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What You Can Do To Prevent Litter - Litter Prevention - Keep Tennessee Beautiful

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Keep Tennessee Beautiful is a state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

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https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/land_pollution.php

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Kids learn about land pollution and how it effects the environment and health. Study causes, pollutants, garbage, landfills, trash, and facts.

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https://newsela.com/read/elem-plastic-in-oceans/id/32396/

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Light Pollution Effects on Wildlife and Ecosystems - International Dark-Sky Association

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“When we add light to the environment, that has the potential to disrupt habitat, just like running a bulldozer over the landscape can.” — Chad Moore, formerly of the National Park Service For billions of […]

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https://www.rubiconglobal.com/blog-statistics-trash-recycling/

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Commercial Garbage & Waste Management Company | Rubicon Global

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Over 2,000 landfills are currently open in the United States, making our country an uglier place. And although they're often camouflaged fairly well, the negative issues that accompany landfills remain.

Underneath the makeup that's been plastered on landfills lay toxins, greenhouse gases, and leachate - all of which present concerning threats to our planet. If we want to leave this planet for our future generations, it's critical that we have a proactive recycling plan in place - whether that's in the office, in your community, or in your home.

Because of this, I wanted to focus on some key landfill statistics that will allow you to think differently about the current way our population disposes of its trash and the current problems that lie within its current practices. These 50 landfill facts will prove the severity of the problems that lie within our current approach to trash.

1. Nine-tenths of all solid waste in the United States does not get recycled.

2. Landfills are among the biggest contributors to soil pollution - roughly 80% of the items buried in landfills could be recycled.

3. Although 75% of America's waste is recyclable, we only recycle around 30% of it. Turns out, there are a few easy steps you can take to start recycling better.

4. A single recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. It also creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than would be created when making a new bottle.

5. Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as it takes to burn it.

6. It only takes 5 recycled plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.

7. Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty - and it can be recycled.

8. The U.S. recycling rate is around 34.5%. If we're able to get the rate to 75%, the effect will be like removing 50 million passenger cars from U.S. roads.

9. Over 11 million tons of recyclable clothing, shoes, and textiles make their way into landfills each year.

10. The leading cities for recycling in the US are (#1) San Francisco, CA (#2) Boston, MA (#3) Chicago, IL (#4) Denver, CO and (#5) Portland, OR.

11. The leading countries for recycling rates are: (#1) Switzerland [52%] (#2) Australia [49.7%] (#3) Germany [48%] (#4) Netherlands [46%] and (#5) Norway [40%]. The United States comes in around 31.5%.

12. 9 out of 10 people said they would recycle if it were "easier".

13. Studies indicate that women on average typically express more concern for the environment and are more likely to recycle than men.

14. The United States throws away $11.4 billion worth of recyclable containers and packaging every year.

15. In the United States, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour - about 42,000 per minute, or about 695 per second. But there's an easy way to reduce your plastic use.

16. It takes 500 years for average sized plastic water bottles to fully decompose.

17. The amount of plastic film and wrap produced annually could shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

18. The energy it takes to make 1.5 million tons of plastic could power 250,000 homes.

19. There are 25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.

20. According to a study done by the University of Georgia, 18 billion pounds of plastic trash winds up in our oceans each year. To put that in perspective, it's enough trash to cover every foot of coastline around the world with five full trash bags of plastic...compounding every year.

21. Plastics cause more than 80% of the negative effects on animals associated with ocean trash.

22. Over 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic entanglement and ingestion.

23. Glass bottles take 4,000 years to decompose.

24. Glass, like aluminum, is infinitely recyclable - without any loss in purity or quality.

25. Glass bottles have been reduced in weight by approximately 40% over the past 30 years.

26. Recycled glass is substituted for up to 95% of raw materials.

27. An estimated 80% of all glass containers recovered for recycling are re-melted in furnaces and used to manufacture of new glass containers.

28. Glass container manufacturers hope to achieve 50 percent recycled content in the manufacture of new glass bottles. This achievement would save enough energy to power 21,978 homes for one year and while removing over 181 tons of waste from landfills monthly.

29. Americans use 65 billion aluminum soda cans each year.

30. In only three months, enough aluminum cans are thrown out in the United States to rebuild all of our commercial air fleets.

31. Aluminum cans make up less than 1% of waste in the United States because they are the #1 recycled item.

32. There is no limit to the number of times you can recycle an aluminum can.

33. After recycling, an aluminum can is usually repurposed within 60 days.

34. Recycling just two aluminum cans save the same amount of energy it takes to power a PC for a single workday.

35. You can make 20 new cans from recycled material using the same amount of energy that it takes to make 1 brand new can.

36. While the United States celebrates the holidays, Americans produce an additional 5 million tons of waste (four million of the 5 million tons consisting of wrapping paper and shopping bags).

37. The majority of the 4 million tons of junk mail that Americans receive annually ends up in landfills.

38. The energy used to create and distribute junk mail in the US for one day could heat 250,000 homes.

39. On average, Americans use 650 pounds of paper a year. Each.

40. U.S. businesses use around 21 million tons of paper every year.

41. The United States throws out the amount of office paper it would take to build a 12-foot wall from Los Angeles to New York City (2,794 miles).

42. Americans make nearly 400 billion photocopies a year, which comes out to 750,000 copies every minute.

43. The average office worker in the United States goes through roughly 500 disposable cups annually.

44. Making new paper from recycled materials uses less energy than producing paper from virgin tree products and leaves more trees to absorb excess carbon dioxide.

45. For every 1 ton of paper that's produced, roughly 390 gallons of oil is used to make it.

46. 1 trillion pages of paper equal 8.5 million acres of trees. That is an area greater than the state of Maryland.

47. 2,000 pounds (or 1 ton) of recycled paper helps to save over 350 gallons of oil, 17 trees, and a large portion of landfill space.

48. A single American consumes roughly two trees annually in paper products.

49. Of the 62 million newspapers printed daily in the United States, 44 million will be thrown away (roughly 500,000 trees).

50. If 1/10 of all discarded American newspapers were recycled annually, approximately 25 million trees would be saved.

Sources:
https://www.northerncoloradodisposal.com/facts/
https://www.usi.edu/recycle/solid-waste-landfill-facts/
http://list25.com/25-shocking-facts-about-pollution/
http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/
https://www.bc.edu/offices/sustainability/what-you-can-do/know-facts.html
http://earth911.com/eco-tech/20-e-waste-facts/
https://www.factretriever.com/recycling-facts

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50 Statistics That Will Make You Think Twice About Your Trash

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Over 2,000 landfills are currently open in the United States, making our country an uglier place. And although they're often camouflaged fairly well, the negative issues that accompany landfills remain. Underneath the makeup that's been plastered on landfills lay toxins, greenhouse gases, and leachate - all of which present concerning threats to our planet.

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https://www.energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy/sola\

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dumping trash in the water is bad because fish can eat it because they think it food

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dumping trash in the water is bad because fish can eat it because they think it food

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dumping trach in the ocean is bad for us and the sea 

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dumping trach in the ocean is bad for us and the sea 

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Whether you want to start breathing easier, feel the energy boost or even have a little more money to spend, there has never been a better time to stop smoking. Remember, it's never too late to join the thousands of people quitting smoking this October.

Check out our tips and tools.

You've got what it takes to quit this Stoptober!

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Whether you want to start breathing easier, feel the energy boost or even have a little more money to spend, there has never been a better time to stop smoking. Remember, it's never too late to join the thousands of people quitting smoking this October. Check out our tips and tools.

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dumping trash in to the ocean is not good for the sea because it will go in to the fish mouth because they think it food so do not put trash in the sea

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dumping trash in to the ocean is not good for the sea because it will go in to the fish mouth because they think it food so do not put trash in the sea

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A few thousand stars in the Milky Way galaxy should be visible to the naked eye as you look skyward on any given night. Alas, conditions are rarely ideal in many places, largely because artificial lights on the ground create an ambient glow that illuminates the sky and makes it difficult to see anything but the brightest stars - and maybe a planet or two.
Related: The Hunt For Alien Megastructures is On
As major cities adopt newer, more energy-efficient LED streetlights, the problem has only gotten worse. New bulbs may save millions in electricity costs, but the blue glare given off has created a halo of light pollution that has caused fewer and fewer stars to be visible on even the clearest night. It's a growing problem for astronomers, who often end up in far-flung corners of world just to find dark skies, but the intrusion of these bright lights is now taking a toll on everyone.

"We just lost something that I think is part of what once made us human," says John Barentine, program manager at the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). "Going back into our distance past before there was agriculture and civilization, humanity had this instant connection to what was happening in the sky, day and night."

Now, about 80 percent of people in the United States live in places where they can't easily see distant stars or even the white glow of the Milky Way, Barentine explains. High temperature LEDs above 5,500k produce a daylight hue that can cause eye damage and affect our circadian rhythms over time, creating sleep issues that may lead to depression and obesity, according to the American Medical Association.

Low Lights, Big City

One city might have found a way to maximize the benefits of LED streetlights, while eliminating the affecting glow. Last year, Phoenix's city council voted to replace the bulbs in all 90,000 lamps on streets and in parks with yellow-hued 2700k LEDs, reducing light pollution while offering safer driving conditions and fewer health effects. It's a solution for everyone, but the astronomers might just be the ones with the most to gain.

Few places have witnessed the loss of the naturally dark night sky like the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. The iconic building, made famous by dozens of Hollywood movies, is the spot where many in the well-lit city can see stars through a telescope for the first time. Anthony Cook, the astronomical observer at Griffith, has worked there since 1978 and has seen a large change in visibility since his first years on the job.

"We have a buffer of approximately a mile around us from a lot of bright lights because we're in the park, which has a lot of wilderness around it," Cook says. "Never the less you can see the effects of the city, definitely, so we're kind of a tiny island of relative darkness in a huge sea of urban lighting."

In recent years, Griffith, which hosts hundreds of children and curious adults each night, has had to focus its telescope on easy-to-see objects, such as planets or the moon's craters, as the glow of the city increases. Cook says he now has to travel as far as Joshua Tree National Park, more than three hours away, to even get a glimpse of celestial bodies that are more difficult to spot.

A Natural Resource

National parks are among the few places in the U.S. where dark skies are intentionally preserved. While Joshua Tree is still affected by the glow of L.A., places like Big Bend National Park in southern Texas have little or no artificial light pollution. The National Parks Service (NPS) is leading the way on data collection of dark skies and light pollution, and even created a special division that researchers and monitors these concerns, aptly named the Natural Sounds and Night Sky Division.

"A lot of people never thought of the night sky as a resource, like the lakes, forest, and wildlife," says Bob Meadows, a physical scientist for the division. "But unlike other natural resources the night sky is a completely recoverable resource by simply turning off our lights."

The solution may sound simple enough, but getting millions of people to turn off unnecessary lights is anything but easy. As a small organization that partners with the NPS and grassroots movements across the world, the IDA helps people find ways to combat light pollution, whether they want safer lighting for themselves or the environment, or they want to see the Milky Way a little clearer.

Reclaiming the Night Sky

The victory in Phoenix has become a rallying cry for astronomy buffs and those looking to protect the environment and dark skies alike. Kelly Beatty, secretary of the IDA's board and contributing editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, says the successful vote was a major step forward, and his hope is that other large cities with take notice.

"My sense is that it has taken decades for the lighting to get this bad, so consequently it will probably take decades to make it better," Beatty says. "But the revolution in lighting that these LEDs represent gives us a chance. They give us a chance to look at the problem anew."
Related: Geoengineering Could Pose Big Problem for Astronomers
Despite recent efforts, light pollution will continue to glow as cities sprawl across the landscape. But many who have never lived with a clear view of the night sky hope to one day reestablish our age-old connection with distant stars and planets. According to noted astronomy author Bob Berman, it might just be a matter of changing priorities.

"No one is saying that cities shouldn't be well lit," Berman says. "Everything has its time and place, and the same is true of light and darkness. And there is a place for darkness, and, I think that is slowly being realized."

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What Phoenix can teach us about reclaiming the night sky

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A few thousand stars in the Milky Way galaxy should be visible to the naked eye as you look skyward on any given night. Alas, conditions are rarely ideal in many places, largely because artificial lights on the ground create an ambient glow that illuminates the sky and makes it difficult to see anything but the brightest stars - and maybe a planet or two.

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tps://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php

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Whether you want to start breathing easier, feel the energy boost or even have a little more money to spend, there has never been a better time to stop smoking. Remember, it's never too late to join the thousands of people quitting smoking this October.

Check out our tips and tools.

You've got what it takes to quit this Stoptober!

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Whether you want to start breathing easier, feel the energy boost or even have a little more money to spend, there has never been a better time to stop smoking. Remember, it's never too late to join the thousands of people quitting smoking this October. Check out our tips and tools.

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Millions of tons of trash dumped into world’s oceans

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Millions of tons of plastic trash flow into the world’s oceans each year, and a new study finds that most of it comes from China and developing economies in Asia.

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if you cut down trees we will all pass away one day.

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if you cut down trees we will all pass away one day.

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City lights outshine nearly every star in the night sky over Hong Kong, which is believed to be one of the most light-polluted cities on Earth.

Credit: Lam Yik Fei/Getty

Back in the mid-'70s during the summertime, several astronomy-minded friends and I would pile into my beat-up Chevy Impala and travel a couple hundred miles north of New York City up Interstate 87 to Warrensburg, New York. Not far from there was a campsite where we would spend time with our telescopes, observing the dark, star-spangled skies of the Adirondacks. Of course, other campers always gravitated to our campsite, where we enjoyed pointing out celestial sights and providing star-identification tips.

On one of those nights, a young woman asked me what was that "long cloud" that appeared to stretch across the sky each night from horizon to horizon. That "long cloud" was, of course, the Milky Way, which, under those very dark skies, appeared so bright that it actually cast a dim shadow. I asked her how it was that she didn't know its identity. She responded that this was her very first time away from home and that she had never camped outside before.

"Where is home?" I asked.

"Brooklyn" was her response. Hardly a place where one can see a dark, starry sky!

A sad commentary, perhaps, on one way that "progress" is stymieing our appreciation of nature. Indeed, no longer can residents in most metropolitan areas or even their nearby suburbs be treated to a view of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. And that's not the only celestial sight that is no longer available. [ Gallery: 'Darkened Cities' by Thierry Cohen: Amazing Night Skies Imagined]

Back in 1996 and again in 1997, skywatchers around the world were treated to the sight of two magnificent naked-eye comets: Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp. From dark skies, both were accompanied by beautifully long, gossamer tails, but from urban areas, they appeared as little more than bright fuzz balls.

A side note here: I grew up in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, and during the 1960s, I could see quite a bit of the night sky from my backyard. But today, the city has gotten brighter. Much brighter. So bright, in fact, that now I can easily read a newspaper at night near my childhood stomping grounds without a flashlight. And the skies at my old Adirondack campsite have gotten noticeably brighter, too. What was once a sea of stars against a pitch-black background now looks more like a shade of charcoal gray.

Judging by the number of visible stars, my observations show that light pollution has made the night sky over Warrensburg, New York, about four times brighter since the mid-'70s. And at various points along the horizon, there are now small domes of light indicating the presence of nearby towns, the brightest of which is Lake George, a popular tourist center several miles to the south.

All of this can be traced to one thing: the curse of light pollution.

Light pollution is the excessive or misdirected outdoor lighting that is threatening to destroy virtually all casual stargazing. Throughout much of the United States, for instance, millions upon millions of precious watts are wasted because poorly designed streetlamps send a portion of their light into the sky. But it's not just stargazers who need to be concerned. While some may scoff at preserving the beauty of the night sky, there are other facets of light pollution that have a direct impact on all of us. Here are just a few examples:

Energy consumption:Joshua Filmer of Futurism.com reported in 2013 that at least 30 percent of street lighting is wasted - light that shines up into the sky, where it does no good. "Calculations show that 22,000 gigawatt-hours a year are wasted. At $0.10 per kilowatt-hour, the cost of that wasted energy is $2.2 billion a year," Filmer wrote. "That's 3.6 tons of coal or 12.9 million barrels of oil wasted every year to produce this lost light."

Wildlife:John Metcalfe at Citylab.com reported last year that lights are disorienting birds, with deadly results. "Many species migrate by night and are perilously dazzled by artificial illumination, for reasons we don't yet completely understand," Metcalfe wrote. "Lights on skyscrapers, airports, and stadiums draw birds into urban areas, where they smack into walls and windows or each other, or flap around and eventually perish from exhaustion-related complications."

Human health:According to an article published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, several studies over the past two decades have suggested that the modern practice of keeping our bodies exposed to artificial light at night increases cancer risk, especially for cancers that require hormones to grow, such as breast and prostate cancers.

Regarding energy consumption, the past five or six years have seen a slow transformation from garish, peach-colored, high-pressure sodium vapor streetlights - which have long been recognized to be energy-inefficient - to light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights, which use solid-state technology to convert electricity into light.

In contrast to old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs used in sodium vapor streetlights, LEDs do not possess filaments that burn out, nor do they get very warm. Because of their improved quality and lower cost, LEDs are now gradually replacing conventional streetlights for outdoor lighting in communities around the world. Good news, right?

Well, not necessarily.

Unfortunately, white LED lighting also tends to transmit high levels of blue light, which can pose potential health hazards.

According to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), "Outdoor lighting with high blue light content is more likely to contribute to light pollution because it has a significantly larger geographic reach than lighting with less blue light. Blue-rich white light sources are also known to increase glare and compromise human vision. And in natural settings, blue light at night has been shown to adversely affect wildlife behavior and reproduction."

Ways to correct this problem include the following:

1. Properly using shields to direct the light downward, where it is needed.

2. Converting to "warm white" LEDs, which minimize blue emissions.

3. Using adapters that can dim lamps during the late-night and predawn hours.

4. Avoiding the temptation to use extra lights because LEDs are more energy-efficient and thus ultimately less expensive over time.

That last suggestion seems to be of especially increasing concern. As an artifact of the lower costs of LEDs, many people are now unnecessarily illuminating places that they didn't bother to light before, like the outsides of buildings and other infrastructure, according to a study in the journal Science Advances.

The IDA, founded 30 years ago, gathers and disseminates light-pollution information and solutions. It has played a pivotal role in turning the tide in the light-pollution war. The IDA is winning over key sectors of the nonastronomical public - including government groups, sections of the lighting industry and electric utilities - arguing that good lighting for astronomers equals energy savings and more attractive surroundings for everyone else.

For more information on how to get involved, you can contact the IDA directly. (And to learn more about light pollution, you can also watch "Losing the Dark," a short planetarium show and video on light pollution produced by the IDA.)

You can also join thousands of other students, families, educators and citizen scientists by participating in an international event called "Globe at Night." This event, which is free to attend, is designed to observe and record how constellations appear from different locations, as a means of measuring the brightness of the sky at a variety of urban and rural sites.

Prospective observers can report their results online by comparing the number of stars seen in the night sky with a set of template images that depict the stars' visibility in varying levels of light pollution. Participation is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, who can get outside and look skyward.

Not convinced that extra lighting is a problem? Check out these nighttime satellite views of Earth, courtesy of NASA's Suomi NPP satellite. Additional images from Suomi NPP taken between 2010 and 2016 clearly show how light pollution is on the rise around the globe.

Lastly, you can do your part by learning more about light pollution and by taking steps to reduce extra nighttime lighting in your own town and backyard. In addition to letting you see the stars better, these steps may also save you money on electricity and help reduce the world's energy usage. Cities and towns that routinely put up ever-brighter lights for no reason other than "that's what we've always done" may think twice about spending the money if they hear just a few voices of opposition.

What are your town's lighting plans? Call your city or town hall today!

Remember, the night sky you save might be your own.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Fios1 News in Rye Brook, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, and . Original article on

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Light Pollution Is a Big Problem, But You Can Help

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Back in the mid-'70s during the summertime, several astronomy-minded friends and I would pile into my beat-up Chevy Impala and travel a couple hundred miles north of New York City up Interstate 87 to Warrensburg, New York. Not far from there was a campsite where we would spend time with our telescopes, observing the dark, star-spangled skies of the Adirondacks.

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if you dump trash in the water the fish in the water will die becues of us. 😭

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if you dump trash in the water the fish in the water will die becues of us. 😭

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https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.

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https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-tons-of-plastic-trash-in-oceans-20150213-story.html

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Millions of tons of trash dumped into world’s oceans

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Millions of tons of plastic trash flow into the world’s oceans each year, and a new study finds that most of it comes from China and developing economies in Asia.

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https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/deep-sea-dump-trash-collecting-arctic-seafloor

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Deep-sea dump: Trash is collecting on the Arctic seafloor

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Trash is building up on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, including plastic bags, glass shards and fishing nets.

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https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/causes-and-effects-of-ocean-dumping/

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It is a well-known fact that nearly 70% of the earth is filled with water in the form of different kinds of water bodies such as oceans, lakes and rivers etc.

All these water bodies, especially oceans and seas, form an indispensable part of our existence as it has key roles to play in our everyday life.

This factor of indispensability has not only helped us tremendously but has also resulted in the exploitation of the oceanic resources without any second thoughts.

The careless human intervention has badly affected the oceanic ecosystem, threatening the existence of several other species on earth, including human beings.

Accidents such as the BP oil spill and Samarco dam collapse are the striking instances to see how badly human activities can destroy the rich ecosystem of water bodies.

Causes of Ocean Pollution

Dumping sewage in the ocean has always been considered the cheapest and the easiest way of disposing of wastes.

The billions of tons of litter end up in the ocean each year reportedly bring 250 million tons of trash into the sea every year.

However, reports also suggest that littering makes the aquatic life in the oceans and seas worse these days.

1. Ocean Dumping

Among all sorts of activities that pollute the ocean, dumping of garbage and other waste materials stands first in the list. Dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas.

Some of the materials emitted by the industrial wastes and sewage wastes contain materials like mercury, cryolite and DDT.

Certain industrial wastage also includes radioactive materials. Even small amounts of these substances tend to have negative effects.

The scale and the magnitude of the ocean dumping are not just vast but are so huge, that our entire civilisation could be wiped out with the intensity of careless dumping.

The discharge of ballast water also causes the problem by way of ocean waste. Ballast water tends to proliferate and transfer organisms that debilitate the growth of naturally occurring fishes in a particular oceanic area.

2. Land Runoff

According to researchers, many pollutants, almost eighty percent pollution, are released into the marine environment far upstream from coastlines.

The non-point pollution, which is a result of land runoff brings many wastage materials such as the debris of cars and boats into the sea every day.

Moreover, rivers during floods pick up harmful contaminants including fertilizers, petroleum, and pesticides, among others.

Studies have suggested that the presence of fertilizers in the ocean will result in the sudden explosions of marine algae, which can disrupt ocean ecosystems, and also the creation of dead zones in the waters.

3. Oil Spills

Spilling of oil from tankers and offshore rigs in the oceanic area is also another example of sea pollution. Several of such oil spills from tanker ships after accidents, including Deepwater Horizon, Gulf War oil spill and Atlantic Empress, have shown us the extent of the damages the spills can do to the ecosystems.

Spilling of oil can happen inadvertently where small doses of oil are leaked into the oceans by the tanker ships or in a massive scale where gallons and gallons of oil are leaked into the water surface of the ocean after the collision of vessels or capsizing.

The pollution through oil spills can have serious consequences for society, both economically and environmentally. Importantly, the main victims of oil spills are birds and mammals.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has caused problems to birds among the other marine creatures whose wings had gotten covered by the slick, causing them to die a slow and painful death.

4. Littering

Beaches covered with plastic wastes are not a rare scene in these days. Besides the large chunk of industrial wastes, the dumping of plastic is another biggest source of pollution as it slowly leads to adverse effects.

Materials like plastic are non-degradable which means they will not be absorbed and recycled. When oceanic creatures and even birds consume plastic inadvertently, they choke on it which causes a steady decline in their population.

Activists say who suffer from the plastic debris are dolphins, sharks, turtles, crabs, and sea birds, among others.

The Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is a very good example of plastic being hazardous and Islands like Henderson have transformed from the beautiful lands to Plastic Junkyards.

5. Ocean Mining

Mining under the ocean for silver, gold, copper, cobalt, etc. is another source of ocean pollution. Mines, where ores are drilled thousands of meters down, dispose of their wastes in the ocean, creating disastrous impacts in the marine life on the seabed.

Researchers, with limited scientific evidence, suggest that such activities help increase the toxicity, which will eventually put the ecosystem in the area under threat.

6. Noise Pollution

Besides these reasons, the aquatic life in the sea is also disturbed by several other factors. Recent studies have proved that the increasing noise pollution in the sea also creating threats to marine life.

In addition to the increased traffic, the loud sounds from sonar devices and oil rigs also making the situation worse.

According to researchers, the noise pollution will disrupt the migration and reproduction patterns of mammals like whales and dolphins.

Effects of Ocean Pollution

The adverse effects of marine pollution are two-fold. Marine creatures and plants bear the brunt of the harmful substances in the dumped materials.

The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances, which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This leads to a marked depletion of oxygen available to mammals and other fishes causing them to die in their natural habitat.

Every year, according to reports, more than one million seabirds are being killed by ocean pollution. In addition, thousands of dolphins and porpoises are dying every year due to increased human intervention.

The increased presence of plastic on the ocean surface has resulted in more serious problems. Since most of the plastic debris that reaches the ocean remains floating for years as it does not decompose quickly, it leads to the dropping of oxygen level in the water, severely affecting the survival of marine species.

Similarly, the presence of harmful wastes in the waters make impacts on the food habits and health of human being because it spoils the food chain and fails the reproductive system of fish and other aquatic beings.

Also, in case the dumping ground is closer to areas where fishing is the main scale activity and if the toxic substances get consumed by the fishes which get deposited and accumulated in their fat tissues, then the humans consuming these affected fishes can face unwanted complications.

In order to prevent further degradation of the oceanic environment and the eco-system, several laws and regulations have been enacted.

The London Convention of 1975 is one of the prominent ones, while other laws include the Clear Water Act (CWA) and the Ocean Dumping Act (ODA) which have been established by the United States to tackle the problem of pollution of the ocean.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to clean up the mess that pollutes the oceans and its ecosystem. The Ocean Cleanup project, initiated by Dutch-born inventor-entrepreneur Boyan Slat, is attempting to remove plastic wastes from the sea and also preventing more plastic debris from entering the waters.

Started in 2014, the team now conducting research on the total quantity of plastic debris in the oceans, feasible recycling methods.
You might also like to read:
Disclaimer: The authors' views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Marine Insight. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.
The article or images cannot be reproduced, copied, shared or used in any form without the permission of the author and Marine Insight.

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Ocean Pollution - 6 Things That Make It Worse

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It is a well-known fact that nearly 70% of the earth is filled with water in the form of different kinds of water bodies such as oceans, lakes and rivers etc. All these water bodies, especially oceans and seas, form an indispensable part of our existence as it has key roles to play in our everyday life.

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http://www.environment911.org/The_Effects_of_Ocean_Dumping

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The legal definition of ocean dumping refers to the dumping of garbage, sewage, waste chemicals, and construction debris into the ocean. There are many cases where ocean dumping is controlled and regulated. However, there are hazardous materials being dumped into the sea by tankers and ships. They are also being illegally dumped in coastal waters.

Causes of Marine Pollution

* Cargo ships both accidentally and deliberately discharge crude oil into the ocean. As far as ocean pollution goes, this is one of the primary causes.

* Other reasons for marine pollution are the dumping of industrial waste. These products contain toxins including mercury, PCBs, PAHs, and radioactive material, all of which pollute the ocean.

* Heavy rains and floods wash trash and debris into the waters.

* Human waste and sewage water that has been partially treated or untreated goes into the ocean. This is called "garbage dumping" and is one of the world's leading causes of ocean pollution.

* Automobiles emit carbon dioxide due to fossil fuels being burned. This leads to air pollution. The carbon dioxide in the air reaches the ocean and becomes acid rain which then pollutes the water.

Effects of Ocean Dumping

* Oil spills are dangerous for marine life and can affect coral reefs that thrive in the ocean. In fact they can greatly affect the life cycle. The gills of fish can be clogged by spilled oil which can block off respiration. If sunlight is blocked, marine plants will die because it affects photosynthesis and its process.

* These toxins not only affect the marine life, but they affect humans as well. For example, let's say the fish are contaminated, if someone were to catch a fish and eat it, they could get food poisoning.

* If garbage is dumped into the ocean, the oxygen in the water could be depleted. This results in poor health for marine life due to lack of oxygen. Animals such as seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks, whales, and herring could all die.

* Bottles and other plastics including bags can suffocate or choke sea creatures. Thinking they are food, they may eat them. Plastic items are one of the major causes of death among turtles. They think plastic bags look like jellyfish and try to eat them.

The effects of ocean dumping are due to our carelessness. Roughly two thirds of the world's marine lives have been threatened with chemicals we throw down the drain every day such as house hold cleaners. It may do you good to remember that marine life is a part of our food chain. Not only do we eat fish and other marine life, but so do other animals. Underwater creatures are a main food source for other fish and bears.

There's a lot we can do to save our oceans. The best place to start is to keep them clean and not throw anything into them. It's also a good idea to keep the beaches clean. Garbage on the beach can easily end up in the water. Another thing we can do is to stop pouring chemicals down the drain such as paint or oil. Stop using toxic household products and don't overwater our lawns, in other words, conserve water.

Now that you know the cause and effects of ocean dumping, you'll be able to understand that it's just something you shouldn't do. You never know how much water is worth, until you have none. It's best to remember the causes, consider the animals and always keep them in the back of your mind. If we work together we can stop the effects of ocean dumping for good.

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The legal definition of ocean dumping refers to the dumping of garbage, sewage, waste chemicals, and construction debris into the ocean. There are many cases where ocean dumping is controlled and regulated. However, there are hazardous materials being dumped into the sea by tankers and ships. They are also being...

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https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/land_pollution.php

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Kids learn about land pollution and how it effects the environment and health. Study causes, pollutants, garbage, landfills, trash, and facts.

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dump trash in the water is not good for sea animals  https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-com you sould never put trash in the water.

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dump trash in the water is not good for sea animals  https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-com you sould never put trash in the water.

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The planet's seas are choking on our junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean - called garbage gyres - have become vortexes where humanity's trash bobs atop the water for miles on end.

Worse yet, the filth floating on the surface accounts for only 5 percent of all the plastic trash dumped into the sea. According to Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental nonprofit, the other 95 percent is submerged beneath, where it strangles underwater creatures and wrecks the aquatic ecosystem.

It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to this crisis. And all are in Asia.

In a recent report, Ocean Conservancy claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world's seas.
More from GlobalPost: Vultures with GoPros are helping clean up Peru (VIDEO)
"At this rate, we would expect nearly one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in our oceans by 2025 - an unthinkable number with drastic economic and environmental consequences," says Nicholas Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy's marine debris program.

Westerners, namely Americans, are seen as the world's most incorrigible consumers of stuff: Soda, gadgets, sneakers and other items that produce plenty of trash. So how did a few Asian countries, many of them comparatively poor, end up churning out much of the plastic waste that swirls through the seas?

Asia is adopting Western-style appetites for consumer junk

As Asian economies rise, people have more cash to blow on Marlboros and Sprites at 7-Eleven. But the junk these habits produce often doesn't end up in legit landfills.

In the five Asian countries listed above, only about 40 percent of garbage is properly collected. Across Asia, trash is often piled up in communal dumps where stray bits are swept up by the wind and cast into the ocean.

Even sanctioned garbage dump sites are sometimes intentionally set up near rivers that flow into the sea. The reason, according to Ocean Conservancy: "Waste will intermittently be carried away by heavy rains or current, refreshing the capacity of the dump to receive more waste."

Trash scavengers can't keep up

Asia's garbage pickers are the unsung heroes of conservation. They brave filth and disease to root through trash and extract plastic that can be sold to recyclers for a little cash. This ensures that lots of junk is recycled rather than abandoned in landfills.

But these pickers tend to focus on high-value items - like plastic bottles - in lieu of plastic bags, which fetch very little from recyclers.

According to Ocean Conservancy, a scavenger might spend 10 hours gathering plastic bags and take home a mere 50 cents. Devoting that day to picking up only plastic bottles, however, would rack up $3.70.

That means that scavengers skip over much of the waste, which can later end up in the sea.

Corporations crank out tiny portion sizes for the poor

A shopper in California or Texas buys shampoo by the bottle. But that's often an unaffordable luxury to poor Indonesian or Filipino villagers, who instead buy cosmetics in mini plastic pouches.

In Asia's rural hamlets, corporations sell everything from beauty products to instant noodles in tiny, cheap quantities. This helps even the most destitute laborers afford their wares. The result? Companies are churning out a lot more plastic packaging in poor Asian nations - and much of it winds up in the ocean.

Though corporations aren't "making plastic with the intent of it ending up in the ocean," Mallos says, they should be offering up their "world-class logistics, financing, project management and marketing capabilities" to help solve the problem.

Asia's garbagemen often cut corners

In countries where the law is flimsy, garbage truck drivers will often save time and fuel by simply dumping trash by the roadside. These illegal dump sites are having devastating consequences for the seas.

In the Philippines, an island nation where sanitation trucks often flout the law, research suggests that up to 90 percent of the plastic dumped illegally ends up in the ocean. In the five Asian nations profiled by Ocean Conservancy, estimates suggest this practice adds nearly 1 million metric tons of plastic trash to the seas each year.

All that garbage is having devastating effects on the seas: choking marine life to death, dramatically warping ecosystems and wreaking environmental havoc that some experts liken to the climate change crisis.
More from GlobalPost: A quick and easy guide to the Paris climate deal

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5 countries dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combined

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The planet's seas are choking on our junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean - called garbage gyres - have become vortexes where humanity's trash bobs atop the water for miles on end.

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https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php

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Smoking damages nearly every organ in the body and is bad for a person's overall health. People can significantly reduce their chance of smoking-related disease by giving it up.

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of early disease and death in the United States. Giving up smoking is difficult for many people, but the number of former smokers is increasing all the time.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), current smoking in the U.S. has declined from 20.9% in 2005 to 13.7% in 2018. The number of smokers who have quit is also rising.

In this article, we look at the health impact of smoking, including its effects on the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system. We also discuss the benefits of quitting.

Every year, more than 480,000 people die in the U.S. due to tobacco-related diseases - around 1 in 5 of all deaths - according to the American Cancer Society.

They also state that around of people in the U.S. who keep smoking will die from smoking-related causes.

Life expectancy is at least 10 years less for smokers compared with nonsmokers. The American Cancer Society state that smoking shortens lifespan by about 12 years in males and 11 years in females.

The comment that smoking causes more deaths in the U.S. each year than the following combined:

motor vehicle injuries

alcohol or illicit drug use

firearm-related incidents

Tobacco contains poisonous substances that affect people's health. Two of these poisons are:

Carbon monoxide. Car exhaust fumes also produce this substance, and it is fatal in large doses. It replaces oxygen in the blood and starves the organs of oxygen, stopping them from functioning correctly.

Tar. This is a sticky, brown substance that coats the lungs and affects breathing.

While the statistics are alarming, it is important to bear in mind that giving up smoking reduces the risk of disease dramatically.

Below, we discuss the impact smoking can have on different parts of the body.

Smoking can increase the likelihood of having a stroke by . Strokes can cause brain damage and death.

One way that stroke can cause brain injury is through a brain aneurysm, which occurs when the wall of a blood vessel weakens and creates a bulge. This bulge can burst and cause a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which can lead to a stroke.

Chemicals in tobacco smoke increase the chance of heart problems and cardiovascular diseases.

Smoking causes atherosclerosis, which is when plaque builds up in the blood and sticks to the artery walls. This makes them narrower, reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of blood clots.

Smoking also damages the blood vessels, making them thicker and narrower. This makes it harder for blood to flow, and also increases blood pressure and heart rate.

Smoking has links with the following cardiovascular conditions:

coronary heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in the U.S

a heart attack, as smoking doubles the risk of heart attack

blockages that reduce blood flow to the skin and legs

stroke due to blood clots or burst blood vessels in the brain

Even smokers who smoke cigarettes a day may develop early signs of cardiovascular disease.

Carbon monoxide and nicotine make the heart work harder and faster. This means that smoking makes it more challenging to exercise. A lack of exercise further increases the risk of health problems.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), smoking reduces bone density, making the bones weaker and more brittle. Smoking can also impair bone healing after a fracture.

Researchers find it difficult to say whether this is a direct effect of smoking, or due to other risk factors prevalent in people who smoke. These include lower body weight and doing less physical exercise.

This may affect females than males. Females are more prone to osteoporosis and broken bones.

Quitting smoking, even later in life, can help limit bone loss linked with smoking.

The immune system protects the body against infection and disease.

According to one , smoking reduces immune function and causes inflammation in the body. This can lead to autoimmune conditions, including:

Smoking also has links with type 2 diabetes.

The lungs are perhaps the most obvious organ that smoking affects.

It often takes many years before a person notices any symptoms of smoking-related lung disease. This means that people may not receive a diagnosis until the disease is quite advanced.

Smoking can impact the lungs in several ways. The primary reason is that smoking damages the airways and air sacs - known as alveoli - in the lungs.

Three of the most common smoking-related lung conditions in the U.S. are:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a long-term disease. It causes wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis occurs when the airways produce too much mucus. This leads to a long-lasting cough and inflamed airways. Over time, scar tissue and mucus can completely block the airways and cause infection.

Emphysema: Emphysema is a type of COPD that reduces the number of alveoli and breaks down the walls between them. This makes it difficult to breathe, even at rest, and over time, a person may need an oxygen mask.

Other lung diseases caused by smoking include pneumonia, asthma, and tuberculosis.

Smoking can have several effects on oral health and may cause:

Smoking irritates the gum tissues. The American Dental Association (ADA) state that smoking increases the risk of gum disease, which can add to halitosis.

Smoking affect the reproductive system and fertility.

Females who smoke can have more difficulty becoming pregnant. In males, smoking can cause impotence by damaging blood vessels in the penis. It can also damage sperm and affect sperm count.

premature birth

pregnancy loss

low birth weight

sudden infant death syndrome

infant illnesses

According to some studies, males who smoke have a lower sperm count than those who do not.

Smoking while pregnant increases a number of risks for the baby, including:

facial wrinkles, especially around the lips

baggy eyelids

uneven skin coloring, such as a yellow or gray tone

dry, coarse skin

temporary yellowing of the fingers and fingernails

Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that can reach the skin. This speeds up the aging process and can make skin appear dull or gray.

Smoking can cause:

Smoking reduces how quickly skin wounds heal, increases the risk of skin infections, and increases the severity of skin conditions, including psoriasis.

Smoking increases the risk of many types of cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, tobacco smoke contains around 7,000 chemicals, of which at least 69 can cause cancer.

Figures from the American Cancer Society state that smoking causes around 30% of all cancer deaths in the U.S., and 80% of all lung cancer deaths.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. It is one of the most difficult to treat.
Read more about how smoking affects the body here.
Smoking is a risk factor for the following cancers:

Cigars, pipe-smoking, menthol cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and other forms of tobacco all cause cancer and other health problems. There is no safe way to use tobacco.

While the statistics are alarming, the good news is that quitting smoking reduces the risk of disease and death significantly. The risks drop further, the longer a person refrains from smoking.

Cardiovascular risks: After 1 year of quitting, the risk of having a heart attack drops sharply.

Stroke: Within 2-5 years, the risk of a stroke reduces to half that of a non-smoker.

Cancers: The risks for mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder cancer drop by half within 5 years of quitting, and 10 years for lung cancer.

In fact, some research says that quitting before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%.

breathing becomes easier

daily coughing and wheezing reduces then disappears

sense of taste and smell get better

exercise and activities become easier

circulation to the hands and feet improves

Read more about what happens when you quit smoking here.
These statistics illustrate the health benefits of quitting smoking:

Soon after quitting, people experience the following health benefits that can significantly improve their quality of life and serve as reminders of the health benefits that quitting can have:

Though quitting can be stressful, people often start to notice their daily stress levels are much lower than when they were smoking within 6 months or so.

Make lists of reasons why it is a good idea to quit. Read over these when the temptation to smoke strikes.

Use an app to track your progress. Reaching milestones, such as a day without smoking, can help motivate a person to continue. There are many free and paid apps on the market.

Try nicotine replacement products. Nicotine patches, gums, and lozenges can help reduce cravings, making it easier to resist at any particular moment.

Quitting smoking is a different journey for everyone, and what works for one person will not always work for the next. Try out a few different ways to see which ones work best.

When trying to quit smoking, these tips may help:

Many people find that reaching out to a healthcare provider for support can help them quit for good. A doctor can prescribe medication, such as varenicline (Chantix). currently recommend this as a first-line therapy for people who want to quit smoking.

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Smoking damages nearly every organ in the body and is bad for a person's overall health. People can significantly reduce their chance of smoking-related disease by giving it up. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of early disease and death in the United States.

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https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/deforestation-and-forest-degradation

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https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/water_pollution.php

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Kids learn about water pollution and how it effects the environment and health. Study causes, pollutants, sources, and facts including acid rain.

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On this page:

What was dumped into the ocean before 1972?

In the past, communities around the world used the ocean for waste disposal, including the disposal of chemical and industrial wastes, radioactive wastes, trash, munitions, sewage sludge, and contaminated dredged material. Little attention was given to the negative impacts of waste disposal on the marine environment. Even less attention was focused on opportunities to recycle or reuse such materials. Wastes were frequently dumped in coastal and ocean waters based on the assumption that marine waters had an unlimited capacity to mix and disperse wastes.

Although no complete records exist of the volumes and types of materials disposed in ocean waters in the United States prior to 1972, several reports indicate a vast magnitude of historic ocean dumping:

In 1968, the National Academy of Sciences estimated annual volumes of ocean dumping by vessel or pipes:

100 million tons of petroleum products;

two to four million tons of acid chemical wastes from pulp mills;

more than one million tons of heavy metals in industrial wastes; and

more than 100,000 tons of organic chemical wastes.

A 1970 Report to the President from the Council on Environmental Quality on ocean dumping described that in 1968 the following were dumped in the ocean in the United States:

38 million tons of dredged material (34 percent of which was polluted),

4.5 million tons of industrial wastes,

4.5 million tons of sewage sludge (significantly contaminated with heavy metals), and

0.5 million tons of construction and demolition debris.

EPA records indicate that more than 55,000 containers of radioactive wastes were dumped at three ocean sites in the Pacific Ocean between 1946 and 1970. Almost 34,000 containers of radioactive wastes were dumped at three ocean sites off the East Coast of the United States from 1951 to 1962.

Following decades of uncontrolled dumping, some areas of the ocean became demonstrably contaminated with high concentrations of harmful pollutants including heavy metals, inorganic nutrients, and chlorinated petrochemicals. The uncontrolled ocean dumping caused severe depletion of oxygen levels in some ocean waters. In the New York Bight (ocean waters off the mouth of the Hudson River), where New York City dumped sewage sludge and other materials, oxygen concentrations in waters near the seafloor declined significantly between 1949 and 1969.

What is the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act?

In October 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), sometimes referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act, declaring that it is the policy of the United States to regulate the dumping of all materials which would adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems or economic potentialities.

The MPRSA implements the requirements of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter of 1972, known as the London Convention. The London Convention is one of the first international agreements for the protection of the marine environment from human activities.

Title I of the MPRSA contains the permitting and enforcement provisions for regulating ocean dumping.

Title II of the MPRSA authorizes marine research.

(23 pp, 232 K, The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (PDF) About PDF)

How does EPA implement the MPRSA?

Under the MPRSA, EPA is responsible for establishing criteria for reviewing and evaluating permit applications. EPA is responsible for issuing ocean dumping permits for materials other than dredged material. In the case of dredged material, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for issuing ocean dumping permits, using EPA's environmental criteria. Permits for ocean dumping of dredged material are subject to EPA review and written concurrence. EPA is also responsible for designating and managing ocean disposal sites for all types of materials.

EPA and USACE together develop site management and monitoring plans (SMMPs) for each designated ocean dredged material disposal site. EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program, often in coordination with USACE, conducts oceanographic surveys at these ocean disposal sites to evaluate environmental conditions at the site and to determine what management actions may be needed.

EPA's ocean dumping regulations are published at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 220-229 Exit, and include the criteria and procedures for ocean dumping permits and for the designation and management of ocean disposal sites under the MPRSA. In addition, USACE has published regulations under various provisions of 33 CFR 320, 322, 324, 325, 329, 331, and 335-337.

Why is regulating ocean dumping important? How does EPA help protect the ocean?

Unregulated disposal of wastes and other materials into the ocean degrades marine and natural resources and poses human health risks. For over 45 years, EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program has stopped many harmful materials from being ocean dumped, worked to limit ocean dumping generally, and worked to prevent adverse impacts to human health, the marine environment, and other legitimate uses of the ocean (e.g., navigation, fishing) from pollution caused by ocean dumping. Learn more about how EPA protects the oceans from dumping in the United States on the Protecting Our Oceans from Pollution Web page.

Besides EPA, what are other federal agencies' roles with respect to ocean dumping?

Four federal agencies have responsibilities under the MPRSA: EPA, USACE, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

EPA has primary authority for regulating ocean disposal of all materials except dredged materials.

USACE and EPA share responsibility for the regulation of dredged material disposal in ocean.

USCG maintains surveillance of ocean dumping.

Under Title II of the MPRSA, NOAA is responsible for some long-range research on the effects of human-induced changes to the marine environment.

In addition, EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program coordinates with partners at the international, federal, state and local levels, and through interagency groups, including National and Regional Dredging Teams, on ocean dumping, dredged material management, pollution prevention and marine protection activities.

What materials are dumped into the ocean today?

Today, the vast majority of material disposed in the ocean is uncontaminated sediment (dredged material) removed from our nation's waterways to support a network of coastal ports and harbors for commercial, transportation, national defense and recreational purposes. Other materials disposed in the ocean include human remains for burial at sea, vessels, man-made ice piers in Antarctica, and fish wastes. To find out where vessels have been disposed along with locations of ocean disposal sites, please visit our Ocean Disposal Map.

What materials cannot be dumped in the ocean?

The MPRSA and EPA's ocean dumping regulations prohibit ocean dumping of certain materials, such as:

high-level radioactive wastes;

radiological, chemical and biological warfare agents;

persistent inert synthetic or natural materials which may float or remain in suspension in the ocean in such a manner that they may interfere materially with fishing navigation or other legitimate uses of the ocean;

materials insufficiently described to permit application of the environmental impact criteria of 40 CFR 227 subpart B;

sewage sludge;

medical wastes (isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes and potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, dialysis wastes);

industrial wastes, specifically liquid, solid, or semi-solid wastes from a manufacturing or processing plant (except on an emergency basis); and

materials containing the following constituents in greater than trace amounts (except on an emergency basis):

Organohalogen compounds.

Mercury and mercury compounds.

Cadmium and cadmium compounds.

Oil of any kind or in any form.

Known carcinogens, mutagens, or teratogens.

Can wastes be incinerated at sea?

Incineration at sea is considered to be ocean dumping because the emissions from the stack will deposit into the surrounding ocean waters. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 banned the dumping of industrial wastes, such as those previously permitted for incineration at sea. In the 1970s and 1980s, several types of liquid organic wastes, including herbicide orange and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were incinerated at sea using shipboard incinerators. These incineration at sea activities were conducted under MPRSA permits issued by EPA. In 1985, EPA proposed specific regulations to better develop and manage incineration at sea under MPRSA permits, but the regulations were never finalized and the incineration-at-sea program was discontinued in 1988.

Internationally, incineration at sea is also regulated under the London Convention and London Protocol, which are ocean dumping treaties. The United States is a Contracting Party to the London Convention. The United States has signed the London Protocol, which is intended to modernize and eventually replace the London Convention; however, the Senate has not ratified the treaty.

Under the London Convention, incineration at sea of industrial waste and sewage sludge is prohibited. The London Convention defines "incineration at sea" as the deliberate combustion of wastes and other matter on marine incineration facilities for the purpose of their thermal destruction. Combustion associated with activities incidental to the normal operation of vessels, platforms and other manmade structures is excluded from the scope of this definition. Marine incineration facility means a vessel, platform, or other manmade structure operating for the purpose of incineration at sea.

Under the London Protocol, incineration at sea and the export of wastes and other materials for incineration at sea is prohibited. The London Protocol defines "incineration at sea" as the combustion on board a vessel, platform or other man-made structure at sea of wastes or other matter for the purpose of their deliberate disposal by thermal destruction. The prohibited incineration at sea does not include the incineration of wastes or other matter on board a vessel, platform, or other man-made structure at sea if such wastes or other material were generated during the normal operation of that vessel, platform, or other manmade structure at sea.

How have ocean protections improved since enactment of the 1972 MPRSA?

The passage of the MPRSA in 1972 marked a major milestone in the protection of the marine environment. Today, the United States is at the forefront of protecting coastal and ocean waters from adverse impacts due to ocean dumping. The ocean is no longer considered an appropriate disposal location for most wastes. Ocean dumping of certain harmful wastes is banned.

The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 amended the MPRSA and now prohibits the ocean dumping of municipal sewage sludge and industrial wastes, such as wastes from plastics and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and from petrochemical refineries.

The 1998 amendment also banned the ocean disposal of "medical waste."

Other ocean dumping practices, such as wood burning at sea and the disposal of construction and demolition debris, have stopped as a matter of environmentally sound practice.

Those few materials that are ocean dumped are carefully evaluated to ensure that they will not pose a danger to human health or the environment and that there are no better alternatives for their reuse or disposal. The Water Resources Development Act of 1992 amended the MPRSA and now requires that ocean dumping permits, including for ocean disposal of dredged material, conform to long-term management plans to ensure that permitted activities are consistent with expected uses of designated ocean disposal sites. While many challenges remain to protecting and managing our coastal and ocean resources, including historic contamination and continuous degradation from land-based sources, we can be proud of the great strides we have made under the MPRSA.

To learn more, please visit our Ocean Dumping Timeline.

Where can I learn more about EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program?

To learn more about the EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program, including MPRSA (ocean dumping) permits, ocean disposal sites and international connections, please return to our Ocean Dumping home page.

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On this page: In the past, communities around the world used the ocean for waste disposal, including the disposal of chemical and industrial wastes, radioactive wastes, trash, munitions, sewage sludge, and contaminated dredged material. Little attention was given to the negative impacts of waste disposal on the marine environment.

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https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/land_pollution.php

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Kids learn about land pollution and how it effects the environment and health. Study causes, pollutants, garbage, landfills, trash, and facts.

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https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-countries-dump-more-plastic-oceans-rest-world-combined

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The planet's seas are choking on our junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean - called garbage gyres - have become vortexes where humanity's trash bobs atop the water for miles on end.

Worse yet, the filth floating on the surface accounts for only 5 percent of all the plastic trash dumped into the sea. According to Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental nonprofit, the other 95 percent is submerged beneath, where it strangles underwater creatures and wrecks the aquatic ecosystem.

It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to this crisis. And all are in Asia.

In a recent report, Ocean Conservancy claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world's seas.
More from GlobalPost: Vultures with GoPros are helping clean up Peru (VIDEO)
"At this rate, we would expect nearly one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in our oceans by 2025 - an unthinkable number with drastic economic and environmental consequences," says Nicholas Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy's marine debris program.

Westerners, namely Americans, are seen as the world's most incorrigible consumers of stuff: Soda, gadgets, sneakers and other items that produce plenty of trash. So how did a few Asian countries, many of them comparatively poor, end up churning out much of the plastic waste that swirls through the seas?

Asia is adopting Western-style appetites for consumer junk

As Asian economies rise, people have more cash to blow on Marlboros and Sprites at 7-Eleven. But the junk these habits produce often doesn't end up in legit landfills.

In the five Asian countries listed above, only about 40 percent of garbage is properly collected. Across Asia, trash is often piled up in communal dumps where stray bits are swept up by the wind and cast into the ocean.

Even sanctioned garbage dump sites are sometimes intentionally set up near rivers that flow into the sea. The reason, according to Ocean Conservancy: "Waste will intermittently be carried away by heavy rains or current, refreshing the capacity of the dump to receive more waste."

Trash scavengers can't keep up

Asia's garbage pickers are the unsung heroes of conservation. They brave filth and disease to root through trash and extract plastic that can be sold to recyclers for a little cash. This ensures that lots of junk is recycled rather than abandoned in landfills.

But these pickers tend to focus on high-value items - like plastic bottles - in lieu of plastic bags, which fetch very little from recyclers.

According to Ocean Conservancy, a scavenger might spend 10 hours gathering plastic bags and take home a mere 50 cents. Devoting that day to picking up only plastic bottles, however, would rack up $3.70.

That means that scavengers skip over much of the waste, which can later end up in the sea.

Corporations crank out tiny portion sizes for the poor

A shopper in California or Texas buys shampoo by the bottle. But that's often an unaffordable luxury to poor Indonesian or Filipino villagers, who instead buy cosmetics in mini plastic pouches.

In Asia's rural hamlets, corporations sell everything from beauty products to instant noodles in tiny, cheap quantities. This helps even the most destitute laborers afford their wares. The result? Companies are churning out a lot more plastic packaging in poor Asian nations - and much of it winds up in the ocean.

Though corporations aren't "making plastic with the intent of it ending up in the ocean," Mallos says, they should be offering up their "world-class logistics, financing, project management and marketing capabilities" to help solve the problem.

Asia's garbagemen often cut corners

In countries where the law is flimsy, garbage truck drivers will often save time and fuel by simply dumping trash by the roadside. These illegal dump sites are having devastating consequences for the seas.

In the Philippines, an island nation where sanitation trucks often flout the law, research suggests that up to 90 percent of the plastic dumped illegally ends up in the ocean. In the five Asian nations profiled by Ocean Conservancy, estimates suggest this practice adds nearly 1 million metric tons of plastic trash to the seas each year.

All that garbage is having devastating effects on the seas: choking marine life to death, dramatically warping ecosystems and wreaking environmental havoc that some experts liken to the climate change crisis.
More from GlobalPost: A quick and easy guide to the Paris climate deal

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5 countries dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combined

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The planet's seas are choking on our junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean - called garbage gyres - have become vortexes where humanity's trash bobs atop the water for miles on end.

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https://kazb.org/end-littering/

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End Littering

What Happens When You Report Littering?

The Arizona Litter Hotline is a public awareness tool. When you report someone, we send a letter to the car's registered owner letting them know that someone was seen littering from their car. We remind them of the negative impact of litter, the annual cost to taxpayers of cleaning litter from highways, and the fact that littering is illegal and can result in a $500 fine if they are spotted by law enforcement. Additionally, we provide a small litterbag for their car.

The goal of the litter hotline program is to raise awareness, change behaviors, and reduce the amount of trash on our roads and highways.

We count on you to make this program a success! Thank you.

fill out the litter report

or call 1-877-3LITTER (1-877-354-8837)

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End Littering - Arizona Community Clean-up | Keep Arizona Beautiful

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End Littering The Arizona Litter Hotline is a public awareness tool. When you report someone, we send a letter to the car's registered owner letting them know that someone was seen littering from their car.

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Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

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Air pollution creates an adverse effect on the overall global environment. More the number of vehicles and industries, the more is the contamination in the environment. Sometimes people even find it difficult to breath easily in a polluted environment. Air pollution is caused in excess due to many large businesses that have their focus on making money rather than maintaining a clean, green and healthy environment. Let us check out 10 practical ways to help clean the environment.

Your role as a citizen

The smoke emitted from vehicles, industries and factories are carried to miles and ultimately generate dirty and unhealthy pollution. As a citizen, you can play the right role to control maximum pollution by following a few of easy steps that starts from your home. You can discover different ways to keep the environment clean, green and healthy. Read on to find out what you can do from your end to reduce pollution.

1. Reduce the usage of your electrical appliances

This serves as the best means to conserve the energy. You can buy appliances that are not only environment friendly but energy efficient too. One of the best ways to conserve electricity is by switching off all the lights and appliances when not in use. You can wash your clothes in a washing machine using both warm and cold water instead of using hot water. Dr Prem Jagyasi advises using solar power for heating water instead of an electrical appliance.

2. Drive your car lessto reduce the problems of parking spaces

You can drive your car less and acquire other means of transportation instead. Many countries recommend repairing of leaking air condition of your car, which adversely destroys the upper layer of ozone atmosphere. You must also be careful while filling your car with gas and see that it doesn't spills off the tank. You can also use motor oil that is energy-efficient. Over the years, the number of vehicles on the roads have increased. Due to this, it has also become difficult to find parking spaces. Foldable bicycles and scooters such as Roboscooter will reduce your carbon footprint and parking space issues.

3. Reduce the usage of your wooden stove

Wood stove tend to generate excess smoke into the air which is harmful for the health of your entire family. Instead you can cook food on energy efficient appliances that promises low cost and quick cooking too.

4. Maintain a healthy ecosystem

It is the need of an ecosystem to have good interaction with green plants, organisms and animals in a healthy environment. These three helps to keep the entire ecosystem healthy and alive for many years together. It is due to excessive air pollution and global warming that the entire ecosystem is negatively affected today. With a little change in your daily lifestyle, you can definitely help to protect the entire planet with its ecosystem is a healthier way.

5. Reduce usage of chemicals and pesticides

It is always advisable to eliminate maximum household chemicals and pesticides that directly pollute the green environment. Instead you can make your own solutions for cleaning purpose using distilled vinegar, lemon and baking soda. There are many 'green' cleaning products available in the market which is environmentally friendly and conventional cleaners too. You can find out the practical ways to help clean the environment by choosing better alternates than using chemicals and pesticides.

6. Recycle the waste products

Many waste products like glass, plastics, aluminum and paper can be recycled instead of been disposed off in the dustbin. This will prevent any air pollution accumulated on burning these products. You can also use reusable towels and reusable bags rather than using disposable plastics or bags. There are many practical ways to help clean the environment on how you can recycle different materials.

7. Reduce carbon footprints and cut down air pollution

There are many ways to cut back carbon footprints causing excess air pollution. You can lower the temperature of your water heater, wash dishes manually instead of using a dishwasher, reduce the use of air conditioner or heater and buy energy efficient lights to lower the energy consumption and heat generation level. You can also utilize solar lights around your home.

8. Grow your food locally

Planting of the food locally helps in reducing the overall commercial transportation of food items. This is because it reduces the requirement of pesticides and preservatives to preserve them. These preservatives directly pollute the air. It is also a proven facts that organic food is more sustainable, unlike the food items that are preserved. This is because it reduces the need of using harmful pesticides and chemicals. It helps to reduce the harm caused to the entire global ecosystem.

9. Practical ways to help clean the environment by reducing contaminants

It is always a better option to reduce the usage of contaminants and toxic materials at home. A healthy environment begins from your home. You must also take care to dispose off all the waste material in a proper way rather can simply disposing them off in the bins. This will also help to prevent water contamination.

Try not to throw away trash or waste materials almost anywhere in and around your house. You must try to dispose off biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable wastes in a proper way and avoid littering it all over your home environment. Any excess air or water pollution can negatively affect you and your family's health while destroying the entire environment globally.

By following these practical ways to help clean the environment; you will make a big difference to the environment. These tips will also radically change your entire family lifestyle.

Get Some Tips On How To Keep Your Private Garage Clean By Our Friends At Elite Garage Door & Gate Repair

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 most practical ways to help clean the environment - Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are different ways you can reduce the impact of pollution on the environment. On a micro level, you can start by taking small steps at home. This article provides some useful practical ways to help clean the environment and tells you how various factors that are harming the environment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Air pollution creates an adverse effect on the overall global environment. More the number of vehicles and industries, the more is the contamination in the environment. Sometimes people even find it difficult to breath easily in a polluted environment. Air pollution is caused in excess due to many large businesses that have their focus on making money rather than maintaining a clean, green and healthy environment. Let us check out 10 practical ways to help clean the environment.

Your role as a citizen

The smoke emitted from vehicles, industries and factories are carried to miles and ultimately generate dirty and unhealthy pollution. As a citizen, you can play the right role to control maximum pollution by following a few of easy steps that starts from your home. You can discover different ways to keep the environment clean, green and healthy. Read on to find out what you can do from your end to reduce pollution.

1. Reduce the usage of your electrical appliances

This serves as the best means to conserve the energy. You can buy appliances that are not only environment friendly but energy efficient too. One of the best ways to conserve electricity is by switching off all the lights and appliances when not in use. You can wash your clothes in a washing machine using both warm and cold water instead of using hot water. Dr Prem Jagyasi advises using solar power for heating water instead of an electrical appliance.

2. Drive your car lessto reduce the problems of parking spaces

You can drive your car less and acquire other means of transportation instead. Many countries recommend repairing of leaking air condition of your car, which adversely destroys the upper layer of ozone atmosphere. You must also be careful while filling your car with gas and see that it doesn't spills off the tank. You can also use motor oil that is energy-efficient. Over the years, the number of vehicles on the roads have increased. Due to this, it has also become difficult to find parking spaces. Foldable bicycles and scooters such as Roboscooter will reduce your carbon footprint and parking space issues.

3. Reduce the usage of your wooden stove

Wood stove tend to generate excess smoke into the air which is harmful for the health of your entire family. Instead you can cook food on energy efficient appliances that promises low cost and quick cooking too.

4. Maintain a healthy ecosystem

It is the need of an ecosystem to have good interaction with green plants, organisms and animals in a healthy environment. These three helps to keep the entire ecosystem healthy and alive for many years together. It is due to excessive air pollution and global warming that the entire ecosystem is negatively affected today. With a little change in your daily lifestyle, you can definitely help to protect the entire planet with its ecosystem is a healthier way.

5. Reduce usage of chemicals and pesticides

It is always advisable to eliminate maximum household chemicals and pesticides that directly pollute the green environment. Instead you can make your own solutions for cleaning purpose using distilled vinegar, lemon and baking soda. There are many 'green' cleaning products available in the market which is environmentally friendly and conventional cleaners too. You can find out the practical ways to help clean the environment by choosing better alternates than using chemicals and pesticides.

6. Recycle the waste products

Many waste products like glass, plastics, aluminum and paper can be recycled instead of been disposed off in the dustbin. This will prevent any air pollution accumulated on burning these products. You can also use reusable towels and reusable bags rather than using disposable plastics or bags. There are many practical ways to help clean the environment on how you can recycle different materials.

7. Reduce carbon footprints and cut down air pollution

There are many ways to cut back carbon footprints causing excess air pollution. You can lower the temperature of your water heater, wash dishes manually instead of using a dishwasher, reduce the use of air conditioner or heater and buy energy efficient lights to lower the energy consumption and heat generation level. You can also utilize solar lights around your home.

8. Grow your food locally

Planting of the food locally helps in reducing the overall commercial transportation of food items. This is because it reduces the requirement of pesticides and preservatives to preserve them. These preservatives directly pollute the air. It is also a proven facts that organic food is more sustainable, unlike the food items that are preserved. This is because it reduces the need of using harmful pesticides and chemicals. It helps to reduce the harm caused to the entire global ecosystem.

9. Practical ways to help clean the environment by reducing contaminants

It is always a better option to reduce the usage of contaminants and toxic materials at home. A healthy environment begins from your home. You must also take care to dispose off all the waste material in a proper way rather can simply disposing them off in the bins. This will also help to prevent water contamination.

Try not to throw away trash or waste materials almost anywhere in and around your house. You must try to dispose off biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable wastes in a proper way and avoid littering it all over your home environment. Any excess air or water pollution can negatively affect you and your family's health while destroying the entire environment globally.

By following these practical ways to help clean the environment; you will make a big difference to the environment. These tips will also radically change your entire family lifestyle.

Get Some Tips On How To Keep Your Private Garage Clean By Our Friends At Elite Garage Door & Gate Repair

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 most practical ways to help clean the environment - Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are different ways you can reduce the impact of pollution on the environment. On a micro level, you can start by taking small steps at home. This article provides some useful practical ways to help clean the environment and tells you how various factors that are harming the environment.

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light poullionhttps://www.techdump.org/importance-of-cell-phonrecycling/

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CCD astrophotography made simple: see what you've been missing by beating light pollution and seeing the universe from your own back yard.

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https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/04/want-solar-panels-on-your-roof-heres-what-you-need-to-know/476805/

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Elena Elisseeva / Shutterstock.com

The newness of mainstream consumer solar power poses a challenge. If you want to buy a car, for instance, there are plenty of people who've done it and can tell you how the process works. Putting solar panels on your roof costs as much as a car, but the cohort of experienced buyers is far, far smaller. The number of customers who have owned a solar system through its full lifecycle is even more limited.

Besides that, the stakes are high-this is going on your roof, after all. "This is a big one. This is one where you can't say, 'well, if I make a mistake, the next time I'll know better,'" says Jane Weissman, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council, which just released a consumer checklist and other resources for rooftop solar.

The cost of solar keeps on falling and the number of installations keeps rising, so CityLab decided to chat with some solar experts to walk readers through the most important questions to consider before making the jump to solar energy.

1. Do you have a roof that can support solar panels?

This is pretty key. If your roof is covered in shade most of the day throughout the year, it might not have a favorable enough "solar window" to justify the costs of panels. That's something you'll want to assess before you move forward. If your roof won't cut it, or you can't make the call because you rent your apartment or live in a multi-unit building,you don't have to give up on solar power altogether. Instead of installing your own panels, look into shared or community solar. This approach lets many different customers buy a stake in a solar installation and receive credits on their electricity bills.

If you do have a suitably sunlit rooftop to work with, Weissman says, make sure it's in good shape structurally. Solar installations these days can come with warranties for 20 or 25 years. If your roof will need a renovation a few years down the road, it'll be easier to take care of that before the array goes up. That way, you won't have to pay in extra time and money to disconnect your panels during the roof renovation and put them up again afterwards. While you're at it, make sure you won't run afoul of any homeowners' association covenants that ban rooftop solar for aesthetic reasons.

Lastly, envision the future of your yard. If the roof is unobstructed now but you've just planted a battalion of leafy oaks around your property, you might run in to trouble a few years down the road. Be prepared to prune your foliage to keep the panels clear.

2. Have you done everything you can to improve efficiency?

The amount of solar energy you need to produce depends on how much you use, so it makes sense to trim your usage as much as possible before paying for all those panels. Start with an energy audit and look for efficiency upgrades before you draw up blueprints.

3. Which kind of solar makes sense?

The two dominant solar technologies to pick from are photovoltaic, which uses arrays of cells to turn sunlight into electricity, and thermal, which uses sunlight to heat water or air for use inside. If your home uses a lot of energy for heating, or you live somewhere where heating fuel is expensive relative to electricity, a solar thermal investment could break evensooner, says the engineer Timothy Wilhelm, who coordinates the electrical technology program and teaches solar installationat Kankakee Community College in Illinois. But, he adds, solar thermal is rarer for homes, so it might be harder to find a qualified installer.

The best way to follow issues you care about.

4. How do you connect to the grid?

The details vary depending on where you live, but the principle is that any time you're connecting with a utility, there are a lot of logistics to sort out. Do you have to pay a fee? How long does it take for the utility to get you hooked up? Once you are connected, how and when will you be credited for the electricity you generate?

That last one refers to net-metering, the practice by which utilities reimburse rooftop solar at the same rate as they charge users for electricity. This is politically fraught territory: some states, like Nevada, have adopted policies where utilities pay less for surplus solar, which makes it harder to recoup the cost of the installation. For a handy guide to where each state stands on this, check out this solar scorecard.

5. Is your installer trustworthy?

This applies any time you hire someone to come into your home, but solar combines the logistics of a home improvement project with the risks of electrical work. Credentials and references are especially important. "You wouldn't hire an electrician who had never done electrical work to come into your house and change things around, " says Kelly Larson, an electrical contractor in California with 20 years of experience doing solar installations. In particular, look for accreditation from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP). And this is a big expense, so don't be afraid to get a few different quotes before you ink a contract.

This is harder to predict, but, ideally, you want a company that will stick around for the lifetime of your installation. Sincesolar cells don't have moving pieces, they tend to need very little maintenance, Larson says.Still, in the event that anything does stop working during the warranty period, you don't want to realize that your installer isn't around to fix it.

6. Lease or buy?

Every household will need to run its own cost-benefit analysis on this basic trade-off. Buying your own system costs more up front but pays bigger dividends; leasing lets you access cheaper electricity with little or no money down, but the benefits are more limited. If you lease, the company you contract with owns the system, and you pay them a certain rate for the electricity; when the lease is up, they might take the system away. When you own the system, it can keep working for you long after it pays off the cost of the purchase. Make sure you compare the total lifecycle cost of the lease and weigh the savings against the benefits you would get from ownership.

In your financial analysis, keep in mind that the panels can function for decades, Wilhelm says, but other electronic equipment in the system, like the power inverter, has a shorter lifespan. Don't forget to factor in replacements for those other system components when budgeting the cost of the project.

7. What should you see in your contract?

The contract you sign should spell out all the details of financing, ownership, and performance expectations. Also, because these systems can include web-enabled devices, you should check if anyone is collecting data on your home energy production and usage and who has access to it.

That's a lot of details to keep in mind. IREC collected some additional resources that dive into greater detail. When in doubt, don't go it alone, Weissman says: "If you're not getting the answers that you need, then it's probably best to seek some legal advice."
Top Image: Elena Elisseeva / Shutterstock.com

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7 Things to Know Before Installing Solar Panels on Your Roof

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The newness of mainstream consumer solar power poses a challenge. If you want to buy a car, for instance, there are plenty of people who've done it and can tell you how the process works. Putting solar panels on your roof costs as much as a car, but the cohort of experienced buyers is far, far smaller.

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https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/water_pollution.php

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Kids learn about water pollution and how it effects the environment and health. Study causes, pollutants, sources, and facts including acid rain.

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https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-tons-of-plastic-trash-in-oceans-20150213-story.html

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Millions of tons of trash dumped into world’s oceans

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Millions of tons of plastic trash flow into the world’s oceans each year, and a new study finds that most of it comes from China and developing economies in Asia.

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https://www.phoenix.gov/publicworks/residential-recycling

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https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/learn-about-ocean-dumping#importance

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On this page:

What was dumped into the ocean before 1972?

In the past, communities around the world used the ocean for waste disposal, including the disposal of chemical and industrial wastes, radioactive wastes, trash, munitions, sewage sludge, and contaminated dredged material. Little attention was given to the negative impacts of waste disposal on the marine environment. Even less attention was focused on opportunities to recycle or reuse such materials. Wastes were frequently dumped in coastal and ocean waters based on the assumption that marine waters had an unlimited capacity to mix and disperse wastes.

Although no complete records exist of the volumes and types of materials disposed in ocean waters in the United States prior to 1972, several reports indicate a vast magnitude of historic ocean dumping:

In 1968, the National Academy of Sciences estimated annual volumes of ocean dumping by vessel or pipes:

100 million tons of petroleum products;

two to four million tons of acid chemical wastes from pulp mills;

more than one million tons of heavy metals in industrial wastes; and

more than 100,000 tons of organic chemical wastes.

A 1970 Report to the President from the Council on Environmental Quality on ocean dumping described that in 1968 the following were dumped in the ocean in the United States:

38 million tons of dredged material (34 percent of which was polluted),

4.5 million tons of industrial wastes,

4.5 million tons of sewage sludge (significantly contaminated with heavy metals), and

0.5 million tons of construction and demolition debris.

EPA records indicate that more than 55,000 containers of radioactive wastes were dumped at three ocean sites in the Pacific Ocean between 1946 and 1970. Almost 34,000 containers of radioactive wastes were dumped at three ocean sites off the East Coast of the United States from 1951 to 1962.

Following decades of uncontrolled dumping, some areas of the ocean became demonstrably contaminated with high concentrations of harmful pollutants including heavy metals, inorganic nutrients, and chlorinated petrochemicals. The uncontrolled ocean dumping caused severe depletion of oxygen levels in some ocean waters. In the New York Bight (ocean waters off the mouth of the Hudson River), where New York City dumped sewage sludge and other materials, oxygen concentrations in waters near the seafloor declined significantly between 1949 and 1969.

What is the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act?

In October 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), sometimes referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act, declaring that it is the policy of the United States to regulate the dumping of all materials which would adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems or economic potentialities.

The MPRSA implements the requirements of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter of 1972, known as the London Convention. The London Convention is one of the first international agreements for the protection of the marine environment from human activities.

Title I of the MPRSA contains the permitting and enforcement provisions for regulating ocean dumping.

Title II of the MPRSA authorizes marine research.

(23 pp, 232 K, The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (PDF) About PDF)

How does EPA implement the MPRSA?

Under the MPRSA, EPA is responsible for establishing criteria for reviewing and evaluating permit applications. EPA is responsible for issuing ocean dumping permits for materials other than dredged material. In the case of dredged material, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for issuing ocean dumping permits, using EPA's environmental criteria. Permits for ocean dumping of dredged material are subject to EPA review and written concurrence. EPA is also responsible for designating and managing ocean disposal sites for all types of materials.

EPA and USACE together develop site management and monitoring plans (SMMPs) for each designated ocean dredged material disposal site. EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program, often in coordination with USACE, conducts oceanographic surveys at these ocean disposal sites to evaluate environmental conditions at the site and to determine what management actions may be needed.

EPA's ocean dumping regulations are published at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 220-229 Exit, and include the criteria and procedures for ocean dumping permits and for the designation and management of ocean disposal sites under the MPRSA. In addition, USACE has published regulations under various provisions of 33 CFR 320, 322, 324, 325, 329, 331, and 335-337.

Why is regulating ocean dumping important? How does EPA help protect the ocean?

Unregulated disposal of wastes and other materials into the ocean degrades marine and natural resources and poses human health risks. For over 45 years, EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program has stopped many harmful materials from being ocean dumped, worked to limit ocean dumping generally, and worked to prevent adverse impacts to human health, the marine environment, and other legitimate uses of the ocean (e.g., navigation, fishing) from pollution caused by ocean dumping. Learn more about how EPA protects the oceans from dumping in the United States on the Protecting Our Oceans from Pollution Web page.

Besides EPA, what are other federal agencies' roles with respect to ocean dumping?

Four federal agencies have responsibilities under the MPRSA: EPA, USACE, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

EPA has primary authority for regulating ocean disposal of all materials except dredged materials.

USACE and EPA share responsibility for the regulation of dredged material disposal in ocean.

USCG maintains surveillance of ocean dumping.

Under Title II of the MPRSA, NOAA is responsible for some long-range research on the effects of human-induced changes to the marine environment.

In addition, EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program coordinates with partners at the international, federal, state and local levels, and through interagency groups, including National and Regional Dredging Teams, on ocean dumping, dredged material management, pollution prevention and marine protection activities.

What materials are dumped into the ocean today?

Today, the vast majority of material disposed in the ocean is uncontaminated sediment (dredged material) removed from our nation's waterways to support a network of coastal ports and harbors for commercial, transportation, national defense and recreational purposes. Other materials disposed in the ocean include human remains for burial at sea, vessels, man-made ice piers in Antarctica, and fish wastes. To find out where vessels have been disposed along with locations of ocean disposal sites, please visit our Ocean Disposal Map.

What materials cannot be dumped in the ocean?

The MPRSA and EPA's ocean dumping regulations prohibit ocean dumping of certain materials, such as:

high-level radioactive wastes;

radiological, chemical and biological warfare agents;

persistent inert synthetic or natural materials which may float or remain in suspension in the ocean in such a manner that they may interfere materially with fishing navigation or other legitimate uses of the ocean;

materials insufficiently described to permit application of the environmental impact criteria of 40 CFR 227 subpart B;

sewage sludge;

medical wastes (isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes and potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, dialysis wastes);

industrial wastes, specifically liquid, solid, or semi-solid wastes from a manufacturing or processing plant (except on an emergency basis); and

materials containing the following constituents in greater than trace amounts (except on an emergency basis):

Organohalogen compounds.

Mercury and mercury compounds.

Cadmium and cadmium compounds.

Oil of any kind or in any form.

Known carcinogens, mutagens, or teratogens.

Can wastes be incinerated at sea?

Incineration at sea is considered to be ocean dumping because the emissions from the stack will deposit into the surrounding ocean waters. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 banned the dumping of industrial wastes, such as those previously permitted for incineration at sea. In the 1970s and 1980s, several types of liquid organic wastes, including herbicide orange and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were incinerated at sea using shipboard incinerators. These incineration at sea activities were conducted under MPRSA permits issued by EPA. In 1985, EPA proposed specific regulations to better develop and manage incineration at sea under MPRSA permits, but the regulations were never finalized and the incineration-at-sea program was discontinued in 1988.

Internationally, incineration at sea is also regulated under the London Convention and London Protocol, which are ocean dumping treaties. The United States is a Contracting Party to the London Convention. The United States has signed the London Protocol, which is intended to modernize and eventually replace the London Convention; however, the Senate has not ratified the treaty.

Under the London Convention, incineration at sea of industrial waste and sewage sludge is prohibited. The London Convention defines "incineration at sea" as the deliberate combustion of wastes and other matter on marine incineration facilities for the purpose of their thermal destruction. Combustion associated with activities incidental to the normal operation of vessels, platforms and other manmade structures is excluded from the scope of this definition. Marine incineration facility means a vessel, platform, or other manmade structure operating for the purpose of incineration at sea.

Under the London Protocol, incineration at sea and the export of wastes and other materials for incineration at sea is prohibited. The London Protocol defines "incineration at sea" as the combustion on board a vessel, platform or other man-made structure at sea of wastes or other matter for the purpose of their deliberate disposal by thermal destruction. The prohibited incineration at sea does not include the incineration of wastes or other matter on board a vessel, platform, or other man-made structure at sea if such wastes or other material were generated during the normal operation of that vessel, platform, or other manmade structure at sea.

How have ocean protections improved since enactment of the 1972 MPRSA?

The passage of the MPRSA in 1972 marked a major milestone in the protection of the marine environment. Today, the United States is at the forefront of protecting coastal and ocean waters from adverse impacts due to ocean dumping. The ocean is no longer considered an appropriate disposal location for most wastes. Ocean dumping of certain harmful wastes is banned.

The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 amended the MPRSA and now prohibits the ocean dumping of municipal sewage sludge and industrial wastes, such as wastes from plastics and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and from petrochemical refineries.

The 1998 amendment also banned the ocean disposal of "medical waste."

Other ocean dumping practices, such as wood burning at sea and the disposal of construction and demolition debris, have stopped as a matter of environmentally sound practice.

Those few materials that are ocean dumped are carefully evaluated to ensure that they will not pose a danger to human health or the environment and that there are no better alternatives for their reuse or disposal. The Water Resources Development Act of 1992 amended the MPRSA and now requires that ocean dumping permits, including for ocean disposal of dredged material, conform to long-term management plans to ensure that permitted activities are consistent with expected uses of designated ocean disposal sites. While many challenges remain to protecting and managing our coastal and ocean resources, including historic contamination and continuous degradation from land-based sources, we can be proud of the great strides we have made under the MPRSA.

To learn more, please visit our Ocean Dumping Timeline.

Where can I learn more about EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program?

To learn more about the EPA's Ocean Dumping Management Program, including MPRSA (ocean dumping) permits, ocean disposal sites and international connections, please return to our Ocean Dumping home page.

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On this page: In the past, communities around the world used the ocean for waste disposal, including the disposal of chemical and industrial wastes, radioactive wastes, trash, munitions, sewage sludge, and contaminated dredged material. Little attention was given to the negative impacts of waste disposal on the marine environment.

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https://www.techdump.org/importance-of-cell-phonrecyclinge-/

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Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. As of 2011, the technology produced less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand.

Many are familiar with so-called photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and handheld calculators. The cells are made of semiconductor materials like those found in computer chips. When sunlight hits the cells, it knocks electrons loose from their atoms. As the electrons flow through the cell, they generate electricity.

On a much larger scale, solar-thermal power plants employ various techniques to concentrate the sun's energy as a heat source. The heat is then used to boil water to drive a steam turbine that generates electricity in much the same fashion as coal and nuclear power plants, supplying electricity for thousands of people.

How to Harness Solar Power

In one technique, long troughs of U-shaped mirrors focus sunlight on a pipe of oil that runs through the middle. The hot oil then boils water for electricity generation. Another technique uses moveable mirrors to focus the sun's rays on a collector tower, where a receiver sits. Molten salt flowing through the receiver is heated to run a generator.

Other solar technologies are passive. For example, big windows placed on the sunny side of a building allow sunlight to heat-absorbent materials on the floor and walls. These surfaces then release the heat at night to keep the building warm. Similarly, absorbent plates on a roof can heat liquid in tubes that supply a house with hot water.

Solar energy is lauded as an inexhaustible fuel source that is pollution- and often noise-free. The technology is also versatile. For example, solar cells generate energy for far-out places like satellites in Earth orbit and cabins deep in the Rocky Mountains as easily as they can power downtown buildings and futuristic cars.

Pitfalls

Solar energy doesn't work at night without a storage device such as a battery, and cloudy weather can make the technology unreliable during the day. Solar technologies are also very expensive and require a lot of land area to collect the sun's energy at rates useful to lots of people.

Despite the drawbacks, solar energy use has surged at about 20 percent a year over the past 15 years, thanks to rapidly falling prices and gains in efficiency. Japan, Germany, and the United States are major markets for solar cells. With tax incentives, and efficient coordination with energy companies, solar electricity can often pay for itself in five to ten years.

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Solar Power Has Benefits as a Source of Alternative Energy

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Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. As of 2011, the technology produced less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand. Many are familiar with so-called photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and handheld calculators.

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ps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/02/switch-smartphones-computers-bedtime-limit-pollution-risks-says/

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Recycling is important in today's world if we want to leave this planet for our future generations. It is good for the environment since we are making new products from the old products which are of no use to us. Recycling begins at home. If you are not throwing away any of your old products and instead utilizing it for something new, then you are actually recycling.

When you think of recycling, you should really think about the whole idea; reduce, reuse and recycle. We've been careless up to this point with the way we've treated the Earth, and it's time to change, not just the way we do things but the way we think.

Recycling, packaging, businesses are changing all of those things because that's what consumers want

~ Jerry Greenfield, Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), defines recycling as,

"Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your community and the environment."

We Should Recycle Because Recycling:

Helps in keeping the environment clean

Reduces the amount of waste produced

Helps in the conservation of many non-renewable resources

Saves energy and thus helps in avoiding energy crisis

Prevents landfills and incinerators from getting extremely overloaded

Saves and protects the economy of a household

Helps in creating new job opportunities

Restrains the hunt for raw materials

Recycling is good for the environment; in a sense, we are using old and waste products that are of no use and then converting them back to the same new products. Since we are saving resources and are sending less trash to the landfills, it helps in reducing air and water pollution.

With each passing day, the population is increasing. With that, the quantity of waste so produced is also increasing manifolds. The more the waste production, the more is the amount of space required to dump these wastes. Now, it must be remembered that the space available on earth is very limited, and it is obviously up to us to use it judiciously.

The ever-growing population needs space to live and also to grow what they eat by means of agriculture. If all this space were to be taken up by dumpsters and landfills, the survival of humankind on this planet would be really difficult. Recycling solves this problem because, with recycling, a lesser amount of wastes is dumped, and some valuable space is saved.

In recent years, incinerators are being used extensively to reduce the amount of waste produced. Incinerators burn the wastes that it takes up lesser space when being disposed of. But what are these incinerators powered with? Also referred to as the thermal treatment of wastes, incinerators use up our precious, non-renewable fossil fuels to burn wastes into ashes.

We are producing and losing precious energy just for the sake of a little less space used up by waste. Not only that, but we are also causing severe air pollution as well.

Energy saving is important if we are to reduce the future effects of global warming. If we recycle one aluminum can, we can save enough energy to run a TV for around 3 hours. This will obviously depend on the energy consumption of your TV, but it gives you a great idea as to just how much energy can be saved during the process of recycling products.

It is believed that (the U.S.) cut approximately 40 million newspapers each day, leading to the equivalent of about half a million trees ending in landfills every week. We've been careless up to this point with the way we've treated the Earth, and it's time to change, not just the way we do things but the way we think. Paper, plastic, glass, aluminum cans are examples of some products that are recycled in large quantities.
Recycling serves 2 purposes:
First, it avoids landfills and helps in reducing air and water pollution, and

Secondly, valuable materials like aluminum cans, plastic and glass are reused in other forms and not wasted.

Be mindful of what you do, pay attention to the items you buy and always check yourself to see if you really need it or if it comes in a package with less waste. We can all do our part, and we will make a huge difference.

Saving energy also helps us in preventing the looming energy crisis that threatens to harm our socio-economic conditions. It is detrimental to the growth of any country. Recycling helps in preventing all these crises. It not only saves energy and promotes the judicious use of our precious fossil fuels, but it also promotes international socio-political peace.

It is the energy crisis that regulates fuel prices. The lesser the crisis, the more viable is the price of fuel. It ensures the affordability of fuels. Thus in every possible way, recycling is the smartest choice that you could make with your wastes.

Besides all this, there are two very important things that recycling helps in. Firstly, it helps maintain the economy of a household. Secondly, recycling helps up creating new job opportunities.

Recycling means you have to buy less. For example, you have a glass bottle that you have recycled into a glass pot of some sort. The glass, which once made the bottle, now makes a pot. You could get it for no or almost negligible costs. Either way, it was much cheaper than getting a new pot. Thus, recycling manages your economy well.

The fact that recycling helps in creating new job opportunities is not a surprise at all. In order to run a recycling unit, it is necessary that there must be at least a few workers, at least one for every step of the way. This way, many people would get employed. Thus, recycling not only helps nature, but it also helps people by providing them with a viable means of livelihood.

According to the Recycling Economic Information (REI) Study, in a single year, recycling created 757,000 jobs, which account for $36.6 billion in wages. For every 1000 tons of waste recycled, 1.57 jobs are created, and $76,000 wages are made.

When you think of recycling, you should really think about the whole idea; reduce, reuse and recycle. Think about it; if you don't need it, don't get it. If you have to get it, get something that can be used again and if you get something that needs to be recycled by the professionals, put it in the recycle bin. Conservation is an important part of recycling issue. When you produce less garbage, it helps in reducing landfills and also helps in giving the land back to nature.

What We People Can Do?

There are handful number of things that you could do to save this planet.

1. Throw away all the garbage in your house that is of no use to you, or you think you can't utilize it in some other way. If you don't have these boxes, you can easily purchase a suitable container for each recyclable product (e.g., paper, plastic, and glass), and then take these down to your local recycling center.

2. Try to avoid the use of plastic bags and plastic paper as much as possible. They not only pollute the environment but also helps in filling landfills. Also, when you shop, try to look out for the products that have the least packaging. Every million dollars are spent only on the packaging of these products, which ultimately go to the garbage sites.

3. Buying recycled products could provide the recycling industry with a huge boost. Buying recycled paper or glass products not only helps in reducing the amount of waste being produced, but it also helps in promoting the recycling industry.

4. It is essential that we take some steps all by ourselves without being dependent on anybody else. We could carry the recyclable wastes all by ourselves to the nearest recycling center. Everyone needs to do their bit in making recycling a success.

About Rinkesh

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Importance of Recycling and Why Should We Recycle - Conserve Energy Future

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Recycling is important in today's world if we want to leave this planet for our future generations. It is good for the environment, since we are making new products from the old products which are of no use to us. Recycling begins at home.

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https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150109-oceans-plastic-sea-trash-science-marine-debris/

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The numbers are staggering: There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.

Scientists call these statistics the "wow factor" of ocean trash. The tallies, published last year in three separate scientific papers, are useful in red-flagging the scope of the problem for the public. But beyond the shock value, just how does adding up those rice-size fragments of plastic help solve the problem?

Although scientists have known for decades about the accumulating mass of ocean debris and its deadly consequences for seabirds, fish, and marine animals, the science of sea trash is young and full of as-yet unsolved mysteries. Almost nothing was known about the amount of plastic in remote regions of the Southern Hemisphere, for example, until last year because few had ever traveled there to collect samples. (Related: " With Millions of Tons of Plastic in Oceans, More Scientists Studying Impact.")

"The first piece is to understand where it is," says Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Indeed, until scientists learn more about where ocean trash is, how densely plastic accumulates in different ocean ecosystems, and how it degrades, they can't really calculate the damage it's causing. There are still big, basic questions: As it degrades, do plastic toxins seep into the marine environment? If so, how and in what amounts?

And though scientists know a great deal about the damage to marine life caused by large pieces of plastic, the potential harm caused by microplastics is less clear. What effect do they have on fish that consume them?

"The greater the concentration, the greater the potential risk for exposure," says Richard Thompson, a biologist at Plymouth University in England, whose study released last month identified microfibers widely disseminated throughout the deep ocean. "If we are missing a major sink where there are major concentrations of plastic, we might not be learning how harmful plastics are." (Related: " First of Its Kind Map Reveals Extent of Ocean Plastic.")

The most recent counts add significantly to the knowledge base, yet even those big numbers are a fraction of the plastic that flows into the oceans every year. Where's the rest of it? It's another mystery. (Related: " Where Has All the (Sea Trash) Plastic Gone?")

We are dealing with pieces from hundreds of meters down to microns in size," Thompson says. "It is incredibly challenging to monitor."

Ocean trash is counted in three ways: through beach surveys, computer models based on samples collected at sea, and estimates of the amount of trash entering the oceans.

The most recent counts involved computer modeling based on samples taken at sea. The models may not account for all of the trash, scientists say; nonetheless, the new numbers are helping address some of the questions.

The process of collecting and counting is meticulous, time-consuming work. It took Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit ocean advocacy group, more than four years, using samples gathered from 24 survey trips, to come up with his estimate that 5.25 trillion pieces of debris float on the surface.

In the course of his expeditions, Eriksen collected everything from plastic candy wrappers to giant balls of fish netting. One massive ball of netting, found midway across the Pacific, contained 89 different kinds of net and line, all wrapped around a tiny, two-inch-high teddy bear wearing a sorcerer's cap at the center.

He says his research has helped fill in the outlines of the life cycle of ocean plastic. It tends to collect in the world's five large gyres, which are large systems of spiraling currents. Then, as the plastic degrades into fragments, it falls into deeper water, where currents carry it to remote parts of the globe.

"These fragments are anywhere on the planet at this point," he says. "We're finding them everywhere."

Eriksen's findings agree with those of a Spanish scientist, Andres Cozar Cabañas, a researcher at the University of Cadiz, in Spain, who published the first global map of floating ocean debris last July. Their estimates are strikingly similar.

"We now have two estimates of what is floating, and they are almost identical," says Lavender Law. "They used different data sets and different methodology and came up with the same number. That gives us confidence we're in the right ballpark."

Another way of coming up with the numbers is to make crude guesses based on manufacturing statistics. Says Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia environmental engineer who is completing a worldwide calculation of garbage collected in coastal countries: "If you have 200 million tons produced every year, researchers will arbitrarily estimate that 10 percent goes into the oceans."

It's not too difficult to surmise why so much plastic ends up in the ocean. The Plastic Disclosure Project, a project run by Hong Kong-based advocacy group Ocean Recovery Alliance, estimates that 33 percent of plastic manufactured worldwide is used once, then discarded. To compound matters, 85 percent of the world's plastic is not recycled.

Despite the magnitude of the numbers, Peter Ryan, a zoologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who is writing a book tracing the evolution of marine debris research, says the problem can be solved.

"Marine debris, unlike global warming, should be an easy thing to deal with," he says. "We have to sort out what to do with our rubbish."

Ryan began tracking debris 30 years ago, after a colleague suggested he should study seabirds that were eating floating plastic pellets, then commonly used in manufacturing and found in harbors and other waterways. Improvements to shipping reduced pellet spillage.

"If you go to the beach today, you struggle to find one," he says. "We can show that in every study that looks at the North Atlantic that the amount of pellets [ingested by] seabirds has decreased over the last two decades."

But gains on that front have given way to losses in others, as microplastics have become more prevalent.

Emily Penn skippers the 72-foot, steel-hulled Sea Dragon, which carries scientists, including Eriksen and Jambeck, on sea trash sampling surveys. She expertly handles the nets trawled behind the vessel and knows what to expect. Nevertheless, she is still surprised and dismayed by the volume of trash.

"The thing that shocks me every time is the fact that the ocean looks like it is clear blue water," she says. "And then ... we pull out that sock at the end of the net and find it's full of thousands of fragments of plastic."

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Ocean Trash: 5.25 Trillion Pieces and Counting, but Big Questions Remain

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The numbers are staggering: There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea. Scientists call these statistics the "wow factor" of ocean trash.

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation

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Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They help people thrive and survive by, for example, purifying water and air and providing people with jobs; some 13.2 million people across the world have a job in the forest sector and another 41 million have a job that is related to the sector. Many animals also rely on forests. Eighty percent of the world's land-based species, such as elephants and rhinos, live in forests. Forests also play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink-soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns.

But forests around the world are under threat, jeopardizing these benefits. The threats manifest themselves in the form of deforestation and forest degradation. The main cause of deforestation is agriculture (poorly planned infrastructure is emerging as a big threat too) and the main cause of forest degradation is illegal logging. We're losing 18.7 million acres of forests annually, equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute.

Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rain forests because these forests are home to much of the world's biodiversity. For example, in the Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. Deforestation in this region is particularly rampant near more populated areas, roads and rivers, but even remote areas have been encroached upon when valuable mahogany, gold, and oil are discovered.

WWF has been working to protect forests for more than 50 years. WWF works with governments, companies, communities and other stakeholders to promote certification for responsible forest management practices, combat illegal logging, reform trade policies, protect forested areas, and more.

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Deforestation and Forest Degradation | Threats | WWF

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Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They help people thrive and survive by, for example, purifying water and air and providing people with jobs; some 13.2 million people across the world have a job in the forest sector and another 41 million have a job that is related to the sector.

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JavaScript is disabled on your browser. Please enable JavaScript to use all the features on this page.

Abstract

Aerial observations of light pollution can fill an important gap between ground based surveys and nighttime satellite data. Terrestrially bound surveys are labor intensive and are generally limited to a small spatial extent, and while existing satellite data cover the whole world, they are limited to coarse resolution. This paper describes the production of a high resolution (1 m) mosaic image of the city of Berlin, Germany at night. The dataset is spatially analyzed to identify the major sources of light pollution in the city based on urban land use data. An area-independent 'brightness factor' is introduced that allows direct comparison of the light emission from differently sized land use classes, and the percentage area with values above average brightness is calculated for each class. Using this methodology, lighting associated with streets has been found to be the dominant source of zenith directed light pollution (31.6%), although other land use classes have much higher average brightness. These results are compared with other urban light pollution quantification studies. The minimum resolution required for an analysis of this type is found to be near 10 m. Future applications of high resolution datasets such as this one could include: studies of the efficacy of light pollution mitigation measures, improved light pollution simulations, economic and energy use, the relationship between artificial light and ecological parameters (e.g. circadian rhythm, fitness, mate selection, species distributions, migration barriers and seasonal behavior), or the management of nightscapes. To encourage further scientific inquiry, the mosaic data is freely available at Pangaea: http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.785492.

Highlights

► A 391 square kilometer urban light pollution map is produced with 1 m resolution. ► Geospatial analysis of the map compares lighting to land use type. ► Lighting associated with streets accounts for 1/3 of the total zenith uplight. ► Land use types of differing areas are compared equivalently using mean brightness. ► The utility of night aerial photography for light pollution studies is demonstrated.

View full text

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Aerial survey and spatial analysis of sources of light pollution in Berlin, Germany

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JavaScript is disabled on your browser. Please enable JavaScript to use all the features on this page. Aerial observations of light pollution can fill an important gap between ground based surveys and nighttime satellite data. Terrestrially bound surveys are labor intensive and are generally limited to a small spatial extent, and while existing satellite data cover the whole world, they are limited to coarse resolution.

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light and iphone

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https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/learn-about-ocean-dumping

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https://greendiary.com/10-practical-ways-clean-environment.htmlhttps://greendiary.com/10-practical-ways-clean-environment.html

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Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

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Air pollution creates an adverse effect on the overall global environment. More the number of vehicles and industries, the more is the contamination in the environment. Sometimes people even find it difficult to breath easily in a polluted environment. Air pollution is caused in excess due to many large businesses that have their focus on making money rather than maintaining a clean, green and healthy environment. Let us check out 10 practical ways to help clean the environment.

Your role as a citizen

The smoke emitted from vehicles, industries and factories are carried to miles and ultimately generate dirty and unhealthy pollution. As a citizen, you can play the right role to control maximum pollution by following a few of easy steps that starts from your home. You can discover different ways to keep the environment clean, green and healthy. Read on to find out what you can do from your end to reduce pollution.

1. Reduce the usage of your electrical appliances

This serves as the best means to conserve the energy. You can buy appliances that are not only environment friendly but energy efficient too. One of the best ways to conserve electricity is by switching off all the lights and appliances when not in use. You can wash your clothes in a washing machine using both warm and cold water instead of using hot water. Dr Prem Jagyasi advises using solar power for heating water instead of an electrical appliance.

2. Drive your car lessto reduce the problems of parking spaces

You can drive your car less and acquire other means of transportation instead. Many countries recommend repairing of leaking air condition of your car, which adversely destroys the upper layer of ozone atmosphere. You must also be careful while filling your car with gas and see that it doesn't spills off the tank. You can also use motor oil that is energy-efficient. Over the years, the number of vehicles on the roads have increased. Due to this, it has also become difficult to find parking spaces. Foldable bicycles and scooters such as Roboscooter will reduce your carbon footprint and parking space issues.

3. Reduce the usage of your wooden stove

Wood stove tend to generate excess smoke into the air which is harmful for the health of your entire family. Instead you can cook food on energy efficient appliances that promises low cost and quick cooking too.

4. Maintain a healthy ecosystem

It is the need of an ecosystem to have good interaction with green plants, organisms and animals in a healthy environment. These three helps to keep the entire ecosystem healthy and alive for many years together. It is due to excessive air pollution and global warming that the entire ecosystem is negatively affected today. With a little change in your daily lifestyle, you can definitely help to protect the entire planet with its ecosystem is a healthier way.

5. Reduce usage of chemicals and pesticides

It is always advisable to eliminate maximum household chemicals and pesticides that directly pollute the green environment. Instead you can make your own solutions for cleaning purpose using distilled vinegar, lemon and baking soda. There are many 'green' cleaning products available in the market which is environmentally friendly and conventional cleaners too. You can find out the practical ways to help clean the environment by choosing better alternates than using chemicals and pesticides.

6. Recycle the waste products

Many waste products like glass, plastics, aluminum and paper can be recycled instead of been disposed off in the dustbin. This will prevent any air pollution accumulated on burning these products. You can also use reusable towels and reusable bags rather than using disposable plastics or bags. There are many practical ways to help clean the environment on how you can recycle different materials.

7. Reduce carbon footprints and cut down air pollution

There are many ways to cut back carbon footprints causing excess air pollution. You can lower the temperature of your water heater, wash dishes manually instead of using a dishwasher, reduce the use of air conditioner or heater and buy energy efficient lights to lower the energy consumption and heat generation level. You can also utilize solar lights around your home.

8. Grow your food locally

Planting of the food locally helps in reducing the overall commercial transportation of food items. This is because it reduces the requirement of pesticides and preservatives to preserve them. These preservatives directly pollute the air. It is also a proven facts that organic food is more sustainable, unlike the food items that are preserved. This is because it reduces the need of using harmful pesticides and chemicals. It helps to reduce the harm caused to the entire global ecosystem.

9. Practical ways to help clean the environment by reducing contaminants

It is always a better option to reduce the usage of contaminants and toxic materials at home. A healthy environment begins from your home. You must also take care to dispose off all the waste material in a proper way rather can simply disposing them off in the bins. This will also help to prevent water contamination.

Try not to throw away trash or waste materials almost anywhere in and around your house. You must try to dispose off biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable wastes in a proper way and avoid littering it all over your home environment. Any excess air or water pollution can negatively affect you and your family's health while destroying the entire environment globally.

By following these practical ways to help clean the environment; you will make a big difference to the environment. These tips will also radically change your entire family lifestyle.

Get Some Tips On How To Keep Your Private Garage Clean By Our Friends At Elite Garage Door & Gate Repair

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10 most practical ways to help clean the environment - Green Diary - Green Revolution Guide by Dr Prem

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There are different ways you can reduce the impact of pollution on the environment. On a micro level, you can start by taking small steps at home. This article provides some useful practical ways to help clean the environment and tells you how various factors that are harming the environment.

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https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/211790/how-can-i-fix-pollution

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My city has developed a bit of a ground pollution and a water pollution problem. In other similar games, you can mitigate the effects of pollution by planting trees, among other things. What can ...

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter

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Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The word litter can also be used as a verb: to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles on the ground, and leave them there indefinitely or for other people to dispose of as opposed to disposing of them correctly.

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https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6817/What-is-Litter?bidId=

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https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2017/03/27/smartphone-pollution-how-sustainable-is-the-mobile-phone-industry/

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The smartphone and tablet market is a multi-billion dollar business in which companies compete hard to win customers. That's good for the consumer but what's often overlooked is the environmental cost.

"With their short-lived devices and unnecessarily fast product cycles, the manufacturers are causing massive environmental damage and catastrophic working conditions," Manfred Santen, an electronics expert with Greenpeace, said at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Market researchers estimate that since the introduction of the first iPhone ten years ago, more than seven billion smartphones have been produced and many of them have since ended up in the dump.

Santen appealed to Samsung, Apple, Huawei and the other manufacturers to build products that can be repaired more easily and which have internal modules that are easier to change. "Every repaired smartphone saves resources," he said.

What makes smartphone production so problematic, environmentally-speaking? One reason is that they require precious metals and so-called rare earths which are processed using harmful chemicals.

In addition, the hunt for ever-increasing amounts of raw materials causes massive damage and may lead to some resources being exhausted.

On top of that comes the massive energy expenditure. According to Greenpeace, over the past ten years smartphone production has used up 968 terawatt hours of electricity worldwide, matching the annual energy supply of India.

"In the face of this, you should really think about whether you need a contract that gives you a new mobile phone every year," Santen said.

Some companies such as Puzzlephone or Fairphone follow a more sustainable strategy.

"In the Congo people are risking their lives in mines to get minerals so that users can constantly get newer and thinner smartphones," said Fairphone founder Bas van Abel. "We asked ourselves: How can you make a smartphone with which you can change something?"

The Dutch company produces devices with interchangeable modules that are easy to repair. To date it has sold more than 125,000 phones.

"The greatest environmental impact comes from the production phase of the telephone, especially the production of printed circuit boards and semiconductors," said Karsten Schischke from the Fraunhofer Society in Germany. "The battery, the display and the back cover, on the other hand, have a smaller impact."

Experts believe that if the life of a phone were increased to five years, then the impact on global warming could be reduced by 30% thanks to the carbon dioxide saved. In reality, devices have a much shorter service life and that's down to trend-chasing consumers as much as it is to the manufacturers.

Another problem is recycling. "Companies should be obliged to take back and recycle damaged smartphones unconditionally," said Greenpeace's Santen.

The amount of electronic waste is enormous. According to the University of the United Nations, the quantity of electronic waste per person in the US in 2014 was 22.1kgs. At the same time, the design of devices with patented screws and glued-in batteries can make recycling difficult.

Santen sees some hopes for improvement. Apple, for example, has made significant progress in environmental protection over the last few years.

But then on the other hand there's Samsung which has had to recall millions of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones because of a fire hazard. "A convincing plan for their disposal or recycling has still not been presented," Santen said. - dpa

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Smartphone pollution: How sustainable is the mobile phone industry? - Tech News | The Star Online

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The smartphone and tablet market is a multi-billion dollar business in which companies compete hard to win customers. That's good for the consumer but what's often overlooked is the environmental cost. "With their short-lived devices and unnecessarily fast product cycles, the manufacturers are causing massive environmental damage and catastrophic working conditions," Manfred Santen, an electronics expert with Greenpeace, said at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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It never leaves your side. Your whole life is contained in its circuits. You researched its purchase more thoroughly than anything you've bought apart from your house or car. But how much do you actually know about your smartphone?

From graphite in the battery to the silicon of the processor, there are dozens of of metals, minerals and compounds inside every phone.

Some of them are only present in tiny quantities (for example, the very thin layer of indium tin oxide that makes your screen work as a touchscreen) but all of them have to be extracted from the Earth before being assembled into your handset.

The mining and manufacturing processes have very real environmental consequences. As our appetite for new mobiles grows, so too does the impact on the world and its occupants.

And these are finite resources, meaning that the more we want, the less we have. So what exactly goes into a smartphone, and how do we get it? How much of it is left, and what happens when we run out?

What goes into your smartphone

Building up a definitive list of every material inside your smartphone is difficult due to tightly protected trade secrets and variations between makes, models and manufacturers, but it's possible to build up a general picture.

Overall, a smartphone handset consists of around 40% metals (predominantly copper, gold, platinum, silver and tungsten), 40% plastics and 20% ceramics and trace materials.

According to the Minerals Education Coalition, a baby born in the US today will use up 539 lbs of zinc, 903 lbs of lead and 985 lbs of copper during his or her lifetime, not just in phones but in other gadgets and appliances too. In terms of environmental drain from every smartphone that's made, you can add the oil used to produce plastics, the sand used to produce glass, and so on.

Of the 83 stable and non-radioactive elements in the periodic table, at least 70 can be found in smartphones. According to the best available figures, a total of 62 different types of metals go into the average mobile handset, with what are known as the rare Earth metals playing a particularly important role. Of the 17 rare Earth metals, 16 are included in phones.

Neodymium, terbium and dysprosium, for example, are three of the rare Earth metals: they give your phone the power to vibrate, so smartphones could be made without them - but you'd have to rely on your ringtone. Terbium and dysprosium are also used in tiny quantities in touchscreens to produce the colours of a phone display.

In this case, "rare" doesn't necessarily mean in short supply, but they aren't plentiful either - they're spread out in small reserves in many different places on the planet, and extracting them can be tricky and time-consuming. And once they've been extracted, that's it: we only have a finite amount of them, and there are no adequate replacements.

In 2013, academics at Yale University looked at the 62 metals and metalloids inside smartphones, and rated their possible replacements: not a single replacement was "just as good" and 12 had pretty much no effective replacement at all.

"We all like our gadgets; we all like our smartphones," said study co-author Barbara Reck at the time. "But in 20 or 30 years, will we still have access to all the elements necessary to provide the particular functions that make a smartphone so great? Based on our findings, it is unlikely that substitution alone can solve potential supply restrictions for any of the metals on the periodic table."

Smartphone production as we know it isn't about to grind to a halt for a few decades yet, but the Yale findings are a shot across the bows of the industry.

Improvements are needed in opening up new resources, recycling existing materials and researching alternatives if we're to avoid a return to low-tech handsets without the features we've come to rely on.

Dysprosium reserves, for example, might last as long as 2050 - but it's also possible that they'll run out by 2020. And if they do, then the 2019 iPhone might have to last you longer than you think.

A whole host of factors need to be taken into account when making these predictions - prices, demand, mining technologies, new reserves - but some of the estimates are alarming: we could be low on copper by 2050 and low on gold even earlier.

"One can anticipate increased pressure on metal supplies over the next few decades," says Professor Thomas Graedel of Yale, one of the academics looking closely at metal production and future approaches to the way we use it as a society. "Criticality constraints are thus multifaceted, and evolving."

In other words, supplies of smartphone materials depend not only on how much of the stuff is buried in the Earth, but also on how great the demand for it is and the technology available to extract it - and those factors are changing constantly.

That's why you can read about a metal being in short supply one year and abundantly available the next. As Graedel puts it: "Corporations, national governments, and resource sustainability experts have different goals, different perspectives, and different time scales."

This means no one has a definitive answer on how long our reserves of these materials are going to last - but most agree we need to be doing something about it.

Mining processes and their impact

Some metals, like iron and aluminium, are available in such large quantities that there's no squeeze on their availability. For others, the problem is potentially more acute - copper is among the three most-used metals in the world, essential for smartphones, desktop computers, industrial machinery, green energy initiatives and much more.

Unfortunately, copper isn't being discovered fast enough to keep up with demand. The lead time for a new copper mine stands at around 20 years due to the difficulty of exploring new sites, fluctuations in the price (and therefore commercial viability) of mining the metal, various regulatory restrictions from local governments, and several other factors.

The quality of copper extracted from some of the major mines in the world is falling off rapidly, and it may be some time before the price rises high enough for other mines to be commercially viable - for the last year the copper price has been fairly flat as it bubbles under the $3 per pound mark, but experts estimate it needs to get up to $3.50 before there's enough financial incentive to create new mines (and it's difficult to predict when this will be).

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Our smartphone addiction is costing the Earth

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It never leaves your side. Your whole life is contained in its circuits. You researched its purchase more thoroughly than anything you've bought apart from your house or car. But how much do you actually know about your smartphone?