#waterpollution — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #waterpollution, aggregated by home.social.
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Texas drivers feel Iran conflict at the pump as gas hits $3.70 in Austin
As conflict involving Iran disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, drivers and households in Central Texas are…
#Conflict #Conflicts #War #Austin-SanMarcos #CBSAustin #CentralTexas #DougShupe #EnergySage #fuelprices #GasPrices #Iran #laborday #middleeast #middleeastcrisis #oilandgas #solarinstallation #StraitofHormuz #Tehran #unleadedgas #waterpollution
https://www.europesays.com/3248041/ -
Texas drivers feel Iran conflict at the pump as gas hits $3.70 in Austin
As conflict involving Iran disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, drivers and households in Central Texas are…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #Austin-SanMarcos #breakingnews #CBSAustin #CentralTexas #DougShupe #EnergySage #fuelprices #GasPrices #Iran #LaborDay #OilandGas #solarinstallation #StraitofHormuz #unleadedgas #waterpollution
https://www.newsbeep.com/729463/ -
https://www.europesays.com/iran/289722/ Texas drivers feel Iran conflict at the pump as gas hits $3.70 in Austin #AustinSanMarcos #CBSAustin #CentralTexas #DougShupe #EnergySage #FuelPrices #GasPrices #Iran #LaborDay #OilAndGas #SolarInstallation #StraitOfHormuz #UnleadedGas #WaterPollution
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World-first trial finds floating wetlands can cut greenhouse gas emissions
By Jack Colantuono, Zaida Glibanovic, and Mim HookA floating garden of native plants in Victoria's east cuts a wastewater lagoon's emissions by about 30 per cent, with researchers now testing the approach on farm dams.
#Wetlands #GreenhouseGases #EarthScience #WaterPollution #WaterPlants #JackColantuono #ZaidaGlibanovic #MimHook
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World-first trial finds floating wetlands can cut greenhouse gas emissions
By Jack Colantuono, Zaida Glibanovic, and Mim HookA floating garden of native plants in Victoria's east cuts a wastewater lagoon's emissions by about 30 per cent, with researchers now testing the approach on farm dams.
#Wetlands #GreenhouseGases #EarthScience #WaterPollution #WaterPlants #JackColantuono #ZaidaGlibanovic #MimHook
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World-first trial finds floating wetlands can cut greenhouse gas emissions
By Jack Colantuono, Zaida Glibanovic, and Mim HookA floating garden of native plants in Victoria's east cuts a wastewater lagoon's emissions by about 30 per cent, with researchers now testing the approach on farm dams.
#Wetlands #GreenhouseGases #EarthScience #WaterPollution #WaterPlants #JackColantuono #ZaidaGlibanovic #MimHook
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World-first trial finds floating wetlands can cut greenhouse gas emissions
By Jack Colantuono, Zaida Glibanovic, and Mim HookA floating garden of native plants in Victoria's east cuts a wastewater lagoon's emissions by about 30 per cent, with researchers now testing the approach on farm dams.
#Wetlands #GreenhouseGases #EarthScience #WaterPollution #WaterPlants #JackColantuono #ZaidaGlibanovic #MimHook
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World-first trial finds floating wetlands can cut greenhouse gas emissions
By Jack Colantuono, Zaida Glibanovic, and Mim HookA floating garden of native plants in Victoria's east cuts a wastewater lagoon's emissions by about 30 per cent, with researchers now testing the approach on farm dams.
#Wetlands #GreenhouseGases #EarthScience #WaterPollution #WaterPlants #JackColantuono #ZaidaGlibanovic #MimHook
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'Obnoxious' weed woven into massive mullet sculpture
By Mark RigbyThe 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/invasive-weed-mullet-sculpture-swell-festival/107123706
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'Obnoxious' weed woven into massive mullet sculpture
By Mark RigbyThe 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/invasive-weed-mullet-sculpture-swell-festival/107123706
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'Obnoxious' weed woven into massive mullet sculpture
By Mark RigbyThe 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/invasive-weed-mullet-sculpture-swell-festival/107123706
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'Obnoxious' weed woven into massive mullet sculpture
By Mark RigbyThe 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/invasive-weed-mullet-sculpture-swell-festival/107123706
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'Obnoxious' weed woven into massive mullet sculpture
By Mark RigbyThe 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/invasive-weed-mullet-sculpture-swell-festival/107123706
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Woodside oil spill plan under fire as approval decision nears
By Alistair BatesWith final advice due by the end of the year, critics point to Woodside's own modelling to sink the $30 billion gas project.
#OilandGas #EnvironmentalImpacts #EnvironmentalPolicy #WaterPollution #NaturalResources #AlistairBates
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Wagga's drinking water diluted after elevated PFAS levels detected
By Melinda HayterRiverina Water is diluting water from two of its Wagga Wagga bores due to elevated detections of so-called "forever chemicals", but the source of contamination is a mystery.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-24/riverina-water-dilution-regime-underway/107057064
#WaterSupply #WaterPollution #RegionalCommunities #EnvironmentalImpacts #EnvironmentalTechnology #EnvironmentalManagement #ChemicalControl #MelindaHayter
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A vote to mine near the Boundary Waters puts a vital freshwater wilderness at risk
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In a major win for South Bay creeks, a federal judge has ruled that Mountain View and Sunnyvale violated the Clean Water Act by allowing raw sewage to flow into Stevens and Calabazas creeks--and that they must take steps to fix the problem.
"There were persistent high levels of bacteria and human fecal matter in their stormwater discharges throughout the system," as Baykeeper managing attorney Eric Buescher told NBC Bay Area News.Now, Baykeeper and the cities will present the judge with suggestions about how to address the problem. The judge is expected to issue a decision on that some time this summer.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay-cities-fined-sewage-creeks/4065134/
#sfbay #sanfranciscobay #bayarea #southbay #stevenscreek #calabazascreek #waterpollution #sewagepollution #mountainview #sunnyvale
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The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·In One Week, Trump Moves to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy
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Four Bay Area beaches are among 10 of the dirtiest in CA, as our partners at Heal the Bay report.
And San Francisco accounts for A LOT of coastal California's sewage spills.
Last year, the EPA & CA joined us in suing SFPUC for its 500+ Clean Water Act violations, including bypassing treatment systems and failing to maintain required treatment capacity during storms.
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/four-bay-area-beaches-ranked-among-dirtiest-21073825.php
#sewage #sewagepollution #sanfrancisco #sfpuc #sf #cleanwateract #waterpollution #bayarea #sfbay #sanfranciscobay @sfgate
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Serious water pollution incidents up 60% in #England, Environment Agency says
Esme Stallard, July 18, 2025
Excerpt: "Every year the Environment Agency records the number of times pollution such as untreated sewage is released from water company sites such as treatment works into the country's waterways.
Just three companies were responsible for the vast majority of the most serious incidents - #ThamesWater (33), #SouthernWater (15) and #YorkshireWater (13).
" 'These figures expose a brutal truth. Serious #pollution incidents are rising, #sewage discharges remain rampant, and our rivers are spiralling toward #EcologicalCollapse. This is not just regulatory failure; it is a national disgrace,' said #RiverAction CEO James Wallace."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5zl75dmm0o
#WaterIsLife #WaterPollution #SewagePollution #RiversInEngland
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What good are #TreatyRights if the fish are poisoned?
Monday, July 14, 2025
By George Ochenski, Daily Montanan"By virtually any measure, the #ConfederatedSalishKootenai Tribal Nation is an incredible success story against all odds. Forcibly removed from their homeland in the Bitterroot Valley, despite not having waged war against the white settlers or army, their own '#TrailOfTears' brought them to the Flathead Valley to live within the boundaries of the vastly reduced lands they retained in the #HellgateTreatyOf1855.
"Although the #HellgateTreaty is widely regarded as one of the best treaties signed by any of the nation’s #IndigenousPeople, even land supposedly reserved for the exclusive habitation of the #SalishKootenai was opened to purchase by non-tribal #settlers by the #DawesAct of 1887.
"The act’s intentions were to allocate reservation lands the tribes already owned to individual families as private property and, as part of the 'civilization' of #NativeAmericans, it required tribal members to register with the federal government to receive their 'allotment.'
"The entire debacle was part of the #AllotmentAndAssimilationEra from 1887 to 1934. Simply put, the federal government’s plan was to force Native Americans to be 'assimilated' into #EuropeanAmerican culture.
"Importantly, any reservation lands not allocated to tribal members was deemed
'surplus' land and opened to purchase by non-tribal settlers. This excursion into #ReservationLands was further exacerbated by the ability of tribal members to sell their allotment parcels to non-tribal members."The fracturing of the Salish-Kootenai’s tribal lands through sales to non-tribal members continues to cause serious problems today, including the long and on-going battle to retain their #water, #hunting and #fishing #TreatyRights.
"Article III of the Hellgate Treaty could not be more clear regarding the Tribe’s fishing rights: 'The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams running through or bordering said reservation is further secured to said Indians; as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places…'
"Yet, just last month the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal Nation issued a very serious warning to tribal members regarding the fish they have treaty rights to catch because they are poisoned.
CSKT Fish Consumption Advisory
"The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes issued a fish consumption advisory on June 24, 2025, warning tribal citizens not to eat fish due to the presence of Polychlorinated biphenyls (#PCBs), #dioxins and #furans at levels deemed unsafe for humans: Source: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
"The #FishConsumptionAdvisory urges 'all tribal members to avoid consuming all species and sizes of fish harvested from the lower Clark Fork River from the Bitterroot River near Missoula to the Flathead River near Paradise. Recent testing has confirmed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in fish at levels that are unsafe for consumption by Tribal peoples. It is also advisable to avoid consuming rainbow trout and northern pike harvested from the Bitterroot River and the upper Clark Fork River above the Bitterroot River to Rock Creek, and, to avoid consuming rainbow trout from the Blackfoot River.
"As the Advisory explains: 'These contaminants pose a health risk to all fish consumers, and an even greater health risk to the most sensitive members of the Tribal population including women of child bearing age, pregnant nursing women, and young children. These contaminants have been linked to negative health effects in the immune, and nervous systems and may be associated with birth defects…PCBs and dioxins are classified as probable and definite #HumanCarcinogens, respectively.'
"So what good are treaty fishing rights if you can’t eat the fish because they’re poisoned? Are they really 'rights' — or is this just another in our nation’s long and shameful history of abrogating its treaties with Native Americans?
"Moreover, #Montana’s poison fish affect us all. Just as our government has failed the Salish-Kootenai, they have likewise failed to uphold our rights to the 'swimmable/fishable waters' guaranteed by the #CleanWaterAct — because no one, tribal or non-tribal, is immune to poisoned fish."
#WaterIsLife #TribalNations #NativeAmericanNews #WaterPollution #PoisonedFish #StolenLand #LandBack #EPAFail
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While on the subject of #LateStageCapitalism... Unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me. If #Glyphosate can cause gut inflammation [and bugs' stomachs to explode], you can count on it causing brain inflammation! Oh, and yeah -- deport those migrant farm workers and start doing their jobs, MAGAts. Good luck with that!
Chemical found in breakfast foods [and lots of other foods] linked to #BrainDamage in new study
December 5, 2024
Story by Maiya Focht Health Reporter"A #pesticide that has been found in breakfast cereals, oats and orange juice may be able to cause dementia symptoms in weeks.
"Weed-killer glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in RoundUp, has long been linked to cancers and nerve damage. But much of the earlier research has focused on looking at people that interact with it every day like farm workers.
"The new study, performed on mice, suggests even small amounts of exposure can have long-lasting effects.
"Experts found rodents who were given for about three months saw Alzheimer's-like changes to their brains which persisted for months.
"Upon dissecting the brains, the researchers saw the chemical itself had gotten into the delicate tissue of the brain, where it likely caused inflammation, which caused nerves and brain tissue to decay, leading to the changes they observed after six months.
"Patrick Pirrotte, a study author and director at City of Hope said: 'These findings highlight that many chemicals we regularly encounter, previously considered safe, may pose potential health risks.
"Foods that were found to contain glyphosate include #QuakerOatmeal, #CheezIt and #Tropicana orange juice, according to a separate analysis by Sokolove law, a personal injury and illness law firm."
#FDAFail #EPAFail #BanGlyphosates #RoundupKills #Bayer #Monsanto #Dementia #WaterIsLife #SoilPollution #WaterPollution
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State officials have failed to stop destructive #InvasiveSpecies from spreading to the Bay-Delta despite laws on the books designed to do so: “We had the highest standards in the world, but they were never actually enforced because the state couldn’t come up with a set of technologies to implement them,” as our attorney Ben Eichenberg explained to CalMatters https://calmatters.org/environment/2024/11/california-mussels-enforcement-ballast-water-ships/ @CALMatters #cadelta #californiadelta #sfbay #sanfranciscobay #waterpollution #ballastpollution #ballastwater
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CW: PFAS? Nothing to see: Germany pollutes Dutch drinking water
Dear Dutch people,
Maybe you live in an area where water from the Rhine river is used for drinking water production?
It might be of your interest that a factory of the chemical company Solvay discharges a highly toxic PFAS into the Neckar river, which ends up later in the Rhine. ☠️
And the German administration managed the situation ... just increasing the legal limits from 3 to 60 ppb (microgram/L) and gave the permission to continue discharging 24 L of this PFAS particularly toxic per day ... until 2044! 🤯
Maybe this was already in the news in the Netherlands and it's just another of these things we are seemingly helpless until we burn down something ... :acab:
Anyway, here's the shocking article, by @kontextwz, a very respectable magazine from southwest Germany.
https://opensocial.at/display/59c238fc-1ebc356f-31d0029dab5bd0f0 (article in German, sorry)
(thx to @berlinerwassertisch & @susannelilith who both pushed this into my timeline. I was following the inactive account of KontextWochenZeitung... 😅 )#ForeverChemical #ForeverPoison #PFAS #Teflon #Pollution #WaterPollution #WaterContamination #ChemicalIndustry #DrinkingWater #Netherlands #Dutch #Nederland #Germany #Rhein #Rhine #Solvay #Neckar #BadenWürttemberg #BadWimpfen #KontextWochenZeitung #Cancer
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San Francisco's cynical challenge of sewage pollution rules could harm our waters and those who use them, as we, our enviro partners, and AG Bonta told #SCOTUS:
“The decision in this case will … affect the State's ability to protect the San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean, and other bodies of water in and around California,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office told the court this week.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/sf-epa-supreme-court-19748135.php#sanfrancisco #SF #sfbay #sanfranciscobay #bayarea #sewage #sewagepollution #pollution #waterpollution #environment @Earthjustice
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"Billionaires hate to pay taxes or have their corporations be regulated in any way. So they showered money on Republican “pro-business” politicians for decades. Their bought-and-paid-for Republican stooges made it their mission to overturn Chevron." - Andra Watkins
#Project2025 #StopProject2025 #Pollution #Project2025IsTrumpAndVance #AirPollution #WaterPollution
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/08/14/storytelling-with-maps-to-expose-how-project-2025-increases-deadly-pollution/ -
Republicans think #suing #poultry #companies for flooding #American #rivers with #bird #Poop killing #fish is somehow “#UnAmerican”.
If a company fills a #river with #birdpoop to the point that #fish in nearby lakes #asphyxiate, is it “un-American” to #sue them? #Facist #Oklahoma #Governor #KevinStitt thinks so.
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Oklahoma #Environment #Conservation #WaterPollution #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #RepublicanParty #ThePartyOfHate
https://newrepublic.com/post/182647/kevin-stitt-oklahoma-tyson-rivers
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In the early 2000s, a frustrated Richmond resident called Baykeeper's pollution hotline reporting that a sewer main was spilling raw sewage into the street, nearby storm drains & her backyard. So our field team investigated and our legal team researched—and the "Sick of Sewage" campaign was born 💩
Learn more about our campaign and the affect of #sewagepollution on the #Bay: https://baykeeper.org/blog/making-waves-35-sick-sewage #waterpollution #sfbay #sanfranciscobay
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Great interview on KPFA about our new case against SFPUC for dumping sewage in the Bay: https://kpfa.org/episode/raw-sewage-in-the-bay-and-media-matters-annual-climate-coverage-stats/ #sfpuc #sewage #sewagepollution #sanfrancisco #waterpollution #kpfa
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For decades, #Schnitzer Steel's #Oakland facility has released chemicals and heavy metals into the Bay and nearby neighborhoods.
Now we’ve uncovered high levels of pollution at the company’s satellite sites around the Bay -- so we're taking action!
Learn more: https://baykeeper.org/blog/schnitzers-toxic-mess-around-bay #sfbay #sanfranciscobay #waterpollution #pollution -
Press Release from the Center For Biological Diversity
For Immediate Release, May 10, 2023
#NewMexico Sued Over Failure to Control Skyrocketing #Oil, #Gas #Pollution
Landmark Lawsuit Targets State’s Constitutional Duty
SANTA FE, N.M.— "A coalition of #IndigenousPeoples, #youth, frontline community members and #environmental groups sued New Mexico, the state legislature, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state agencies today for violating their state constitutional duty to control the rapidly growing pollution from the #OilAndGas industry.
"The first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeks compliance with the pollution control clause of the New Mexico Constitution under Article 20, Section 21. No previous lawsuit has targeted the 1971 amendment, which mandates that the state prevent the despoilment of New Mexico’s air, water and other natural resources, and protect the state’s beautiful and healthful environment.
"Oil production in New Mexico’s #PermianBasin, one of the largest oilfields in the world, has increased nearly 10-fold since 2010, leading to a surge of devastating air, water and #climate pollution.
"Today’s lawsuit demands that the state comply with its constitutional duty to protect New Mexico’s environment, and that permitting of oil and gas wells be suspended in the meantime.
"'New Mexico’s failure to control oil and gas pollution violates our constitution and fundamental human rights to clean air, land and water,' said Gail Evans, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute and lead counsel on the case. 'If concern for our environment and public health won’t push New Mexico’s leaders to control the reckless oil and gas industry, we hope legal action will.'
"Air quality in several of the state’s oil- and gas-producing counties fails to meet federal standards established to protect public health. Eddy and San Juan Counties received an 'F' from the American Lung Association for high ozone days, and Lea and Sandoval Counties got a 'D.'
"Indigenous, youth and frontline communities are disproportionately harmed by the state’s failure to control oil and gas pollution. Plaintiffs in the case are additionally seeking relief under the constitution’s equal protection and fundamental rights clauses.
"'New Mexico has allowed sacred #Diné lands in the Eastern #Navajo Agency to be completely ravaged by oil and gas extraction and pollution,' said Mario Atencio, a plaintiff in the case from #Torreon / #Starlake Chapter of the #NavajoNation. 'There is zero accountability for the dangerous #AirPollution that my community breathes and the #ToxicSpills that pollute our precious lands and waters.'
"Oil and gas operators spill toxic liquid waste an average of four times per day in New Mexico, endangering land, air, water and public health.
Meanwhile, as the state faces increasing #aridification from #ClimateChange, oil companies use vast quantities of New Mexico’s dwindling #freshwater resources for #fracking. In 2019 the industry used approximately 14 billion gallons of New Mexico's fresh water resources — equivalent to household use for more than 278,000 people."'#Extractive industry is desecrating our #ancestral homelands and imposing irreparable harm to our water, #plant and #animal relatives,' said Julia Bernal, executive director of Pueblo Action Alliance. 'It’s unacceptable that New Mexico is continuing the legacy of harm and pollution through our communities by its racist and inequitable policies.'
"This constitutional lawsuit has far-reaching implications. As the second-largest oil-producing state in the country and one of the leading gas producers, New Mexico is responsible for over 50% more greenhouse gas emissions than the national average. Pollution from New Mexico’s oil and gas industry plays a colossal role in the climate crisis, threatening plaintiffs’ right to a livable future.
“'I’m terrified to think of my generation’s climate future when I’ve already seen triple-digit heat records and the biggest wildfire in New Mexico’s history last summer,' said 21-year-old Zephyr Jaramillo with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action. 'As one of the largest oilfields in the world, the Permian Basin threatens to pollute my future into oblivion. New Mexico needs to change course and rein in oil and gas pollution to give all of us a chance at a healthy future.'
"The case was filed today in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico by #IndigenousLifeways, #PuebloActionAlliance, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and individuals living on the frontlines of oil and gas extraction."
#WaterIsLife #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #WaterPollution #AirPollution #EnvironmentalRacism
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The *only* solution to pollution is to produce less of it; until the remaining quantity is manageable.
#science #chemistry #ecology #PlasticPollution #OilPollution #AirPollution #WaterPollution #LandPollution #FossilFuels #polymers #PetrolChemicals #climate #wildlife
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Anything happening in the upper watershed affects the Delta & Bay—and cars contain lead, mercury, and other pollutants:
"Cars just don't belong in our waters and that's the bottom line," as Baykeeper executive director Sejal Choksi-Chugh put it. https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/cars-just-dont-belong-in-our-waters-removing-vehicles-from-sacramento-river-raises-concerns/
#BayDelta #waterpollution #cadelta #californiadelta -
Plan to discharge water into #HudsonRiver from closed #NuclearPlant sparks uproar
The #IndianPoint nuclear plant along the Hudson River is at the center of a controversy two years after it was shut down
By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press
June 20, 2023, 5:07 PM"But opponents along the river question the health and safety claims. They say the releases of #radioactive water could be a step back for a once notoriously polluted river that is now a popular summer attraction for sailors, #kayakers and #swimmers.
"Communities along the river have already passed resolutions opposing the discharges, and an online petition has gathered more than 440,000 signatures. On Tuesday, a bill sponsored by two Hudson Valley Democrats that would ban #radiological discharges into the river was approved by state Assembly.
"'It leaves a bad taste in your mouth ... the idea that we would be polluting our beautiful Hudson River with waste when we’ve spent so many years trying to clean it up. This shouldn’t be a dumping ground,' Assembly member Dana Levenberg said at a state Capitol rally for her bill before the debate.
"The bill, approved by the state Senate earlier this month, is opposed by some labor officials, who say it could interrupt the decommissioning and cause layoffs.
"The bill will be sent to Gov. #KathyHochul, who has not said whether she supports the measure."
#WaterIsLife #WaterPollution #Nuclear
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/plan-discharge-water-hudson-river-closed-nuclear-plant-100255780 -
A kayaker noticed sewage leaking into #SFBay from the Skates restaurant in #Berkeley & reported it to our pollution hotline -- now the leak's been fixed and raw #sewage is no longer discharging into the Bay as @berkeleyside reports
https://berkeleyside.org/2023/05/03/skates-on-the-bay-sewage-leak-berkeley
#berkeleymarina #berkeleyca #sanfranciscobay #waterpollution -
Eyewitness Story: The Last Village by Dr Setia Budhi
A lone Dayak village in Borneo surrounded by palm oil plantations has held out for 14 years and resisted
corporate infiltration by global palm oil giants. My name is Dr Setia Budhi, I am a Dayak ethnographer and human rights advocate. I visited this village recently to see how they were going.Pictured: The Barito River, the largest river in South Kalimantan Borneo by Aditya Perdana, Getty Images
“#Dayaks DO NOT want their lands turned to #palmoil. 1. They depend on rainforests for food/weaving. 2. They don’t want their roaming area disturbed 3. They don’t want to lose their land.” Dr Setia Budhi #Boycottpalmoil 🤬🌴🚫 https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/11/02/eyewitness-story-by-dr-setia-budhi-the-last-village/ @palmoildetect.bsky.social
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter“In #Indonesia and #Malaysia’s media, people can’t distinguish #fact from #fiction. A positive narrative about #Dayaks and #palmoil is #greenwashing. This is NOT the lived reality for #Dayak people” @Setiabudhi18 #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🧐⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/11/02/eyewitness-story-by-dr-setia-budhi-the-last-village/
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Original tweetRecently, I stayed a Ngaju Dayak village for 15 days
During my visit I wrote a lot, chatted with villagers and visited palm oil farmers.
This remote village is 125 km from downtown Banjarmasin. It’s a distance of about two hours by motorbike to arrive in a neighboring village and from then there, three hours by boat.
Located on the banks of the Barito river, the people who live here are the Ngaju Dayak.
Pictured: Dayak long house in Kalimantan, PxFuel.
The first time I visited this village was 14 years ago in 2008
Since then, I’ve always followed its development by reading the news. Especially interesting is the development that the villagers have refused the presence of palm oil plantations. They have refused to give up their lands to global corporate palm oil companies.
Fourteen years ago, I thought that this village would eventually be besieged by the expansion of oil palm plantations. My suspicions were based on what happened in neighbouring villages. They had given up and accepted the omnipresence of palm oil. Many residents sold their land to the plantations.
In these other towns, some residents work with palm oil companies in a cooperative way. Their land is planted with palm oil and they, as owners, work for the company for wages. Their activities include land-clearing, planting palm oil, along with fertilising and liming the soil.
Pictured: Klotok traditional river boat on a river in Borneo by Guenterguni Getty ImagesSo these people work on their own land. At that time, their daily wages are around 50,000 rupiahs ($3.30 USD) per day.
There are three reasons why the villagers do not want their ancestral lands to become a palm oil plantation:
1. They depend on the rainforest and peatlands for natural resources such as fisheries, agriculture and rattan weaving.
2. They don’t want their roaming area to be disturbed.
3. They don’t want to lose their land.
By roaming area‟ you probably think of a suburban area near you. For Dayaks, their roaming area is vastly different.
Clockwise: The Barito River: The largest river in South Kalimantan Borneo by Aditya Perdana Getty Images; Wooden Dayak village – Long Iram on the riverbank Mahakam river East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Getty Images; Nature in Annah Rais Sarawak, Malaysia by Nyiragongo Getty Images; Barito River -The largest river in South Kalimantan, Indonesia by Aditya Perdana Getty Images; Borneo’s spectacular rivers and rainforests; Getty Images; A group of beautiful Dayak Fruit Bats Dyacopterus spadiceus perched inside a hut at the Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra via Getty Images Signature collection.
The Dayak people need a roaming area for hunting, fishing and foraging for herbs, building materials and medicines
Pictured: Dayak family, Central Kalimantan by IndoMet licensed under CC BY 2.0The palm oil industry is an unstoppable global corporate juggernaut that has become increasingly greedy for land in the past ten years.
When you hear about even a tiny piece of land that is about to be sold, global palm oil companies immediately and aggressively go after the land as buyers. They bargain and negotiate, driving the price down that they pay for the land – so the traditional landowners do not get paid what the land is really worth.
Pictured: Plasma Poverty, a joint investigation by Gecko Project and the BBC into major supermarket brands like Mondelez and Nestle (RSPO members) who are stripping smallholder farmers of their share of profit for palm oil.
To read the news in Indonesia and Malaysia is to read brazen lies and greenwashing about palm oil
Reading news about palm oil is an astonishing experience that will fill you with confusion and incredulity. Your newsfeed will be brimming with stories about the greatness of oil palm and the welfare of farmers.
Palm oil is considered “good” in a neoliberal sense of the financial and economic growth that it brings here as a country. Also palm oil is considered “good” as an environmentally-friendly and healthy ingredient for all to buy and consume.
There is a flood of greenwashing news across all media channels: TV, online media, and social media channels celebrating the virtues of this enormously destructive ingredient. This false narrative emphasises palm oil as a method of “care for the environment‟.
For this reason, nowadays I choose to distance myself from social media, as this content is dishonest about what palm oil is in reality.
Fake news and greenwashing example: Dayak indigenous palm oil smallholders
“Many of us grow rice, fruits and vegetables on our indigenous lands for survival and depend on the cash sales from oil palm fruits to buy what we cannot grow. Our oil palm trees empower us as indigenous peoples.”
‘Discrimination against palm oil is an injustice against indigenous people’, Borneo Today, 2018.
The reality of palm oil is vastly different for Dayak peoples
Reports carried out by news media in Borneo simulate the facts about the real events and the detrimental impact of palm oil on Dayak communities.
We as the audience must remain constantly vigilant and aware that this is bad news.
“An assistant manager came to my home. On that day my oldest son had fever. He said to my husband, “Your five hectares of land here is gone and two hectares here is gone. Go to the company and get your money.” My husband told them he doesn’t want to sell. Months later, while I was at my mother’s new house [in the plantation] and my husband was away in Malaysia, we heard a loud noise and could see smoke. I went to see, and it was crazy. My house was already burned. Everything was in there, my son’s bicycle, clothes, and all the wood we planned to build a house, all was gone.”
~ Francesca, a 28-year-old Iban Dayak mother of two, told Human Rights Watch about how she and her husband refused relocation. She said that company representatives torched her home, rendering them homeless. Story via Human Rights Watch
Pictured: Rainforest on fire, Getty Images
Pollution run-off in an RSPO member palm oil plantation in Sumatra. Craig Jones Wildlife PhotographyDeforestation for palm oil at ground level – Getty Images videoDeforestation for palm oil waste reservoirs- Getty ImagesThe difficulty of addressing and resolving oil palm conflicts is due not only to the inadequacies of Indonesia’s legal framework regarding land and plantations but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between local power holders and palm oil companies. This collusion enables companies to evade regulation, suppress community protests and avoid engaging in constructive efforts to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, this collusion has made the available conflict resolution mechanisms largely ineffective.
Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
With the palm oil narrative in Indonesia – many people can no longer distinguish the real from the fake, the fact from the simulation
The media presents a seemingly diverse chorus of voices that all seem to be singing from the same songbook – all of them praising palm oil.
Interviews with field officers, researchers, seminar recordings, podcasts, PR and advertising campaigns are backed financially by the palm oil industry to glaze over and greenwash the immense environmental and social impact of palm oil.
Instead we are presented with a positive narrative about palm oil that offers improved living conditions for farmers. This is not the lived reality for Dayak people. We are told that palm oil is a lucrative crop that benefits the farmers. This is not the lived reality for Dayak people.
Pictured: A Dayak woman weaves pandan in a traditional longhouse, PxFuelThe greenwashing of palm oil deforestation intensifies as time goes on
News articles and reports talk about how this country is preparing to deal with climate change, so as not to damage forests and also to save forests from deforestation.
The news about child labour, child slavery and women working on oil palm plantations in horrific conditions gets little attention in media.
News about customary Dayak lands that are seized for palm oil illegally or by force is online only momentarily and quickly disappears. These violations human rights are rendered invisible by the media in here.
In our news hungry and busy world, most people don’t read beyond the headlines. The messy, corrupt and invisible world of massive land-clearing for palm oil goes on without the world knowing about it through the media. In the meantime, tropical rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia are silently disappearing.
Deforestation by Sean Weston https://seanweston.co.ukThe current era of fake news was predicted by Jean Baudrillard several decades ago
When we can no longer distinguish the truth, the facts and the real from a news. This is Hyperreality.
“The real has died and been replaced by Simulation”
~ Jean Baudrillard.
This is what Jean Baudrillard called the era of Simulacra, Simulation, and Hyperreality. When the news plays with symbols, and the public who consume or read the news only see and know about the simulation, we are existing in Hyperreality, in a Simulacra.
People who consume the news only know the simulation/ hyperreality in a Simulacra – Jean Baudrillard
A Simulacra is a combination of values, facts, signs, images and codes. In this reality we no longer find references or representations except the simulacra itself.
People who consume the news only know the simulation/ hyperreality in a Simulacra – Jean BaudrillardImage, originally tweeted by lookcaitlin (@lookcaitlin) on September 17, 2022.
Greenwashing and denialism in the media about the environmental impact of palm oil
A recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that the palm oil industry used the same aggressive tactics for greenwashing akin to the tobacco and alcohol industries. Read more
Read WHO reportResearch studies of SE Asian media reporting on palm oil show a denialist and greenwashing narrative that is similar to climate change denialism i.e. climate change greenwashing.
“We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that palm oil plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires.
“Our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia.”~ Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
Deforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography Pictured clockwise: An orangutan grips helplessly onto a broken and destroyed tree, Craig Jones Wildlife Photography; River pollution, PxFuel; A freshly destroyed rainforest in Indonesia, Craig Jones Wildlife Photography; A vast and lifeless palm oil plantation, Greenpeace.Impact of the media Simulacrum on Dayak people
Media coverage about the “goodness of palm oil” has a deep psychological impact on Dayak communities. In the news, this is where the simulation or simulacra begins to occur.
Pictured: Dayak men in Kalimantan, Pxfuel.Some people cannot sort and distinguish the truth of the news content from the actual facts. Meanwhile, the village that I visited is still holding on to their traditional way of life – not to palm oil. This is the Last Village.
Dayak people in the neighbouring village tell them how they have lost their fishing resources. That now, because of the palm oil run-off and pollution there are no more fish to catch. Their roaming area has become too narrow.
They say: “Oh you are right! Keep on resisting the palm oil siege! For we are now labourers toiling for little money on our ancestral land.”
Dr Setia Budhi, Barito River, 25, July 2022
Further reading
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
Manzo, Kate & Padfield, Rory. (2016). Palm oil not polar bears: Climate change and development in Malaysian media. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 41. 10.1111/tran.12129.
Morris J. Simulacra in the Age of Social Media: Baudrillard as the Prophet of Fake
News. Journal of Communication Inquiry. 2021;45(4):319-336. doi:10.1177/0196859920977154Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (1998). Under the Shadows of the Queen of Diamonds: The Process of Marginalization in Isolated Communities. Indonesian Torch Foundation, Jakarta.
“The Forest is the father, land is the mother and rivers are blood
“That’s the spirituality of most Dayak people in Kalimantan. They understand the interdependent nature of everything in nature.”
~ Dr Setia Budhi : Dayak Ethnographer
Read Dr Budhi’s story Read ‘The Orangutan with the Golden Hair’Pictured: Untouched rainforest, Sumatra. Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Here are some other ways you can help by using your wallet as a weapon and joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Why join the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Greenwashing Tactic #4: Fake Labels
The Counterpunch: Consumer Solutions To Fight Extinction
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Say thanks on Ko-FiPalm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
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