We are toxified

[Perspicuo]

Lifting the toxic curse
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20140306-25606-2.html

Something more sinister than climate change stalks the human future – and it is high time we gave it the same attention. Few people have any idea of the universal chemical deluge to which we are now subject, daily, and of the growing peril which we—and all our descendants—face.

Humanity currently produces more than 140,000 different chemicals, around a third of which are known or suspected of causing cancer, mutations and birth defects or are toxic in some way. Global output of industrial chemicals is around 30 million tonnes a year, which the UN Environment Program (UNEP) thinks could triple by the mid-century.

But industrial chemicals are just the tip of the iceberg. Each year humanity also release 130 million tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus (mainly from food production or poor waste disposal), 400 million tonnes of hazardous wastes, 13 billion tonnes of fossil fuels, 30 billion tonnes of mineral wastes, 35 billion tonnes of carbon, and 75 billion tonnes of topsoil. This is, by far, our biggest impact on the planet and all life on it, including ourselves. Yet most citizens and governments seem unaware of its true scale.

 

[Sarpedon]

Each year humanity also release 130 million tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus

OMG! To think our children will be exposed to Nitrogen! How terrible!

 

[Malintent]

Added nitrogen and phospherous in our bodies of water causes red tides and other biological plumes that are not good for the ecology of these systems.

Have you ever owned a (healthy) fish tank?

 

[Togo]

I'm a little suspicious of figures that don't distinguish between different chemicals and just imply that all chemicals are pollutants. I'm not saying they don't have a point, just that I'm not sure this is the best way of making it. But yeah, climate change isn't the only green issue out there, and industrial pollution is a real problem. As is farming pollution and soil erosion, which they've helpfully combined into measurements by weight...

 

[Valjean]

Each year humanity also release 130 million tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus

OMG! To think our children will be exposed to Nitrogen! How terrible!

You remind me of that senator (?) who declared CO2 harmless because plants "breathed" it and we exhaled it.

Google "Dead Zones" to see some of the effects nitrogen has on the oceans.

 

[Peez]

OMG! To think our children will be exposed to Nitrogen! How terrible!

You remind me of that senator (?) who declared CO2 harmless because plants "breathed" it and we exhaled it.

Google "Dead Zones" to see some of the effects nitrogen has on the oceans.

Note that the atmosphere is about 80% nitrogen. It is important to distinguish between certain nitrogen-containing molecules (e.g., NOx) and molecular nitrogen (N2).

Peez

 

[fromderinside]

From the press's scare of it and our positive reaction to the scare of it disease still ranks as our most important threat, in no small way, being aided by western culture's massive overuse of antibiotics.