"#tdih On Sept. 27, 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published. It describes and documents the devastating impact of widespread and uncontrolled pesticide use on the environment.
In response, Carson was vilified by the chemical industry and their allies. She was accused of being a Communist, disloyal, unscientific, and hysterical."
"Annual global waste production will increase by 70% if current conditions persist, according to “What a Waste 2.0,” a newly published report from the World Bank that was multiple years in the making. Currently, about 2.01 billion metric tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are produced annually worldwide. The World Bank estimates overall waste generation will increase to 3.40 billion metric tons by 2050. An estimated 13.5% of today's waste is recycled and 5.5% is composted. The report estimates that between one-third and 40% of waste generated worldwide is not managed properly and instead dumped or openly burned."
Humans are very sensitive to hydrogen sulfide components, at least at first. It's what makes manure, skunk, garbage, rotting food and natural gas smell. Its very pungent at first although humans can get used to their smell and will stop smelling it.
"The Berkeley Pit is a gorgeous, toxic former mining site in Montana that’s beloved by tourists. But unless it’s cleaned up soon, it could become the worst environmental disaster in American history."
"Whole Foods was recently fined $1.6 million for hazardous waste violations in California. Just last week, columnist Rich Thompson looked at how this regulatory trend has played out in the state and what can be done to stay compliant. https://www.wastedive.com/news/clean-up-on-aisle-3-how-to-avoid-hazardous-waste-enforcement/532099/"
Apparently that’s not newsworthy.
"President Donald Trump is fighting the wrong fight in his ongoing trade war with the rest of the world. That’s because it’s premised on the old-school notion of the linear economy in which someone in another country, such as China, digs up raw materials and sends them to a factory, where they get turned into the finished product and shipped to the U.S. In exchange, money leaves the U.S. economy and flows to the countries where the product was made – creating the trade deficit Trump despises."
"And here’s the important bit. Americans use the product for a while, throw it away, and it ends up in a dump. And then we buy another import."
"The long-term effect? Our money goes to a foreign economy, and Americans end up with piles of garbage. Then we pay a foreign economy one more time to take the garbage off our hands. China is one country that used to take a lot of our garbage, but India, Pakistan and Nigeria are also big in this business."
"A circular economy, by contrast, starts with the finished product, which can then be recycled domestically and reused, often at a fraction of the cost of manufacturing them new elsewhere. This keeps the money at home, which produces more domestic jobs and wealth. "