#environmental-disaster — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #environmental-disaster, aggregated by home.social.
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How the Planet-Altering Disaster of #ForeverChemicals Was Kept Secret
#3M knew that harmful “forever chemicals” had seeped into people’s blood decades ago and continued making them. A former company scientist helped reporter Sharon Lerner understand how a global environmental crisis was kept under wraps.
hosted by Jessica Lussenhop, with reporting by Sharon Lerner
September 3, 2026, 8:22 am"We now know harmful 'forever chemicals' are likely in the bodies of most people on earth. Decades ago, 3M knew that these chemicals had seeped into the public’s blood, but they kept that a secret. One 3M scientist helped reporter Sharon Lerner understand how they kept it quiet for so long."
Watch / read / listen:
https://www.propublica.org/podcast/forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-3m-secret-kris-hansen#ProPublica #3MKnew #PFAS #PFOS #BigChemical #Dow #EnvironmentalDisaster #PFASManufacturers #MakePollutersPay #Pollution #Contamination #BigChem #Cancer #DuPontKnew #DuPontLied #3MLied #DupontdeNemours #DowChemical #c8 #SuperfundSites #WaterIsLife #Scotchguard #Carpeting #FirefightingFoam #FirefightingEquipment #DowChemicalKnew #ThreeM
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Severe wildfires in Spain and France create their own storm, destroying hundreds of homes
📰 Original title: Europe’s wildfires became so intense they created their own storm
🤖 IA: It's clickbait ⚠️
👥 Users: It's clickbait ⚠️ -
RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Wildfires in Washington state destroy over 700 buildings, force 64,000 to flee
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CNN: Atlanta metro downpour leads to massive fish kill on the Chattahoochee River
"... The die-off followed an intense thunderstorm that dumped three inches of rain per hour on the Atlanta metro area Wednesday, which also flooded area streets resulting in flash flooding.
Investigations into the cause of the fish kill are ongoing by Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management. Both entities believe drought and heat played a role in the die-off. ..."
https://lite.cnn.com/2026/05/25/weather/atlanta-chattahoochee-river-fish-kill-massive
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#LAFires Could Transform Former #Rocketdyne Site into #FEMATrailerPark
January 2025
"#Radiation and chemical vapors on 47-acre #CanogaPark site are too toxic for housing, but could be mitigated to safely house residents displaced by January 2025 fires in above-ground trailers.
- Gross site contamination and development encumbrances prohibit residential housing
- Hundreds of #FEMATrailers, mobile homes and even shipping containers could be placed on site safely and temporarily house thousands of #LosAngeles disaster victims [Or maybe a potential #DetentionCenter? Hmmmm...]
- Efforts to clean up polluted west Valley groundwater could emulate 2024 agreement to remediate fouled east Valley aquifer and provide billions of gallons of clean water"The former Rocketdyne Canoga Park facility in the western #SanFernandoValley is so contaminated that it is nearly impossible to build anything on it other than light industry even though a developer wanted to construct homes on the site.
"#Chemicals and #radiation severely contaminate the land and #groundwater in and around the site according to documentation obtained by EnviroReporter.com.
"According to astonishing information never before covered in the media, areas offsite and around #RocketdyneCanoga are hot with high amounts of gross alpha and uranium radiation."
Read more:
https://www.enviroreporter.com/2025/01/la-fires-could-transform-former-rocketdyne-site-into-fema-trailer-park/
#USPol #RadioactiveHazards #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #UraniumContamination -
A creek with #AtomicWaste from WWII is linked to increased #cancer risk
By Ronnie Cohen, July 21, 2025
Excerpt: "Children who lived near a #SaintLouis creek polluted with #radioactive #AtomicBomb waste from the 1940s through the 1960s were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer over their lifetimes than children who lived farther from the waterway, a new study has found.
"The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, corroborate worries that neighbors of #ColdwaterCreek have long held about the #MissouriRiver tributary where generations of children played.
Radioactive waste found at #Missouri elementary school" 'We actually saw something quite dramatic, not only elevated risk of cancer, but one that increased steadily in a sort of dose-response manner the closer the childhood residents got to Coldwater Creek,' said the study's senior author, Marc Weisskopf, an epidemiology professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"As part of the Manhattan Project, #MallinckrodtChemicalWorks processed uranium in St. Louis for the development of an atomic bomb. By the mid-1940s, according to historians, the company began to haul its radioactive waste north of the city, leaving it in open steel drums, unattended and exposed to the elements, next to Coldwater Creek."
#RadioactiveHazards #Cancer #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife -
#SaintLouis’ long history of #radioactive #contamination. Highlights of 10 years of Post-Dispatch coverage.
Oct 9, 2025
"From the public announcement that #MallinckrodtChemicalWorks helped refine #uranium for the #ManhattanProject to the present, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has covered the issue of storing #RadioactiveWaste and subsequent #contamination of #ColdwaterCreek, #WeldonSpring and surrounding areas."
Read more:
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/history/collection_29db6be1-fe7f-56b6-bdc6-fcf9dda512cd.html#1Archived version:
https://archive.ph/AIoN2#RadioactiveHazards #Cancer #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife -
Officials order demolition of #US homes after discovering #radioactive hazard: 'Safety is our number one priority'
"We've collected over 41,000 samples."
by Brianne Nemiroff, March 7, 2026
Excerpt: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tested soil in the backyards of properties along the 800 block of Cades Cove Drive in #Florissant, #Missouri. It found #NuclearContamination between 2.5 and 17 feet below the foundations of the homes.
"The homes were built near #ColdwaterCreek, a waterway that has experienced contamination issues since the 1940s. Now, in February 2026, six of the homes on this block will be demolished.
"Lt. Col. Andrew James, Deputy Commander for the St. Louis District for the Army Corps of Engineers, said to Spectrum News, 'We've collected over 41,000 samples along Coldwater Creek. And although there's still more spots of contamination that we have to get, the data shows that these are the only homes that we have to demolish right now. For the residents in this area, especially the neighbors that are close … safety is our number one priority.'
"Spectrum News also spoke to Gina McNabb, a resident of the block whose home of 28 years was demolished. 'My husband's had #cancer, my kids had illnesses, and that's not to say that it definitely came from this, but now there's a question.'
"Federal authorities have not released the payouts to the affected homeowners; however, McNabb has confirmed that her home loan and moving expenses were paid off.
Those who participated in the #ManhattanProject focused more on physics than on the biological effects of radiation. Eighty years later, experts are still finding radiation in the soil under homes, in waterways, and an increased cancer risk in people living near high-risk areas, as stated by experts in an interview with PBS."
Read more:
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/neighborhood-demolition-due-to-uranium-contamination/#NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #NuclearContamination #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #FlorissantMO
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@decapitae There was an initial trial for #PersonalInjury settlements, and there is another case in the works...
"The case before Washam seeks damages for a list of claims that includes negligence, nuisance, strict liability, product liability, trespass, punitive damages, loss of consortium, wrongful death, survivorship and business interruption. The wrongful death claim stems from Courtney Fish, of East Palestine, who allegedly died from the aftermath of the derailment."
Personal Injury settlements:
#EastPalestine #EastPalestineOH #Ohio #VinylChoride #Plastics #EnvironmentalDisaster #ToxicFumes #TrainDerailment
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The Aral Sea catastrophe remains one of history's most devastating environmental disasters.
Once Earth's 4th-largest lake, Soviet irrigation projects diverted its rivers for cotton farming—draining an entire sea within decades.
The cost? Collapsed ecosystems, destroyed communities, severe health crises, and a legacy of damage spanning generations.
A stark reminder that nature cannot be "controlled" without consequences.#AralSea #EnvironmentalDisaster #ClimateHistory #WaterCrisis #Sustainability #Engineering #CentralAsia
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RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
Even before the landslide, controversies haunted Cebu’s Binaliw landfill
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RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
DENR issues cease and desist order vs Cebu landfill operator
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River close to engulfing waste mountain, MP warns
Marcus White and Jamie Morris, November 17, 2025
"A river is rising and threatening to engulf a mountain of fly-tipped waste in a field, an MP has warned.
"After heavy rain over the weekend, the River Cherwell is now lapping against the 'obscene' 150m (490ft) long pile near Kidlington in Oxfordshire, Calum Miller told the House of Commons.
"The Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock said the situation had become 'much more urgent' and asked the government to intervene.
"Environment Minister Emma Hardy said the Environment Agency was investigating and had acted to prevent further access to the site.
"Fly-tippers are thought to have spent weeks building up the mound in a field between the river and the A34.
"The Oxfordshire MP said it had reached a height of up to 12m (39ft).
"Asking a Urgent Question in the House of Commons, he said the river level had risen by about 4ft (1.2m) in recent days and some of the waste was now afloat.
"He said: 'This incident highlights that organised criminal gangs are carefully planning operations to dump #IndustrialWaste in the countryside.'
" 'They earn millions of pounds in illegal earnings without a thought for the health of people or animals, nor the damage to soil, water or air. And I am deeply concerned that the #EnvironmentAgency (#EA) is not equipped to deal with this unfolding #EnvironmentalDisaster.'
"Mr Miller said the government should order a clean-up by issuing a directive to the EA, similar to the one given for #HoadesWood in Kent in 2024.
"He also urged ministers to review the government's response to waste crime and allow the National Crime Agency to investigate the most serious cases."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2762y8x4eo
#FlyTipping #UK #Garbage #Pollution #FlyTips #IllegalDumping
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How communities in #SacrificeZones suffer environmental injustices in #Mexico, #Chile, #Nigeria and #Indonesia (analysis)
Daniela Sepulveda and Angélica Arellano, 9 Apr 2025
"Across continents, 'sacrifice zones' resemble wounds carved deep into the fabric of our planet. These are regions where ecosystems and livelihoods have been ravaged by fossil fuel and other industries that promise progress but leave devastation in their wake. These are places where big business and transnational corporations are contaminating the rivers, darkening the skies, and making the soil barren; where the toll of development is paid in human suffering and ecological destruction.
"What unites these 'sacrifice zones' is the shared story of areas where prosperity for the few is built on the suffering of many, and where communities fight to mend the fractures inflicted upon their land, health and dignity.
"Here are four case studies highlighting the experiences of communities and civil society organizations collaborating with us in the Coalition for Human Rights in Development’s Community Resource Exchange.
"In the #TulaTepejiApaxco region, where the #Toltec plains once supported rich #biodiversity and #CulturalHeritage, the water and air are now saturated with pollution. This devastated landscape was declared both in 1975 and again in 2005 by the U.N. as one of the most polluted places on Earth, marking it as an #EnvironmentalDisaster zone. Since the early 20th century, the arrival of #CementPlants, #refineries, #ChemicalFactories, a #coal-fired power plant and #LimeKilns has transformed the region. Backed by all levels of government, these industries have destroyed the area’s ecological balance and ruined the health of its people, poisoning the water, air and soil with #ToxicWaste.
"Prominent among these polluters are cement giants like #Holcim, #CEMEX, #CementosFortaleza and #Clarimex, whose operations release harmful gases that exacerbate the region’s environmental and public health crises. One of the epicenters of this environmental catastrophe is the #TulaRiver, which receives 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of untreated wastewater every second from Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico. These 'black waters' are teeming with industrial and hospital waste plus sewage, overwhelming the river and its tributaries.
"The #EndhóDam, originally built to support local #agriculture, has become a toxic dumping ground, poisoning thousands of people who rely on wells for drinking water. Despite decades of warnings, local and national governments have allowed this contamination to persist. The poisoned waters have killed fish, flooded the land with toxic sludge, and led to a surge in cancer, leukemia, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases among the 15,000 inhabitants living along its banks. In 2021, a devastating flood related to the overflowing Tula River left 17 dead and displaced thousands, a stark reminder of the ongoing risks of government inaction.
"The region now faces a massive public health crisis, and the recent declaration by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to designate the area as an ecological restoration zone is a necessary but overdue step. This declaration covers municipalities such as #Atitalaquia,TepejiDelRío, #Tepetitlán and Tlahuelilpan, where 498 businesses have been identified as generators of hazardous waste, including 14 that produce hydrocarbons. The study, based on a water, air and soil analysis, could mark the beginning of recovery if it is implemented with urgency and seriousness.
"Over the years, organizations like #RedDeConcienciaAmbiental '#QueremosVivir' have resisted, bringing visibility to the devastation and fighting to halt deforestation and continued pollution. In the words of one of the leaders of Queremos Vivir ('We want to live'), 'There needs to be a legal solution, because it’s that urgent. We believe there is still a way to reverse it, and we have time to show the newly elected president #ClaudiaSheinbaum the dire situation we’re in.'
"Their demands include a reduction in the water flow of the Tula River through holistic water management solutions, and government accountability for decades of environmental neglect, calling for reparations for both industrial pollution and the catastrophic 2021 floods.
"While they welcome Sheinbaum’s promises to clean the river and launch a circular economy project, they emphasize that meaningful environmental justice must not be delayed any longer. After stating the communities’ demands through tears, the Queremos Vivir leader said, 'Are we really just going to be destined to be a sacrifice zone? The damage is so severe, the degradation we are in, that if we don’t protect it, don’t defend it, then what are we going to do?' "
#SEZs #Antofagasta #Nigeria #Indonesia #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#Exploitation #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation -
RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
[Pinoy Criminology] Cebu flooding: The anatomy of a white collar crime
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RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
Negros Oriental molasses spill spread over 3,000 hectares | The wRap
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/video/daily-wrap/october-30-2025/
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RAPPLER | Philippine & World News | Investigative Journalism | Data | Civic Engagement | Public Interest [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
Typhoon Odette survivors to sue oil giant Shell for climate damage
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Kazakhstan Urges Regional Cooperation to Save the Aral Sea