#environmental disaster

[headspace-hotel]

re: ohio chemical disaster

OP of the post I reblogged earlier regarding this turned off reblogs (understandable have a nice day) but I got a request to put the information in its own post, so here.

First thing: PLEASE be careful about claims that "The Media" is suppressing something as part of a malicious agenda, or that an event has been purposefully manufactured by "The Media" to distract from something else.

Not only is this a really common disinformation tactic (not only urging you to share/reblog quickly, but discouraging you from fact checking), treating "The Media" as a monolithic entity with purposeful agency and a specific, malicious agenda—particularly one that manufactures events to "distract" from other events—is a red flag for conspiracy theories.

There's already a post in the tag attributing the supposed lack of media coverage to "reptilians." Please connect the dots here.

Second—"the news isn't focusing on this as much as I think they should" is not a media blackout. Every major USA news source is reporting on the Ohio train derailment. Googling returns at least 4 pages of results from major news media sources. Even just googling "Ohio" gets you plenty of results about it.

This is an unusual amount of media attention for a U.S. environmental disaster.

Because this kind of thing happens all the damn time.

The "media blackout" narrative gives the impression that this is an unusual event that isn't receiving wall to wall coverage only because it's being suppressed—when the reality is that similar disasters happen a lot, and hardly ever get the attention the Ohio disaster is getting.

Consider this example, not too far from my local area: A few years ago, almost 2,000 tons of radioactive fracking waste were illegally dumped in an Eastern Kentucky municipal landfill, directly across from a middle school. Leachate from that landfill goes into the Kentucky River, which is where most of the central part of the state gets its drinking water. As far as we know, the radioactive waste isn't leaking yet, but it could start leaking at any time.

Zero national news sources covered this. Why? If I was to hazard a guess, I would say "because it's business as usual for the fossil fuel industry."

Consider also the case of Martin County, KY, which has had foul-smelling, contaminated drinking water for decades. Former coal country in Appalachia is poisoned and toxic, and laws have little power to punish the companies that created the destruction.

What happened in Ohio is just a little window into a whole world of horrors.

The Martin County coal slurry spill that is still poisoning the water 20 years later killed literally everything in the water for miles downstream (a book Mom read said 70 miles of the Ohio river were made completely lifeless). It was 30 times larger than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, and it was in some sense "covered up"—in the sense that the Bush administration shut down the investigation because the Republicans are buddies with the fossil fuel industry, and proceeded to relax regulations even further.

Seriously, read that wiki article to get pissed enough to eat glass.

Hopefully the Ohio chemical spill will inspire real action to institute regulations to prevent shit like this from ever happening again. It's not the end of the world. It's not radically different from what industries have been causing the whole damn time. It is pretty bad.

I would urge everyone to actually search up information about it instead of getting news from Tiktok or Twitter, because the more false information gets distributed, the less momentum any effort to respond with improved regulations and changes to prevent future disasters will have. Plenty of facts here *are* public and being publicly discussed and pretending that they're not is actively detrimental.

#environmental disaster #ohio chemical disaster #ohio chemical spill

[randomcritters]

Also I'm not saying the Amazon Rainforest isn't EXTREMELY important. I'm pointing out my governments hypocrisy.

Also if the Amazon Rainforest is equivalent to the lungs of the the earth, weatlands are the kidneys! Wetlands are where tons of the fish we,along with other animals eat go to lay their eggs. Also Prairie lands have near to the amount of life diversity as the Amazon Rainforest and only 1% of Prairie lands remain in Texas today!

#come at me #environmental disaster #environment #tree huggers #bugblr #fungi #environment meme #save the environment #do something #birds

[ahb-writes]

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions (Ecological Challenges and Environmental Disasters)

Ecological Challenges and Environmental Disasters Worldbuilding Questions:

What are the unique or different ecosystems in this world (e.g., terrestrial or aquatic systems). Which are stable, and which (if any) are under pressure and why?

What was the last major environmental catastrophe (e.g., a major fire, tremors, flood)? What happened?

Who is concerned about the environment’s well-being, and why?

Who is skeptical about environmental threats or dangers, and why?

Where is the environment most robust, and where are the greatest threats to stability, life, the land’s well-being?

Where would people seek refuge in the event of a disaster and why?

When do seasonal or periodic climate or other ecological changes occur, and why?

When major events affecting the environment occurred, and what are dominant attitudes towards it? Do they differ between inhabitants?

Why are certain environmental challenges predominant?

Why do inhabitants of this world value or exploit the natural world, and how?

❯ ❯ ❯ Read other writing masterposts in this series: Worldbuilding Questions for Deeper Settings

#writeblr #worldbuilding #writing #writing tips #writing advice #novel writing #fiction writing #fantasy worldbuilding #environmental disaster #eco challenges #climate catastrophe #fwq

[entitledrichpeople]

The East Palestine Ohio train derailment affects a broad area and will affect an even wider area as poisons spread down the Ohio River.

Not only is East Palestine not safe, with reports of continuing animal death & streams full of dead fish, with wind spread there’’s probably a solid 50 mile range that’s in danger from things like toxic fumes and highly acidic rain.  Previous cases of exposure have included not only lung damage but also cancers and nerve damage.

Evacuate and do not return if you can if you live even remotely close (which a lot of poor and particularly poor disabled people may not be able to do), do not drink or bathe in the water, do not consume crops or let your animals consume grass/water/etc. that has been exposed. The ground, water, and air are all dangerously contaminated.  HEPA filters and N95s block some dangerous particles but not the main ones in this case (still, use them if you have them, they’re better than nothing but not truly effective in this case, they are extremely effective against covid 19 too so that’s a bonus).  

Things that will not help keep you from being poisoned but you should also do: Document all medical problems or symptoms that appear, and get doctors to explain in writing in their reports if possible.  Keep receipts/documentation of money owed/paid for any medical care you get or any vet care.  Take photographs and records of livestock deaths or now unusable crops.  Document if you had visitors.  Again, none of this will make you any less endangered, but they will make it way easier to sue later.  A lawsuit won’t cure your cancer but it can pay for your treatments.

#East Palestine #Ohio #train derailment #cancer #poison #environmental disaster

[somebluenovember]

Right now, russians are shooting at the rescue teams trying to evacuate civilians from the severely flooded areas of Ukraine – several rescue teams are reporting from the ground that they are under russian artillery fire. 

First russia blows up the water reservoir, creating a disaster of gargantuan proportion, killing civilians and animals, and now they bomb humanitarian efforts. 

Not my own words, but someone put it aptly: russia is a failed, decomposed society, a country that chooses death and destruction at every turn.

#kherson #ukraine #russia #flooding #nova kakhovka #environmental disaster #rescue operations

[secular-jew]

Millions of dead shrimp 🦐 off the coast of Yemen 🇾🇪 thanks to Iran, which intentionally sunk cargo ships carrying toxic chemicals, in the Red Sea.

#dead shrimp #shrimp #israel #secular-jew #jewish #judaism #israeli #jerusalem #diaspora #secular jew #secularjew #islam #red sea #pollution #ocean pollution #environmental disaster #environmentalist double standard

[scotianostra]

On January 5th 1993 the Liberian registered oil tanker Braer hit rocks off the Shetland Islands.

At 05.19 hrs on Tuesday 5th January 1993, Lerwick coastguard were advised that a tanker, the Braer, en route from Mongstad, Norway to Quebec, laden with 85,000 tonnes of Norwegian Gullfaks crude oil, had lost engine power but was in no immediate danger. She had sailed from the Norwegian port on 3rd January intending to pass through the northerly Fair Isle Strait before heading into the open Atlantic towards her destination.

The journey up to this point had been fraught with problems as first four steel pipe sections which had been secured on the port side after deck broke loose and were dangerously rolling about on deck. Later on the 4th, after routine adjustments to the auxiliary boiler, difficulty was experienced in re-igniting it. This boiler was needed to pre-heat the heavy engine oil used to run the main engine and so the main engine was switched to lighter diesel fuel until the problem with the auxiliary boiler could be resolved. The final straw in this litany of problems occurred when seawater contamination in the diesel fuel stopped the engine and caused the main generator to fail at 4:40am on 5th January. It was later established that fuel lines had been damaged by the loose pipe sections allowing seawater to penetrate the fuel lines and contaminate the diesel fuel.

The ship was carrying twice as much oil as the official figure for what the infamous Exxon Valdez had spilled in Prince William Sound Alaska, just four years earlier and on the same latitude of 60 degrees north. Not surprisingly, reports about an iniment environmental disaster were extremely fearful, particularly when the ship became a total loss and the gale-driven fumes could be smelt as far away as Bressay.

By the following morning the bay was full of oil and the slick was spreading north and south from the bay along the Shetland coast. Critically however, the oil aboard, recently recovered from the North Sea oilfields, was not as heavy as crude oil from other oilfields and breakers that were smashing the Braer to pieces were, in fact, already helping to disperse the oil very quickly. The spillage was still enormous and very damaging but thankfully the final environmental impact was much less than was initially feared. The ship, in it’s very exposed position, finally broke on January 11th and most of it disappeared beneath the surface. Only the upturned bow was visible as a reminder of the loss of the ship and eventually, around seven years later, it too vanished beneath the waves.

Reports state only 1% of the oil washed up on the beaches, but there was still a large environmental impact. Over 7500 birds died from the spill and large amount of marine life was impacted as well.

Some 95 million USD were paid out in claims by those impacted by the spill.

#scotland #scottish #history #Shetland #environmental disaster

[itsyveinthesky]

What the fuck really. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK.

Polish government knew about this for weeks and did fuck all. Just stayed idle for 2 weeks.

Big fucking thank you for that.

Didn’t even notify their own people in the beginning.

The only reason we know about it at all because a fishermen finally notified German authorities going “yo, lot of dead fish in this river”.

German side already found mercury. It exhausted the scale.  If it's true it's worse than Minamata. Polish government of course claim that mercury found by German laboratories is a hoax (LOL) and people can still swim in the river and eat fishes…

Not only that. Apparently they redirected the flow in the river by using locks to divert it from some other river into the Oder. The German authorities noticed that the level rose by a couple of centimeters but they didn't know why initially because there was no significant rain or new source of water upstream.

PiS is the absolute worst. Please finally vote those criminals out of office.

Imagine a German company poisoning the border river and the German government covering it up. Can't even imagine what Poland would say.

#germany #poland #oder #environmental disaster #europe

[tomorrowusa]

Putin's destruction of the Kakhovska dam in Ukraine adds to the climate emergency. Too much coverage of it ignores the environmental aspects of this act of desperation.

Overall, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just a genocidal act of aggression by an imperialist power headed by an unbalanced dictator. The invasion is an ongoing act of environmental war against Planet Earth.

The destruction of the Kakhovska dam has caused massive damage, flooding homes and habitats, killing animals, plants and insects en masse. It has contaminated water, washed away landmines and other explosive weapons, and posed a new threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. So far, evidence points strongly in favour of an explosion. The flooding has also impacted protected areas that are part of the transnational Emerald Network, including several national nature parks: Velykyi Luh (which remains illegally occupied by Russia), Kam’ianska Sich and Nyzhniodniprovskyi. This will severely damage biodiversity in Ukraine and contribute to the sixth mass extinction of species globally.

Ecocide is not yet an established part of international law. But it is part of Ukrainian law.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court does not list ecocide as an international crime, but it is part of Ukraine’s criminal code – and Ukraine can set an international precedent by holding Russia accountable for environmental harm.

We need to speak out more about the environmental calamity of Putin's invasion.

Environmental organisations globally must take urgent action in support of Ukraine and against Russian colonial violence. It is not enough to just lobby against fossil fuel extraction; we must recognise that the end of Russian imperialism is key to the struggle for climate justice. Ukrainian environmental activists have spoken about the increase in CO2 emissions caused by the Russian invasion. If climate emergency initiatives only remember Ukraine in relation to the global food crisis and crop shortages (the destruction of the Kakhovska dam has further damaged the country’s agricultural sector) or the impact the war has had on the global fossil fuel economy, but remain silent and inactive when Ukrainians are killed by flooding and shelling, they are complicit in Russia’s invasion.

While there's not yet a specific international law on ecocide, there are currently some aspects of the law which could hold Putin and his henchmen accountable for several acts which have affected the environment.

Here is Article 56 (Sections 1 & 2) of Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions 1949.

Clearly the destruction of the dam at Kakhovka is covered. So is the vandalism, theft, and destruction at the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Though it's likely that some of the Russian occupiers who camped out at Chernobyl last year may have already died of radiation sickness. Yes, Moscow has had a hand in Europe's two worst environmental disasters of the past 40 years.

Although the culprits may currently be inaccessible, there's plenty of evidence to launch investigations prior to prosecution. Putin and his accomplices must never again be able to live normal lives.

#invasion of ukraine #ecocide #the environment #kakhovska dam #nova kakhovka #environmental disaster #chernobyl #russia #vladimir putin #war crimes #neo-colonialism #the geneva conventions #crimes against the planet #россия #екоцид #владимир путин #военные преступления #путлер #путин хуйло #руки прочь от украины! #нова каховка #путин – это лжедмитрий iv а не пётр великий #союз постсоветских клептократических ватников #геть з україни #вторгнення оркостану в україну #міжнародний кримінальний суд #україна переможе #слава україні! #героям слава!

[d1n0m1te]

To cut it short and sweet, this needs everyone immediate attention, and I’m honestly both upset and pissed that I hadn’t heard about it sooner. I’m sure by now a lot of people are just now hearing about it with it now circulating on social media - TikTok especially.

Right now, The Willow Project is being decided on by the Biden Administration which will basically not only be destroying native land in Alaska, wolf life, ecosystems and so on for the sake of oil and material gain, but this could also permanently damage the O-Zone layer as this project is apparently meant to hon for thirty years. THIRTY FUCKING YEARS. That damage will never be able to fixed.

We need to do something, I have two links for which you can send in letters to the Biden administration on as well as a change.org. Regardless, something needs to be done, do what you can, boost the hell out of this because this is a problem that won’t just harm us, but those in the future too. I literally had my own younger sibling come to me because she was so stressed about The Willow Project. They’re twelve. Fucking TWELVE, NO TWELVE YEAR OLD SHOULD BE STRESSED ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE POTENTIAL END OF THE WORLD.

I don’t care how you do it or where, but boost the fuck out of this, let it be known that we are fucking tired of these people I’m power who are SUPPOSED to take care and help us repeatedly keep fucking us over and making things worse solely because they’re all old and it wouldn’t be affecting them in their lifetime. How selfish. Do something, not just for yourselves, but for those in the future that will be impacted by these choices.

#stop the willow project #the willow project #Protect the arctic #environment #environmental disaster #enviromental

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Copper Mountain Mine has tailings dams holding back 309 million metric tonnes of tailings and they're likely to fail in extreme weather or seismic events. Dam failure would dump the sludge into sensitive ecosystems, waterways, and Princeton, B.C. Very little is being done to make this less likely and its predicted to fail should the mine reach the tailings pond maximum permitted capacity. Which is expected to happen in 2027.

#submission #tailings pond #mining waste #copper mountain #environmental disaster #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

[headspace-hotel]

I'm probably gonna regret attaching my name to this but I slept on it and I'm still really upset but now more coherent (so please delete this if it's unwelcome).

First of all I'm really sorry you're dealing w this shit. I hope you're taking care of yourself rn.

Second of all.... holy fuck Inneskeeper has handled this horribly. I'm trying to extend the benefit of the doubt and say he just needs time, we all do, but it's very hard when he's been acting as though a day is enough time for everyone to get over the fear he spread.

It's really upsetting to see him bring up both his schizophrenia and his career as reasons why he was upset without ever actually uttering the words "I'm sorry, I was wrong." without needing to read between the lines.

It's a really concerning trend I've noticed reappearing now that actual celebrities and just plain old popular users are becoming more open with their mental health, that "I was having a psychotic break/I was having a manic episode/I was blah-de-blah" somehow taking the place of an actual apology. As if explaining it means you no longer have to take action or responsibility.

Especially given he was bringing up his profession during all this. As a professional especially he has a responsibility. I know "this is tumblr" but this is TUMBLR. People don't fact-check. You have sway. Especially as a professional.

He could've made the post unrebloggable, but if he did I haven't seen it. He could've pinned a post that actually contained information/a retraction/a quick apology and explanation, instead we got "I'm taking a break". He edited the post, but given part of his defense was that reblog chains are uncontrollable an edit you would not see unless you clicked back to his blog is...

I'm really hoping that once he comes back he'll say something. Because I know parasocial relationship and all that but I really did respect him, as someone transgender and with some of my specific mental illnesses in a field I'm deeply interested in.

But now I'm just... tired. He spread that same cycle of panic and delusion to everyone who read that post. Here I was thinking that I just got my dog back from the vet and now she and everyone else I love was going to die, that the apocalypse was coming.

Until I did the googling he as an actual ecologist did not do. As if me taking a tumblr post and freaking is less acceptable than him taking a twitter post and freaking.

I don't want to cancel him or bully him. I don't doubt that he's gotten some ableist nonsense, because the internet sucks. But he really hurt a lot of people and did a lot of damage. All I want is him to plainly say "I'm sorry, I did it because [x/y/z] but it was still wrong and I hurt people. Here is some actual information. I'm going to log off." Without a billion asterisks.

And honestly maybe apologize for siccing people on you but frankly given how hard my opinion of him has tanked I'm not gonna hold my breath.

I'm fine. The block button is a wonderful thing.

My feelings are mixed. Yes, I see that it would be terrifying to have your mental illness warp your perception of an event, but...you're not the only mentally ill person on Earth, and it's no less terrifying to be triggered into an episode by false information.

I have been asked by several followers to trigger tag #unreality because that kind of thing really messes with them. And the post was framed in a particularly triggering way—encouraging conspiratorial thinking by saying that there's a "media blackout" and that the official sources are downplaying the severity.

The post is still circulating as of this morning, and the misleading version is still hitting people's dashes and suckering people in. Why would you not just make it unrebloggable?

I don't know. I really don't know what to think of the whole thing.

The Twitter OP makes me honestly furious, claiming that "the cops" "blew it up" when it was first responders putting their lives in danger to stop the burning train cars from exploding. It's so frustrating to see people acting like they're calling it a "controlled burn" to cover up idiotic mismanagement. The crews that responded to this accident at great potential risk to their lives don't deserve to be called cops and slandered for making the best decision they could have possibly made.

In general it's worrying how folks on social media are responding—by encouraging paranoia and mistrust by attributing malice or idiocy to the people trying to manage the accident.

Folks say "fuck cops" but they can't distinguish cops from firefighters and hazardous materials crews working to save lives. That's scary to me.

I don't think we know enough yet to ascertain the causes of the accident, but I want to caution against looking for a specific party to blame as being at fault, because...these things can happen even when we do everything right. As long as we use these hazardous chemicals to make things, this is always a possibility.

And it's not necessarily a "preventable" failure of society that we make and use PVC, either. One of the causes of how widespread plastics are is that they are genuinely useful materials with properties that no other materials have. PVC pipe is what probably makes the plumbing in your house. Before PVC, there was copper, which is incredibly expensive, has a tendency to burst with temperature changes, and corrodes and reacts with various chemicals.

And the sad fact is, environmental disasters like this happen a lot. Many of them worse than this.

Not too far from where I live, there was a case where tons of radioactive waste were dumped into a municipal landfill. This radioactive waste was being handled by workers who didn't know what it was and had no protection. This was a case of malicious dodging of regulations. Mining coal creates radioactive and toxic waste that is constantly mismanaged. I was doing reports on local environmental news for my geology class a while back and many of the coal mines in Eastern Kentucky have a hundredfold violations of environmental and safety regulations, and companies usually dodge responsibility.

I hope this incident inspires people to think and talk about environmental regulations and rights of workers in the rail industry. What with the railroad strikes going on, I think it's worth considering that this is why we need to look out for the welfare of rail workers—you want the people handling the shipment of hazardous chemicals to be well rested and well protected.

#environmental disaster #ohio train derailment

[defundthepolicedestroythegop]

#Norfolk Southern #train derailment #Cop City #Atlanta #Atlanta Forest #environmental disaster #capitalism

[ivo3d]

'we want a hundred more battery factories in Hungary! - just a hundred? - No, a thousand!'

#battery #battery factory #factory #enviromental #crisis #environmental disaster #decay #acid #hungary #artists on tumblr #media artist #visual #ivo3d #gif #loop #techno #ai #Sd #brutalist #contemporary art #architecture #architectural #timelapse

[wistfulpoltergeist]

It’s really hard sometimes. It hurts me, deeply. I don’t use this blog to talk about the war in my country. I use it... To create a safe place for my mind, but sometimes. I just can’t be silent. I can’t. I need to express this part of me just not to explode. And also... I want to thank everyone who helps and support Ukraine. No matter how small your support is. Even a simple pray can do a lot. We are going there together, to the end of this nightmare. Ukraine isn't alone in this struggle and won't be alone in it’s victory.

#war in ukraine #united24 #russia ukraine war #ukraine #nature disaster #environmental disaster #support ukraine #pain #not sims #i had to

[eric-sadahire]

Nearly 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride were on this train.

Now the EPA has confirmed it’s entered the Ohio river basin

Which is where 25 million people live.

This is the deadliest environmental emergencies in decades and nobody’s talking about it.

#environmental disaster #vinylcloride #carcinogenic #trainwreck #irony #tragedy #deadly #consequences #artoftheday #flomm #kunst #artwork #flommist #beercoaster #lowbrowart #outsiderart #artist on tumblr #beermat #painting #handpaintedbeercoaster #acrylic #dailyartwork #artporn #sadahirecoasters #perspective