Who’s Afraid Of ‘Gasland’?
Who could possibly want to squelch the anti-fracking movie Gasland? Hmmm, let me think …. while considering this story from SFGate (submitted by ‘Rainer’ – thanks!):
Actor Mark Ruffalo has been placed on a terror advisory list by U.S. officials after organizing screenings for a new documentary about natural gas drilling.
The “Zodiac” actor arranged showings for “GasLand” earlier this year and voiced his concerns about the practice in relation to the national water supplies…
NASA Discovers Oasis on the Moon
It’s not a mirage, it may actually be an oasis. From The New York Times:
The Moon, at least at the bottom of a deep, dark cold crater near its south pole, seems to be wetter than the Sahara, scientists reported Thursday.
In lunar terms, that is an oasis, surprisingly wet for a place that had long been thought by many planetary scientists to be utterly dry.
If astronauts were to visit this crater, they might be able to use eight wheelbarrows of soil to melt 10 to 13 gallons of water. The water, if purified, could be used for drinking, or broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel — to get home or travel to Mars.
“That is a very valuable resource,” said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator of NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite — or Lcross, for short — which made the observations as it, by design, slammed into the…
Portable Solar Powered Desalination System A Reality
I’ve been clamoring for this kind of tech to break out of development status and into marketability for most of the last decade, and it’s just great to see it finally manifest in a way that allows for ease of transport and comparatively simple maintenance. In a world top-heavy with serious issues, this is a breath of fresh air … or more to the point, a drink of fresh water. Stephen C. Webster writes on RAW Story:
About one in eight humans do not have access to clean drinking water, according to the World Health Organization. That’s approximately 884 million people.
The repercussion of this reality are a daily reality in developing nations: an estimated 1.4 million children perish each year due to diarrhea brought on by waterborne bacteria. In spite of breathtaking advances in human technology, over 97 percent of the world’s water is still undrinkable.
And while salty or impure water…
New York City’s Water Filled With Tiny Shrimp
Consumerist discusses the disconcerting news that New York City’s tap water is filled with microscopic shrimp-like creatures, such as the one pictured below. Called copepods, they’re entirely harmless, but raise the question of whether NYC tap water is kosher.
Want To Lose Weight? Simple – Drink Water!
Photo: Matthew Bowden (www.digitallyrefreshing.com)
Can it really be this easy? It certainly won’t cost much to try it out (just don’t use bottled water!). From Business Week:
Close the diet books and skip the pills. The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat.
A new study found that middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.
Researchers divided two groups of overweight and obese men and women aged 55 to 75 into two groups: one group was told to follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet; the other group was told to follow the same diet and to drink two cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
After 12 weeks, those who drank water before meals had lost 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the non-water…
I’m Done With Celebrity Endorsements
Stephanie Soechtig, director of the disinformation documentary Tapped, writing at Huffington Post:
At the risk of career suicide I’m calling bullshit on the hypocrisy of Hollywood and its celebrity endorsements. From Reese Witherspoon endorsing Avon — a company that loads its products with phthalates and parabens (chemicals linked to breast cancer) — to Jennifer Aniston, a woman who says she cares about conserving water resources and then endorses bottled water.
You can’t turn around these days without seeing a Hollywood A-lister endorsing a product. Here’s my problem with the whole situation: often they are endorsing products that aren’t good for us and aren’t good for the environment.
Seriously people, WTF? Am I the only one who saw Spider-Man? You know, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility?”
Take Reese Witherspoon and her colleagues Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymoore, Jessica Biel, et al — all these women endorse various brands of cosmetics that contain…
The Fluoride Fraud
By Abby Martin for Mediaroots.org:
When was the last time you stopped to think about the one thing you can’t live without? I don’t mean the Internet – I’m talking about water. Without clean drinking water, life could not go on. This is why it’s so important that we know what is in our water. For the past sixty-five years, city governments nationwide have been adding a controversial substance called fluoride to municipal water supplies.
You probably recognize the word fluoride from the back of your toothpaste tube or from your visits to the dentist. But the fluoride added to our water is not the same as that in our toothpaste. The chemical added to our water is a fluorine compound called hexafluorosilicic acid that is generated as a by-product from the phosphate fertilizer industry.
Phosphates are minerals that are used to make fertilizer, and phosphate mining industry is a giant moneymaker. Fluoride is created by the production of fertilizer as…
Katie Couric Gets ‘Tapped’ – The Bottled Water Debate
Is bottled water bad for the environment? Katie Couric talks to Stephanie Soechtig, director of the disinformation documentary Tapped, and Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association.
International Young Water Professionals Discuss Water Fears
This week in Australia, the International Young Water Professionals meet to discuss the repercussions of climate change, war, and other factors on our water supply. In the driest continent, 25 countries are represented to voice concerns and contemplate solutions so that our growing populations and destructive habits don’t put an end to our tap water. Phil Mercer of The National covers:
Experts from Oman, Kenya and Austria joined others from across the world to discuss sustainability and how communities in drier regions must adapt to warmer temperatures to safeguard precious supplies into the future.
The meeting dealt with basic issues of survival, said Katerina Ruzicka, a research assistant at the Institute of Water Quality at Vienna’s University of Technology.
“A huge problem we are facing besides climate change is water for food,” Ms Ruzicka said. “We have to feed a growing population and you need water to produce food.
“Somehow we will be able to cope…
Tracking The ‘Evolution’ Of Nanoparticles As They Decontaminate Groundwater
Kurt Pfitzer reports that engineers are usimg advanced imaging techniques to examine bimetallic materials that have remediated more than 50 toxic waste sites, for PhysOrg.com:
Iron nanoparticles 1,000 times thinner than a human hair have demonstrated an unprecedented ability to clean contaminated groundwater since they were invented 10 years ago at Lehigh.
The palladium-coated particles have remediated more than 50 toxic waste sites in the U.S. and other countries in one-tenth the time, and at a much greater economy of scale, than traditional “pump and treat” methods.
Now, thanks to Lehigh’s unrivaled electron microscopy and spectroscopy facilities, researchers have gained unmatched insights that could improve the efficiency and extend the applications
of the powerful nanoparticles.The researchers used scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS) to capture, for the first time, the evolution in the nanostructure of the bimetallic particles as they remove contaminants in water.
The advanced imaging instruments at Lehigh…
NY Hospitals Agree to Stop Flushing Pharmaceuticals Down the Drain
I thought hospitals were supposed to make people healthier … I guess big business is big business, but can’t we agree to leave our drinking water alone? David Gutierrez writes on Natural News:
Five health care facilities have signed an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office to settle charges that they polluted the state’s watersheds by dumping pharmaceutical products down sinks and toilets.
In 2008, an Associated Press investigation revealed that the drinking water consumed by more than one-sixth of the U.S. population is contaminated with trace (but potentially biologically active) amounts of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. While some of these chemicals enter sewage systems after being excreted by people taking the drugs, many of them were traced back to a common practice in hospitals and other health-care facilities: disposing of unused pharmaceuticals by flushing them down sinks or toilets.
After state tests of New York watersheds revealed widespread pharmaceutical contamination,…
Irish Minister’s Fluoride Hypocrisy: ‘Fluoridated Water Causes Cancer in Children!’ But You’re Going to Pay for it Anyway!
Neil Foster stirs up the fluoride-in-water health controversy, in Ireland’s Sovereign Independent:
In the video below, John Gormley, 3 years prior to becoming the [Irish] Minister of the Environment clearly stated on RTE’s ‘Primetime’ program that fluoridated water was dangerous for babies and indeed elaborated on this by informing the public, quite rightly, that it caused bone cancer in children. He now expects us to pay, through the use of water meters, for the very same fluoridated toxic water which he openly admits is detrimental to human health.
Despite the clear evidence that this is indeed the case and the statement by Gormley back in 2003 that there was no need for fluoride in the public water supply, it is still there…
Talking With The Guy Who Puts Fluoride in D.C.’s Water
Tom Jacobus has been the general manager of the Washington Aqueduct since 1994. As we finished up our phone discussion yesterday, he laughed at my having referenced the communist plot accusations from Dr. Strangelove regarding fluoride in the water. “If it is a communist plot, it’s not working,” he said. In this correspondence, he didn’t care to elaborate on his personal views of mass-drugging, but he simply said on the phone that if he had some serious personal problem with it, he would have put in his resignation long ago.
The aqueduct’s use of fluoride, he revealed, is the product of a political consensus forged in D.C., Arlington and Falls Church, where the city councils and mayors have all acquiesced to the practice.
I’ve decided to keep this article the color of water. The following is my correspondence with the man who puts fluoride in the water of America’s decision-makers, preceded first by this film from the Fluoride Action Network:
Tyler Bass: “Mr. Jacobus, I do appreciate your willingness to discuss with me the nature of water fluoridation and your take on its effectiveness, if any…
Nestlé Steps Up The Bottled Water Battle
Deborah Ball looks at the Swiss bottled water giant Nestlé and its fight against those who prefer their water delivered in more responsible ways, in the Wall Street Journal:
CASCADE LOCKS, Oregon—In this idyllic town on the north slope of Mount Hood, an autopsy on three dead rainbow trout may play a role in Nestlé SA’s efforts to reverse a deep slide in its bottled-water business.
Bottled water, which for years delivered double-digit growth for Nestlé, is under fire from environmentalists. They decry the energy used to transport it and the use of billions of plastic bottles, and oppose efforts to use new springs, citing concerns about water scarcity.
In Cascade Locks, Nestlé is trying to tap 100 million gallons of water annually for its Arrowhead water brand from a new spring—and keep the environmentalists happy, too. A key is proving that water drawn from the spring—which supplies a hatchery that raises Idaho Sockeye,…
Is Someone Tainting My Precious Bodily Fluids?
Mandrake and General Ripper discuss fluoridation of water and how it affects the bodily fluids…
Chemtrails and Monsanto’s New Aluminum Resistance Gene – Coincidence?
Barbara H. Peterson asks why Monsanto developed an aluminum resistance gene, at Farm Wars:
Monsanto is currently marketing an aluminum resistance gene. Here’s the spin, folks:
Small-scale, resource-poor farmers in developing countries face daily stresses, including poor soils, drought, and lack of inputs. Ongoing trends such as climate change and population growth will likely exacerbate binding stresses. A new generation of genetically engineered (GE) crop research aims to alleviate these pressures through the improvement of subsistence crops—such as cassava, sorghum, and millet—that incorporate traits such as tolerance to drought, water, and aluminum in soils as well as plants with more efficient nitrogen and phosphorus use. (Source)
Now, let’s take a look at journalist Michael Murphy’s research into chemtrails, geo-engineering, and the fact that extremely high levels of aluminum and barium are found in water, snow and soil, in areas shown to have heavy chemtrail patterns (three-part video):
Health Ministry Finds that Fluoridation Does Not Reduce Tooth Decay
Source: LearnAnatomy (CC)
From Dental Health Magazine:
Statistics from a study conducted by the New Zealand Ministry of Health suggest that there are no advantages derived from fluoridation. These statistics actually match similar arguments set forth by the American Dental Association.
The latter organization conducted a large study on some 39,000 American children and found that they did not derive any advantages from the use of fluoride.
The process of fluoridation is the practice of adding fluoride minerals to a water source so that people can get exposed to the mineral through drinking water. Some bodies of water already have fluoride in them and do not need fluoride added.
The fluoride is allegedly added so that it can help in the prevention of cavity development. The practice of adding fluoride to water is suppose to allow many people, regardless of income, to receive healthy doses of fluoride. Yet, recent studies are revealing that the fluoridation…
When Water Bottles Kill
Last week I posted a story about Tapped filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig’s Get Off The Bottle tour. Stephanie and co-producer Sarah Olson came by the disinformation NYC offices and I asked her about her appearance on Fox Business Network’s John Stossel show the night before. I feared the worst after reading Stossel’s blog post in which he wrote: “On my FBN show, tonight at 8pm ET, I’ll confront director Stephanie Soechtig about the myths she’s pushing.”
Here’s the confrontation – who do you think comes out on top? My vote’s with Stephanie, although she didn’t have a chance to add information about some of the other problems of bottled water, such as the massive plastic garbage patches now floating in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River Is So Polluted That Fish Change Sex (What About Our Politicians?)
90 percent of the drinking water in Washington, D.C. comes from this river, seems like an issue the politicians there themselves would want to address. Suzanne Goldenberg writes in the Guardian:
More than 80% of the male bass fish in Washington’s major river are now exhibiting female traits such as egg production because of a “toxic stew” of pollutants, scientists and campaigners reported yesterday.
Intersex fish probably result from drugs, such as the contraceptive pill, and other chemicals being flushed into the water and have been found right across the US.
The Potomac Conservancy, which focuses on Washington DC’s river, called for new research to determine what was causing male smallmouth bass to carry immature eggs in their testes. “We have not been able to identify one particular chemical or one particular source,” said Vicki Blazer, a fish biologist with the US geological survey. “We are still trying to get a handle on…
Millions Drink Toxic Water In The USA, But It’s EPA-Approved!
Photo: Matthew Bowden (www.digitallyrefreshing.com)
From Natural News:
It has been so long since the federal law regulating tap water has been updated that since 2004, more than one-fifth of the U.S. population has consumed tap water that the government classifies as toxic, but still approves for human consumption.
“People don’t understand that just because water is technically legal, it can still present health risks,” said Pankaj Parekh, director of water quality for the City of Los Angeles.
Even though more than 60,000 chemicals are used in the United States each year and most have never been tested for human safety, the Safe Water Drinking Act regulates only 91 different toxins. Many of these are regulations have not been updated since the 1980s or even since the law was first passed in 1974. The law does not take into account newer findings that certain chemicals can be more toxic in combination than separately. To top it…
