tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/toxic-waste-19514/articlesToxic waste – The Conversation2023-08-29T12:34:31Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096672023-08-29T12:34:31Z2023-08-29T12:34:31ZWhat can cities do to correct racism and help all communities live longer? It starts with city planning<p>The average life expectancy <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm">in the U.S. is 76.1 years</a>. But this range varies widely – a child raised in wealthy San Mateo County, California, <a href="https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/our-research/interactives/whereyouliveaffectshowlongyoulive.html">can expect to live nearly 85 years</a>. A child raised in Fort Worth, Texas, could expect to <a href="https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2019/life-expectancy-texas-zipcode.html">live about 66.7 years</a>. </p>
<p>Race, poverty, as well as related issues like the ability to find nearby <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1863">grocery stores</a> and <a href="https://www.nrpa.org/blog/understanding-equity-in-parks-and-recreation/">easily visit clean parks</a>, all influence health. </p>
<p>This means that a person’s ZIP code is often a better predictor of their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-expectancy-depend-on-zipcode-10-miles-difference-2018-10">life expectancy than their genetic code</a>. </p>
<p>The air people breathe, the streets they walk, and their general sense of safety and happiness are all shaped by city and town plans. </p>
<p>Making city and town plans more inclusive has been at the forefront of California politics since a 2016 state mandate required that local jurisdictions address what is often called <a href="https://calepa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/10/EnvJustice-Documents-2016yr-EJReport.pdf">“environmental justice.”</a> This term generally means that all people are treated equally when it comes to <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/environment/sb1000">environmental laws and policy</a>, including cities’ plans for where and how developers can build housing, businesses and parks.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiWgmHQAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of human ecology</a> and urban design. Part of my research is focused on trying to answer a complex question about eliminating the health and life-expectancy gap people experience in the U.S.: What can cities and towns do – and what is actually working – to correct racist legacies and help people live longer lives?</p>
<h2>Brief history of environmental justice</h2>
<p>Environmental justice stems from a <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement">1980s social movement</a> that protested toxic waste being dumped in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the South. </p>
<p>Long-term inequalities in public spending and design choices to concentrate lower-income housing near hazardous waste facilities have meant that children of color growing up in those neighborhoods near toxic waste sites disproportionately suffered from chronic health problems, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300183">childhood cancer and asthma</a>.</p>
<p>There are some efforts underway to counter this trend. </p>
<p>The Biden administration, for example, convened an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/white-house-environmental-justice-advisory-council/">environmental justice advisory council</a> in 2021 to track local disparities in health, environmental and economic impacts. </p>
<p>But environmental justice progress ultimately depends on local work. </p>
<p>City and county plans and zoning codes determine where new housing will be developed, at what density, and where commercial or industrial properties are situated. Plans also direct public funding for new parks and environmental cleanups. </p>
<p>Together, zoning and land-use plans set noise levels and air pollution limits.</p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that local jurisdictions place more low-income housing in the same places where they also tolerate higher <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/urban-noise-pollution-worst-poor-minority-neighborhoods-segregated-cities">levels of noise</a> <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/racial-ethnic-minorities-low-income-groups-u-s-air-pollution/">and pollution</a>. </p>
<p>These same neighborhoods are <a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/racial-disparities-among-extremely-low-income-renters">often home to communities of color</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A 'for rent' sign for a 2 bedroom apartment is hung outside of a building on a quiet street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sign advertises apartments for rent in San Francisco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-is-posted-in-front-of-an-apartment-building-with-news-photo/1497264660?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>California’s housing policies</h2>
<p>Los Angeles, for example, has <a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-03-la-region-residential-zoned-exclusionary.html">exclusionary zoning policies</a> that can make it harder for low-income people to purchase homes in particular neighborhoods. The zoning policies require the construction of single family homes with large yards in many neighborhoods. Low-income people often cannot afford such homes. </p>
<p>As a result of the zoning policies, nearly <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/will-californias-new-zoning-promote-racial-and-economic-equity-los-angeles">80% of apartment buildings with two to four units</a> are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods that are primarily inhabited by residents of color. </p>
<p>This is a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/redlining#:%7E:text=Redlining%20can%20be%20defined%20as,on%20their%20race%20or%20ethnicity.">vestige of redlining</a>, a racist U.S. government policy that took root in the 1920s and 1930s. The policy made it difficult for people of color in certain areas to get mortgages, insurance loans and other financial services. </p>
<p>The zoning code concentrates poorer people into particular neighborhoods, which generally results in poorer health outcomes for residents, because these same neighborhoods do not receive proportionate funding for libraries, schools, parks, roads and other public projects, given their populations. </p>
<p><a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/results/?query=environmental+justice">Seventeen of the 88 cities</a> within Los Angeles County have developed policies to address these disparities. For example, Inglewood’s 2020 plan adopts an inclusionary zoning policy to construct affordable housing in the same locations as market-rate housing. </p>
<p>Other places in California, like the the city of Richmond, have introduced <a href="https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/2575/Health-in-All-Policies">a Health in All Policies approach to combat inequality</a>. This means that Richmond <a href="https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/57209/HiAP-Report-2020">carefully considers health outcomes</a> for all zoning and planning decisions. </p>
<h2>Analyzing California city plans</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiWgmHQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">I led a team</a> at the University of California, Davis <a href="https://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/">Center for Regional Change</a> to find out how California communities address environmental justice. </p>
<p>We collected over 500 finalized California city plans from 2020 through 2022. Plans are required to be updated every three to eight years, but we found that some places are still running on plans drafted in the 1970s. </p>
<p>City plans are often hard to find on individual city and county websites – or they are buried in the shelves of municipal libraries.</p>
<p>Local communities spend years in public meetings finessing the details of city plans. Would it be better to provide cooling stations in every bus stop or prioritize building more apartment complexes?</p>
<p>Yet, communities often debate these points without knowing much about what other places have successfully executed when it comes to policy.</p>
<p>It is also often difficult to compare plans across different communities. Plans can be hundreds of pages long, deterring even the most ardent policy wonk. </p>
<p>To simplify, my team and I often search city plans for specific terms like “racism.” From there, we consider which policies are proposed, over what time frame, by which staff and with what funding to address this issue.</p>
<p>Luckily, computational methods can help us speed-read. To find out how many California cities are addressing environmental justice, we extracted the text from local plans, covering over 8 million words. Then, we created a search engine, <a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/">PlanSearch</a>, which allows users to find out how many plans use a specific term and locate it within the plan’s maps, images and tables.</p>
<h2>Addressing environmental justice</h2>
<p>We found that only three of California’s 482 cities – Milpitas, San Luis Obispo and La Mesa – mention the term “<a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/results/?query=racism">racism</a>” in their city plans.</p>
<p>By comparison, 360 cities’ plans mention the term “golf.”</p>
<p>I think that actively planning for golf more often than the problems of racism, toxic exposure or segregation reveals just how much more work there is to do in California and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Of course, including the exact term “racism” in city plans is not the only way to address underlying issues. We also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X21995890">searched for synonyms</a>, like segregation, that address environmental justice and anti-racism. </p>
<p>Through this, we uncovered the various ways that some California cities addressed environmental justice.</p>
<p>In just seven cities, including Coachella and Fresno, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.2118155">we identified a smorgasbord of 628</a> related policies.</p>
<p>National City, for example, focused on promoting healthy diets by placing new corner stores and grocery stores in lower-income neighborhoods. Cities located in more rural or agricultural areas – like Arvin and Woodland – plan for housing for farm workers near public transit to be developed over the next five to 10 years. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the answer to how cities can plan to be anti-racist, address health equity or promote environmental justice rests with concerned constituents and council members crafting a feasible plan of action. What is considered feasible often hinges on what has been piloted to success in similar communities. No matter the topic, reading and comparing plans helps give those concerned constituents somewhere to start the discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Brinkley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An analysis by scholars at the University of California, Davis showed that just a small number of cities in California actively consider racism when developing their plans.Catherine Brinkley, Associate Professor of Human Ecology, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066572023-07-24T20:50:36Z2023-07-24T20:50:36ZCanada’s federal single-use plastics ban: What they got right and what they didn’t<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-federal-single-use-plastics-ban-what-they-got-right-and-what-they-didnt" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>There is little dispute these days over the need to regulate single-use plastics. But there is ample confusion around what plastics to address and how to do so.</p>
<p>In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the intention to reach <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/canada-action.html">zero plastic waste in Canada by 2030</a>, spurred on by a ban on some plastic items in 2022. </p>
<p>As the UN <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/nations-agree-end-plastic-pollution#:%7E:text=175%20nations%20agree%20to%20develop,plastic%20production%2C%20use%20and%20disposal">continues to develop its own global regulations</a>, Canadian businesses and consumers are starting to feel the impacts of our single-use plastics ban, and some industries are finding it more challenging than others to adapt. </p>
<h2>Designing a plastics ban</h2>
<p>In order to determine what items to include in the first phase of the ban, the federal government performed a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html">scientific assessment of plastic consumption</a>. Based on this study, the ban targeted six items determined to be of highest concern: plastic ring carriers, plastic straws, plastic stir sticks, plastic bags, plastic cutlery and plastic food wares. </p>
<p>The government also laudably <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html">categorized plastics as a toxic substance</a>.</p>
<p>However, the question remains: is Canada’s single-use plastics ban actually going to make a big difference? </p>
<p>Among the targeted plastics include common food service items such as takeout containers and plastic cutlery, items which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/06/18/these-four-plastic-items-make-up-almost-half-of-all-ocean-trash/?sh=45080bb5fea4">are among the most commonly found in the environment</a>. This waste alongside the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">usefulness of plastics for restaurants</a> would seemingly make the food service industry an essential place to start when addressing plastics waste.</p>
<h2>Focus on circularity and reusable alternatives rather than single-use items</h2>
<p>When looking for alternatives to single-use plastics as a restaurant operator, there are a plethora of single-use paper, bamboo, compostable, biodegradable, wood pulp or bio-based plastic options. </p>
<p>However, despite the advantage that many of these alternatives can break down over time, not enough emphasis is put on the remaining essential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/biodegradableplastics-may-end-up-doing-more-harm-than-good/2023/01/30/46e356b6-a0e3-11ed-8b47-9863fda8e494_story.html">single-use nature</a> of these items. </p>
<p>Indeed, the ability for compostable and biodegradable food wares to be accepted in a municipal composting facility is entirely dependent on the waste management cycle of that municipality, which can differ greatly between neighbouring cities. </p>
<p>Additionally, given the lack of standardization on what <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/is-biodegradable-and-compostable-plastic-good-for-the-environment-not-necessarily">is classified as biodegradable</a>, consumers can often be deceived by mislabelled products. </p>
<p>After all, microplastics are biodegraded plastics.</p>
<p>Offering alternative materials to food service operators is certainly a step in the right direction. However, as an effective long-term solution, the government needs to offer support for the integration and growth of <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-IWkBhBTEiwA2exyO9g_vHbIgcOIC-zk9EkESNDSQWReS0OTFkn3nOFiOia0paS5GuKvIhoCCOkQAvD_BwE">circular systems</a>. </p>
<p>In doing so, we also need to acknowledge the challenges involved in implementing these systems for restaurant operators. </p>
<h2>Challenges and solutions for food service operators</h2>
<p>The greatest <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">challenges operators are facing</a> with this ban are the costs of quickly switching to reusable or compostable items, sourcing issues and the general lack of alternatives that tick all the same material boxes as conventional plastics. </p>
<p>Looking at the way restaurant operators are responding to this challenge, there are a few key solutions we need to be focusing on. </p>
<p>First and foremost is an emphasis on reusables over alternatives. To make a zero-plastic waste transition realistic, we need to focus on supporting the infrastructure and consumer education required to make reusables accessible. </p>
<p>Ample progress has been made in this area since takeout food has <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/new-normal-the-year-in-takeout-trends-as-restaurants-face-a-reckoning-1.5231981?cache=yes">become more common</a> and has resulted in the launch of multiple reusable takeout container startups such as Suppli, Friendlier, or ShareWares. </p>
<p>Additionally, as with any change that affects our daily lives, our own habits are simultaneously the easiest place to start and the hardest to change. As such, a large piece of this transition will be <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHTI-01-2023-0052/full/html">consumer education</a> so that restaurant goers and grocery shoppers understand the ‘why’ behind this plastics transition. </p>
<p>All levels of government can better support restaurants through this transition by providing guidance, funding and advocacy for scaling reusable startups and for integrating them into food service with different communities likely requiring different levels of support.</p>
<p>Some companies have been experimenting with <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/tim-hortons-returnable-cups-experiment">their own reusable schemes</a>, however, relying on corporate drive alone will not be sufficient.</p>
<h2>Seeing the plastics ban as an opportunity</h2>
<p>In light of the development of this ban and the deliberations over the United Nations’ plastic regulation treaty, it’s clear that legislation surrounding single-use plastic reduction will likely increase over the next decade. </p>
<p>Restaurant operators, and other industries that regularly handle single-use plastics need to be more proactive about what they will need from their government to become less reliant on plastics in the future. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-barbie-world-after-the-movie-frenzy-fades-how-do-we-avoid-tonnes-of-barbie-dolls-going-to-landfill-209601">In a Barbie world ... after the movie frenzy fades, how do we avoid tonnes of Barbie dolls going to landfill?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Moreover, the six items included on Canada’s list of banned plastics are by no means comprehensive and <a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/story/canadas-plastics-ban-should-include-beverage-containers/">activists continue to call</a> for additional items to be included. In particular, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/what-is-and-is-not-included-in-canada-s-ban-on-single-use-plastics-1.5136387">nine additional</a> common single-use plastics were found in the environment but are not being practically addressed. </p>
<p>Canada has the opportunity to be a global leader with the implementation of this single-use plastics ban by supporting reuse and moving towards circular practices. </p>
<p>If we can get further support for reusable programs, expand the list of harmful plastics and provide targeted consumer education around the harms of plastic waste then we have a real shot at an exemplary start to a circular economy. </p>
<p>Are we up to the challenge?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada is seen as leading the way in banning single-use plastics. But how comprehensive are these actions, and how realistic is the dream of a zero-waste future?Bruce McAdams, Associate Professor in Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of GuelphEmily Robinson, Post-Graduate Researcher and Food Education Manager, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1998652023-03-01T01:57:13Z2023-03-01T01:57:13ZDespite restrictions elsewhere, NZ still uses a wood preservative linked to arsenic pollution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512527/original/file-20230227-2266-t2s8nz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C152%2C5982%2C3736&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/speedshutter Photography</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Timber with a green-grey hue – treated with copper chromium arsenic (CCA) – is a common sight in New Zealand. But how many people are aware that it <a href="https://www.cellulosechemtechnol.ro/pdf/CCT7-8(2022)/p.705-716.pdf">pollutes the environment</a>, is associated with health risks and is a toxic waste complicating the transition to a circular bioeconomy?</p>
<p>Other countries, including <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/copper-chrome-arsenic-cca-treated-timber">Australia</a>, the <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/270_0.pdf">US</a> and the EU, have stopped or restricted the use of CCA, moved to safer alternatives and established viable end-of-life disposal options. </p>
<p>The ingredients of CCA are the heavy metals copper, chromium and arsenic. They don’t decompose and can’t be destroyed like organic compounds by incineration. </p>
<p>The heavy metals <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479705000113">leach from the timber</a>, polluting soil and water. When CCA-treated timber is burned, most arsenic becomes volatile and pollutes the air, while chromium and copper contaminate the ash. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) lists arsenic among the top ten chemicals of <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/arsenic">major public health concern</a>. It is a confirmed carcinogen. Chromium and copper are not without health risks either. </p>
<h2>Banned or restricted elsewhere</h2>
<p>In the early 2000s, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the timber industry agreed to <a href="http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/ptype/treatwood/ccareg.html">restrict CCA-treated timber to industrial uses</a>. This was driven by concerns about human exposure to arsenic from playground equipment, decks, picnic tables and other uses. </p>
<p>Most other developed countries followed with similar restrictions. CCA is <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals/biocidal-active-substances">no longer registered</a> as a wood preservative in the EU.</p>
<p>But New Zealand’s treated-timber market is still dominated by CCA. It is used abundantly in playgrounds and residential buildings with a high risk of human exposure. This is despite Standards New Zealand having approved <a href="https://www.standards.govt.nz/shop/nzs-36402003/">more benign alternatives</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A playground using mostly timber" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512754/original/file-20230228-2171-oa9ziy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Zealand continues to use CCA-treated timber in playgrounds and residential buildings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/kelifamily</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority also <a href="https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/Hazardous-Substances/Guidance/Report-on-CCA-safety-by-Deborah-Read-April-2003.pdf">recommends</a> building playgrounds from alternative materials, providing consumer information at point of sale and greater dissemination of precautionary health advice. But these recommendations have been ignored in New Zealand for two decades. </p>
<p>Stakeholders have not adopted the <a href="https://www.standards.org.au/standards-catalogue/sa-snz/building/tm-012/as--5605-2007">standard</a> developed jointly by Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand. The standard contains a consumer safety information sheet, which states CCA-treated timber cannot be used for products in direct contact with foodstuffs, garden furniture, exterior seating, children’s play equipment, patio and domestic decking and handrails. </p>
<p>It also details appropriate disposal and outlines precautions during handling: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>avoid sawing</p></li>
<li><p>wear dust masks, gloves and eye protection</p></li>
<li><p>wash hands and face after working with CCA-treated timber. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Environmental and health risks</h2>
<p>New Zealand <a href="https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/Hazardous-Substances/Guidance/Report-on-CCA-safety-by-Deborah-Read-April-2003.pdf">excluded environmental risks</a> from its CCA safety assessment. Yet environmental risks were leading reasons to phase out CCA overseas. </p>
<p>There are several domestic examples of environmental pollution by CCA.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/high-arsenic-levels-in-urban-air-a-health-hazard-study-shows/">Arsenic concentration</a> in the air during winter <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/assets/Publications/Files/ambient-guide-may02.pdf">exceeds New Zealand’s ambient air-quality guidelines</a>. This is caused by inappropriate burning of CCA-treated timber in log fires and burn-offs by the agricultural sector.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-having-a-truck-idling-in-your-living-room-the-toxic-cost-of-wood-fired-heaters-140737">'Like having a truck idling in your living room': the toxic cost of wood-fired heaters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Arsenic concentration was <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-3-2037-2006">predicted to exceed the drinking water standard</a> in slow-flowing Marlborough aquifers.</p>
<p>While soil contamination is localised around CCA-treated timber, these hotspots can be frequent. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969705005231">Vineyards</a>, for example, feature 500-600 posts per hectare. Land-use change for urban development will require <a href="https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/assets/WRC/WRC-2019/TR201811.pdf">significant remediation</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Vineyward during winter, with lots of timber posts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512538/original/file-20230227-691-4nkxff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Timber treated with CCA is used in vineyards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/John A Davis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Improper disposal of ash from log burners in green bins causes <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749119331276">arsenic contamination of compost</a>. Deliberate <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463251/taranaki-composting-plant-flunks-latest-environmental-report">composting of treated timber</a> has also been uncovered. </p>
<p>In a study of 35 countries, New Zealand was the only one where arsenic contamination of residential indoor dust <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">exceeded the non-carcinogenic hazard index</a> for children. </p>
<h2>No safe disposal</h2>
<p>CCA is also an obstacle in the <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/Aotearoa-New-Zealands-first-emissions-reduction-plan.pdf">transition to a circular bioeconomy</a>. Reuse of timber is a well established procedure. It prioritises reuse over thermal utilisation (using it as fuel to harness its energy). </p>
<p>However, there is no viable reuse for CCA-treated timber waste. The problem is even bigger. CCA-treated timber <a href="https://www.ecan.govt.nz/document/download?uri=1879489">cannot be separated from untreated timber</a> in demolition waste. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-create-20m-tons-of-construction-industry-waste-each-year-heres-how-to-stop-it-going-to-landfill-114602">We create 20m tons of construction industry waste each year. Here's how to stop it going to landfill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In New Zealand, CCA-treated timber is to be disposed in secure landfills, forcing future generations to manage the toxic CCA <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es051471u">leachate</a>. Burning in appropriate facilities is the only viable disposal method for CCA-treated timber – it is the mandatory disposal option in Germany. However, no sizeable waste incineration plant has been commissioned in New Zealand.</p>
<p>A brief visit to any school, playground, picnic area, domestic garden or DIY shop demonstrates New Zealand’s comparatively relaxed attitude towards CCA. Government and industry state to never burn CCA-treated timber, but this is not communicated to the public effectively.</p>
<p>Recent advice at my local DIY stores included, “yes, it’s standard for playground equipment” and “it can be burned or recycled”. Preservative-treated wood is frequently sold as firewood. At my last check, three out of the top 50 firewood listings on the auction site TradeMe were <a href="https://www.cellulosechemtechnol.ro/pdf/CCT7-8(2022)/p.705-716.pdf">CCA-treated timber waste</a>.</p>
<p>New Zealand’s industry-led approach has failed. The first step to tackle the CCA liability is easy, as alternative preservatives are approved. Restricting the use of CCA-treated timber or introducing a <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.501.8835&rep=rep1&type=pdf">product stewardship scheme</a> will ensure nothing is added to New Zealand’s CCA legacy. </p>
<p>Ensuring our children do not have to inherit the existing CCA legacy is more difficult. We need to commission a suitable incineration facility.</p>
<p>CCA-treated timber is cheaper than safer alternatives but only if disposal costs are outsourced to future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199865/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clemens Altaner is Science Team Leader of the New Zealand Dryland Forests Initiative (NZDFI). He has received funding from industry and government for work on naturally durable timber.</span></em></p>The common timber treatment CCA is made up of heavy metals copper, chromium and arsenic. They don’t decompose and leach into soil and water. Why does New Zealand still allow its use?Clemens Altaner, Associate Professor in Wood Science, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1843062022-07-19T04:51:32Z2022-07-19T04:51:32ZWhy pineapple leaves are a promising candidate to replace plastic materials used in single-use masks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471805/original/file-20220630-18-us4ugx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C21%2C560%2C370&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Istock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use masks, putting pressure on global plastic waste problems. </p>
<p>A single face mask can release as many as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010207">173,000 microfibres per day</a> into the seas. According to a 2020 report by an environmental group <a href="https://oceansasia.org/covid-19-facemasks/">OceansAsia</a>, about 1.56 billion face masks entered oceans globally in 2020.</p>
<p>Face masks are made from combination of several types of plastic. There are several layers of plastic in one mask, primarily <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8724753/">polypropylene,</a> which are not easily decomposed and will remain in the environment for decades. It could take centuries for them to turn into smaller and smaller microplastics and nanoplastics. </p>
<p>As the mask wastes may contribute to plastic pollution, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.152980">it may also accumulate and release harmful chemical and biological substances</a> such as bisphenol A (BPA), which may have a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26493093/#:%7E:text=Based%20on%20the%20definitions%20of,to%20its%20tumor%20promoting%20properties.">carcinogenic effect</a>, as well as heavy metals and disease-causing microbes. This is becoming a significant problem, particularly in countries with poor waste management. The race to find a sustainable solution for public health safety measures is urgent to reduce the global plastic problem.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471837/original/file-20220630-15-4290ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Face masks are easily called disposable, because they are cheap enough to be used once and then thrown away. But here is the truth: they do not actually disappear that easily.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.unsplash.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As biotechnology researchers, we propose biodegradable disposal masks made from pineapple leaves to tackle pandemic-associated waste. Pineapple leaves contain high levels of cellulose, and thus can be a good alternative to plastic fibres.</p>
<h2>The advantages of pineapple fibre</h2>
<p>Our biodegradable, disposable masks are made from fibres from pineapple leaves. This pineapple-leaf fibre is made of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/950567">roughly 70% cellulose</a>, making them easy to decompose. As the fibre is immersed in the soil, it only takes three days for microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1416-6">begin the degradation process</a>.</p>
<p>Pineapple leaves, which are typically discarded as agricultural waste, have been used to make products such as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321163938_Effect_of_Extraction_Process_and_Surface_Treatment_on_the_mechanical_properties_in_Pineapple_Leaf_Fibre">rope, twine, composites and clothes</a>. It has a more delicate texture than many other vegetable fibres such as hemp, jute, flax and abaca. It has white and lustrous-like silk, about 60cm length on average, and can easily dyed in a range of different colours. </p>
<p>Pineapple fibre is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/950567">roughly ten times coarse than cotton</a>. It contains cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin as its primary components, which make the fibre light, easy to care for and attractive, with a linen-like appearance. </p>
<p>The fibre is also much better than regular cotton as it doesn’t contain as many harmful chemicals left over from the manufacturing process. The fibre also can naturally degrade without releasing harmful toxins.</p>
<p>In contrast, cotton is conventionally grown with highly toxic pesticides and fertilisers, and treated with harsh chemicals during the manufacturing process and some of these chemicals are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.26717/BJSTR.2020.28.004692">still intact and cannot be washed out</a>. </p>
<p>Pineapple-fibre masks are even <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi9069?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed">more effective than cloth masks</a> to prevent infections.</p>
<p>However, pineapple fibre is not as strong as the plastic fibre, particularly in wet and humid conditions. This may be due to the penetration of water molecules into the molecular chain of cellulose fibre in the plant, which reduces its density and strength.</p>
<p>More research is needed to address this challenge.</p>
<h2>Challenges and opportunities</h2>
<p>As the world’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/298517/global-pineapple-production-by-leading-countries/">fourth-largest producer of pineapple</a>, and one of its major consumers, Indonesia can grab the opportunity to lead biodegradable masks production, as well as tackling COVID-related waste.</p>
<p>However, the development of pineapple fibre masks in Indonesia still depends on public awareness and effective communication. To accelereate eco-friendly mask production, reusable organic mask producers, marketers, and policymakers must consider improving consumer behaviours by promoting healthy and eco-friendly habits.</p>
<p>Scientific analyses must also be encouraged by the government, science institutions, companies doing research and development, and also non-profit organisations in order to raise environmental awareness and encourage beneficial changes in lifestyle, consumption habits and behaviours. </p>
<p>To do that, we need to set an an integrated system with an strict requirements to improve mask producer responsibilities and incentives fees for environmentally friendly material.</p>
<p>In the end, instead of using plastic surgical masks, are we going to use this pineapple fibre mask? The decision is yours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Para penulis tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi di luar afiliasi akademis yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Research proves that plant-based fiber from pineapple can be used as an alternative material to create biodegradable single-use masksDwi Umi Siswanti, S.Si.,M.Sc. /Dosen F Biologi UGM, Universitas Gadjah Mada Tiara Putri, S.Si., M.Sc. /Kandidat Doktor Biologi, Universitas Gadjah Mada Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1752562022-01-20T15:38:36Z2022-01-20T15:38:36ZChemical pollution exceeds safe planetary limit: researcher Q+A on consequences for life on Earth<p><em>The production and release of plastics, pesticides, industrial compounds, antibiotics and other pollutants is now happening so fast and on such a large scale that it has exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution, the safe limit for humanity, a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04158">new study claims</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>We asked Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, a PhD candidate at Stockholm University and one of the authors of the study, to explain what this means.</em></p>
<p><strong>What are planetary boundaries?</strong></p>
<p>In 2009, an international team of researchers identified <a href="https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=iss_pub">nine planetary boundaries</a> that maintain the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years – since the dawn of civilisation.</p>
<p>These boundaries include greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, the ozone layer, an intact biosphere and freshwater. The researchers quantified the boundaries that influence Earth’s stability and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1259855">concluded in 2015</a> that human activity has breached four of them. Greenhouse gas emissions are pushing the global climate into a new, hotter state, species extinctions threaten the biosphere’s integrity, the conversion of forests to farmland has degraded the quality of land and industrial and agricultural processes have radically altered natural cycles of phosphorus and nitrogen. </p>
<p>The researchers lacked the data to quantify the boundary for chemical pollution, otherwise known as novel entities (essentially, any substances made by humans plus natural elements like heavy metals which human activity mobilises or transports at high volumes), until now. Our research suggests we have crossed this boundary and beyond the known safe operating space for humanity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram depicting how much humanity has transgressed planetary boundaries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441577/original/file-20220119-17-dg6a45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In uncharted territory: humanity is transgressing boundaries which maintain a stable planetary state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04158">Stockholm Resilience Centre</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How did you discover this?</strong></p>
<p>This project involved 14 authors in five countries and was led by <a href="https://www.sei.org/people/linn-persson/">Linn Persson</a>, an expert in chemical pollution at the Stockholm Environment Institute. We wanted to be able to understand the consequences of taking, using and releasing novel entities on a larger scale in the face of huge gaps in our knowledge. Essentially, we wanted to go beyond the individual’s ability to experience and comprehend these things.</p>
<p>We investigated a set of control variables that capture several of the complexities and characteristics of the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. One of these is the trend in the production of novel entities – the volume of chemicals and plastics produced, or the share of chemicals available on the market that have data on their safety or are assessed by regulators.</p>
<p>Another thing we assessed was the continued trend of global emissions of these chemical substances, including plastics, into the environment. We also considered the unwanted effects of these entities on ecosystem processes by drawing on evidence of the toxicity of chemical pollution or the role of plastics in disturbing the biosphere.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large tropical fish swims among plastic waste." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441725/original/file-20220120-9603-nyvvsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic waste is accumulating in the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fish-plastic-pollution-envrionmental-problem-plastics-1039303867">Rich Carey/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>When did humanity breach this limit?</strong></p>
<p>It is difficult to say specifically when humanity breached the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. Unlike other boundaries, this one deals with thousands of different entities. </p>
<p>We know there has been <a href="https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2022-01-18-safe-planetary-boundary-for-pollutants-including-plastics-exceeded-say-researchers.html">a 50-fold increase</a> in the production of chemicals since 1950. This is projected to triple again by 2050. Plastic production alone increased 79% between 2000 and 2015. </p>
<p>There are 350,000 synthetic chemicals in production globally, and only a very small fraction of these is assessed for toxicity. We know little about their cumulative effects or how they behave in a mixture. This is important, as we are all exposed to (often) small concentrations of thousands of substances over our entire lives. We are only beginning to understand the large-scale, long-term effects of this exposure.</p>
<p>We judged that <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04158">the boundary had been transgressed</a> because the rate at which these pollutants are appearing in the environment far exceeds the capacity of governments to assess the risk, let alone control potential problems.</p>
<p>What is very important to us is that this study highlights the global scale and severity of chemical pollution. Not only because of the effects of producing and releasing such huge volumes of these substances into the environment on a daily basis, but also because it puts into perspective the consequences of human activity on a geological scale. These changes, led by humans, will have persistent and cumulative effects long after we have gone and industries have stopped pumping them out.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An oil refinery illuminated at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441735/original/file-20220120-8679-18jsvxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oil demand is likely to fall in future, so petrochemical companies are ploughing more money into plastic production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-oil-refinery-plant-factory-609092363">Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>What are some of the possible consequences of exceeding this planetary boundary?</strong></p>
<p>We have observed the problems and risks associated with chemicals and plastics during their entire life cycle. Currently, this is largely linear: from extraction, to production, to use, to waste and, finally, to release into the environment.</p>
<p>Damage can occur at all of these stages. For example, fossil fuels are extracted by processes that can lay waste to entire habitats. These raw materials then give rise to plastics and pesticides which take lots of energy and generate lots of climate-warming gases during manufacture. They are used to wrap food or are applied to farm fields, and then they end up in the soil or in rivers and, eventually, the ocean.</p>
<p>Their environmental impacts might be easiest to visualise according to their effect on other planetary boundaries. Plastics are tightly connected to the climate – <a href="https://www.minderoo.org/plastic-waste-makers-index/findings/executive-summary/">approximately 98%</a> of all plastics are made from fossil fuels and <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-warms-the-planet-twice-as-much-as-aviation-heres-how-to-make-it-climate-friendly-116376">will release CO₂</a> when burned as garbage. Chemicals and plastics both affect biodiversity by adding additional stress to already beleaguered ecosystems. Some chemicals interfere with animal hormone systems, disrupting <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-climate-change-and-pesticides-could-conspire-to-crash-fish-populations-142689">growth</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-poisons-ocean-bacteria-that-produce-10-of-the-worlds-oxygen-and-prop-up-the-marine-food-chain-117493">metabolism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/male-fertility-how-everyday-chemicals-are-destroying-sperm-counts-in-humans-and-animals-158097">reproduction</a> in wildlife.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anthropocene-human-made-materials-now-weigh-as-much-as-all-living-biomass-say-scientists-151721">Anthropocene: human-made materials now weigh as much as all living biomass, say scientists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Are some parts of the world exceeding this limit more than others?</strong></p>
<p>This problem is a planetary one. As I understand it, the production and release of chemical pollution is intrinsic to the global economic system. In this way, the problem is like any other major environmental issue, including climate change.</p>
<p>People are exposed to these chemicals everywhere, not only in the countries where they are produced. We all use these products and chemicals keep being released while we use them. We consume them and then dispose of them, though they don’t simply go away. </p>
<p>There is a constant flow of them, and so, the situation is becoming more and more alarming. Even as we learn more, we are also making visible the vast unknowns that remain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three workers in protective suits spray pesticides onto rows of strawberries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441740/original/file-20220120-9372-magblr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmland globally is routinely soaked in a cocktail of chemicals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmers-spraying-pesticides-strawberry-garden-location-416875402">Adriano Kirihara/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Where should governments prioritise action in order to bring humanity back within the safe limit as soon as possible?</strong></p>
<p>I would like to cite my colleagues here. Professor Carney Almroth of Gothenburg University in Sweden says that the world must “work towards implementing a fixed cap on chemical production and release”.</p>
<p>Associate Professor Sarah Cornell, my supervisor at Stockholm University, says:</p>
<p>“Shifting to a circular economy is really important. That means changing materials and products so they can be reused not wasted, designing chemicals and products for recycling, and much better screening of chemicals for their safety and sustainability along their whole impact pathway in the Earth system.”</p>
<p>We do not wish to paralyse readers with despair. Rather, we want to inspire action. We believe we are still on time to revert this situation, but for that we need urgent and ambitious action to take place at an international level.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The production and release of synthetic chemicals worldwide is destabilising the Earth system.Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, PhD Candidate in Sustainable Development, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1750492022-01-19T18:59:37Z2022-01-19T18:59:37ZHow long to midnight? The Doomsday Clock measures more than nuclear risk – and it’s about to be reset again<p>In less than 24 hours the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will update the <a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/">Doomsday Clock</a>. It’s currently at 100 seconds from midnight – the metaphorical time when the human race could destroy the world with technologies of its own making.</p>
<p>The hands have never before been this close to midnight. There is scant hope of it winding back on what will be its 75th anniversary.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1480252823719890951"}"></div></p>
<p>The clock was originally devised as a way to draw attention to nuclear conflagration. But the scientists who <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/bulletin-atomic-scientists">founded the Bulletin</a> in 1945 were less focused on the initial use of “the bomb” than on the irrationality of <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2022/01/five-nuclear-weapon-states-vow-to-prevent-nuclear-war-while-modernizing-arsenals/">stockpiling weapons</a> for the sake of nuclear hegemony. </p>
<p>They realised more bombs did not increase the chances of winning a war or make anyone safe when just one bomb would be enough to <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2021/11/the-untold-story-of-the-worlds-biggest-nuclear-bomb/">destroy New York</a>.</p>
<p>While nuclear annihilation remains the most probable and acute existential threat to humanity, it is now only one of the potential catastrophes the Doomsday Clock measures. As the Bulletin puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies in other domains.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="atomic bomb from 1944" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441417/original/file-20220118-17-1gbw1vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The atomic bomb codenamed ‘Little Boy’, the same type later dropped on Hiroshima, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1944.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multiple connected threats</h2>
<p>At a personal level, I feel some sense of academic kinship with the clock makers. Mentors of mine, notably <a href="http://molbio.uoregon.edu/novick-history/">Aaron Novick</a>, and others who profoundly influenced how I see my own scientific discipline and approach to science, were among those who formed and joined the early Bulletin.</p>
<p>In 2022, their warning extends beyond weapons of mass destruction to include other technologies that concentrate potentially existential hazards – including climate change and its root causes in over-consumption and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y">extreme affluence</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/affluence-is-killing-the-planet-warn-scientists-141017">Affluence is killing the planet, warn scientists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many of these threats are well known already. For example, <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-chemicals-outlook-ii-legacies-innovative-solutions">commercial chemical use</a> is all pervasive, as is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/18/chemical-pollution-has-passed-safe-limit-for-humanity-say-scientists?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco">toxic waste</a> it creates. There are tens of thousands of large scale waste sites in the US alone, with 1,700 hazardous “<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/superfund/">superfund sites</a>” prioritised for clean-up.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/08/us/houston-hurricane-harvey-harzardous-chemicals.html">Hurricane Harvey</a> showed when it hit the Houston area in 2017, these sites are extremely vulnerable. An estimated two million kilograms of airborne contaminants above regulatory limits were released, 14 toxic waste sites were flooded or damaged, and dioxins were found in a major river at levels over <a href="https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=12353">200 times higher</a> than recommended maximum concentrations.</p>
<p>That was just one major metropolitan area. With increasing storm severity due to climate change, the <a href="https://environmentnorthcarolina.org/reports/nce/perfect-storm">risks to toxic waste sites</a> grow.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-could-take-a-global-lead-in-controlling-the-development-of-killer-robots-so-why-isnt-it-166168">New Zealand could take a global lead in controlling the development of 'killer robots' — so why isn't it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At the same time, the Bulletin has increasingly turned its attention to the rise of artificial intelligence, <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2021/04/worried-about-the-autonomous-weapons-of-the-future-look-at-whats-already-gone-wrong/">autonomous weaponry</a>, and mechanical and biological robotics.</p>
<p>The movie clichés of cyborgs and “killer robots” tend to disguise the true risks. For example, <a href="https://bch.cbd.int/protocol/risk_assessment/cp-ra-ahteg-2020-01-04-en-2.pdf">gene drives</a> are an early example of biological robotics already in development. <a href="https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/what-is-Genome-Editing">Genome editing</a> tools are used to create gene drive systems that spread through normal pathways of reproduction but are designed to destroy other genes or offspring of a particular sex.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="aerial view of Houston showing the extent of flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441418/original/file-20220118-21-2fdb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of Houston showing the extent of flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Climate change and affluence</h2>
<p>As well as being an existential threat in its own right, climate change is connected to the risks posed by these other technologies. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abj5593">genetically engineered viruses</a> and gene drives, for example, are being developed to stop the spread of infectious diseases carried by mosquitoes, whose <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-51962100132-7/fulltext">habitats spread</a> on a warming planet. </p>
<p>Once released, however, such biological “robots” may <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2019/03/gene-editing-on-autopilot-what-could-go-wrong/">evolve capabilities</a> beyond our ability to control them. Even a few misadventures that reduce biodiversity could provoke <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30113-5/fulltext">social collapse</a> and conflict.</p>
<p>Similarly, it’s possible to imagine the effects of climate change causing concentrated chemical waste to escape confinement. Meanwhile, highly dispersed toxic chemicals can be concentrated by storms, picked up by floodwaters and distributed into rivers and estuaries. </p>
<p>The result could be the despoiling of agricultural land and fresh water sources, displacing populations and creating “chemical refugees”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-been-75-years-since-hiroshima-yet-the-threat-of-nuclear-war-persists-144030">It's been 75 years since Hiroshima, yet the threat of nuclear war persists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resetting the clock</h2>
<p>Given that the Doomsday Clock has been ticking for 75 years, with myriad other <a href="https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/journal-articles-related-scientists-warning">environmental warnings from scientists</a> in that time, what of humanity’s ability to imagine and strive for a different future? </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1946" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441420/original/file-20220118-23-nwqrmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of the problem lies in the role of science itself. While it helps us understand the risks of technological progress, it also drives that process in the first place. And scientists are people, too – part of the same cultural and political processes that influence everyone.</p>
<p>J. Robert Oppenheimer – the “father of the atomic bomb” – <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00007996">described</a> this vulnerability of scientists to manipulation, and to their own naivete, ambition and greed, in 1947:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If the bomb was how physicists came to know sin, then perhaps those other existential threats that are the product of our addiction to technology and consumption are how others come to know it, too.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the interrelated nature of these threats is what the Doomsday Clock exists to remind us of.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Heinemann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Doomsday Clock has never before been as close to midnight as it is now. There is scant hope of it winding back on its 75th anniversary.Jack Heinemann, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1681182021-09-22T15:07:31Z2021-09-22T15:07:31ZLandfill gas: how it forms and why it can be dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422360/original/file-20210921-13-1gab5p7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3474%2C2299&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/garbage-truck-dumping-on-landfill-529228804">Dalibor Danilovic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>England’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency">Environment Agency</a> isn’t doing enough to protect the public from landfill gas, according to a recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/16/environment-agency-must-do-more-to-protect-boy-5-from-landfill-fumes-rules-court">high-court ruling</a>. A judge said that five-year old Matthew Richards’ respiratory health problems were being made worse by fumes from nearby <a href="https://walleysquarry.co.uk/">Walleys Quarry</a> landfill site in Silverdale, Staffordshire. The judgement requires a particular landfill gas – hydrogen sulphide – to be reduced to one part per billion, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-58577136">less than an eighth</a> of current levels in the area, by January 2022.</p>
<p>The ruling could mean that local authorities and government bodies tasked with maintaining environmental standards do more to support the rights of individuals when dealing with a community problem like air pollution.</p>
<p>So what about if you live within walking distance of a landfill site – should you be worried?</p>
<h2>What you’re breathing in</h2>
<p>Fumes from landfill sites tend to be a mixture of hundreds of different gases. These are formed by the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0921344990900375">decomposition</a> of rotting food and other biological waste by bacteria; reactions between chemicals found in landfills, especially industrial wastes; and <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es980004s">certain chemicals</a> such as ammonia transforming from liquids and solids into vapour.</p>
<p>Methane is the biggest component of landfill gas – between 45% and 60% – followed by carbon dioxide (40%-60%). Trace amounts of other gases, such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes, are toxic and can react to form ozone and other greenhouse gases. Landfill gas makes a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/">significant contribution</a> to man-made global warming. About 11% of the world’s methane emissions come from landfills – a powerful greenhouse gas which is between <a href="https://unece.org/challenge">28 and 34 times</a> more effective at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over short timescales.</p>
<p>Hydrogen sulphide – also known as sewer gas or swamp gas – is a colourless, flammable and potentially highly toxic gas known for its rotten-egg odour at low concentrations. The <a href="https://www.osha.gov/index.php/hydrogen-sulfide/hazards">health consequences</a> of exposure depend on how much a person breathes and for how long. Effects range from headaches or burning eyes to unconsciousness and death. Sulphides are mainly produced by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10643389.2015.1010427">bacteria breaking down</a> human and animal waste in landfills. People can be exposed to these gases while at the site or even at home or work nearby, as Matthew Richards was. Gas odours can be detected <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.2003.10466198">more than a mile away</a> from a landfill site. </p>
<p>Different gases have been linked to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/68/1/183/421368?login=true">unpleasant health effects</a> among populations living close to landfill sites and site workers, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69391/pb9052a-health-report-040325.pdf">including</a> low birth weights and birth defects, but <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/6600311">no consistent pattern</a> has been proven. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-03/documents/health_effects_of_residence_near_hazardous_waste_landfill_sites_3v.pdf">Reports from</a> those living close to landfills highlight regular headaches, fatigue, itchy eyes, sleeplessness and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X12005818?via%3Dihub">stress</a>.</p>
<p>These gases form underground and slowly trickle to the surface where they can be carried by the wind. Landfill gases may even move through the soil and enter homes near the site, <a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/01/246574.pdf">or accumulate</a> in basements, car parks, drainage pipes and tunnels nearby. The most harmful gases tend to form in low-oxygen conditions.</p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321606/LFTGN03.pdf">Gas collection wells</a> can limit how much gas migrates to prevent people from being exposed to it, and toxic compounds in landfill gas can be burned off or used in boilers or turbines to generate energy. These systems are complex and expensive to build, however, and wells cannot collect all the gas produced – managing between <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3155/1047-3289.59.12.1399">65% and 85%</a> of all gases on average.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A metal pipe with a plastic tube extending towards the ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422622/original/file-20210922-18-ufoju9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Methane gas pipes can collect emissions from landfills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/one-methane-gas-piping-that-collect-1917290174">Aaronwky/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some landfill gases can occasionally form an explosive mixture when combined with the air in certain proportions and under low pressure. This happened at <a href="https://avadaenvironmental.com/2019/03/14/loscoe-landfill-gas-explosion/">Loscoe, Derbyshire</a> in 1986, <a href="https://futureclimateinfo.com/ground-gas-the-lessons-from-loscoe/">which destroyed</a> a house and badly injured three people. Landfill gas has also <a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/face/docs/03ny027.pdf">suffocated site workers</a> in enclosed spaces.</p>
<h2>What can be done about landfill gas?</h2>
<p>More than 20 years ago, the Environment Agency was sufficiently worried about landfill gas that it funded a <a href="https://www.lqm.co.uk/uploads/general/files/GasSim%20SWANA%202002.pdf">risk assessment model</a> to identify hazards and factors that might cause harm. Studies into the health consequences of landfill gas have yielded conflicting results, and <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-03/documents/health_effects_of_residence_near_hazardous_waste_landfill_sites_3v.pdf">research is ongoing</a>. But in the recent case, Mr Justice Fordham ruled that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england">Public Health England’s</a> advice that “risk cannot completely be excluded if exposure remains at current levels” meant the Environment Agency must act to reduce gas concentrations. </p>
<p>We know that landfills are bad for the environment because they are a major source of pollution. The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X15001993?via%3Dihub">waste hierarchy</a>, which ranks the desirability of options for managing waste, places landfills at the <a href="https://www.futureagenda.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Future-Agenda-Future-of-Waste.pdf">very bottom</a>.</p>
<p>I have argued for two decades that we should substantially limit the amount of waste we bury, and prevent waste where possible and encourage reuse. The right infrastructure to repair and recycle waste, and efficient collection services, are needed for the public to be able to manage their own waste more sustainably.</p>
<p>Compared to Germany, where there are only about <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_pdfs/NationalReports/germany/waste.pdf">160 landfill sites</a>, politicians in England have failed dismally to provide the right leadership and waste policies to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X15001257?via%3Dihub">transition from landfill</a> towards a circular economy, where waste is transformed from an inconvenience into a useful resource. There are currently more than <a href="https://www.lovejunk.com/blog/trash-talk/uk-landfill-site-map/#:%7E:text=UK%20Landfill%20Site%20Map,-26%20May%202021&text=Running%20a%20landfill%20requires%20a,total%20of%20574%20landfill%20sites.">570 landfill sites</a> in England and waste disposed via landfill actually <a href="https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/waste-to-landfill-in-england-jumps-4-in-2019/">increased by 4% in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>For the protection of public health and the environment, it’s time to bury landfills forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Williams currently receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme.</span></em></p>A high court judge said the Environment Agency was failing to fulfil its legal duty to protect the public.Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1485422020-12-02T14:51:04Z2020-12-02T14:51:04ZToxic waste dumping in the Gulf of Guinea amounts to environmental racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367908/original/file-20201106-21-1cpxjpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On the outskirts of Accra there are huge electronic waste disposal sites, known locally as Sodoma and Gomorra. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Maniglia Romano/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Toxic waste and electronic waste (e-waste) is generated from a wide range of industries – such as health, hydrocarbon or manufacturing – and can come in many forms, such as sludges or gas. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/cleaning-electronic-waste-e-waste">E-waste</a> is used electronic items that are nearing the end of their useful life, and are discarded or given to be recycled. If these types of waste aren’t properly discarded they <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/toxic-waste/">can cause</a> serious harm to human health and the environment.</p>
<p>This makes the proper disposal of toxic and e-waste <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/dec/14/toxic-ewaste-illegal-dumping-developing-countries">expensive</a>. Because of this a market has been created and some companies and independent waste brokers circumvent laws. They disguise toxic waste as <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8259765.stm">unharmful</a> and e-waste as <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/26e1aa74-2261-11ea-92da-f0c92e957a96">reusable electronics</a>. It is then exported to countries in West and Central Africa where it is often disposed of unethically at <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigeria-needs-to-manage-electronic-waste-better-135844">dump-sites</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00020184.2020.1827947?scroll=top&needAccess=true">our recent paper</a>, we show how Western companies and businesses (primarily those in Europe and the US) target countries in the Gulf of Guinea – we covered Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire – as a dump for their toxic waste. This, despite the knowledge of the physiological and environmental effects of this waste. </p>
<p>These African countries <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2474629">do not</a> have the facilities to enable the safe disposal of hazardous and toxic waste. And the true contents of the waste are <a href="https://timeline.com/koko-nigeria-italy-toxic-waste-159a6487b5aa">almost</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-10735255">always</a> unknown to them. Exporters label <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/07/uk-worst-offender-in-europe-for-electronic-waste-exports-report">unsalvageable electronic goods as reusable</a>. This allows them to circumvent international laws which <a href="http://www.basel.int/implementation/ewaste/overview/tabid/4063/default.aspx#:%7E:text=E%2Dwaste%20is%20categorized%20as,according%20to%20the%20Basel%20Convention.&text=These%20precious%20and%20heavy%20metals,source%20of%20secondary%20raw%20materials.">prohibit the transboundary transport of this</a> waste.</p>
<p>Drawing on examples from Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana, our paper argues that toxic waste dumping in the Gulf of Guinea amounts to <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/what-is-environmental-racism-pollution-covid-systemic/">environmental racism</a>. This is a term that’s used to describe a form of systemic racism – manifested <a href="https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/543B2B250E64745280256B6D005788F7/$file/bullard.pdf">through</a> policies or practices – whereby communities of colour are disproportionately burdened with health hazards through policies and practices that force them to live in proximity to sources of toxic waste. </p>
<p>Other victims of environmental racism are Native Americans. In 2002 the US Commission for Racial Justice <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/reading-environmental-racism/">found that</a> about half of this population live in areas with uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. </p>
<p>The dumping of toxic waste into Africa, while deliberately concealing its true content, shows that companies know it is ethically wrong. To protect communities within these countries, governments must implement the provisions of the <a href="http://www.basel.int/implementation/ewaste/overview/tabid/4063/default.aspx#:%7E:text=E%2Dwaste%20is%20categorized%20as,according%20to%20the%20Basel%20Convention.&text=These%20precious%20and%20heavy%20metals,source%20of%20secondary%20raw%20materials.">Basel</a> and <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/meeting-international-environmental">Bamako Conventions</a>. These conventions classify the transboundary movement of hazardous waste without the consent of the receiving state as illegal. </p>
<p>We also argue that the dumping of hazardous waste must be recognised by the United Nations and its member states as a violation of human rights.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We focused on three recent case studies of toxic waste dumping in Cote d’Ivoire, and e-waste dumping in Nigeria and Ghana to illustrate how specific acts of environmental racism happen. </p>
<p><strong>Nigeria and Ghana</strong> </p>
<p>We looked at waste dumping in Nigeria and Ghana because they are both identified by the United Nations Environmental Programme as among the <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/dark-skies-bright-future-overcoming-nigerias-e-waste-epidemic">world’s top destinations for e-waste</a>. This includes discarded computers, television sets, mobile phones and microwave ovens. </p>
<p>In Nigeria, each month an estimated 500 container loads, each carrying about 500 000 pieces of used electronic devices (many of which can’t be used again), enter Nigeria’s port from <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/nigeria-has-become-an-e-waste-dumpsite-for-europe-us-and-asia-24197">Europe, the US and Asia</a>. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-29/the-rich-world-s-electronic-waste-dumped-in-ghana">Similarly in Ghana, hundreds of thousands of tons of used electronics</a>, mainly <a href="https://resource.co/article/nigerias-e-waste-mountain">from Europe and the United States</a>, are delivered in huge containers.</p>
<p>Because the electronics aren’t properly recycled, this waste <a href="https://resource.co/article/nigerias-e-waste-mountain">has caused</a> huge amounts of pollution to enter the environment. Communities in both countries are also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6555250/">exposed</a> to toxic chemicals such as mercury and lead. Burning e-waste can increase <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1509699">the risk of respiratory and skin diseases, eye infections and cancer</a> for those that work on and live close by.</p>
<p>This is in stark contrast to what happens in the origin countries of the waste. For example, in the United Kingdom electronic waste is required to be appropriately <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/waste-electrical.htm">recycled </a> and is barred from incineration and landfills.</p>
<p>Misguidedly, the importation of e-waste to countries like Nigeria and Ghana continues because it generates much-needed revenue. For instance, Ghana is set to generate up to <a href="https://enviro360.com/govt-targets-100m-from-imported-e-waste/">US$100 million each year from levies</a> collected from importers of e-wastes. The informal sector is also a source of employment for many poor and vulnerable people. In Nigeria for example, <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/nigeria-turns-tide-electronic-waste">up to 100,000 people work</a> in the informal e-waste sector, processing half a million tonnes of discarded appliances each year.</p>
<p><strong>Côte d’Ivoire</strong> </p>
<p>Côte d'Ivoire serves as a good example to show the secrecy that is inherent in the toxic waste industry and the human and environmental cost of toxic waste dumping. </p>
<p>In 2006 Trafigura, a Netherlands-based multinational oil trading company, <a href="https://dro.dur.ac.uk/16631/2/16631.pdf">didn’t want</a> to pay the EUR500,000 (about US$620,000) to treat and dispose of its toxic waste in the Netherlands. And so it approached an Ivorian contractor to dispose of <a href="https://dro.dur.ac.uk/16631/2/16631.pdf">over 500,000 litres of toxic waste</a>. They paid the Ivorian subcontractor in Abidjan EUR18,500 (about US$22,000). The waste was disposed of at over <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-environment-releases-independent-audit-sites-affected-toxic-waste#:%7E:text=The%20audit%20finds%20that%20none,from%20the%202006%20dumping%20event.">12 different locations around Abidjan</a>. They claimed the material was non-toxic, hence no need for treatment. </p>
<p>The environmental racism is reflected in the fact that Trafigura knew that the waste was toxic and lied to discharge it in Côte d'Ivoire. Its decision is one of convenience and it is racist because it shows a disregard for African lives. </p>
<p>In the aftermath of the incident, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2009/09/312652-toxic-wastes-caused-deaths-illnesses-cote-divoire-un-expert">over 100,000 people became sick and 15 people died</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-environment-releases-independent-audit-sites-affected-toxic-waste#:%7E:text=The%20audit%20finds%20that%20none,from%20the%202006%20dumping%20event.">2018 assessment</a> some of the sites are still contaminated. </p>
<p>The Ivorian government entered into a settlement agreement with the Trafigura Group, receiving <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/webfm/Documents/issues/afr310082012en.pdf?yw4zwEWa4WPJdM72s3xrNYvG6oyJOZGx">CFA95 billion (approximately US$200 million)</a>. This was intended to compensate the state and the victims and to pay for clean-up of the waste. However, some victims <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20384">haven’t received</a> compensation. Subsequent bids by victims for compensation have been <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/ivory-coast-toxic-spill-victims-launch-new-dutch-court-bid">rejected</a> by a court in Amsterdam.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>We recommend that countries in the region implement the provisions of the Basel and Bamako conventions in their entirety. Doing this would ensure that the countries of origin would be active players, monitoring the brokers on their end and ensuring waste is stopped before it’s exported. </p>
<p>Currently, Nigeria and Ghana haven’t ratified the Bamako Convention; they must do so. Recipient countries must take the necessary steps to ensure that they’re not used as a dumping ground. </p>
<p>There’s also a need for an international tribunal on toxic waste dumping and related crimes – just <a href="https://www.icty.org/">like the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia</a> – to pass appropriate retributive justice. And though the Basel convention stipulates that the state can develop laws regarding liability and compensation for the victims, this has not yet resulted in fair compensation for victims.</p>
<p>Finally, it is imperative that Gulf of Guinea countries equip their seaports with technology and trained personnel that can detect hazardous waste.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite knowing how harmful it can be, companies and businesses (primarily those in Europe and the US) target countries in the Gulf of Guinea as a dump for their toxic waste.Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, Lecturer, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460652020-10-22T12:23:50Z2020-10-22T12:23:50ZDesigning batteries for easier recycling could avert a looming e-waste crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364563/original/file-20201020-17-1x28u8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C5%2C3494%2C2144&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What happens to millions of these?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Li_ion_laptop_battery.jpg">Kristoferb/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for <a href="https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/electrification-101/">greater use of electricity</a> as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_batteries.html">plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles</a> on U.S. roads is increasing. And utilities are generating a growing share of their power from renewable fuels, supported by <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40072">large-scale battery storage systems</a>.</p>
<p>These trends, coupled with a growing volume of battery-powered phones, watches, laptops, wearable devices and other consumer technologies, leave us wondering: What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out?</p>
<p>Despite overwhelming enthusiasm for cheaper, more powerful and energy-dense batteries, manufacturers have paid comparatively little attention to making these essential devices more sustainable. In the U.S. only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries – the technology of choice for electric vehicles and many high-tech products – <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/07/f64/112306-battery-recycling-brochure-June-2019%202-web150.pdf">are actually recycled</a>. As sales of electric vehicles and tech gadgets continue to grow, it is unclear who should handle hazardous battery waste or how to do it. </p>
<p>As engineers who work on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pPgKUOEAAAAJ&hl=en">designing advanced materials</a>, including <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dD8UWYEAAAAJ&hl=en">batteries</a>, we believe it is important to think about these issues now. Creating pathways for battery manufacturers to build sustainable production-to-recycling manufacturing processes that meet both consumer and environmental standards can reduce the likelihood of a battery waste crisis in the coming decade.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iFchfHH0qzg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Spent batteries from electric vehicles can still power devices like streetlights, but there is not currently any requirement to reuse them. Recycling them is expensive and technically complex.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hazardous contents</h2>
<p>Batteries pose more complex recycling and disposal challenges than metals, plastics and paper products because they contain many chemical components that are both toxic and difficult to separate. </p>
<p>Some types of widely used batteries – notably, lead-acid batteries in gasoline-powered cars – have relatively simple chemistries and designs that make them straightforward to recycle. The common nonrechargeable alkaline or water-based batteries that power devices like flashlights and smoke alarms can be disposed directly in landfills. </p>
<p>However, today’s lithium-ion batteries are highly sophisticated and not designed for recyclability. They contain hazardous chemicals, such as toxic lithium salts and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/transition-metal">transition metals</a>, that can damage the environment and leach into water sources. Used lithium batteries also contain embedded electrochemical energy – a small amount of charge left over after they can no longer power devices – which can cause fires or explosions, or <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">harm people that handle them</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1026491976722468865"}"></div></p>
<p>Moreover, manufacturers have little economic incentive to modify existing protocols to incorporate recycling-friendly designs. Today it <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">costs more to recycle</a> a lithium-ion battery than the recoverable materials inside it are worth.</p>
<p>As a result, responsibility for handling battery waste frequently falls to third-party recyclers – companies that make money from collecting and processing recyclables. Often it is cheaper for them to store batteries than to treat and recycle them. </p>
<p>Recycling technologies that can break down batteries, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/pyrometallurgy">pyrometallurgy</a>, or burning, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/hydrometallurgy">hydrometallurgy</a>, or acid leaching, are becoming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41918-018-0012-1">more efficient and economical</a>. But the lack of proper battery recycling infrastructure creates roadblocks along the entire supply chain. </p>
<p>For example, transporting used batteries over long distances to recycling centers would typically be done by truck. Lithium batteries must be packaged and shipped according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=83659c6aca8187cdb60b38763b2ffbb8&node=se49.2.173_1185&rgn=div8">Class 9 hazardous material regulations</a>. Using a <a href="https://www.anl.gov/egs/everbatt">model developed by Argonne National Laboratory</a>, we estimate that this requirement increases transport costs to more than 50 times that of regular cargo.</p>
<h2>Safer and simpler</h2>
<p>While it will be challenging to bake recyclability into the existing manufacturing of conventional lithium-ion batteries, it is vital to develop sustainable practices for solid-state batteries, which are a next-generation technology expected to enter the market within this decade. </p>
<p>A solid-state battery replaces the flammable organic liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with a nonflammable inorganic solid electrolyte. This allows the battery to operate over a much wider temperature range and dramatically reduces the risk of fires or explosions. Our <a href="http://zhengchen.eng.ucsd.edu/">team of nanoengineers</a> is working to incorporate ease of recyclability into next-generation solid-state battery development before these batteries enter the market.</p>
<p>Conceptually, recycling-friendly batteries must be safe to handle and transport, simple to dismantle, cost-effective to manufacture and minimally harmful to the environment. After analyzing the options, we’ve chosen a combination of specific chemistries in next-generation all-solid-state batteries that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2020.25">meets these requirements</a>. </p>
<p>Our design strategy reduces the number of steps required to dismantle the battery, and avoids using combustion or harmful chemicals such as acids or toxic organic solvents. Instead, it employs only safe, low-cost materials such as alcohol and water-based recycling techniques. This approach is scalable and environmentally friendly. It dramatically simplifies conventional battery recycling processes and makes it safe to disassemble and handle the materials. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing steps to recycle an all-solid-state battery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed procedure for recycling solid-state battery packs directly and harvesting their materials for reuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2020.25">Tan et al., 2020</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compared to recycling lithium-ion batteries, recycling solid-state batteries is intrinsically safer since they’re made entirely of nonflammable components. Moreover, in our proposed design the entire battery can be recycled directly without separating it into individual components. This feature dramatically reduces the complexity and cost of recycling them.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Our design is a proof-of-concept technology developed at the laboratory scale. It is ultimately up to private companies and public institutions, such as national laboratories or state-run waste facilities, to apply these recycling principles on an industrial scale.</p>
<h2>Rules for battery recycling</h2>
<p>Developing an easy-to-recycle battery is just one step. Many challenges associated with battery recycling stem from the complex logistics of handling them. Creating facilities, regulations and practices for collecting batteries is just as important as developing better recycling technologies. China, South Korea and the European Union are <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d/c/dc43cdc9-ef56-4f8c-b442-d325aa8acf72/D775B276380B37ABF9A49BFD581DD1A5.sanders-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">already developing battery recycling systems and mandates</a>.</p>
<p>One useful step would be for governments to require that batteries carry universal tags, similar to the internationally recognized standard labels used for plastics and metals recycling. These could help to educate consumers and waste collectors about how to handle different types of used batteries.</p>
<p>Markings could take the form of an electronic tag printed on battery labels with embedded information, such as chemistry type, age and manufacturer. Making this data readily available would facilitate automated sorting of large volumes of batteries at waste facilities.</p>
<p>It is also vital to improve international enforcement of recycling policies. Most battery waste is not generated where the batteries were originally produced, which makes it hard to hold manufacturers responsible for handling it. </p>
<p>Such an undertaking would require manufacturers and regulatory agencies to work together on newer recycling-friendly designs and better collection infrastructure. By confronting these challenges now, we believe it is possible to avoid or reduce the harmful effects of battery waste in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zheng Chen receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren H. S. Tan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Batteries power much of modern life, from electric and hybrid cars to computers, medical devices and cellphones. But unless they’re made easier and cheaper to recycle, a battery waste crisis looms.Zheng Chen, Assistant Professor of Engineering, University of California, San DiegoDarren H. S. Tan, PhD Candidate in Chemical Engineering, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333242020-05-28T12:15:53Z2020-05-28T12:15:53ZGold rush, mercury legacy: Small-scale mining for gold has produced long-lasting toxic pollution, from 1860s California to modern Peru<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332060/original/file-20200501-42908-1p78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1754&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artisanal small-scale gold mining polluted this stream and deforested sections of the Madre de Dios area of Peru. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/miner-walks-through-a-polluted-stream-in-a-deforested-area-news-photo/450562169?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gold is everywhere in modern life, from jewelry to electronics to smartphones. The global electronics industry alone uses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13404-014-0151-z">280 tons</a> annually. And that demand keeps growing. </p>
<p>But most people know little about the environmental impacts of gold mining. About 15% of world gold production is from <a href="https://web.unep.org/globalmercurypartnership/our-work/artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining-asgm">artisanal and small-scale mining</a> in over 70 countries throughout Asia, Africa and South America. These operations employ <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201704840">10 to 19 million workers</a>. They often are poorly policed and weakly regulated.</p>
<p>Artisanal mining might sound quaint, but it is usually criminal activity and results in widespread environmental damage. It also is the <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do/mercury/global-mercury-assessment">largest source of mercury pollution in the world today</a>, far exceeding other activities such as coal combustion and cement manufacturing. While mercury is an element that occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust, it has <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mercury-and-health">many toxic effects</a> on humans and animals, even at very low exposure levels.</p>
<p>We have studied <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SfOGYUrkdvDIY2Xjo70L84q02EmDLQ8VwPjFQ9WObbk/edit">mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining</a> for the past five years. The extraction methods that these operations use today are not drastically different from processes that miners employed in the California gold rush in the mid-1800s. Today we see history repeating itself in places like the Peruvian Amazon, where small-scale gold mining threatens to leave behind long-lasting social, economic and environmental consequences. </p>
<p><iframe id="ULv9b" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ULv9b/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Mercury contamination from gold mining</h2>
<p>Mercury has been used for centuries as an inexpensive and easy way to collect gold. The process begins when miners pump a mixture of water and sediment from a riverbed into a trough, where the sediment can be suspended into a slurry – a technique known as hydraulic mining.</p>
<p>Next they add mercury, which binds to the gold particles, forming an amalgam. Mercury is heavier than pure gold, so the balls of amalgam sink to the bottom of buckets or holding ponds where they can be collected. Finally, workers burn off the mercury – often with a hand torch or in a crude stove – leaving gold metal behind. </p>
<p>This process releases mercury to the environment in two forms. First, tailings, or waste material, can contaminate nearby land and <a href="http://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.274">aquatic ecosystems</a>. Second, mercury vapor enters the atmosphere and can <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.120-a424">travel long distances</a> before being deposited to land and water via rainfall or small dust particles.</p>
<p>In the environment, microbes can transform mercury into a more potent form known as methylmercury. Methylmercury can be taken up by bacteria, plankton and other microorganisms that are then consumed by fish and build up to dangerous concentrations in animals higher on the food chain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326121/original/file-20200407-74220-17ujdhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When artisanal gold miners burn mercury, it is released into the atmosphere and can end up on land or in water. Mining tailings (solid waste) also deposit mercury onto land or into water. Microbes in the environment can convert mercury into methylmercury, which can be taken up by living organisms, including fish and people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arianna Agostini, Rand Alotaibi, Arabella Chen, Annie Lee, Fernanda Machicao, Melissa Marchese</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that is harmful to humans and wildlife, such as <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Giant-otter-(Pteronura-brasiliensis)-at-risk-Total-Gutleb-Schenck/a87fd7789293a03e480d58cb237db50a3a587239">endangered giant otters</a> that feed high on the food web within these contaminated environments. It can cause severe central nervous system damage that results in sensory and motor deficits, as well as behavioral impairments such as difficulty swimming in aquatic animals and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/398_2017_4">flying</a> in birds.</p>
<h2>A lasting legacy in California</h2>
<p>During the U.S. gold rush, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/after-gold-rush/">hydraulic mining operations in California</a> completely denuded forested landscapes, altered the course of rivers, increased sedimentation that clogged river beds and lakes and released enormous amounts of mercury onto the landscape. California wildcat miners used an estimated <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3014/fs2005_3014_v1.1.pdf">10 million pounds</a> of mercury from the 1860s through the early 1900s. Most of it was released to the environment as tailings and mercury vapor. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337113/original/file-20200522-124860-1nesdny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panning for gold in California, 1850.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/1850_Woman_and_Men_in_California_Gold_Rush.jpg">Unknown/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A century later, water, soil and sediments in the Sierra Nevada region still have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s002540050153">high concentrations</a> of mercury and methylmercury, often exceeding thresholds set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Studies show that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-0836-6">fish</a>, birds and other organisms living near historically mined sites in California have high mercury concentrations in their bodies compared to those inhabiting nearby unmined landscapes. Extreme erosion on mountain slopes can continuously mobilize <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.333">mercury deposited decades ago</a>. </p>
<h2>History repeats itself</h2>
<p>Like men who traveled to California in 1849 hoping to strike it rich, today’s artisanal miners around the world are mainly low-skilled workers hoping to support themselves and their families. </p>
<p>In Peru, where we have studied this process, artisanal miners produce an estimated <a href="https://www.responsiblemines.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Case_Study_Peru_June_2012.pdf">35,000 to 40,000 pounds</a> of gold per year. The industry offers an opportunity for upward mobility for <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-devastating-costs-of-the-amazon-gold-rush-19365506/">substantial numbers of Peruvians</a>, who generally migrate to mining sites from coastal and mountain towns.</p>
<p>As a result, gold rush towns have boomed over the past 20 years. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoceanic_Highway">Inter-Oceanic Highway</a>, which was completed in 2012 and runs from Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s Pacific coast, has connected these towns to larger cities and increased access to the Peruvian Amazon.</p>
<p>Producing a pound of gold requires about 6 pounds of mercury. Given that at least 50% of the mercury used in these operations is lost to the environment, we estimate that artisanal gold mining in Peru alone releases nearly 50,000 pounds of mercury annually.</p>
<p>Mining in this region is producing impacts that are strikingly similar to the hallmarks of the California gold rush. For example, miners in the Peruvian Amazon have cleared more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10121903">250,000 acres of forest</a> since 1984.</p>
<p>The Madre de Dios River, which runs through a zone that has seen substantial mining, will likely continue to erode the landscape, carrying mercury-laden particles downstream. Long-lasting mercury contamination in this region threatens the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/05/22/why-the-amazons-biodiversity-is-critical-for-the-globe">highest biodiversity on the planet</a> and many indigenous communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337972/original/file-20200527-20229-arfmw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of landscape change from gold mining during the California gold rush (left) and modern artisanal mining in Peru (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley (left); Arabella Chen (right)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gold mining in 19th-century California <a href="https://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Gold-Rush-and-Westward-Expansion.pdf">sparked a wave of western migration</a> and helped drive settlement of what we now refer to as the western United States at a time when mining and environmental pollution were unregulated. Today, use of mercury in artisanal gold mining is regulated by the 2013 <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/e/oes/eqt/chemicalpollution/mercury/245187.htm">Minamata Convention on Mercury</a>, which has been signed by 128 countries – including Peru. Yet there is little on-the-ground regulation in most countries. Nor have governments addressed legacy pollution and deforestation from gold mining. </p>
<p>Illegal artisanal gold mining is a major source of income for local communities in places like the Madre de Dios region of Peru. As long as people all over the world continue to demand more gold, we believe that they are just as responsible as miners and local policymakers for the environmental degradation gold mining causes.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Gerson receives funding from Duke University Bass Connections, Duke University Global Health Institute, Duke University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Duke University Center for International and Global Studies, Duke University Dissertation Graduate School, Geological Society of America, Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund, Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Austin Wadle is affiliated with Service Employees International Union Local 27 as the cochair of the Duke Graduate Students Union. Austin Wadle receives funding from Duke University Scholars Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmine Parham receives funding from Duke University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Duke University Biology Department. </span></em></p>Small-scale gold mining operations in developing countries are major sources of toxic mercury pollution, using techniques that haven’t changed much since the California Gold Rush 150 years ago.Jacqueline Gerson, Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology, Duke UniversityAustin Wadle, Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke UniversityJasmine Parham, Ph.D. Student in Biology, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1097692019-01-18T17:48:49Z2019-01-18T17:48:49ZA teen scientist helped me discover tons of golf balls polluting the ocean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254520/original/file-20190118-100282-w0v7ak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teenager Alex Weber and friends collected nearly 40,000 golf balls hit into the ocean from a handful of California golf courses.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Weber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans has become a global environmental crisis. Many people have seen images that seem to capture it, such as <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/waves-garbage-are-washing-beach-dominican-republic-180969747/">beaches carpeted with plastic trash</a> or a seahorse <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/09/seahorse-ocean-pollution/">gripping a cotton swab with its tail</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uo1sSBwAAAAJ&hl=en">scientist researching marine plastic pollution</a>, I thought I had seen a lot. Then, early in 2017, I heard from <a href="https://www.theplasticpick-up.org/">Alex Weber</a>, a junior at Carmel High School in California.</p>
<p>Alex emailed me after reading my scientific work, which caught my eye, since very few high schoolers spend their time reading scientific articles. She was looking for guidance on an unusual environmental problem. While snorkeling in the <a href="https://montereybay.noaa.gov/">Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary</a> near the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Alex and her friend Jack Johnston had repeatedly come across large numbers of golf balls on the ocean floor.</p>
<p>As environmentally conscious teens, they started removing golf balls from the water, one by one. By the time Alex contacted me, they had retrieved over 10,000 golf balls – more than half a ton.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254260/original/file-20190117-24634-adt9fi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dense aggregations of golf balls littering the sea floor in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Weber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Golf balls sink, so they don’t become eyesores for future golfers and beachgoers. As a result, this issue had gone largely unnoticed. But Alex had stumbled across something big: a point source of marine debris – one that comes from a single, identifiable place – polluting federally protected waters. Our newly published study details the scope of this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.01.013">unexpected marine pollutant</a> and some ways in which it could affect marine life. </p>
<h2>Cleaning up the mess</h2>
<p>Many popular golf courses dot the <a href="https://www.westjetmagazine.com/story/article/top-7-golf-courses-along-california-coast">central California coast</a> and use the ocean as a hazard or an out-of-bounds. The most famous course, <a href="https://www.pebblebeach.com/golf/pebble-beach-golf-links/">Pebble Beach Golf Links</a>, is site of the <a href="https://www.pebblebeach.com/events/2019-u-s-open-championship/">2019 U.S. Open Championship</a>. </p>
<p>Alex wanted to create a lasting solution to this problem. I told her that the way to do it was to meticulously plan and systematically record all future golf ball collections. Our goal was to produce a peer-reviewed scientific paper documenting the scope of the problem, and to propose a plan of action for golf courses to address it. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254259/original/file-20190117-24634-b9pgbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alex Weber and Jack Johnston collecting golf balls from the sea floor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Weber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alex, her friends and her father paddled, dove, heaved and hauled. By mid-2018 the results were startling: They had collected nearly 40,000 golf balls from three sites near coastal golf courses: Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and the Carmel River Mouth. And following Alex’s encouragement, Pebble Beach employees started to retrieve golf balls from beaches next to their course, amassing more than 10,000 additional balls. </p>
<p>In total, we collected 50,681 golf balls from the shoreline and shallow waters. This represented roughly 2.5 tons of debris – approximately the weight of a pickup truck. By multiplying the average number of balls lost per round played (1-3) and the <a href="https://www.pga.com/worlds-most-beautiful-courses-pebble-beach">average number of rounds played annually</a> at Pebble Beach, we estimated that patrons at these popular courses may lose over 100,000 balls per year to the surrounding environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254258/original/file-20190117-24607-6va8s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A harbor seal investigates a member of the golf ball recovery team.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Weber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The toxicity of golf balls</h2>
<p>Modern golf balls are made of a <a href="http://www.ravelast.com/en/r-d/pu-elastomers.html">polyurethane elastomer</a> shell and a synthetic rubber core. Manufacturers add <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-3249-z">zinc oxide</a>, <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/159747#section=Safety-and-Hazards">zinc acrylate</a> and <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/7187#section=Safety-and-Hazards">benzoyl peroxide</a> to the solid core for flexibility and durability. These substances are also acutely toxic to marine life. </p>
<p>When golf balls are hit into the ocean, they immediately sink to the bottom. No ill effects on local wildlife have been documented to date from exposure to golf balls. But as the balls degrade and fragment at sea, they may leach chemicals and microplastics into the water or sediments. Moreover, if the balls break into small fragments, fish, birds or other animals could ingest them. </p>
<p>The majority of the balls we collected showed only light wear. Some could even have been resold and played. However, others were severely degraded and fragmented by the persistent mechanical action of breaking waves and unremitting swell in the dynamic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertidal_zone">intertidal</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littoral_zone">nearshore</a> environments. We estimated that over 60 pounds of irrecoverable microplastic had been shed from the balls we collected. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254261/original/file-20190117-24631-1g85252.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sea otter holding a golf ball at one of our study sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Weber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Game-changer</h2>
<p>Thanks to Alex Weber, we now know that golf balls erode at sea over time, producing dangerous microplastics. Recovering the balls soon after they are hit into the ocean is one way to mitigate their impacts. Initially, golf course managers were surprised by our findings, but now they are working with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to address the problem. </p>
<p>Alex is also working with managers at the sanctuary to develop cleanup procedures that can prevent golf ball pollution in these waters from ever reaching these levels again. Although her study was local, her findings are worrisome for other regions with coastal golf courses. Nonetheless, they send a positive message: If a high school student can accomplish this much through relentless hard work and dedication, anyone can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Savoca does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Snorkeling off the California coast, a high school student found heaps of golf balls on the ocean floor. With a marine scientist, she showed that golf courses were producing tons of plastic pollution.Matthew Savoca, Postdoctoral researcher, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048972018-12-20T11:33:41Z2018-12-20T11:33:41ZWhat lies beneath: To manage toxic contamination in cities, study their industrial histories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251022/original/file-20181217-185243-1t3dsl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mural at Rockaway Brewing Company in Long Island City, Queens, New York, a longtime industrial and transportation hub that now is rapidly redeveloping.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Amazon-HQ-Two-Cities/58557d8f018c4edc9c85401ead978738/9/0">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Philadelphia’s hip <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/citified/2016/10/20/northern-liberties-gentrification/">Northern Liberties community</a> is an old working-class neighborhood that has become a model of trendy urban-chic redevelopment. Crowded with renovated row houses, bistros and boutique shops, the area is knit together by a pedestrian mall and a 2-acre community garden, park and playground space called Liberty Lands. </p>
<p>First-time visitors are unlikely to realize they’re standing atop a reclaimed Superfund site once occupied by Burk Brothers Tannery, a large plant that employed hundreds of workers between 1855 and 1962. And even longtime residents may not know that the 1.5 square miles of densely settled land around the park contains the highest density of former manufacturing sites in Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Over the past 60 years, more than 220 factories operated in this same small area. Nearly all did business before the mid-1980s, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started <a href="https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/30th-anniversary-toxics-release-inventory-tri-program">requiring businesses to report releases of toxic materials</a></p>
<p>In our book, <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/sites-unseen">“Sites Unseen,”</a> we set out to discover how many such former sites exist and why, over time, they simultaneously seem to proliferate and disappear from view. The data we collected from state manufacturing directories dating back to the 1950s don’t tell us whether specific addresses we found are presently contaminated. But they do provide richly textured maps of where and for how long hazardous industrial activities operated in four very different cities – New Orleans, Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia. Our findings strongly suggest that these and many other American cities now face a legacy hazardous waste problem they don’t even know they have. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Crescent Brass and Pin Company manufactured nails and plumbing supplies in this building in Detroit from 1905 through 1984.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Brass_and_Pin_Company_Building#/media/File:Crescent_Brass_and_Pin_Company_Building_-_Detroit_Michigan.jpg">Andrew Jameson/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hazardous waste legacies</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/tri_release.chemical">data recently released by the EPA</a>, in 2017 industrial facilities (excluding mining operations) released 1.1 billion pounds of hazardous waste at the point of production or “on site.” That number is an understatement, because government records rely on voluntary reporting and exclude smaller manufacturing facilities that also pollute. And there is virtually no public documentation of similar releases before the 1980s.</p>
<p>To investigate the scope and scale of this problem, we identified relic and active sites from state manufacturing directories, which can be found in public libraries nationwide. These guides are largely untapped sources of information about where manufacturing activities occurred, for how long, and what each facility produced. In each city we analyzed, we were surprised to learn that government databases ostensibly designed to identify hazardous sites actually captured less than 10 percent of historically existing manufacturing sites. </p>
<p>Through follow-up surveys, we learned that 95 percent of relic manufacturing sites are used today for activities other than hazardous industry. We found coffee shops, apartments, restaurants, parks, child care centers and much more at these locations. These patterns corroborate processes which we now suspect drive both the spread of contaminated urban lands and the concealment of their past uses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hazardous industrial sites in Houston’s Inner Loop zone, bounded by Interstate 610. Sites marked ‘o’ were active sites in 2015; those marked ‘x’ are relic and largely uninvestigated sites where industrial activities took place between 1950 and 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Elliott and Scott Frickel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Erasing sites’ history</h2>
<p>Like other businesses, most hazardous industrial facilities operate for a time, then go out of business or move their operations elsewhere. This constant turnover is an ongoing, fundamental feature of urban economic development. And because urban land is limited and valuable, those lots typically are redeveloped for non-industrial uses when they become available. </p>
<p>Our data show that hazardous industrial sites turn over every eight years, on average. This means that an individual lot can be redeveloped multiple times, sometimes over the span of just a few decades. For example, one Portland, Oregon address that we investigated housed a neon sign and sheet metal fabricator during the 1950s, then the office of a dry bulk trucking company, and is now a doggy day care center. </p>
<p>These interlocking processes of land use and reuse have far-reaching environmental impacts that social scientists are only beginning to recognize. Lot by lot, small but ongoing changes in urban land uses spread toxins across urban areas. At the same time, pressures for redevelopment often cover up the evidence. </p>
<p>In these ways, large, long-lived industrial sites, like the former Burk Brothers Tannery in Philadelphia, represent the tip of the iceberg of urban industrial activities and resulting contamination. Government agencies typically identify and clean up these large, visible sites that are known or widely suspected to be contaminated. And often they offer developers <a href="https://theconversation.com/cleaning-up-toxic-sites-shouldnt-clear-out-the-neighbors-74741">incentives to build on them</a>, including <a href="https://www.hklaw.com/publications/brownfields-redevelopment-initiatives-03-01-2003/">liability waivers</a>.</p>
<p>All the while, thousands of smaller, less prominent but potentially polluted sites go unnoticed, contributing to a much more systemic environmental risk. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HvprdMZsIus?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An ongoing cleanup of Brooklyn’s heavily polluted Gowanus Canal is triggering a development boom in this industrial neighborhood.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Look back to move forward</h2>
<p>Based on the research we did for our book, we believe the problem of relic industrial waste is far greater and more vexing than many scholars, regulators and developers appreciate. And this complexity has important implications for environmental justice and the question of who lives, works and plays in neighborhoods burdened by relic industrial contaminants. Communities can’t set priorities for cleaning up contaminated land until they identify relevant sites.</p>
<p>Environmental justice studies that use more limited government data on hazardous sites provide consistent evidence that polluting industries and environmental hazards are <a href="https://theconversation.com/flints-water-crisis-is-a-blatant-example-of-environmental-injustice-53553">more frequently imposed on poor and minority communities</a>. But our findings suggest that, over time, risks also accumulate over broader areas – including white working-class neighborhoods of yesteryear, lower-income and minority neighborhoods that superseded them, gentrifying areas such as Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties that are now selectively following, and whatever comes after that. </p>
<p>It is a basic social fact of urban life that industrial hazards accumulate and spread relentlessly. The sooner this problem is recognized, the sooner Americans can reclaim their cities and the environmental regulatory systems that are designed to ensure our collective well-being. </p>
<p>One way forward is for regulatory agencies to undertake historical investigations of relic industrial sites, using the same publicly available sources that we have used. Concerned citizens and neighborhood groups can do so as well, and the DIY User’s Guide at the end of our book describes how to do it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104897/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James R. Elliott receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Frickel receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. </span></em></p>Many homes, parks and businesses in US cities stand on former manufacturing sites that may have left legacy hazardous wastes behind. A new book calls for more research into our urban industrial past.James R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice UniversityScott Frickel, Professor of Sociology and Environment and Society, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887602018-03-15T10:44:16Z2018-03-15T10:44:16ZSustainable cities need more than parks, cafes and a riverwalk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210164/original/file-20180313-30986-omac04.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small tankers unload along New York's Newtown Creek in 2008.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Small_tankers_unload_Newtown_Creek.JPG">Jim Henderson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-greenest-american-cities/">many indexes</a> that aim to rank how green cities are. But what does it actually mean for a city to be green or sustainable? </p>
<p>We’ve written about what we call the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729569">“parks, cafes and a riverwalk” model of sustainability</a>, which focuses on providing new green spaces, mainly for high-income people. This vision of shiny residential towers and waterfront parks has become a widely-shared conception of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=green+cities&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPyqGw5NrYAhUnkeAKHYoMCkwQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=949">what green cities should look like</a>. But it can drive up real estate prices and displace low- and middle-income residents.</p>
<p>As scholars who study gentrification and social justice, we prefer a model that recognizes all three aspects of sustainability: <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2012/03/17/why-equity-and-sustainability-matter-for-human-development-helen-clark.html">environment, economy and equity</a>. The equity piece is often missing from development projects promoted as green or sustainable. We are interested in models of urban greening that produce real environmental improvements and also benefit long-term working-class residents in neighborhoods that are historically underserved. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210165/original/file-20180313-30972-1orr6qd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial photo of Newtown Creek, which flows between Brooklyn and Queens into the East River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newtown_Creek_Aerial_Photo.png">NASA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Over a decade of research in an industrial section of New York City, we have seen an alternative vision take shape. This model, which we call “just green enough,” aims to clean up the environment while also retaining and creating living-wage blue-collar jobs. By doing so, it enables residents who have endured decades of contamination to stay in place and enjoy the benefits of a greener neighborhood.</p>
<h2>‘Parks, cafes and a riverwalk’ can lead to gentrification</h2>
<p>Gentrification has become a catch-all term used to describe neighborhood change, and is often misunderstood as the only path to neighborhood improvement. In fact, its <a href="http://www.urbandisplacement.org/gentrification-explained">defining feature is displacement</a>. Typically, people who move into these changing neighborhoods are whiter, wealthier and more educated than residents who are displaced.</p>
<p>A recent spate of new research has focused on the displacement effects of environmental cleanup and green space initiatives. This phenomenon has variously been called <a href="https://critical-sustainabilities.ucsc.edu/environmental-gentrification/">environmental</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.30.7.694">eco-</a> or <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Green-Gentrification-Urban-sustainability-and-the-struggle-for-environmental/Gould-Lewis/p/book/9781138309135">green gentrification</a>. </p>
<p>Land for new development and resources to fund extensive cleanup of toxic sites are scarce in many cities. This creates pressure to rezone industrial land for condo towers or lucrative commercial space, in exchange for developer-funded cleanup. And in neighborhoods where gentrification has already begun, a new park or <a href="http://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/4970">farmers market can exacerbate the problem</a> by making the area even <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.901657">more attractive to potential gentrifiers</a> and pricing out long-term residents. In some cases, developers even create <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/business/a-beer-garden-lays-down-roots-for-a-technology-hub.html?_r=4">temporary community gardens or farmers markets</a> or promise more green space than they eventually deliver, in order to market a neighborhood to buyers looking for green amenities.</p>
<p>Environmental gentrification naturalizes the disappearance of manufacturing and the working class. It makes deindustrialization seem both inevitable and desirable, often by quite literally replacing industry with more natural-looking landscapes. When these neighborhoods are finally cleaned up, after years of activism by longtime residents, those advocates often are unable to stay and enjoy the benefits of their efforts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210167/original/file-20180313-30969-1u0ttt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The River Walk in San Antonio, Texas, is a popular shopping and dining area catering to tourists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/6RKH2">Ken Lund</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Tools for greening differently</h2>
<p>Greening and environmental cleanup do not automatically or necessarily lead to gentrification. There are tools that can make cities both greener and more inclusive, if the political will exists.</p>
<p>The work of the <a href="http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/">Newtown Creek Alliance</a> in Brooklyn and Queens provides examples. The alliance is a community-led organization working to improve environmental conditions and revitalize industry in and along Newtown Creek, which separates these two boroughs. It focuses explicitly on social justice and environmental goals, as defined by the people who have been most negatively affected by contamination in the area. </p>
<p>The industrial zone surrounding Newtown Creek is a far cry from the toxic stew that The New York Times described in 1881 as <a href="https://historicgreenpoint.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/1870-smell-map/">“the worst smelling district in the world.”</a> But it is also <a href="http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/newtown-creek-2013-12/">far from clean</a>. For 220 years it has been a dumping ground for oil refineries, chemical plants, sugar refineries, fiber mills, copper smelting works, steel fabricators, tanneries, paint and varnish manufacturers, and lumber, coal and brick yards. </p>
<p>In the late 1970s, an investigation found that <a href="http://nysdecgreenpoint.com/ProjectHistory.aspx">17 million gallons of oil</a> had leaked under the neighborhood and into the creek from a nearby oil storage terminal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/earth/28newtown.html">placed Newtown Creek on the Superfund list</a> of heavily polluted toxic waste sites in 2010.</p>
<p>The Newtown Creek Alliance and other groups are working to make sure that the <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0206282">Superfund cleanup</a> and <a href="http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/greenpoint-oil-spill/">other remediation efforts</a> are as comprehensive as possible. At the same time, they are creating new <a href="http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/plank-road/">green</a> <a href="http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/north-henry-street/">spaces</a> within an area zoned for manufacturing, rather than pushing to rezone it. </p>
<p>As this approach shows, green cities don’t have to be postindustrial. <a href="https://evergreenexchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/050117_Executive-Summary_FINAL_v4-pages.pdf">Some 20,000 people work in the North Brooklyn industrial area</a> that borders Newtown Creek. And a number of industrial businesses in the area have helped make environmental improvements. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BcC1EungjE1/?hl=en\u0026taken-by=newtowncreek","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Just green enough</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729569">“just green enough”</a> strategy uncouples environmental cleanup from high-end residential and commercial development. Our new anthology, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Just-Green-Enough-Urban-Development-and-Environmental-Gentrification/Curran-Hamilton/p/book/9781138713826">Just Green Enough: Urban Development and Environmental Gentrification</a>,” provides many other examples of the need to plan for gentrification effects before displacement happens. It also describes efforts to create environmental improvements that explicitly consider equity concerns.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.uprose.org/">UPROSE</a>, Brooklyn’s oldest Latino community-based organization, is combining racial justice activism with climate resilience planning in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. The group <a href="https://www.uprose.org/industrial-retention">advocates for investment and training</a> for existing small businesses that often are Latino-owned. Its goal is not only to expand well-paid manufacturing jobs, but to include these businesses in rethinking what a sustainable economy looks like. Rather than rezoning the waterfront for high-end commercial and residential use, UPROSE is working for an inclusive vision of the neighborhood, built on the experience and expertise of its largely working-class immigrant residents. </p>
<p>This approach illustrates a broader pattern identified by Macalester College geographer <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/geography/facultystaff/danieltrudeau/">Dan Trudeau</a> in his <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Just-Green-Enough-Urban-Development-and-Environmental-Gentrification/Curran-Hamilton/p/book/9781138713826">chapter for our book</a>. His research on residential developments throughout the United States shows that socially and environmentally just neighborhoods have to be planned as such from the beginning, including affordable housing and green amenities for all residents. Trudeau highlights the need to find “patient capital” – investment that does not expect a quick profit – and shows that local governments need to take responsibility for setting out a vision and strategy for housing equity and inclusion. </p>
<p>In our view, it is time to expand the notion of what a green city looks like and who it is for. For cities to be truly sustainable, all residents should have access to affordable housing, living-wage jobs, clean air and water, and green space. Urban residents should not have to accept a false choice between contamination and environmental gentrification.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gentrification is not the only path for improving urban neighborhoods. A cleanup in Brooklyn and Queens offers another, more inclusive model that scholars have dubbed ‘just green enough.’Trina Hamilton, Associate Professor of Geography, University at BuffaloWinifred Curran, Associate Professor of Geography, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/851482017-10-18T23:39:14Z2017-10-18T23:39:14ZScientist at work: Measuring public health impacts after disasters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190687/original/file-20171017-19058-1vmpwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crews clean up debris in a neighborhood flooded by Hurricane Harvey in Beaumont, Texas, Sept. 26, 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-County-Considering-Climate/a9ba8f3c8c41405bb7be0343373b4c63/55/0">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two months after Hurricane Harvey submerged much of metropolitan Houston, recovery is under way across the city. Residents and volunteers are <a href="http://sbpusa.org/where-we-help/harvey-recovery">gutting and restoring flooded homes</a>. Government agencies and nonprofit organizations are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/san-jacinto-waste-pits-superfund-site-cleanup-plan-approved">announcing cleanup programs</a> and developing plans to <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/houston/article/Officials-dole-out-7-5M-in-Harvey-relief-fund-12250900.php">distribute relief funds</a>.</p>
<p>But many questions remain about impacts on public health. What contaminants did floodwaters leave behind? How many people are being exposed to mold – which can grow rapidly in damp, humid conditions – as they repair their homes? Will there be an increase in Zika, West Nile or other vector-borne diseases as <a href="http://publichealth.harriscountytx.gov/Services-Programs/All-Services/Mosquito-Control-Services">mosquito populations recover</a>? Or an uptick in reported cases of other illnesses?</p>
<p>I am an epidemiologist, and my work focuses on understanding the causes and distribution of illnesses, injuries and deaths among different populations – a critical issue during and after major disasters. Our work starts when the water recedes: We want to find out how well residents were prepared before the storm, and what kinds of health impacts they may be experiencing now or can expect in the future. If they still have unmet needs, we can connect them with information and resources.</p>
<p>Researchers are at work across Texas in areas impacted by Harvey. Here’s what some of us are doing.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Houston homeowners fight mold and standing water after Harvey.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Contaminants left behind</h2>
<p>I’m currently working in Houston with partners from community organizations including <a href="http://tejasbarrios.org/">Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services</a> and the <a href="http://www.houstontx.gov/health/">Houston Health Department</a> to sample soil and sediment that was mobilized by flooding during Harvey. </p>
<p>For example, residents of Manchester, a neighborhood in Houston’s East End with many low-income and minority residents, live close to <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/connecting-scientists-and-communities/double-jeopardy#.Wc017NFOmUk">industrial sites, refineries and chemical storage facilities</a>, many of which were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/us/harvey-houston-valero-benzene.html?mcubz=0&_r=0">flooded during Harvey</a>. They are worried that contaminated sediments may have been washed into their yards and could threaten their health if dust enters homes as it dries. This is a valid fear. A <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es9812709">1999 study</a> found that dredging in New Bedford, Massachusetts mobilized toxic PCBs from harbor sediments, which later were detected in house dust and yard soil in nearby homes.</p>
<p>We also are working around Buffalo Bayou, a slow-moving river that flows through Houston and buffers the city against flooding. Buffalo Bayou is surrounded by <a href="http://buffalobayou.org/">public recreation areas</a>, including nature trails, bike paths, children’s playgrounds and dog parks. Today trails in some of these parks are covered by up to six feet of <a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/hurricane-harvey-leaves-behind-piles-of-sediment-at-buffalo-bayou-park">accumulated sediment</a>. We are working with the Houston Health Department to collect and test these sediments for environmental and health hazards.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190695/original/file-20171017-30410-197fvfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">According to the Environmental Protection Agency, an unknown amount of a dangerous chemical linked to birth defects and cancer may have washed downstream from the San Jacinto River Waste Pits site in Channelview, Texas during flooding from Hurricane Harvey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Harvey-Toxic-Sites-Underwater/2300fe0bcd3244bbaa0aaf68b2a689dd/5/0">AP Photo/John L. Mone</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Documenting contamination is only the first step. Residents, the media and public officials can easily misinterpret lab results and risk predictions, which are based on complex modeling.</p>
<p>To help people understand what these exposures could mean to their short-term and long-term health, we are working with established teams of toxicologists, environmental health specialists, civil engineers, chemists, risk communication specialists and graphic designers as part of Texas A&M’s <a href="http://ifsc.tamu.edu/">Institute for Sustainable Communities</a>. We are also exploring ways to use social media to communicate with residents at risk as part of the university’s new <a href="https://superfund.tamu.edu/">Superfund Research Program</a>. </p>
<p>During and after Harvey, some Houston residents were exposed to complex mixtures of contaminants from <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-houston-chemical-plant-20170831-story.html">chemical plants</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-ap-exclusive-evidence-of-spills-at-toxic-site-during-floods-2017-9">toxic waste sites</a>. We need better, more accessible materials and communication tools to help people understand what kinds of health risks they may face if they have come in contact with industrial chemicals or hazardous waste.</p>
<h2>New data sources</h2>
<p>After major disasters, epidemiologists need ways to determine quickly where the greatest needs lie. Student volunteers from my <a href="https://sph.tamhsc.edu/epi-bio/epi-assist.html">EpiAssist program</a> have helped conduct surveys to rapidly <a href="https://twitter.com/hcphtx/status/916046362541772800">estimate remaining unmet needs</a> and assess <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/disaster/casper/">how prepared residents were when the storm hit</a>. </p>
<p>We also can measure people’s needs by looking at how they use telecommunications. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, researchers at Texas A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
analyzed use of <a href="http://www.211texas.org/">2-1-1</a>, a telephone number that Texas used to help Katrina evacuees in Texas to search for services across the state. By studying 2-1-1 data, they were able to identify unmet needs in real time. </p>
<p>Now people are using <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-social-media-apps-should-be-in-your-disaster-kit-83743">social media networks and apps</a> during disasters. After Harvey, many desperate flooding victims <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/28/media/harvey-rescues-social-media-facebook-twitter/index.html">turned to Facebook and Twitter</a> to appeal for help or find supplies. With colleagues from Texas A&M’s Computer Science and Engineering and Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences departments, I am analyzing tweets sent during Harvey to see how volunteer responders provided lifesaving assistance, and to understand risks and exposures that many volunteers may have experienced.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"903988916243619841"}"></div></p>
<h2>Long-term questions</h2>
<p>More information about Harvey’s impacts will become available over time and can tell us a lot. I will be requesting and analyzing data from the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/">Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> to design studies to assess the quality and pace of recovery. </p>
<p>One key priority should be to enroll a large number of Houstonians in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e3181f44abc">cohort study</a> that can follow them over time to see how strongly certain risk factors – such as exposures to contaminated flood waters, chemical spills or leaking Superfund sites – are associated with future illness. Researchers track cohort members’ health by surveying them periodically, collecting biological samples from them and reviewing their medical records.</p>
<p>Studies like this after past disasters have produced important findings. Researchers used a registry of firefighters and emergency responders who were involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.110980">identify cancers</a> from exposure to ignited chemicals and materials. The <a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/">National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences</a> created a similar <a href="https://gulfstudy.nih.gov/en/index.html">registry</a> after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to assess health outcomes of people who were involved in cleanup and remediation activities.</p>
<h2>An emerging field</h2>
<p>Epidemiology is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5334a1.htm">more than 150 years old</a>, but <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/disaster-epidemiology/horney/978-0-12-809318-4">applying it in disaster settings</a> is relatively new. Using epidemiologic methods and study designs in post-disaster settings can help identify vulnerable populations, quantify deaths and injuries and determine how disasters have affected public health. It also can lead to better decision-making and use of resources. </p>
<p>Wide-scale disasters can create conditions that foster serious health threats afterward. For example, in Texas and Florida communities that experienced hurricane flooding and where local transmission of Zika has been documented, health officials may need to pay closer attention to people of childbearing age in shelters and put more resources into mosquito control and personal protective measures. Officials in Puerto Rico have reported two confirmed and 10 suspected cases of <a href="http://outbreaknewstoday.com/leptospirosis-cases-reported-puerto-rico-post-hurricane-maria-11119/">leptospirosis</a>, a disease transmitted via contaminated water, in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Amassing more evidence about how disasters affect health will improve readiness, response, recovery and mitigation for all Americans.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Zika virus transmission has been documented in Texas and Florida, but Zika is not endemic in the continental United States.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Horney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Epidemiologists study disease outbreaks in populations to determine who gets sick and why. In the wake of this year’s hurricanes, they are assessing impacts from mold, toxic leaks and other threats.Jennifer Horney, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatictics, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/842472017-10-03T10:11:04Z2017-10-03T10:11:04ZAfter a disaster, contaminated floodwater can pose a threat for months to come<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188025/original/file-20170928-1488-1xmjvl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's in the water?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, reporters <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/houston-contaminated-floodwaters.html">warned</a> of a “stew of toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste” in Houston’s floodwaters. </p>
<p>It isn’t just Harvey. Hurricanes Irma and Maria and other floods and storms heighten the risks for contamination, environmental hazards and <a href="http://doi.org/10.4161/21505594.2014.975022">disease</a>. <a href="http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/ems/flood_cds/en/">Public health experts</a> frequently warn about the unique dangers to those evacuating from or returning to disaster-affected areas. Sadly, in the stress of the situation, these risks are often overlooked. </p>
<p>Before wading through floodwaters full of chemical spills, biotoxins, invasive species, waste, sewage and debris, it’s important to know what to watch out for and how to avoid getting hurt. </p>
<h1>Bacterial illness</h1>
<p>After epic hurricanes, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-015-0138-4">bacterial illnesses</a> are a common problem. </p>
<p>Hurricane <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25099408">floodwaters</a> may be contaminated by sewage with E. coli bacteria, which can cause serious <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-011-0225-5">gastrointestinal illness</a>. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-015-0138-4">Bacterial pathogens</a> such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus can lead to skin infections. Shigella can cause gastrointestinal illness in the form of diarrhea, vomiting, fever, stomach pain and dehydration.</p>
<p>After Hurricane Katrina, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm54d914a1.htm">surveys</a> identified <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/hurricane-harvey-infectious-diseases-flood-water-bacteria-viruses-656093">cases</a> of Vibrio illness, a bacterial illness classically associated with exposure to saltwater or brackish water. This illness led to a handful of fatalities.</p>
<p>Storms and floods also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X17006574">increase the risk</a> for <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/leptospirosis/index.html">leptospirosis</a>. This bacterial disease, if left untreated, can lead to kidney damage, liver failure and even death.</p>
<p>Inhaling airborne moisture droplets can also put you at risk for <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/hurricane-harvey-infectious-diseases-flood-water-bacteria-viruses-656093">Legionnaires’ disease</a>, which is caused by Legionella, a freshwater bacteria that easily spreads to human-made water systems during floods. This can lead to pneumonia-type symptoms, as well as gastrointestinal illness.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X17006574">One review</a> found that storms heightened the risk of poisonings, wounds, gastrointestinal infections and skin or soft tissue infections, primarily from Staph and strep infections. </p>
<p>Many of these <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-015-0138-4">bacterial illnesses</a> resolve on their own, but some require antibiotics. Tetanus prophylaxis vaccines can prevent bacterial infections through open cuts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188027/original/file-20170928-1438-rpkj1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From chemicals to mosquitoes, standing floodwaters carry a long list of public health risks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Toxic chemicals and gases</h2>
<p>Chemical leaks and spills in floodwater can pose serious risks to human health.</p>
<p>When any flood or hurricane hits an urban industrial area, there’s a risk of toxic gases, such as as methane and sulfur dioxide, as well as industrial chemicals like benzene and butadiene, which can potentially cause cancer after large or chronic exposures. After Hurricane Harvey, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/08/us/houston-hurricane-harvey-harzardous-chemicals.html">more than 40 sites</a> reportedly released hazardous pollutants. </p>
<p>Hurricane Harvey caused flooding or damage to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/08/us/houston-hurricane-harvey-harzardous-chemicals.html">at least 14 Superfund toxic waste sites</a> in and around Houston. These sites are contaminated with dioxins, lead, arsenic and mercury, as well as other dangerous industrial compounds. These can cause serious health issues in the brain, blood and kidneys. </p>
<p>Many natural gas and other <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/09/oil-gas-tank-failures-hurricane-harvey-pollution/">fuel lines</a> were also broken during Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina. Abandoned buildings may host highly explosive gas vapors. Methane and other explosive gases may also accumulate from decaying materials. </p>
<h2>Other threats</h2>
<p>Floodwaters can make houses especially hospitable to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/mold/mold-cleanup-your-home">mold</a>, particularly in humid conditions like Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida. Multiplying mold spores carry <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-bleach-mold-a-long-term-problem-after-flooding-and-disasters-84399">serious public health risks</a>, especially for people with existing mold allergies and asthma. </p>
<p>Standing water is also likely to cause an uptick in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/zika/vector/mosquitoes-and-hurricanes.html">mosquito</a> populations. Mosquitoes are vectors for a number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/harvey-and-irma-present-nearly-perfect-conditions-for-zika-spreading-mosquitoes-83938">serious viruses</a>, including Zika and yellow fever.</p>
<p>Standing water and humid conditions may also increase human encounters with <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9316257/ns/health-health_care/t/snake-bites-stomach-aches-katrinas-wake/#.WcUGBRNSzeQ">venomous snakes</a>, <a href="https://www.inquisitr.com/4463981/alligators-snakes-new-danger-in-hurricane-flooding-disoriented-gators-show-up-on-doorsteps/">fire ants</a> and stinging insects. Many of these animals may have been flooded out of their nests.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"901912379470077952"}"></div></p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2012.06.003">rates of death</a> may increase by up to 50 percent in the first year after a flood, secondary to outbreaks of diseases such as hepatitis E, gastrointestinal disease and leptospirosis.</p>
<h1>What to do?</h1>
<p>If you live in an area that’s at risk for hurricanes and storms, you can take steps now to protect yourself. </p>
<p>Make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are properly functioning. You should also invest in basement sump pumps and flood insurance if you live near a river, coastline or floodplain. Flood insurance can give you the necessary support to quickly clean up, evacuate and repair damaged buildings.</p>
<p>Survivors of Harvey, Irma, Maria and other storms should make every effort to limit their contact with floodwater. Often, particularly in the aftermath, this can be unavoidable. If possible, wait until the water level goes down or try to obtain transportation by boat.</p>
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<p>Open all windows when entering a building. If you smell gas or hear the sound of escaping gas, don’t smoke, operate electrical switches or create any other source of ignition. Leave the building immediately, leaving the door open. Don’t go back inside until you are told by authorities that it is safe to do so.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/mold/reenter.html">Remove standing water</a> as quickly as possible. Remove wet materials and discard those that cannot be thoroughly cleaned and dried. Materials that have been wet for longer than 48 hours may need to be discarded, as they will likely remain a source of <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-bleach-mold-a-long-term-problem-after-flooding-and-disasters-84399">mold</a>.</p>
<p>Dry out the building. This will take time and may require the extensive disinfection and removal of some materials. Heavily contaminated floodwaters can penetrate deep into soaked, porous materials such as drywall and wood, later releasing microorganisms and other contaminants into air or water. Microorganisms will continue to grow as long as materials remain wet and humidity is high. </p>
<p>When cleaning, limit exposure to airborne mold spores by wearing gloves, goggles and a respirator, if available, or a dust mask, so you can avoid breathing in contaminated vapor or mist. If there’s no standing water in the building and it’s safe to use electricity, use fans both during and after the use of cleaning products.</p>
<p>Exercise caution when disturbing building materials such as floor tiles, pipe insulation and paint. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/large-scale-residential-demolition/asbestos-containing-materials-acm-and-demolition#asbestos-adi-guidance">These</a> may contain hazards such as <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/floods.pdf">asbestos</a> and <a href="https://www.epa.gov/lead/post-disaster-renovations-and-lead-based-paint">lead</a>.</p>
<p>Many will use gas-powered generators to pump out floodwater. But beware – those generators can produce poisonous carbon monoxide gas in enclosed areas. In fact, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/carbon-monoxides-impact-indoor-air-quality">cases of poisoning by carbon monoxide</a> typically increase after disasters due to the improper use of fuel-burning devices.</p>
<p>You should also be on the alert for leaking containers and reactive household chemicals, like caustic drain cleaners and chlorine bleach. Stay away from leaking or spilled chemicals – even if a container is broken, it’s best to leave it undisturbed until it can be properly disposed of by authorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Natural disasters expose people to toxic gases, bacterial illness and other serious dangers. How can people maximize their safety as they return home?Timothy B. Erickson, Faculty in Medical Toxicology, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard UniversityJulia Brooks, Researcher in international law and humanitarian response, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/816072017-08-16T01:37:27Z2017-08-16T01:37:27ZBait and switch: Anchovies eat plastic because it smells like prey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181977/original/file-20170814-28423-i5knb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plastic trash on San Francisco's Ocean Beach.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/7Hxy4a">Kevin Krejci</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As you bite down into a delicious piece of fish, you probably don’t think about what the fish itself ate – but perhaps you should. Over 50 species of fish have been found to consume plastic trash at sea. This is bad news, not only for fish but potentially for humans who rely on fish for sustenance. </p>
<p>Fish don’t usually die as a direct result of feeding on the <a href="http://www.ready-for-the-resource-revolution.com/en/marine-plastic-debris-and-microplastics-a-new-unep-report-on-plastic-pollution-in-our-oceans/">enormous quantities of plastic trash</a> floating in the oceans. But that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful for them. Some negative effects that scientists have discovered when fish consume plastic include <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es5053655">reduced activity rates and weakened schooling behavior</a>, as well as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03263">compromised liver function</a>. </p>
<p>Most distressingly for people, toxic compounds such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybrominated_diphenyl_ethers">PBDEs</a> that are associated with plastic transfer to and bioaccumulate in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b06280">fish tissues</a>. This finding is troubling because it means these toxic substances could further bioaccumulate in us if we consume fish that have eaten plastic. Numerous species sold for human consumption, including mackerel, striped bass and Pacific oysters <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14340">have been found with these toxic plastics in their stomachs</a> too.</p>
<p>It is well-known that our plastic trash poses <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502108112">a serious threat</a> to marine animals, but we are still trying to understand why animals eat it. Typically, research has concluded that marine animals visually mistake plastic for food. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ieMXDlMP0b8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sea turtles can starve to death because they feel full after swallowing plastic bags or other debris.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this may be true, the full story is likely more complex. For example, in a recent study with colleagues at the University of California, Davis, we showed that <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1600395">plastic debris may also smell attractive to marine organisms</a>. That study focused on seabirds, but now my co-authors and I have found that plastic trash <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1860/20171000">has a similar effect on anchovies</a> – a critical part of ocean food chains.</p>
<h2>Sniffing out the role of smell</h2>
<p>Olfaction (smell) is a very important sense for marine animals, including fish. Sharks can smell minute quantities of blood <a href="http://www.amnh.org/learn/pd/sharks_rays/rfl_myth/myth_page5.html">over long distances</a>, which helps them find prey. And scientists believe that salmon’s sense of smell helps them <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130207131713.htm">navigate up rivers</a> to the specific tributaries where they were born to spawn. Fish may use their sense of smell in behavioral contexts including mating, homing, migrating and foraging. </p>
<p>We tested the idea that <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1860/20171000">plastic debris might smell attractive</a> to the <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/forage_fish/northern_anchovy.html">Northern anchovy</a> (<em>Engraulis mordax</em>), a common schooling fish found off the West Coast of North America. Known as forage fish, anchovies are critically important species ecologically and economically. Unfortunately, they have also been found to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep34351">eat plastic in the wild</a>. </p>
<p>Working with anchovies is challenging because they require very specific water conditions and school size to behave normally. They need to be in cold, fast-flowing water in schools of at least 100 individuals. When that happens, the anchovies display their contentment by swimming slowly and directly into the flow of water – a behavior known as positive rheotaxis. Luckily, we were able to collaborate with the <a href="https://www.aquariumofthebay.org/">Aquarium of the Bay</a> in San Francisco, where they have expertise in keeping these fish happy and healthy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182105/original/file-20170815-5485-15exuec.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schooling Northern anchovies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Savoca</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our olfactory experiment</h2>
<p>When we started the experiment we did not know whether adult anchovies used their sense of smell to find food at all, let alone whether smell might lead them to consume plastic. To test our hypothesis that it would, we soaked <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/krill/">krill</a> (tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that anchovies eat) or plastic debris and clean plastic in seawater for several hours, allowing the water to take on the smell of the material steeping in it. We then filtered our krill or plastic “tea,” presented it to the anchovy schools, and observed their behavior. </p>
<p>When fish are searching for food in groups, their behavior changes in predictable ways: They clump together near the interesting stimulus and dart around, altering their body position relative to the water current. To compare how anchovies responded to the scents of krill and plastic, we hung a specially designed apparatus with a GoPro camera attached over their tank to film the school’s behavior from above. </p>
<p>In addition to analyzing what anchovies did when they detected these odors, we also filmed their anchovies’ behavior while feeding on krill and when they were presented with control treatments of unscented seawater. This gave us baseline information about the schools’ behavior, which we could compare to their responses when they were presented with the different odors.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182000/original/file-20170814-14751-w61yev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anchovies schooling in a tank before being exposed to the odor of plastic debris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Savoca</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using a combination of automated computer analyses and diligent observer scoring, we evaluated how tightly the schools clumped together and how each fish’s body positioning relative to the direction of water flow changed before and after adding an odor solution to the tank. As we predicted, when the anchovies were feeding, schools became more densely clumped and changed their body positioning so that instead of all fish facing directly into the oncoming current, their bodies aligned more haphazardly as they searched for food morsels. In the control treatments, with no food or food odors present, we did not observe these changes. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182001/original/file-20170814-5720-1nwtbh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same anchovies displaying feeding behavior after being exposed to the odor of plastic debris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Savoca</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When we injected seawater scented with krill into the tank, the anchovies responded as if they were searching for food – which in this case was not there. And, importantly, when we presented them with seawater scented with odors of plastic debris, the schools responded in nearly the same way, clumping together and moving erratically as they would if they were searching for food. This reaction provided the first behavioral evidence that a marine vertebrate may be tricked into consuming plastic because of the way it smells.</p>
<h2>Reducing plastic pollution</h2>
<p>This research confirms several things. First, we showed that Northern anchovies use odors to locate food. This may sound intuitive, but before we did this study there was scant behavioral evidence that adult <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forage_fish">forage fish</a>, such as anchovies, sardines and herring used smell to find food. </p>
<p>Our main finding was that plastic debris is likely confusing for marine consumers because of both its appearance and its smell. That’s a problem, because if plastic looks and smells interesting to fish, it will be very hard for them to discern that is it not food.</p>
<p>This study also suggests that our consume-and-dispose culture is coming back to haunt us via the fish we eat. The next big question that it raises is whether plastic-derived contaminants can be transferred from plastic-eating fish to fish-eating humans. </p>
<p>One way to mitigate the problem is to figure out why animals confuse plastic for prey so frequently, and our research has helped to do that. However, everyone can do something right now about ocean plastic pollution by avoiding single-use plastic items and recycling plastic upon disposal. There is more work to be done, but we know enough now to make substantial headway on this global environmental issue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Savoca receives funding from the National Science Foundation and California Sea Grant. </span></em></p>A new study shows that anchovies – key food for larger fish – are attracted to plastic trash because it smells like food. This suggests that toxic substances in plastic could move up through food chains.Matthew Savoca, Postdoctoral fellow, National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747412017-07-11T01:09:41Z2017-07-11T01:09:41ZCleaning up toxic sites shouldn’t clear out the neighbors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166326/original/file-20170422-27254-1ib9u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Abandoned industrial buildings at San Francisco's Pier 70, with a smokestack in the background.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lindsey Dillon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>San Francisco has embarked on a project to transform its industrial southeast waterfront into a bike-friendly destination called the <a href="http://bluegreenway.org/#/home/page">Blue Greenway</a>. When completed, the Blue Greenway will be a 13-mile network of parks, bike lanes and trails along the southeastern edge of the city. </p>
<p>Among its many benefits, the project creates green space and waterfront access in the low-income <a href="http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Brief_History_of_Bayview-Hunters_Point">Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood</a>. The Blue Greenway is part of a larger transformation of Bayview Hunters Point. This older, neglected neighborhood is still full of vacant lots and a large, abandoned naval base, but it is becoming a landscape of <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Arrival-of-Peet-s-signals-change-in-10942164.php">hip townhomes and new coffee shops</a>. Its transformation includes the complicated cleanup of many toxic waste sites – most notoriously, a military radiation lab on the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/aboutsfgate/article/Former-nuclear-test-site-planned-for-housing-10854245.php">former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard</a>. </p>
<p>The Blue Greenway project cleans up toxic land along its route with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s <a href="https://www.epa.gov/brownfields">Brownfields Program</a>, which supports the cleanup and reuse of contaminated sites. Brownfield redevelopment projects like the Blue Greenway are intended to bring environmental and economic benefits to run-down urban areas. And yet, as I have found in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/anti.12009">my own research</a>, they can also contribute to gentrification and economic displacement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177428/original/file-20170708-4444-17buz4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Blue Greenway creates small parks and waterfront access along San Francisco’s industrial shoreline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sfenvironment.org/sites/default/files/editor-uploads/sfe_ej_event_blue_greenway_006_0.jpg">San Francisco Environment</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recycling land</h2>
<p>Brownfields are contaminated sites such as old gas stations, dry cleaning facilities, former factories and power plants. In the case of the Blue Greenway, they are small, vacant lots in old industrial areas and median strips along the road. </p>
<p>Brownfields are less heavily contaminated than sites on the EPA’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-superfunds-budget-will-slow-toxic-waste-cleanups-threatening-public-health-and-property-values-74787">Superfund list</a>, which can take decades to clean up. The brownfields program is designed to move more quickly and make contaminated sites available for reuse. Ideally, returning these sites to use stimulates the economy and revitalizes neighborhoods. The program is widely popular with people who live near brownfield sites, as well as with city politicians and the private sector, which profits from the business of cleanup and redevelopment. </p>
<p>Even EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a forceful advocate of cutting back federal environmental protection, has voiced support of the brownfields program, calling it “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/02/heres-one-part-of-epa-that-the-agencys-new-leader-wants-to-protect/?utm_term=.421631ebcd86">absolutely essential</a>.” When the agency released US$56 million in brownfield grants in May, Pruitt <a href="https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/announcing-award-568-million-fy17-brownfields-assessment-and-cleanup-grants">lauded the program</a> for “improving local economies and creating an environment where jobs can grow.”</p>
<p>EPA’s brownfield program was developed in the mid-1990s to provide incentives for states and companies to voluntarily clean up toxic spills and vacant industrial sites. At that point, Superfund was the only federal program that managed toxic cleanups. Superfund cleanups are federally mandated, top-down projects in which EPA has significant enforcement authority – notably, to make polluters pay for the cleanup. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176663/original/file-20170703-32624-1ffndbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams is housed in a former electronics manufacturing complex that was cleaned up with funds including federal and state brownfield remediation grants. The museum has become a major tourist draw that attracts thousands of visitors yearly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/citystreet/14997620809/in/photolist-oRhJa8-VNchKT-VNbFND-UHgfuy-UL6gh6-VprZco-79UBP1-hUtva-7ucvRR-q7xNUR-ajcwcj-79UBrN-VW8DAf-79UxJ5-a2q5ZB-VNbCSD-a2pXZK-VW9crj-a2q2FR-79QMV8-6egGjh-79R8hT-VW9bXo-3biYdg-3bosVu-79QF4B-dJpSwR-dJpT2D-79UwCS-fv9JjC-dJvjhb-dJpRFM-79Uw7G-VNcjUT-6egGTs-79Uxc5-dJpS56-dJpRP2-6ecwB4-dJpSDv-6doTGF-6doUiV-79UyNj-a2sNAd-zEhjdc-UL5VJP-VZDHdX-VZDmCi-6dt4aY-ABaQPZ">Downstreets</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the brownfields program is more market-friendly. It decentralizes authority to states and offers incentives for voluntary cleanups, such as grants, tax breaks and other subsidies.</p>
<p>The brownfields program emerged at a moment when many U.S. cities sought to redevelop their postindustrial areas. In contrast to Superfund, which at that time had little to say about land reuse, brownfields projects aimed not just to clean up industrial sites but to redevelop and reuse them. The word “brownfield” itself is a real estate term: Brownfields are the opposite of “greenfields,” or undeveloped land. </p>
<p>In this way, brownfields redevelopment projects are often framed as environmental solutions to urban deindustrialization. As the U.S. Conference of Mayors stated in a 1999 report, the brownfields program helps “<a href="http://mayors.org/brownfields/taskforce.htm">recycle America’s land</a>.” </p>
<h2>Preventing ‘green gentrification’</h2>
<p>However, these projects also raise questions about <a href="https://works.bepress.com/bhavna_shamasunder/3/">environmental justice</a>. Many brownfield sites are concentrated in low-income communities of color. This spatial concentration of toxic sites is, in part, an effect of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/28/evidence-that-banks-still-deny-black-borrowers-just-as-they-did-50-years-ago/?utm_term=.49b71f92ec1c">redlining</a> – the practice of denying loans to racial minorities based on <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/housing-discrimination-redlining-maps/">color-coded neighborhood maps of financial risk</a>. It is also an effect of 20th-century patterns of inner-city disinvestment and discriminatory zoning policies, which allowed for the siting of hazardous industries in low-income neighborhoods. Together, these and other factors have produced well-documented geographical <a href="http://www.ucc.org/environmental-ministries_toxic-waste-20">entanglements of race and toxic waste</a>. </p>
<p>At its best, brownfield redevelopment can transform vacant lots into parks and bring other amenities to neglected neighborhoods. It is most successful when local communities are meaningfully involved in the planning process, and when it is combined with other policies aimed to reduce social and economic inequalities. </p>
<p>One successful example is Fruitvale Transit Village in East Oakland, California, where a nonprofit called <a href="https://unitycouncil.org/">The Unity Council</a> led the transformation of an <a href="http://pacinst.org/publication/brownsfields/">old rail parking lot into a mixed-use development</a>. The complex includes a senior center, a library, a health clinic and a mix of market-rate and affordable housing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177429/original/file-20170708-3066-1uqo5iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fruitvale Transit Village in Oakland, California was designed by the city, planners, neighborhood activists and developers to bring a mix of housing, services, retail and transit together near the Fruitvale BART station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neighborhoods/3158963818/in/album-72157616897142327/">Eric Fredericks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But these projects can also contribute to <a href="http://grist.org/cities/can-we-green-the-hood-without-gentrifying-it/">green gentrification</a> by increasing land values and rents and displacing low-income residents. One example is <a href="http://www.thehighline.org/">New York City’s High Line</a>, an old elevated rail line that was “recycled” into a destination by converting it into a walkable pathway, lined by native plants. Today the High Line is an enormously popular attraction. It also has spurred development that has priced many small businesses and less wealthy households <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/06/dangers-ecogentrification-best-way-make-city-greener">out of the neighborhood</a>.</p>
<h2>Fewer cleanups</h2>
<p>Ideally, EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice could help to address some of the inequalities produced by brownfields cleanups. However, President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget for the EPA <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/09/epas-environmental-justice-leader-steps-down-amid-white-house-plans-to-dismantle-program/">eliminates this office</a>. It also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html">cuts funding for the brownfield program</a>, by 30 percent, from $48 million to $33 million, along with large cuts to Superfund cleanups and emergency response capabilities and other hazardous waste management programs. </p>
<p>These cutbacks threaten the lives and livelihoods of all U.S. residents, and are <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/15/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-cuts-republicans/index.html">unpopular among both Democrats and Republicans</a>. Yet because of the legacies of race and industrial zoning patterns, their effects will fall hardest on already marginalized communities.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>One way to protect communities from both toxic waste and green gentrification would be to increase funding for EPA’s <a href="https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/environmental-workforce-development-and-job-training-grants">Brownfield Job Training Program</a>, assuming that it survives the Trump administration. Many brownfield communities struggle with unemployment, and residents are easily priced out of neighborhoods as they become more expensive to live in. The Brownfield Job Training Program creates jobs for low-income residents, which can help them reap some of the benefits of brownfield redevelopment. </p>
<p>State support for affordable housing and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/affordable-housing-always/397637/">community land trusts</a> also can complement brownfield cleanups. Successful community land trusts are managed by nonprofits that buy land and build affordable homes. The homes are sold to local residents, while the nonprofit retains ownership of the land. This strategy can protect low-income neighborhoods from commercial developers.</p>
<p>More broadly, our notions of “sustainability” and “urban greening” ought to <a href="https://critical-sustainabilities.ucsc.edu/hunters-point/">include values of justice and equity</a>. Otherwise, important projects like the Blue Greenway will build sustainable waterfronts for the urban elite, rather than spreading the environmental benefits of toxic cleanup to the many.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsey Dillon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cleaning up and reusing contaminated sites, known as brownfields, can create jobs and promote economic growth. But it also can drive gentrification that prices out low-income residents.Lindsey Dillon, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa CruzLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747872017-06-01T12:56:06Z2017-06-01T12:56:06ZCutting Superfund’s budget will slow toxic waste cleanups, threatening public health and property values<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171198/original/file-20170526-6385-1bjlhm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cleanup at the GE Housatonic Superfund site in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 2007. Years of PCB and industrial chemical use at GE's Pittsfield facility and improper disposal led to extensive contamination around the town and down the entire length of the Housatonic River.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/corpsnewengland/4295848200/in/photolist-7xBm1h-9N7yGW-6Np5v-4tGwpg-9DyTve-9msxb8-9VjzaV-rYwwH4-pWmaRr-5s9bf6-pPPVYS-PiGqx-4yJevn-ptZHxK-pq9itf-pnA9YY-oAXG1P-p1fLKA-9mtB6g-oRT248-oDkwfS-pFYRWe-eBXsZA-otH9jc-7AXPot-ouG3CP-kwvWU-owtYTu-3mNeoR-qHLM58-3mNoJp-pp2DkA-qALY8i-3mQW3o-pasanx-R62Xyd-p9WQEM-qCjnrT-3mNpGn-4yJdMZ-4yJe2D-peBqkU-prn44k-4yNvi3-oWim1W-ptDts8-puAAh9-cBzF-9iYuQ3-q4hAFg">USACE/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the Love Canal crisis, when toxic chemicals were found to be leaking from an underground dump into homes in Niagara Falls, New York. State and federal agencies <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/booming/love-canal-and-its-mixed-legacy.html">relocated more than 200 families</a> out of the affected area. A <a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/love_canal/docs/report_public_comment_final.pdf">state investigation</a> later found elevated rates of birth defects among families who had lived at Love Canal. </p>
<p>This disaster called public attention to health risks from improperly controlled toxic waste. In response, President Jimmy Carter signed the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-cercla-overview">Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act</a> (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, into law in December 1980. </p>
<p>Superfund has supported cleanups of toxic waste sites in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. But its funding decreased by nearly half between 1999 and 2013, and President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal calls for an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/msar.pdf">additional 30 percent cut</a>, despite EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s assertion that Superfund is “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/02/heres-one-part-of-epa-that-the-agencys-new-leader-wants-to-protect/?utm_term=.512c99422a53">absolutely essential</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171514/original/file-20170530-23684-wppfwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York demand compensation for families that have been told to evacuate from their homes because chemicals are leaching to the surface, Aug. 5, 1978.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-NY-USA-APHS468860-Love-Canal/51f3a058f3bc42579ffc541227a69833/1/0">AP Photo/DS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As an economist specializing in housing issues, including the relationship between toxic cleanups and property values, I have published several <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1007835329254?LI=true">studies of Superfund sites</a>. In my view, further funding cuts will make it extremely hard for EPA to clean up <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/search-superfund-sites-where-you-live">more than 1,300 sites still on the Superfund list</a>. Slower cleanups will leave more people exposed to harm from toxic chemicals and will hurt adjoining communities by lowering property values and impacting future development.</p>
<h2>Making polluters pay, where possible</h2>
<p>Under Superfund, EPA has the power to place heavily contaminated sites on a National Priorities List, and find and force parties responsible for the damage to pay for cleaning them up. Initially, if polluters could not afford to pay or the responsible parties could not be identified, cleanups were to be financed from a trust fund supported by a tax on chemical companies and crude oil. </p>
<p>In the program’s early years, only a few sites were cleaned up and minimal funds were recovered from responsible polluters. To speed up remediation, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-amendments-and-reauthorization-act-sara">Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act</a> (SARA) in 1986. SARA directed EPA to pursue permanent remedies for toxic contamination rather than seeking simply to contain waste. It also increased the trust fund from US$1.6 billion to $8.5 billion. Three further rounds of reforms in the 1990s expanded public involvement and enforcement, highlighted environmental justice and attempted to make the program more cost-effective. </p>
<p>In 1995 the Superfund tax expired and Congress did not renew it. Critics <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1pbDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14&lpg=PT14&dq=revesz+superfund&source=bl&ots=d8mKBZ9Cw2&sig=SMyMWdhmgk-mRdSKBRPKzX-pv9Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD74q5ss_TAhXKTSYKHXVpAb8Q6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=revesz%20superfund&f=false_">argued</a> that EPA spent too much money on litigation trying to get polluters to pay, that few sites were cleaned and that those that were cleaned took longer than necessary. In addition, they <a href="http://www.heritage.org/node/20734/print-display">asserted</a> that sites should be cleaned up to levels that were appropriate to their future uses, rather than to a uniform level. </p>
<p>Since 1995, although a majority of cleanups have been paid for by the responsible polluters, EPA has requested funds from Congress to remediate sites where the polluter cannot be identified or has gone out of business. The state where the site is located pays 10 percent of costs for these projects. </p>
<p>Between 1999 and 2013 Superfund appropriations decreased by 45 percent, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-812">from $2.1 billion to $1.1 billion</a>, although EPA received <a href="https://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/843A292279CAFA29852575990056E22E">an additional $600 million</a> through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/672734.pdf">According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office</a>, funding shortfalls forced EPA to delay the start of approximately one-third of new projects that were ready to begin during this period. Spending at cleanup sites fell from roughly $700 million yearly to $400 million annually, and the number of project completions declined by 37 percent.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XD0fPVIe3zQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nearly one in six Americans lives within three miles of a Superfund site.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Health and economic payoffs</h2>
<p>In spite of shrinking budgets, Superfund has been relatively successful. In total, 392 sites have been cleaned up and <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/deleted-national-priorities-list-npl-sites-state">delisted</a>, ranging from landfills to former military sites. Currently there are 1,337 sites on the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/national-priorities-list-npl-sites-state">Superfund list</a>, with another 53 proposed sites <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/proposed-national-priorities-list-npl-sites-state">under review</a>. At Superfund sites that are being reused, EPA <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment-initiative/redevelopment-economics-superfund-sites#national">estimates</a> that in 2014 approximately 3,400 businesses were operating, generating $31 billion in sales and employing 89,000 people.</p>
<p>Research shows that removing toxic waste from these sites provides major health and economic benefits. A <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w16844">2011 study</a> estimated that cleanups reduced the risk of congenital anomalies in newly born babies living near sites by 20 to 25 percent. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2012.12.001">Another study</a> estimated that residential property values that were within three miles of a cleaned and delisted Superfund site increased by approximately 19 to 25 percent between 1990 and 2000.</p>
<p>Toxic waste sites also raise environmental justice concerns. Several analyses have <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-resource-083110-120011">found</a> that neighborhoods around Superfund sites tend to be lower-income and have more minority residents. One study examined the duration of cleanups and found that sites in neighborhoods that were black, urban and had lower-income residents <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.04.028">took longer to be cleaned up prior to 1994</a>. However, this effect diminished over time – possibly as a result of SARA reforms that required program managers to give greater weight to environmental justice concerns. </p>
<h2>Doing less with less</h2>
<p>In 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency received approximately US$1.1 billion from Congress for the program and obtained nearly $1 billion from identified polluters of Superfund sites. President Trump’s 2018 budget <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf">asserts</a> that cutting support for Superfund by 30 percent will reduce administrative costs and make the program more efficient. It also calls on EPA to find ways to return sites to community control more quickly. </p>
<p>Superfund budget reductions over the past decade reduced the number of sites cleaned up and increased the time required to complete them. If EPA is expected to clean up more sites at a faster pace, cuts will have to come from other parts of the program, such as enforcement, research, planning and preparing for emergencies, such as oil spills and chemical releases. Scott Pruitt may praise Superfund, but if he wants to reduce the cleanup backlog and get more properties back into use, he will have to fight for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Kiel received funding from the U.S. EPA in the 1990s for research on the impact of toxic waste sites on housing prices. </span></em></p>President Trump’s budget would cut funding for Superfund, which cleans up the nation’s most toxic sites, by nearly one-third. An economist explains how Superfund cleanups benefit local communities.Katherine Kiel, Professor of Economics, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492492015-11-04T06:07:45Z2015-11-04T06:07:45ZWealth in waste? Using industrial leftovers to offset climate emissions<p>More than a billion tonnes of potentially toxic, bleach-like waste is produced and piled in landfills every year, with often devastating effects. And yet most people haven’t even heard of these “alkaline wastes”.</p>
<p>We want to change this. Our research has identified nearly <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615013396">two billion tonnes of alkaline residues</a> that are produced in the world each year, most of which can contaminate groundwater and rivers if not proper managed. We should be doing much more about the problem – these wastes can even be put to good use.</p>
<p>Alkaline waste can be solid or sludgy. It mostly involves slags, ashes or muds formed as a byproduct of steel, aluminium or coal power plants, waste incineration or the construction industry. All these wastes are different, but what they have in common is that they rapidly create bleach-like solutions when they meet rainwater. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99843/original/image-20151027-5001-1pvstpk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steel slag, a byproduct of the steel industry and an example of an alkaline residue.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Often it’s simply stored in piles or sent to landfill. This isn’t safe. The waste can form toxic dust that blows into the atmosphere, while rain that lands on top can filter through, picking up toxic chemicals and producing caustic “leachates” that can flow out into rivers and groundwater.</p>
<h2>Steer well clear</h2>
<p>Alkaline leachates have a toxic effect on aquatic life (we wouldn’t want to swim through bleach, either). It raises the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1894-5">water pH and metal concentrations, and consumes oxygen</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98665/original/image-20151016-25125-x8rdvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carbonate precipitates in a small stream smothers aquatic habitats.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once this stuff has been produced it’s hard to stop. Steel mills can be a source of alkaline leachates even <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11270-008-9725-9">30 years or more after closure</a>. Water with pH higher than 12 (somewhere between soapy water and bleach) has now leaked from one chromite waste tip for <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.07.067">more than 100 years</a>.</p>
<p>It’s hard to determine the exact link between contamination and problems for plants and animals, but alkaline waste can clearly cause harm. Studies have found ash from coal plants has <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15287390500398265">killed geese</a> and made tree swallows <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4333-9">smaller and less fertile</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most severe case of alkaline waste poisoning happened in 2010, when a <a href="http://engineeringfailures.org/files/Kolontar-report.pdf">dam failed at an aluminium refinery</a> in Ajka, Hungary. This released a million cubic metres of “red mud”, a byproduct of aluminium production with a pH level of around 13 in this case – similar to oven cleaner. The red mud inundated 1,000 acres of agricultural and urban land and was transported more than 120km down the Marcal river to the Danube, “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11491412"><em>extinguishing</em></a>” all life in the tributary. The flood drowned ten people and left many more with severe chemical burns.</p>
<h2>Can we make it stop?</h2>
<p>We can treat alkaline leachates through aeration or by adding acid to neutralise it but this is expensive. We need sustainable alternatives. One promising proposal involves <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969708006980">constructing wetlands</a> in and around polluted sites, where the marshy ground, the plants and the associated microorganisms restrict the contamination. </p>
<p>Many attempts have been made to find ways of reusing these wastes but none of them are practical enough to stop landfill disposal. Alkaline wastes have been used in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389406002421">road construction</a>, <a href="http://goo.gl/0E1ZLD">concrete</a>, cement and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3846/13923730.2013.793609">plasterboard</a>, for example. </p>
<p>Adding these wastes to the soil can reduce acidity, so usage as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X00001021">phosphate fertiliser</a> is also common, while labs are testing whether it can be used in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615013396">wastewater treatment</a>.</p>
<h2>All right junk in all the right places?</h2>
<p>It can even help the fight against climate change. Chemicals in the wastes such as calcium and magnesium react with carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere, storing it as a stable mineral. This form of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892687509002313">carbon sequestration</a> essentially mimics natural weathering processes and could be a safe and permanent storage option since only <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.07.026">acid or extreme temperatures of 900°C or more</a> can release this CO<sub>2</sub>. It could even help offset some of the emissions from the energy-intensive industries that create alkaline wastes in the first place.</p>
<p>In fact, if all materials that contain silica (cement, construction and demolition wastes, slag, ash and combustion products) were used for sequestration they could take <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es103241w">697-1,218 megatonnes</a> of CO<sub>2</sub> out of the atmosphere each year. </p>
<p>Steel slags alone <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544208001175">could capture 170 megatonnes</a> per year, while the red mud stored worldwide could capture <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969712000897">572 megatonnes</a>. If all the red mud produced in a year was carbonated, 3–4% of the aluminium industry’s global CO<sub>2</sub> emissions <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969712000897">could be captured</a>.</p>
<p>Red mud has already sequestered <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389412011156">100 megatonnes</a> of CO<sub>2</sub> worldwide from the late 19th century to 2008 – without the industry even trying. Boosting this number could allow for some real downward pressure on its emissions.</p>
<h2>Maybe it’s time to get clever</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615013396">Recent studies</a> have shown alkaline wastes also contain large quantities of metals we would like to recover for recycling. Some are critical in terms of supply, or essential to new green technologies. For example vanadium, used in offshore wind turbines, lithium and cobalt for vehicle fuel cells, and rare earth elements crucial for solar power systems. </p>
<p>The obvious solution: try to unify the needs of <a href="https://alkalineremediation.wordpress.com/">resource recovery and remediation</a>, by developing treatment methods for alkaline leachates that recover critical elements soluble at high pH, suppress dust production, increase carbon sequestration and treat the pollution caused.</p>
<p><em>With thanks to our study co-authors Douglas Stewart, professor of geo-environmental engineering, and Ian Burke, associate professor of environmental geochemistry, both at the University of Leeds.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena I. Gomes receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under grant NE/L014211/1.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Rogerson receives funding from NERC to support fundamental research into resource recovery and remediation of alkaline waste (<a href="http://gotw.nerc.ac.uk/list_full.asp?pcode=NE%2FL014211%2F1">http://gotw.nerc.ac.uk/list_full.asp?pcode=NE%2FL014211%2F1</a>)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Mayes receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under grant NE/L014211/1. </span></em></p>Highly-alkaline industrial waste is usually sent to landfill. But while it might be dangerous, it’s also useful.Helena I. Gomes, Postdoctoral researcher in Environmental Sciences, University of HullMike Rogerson, Senior Lecturer in Earth System Science, University of HullWill Mayes, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/461122015-08-15T16:10:41Z2015-08-15T16:10:41ZCanary in the Gold King Mine: legacy of abandoned mines means more spills<p>You are gazing over the clear stream, thinking of fishing the crystal waters in the Rockies. The next morning, you are stunned to see an orange-yellow sludge covering the stream as far as you can see. Is this the Colorado Gold King Mine spill into Cement Creek of August 5, 2015? </p>
<p>No, this describes the Clear Creek, CO spill of <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12160439">April, 2009</a> from a private mine or it could be the <a href="https://www.hcn.org/articles/when-our-river-turned-orange-animas-river-spill">1975 or 1978 Cement Creek spills</a> from abandoned mines. </p>
<p>Spills of acid mine drainage (AMD) from <a href="http://www.patagoniaalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chronology-of-major-tailings-dam-failures.pdf">abandoned mines</a> have been a problem in the US for <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/9781884575037/Tailings-dam-incidents-188457503X/plp">over 100 years</a>. </p>
<p>How many other mines are leaking or holding millions of gallons of toxic wastewater? And how can we avoid these types of damaging spills in the future? </p>
<h2>To the source</h2>
<p>AMD, also known as acid-rock drainage (ARD) and mining-influenced water (MIW), results from the exposure of sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite (also known as fool’s gold), to oxygen and water. Then, biological and chemical reactions generate sulfuric acid and mobilize heavy metals associated with the rocks and ore. </p>
<p>AMD wastewater can be characterized by high acidity, elevated heavy metals as well as relatively high concentrations of sulfates and solid particles (suspended solids). Iron that is chemically bound to the solid particles give that orange-yellow color. The old-time miners called it “yellow boy.” </p>
<p>When a mine is dug, eventually water will be encountered. To maintain dry workings, the water is pumped out or a tunnel is dug underneath the work area to drain the water. When the mine ceases operations, the pumps are turned off and the mine begins to fill with water. </p>
<p>Under certain conditions, the water, perhaps contaminated with AMD, will decant or discharge out of the mine workings. The predominant AMD generating source in the Western United States is metal mine workings, whose drainage often contains cadmium, lead, nickel, copper and zinc.</p>
<h2>Heavy metals</h2>
<p>The Gold King Mine is one of <a href="http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/aml/aml_documents.Par.81686.File.dat/AML_NewLegacy.pdf">many abandoned mines</a> on the Colorado landscape. The Bureau of Land Management, (BLM) in Colorado maintains <a href="http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/aml/aml_strategic_plan.Par.71847.File.dat/AMLStrategicPlan%20Colorado.pdf">an ongoing inventory</a> in the State and in 2008 reported 2,751 known abandoned hard rock mines on public lands. The inventory included 4,670 features of mines, such as draining openings and shafts, and mine waste, that may impact water resources. </p>
<p>The numbers of abandoned mines discovered <a href="http://mining.state.co.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/AMLbmp.pdf">increases every year</a>, rising from a total of <a href="http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/Abandoned_Mine_Lands/abandoned_mine_site.html">19,000 abandoned mines</a> in 2008 to over 28,000 in 2011.</p>
<p>In order to determine the behavior and impacts of the spill, it is necessary to know the chemical and physical aspects of the spill, and the characteristics of the receiving waters. </p>
<p>In the case of the Gold King spill on August 5, the Cement Creek has been exposed to input of mine drainage on a continuous basis for 100 years. The Cement Creek feeds into the Animas River which then flows to Durango, CO and down the San Juan River to New Mexico and Utah, and <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri024230/pdf/WRIR02-4230.pdf">ultimately into Lake Powell</a>. </p>
<p>Even before measurements were released to the public, we can assume that the water in the spill would be acidic, there would be solid particles containing high levels of iron and some other metals, and that there would be concentrations of metals dissolved in the water above stream standards. Metals become more soluble in the water as the pH decreases and acidity increases.</p>
<p>The spill was estimated to be three million gallons, or 400,000 cubic feet (ft3) of liquids. Three million gallons seems to be a large value. However, it is 400,000 ft3 of material going into a stream, Cement Creek, which <a href="http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=09112200">flows</a> at 8,400,000 ft3 per day. That means the spill is being diluted. Then Cement Creek flows into the higher flow Animas River. More dilution.</p>
<p>The spill is ugly but, in my view, it is not as bad as the local government administrators have suggested. The toxic metals will be at high concentrations, but briefly, then will decrease dramatically, as we have seen from previous spills. </p>
<p>As the plume of pollution passes, one would expect the water quality behind it to measure at levels seen before the spill. As it moves downstream, the toxic lead and cadmium will disperse and become lower in concentration. By the time the plume reaches Lake Powell, the levels of the pollutants from the spill won’t be detectable.</p>
<h2>The data?</h2>
<p>How can I say that the effects of the plume will be temporary and will decrease downstream? </p>
<p>Imagine a normal curve with its peak and tails. That is the spill in Cement Creek. As the plume moves downstream, the mixing and turbulence in the stream cause this normal curve to spread out and the peak decreases. The further the plume proceeds downstream, the more it spreads and the lower is the peak value.</p>
<p>Some of the solid particles that carry iron and other metals may settle or be trapped on the stream beds. Settling should be minimal because the small particles settle very slowly. Still, some might settle out. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91948/original/image-20150814-2568-1bu812e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Animas River in cleaner days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/84096928@N00/255206881/in/photolist-oy17D-6K22XL-6K25Qu-2Zvccy-iKAfS-2ZqG5H-8b1Uwb-sMFF9-5AbQzf-e7Apzc-8YKXpS-2Zvd2f-8YL5JL-8YGUUk-8YH4B6-2ZvrG7-2Zvsiu-2ZqW8M-2Zvje1-2ZqDtp-2ZqUy4-2ZqVxe-2ZqTFx-2ZqvrD-2ZqEaK-2ZqDPV-2Zqz5g-2Zv7js-2Zv4ZQ-2Zv4po-2Zv6W9-2ZqAsk-2ZqP4H-2ZqPZi-iKAyr-2Zv7By-8YLrLw-8YHqcc-8YGUuF-6C95r-6C95q-6K1nYf-6JWLrK-8YHqFi-8YLsdq-6K24oA-6JZPeW-6K1QbS-6K29jL-6JW8rR">Charles W. Bash/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The sediment on the bed likely will not be a threat to drinking water and irrigation water because the conditions of the rivers are not conducive to having the metals move from the solid particles and dissolve in the water. Algae on the rocks may take up metals and then the metals might move up the food chain through the insects and then fish. However, I don’t think that there will be enough residuals on the bottom to have a significant effect on the Animas River. </p>
<p>The above are and were my predictions, but what does the actual data from EPA say? The water going by Silverton and Durango, CO now is clear and toxic metals have gone back down to pre-spill levels, according to <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/goldkingmine/data-gold-king-mine-response">sampling data from the EPA</a> from the week of August 9.</p>
<p>Now more than a week after the spill, the water below the confluence of Cement Creek and the Animas River resembles the concentrations upstream of the spill. The US Fish and Wildlife Service put 108 fingerling trout in cages and immersed them in the polluted water for 6 days. One died immediately and 107 survived intact. There were no fish kills in the Animas River. There were no fish kills in Cement Creek that received the spill. Then again, there are no fish or insects in Cement Creek because it has been accepting acid mine drainage for the last 120 years. </p>
<p>The released data show the concentrations in the plume decreasing downstream as predicted. Federal officials say initial tests on sediments collected downstream of a mine waste spill show no risk to people using Colorado’s Animas River. The state, too, conducted tests and <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/animas-river-spill">found</a> that there is not a threat to drinking water or to people during typical recreational explosure. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has collected and analyzed water quality and sediment from the Animas River. The data indicates that the river has returned to stable conditions that are not a concern for human health during [typical recreational exposure].</p>
<p>The San Juan Basin Heath Department concurs with the state health department findings, and advises that there are no adverse health effects from exposure to the water and sediment during normal recreational use (incidental or limited exposure). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Still, it was judicious to close the drinking water treatment plant intakes until the plume passed. The rafting companies lost business for several days. But, it is not an epic disaster as some folks have made it to be.</p>
<h2>The next one?</h2>
<p>So how do mines typically avoid this sort of spill? The common method used to temporarily stop AMD flowing out of a mine is installation of a bulkhead, a 10-15 foot thick, reinforced concrete plug with pipes that permit controlling the flow of water through the bulkhead. </p>
<p>Where possible, and where financial resources are available, a treatment facility is built along with a bulkhead to remove metals and acidity from the mine water. </p>
<p>The treatment system approach is problematic in remote areas and at high altitudes. The contaminated water is treated with chemicals to raise the pH, reduce solubility of metals and precipitate those metals as solid metal hydroxides on site. The very wet metal sludge is dried and the residual sent off to a landfill.</p>
<p>It’s also possible to use <a href="http://dzumenvis.nic.in/Microbes%20and%20Metals%20Interaction/pdf/Use%20of%20microbes%20for%20cost%20reduction.pdf">microbes</a> to lower the cost of removing metals from mine wastewater. The microbial technology is still in a developmental stage.</p>
<p>There are tens of thousands of abandoned mines throughout the US. Most of the mining companies that operated these mines are long gone as are the people involved. Many are leaking AMD into water bodies and have been for decades. Periodically, a water barrier in a mine will be breached and a spill will occur, even without the help of the EPA. </p>
<p>Additionally, sometimes a storage dam containing tailings, or ore processing waste, will burst and send contaminated solids and water into the nearby stream. The Bureau of Land Management <a href="http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/aml/aml_documents.Par.81686.File.dat/AML_NewLegacy.pdf">estimates</a> that only 15% of these abandoned facilities have been cleaned, or remediated, or have plans to be remediated. </p>
<p>Until additional resources are allocated by Congress to address the abandoned mine problem, we can look forward to many more abandoned mine spills.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald Cohen receives funding from National Science Foundation, EPA, Bureau of Reclamation, USGeological Survey. He is affiliated with American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Geophysical Union, Society of Metallurgical Engineering, Sigma Xi Science Honor Society.</span></em></p>The dramatic wastewater spill in the Animas River is past its critical phase, but given the long history of untreated mine waste, there will surely be more like it.Ronald R H Cohen, Emeritus Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of MinesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.