Hi Asbestos Dumping: Is It the New 'Environmental Terrorism?'

Hi Asbestos Dumping: Is It the New 'Environmental Terrorism?'

- "There is an increasing number of asbestos dumping, which is occurring in public places."

About Asbestos:

Asbestos can cause cancer years down the line, without the person ever knowing that it's there and even if they did, there's no current cure that healthcare professionals are able to practice on patients. Mesthelioma is the known type of cancer that is a result of exposure to asbestos. There are further health complications that asbestos can cause to a person's health such as, lung problems and general health problems. Mesthelioma doesn't appear until 30-50 years down the line so although it does cause cancer and death, the only saving grace is that people are not affected straight away.

Recent Asbestos Dumping Case:

There has recently been a case of asbestos dumping in Holland-on-Sea, Ipswich road, Colchester, where a whole heap of asbestos was dumped partly in bags, the other parts scattered near public toilets. This has been rightly dubbed 'Environmental Terrorism' by the local paper; exposure to asbestos can cause cancer, the fact that asbestos has been dumped in a very public place could have made an impact on people's health, but this will be unknown until years down the line when its more than likely too late to prosecute the perpetrators for causing other people to contract cancer. No justice really; if those responsible were caught, there's no real way of prosecuting them for causing people cancer as it's an unknown fact and will remain that way for many years.

Is the person(s) who committed this shocking crime understand the implications of asbestos exposure can do or completely unaware. If unaware, does that indicate a lack of knowledge that people posses when it comes to asbestos and the dangers of being exposed to it? On the other hand, if the person(s) does understand the health risks to humans that asbestos causes, does this mean they are just pure evil; putting a person(s) health at risk to an extent where it's likely to give them cancer and a premature death is absolutely and undeniably shocking and should receive many years behind bars for doing so?

However, until years down the line, this cannot be proved or disproved, making dumping asbestos and being prosecuted for it, a complete grey area in the current justice system and to an extent understandable. People cannot be prosecuted for possibilities that something may happen, it must be factual and something must have occurred.

Asbestos Removal Regulations:

There are rules and regulations that have been put in place in order to help stop asbestos from causing unnecessary and painful deaths. However, these measures will not completely get rid of the asbestos fibres and with people now dumping asbestos where ever they like e.g. in public places, the problem may only get worse. Asbestos itself is not harmful if it isn't disturbed, but if it is accidentally or purposefully disturbed then this is when it becomes deadly and therefore, asbestos must be removed using correct methods, procedures and equipment.

There are strict laws when it comes to asbestos removal and this must be followed to the letter by any person or business whom is involved in the removal of asbestos. These laws were introduced in order to try minimise health risks due to the high proportion of buildings and materials contaminate by asbestos during removal.

How Easy is it to Disturb Asbestos?

Asbestos is extremely easy to disturb; a simple hole drilled into a wall that contains asbestos can be harmful for a person as the particles are tossed into the air and therefore, a chance of being breathed in by people in the vicinity.

Hi A Dark Side of Solar Power!!!

Hi A Dark Side of Solar Power!!!

The harshest criticism for fossil fuels has always been the horrible effect they have on the environment. Not only does retrieving the resource (coal, petroleum, natural gas) do irreparable damage to landscapes and ecosystems, but transporting it can be quite dangerous. And once the fuel has been spent, harmful byproducts clog the atmosphere and have far-reaching effects that scientists have only recently begun to quantify.

You know this, and I know this. And I know that you know that we all know this. This isn't going to be a recital of facts we know, ya know? But what about the negative environmental impacts our cultural shift to renewable energies, namely solar power, produce? There is a side to solar (PV) power that's rarely considered and not well understood.

Energy Payback Time (EPBT):

EPBT is the amount of time it takes a solar panel to collect the same value of energy that was expended in the panel's creation. It used to be that panels virtually never recaptured the amount of energy which was needed to create them, but that belief faded in the 1990s as the technology improved.

A significant amount of energy is spent producing, processing, and purifying materials for PV panels, as well as for the manufacture, transportation, and installation of the panel. The mathematical formula (.pdf) for determining the EPBT looks like this:

Rather than break down figures for areas with my limited text space, I'll just spoil the conclusion: the effectiveness of solar panels is severely affected by material efficiency and the location of the panel. In most of the United States, it takes almost two years before the panels begin to reduce emissions. At what latitude do solar panels stop making sense?

Environmental Waste:

Not surprisingly, China has been the leading manufacturer of PV panels worldwide by nearly fourfold. Despite this robust production rate, they're only second in PV power production (18,400 mW compared to Germany's 36k mW). What gives?

Frankly, China doesn't care about its environment and has little oversight on how companies dispose of industrial waste. And in consideration of the profit the industry is making, what regulations do exist are overlooked. U.S.-based PV panel manufacturers have a hard time disposing of toxic materials used in the production process. Chinese companies don't have the same difficulty, choosing to bury chemicals or flush them in public waterways. The result is a panel which was cheaper to produce and ship abroad.

Really, we're just burying the problem someplace else, hoping that a super-solution from future geniuses materializes in the meantime.

Wildlife Impacts:

The Ivanpah solar plant in utilizes 174,000 heliostats to reflect sunlight onto a centralized solar tower. The tower collects the sunlight, transfers it to heat, and boils water to begin the electricity production process. The plant is located in the Mojave Desert, away from population centers.

Human population centers, at least. While the imagery of a desert solar plant probably conjures images of dust and tumbleweeds, the area where the plant lives is much more lush than you might expect. When the plant was first announced, it incited considerable backlash because it was building on habitat that belonged to the endangered desert tortoise. The plant's construction was ultimately changed to help curtail its effects.

Now that the plant is up and running, an unforeseen consequence has occurred: an excessive number of bird deaths. Birds are lured to the area by insects or migration patterns, but once in the vicinity of the plant they're almost assured a hellish death. Estimates of up to 28,000 bird deaths a year have been attributed to the concentrated solar arrays, which blind and even ignite birds midflight. Officials are considering how to proceed with a megawatt and mega-money facility that may drive the extinction of entire species on its own.

The point isn't that solar power is harming our environment. Without a doubt, nearly any energy harvest strategy will conclude with negative environmental effects. But it shows that a long, long road of development must be traveled before our technology creates the sustainable utopia we envision. For now, we should probably maximize the efficiencies of the energy sources we have.