#airislife — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #airislife, aggregated by home.social.
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#Maine - New testing identifies elevated #benzene emissions near #SouthPortland tank farms
“You might have been able to do this in the past, but we’re not going to let you do this in the future.”
by Norah Hogan, 4/14/2026
Excerpt: "Long-term exposure to benzene has been linked to dizziness, headaches, blood disorders and cancer.
"Reiner, who has lived near three of the sites for years, was diagnosed with bladder cancer last Thanksgiving. He underwent surgery in December and is now receiving treatment.
" 'The big question is, was it this exposure? You can’t say. But this exposure may have contributed,' he said. 'The more toxins and environmental hazards you encounter in your life, it all adds up. It’s the cumulative effect.'
"Concerns about emissions have persisted for years. Previously, oil companies were allowed to self-monitor their emissions and were subject to stricter regulations only if they reported elevated toxin levels.
"In 2019, #GlobalCompanies LLC entered into a legal settlement that required the installation of new technology to reduce emissions. The company’s benzene levels are now well below state thresholds.
" 'They don’t want to be forced to do something that would be the right thing for everybody,' Reiner said. 'Everybody in America could benefit if oil companies started cleaning their emissions before they leave the tank farms and facilities.' "
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/elevated-benzene-near-south-portland-tank-farms/71016200#MainePol #MaineNews #BenzeneEmissions #AirIsLife #BigOilAndGas #AirPollution #Carcinogenic
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We can't breathe
The Invisible #ClimateChange Effect That Is Most Likely to Kill You
#AirPollution is less dramatic than floods or storms, less inconvenient, and much harder to politicize. It’s also much more deadly.
Liza Featherstone, August 1, 2025
Excerpt: "In #NewYorkCity, I’m lucky enough to enjoy better air quality than many other places. We are only the fiftieth most #polluted city in the world, way behind #Chicago, #Dubai, #Jakarta, #Delhi, and numerous (enormously populous) cities in #China. But for a few days early this week, it was hard to breathe and our phones were buzzing with alerts warning that the most vulnerable—the very young and the very old, and those with poor respiratory health—should stay indoors, due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. But the elderly, the asthmatic, and the babies weren’t the only ones feeling it; my son, a college soccer player, got headaches training outside, as did his friends—all fellow rain-or-shine athletes. Yet for the most part, the problem has gone unremarked.
"Compared to a flood, a fire, or a heat wave, a bad #AirQualityAlert isn’t that inconvenient even when it’s happening. You can still go to work and otherwise go about your day. If you own property, it won’t be damaged. And because #AirPollution lacks visuals, it doesn’t lend itself to morbid #doomscrolling or panicked media coverage.
"Yet compared to floods, fires, and heat waves, bad air is much more deadly. In fact, the danger is barely even comparable. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills about seven million people every year. The direct death toll from heat waves is under half a million, although that’s getting worse. The number of people who die in floods annually is in the thousands, and the direct death toll from wildfires is much smaller than that, though these threats are also getting worse. "
#AirQualityAlert #AirQuality #AirQualityIndex #AQI #AirPollution #AirIsLife #ParticulatePollution #ParticlePollution
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We can't breathe
The Invisible #ClimateChange Effect That Is Most Likely to Kill You
#AirPollution is less dramatic than floods or storms, less inconvenient, and much harder to politicize. It’s also much more deadly.
Liza Featherstone, August 1, 2025
Excerpt: "In #NewYorkCity, I’m lucky enough to enjoy better air quality than many other places. We are only the fiftieth most #polluted city in the world, way behind #Chicago, #Dubai, #Jakarta, #Delhi, and numerous (enormously populous) cities in #China. But for a few days early this week, it was hard to breathe and our phones were buzzing with alerts warning that the most vulnerable—the very young and the very old, and those with poor respiratory health—should stay indoors, due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. But the elderly, the asthmatic, and the babies weren’t the only ones feeling it; my son, a college soccer player, got headaches training outside, as did his friends—all fellow rain-or-shine athletes. Yet for the most part, the problem has gone unremarked.
"Compared to a flood, a fire, or a heat wave, a bad #AirQualityAlert isn’t that inconvenient even when it’s happening. You can still go to work and otherwise go about your day. If you own property, it won’t be damaged. And because #AirPollution lacks visuals, it doesn’t lend itself to morbid #doomscrolling or panicked media coverage.
"Yet compared to floods, fires, and heat waves, bad air is much more deadly. In fact, the danger is barely even comparable. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills about seven million people every year. The direct death toll from heat waves is under half a million, although that’s getting worse. The number of people who die in floods annually is in the thousands, and the direct death toll from wildfires is much smaller than that, though these threats are also getting worse. "
#AirQualityAlert #AirQuality #AirQualityIndex #AQI #AirPollution #AirIsLife #ParticulatePollution #ParticlePollution
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We can't breathe
The Invisible #ClimateChange Effect That Is Most Likely to Kill You
#AirPollution is less dramatic than floods or storms, less inconvenient, and much harder to politicize. It’s also much more deadly.
Liza Featherstone, August 1, 2025
Excerpt: "In #NewYorkCity, I’m lucky enough to enjoy better air quality than many other places. We are only the fiftieth most #polluted city in the world, way behind #Chicago, #Dubai, #Jakarta, #Delhi, and numerous (enormously populous) cities in #China. But for a few days early this week, it was hard to breathe and our phones were buzzing with alerts warning that the most vulnerable—the very young and the very old, and those with poor respiratory health—should stay indoors, due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. But the elderly, the asthmatic, and the babies weren’t the only ones feeling it; my son, a college soccer player, got headaches training outside, as did his friends—all fellow rain-or-shine athletes. Yet for the most part, the problem has gone unremarked.
"Compared to a flood, a fire, or a heat wave, a bad #AirQualityAlert isn’t that inconvenient even when it’s happening. You can still go to work and otherwise go about your day. If you own property, it won’t be damaged. And because #AirPollution lacks visuals, it doesn’t lend itself to morbid #doomscrolling or panicked media coverage.
"Yet compared to floods, fires, and heat waves, bad air is much more deadly. In fact, the danger is barely even comparable. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills about seven million people every year. The direct death toll from heat waves is under half a million, although that’s getting worse. The number of people who die in floods annually is in the thousands, and the direct death toll from wildfires is much smaller than that, though these threats are also getting worse. "
#AirQualityAlert #AirQuality #AirQualityIndex #AQI #AirPollution #AirIsLife #ParticulatePollution #ParticlePollution
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We can't breathe
The Invisible #ClimateChange Effect That Is Most Likely to Kill You
#AirPollution is less dramatic than floods or storms, less inconvenient, and much harder to politicize. It’s also much more deadly.
Liza Featherstone, August 1, 2025
Excerpt: "In #NewYorkCity, I’m lucky enough to enjoy better air quality than many other places. We are only the fiftieth most #polluted city in the world, way behind #Chicago, #Dubai, #Jakarta, #Delhi, and numerous (enormously populous) cities in #China. But for a few days early this week, it was hard to breathe and our phones were buzzing with alerts warning that the most vulnerable—the very young and the very old, and those with poor respiratory health—should stay indoors, due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. But the elderly, the asthmatic, and the babies weren’t the only ones feeling it; my son, a college soccer player, got headaches training outside, as did his friends—all fellow rain-or-shine athletes. Yet for the most part, the problem has gone unremarked.
"Compared to a flood, a fire, or a heat wave, a bad #AirQualityAlert isn’t that inconvenient even when it’s happening. You can still go to work and otherwise go about your day. If you own property, it won’t be damaged. And because #AirPollution lacks visuals, it doesn’t lend itself to morbid #doomscrolling or panicked media coverage.
"Yet compared to floods, fires, and heat waves, bad air is much more deadly. In fact, the danger is barely even comparable. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills about seven million people every year. The direct death toll from heat waves is under half a million, although that’s getting worse. The number of people who die in floods annually is in the thousands, and the direct death toll from wildfires is much smaller than that, though these threats are also getting worse. "
#AirQualityAlert #AirQuality #AirQualityIndex #AQI #AirPollution #AirIsLife #ParticulatePollution #ParticlePollution
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#RadioactiveWaste leakage would be threat to area: critic
By Doug Diaczuk The Chronicle-Journal Apr 22, 2025
"A radioactive waste specialist from the United States says #NuclearWaste disposal sites place a giant bullseye on an area, as well as all communities along the transportation route, and residents of Northern #Ontario should take notice.
"#KevinKamps, a radioactive waste specialist with #BeyondNuclear, a non-profit advocacy group in the United States, will be speaking in Thunder Bay at Environment North's annual meeting on Wednesday [April 23].
"Kamps has opposed several nuclear waste sites across North America, including a site in the #YuccaMountains in #Nevada and a site at #Kincardine in #Ontario at the #BruceNuclear Generating Station.
" 'That was a 20-year campaign all told, but we prevailed in the end,' Kamps said of the Kincardine site in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal.
"The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [#NWM] identified a site between #Ignace and #Wabigoon Lake as the location for a proposed deep geological repository [#DGR] for #SpentFuel from #Canadian #NuclearPower plants.
"Last summer, the #TownshipOfIgnace expressed a willingness to be the host community for the repository following a survey showing the majority of residents supported the site.
"But several #FirstNation communities have spoken out in opposition to the site, citing #environmental concerns and the safety of transporting spent fuel through the region.
"Kamps said if anything was to go wrong at the deep geological repository site it would be catastrophic: 'for all points #downstream, #downwind, up the #FoodChain, down the generations.'
" 'In your neck of the woods, what I find ironic is the current target in your area is just outside of the #GreatLakes basin and I think it is a raw political calculation to try to silence what has been more than a decade of U.S. congressional opposition to the #LakeHuronDump,' he said.
" 'Now magically a site has been chosen outside of the Great Lakes basin.'
"There are many safety concerns to take into consideration when it comes to nuclear waste, Kamps said, beginning with the transportation of nuclear material to the site itself.
" 'One of the most controversial aspects is the transportation component, because it makes it everyone's problem along those routes,' he said. 'So that is another part of our challenge, to educate communities that would be along the most likely transportation route, be it road, rail, or waterway.'
"Then there is the site itself, which Kamps said could be vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather, #NaturalDisasters, or even potential attacks.
" 'You had better know your geology really well because if and when this starts leaking from its containers into the geology, then it's a question of how long will it take to mix with underground waterflows and perhaps even surface waterflows,' he said. 'And then the risk flows with the water, and with the air.'
"For those opposed to such sites, Kamps said the best way to fight back is through the democratic process and engaging with government representatives at all levels.
"He cited the opposition to the #Kincardine site that was a 20-year fight and the role First Nations communities played.
" 'An important part of that was the #SaugeenOjibwayNation who asked good questions and in the end voted 86 per cent no to that dump coming into their community,' he said.
"In terms of what to do with nuclear waste from generating stations, Kamps said it should stay at the site of origin."
#EnvironmentalRacism #GreatLakesBasin #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NuclearDumping #ClimateChange #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoDumpingWithoutConsent
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#Trump’s federal cuts threaten #Indigenous communities
They told U.S. House lawmakers that the administration’s “chainsaw approach” to government cuts will disproportionately harm #IndianCountryby Shondiin Silversmith, Mar 6, 2025
"From securing funding for #IndianHealth Services and ongoing #WaterSettlements to increasing investments in infrastructure, education and law enforcement, many Indigenous leaders and organizations are raising the alarm about the devastation that federal funding cuts could bring for #NativeAmericans.
"More than 60 tribal leaders and organizations from across Indian Country testified over three days to a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee on the federal funding needs of Indigenous people and their communities nationwide.
"'I know there’s never enough funding to go around,' Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said, and he appreciates how the subcommittee has consistently set aside several days to hear Indian Country’s funding priorities.
"'It is the process that starts the funding decisions for tribal programs, staffing and priorities for this administration,' he added. Tribal leaders and organizations gave five-minute testimonies to the subcommittee from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27.
"Lewis used his five minutes to discuss the Trump administration’s actions and their impact on his community.
"There is 'real fear' within tribal communities about what is happening in Washington, D.C., he said, referencing the freezing of federal funding and the mass firing of federal employees across the government.
[...]
"He added that the cuts are being made without considering how they will impact services. Rather than making the government more efficient and effective, it is 'creating a federal workforce that is paralyzed by fear.'
"Lewis called the administration’s actions #destabilizing and said they will have a disproportionate impact on Indian Country.
"'The government-to-government relationship is only as strong as our federal partner,' he said. 'And right now, there is a real concern that the federal side of this partnership has the real potential of being dismantled.'"
Read more:
https://ictnews.org/news/tribal-leaders-sound-alarm-as-trumps-federal-cuts-threaten-indigenous-communities-
#USPol #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #AirIsLife #RespectTheTreaties #USGovtCleanUpYourMess #UraniumMining #UraniumMilling #IndigenousHealth #IndigenousNews #BadDOGE #DOGE #HealthCare -
#Havasupai Elder #DiannaUqualla: #UraniumMining #Contamination is Here, Hold on to Your Ancestral Ways
"Stay strong, no matter what the world throws at us, we survive."
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Feb. 24, 2025
TUBA CITY, #NavajoNation -- "Havasupai Dianna Uqualla said that she brought sad news, that the contamination from the #PinyonPlain #UraniumMine is already here, and has contaminated the air and the soil. Uqualla asked for the people to rely on their prayers and ancestral ways to guide them.
"Uqualla, traditional practitioner who served as the council's vice chairwoman, spoke at the #AwarenessWalk here on Saturday, as Native people from the region gathered to shut down Pinyon Plain uranium mine, and stop the #radioactive haul trucks from the #GrandCanyon to the #UraniumMill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in #Utah.
"Uqualla said Havasupai tested the soil and air and found contamination. 'There are people that hunt, people that gather medicine, they told us we can't go there anymore, until we stop them, but they are still contaminating.'
"Havasupai never said 'Yes' to this #UraniumMining.
"The tarps are not sufficient that are covering the trucks and there are no warnings to the people."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/havasupai-elder-uranium-mining.html
#HaulNo #NoUraniumMining #DefendTheSacred #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #ShutDownPinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#ReaderSupportedNews #TubaCityArizona #DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture
#Dine #UteNation -
[Photo] #TubaCity Awareness Walk to Shut Down #PinyonPlain #UraniumMine in the #GrandCanyon and Halt Radioactive Haul Trucks
Photo by Dawn Dyer, #CensoredNews
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/tuba-city-awareness-walk-to-shut-down.html
#HaulNo #NoUraniumMining
#DefendTheSacred #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #ShutDownPinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#ReaderSupportedNews
#PeacefulProtest #TubaCityArizona #DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #RestInPowerKleeBenally -
TODAY! February 22, 2025! TUBA CITY!
Walk to Shut Down #PinyonPlain #UraniumMine!
via #CensoredNews
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/tuba-city-walk-to-shut-down-pinyon.html
#HaulNo #NoUraniumMining
#DefendTheSacred #PinyonPlain #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #ShutDownPinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#ReaderSupportedNews
#PeacefulProtest #TubaCityArizona -
Yikes! Don't touch: Here's why #BrownSnow fell from the sky in #Maine community
by Story by Adam Bartow
"A couple inches of snow fell in Rumford Monday night and Tuesday morning, but in parts of the community, people noticed brown or tan snow falling from the sky.
"The town said Tuesday there was a malfunction at the paper mill that caused a release of spent black liquor, which is a by-product of the paper-making process. That black liquor then caused the falling snow to turn brown or tan.
"Officials said it happened mostly in the areas right around the mill, especially Falmouth Street, Cumberland Street and Waldo Street.
"Town officials said the pH of the substance is 10 which is alkali and therefore a skin irritant. Although it is non-toxic, it should not be touched.
"'Testing right now has shown that the residual black liquor that's left in some of our neighborhoods is testing at a pH level of eight or less,' said Rumford Town Manager George O'Keefe. 'It's not a hazardous material, but it could still potentially irritate skin, eyes or the paws on your dog.'
"Officials from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection were headed to Rumford Tuesday to take a sample. Mill officials said they had fixed the problem and notified regulators of the issue.
"The town was also working with the local school district to make sure kids are not playing with brown snow. People were also urged to keep their pets away from the snow.
"With heavy rain coming on Wednesday, officials said they are hoping all the black liquor will wash away and be flushed from the ground. However, much of the snow runoff will likely end up in the Androscoggin River."
#WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #Pollution #Maine #AndroscogginRiver
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#NuclearRevival? #Diné #Activist Warns Against New #UraniumMining as #AI, #Bitcoin Energy Needs Soar
#DemocracyNow
November 19, 2024"The search for an energy alternative to #FossilFuels has renewed interest in #NuclearPower production across the globe. Despite nuclear boosters’ promotion of the energy source, Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service [#NIRS] calls #NuclearPower an 'elaborate #greenwashing scheme.' Nuclear is 'not carbon-free,' says Diné organizer #LeonaMorgan, who highlights the fuel costs and #EnvironmentalContamination — particularly within and around #IndigenousCommunities in the #SouthwestUnitedStates — of the #UraniumMining required to produce nuclear power. Because the carbon costs before and after nuclear generation are not factored into energy calculations, says Morgan, 'it’s really not going to solve the #EnergyCrisis.'"
Watch / listen / read transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/19/cop29_nuclear_greenwashing#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearNotCarbonFree
#ViewerSupportedNews #BigTech #Corporatocracy
#CorporateColonialism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoUraniumMining #HaulNo #UraniumMills #WaterIsLife
#AirIsLife #NoNewNukes #NoNuclearWeapons #NuclearColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism
#NativeAmericanActivists #DinéActivists