Welcome to Environmental Pollution Guide
Environmental Pollution Presentation Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Agricultural Chemicals And Environmental Pollution: Is There A Connection? Ask The Earthworms
from:The sector of the population known in conservative circles as "alarmists" (read: anyone who considers environmental pollution to be a serious topic) have long speculated gloomily about the link between agricultural chemicals and environmental pollution. It stands to reason, they assert, that agricultural chemicals and environmental pollution be linked. The agricultural chemicals most often linked to environmental pollution include veterinary medicines, pesticides, non-organic fertilizers, and other chemicals designed to eradicate disease in crops and animals on American farms. Since these chemicals are responsible essentially for poisoning forms of life (yes, Virginia, diseases are forms of life too), it stands to reason, "alarmists" say, that we should be concerned about runoff from the application of agricultural chemicals entering our groundwater, streams, and soil.
Conservatives wouldn't even bother to debate on some points. Even since the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", it's been well known that pesticides in the environment--DDT in particular--are responsible for the massive die-offs of birds in regions of America that depend on agriculture for survival. And it's equally well-known that veterinary hormones and other chemicals used in agriculture have harmful effects on human beings upon direct exposure.
The point of debate isn't that there's a link between agricultural chemicals and environmental pollution. The point of debate is that we should be troubled by that link, and by the dependence on agricultural chemicals found in many factory and smaller farms. Sure, these chemicals hurt us, say the conservatives. But they can't be hurting us all that badly. The link between agricultural chemicals and environmental pollution is there, but it's nothing to worry about.
What we needed in order to resolve the debate was a good method of quantifying the amount of damage agricultural chemicals were doing and the amount of environmental pollution they were creating. Now, thanks to researchers at the US Geological Survey and Colorado State University at Pueblo, we have that method: earthworms.
These researchers collected soil samples from three fields. One field had been treated with biosolid fertilizers. One had been treated with pig manure. The third, the control field, hadn't been treated with fertilizer in seven years. The researchers extracted earthworms from the soil samples and tested them for traces of 77 known dangerous chemicals used in agriculture.
They expected to find traces of these chemicals in the biosolid and pig manure fields, and they did: some 20 dangerous chemicals in each. The surprise came when they tested the control field, the one that hadn't been exposed to chemicals in years. Seven dangerous chemicals were found infesting the bodies of the earthworms.
There is a link between agricultural chemicals and environmental pollution--even in places where agricultural chemicals aren't directly applied to the environment.
So we must ask: when is it proper for an alarmist to start raising an alarm?
Environmental Pollution Presentation Specific links
Environmental Pollution Presentation News
CII awards 27 firms for environment best practices
Business Line Green methods: Representatives of the achiever firms cheer at the Environmental Best Practices Awards 2012 function in Hyderabad on Friday.
Read more...AEP Reduces Coal-Fired Plants It Will Shut Because of EPA Rules
American Electric Power Co. (AEP) , the largest U.S. coal consumer, reduced by 13 percent the amount of coal-fired generation it will shut because of new environmental regulations, saying it may get state support to spend $940 million to keep a Kentucky unit operating.
Read more...Meeting Obama
LEOMINSTER - When 11-year-old Hannah J. Wyman started designing a video game that would teach people about environmental pollution, she had no idea she would be discussing her idea face-to-face with President Barack Obama this week.
Read more...Campus improvements inch closer to reality
The school board last week approved the project to renovate and add to the Malibu Middle and High School campus, despite unmitigable light pollution. Discussion about adding a permanent, nonvoting Malibu member to the board was also postponed.
Read more...Event Notices From February 8
The latest meeting and event notices from Michigan's technology-focused businesses and institutions
Read more...