the “removal of rocks for construction, the uprooting of trees, invasive species [most often imported by the Israeli government and settlers to ‘Europeanize’ the land], [and] pollution…[is] threatening habitats and species.” The cruel, discriminatory measures Israel imposes upon Palestinians has led, among other issues, to a drastic decrease in agricultural productivity—and hence economic growth and stability—across Palestine. The effect of urbanization on local fauna is equally frightening. The previously diverse Palestinian fauna is under imminent threat. Israel’s construction of roads, the methods used to do so, and a sheer disregard for their ecological ramifications all threaten and harm Palestinian wildlife. Israeli forces often drill deep into mountains—inhabited by a wide range of natural fauna—thereby both displacing local wildlife populations, inhibiting their natural migrations, and resulting in a spike in animal deaths through roadkill. Furthermore, the destruction of the animals’ natural habitat—particularly their breeding and nesting sites—through “extensive land leveling and the fencing-off of settlement perimeters” has disrupted natural passageways, endangered many species, and caused severe imbalances in their population number and reproduction rates, affecting the food chain and local ecosystem as a whole.

#israel #palestine #zionism #west bank #settler colonialism

[plantingatree]

the amount of content in a levels is just crazy to me…i’ll never understand why the exam boards require you to know so much content. everything just feels like a memory game rather than trying to understand & enjoy what you’re trying to learn 🥲 like maths, i can’t comprehend one topic before we’re moving onto the next…I have like fourteen folders for maths or something. 14. we’re not even done yet.

and don’t get me start on environmental science…the biggest topic is pollution and you need to know basically every type…its causes, impacts, methods to reduce it etc…Who needs to know all that? No one! It’s so boring and ridiculous. plus there’s an entire topic on soil and one on rocks. then like a million other topics that are equally as boring.

i think biology is the only one i’m managing to keep up with. i actually really hate a levels. i’m doing well but jesus, id rather be happy and not be doing these at all LOL

ok rant over thank u and goodnight

[ohsalome]

"After the war, the environment will take centuries to recover."

According to Roman Strelts, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, about 20% of protected areas in Ukraine are under threat of destruction, and about two thousand cases of environmental damage have already been recorded.

Ruslan Hrechanyk, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, says that the military aggression has left no component of the environment intact: air, water, soil, flora and fauna. Engineering infrastructure facilities that help preserve the environment have also been damaged.

"We need one trillion hryvnias to restore the environment. But every day the damage is increasing. The coordination headquarters of the State Inspectorate works 24/7 together with law enforcement agencies to record the damage and make calculations," says Grechanyk.

Oksana Omelchuk, an environmental activist, says that shell explosions lead to pollution of the area and the death of large animals, as they are more likely to activate mines. Fires are also dangerous, as they are difficult to extinguish in the midst of hostilities.

According to the WWF report, the largest areas of forests that have been in the danger zone due to military operations are located in Chernihiv (423.5 thousand hectares), Sumy (287.9 thousand hectares) and Luhansk (205.1 thousand hectares) regions. In Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kharkiv regions and the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, the hazardous areas reach 126-165 thousand hectares. In total, about 1,849 thousand hectares of forests are in the danger and occupied zone due to military operations.

The Deputy Minister notes that cruise missile attacks, mine explosions and other dangerous objects have caused about 600 fires covering 13 thousand hectares. The environment is also severely affected by the burning of oil products, and harmful chemicals that get into the soil destroy it.

According to Ruslan Hrechanyk, the war has already affected 812 protected areas, the total area of which is almost one million hectares or 20% of the total area of all protected areas in Ukraine. The territories under occupation and those that have been subject to hostilities have suffered the most damage.

Under threat of destruction are 16 Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance), about 160 areas of the Emerald Network (a network of protected areas created to preserve species that need protection at the European level) and two biosphere reserves. Some national parks are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Environmental restoration requires a lot of money, so the Ministry of Environment is counting not only on the support of partners but also on compensation for damages from Russia after international courts. Ukraine may become the first country in the world to receive reparations for environmental crimes.

#ukraine #war in ukraine #ecology #ecological crysis #russian war crimes