A quick overview to keep you in the loop without reading for hours..
Cancer Increasing?
There’s a headline going around about cancer being on the
rise, especially amongst children. However, it could be misleading. A new study
actually showed that adult cancers are increasing because many of us are now
living longer and are therefore statistically more likely to get cancer.
Childhood cancer appears to be rising because early diagnosis has improved. That's quite different.
We
may think that cancer is on the rise due to pollution and toxins in our
environment, and it may be true, but this study does not support or prove that.
Wildfire Impacts
When I think of wildfires, I think of danger to life and
damage to property. However, a new report shows that they also cause air
pollution which can necessitate hospital visits. In addition, they hamper
agricultural output and damage forests and other ecosystems.
All of these will
be ongoing problems in California with continuing extreme weather due to
climate change.
You’ve probably heard that the Environmental impact report
on Keystone XL has concluded that the pipeline won’t make much difference to
America’s impact on the environment. Sadly, it’s probably right.
Although extracting and burning tar sands oil creates about 17 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional methods, companies are so busy sucking oil out of the tar sands that they will do so anyway, whether they have a pipeline or not.
Plus, if the tar sands oil is not
transported via pipeline, road and rail will be used instead, utilizing diesel
fuel and electricity.
In other words, Keystone isn't really the problem. Although I'm against the pipeline, the root problem is our insatiable demand for oil
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