Profit for Good: Carbon Credits Bring Clean Water to Rural Kenya

Author: Rachel Cernansky Date: June 28th 2011
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/profit-for-good-carbon-credits-bring-clean-water-to-rural-kenya.html?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29

Photo: In this photo, a woman tries out her new LifeStraw filter in her home. 

Summary:
 In many rural communities in Kenya, the water supply is very scarce. With the water they can collect, most of is is highly contaminated with chemicals and pollutants. This is increasing over the years and is started to become a huge problem. More and more families die from either lack of water or diseases they contracted from drinking contaminated water. Thankfully, an organization has stood up to support those struggling in Kenya. This organization is called the Carbon for Water campaign which is run by Vestergaard Frandsen. They offered water filters to many families in the city, Kakamega. These filters, also called LifeStraw, can give a family of five clean healthy water every single day. Since these filters have been sent out to various families, less and less people are dying due to water related illnesses.

Reaction:
I think it is great that more and more organizations and campaigns are finally helping those in need in places like Kenya. However, there are so many other families that must also be helped throughout the world, and these people need to be helped quickly. I think that many many more organizations should help out from every country that can. We need to stop being so wasteful of our water, and realize that many people are without this precious necessity every single day. This article reminded me of the videos we watched in class this week.

Questions:
1. Do you think the installation of LifeStraw will make a huge difference?
2. Do you think that rural communities like the ones discussed need more help?
3. How do you think school students could become involved in such a big issue in the world?
4. If given the opportunity to help improve water quality, would you?
5. Do you often waste water?

Green Issues and Greenbacks: Occupy Wall Street connects the dots

http://www.grist.org/climate-energy/2011-11-01-green-issues-greenbacks-occupy-wall-street-connects-dots-video

Occupy Wall Street is a movement that has spread across the United States and has protested against American politics as they are and large corporations and banks. One of their arguments now is the negative effects on the environment of the things that many of these companies do. Fracking, deep water drilling and many other practices are among their chief concerns. Many connections were made between the economy and the environment. A protest against Delaware River fracking will be held in Trenton, New Jersey on November 21.

I think that it is a good thing that many of these issues are being brought to light. This group protested against the economy which is a huge problem, and it is good that they are focusing on another huge problem, the environment. I think that many comparisons can be made between the poor economy and our environment, as many large corporations use techniques which put the environment at a greater risk.

1. Do you agree with these protesters putting a lot of the blame for our environmental problems on big businesses?

2. Do you believe that these protests will help the problem and are a step in the right direction?

3. What other steps do you think should be taken?

4. Other than big businesses, who else do you think is at fault for our environmental problems?

5. If big businesses started using processes that were better than the current ones, do you think our environmental problems would be better?

Lead pollution: Urban gardeners beware!

http://www.macroevolution.net/lead-pollution.html

(The picture to the right is a map of soil lead pollution in Indianapolis. Dark orange: more than 200 parts per million (ppm) lead in
soil; light orange: 125-200 ppm; yellow: 75-135 ppm)

Summary:

Urban gardens today are becoming almost at popular as Victory gardens were during the World War II era to survive food shortages. Gabriel Filippelli, professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at Indiana Universtiy, warns that urban soil used for gardening may be tainted by lead pollution. "Most surface contamination in urban settings like Baltimore, Brooklyn, Detroit or Indianapolis is from harmful metals, especially lead, and tends to be found near roadways, older homes or lead smelters. Sources of contamination can be automobile exhaust, degraded paint, tire and vehicle debris, industrial emissions or other products of human technology," says Filippelli. He suggests that urban gardeners to determine the potential lead pollution risk in their gardens by proximity busy streets, major roadways, freeways, dilapidated painted structures or older industrial facilities. Gardens with no or low levels of contamination (200 parts per million (ppm)) can be abundantly planted. Gardens with medium levels of contamination (200-500 ppm) are recommended to be planted in raised bed settings, and mulching between beds to reduce the risks of tracking lead-rich soil onto the pots or into the home is recommended. Gardens at high risk level (500+ ppm) should only grow tall fruit plants, not root vegetables and leafy greens like lettuce due to the difficulty of cleaning the produce before consumption.

Reflection:

I think that lead contaminating our soil is a very big issue. Consumption of lead can very well lead to lead poisoning which comes along with symptoms like head ache, abdominal pain, memory loss, kidney failure, and weakness, tingling, or pain in the extremities. If any of these people are growing their produce with the intentions of selling it could cause big legal issues, similar to when toy manufacturers in China were sued for using paint with lead in it on their toys, which the children were eating and getting lead poisoning from.

Questions:

1)Do you think that it's possible for soil around the world, not just near cities, to be contaminated with lead and we don't know it?

2) If you were an urban gardener, what precautions would you take to make sure your soil did not had lead in it?

3) Considering that consuming only a little lead is not terrible for you, would you feel comfortable eating a vegetable grown in a garden with low lead levels?