The environment thread

[Balta1701]

Couple studies have come out recently suggesting that there are seriously deleterious results on the intelligence level of children from having expectant mothers breathing certain types of air pollution commonly produced by fossil fuel burning.

A pair of studies involving more than 400 women in two cities has found that 5-year-olds exposed in the womb to above-average levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, score lower on IQ tests. The compounds, created by the burning of fossil fuels, are ubiquitous in urban environments.

 

In African American and Dominican communities of New York City, 249 children are being monitored for the effects of environmental contaminants until the age of 11. And across the Atlantic, in Krakow, Poland, another 214 children are participating in a parallel study.

 

The findings in Poland, reported this spring, are strikingly similar to New York City’s: The children whose mothers had above-average exposure to PAHs scored about four points lower on IQ tests than children whose mothers had below-average exposure.

 

The difference in IQs is modest, but experts say it is enough to hamper school performance and perhaps lifelong learning. It is about the same deficit linked to low-level exposure to lead, a well-documented cause of reduced IQs in children.

Guess that explains me, downwind of Chicago, I-94, and U.S. Steel.

[southsider2k5]

Couple studies have come out recently suggesting that there are seriously deleterious results on the intelligence level of children from having expectant mothers breathing certain types of air pollution commonly produced by fossil fuel burning.

Guess that explains me, downwind of Chicago, I-94, and U.S. Steel.

 

I wonder how much of that is cause and effect though? People of higher socio-economic backgrounds don't tend to live next to power plants and other heavy industry. Those are the same people who pretty much across the board test higher all though out school.

[Balta1701]

I wonder how much of that is cause and effect though? People of higher socio-economic backgrounds don't tend to live next to power plants and other heavy industry. Those are the same people who pretty much across the board test higher all though out school.

One of the test study sites was NYC.

[southsider2k5]

One of the test study sites was NYC.

 

So what I am missing? Rich people live next to heavy industry in NYC?

[Balta1701]

So what I am missing? Rich people live next to heavy industry in NYC?

“It is a striking finding given the many differences in the two cohorts,” said Jennifer Adibi, an epidemiologist at University of California, San Francisco who studies how environmental exposures affect fetal development. “We would want to see this association replicated in other cohorts before we attribute a causal relationship to it.”

 

Adibi added that many factors are different in New York City and Krakow - such as diet, lifestyle, ethnicity and other contaminants.

 

“Direct comparison between the two studies, given their differences and the sample sizes, is extremely difficult,” added Negin Martin, a research fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences who studies how pollutants affect brain development.

 

Nevertheless, Martin said it is notable that the studies were consistent; they each found “a measurable and statistically significant decrease in IQ,” she said. When the scientists compared only the 150 women who had similar exposures in the two cities, IQ differences were still found.

 

The researchers also adjusted their data to consider some factors that could influence a child’s intelligence and skew the results, such as maternal education and second-hand smoke. One possible confounding factor, however, is that the children were not tested for lead exposure when they were toddlers. They were checked only for prenatal exposure, which is normally less of a problem. Accounting for such factors is “a pretty big challenge, and it's one that Columbia's group does very well,” said Bellinger, who was not involved in the study.

[southsider2k5]

OK, so where does it say socio-economic factors are adjusted for?

[Balta1701]

OK, so where does it say socio-economic factors are adjusted for?

You'd expect them to be the same in Krakow and NYC?

 

I'm sure you have a point, btw, and this is a problem with most journalism about scientific literature. That's probably an important point, I'm sure that the people trying to do the study did something to try to control for that (the work would probably have not been published if it couldn't get past that objection), but it probably has slipped past the author.

[StrangeSox]

So, you agree with me that the Republicans should drop the filibuster and we should get working rules in here for these things as quick as possible?

 

You can't on one hand tell me how bad it is that no one knows where anything is going and then on the other hand support the multi-month delays in writing these bills that are coming about from the filibusters. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that eventually carbon emissions regulations are coming. The Chinese know that. The Europeans already have them. Businesses have known that for years. The EPA has been legally required to come up with those rules since 2007. The only ones who don't believe that they are coming are the Inhofe crew.

 

Even if the EPA doesn't release rules (which will continue to get it challenged and beaten in court), eventually there's going to be another Katrina level catastrophe that will finally push things forwards, whether it's Lebron's party getting flooded or an ice-free north pole causing parents to tell their kids that Santa drowned, it's going to happen, everyone knows it, so let's put together a good enough rule covering it.

 

I think kap would prefer it if the whole idea of pricing carbon emissions went away.

[NorthSideSox72]

Not sure how it could surprise anyone that an increase in the amount of pollution people breath will result in poorer health. Seems pretty logical to me.

 

[southsider2k5]

Not sure how it could surprise anyone that an increase in the amount of pollution people breath will result in poorer health. Seems pretty logical to me.

 

The most important factor in educational attainment is the economic background that people come from. If that isn't factored for in a survey like this, the numbers are pretty worthless IMO, even if they are logical.

[NorthSideSox72]

The most important factor in educational attainment is the economic background that people come from. If that isn't factored for in a survey like this, the numbers are pretty worthless IMO, even if they are logical.

I'm not disputing that, and I completely agree with you. Just saying, I don't think the research is earth-shattering, because it is something I just assumed was true to some degree anyway.

 

[Balta1701]

I think kap would prefer it if the whole idea of pricing carbon emissions went away.

In that case...complaining that carbon emissions aren't being priced fast enough seems like something of an odd point.

[Balta1701]

Someone finally has filed a patent for a working hybrid setup involving a capacitor in addition to the batteries. (read the link if you want details for why that's important).

[Rex Kickass]

Oil spill of about 20,000 barrels to reach Lake Michigan by the weekend.

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20100727/NEWS...er-Battle-Creek

 

Battle Creek area residents are being warned to stay away from the Kalamazoo River because of a major oil spill.

 

An estimated 840,000 gallons of oil leaked into a creek Monday that feeds into the river....

"It is unknown at this time how far the spill has traveled and exactly what areas have been affected. It is assumed due to the current level of the Kalamazoo River and the speed of the current that the entire Emmett Township area and beyond has been affected," according to an advisory issued today by the Emmett Township Public Safety Department.

 

Wayne Hoepner, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, said oil from the spill could reach Lake Michigan as early as Sunday, although numerous variables could affect the flow rate.

[StrangeSox]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10781621

 

Can our retarded government please do something about carbon emissions now? Thanks!

[Balta1701]

Georgia Tech and Duke have a public study out about the renewable energy potential of the Southern U.S. The money chart...

The low graph is the "Business as usual" path. With small changes in policy, the Southern U.S.'s renewable electricity generation potential basically explodes.

 

Worth noting...no renewable energy standard has made the cut in the Senate "energy" bill. Therefore, the business as usual line is also the Senate Energy Bill line.

[southsider2k5]

Oil spill of about 20,000 barrels to reach Lake Michigan by the weekend.

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20100727/NEWS...er-Battle-Creek

 

Huh, the EPA can step into a spill, imagine that.

 

http://www.wwmt.com/articles/epa-1379591-river-efforts.html

 

EPA takes over clean-up efforts

Comments 0 | Recommend 0

July 29, 2010 8:10 AM

 

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - It's been nearly three days now since oil started pouring into the Kalamazoo River and crews are still working around the clock to try and keep it from moving downstream.

 

That spill started in the Marshall area and officials say it's moved 25 miles down the river so far.

 

The oil came from an Enbridge Energy pipeline.

 

Wednesday night the agency that keeps tabs on pipelines and hazardous material movement in the U.S. stepped in with a corrective action order.

 

It says Enbridge can not re-open that section of pipeline until it completes a comprehensive safety check.

 

Governor Granholm declared a state of emergency for Calhoun County on Tuesday and she says the containment efforts are still falling short. The governor says we need more skimmers, more vacuum trucks and that this disaster has the potential to be a tragedy of historic proportions.

 

Now the government's taken the lead on the containment efforts. Wednesday the EPA took over the clean up efforts in the Kalamazoo River.

[StrangeSox]

Huh, scale matters, imagine that.

[southsider2k5]

Huh, scale matters, imagine that.

 

My point exactly. You would think that they would be more likely to step in when things are bigger and worse, and affecting more people. I'm sure the millions of people on the gulf coast are happy they are paying to clean up Kalamazoo while they suffer.

[Balta1701]

My point exactly. You would think that they would be more likely to step in when things are bigger and worse, and affecting more people. I'm sure the millions of people on the gulf coast are happy they are paying to clean up Kalamazoo while they suffer.

Even if the EPA is "In charge", are they actually paying for the cleanup? If so, how did they get around the "You spill it you pay for the cleanup" rule?

[StrangeSox]

My point exactly. You would think that they would be more likely to step in when things are bigger and worse, and affecting more people. I'm sure the millions of people on the gulf coast are happy they are paying to clean up Kalamazoo while they suffer.

 

The EPA (or really anyone for that matter, DRILL BABY DRILL!) doesn't have the capabilities to deal with spills on such a large scale.

[Balta1701]

The EPA (or really anyone for that matter, DRILL BABY DRILL!) doesn't have the capabilities to deal with spills on such a large scale.

Another noteworthy point would be that the EPA likely has the equipment necessary to deal with oil spills near the surface but doesn't have the equipment necessary to operate at 5000 feet depths.

 

That said, the EPA could have muscled control of that equipment away from the people who did have it.

[StrangeSox]

This is true.

 

Hey, have the other oil companies in the Gulf revised their emergency response plans so that they're no longer calling a dead guy?

 

edit: or are they too busy making fake environmental advocacy groups?

Edited July 29, 2010 by StrangeSox

[Balta1701]

This is true.

 

Hey, have the other oil companies in the Gulf revised their emergency response plans so that they're no longer calling a dead guy?

 

edit: or are they too busy making fake environmental advocacy groups?

There was actually a report a couple weeks ago that a consortium of oil companies was banding together and planning to spend several hundred million dollars to develop a permanent version of the hard cap BP is currently using that could be rapidly shipped and deployed in the event of a deepwater blowout like this one, thus cutting out the response time from weeks to days and giving less time for the oil to attack the integrity of the well walls.

[KipWellsFan]

The report – co-edited by researchers in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia – pulled together data from 10 climate indicators measured by 160 research groups in 48 countries. The scientists compared the figures decade by decade as far back as possible, more than 100 years in some cases. They concluded 2000 to 2009 was the warmest decade ever, and the Earth has been growing warmer for 50 years. Each of the past three decades – 1980s, 1990s and 2000s – was the hottest on record, the researchers said.

 

This year is shaping up to be even warmer. For the first six months of 2010, the combined global land and ocean temperature was the warmest on record, according to the NOAA.

 

...

 

Of the 10 measurements, the report said seven are rising – air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and the temperature of the troposphere, which is the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Three indicators are declining – Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere. All of which point to a warming trend.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politi...article1655436/

 

We're screwed.