TeflonΓ’ΒΒs Sticky Pollution Problem | Fortune
"Chemical giant Chemours is facing off against residents of North Carolina in a battle over a potentially harmful compound used to make nonstick pans."
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"Chemical giant Chemours is facing off against residents of North Carolina in a battle over a potentially harmful compound used to make nonstick pans."
"Despite irrefutable scientific evidence calling out the dangers of asbestos, 2 million tons of the carcinogen are exported every year to the developing world, where it's often handled with little to no regulation."
"For this episode of VICE Reports, correspondent Milène Larsson traveled to the world's largest asbestos mine in the eponymous town of Asbest, Russia, to meet workers whose livelihoods revolve entirely around the dangerous mineral. Surprisingly, the risks associated with asbestos mining didn't seem to worry the inhabitants; in fact, asbestos is the city's pride, celebrated with monuments, songs, and even its own museum."
"Larsson then visits Libby, Montana, another mining town almost on the other side of the globe, where the effects of asbestos exposure are undeniable: 400 townspeople have died from asbestos-related diseases, and many more are slowly choking to death. Why is the deadly industry of mining and selling asbestos still alive and well?"
"Jobs do not get too much more dangerous than pulling sulfur straight out of an active volcano. The workers risk their lives for just $5 a day."
via GLRPPR: Sector Resources: Documents: Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in General Consumer Products.
PCBs are still fairly common in consumer products, although at trace levels as byproducts from manufacturing. That said, they are much lower then when they were widely used for manufacturing prior to 1978.
One sick kitty ...
In the Adirondack Park there are several parcels of timberland that are so-called Conservation Easements that are privately owned and logged, but allow public use. Many of these Conservation Easements were entered into about a decade ago under the George Pataki Governorship, as an effort to increase public access to Adirondack lands but still allow timber companies to log existing Adirondack timber areas.
Perkins Clearing Road, an easement road in Perkins Clearing, owned by International Paper/Lyme Adirondack Timberlands, LLC
Many conservation easements:
Outside of the Adirondack Park, most State Forests are regularly harvested and actively managed for timber resources by the state. Inside the Adirondack and Catskill Parks, the state constitution specifically prohibits the taking and sale of timber on public lands. Therefore, if the state wants to keep using existing timber lands for continued timber harvest, the only way they can do it is keep the timber lands privately owned, but managed by state for a public purposes of conservation and recreation alike.
Looking at the Perkins Clearing Easement from Pillsbury Mountain.
One can argue that the forever wild provisions of the state consitution are outmoded, a byproduct of the degregation of our forest lands from the mispratices of the industrial revolution. Many of the early timber harvests tragically did not consider the impact of errosion or inappropiate clear cuts in sensitive areas. Some areas should have been off limits, but at the time our state nor did industry follow good practices. We are now stuck with the state constitution we have.
A selectively logged parcel, made into several meadows that will eventually revert back to hardwood forest and become a future timber crop.
It is good to see our state is protecting important pieces of timber land, yet also allowing economic development associated with responsible timber practices and recreational use of these parcels. Yet, it does seem like an end run of constitution’s forever wild doctrine, to have essentially public lands (although on paper privately owned), and allow timbering on them by private companies.
Designated Road Campsite inside of the Perkins Clearing.
It is unlikely our consitution will be amended for true public ownership of working timber parcels in Adirondacks. The high level of protection for true public lands in the Adirondack Park will continue, and while Conservation Easements might allow an end run around the consitution, they do benefit all parties — those who want the jobs and profit from logging and those who want more public lands for recreation.