Water

The Ugly Side of Gold and Diamonds—and Finding Truly Beautiful Ones

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loose-diamonds-recently-purchased-engagement-rings-300x240pxWhile gold and diamond jewelry is beautiful, it comes with a dark side that they don’t show us on commercials. Before just looking in the jewelry case, consider this:

“In Sierra Leone, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Liberia and the Ivory Coast the sale of conflict diamonds continues to thrive for many reasons. Rebels make large profits because they use free labor–They threaten villagers at gunpoint, forcing them to dig for diamonds. If villagers refuse to follow soldiers’ orders, their limbs are amputated as punishment. Rebels sell the diamonds on the black market for less than other diamonds. Therefore, wholesalers make a bigger profit. The rebels use the money gained from the diamonds to fund wars.”[1]— CNN

The UN has established the Kimberley Process to identify conflict-free diamonds that were obtained legitimately, however this does not prevent sale of unethical diamonds.

And mining the earth for gold is equally perilous, for the environment and surrounding communities. The Smithsonian has reported:

  • The majority of the world’s gold is extracted from open pit mines, where huge volumes of earth are scoured away and processed for trace elements.
  • To produce enough raw gold to make a single ring, 20 tons of rock and soil are dislodged and discarded.
  • Much of this waste contains mercury and cyanide used to extract the gold from the rock, and the contaminated soil runs off clogging rivers.
  • Air quality is also compromised by gold mining, which releases hundreds of tons of airborne elemental mercury every year, as well as sulfur dioxide.[2]

There is a No Dirty Gold campaign to raise awareness, and fortunately there are companies making jewelry from recycled gold and diamonds. [Read more…] about The Ugly Side of Gold and Diamonds—and Finding Truly Beautiful Ones

Pipelines and Fracking Not Needed for Jobs

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Commentary Published in LI Business News pipeline
February 18, 2015
By Beth Fiteni

A major Keystone pipeline proposed by TransCanada would go from Alberta through the Midwest. The fuel would be pumped to the Gulf of Mexico to be refined for international sale, not necessarily to be used within the United States.
Aside from intensifying greenhouse gas emissions, one main concern is leakage. Leaks have occurred with various pipelines more than 300 times since 2000.
This is not the only pipeline proposed, so even if this one doesn’t get built, others may. Thankfully, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently decided to ban hydrofracking in New York State. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, and extensive leakage during extraction cuts into its “cleaner-than-oil” benefits.
People favoring these projects see local jobs being lost. In Pennsylvania, out-of-state crews were brought in to do work, so money earned locally doesn’t always stay local. The argument also fails to recognize that fossil fuels are finite and will eventually run out. And do we actually think that fossil fuel prices will remain low as they become rarer? Sorry, SUV drivers.
If you want to create local energy jobs, hire an energy auditor to assess your home or business and then carry out the suggested efficiency measures. Consider getting solar panels if your house is suitable. There are financing options available to pay for both of these. You’ll save money in the long run, do your part to protect our air and be providing jobs to local contractors. It is said that, for each dollar spent at a local business, 45 cents are reinvested locally. Not only does this minimize the need for pipelines and hydrofracking for fuel here in the United States, but you can begin to minimize the amount of money spent on fuel coming from abroad – which is polluting somewhere else.
TransCanada claims that 13,000 direct jobs would be created by the pipeline construction. However, the solar industry alone reports 25,000 jobs created in the sector since 2010, which is 10 times the national average job growth rate. If we can have energy that’s clean and creates jobs, why would we prefer energy that’s dirty and finite to create jobs?

Fiteni, a Long Island-based environ­mentalist, owns Green Inside & Out Consulting.

Fiteni: Fracking not needed for jobs

Tapped: The Case Against Bottled Water

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I thought I knew what I needed to know about bottled water, but I found out some new things from the documentary “Tapped,” shown this week at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Shelter Rock. Bottled water is usually filtered municipal water that is sold back within state at a much higher price than tap water. The plastic bottle is made in a petrochemical plant and though PET plastic #1 is usually considered safe, this film pointed out that it can sometimes be contaminated with benzene, a carcinogen. Plastic manufacturing is an environmental justice issue, causing health issues in communities surrounding the factories. One thing I hadn’t thought of was that bottled water companies have tried to bad-mouth municipal water (this is documented in the film), and yet expect municipalities to pick up the tab for recycling their bottles, and have usually fought against the bottle return bills that have now passed in only 6 U.S. States. Since many U.S. communities do not have curbside recycling, the rate of bottle recycling is still only at 20%, so many bottles end up being landfilled, incinerated, or unfortunately, as litter in our oceans and beaches. For more info see http://www.tappedthemovie.com/, or watch it free here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tapped/.

Water & Peace in the Middle East

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Gidon Bromberg of FOEME speaks to a packed house
Gidon Bromberg of FOEME speaks to a packed house

If you value Dead Sea salts, water, or are Christian, Jewish or Muslim, you will appreciate this post. New York had the honor of having the 3 co-directors of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME) offer a presentation at a local place of worship, invited by a network of faith organizations.

I learned that the Jordan River, which runs between Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and which was where Jesus was baptized, is now suffering from heavy water pollution from sewage and has lost over 90% of its original water flow due to dams and diversions. It is the Dead Sea’s primary fresh water source, so as a result, the Dead Sea has lost 1/3 of its surface area.

FOEME works towards clean water solutions and education, and is unique in being the only organization known to enjoy cooperation among these 3 countries, so is a beacon of hope. They bring youth together on this shared water issue who are otherwise separated by the difficulties of the political situations going on in the region. FOEME doesn’t take funding from their governments so donations are welcome.

My Visit to the First Ever “Living Building”

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The highlight of my recent trip to Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY was their LEED platinum Omega Center for Sustainable Living. The first, and one of only 3 in the nation, to achieve Living Building status, it exceeds USGBC’s highest green building standards. The building has a geothermal heating/cooling system, produces all of its own electricity using a 48 kw solar system, some of which is ground-mounted. It also houses the “Eco- Machine” which converts the 52,000 gallons of sewage and graywater from the campus into clean water using an indoor lagoon, and native plants such as cattails in a constructed wetland that absorbs chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

  • The building was made from reclaimed wood (it even incorporated wood from President Obama’s inaugural platform.)
  • Since there is no waste in nature, 99% of construction “waste” was put to reuse.
  • Part of the roof is covered with a “green roof” of succulent plants, and rainwater is captured for use in toilets.
  • Omega purchased 90 acres in the Hudson Valley to be kept forever wild as an offset for any impacts of the building.
  • No toxins on the Living Building Institute’s “Red List” were used.

The coolest feature of the building’s maintenance is the Lotus Pro, made by Tersano. It is a machine that electrifies tap water, giving it extra ions, making it suitable to be used as a cleaner and disinfectant that kills germs even faster than bleach! The whole place is a model that many come from long distances to see. For info see http://eomega.org/omega-in-action/key-initiatives/omega-center-for-sustainable-living.

water ionizer/cleaner
Sustainability Manager Jeff Reel in constructed wetland

Tribute to Professor Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

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(Excerpted from the United Nations Environment Programme tribute)

Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement and patron of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign, died 9/25/11 in Nairobi. She was 71 years old. Professor Maathai was one of Africa’s foremost environmental campaigners, internationally recognized for her commitment to democracy, human rights and conservation. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, encouraging women in rural Kenya to plant trees in order to improve their livelihoods through better access to clean water, firewood for cooking and other resources. Since then, the Green Belt Movement has planted over 30 million trees in Africa and assisted nearly 900,000 women to establish tree nurseries and plant trees to reverse the effects of deforestation. In 2004, the Nobel Prize Committee recognized Professor Maathai’s lifelong commitment to environmental sustainability and the empowerment of women by awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize. She was the first environmentalist and the first African woman to receive the honor. In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to Kenya’s parliament and appointed Assistant Minister for environment and natural resources. [Read more…] about Tribute to Professor Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)