Content related to world events and other things happening outside my daily life
In addition to little being known about nuclear energy in general, there is also little commonly known about the events that took place at Fukushima Daiichi in days following the March 2011 earthquake. A string of failures that seemingly never should have happened in conjunction with each other resulted in the evacuation of 160,000 people and radioactive contamination that is still being cleaned up today.
On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit 80 miles off the coast of Sendai, a city in northeast Japan. The earthquake and resulting tsunami caused major devastation along the coast and critically damaged a nuclear power plant, putting Fukushima on the map and changing the face of the global energy industry. This series details my experience in visiting the exclusion zone nine years later.
For years I have wrestled with the moral quandary of weighing my love of travel and seeing beautiful places in the world with the knowledge that continued air travel to those places will likely hasten their destruction. That knowledge has not stopped me from traveling (at least not yet), but it does result in more frequent pangs of guilt every time I board a plane.
Since we are heading into a politically-charged year, I would recommend taking a step back, taking a breath, and taking a look at your news sources and stories with a critical eye. To that end, I have some techniques for achieving more grounded awareness of what is happening in our world and a list of some less-biased sources you might choose to use for staying informed.
If you live in or near a city, you probably see a large number of homeless, traveling, or down-on-their-luck people asking for assistance near street corners. For a couple years now, I have tried to have something a little more substantial than money on hand to give them. This post is an overview of things to consider when making care packages for homeless people.
‘Tis the season for decorations, cookies, and warm greetings extended around the globe. What is the most environmentally responsible way to share those warm wishes? Is going paperless really the best option or should we switch over to electronic communications? It’s time for some holiday SWAGs (Scientific Wild-Ass Guesses) to give us a sense of our holiday card options and their related impacts.
Over the past three weeks, we’ve looked at the story of DuPont’s production of the chemical compound C8 despite studies that indicated danger to humans. It appears their replacement chemical Gen-X may cause some of the same problems that C8 did. Additionally although C8 can no longer be produced, it is still present in pre-2015 cookware and other products. So what do we do?
I once heard someone say that turning on your faucet is the biggest act of blind faith you can imagine. Perfluorinated compounds, like those used in the production of Teflon and other non-stick, water-resistant, and grease-resistant products have shown up in drinking water all over the country (not just near DuPont plants) and in materials in every country on the planet.
When I mentioned to my dad that I was researching DuPont, Teflon, and impacts on health, he told me that when he was a kid, he lived next to their Louisville works. I was horrified as he told me how he and his friends would sneak onto the dumping grounds for fun… and how many of those friends have now died from brain cancer.
Over the summer, Christian and I watched a fantastic documentary on Netflix called “The Devil We Know” about a chemical compound used in the production of Teflon and DuPont’s role in covering up potential negative health impacts. With the release of the movie “Dark Waters” in theaters this coming weekend, it seemed like a good time to dive into the details around the subject.