Plastic Bottles, a HUGE problem

As I was searching for a topic to write about for this blog post I found myself looking at the plastic water bottle sitting on my desk.  When I'm drinking from my water bottle I don't really tend to think about the consequences that they hold for the environment.  According to Treehugger.com the US consumes 1500 bottles of water every second!  An even more disturbing fact is that 80% of these bottles used end up in landfills instead of being recycled.  Plastic water bottles are one of the leading causes of pollution because they end up in nature and cannot be naturally broken down.  Even when they do end up in landfills the energy used to break them down and the chemicals that are burned into the atmosphere are not good for the environment.  To me, it is very saddening that this is happening and that we as the American people are so passive about it.  We could take simple steps to reduce the number of water and other plastic bottles being sent into landfills but many of us don't take those few steps.  There are some that do and I commend them for that but for many of us it is not a concern of ours.  The harsh reality is that it should be on our minds because we have to live in this world and every time we carelessly send a plastic bottle to the landfill we are hurting our planet and in turn hurting ourselves.  Each one of us needs to take the responsibility and step up make a difference.  Each and every one of us that decides to make a change is making a huge impact and it will pay off for everyone!

Photo by Basetrack. Flickr.com

Sources:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/the-us-consumes-1500-plastic-water-bottles-every-second-a-fact-by-watershed.html

Bromine's Effect on People

In an earlier blog post I talked about Hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking,  and the lack of regulation on waste water produced by it.  When researching for that post I found that one problem that researchers have linked to "fracking" is that the chemical bromine seems to be finding its way into the environment and into drinking water.  When I found this information it really made me curious about the practice of hydraulic fracturing. So I decided to write about the health and environmental threats that fracking can pose for a research paper.   The results that my research led me to were chilling.  In the liquid state bromine is corrosive to human skin and vapors irritate the eyes and throat.  However, the effects can be much worse.  Bromine can cause malfunctioning of the nervous system and damage to genetic materials.  Inhaling or consuming the chemical bromine can also cause damage to major organs such as the kidneys, lungs and liver.  Also, to add even more negative news, some forms of bromine such as ethylene bromine can even cause cancer!

Now, think of all the ways that this affects us.  Traces of bromine have been found in ground water and in drinking water and these findings are believed to be from hydraulic fracturing.  If bromine is in the ground then traces of it could be found in the grass that cattle eat which eventually turns into the meat that we eat.  This is just one of the many ways that bromine could possibly find its way into the human body.  The threats to human health are endless and I am certain that bromine is not the chemical leaking from the oil wells and into our environment.  There has to be some regulation placed upon this practice or else the results could be disastrous as fracking begins to be used more and more.

Photo by maticulous. Flickr.com

Photo by ithacabarbie. Flickr.com

Other Sources:
http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/br.htm