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POPSWhich Candles Emit Carcinogens? “An occasional paraffin candle and its emissions will not likely affect you,” Hamidi said in a news release from the American Chemical Society. “But lighting many paraffin candles every day for years or lighting them frequently in an unventilated bathroom around a tub, for example, may cause problems.” Hamidi also said that some people who believe they have an indoor allergy or respiratory irritation may actually be reacting to pollutants from burning candles. They noted that ventilation can help reduce the level of pollutants in closed rooms–but I say, better yet: switch to a healthier alternative!
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POPSThe Night Sky In All Its Grandeur Our eyes have some detail-discerning properties that not even the best long-exposure photograph can match. This advantage is considerable in the case of the Milky Way, which has such great extent that it does not require a telescope. I can recall with great fondness one particular night nearly 35-years ago, spent under the dark skies of upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains where I spent a considerable amount of time savoring the Milky Way in all of its magnificence. So clear was the sky, that rather than appearing as a filmy band of light, the Milky Way appeared granulated in texture, and glowed so bright that it actually cast faint shadows! The article continues to describe the various categories of night skies according to how far out of a major city one lives.
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POPSWe have a 'right to starlight,' astronomers say One Brazilian astronomer, Augusto Daminelli, told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that in Rio, "it should be possible to see up to 5,000 stars with the naked eye -- but because of light pollution we can only see 150." He noted that nearly a third of electric lighting is directed to the heavens, and thus wasted. Possible solutions include putting aluminum covers on street lighting to direct the illumination downwards, and using weaker, more energy-efficient lamps, he said. "More than two billion people in the world are unable to see the Milky Way. For us, the sky is a heritage site for mankind," he said. <<
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POPSNaked eye astronomy Wherever you are in the world, there will always be stars in the night sky above. And spotting these heavenly bodies - be it a solitary star amid the light pollution or great drifts dotted across the inky darkness - can give a certain thrill. It is one of the few things where we can go out into our own gardens and do it ourselves Marek Kukula, Royal Observatory And stars are not the only attraction - there are planets, comets and galaxies too. Most have been in the skies above for millions and millions of years, which is part of the draw for stargazers, amateur and aficionado alike.
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POPSEco-Facts The population grows as much every three days as it did every century, on average, for most of the last one-thousand centuries before the Industrial Revolution. Worldwatch Institute,1999
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POPSMercury Contamination Growing The EPA said this year that it intends to issue new rules under the Clean Air Act to control air emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants. The 2nd paragraph that I clipped from the article really turned on a light for me as we (humans) are not the only ones that eat fish. Bears eat fish too. :(
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POPSOne Fifth of Humanity Deprived of Milky Way In case you're thinking that light pollution is nothing more than an inconvenience for astronomers and city-bound skygazers, Walker cited a 2008 study of 147 Israeli communities, published in journal Chronobiology International, which "found some evidence for an increased risk of breast cancer for women living in areas with the most light pollution". This was believed to be linked to "unnatural light at night affecting levels of hormones such as melatonin and estrogen".
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POPSThe Ocean Has Issues: 7 Biggest Problems Facing Our Seas, and How to Fix Them "Dead zones are swaths of ocean that don't support life due to a lack of oxygen, and global warming is a prime suspect for what's behind the shifts in ocean behavior that cause dead zones. The number of dead zones is growing at an alarming rate, with over 400 known to exist, and the number is expected to grow. " The use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture contributes to the growth of dead zones.
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POPSThe dumbing down page (Mu-sick) This site provides information about shops, companies and public services using piped music (aural pollution) in the spaces occupied by their clients or customers and it encourages you to complain about this abuse. It has also this page about dumbing down. I heard people saying that "dumbing down" means "accessibility". I guess "piped music" could then mean "freedom of speech", and the same could be said of leafleting. I still wonder where's the limit that would allow us to distinguish information, comunication, creativity and opinion sharing from noise, enviromental and mind pollution. I love infographics. Some could be saying that's dumbing down information, I guess. (once more sorry for my poor english)
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POPSEU Imposed Lightbulbs Are Making People Sick Compact fluorescent light bulbs are filling home and office environments with dangerous electromagnetic pollution, causing devastating health effects on some people. Neurologists are increasingly taking notice of the headaches and migraines being reported by people exposed to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
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POPSIslamist Group Urges "Forest Fire Jihad" Has anyone noticed the Islamofascists favorite targets are strongholds of liberals? Has anyone noticed that weak, liberal leaders attract attacks? Setting off forest fires are acts of war perpetrated by murderous foreign agents. Anyone found lighting off a fire should be SHOT. No Miranda rights. No due process. The the stupid liberals won't do this, so they bring on more attacks.
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POPSA New Push to Turn Off the Lights in 2009 When I lived in Alice Springs sky viewing was great, but it was better when camping out of town. Translate that to cities and you can't see a thing. I have always wondered about the tall buildings needing to have all those lights on at night for the cleaners. I'd been brought up to turn lights off when leaving a room.
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POPS An Introduction To CO2 Scepticism
. . . . to other possible explanations as to what has made our climate change and also to voice an educated opinion against the unscientific and unsubstantiated reasoning behind "green taxation" which is supposed to stop so called "Man Made Climate Change". A Green Tax on pollution is one thing but not in the name of reducing climate change. This site is for those of us who believe that man has no control over our climate, just the contamination of the food and air we breathe. CO2 Sceptics will actively promote the proposition that there is no such thing as "Man Made Climate Change", until the World's Governments recognize that Climate Change and Man Made Pollution are two separate issues and not part of the same problem as currently promoted by "Climate Change Journalists" and Government funded scientists. We are also in direct contact with several leading people who support this cause and they will drop in from time to time to answer some of your questions.
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POPSClimate Change - What You Can Do Great site--act now to help--It's a new era and we need to hit it running to recover and repair the damage of the Boooshies disastrous effect on the environment--they set us back 35 years in just 8 yrs and held us back from any progress, the fuckin' incompetent profiteering asses! (OK, I prolly didn't need that last phrase but they're still doing the damage as you read this--all to benefit industry profits)
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POPSCan we harness energy from outer space? While nuclear fusion has already been tested with the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, those reactions give off the majority of their energy as radioactive neutrons, raising both safety and production concerns. Helium-3, on the other hand, is perfectly safe. It doesn't give off any pollution or radioactive waste and poses no danger to surrounding areas. helium-3 has two protons but only one neutron. When it's heated to very high temperatures and combined with deuterium, the reaction releases incredible amounts of energy. Just 2.2 pounds (one kilogram) of helium-3 combined with 1.5 pounds (0.67 kilograms) of deuterium produces 19 megawatt-years of energy Roughly 25 tons of the stuff could power the United States for an entire year.
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POPSBeautiful Observatory of Kielder Visit sites. It looks like a friendly resource for all sarlovers. They have camps in spring. The Kielder Forest in beautiful Northumbria is a great place to enjoy an outdoor holiday.
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POPSHow Parking Lots Can Beat the Heat & Gain Energy On hot, sunny days when air conditioners threaten to overload the power grid, solar power generation makes a lot of sense. Parking lots in asphalt-rich cities have great solar potential because the panels can be oriented to optimize power production during summer afternoons when electricity is most valuable. Google, for example, has installed solar canopies on its parking lots to satisfy 30 percent of its headquarters' power demand. Because the parking lots for most commercial buildings are bigger than the buildings themselves, economies of scale for large installations can further reduce the cost of the solar panels. We shouldn't wait until the next heat wave to think about getting solar power from our parking lots.
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