"EPA" news and stories

It seems that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is supposed to, you know, protect our environment, is about as effective as a teacher letting kids slack on their homework. Documents have recently leaked -- thanks to a Colorado beekeeper -- that show that the EPA approved of the pesticide clothianidin in 2003, which is knowingly toxic to bees and is already banned in Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia, reports Grist.

Not only do bees ensure the life cycle of plants (so to kill them in order to grow more plants seems painfully counterproductive), they also create honey, which is as diverse in flavor as the fields of flowers around a hive, and in its raw form is even believed to counteract allergies. (Honey from your area contains a small dose of your area's pollen, much like a vaccine.) But frankly, that's all shot to dust if this pesticide stays on the market.

Introduced in spring 2003 by German agrichemical manufacturer Bayer, despite warnings and the need for proper tests on how it would affect bees, clothianidin was used in billions of plants along the corn belt. And in 2009, Bayer made about $262 million in sales, reports Grist.

Not so coincidentally, bees have been dying off steadily ever since, from what researchers call colony-collapse disorder. Like other pesticides, clothianidin is "taken up by a plant's vascular system and expressed through pollen and nectar," Grist cites from the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA), which leaked the EPA documents with the organization Beyond Pesticides.

Back in July, we reported on supermarkets using solar panels, something Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was early to adopt; now they've got yet another cool tool up their green sleeves: CO2 refrigeration. We know, CO2 hardly screams "good for the ozone," but the technology actually earned the chain a GreenChill certification from The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Here's why: Compared to standard refrigeration units, the system is estimated to drastically reduce the store's carbon footprint. That's because standard units are made with a potent greenhouse gas, hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC) -- 1,400 times more damaging to the environment than naturally occurring CO2. The EPA says that most refrigeration units in the U.S. use HCFCs in "direct expansion systems," which are typically "charged with 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of refrigerant and can leak in excess of 20 percent each year."

As we obsessively catalog the ways that humans damage the earth -- without really doing a hell of a lot about it – we must finally come to "green waste." It represents the uneaten food that must be disposed of. According to one estimate, it accounts for 14% of the vittles purchased, or 470 pounds per person per year. On the average, that's like each of us annually throwing away $600, or $3,000 for a family of five. Moreover, this figure has leaped by 50% since 1974. And the food we waste in restaurants, partly our fault and partly not, may exhibit an even higher percentage.

Working from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the uses for discarded foodstuffs, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Sandy Bauers gives tips on how to partly solve the problem of household food waste. Not buying as much food, and finding creative -- and delicious -- uses for leftovers is a first line of attack, and she has high praise for her husband, who can do miracles with a ham bone or a chicken carcass.

The other shoe has dropped: it turns out wine doesn't solve every health problem from A to Z. Researchers in England have found that red and white wines from most European nations carry potentially dangerous levels of at least seven different heavy metals.

To put the danger in context, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a measure called THQ (Target Hazard Quotients) that establishes safe levels of frequent, long-term exposure to various chemicals. A THQ over 1 indicates a health risk, and in the recent news, seafood THQs between 1 and 5 have raised serious concerns.
The wines studied from Europe, the Middle East, and South America, have THQs ranging from 50 to 200 per glass, with some going as high as 300.

The top offenders were Hungary, Slovakia, France, Austria, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Greece. Safe wines came from Argentina, Brazil, and Italy. But don't lead the cry for "buy American" just yet: U.S. wines weren't studied because there's no source for data on heavy metals in U.S. wines.

Source

That's right, in case you hadn't heard, the macadamia nut giant, Mauna Loa, was in trouble with the EPA. It seems that the EPA had told Mauna Loa in 2004 that it needed to clean up three cesspools on its property by April of the next year. But guess what was still there when the EPA inspected in 2005? Yep, the cesspools were still in use.

Everything is all well, now. Mauna Loa has cleaned up, instituted a new wastewater system, and agreed to pay a $75,000 fine to the EPA. Wouldn't it have just been cheaper to do that in the first place?

[Via kitv.com]