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New Power Cables Give Apple a Greener Glow

by Angela January 21st, 2012 - No Comments »

Image Source: Apple.com

While Apple isn’t exactly the greenest company in the world due to conditions in its Chinese plants and materials it uses in the construction of its computers, new cables the company is planning on using are a step in the right direction. Apple has been pushing its suppliers to green their manufacturing process and one of its cable suppliers, Volex, is doing so by redesigning its cables to be halogen-free. Cables with halogens don’t do much during their lifetime to harm the environment, but if burned they give off harmful chemicals such as dioxins.

While Apple has been successful at reducing carbon footprint at its facilities so that they only contribute 2% of its total GHGs, product lifecycle comprises 98% of their total footprint. This makes it a huge target for the company, and we’re certainly not arguing with any gains they make. While still not perfect, they try to address concerns about suppliers with a code of conduct that anyone can read on their website.

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Link Between Parabens and Breast Cancer: Study

by Angela January 20th, 2012 - No Comments »

Photo by DixieBelle Cupcake Cafe: Flickr

Research out of the Universities of Reading and South Manchester in the U.K. has shed some new light on the link between chemical additives known as parabens, used as preservatives in everything from cosmetics to food products, and increasing incidents of breast cancer, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology.

Looking at 40 women undergoing mastectomies, the research team collected 160 breast tissue samples (four from each woman) and found that 99 percent of them contained at least one paraben. Sixty percent of the samples, meanwhile, contained all five of the most common parabens. Since about 1998, scientific studies have started raising concerns about the link between these chemical additives and the growing number of breast cancer cases. Previous studies suggested a link between the use of deodorant (which usually contains parabens) and the fact that a disproportionate number of tumours seem to develop in the upper-outer quadrant of the breast, closest to the underarm.

The new study, however, found that even women who did not use underarm deodorant still had parabens present in their breast tissue, suggesting that these chemicals are coming from more than just a single source. One of the lead researchers, Dr. Philippa Darbre of the University of Reading, notes that this study doesn’t confirm cause and effect: “The fact that parabens were detected in the majority of the breast tissue samples cannot be taken to imply that they actually caused breast cancer in the 40 women studied,” she said in a release. “However, the fact that parabens were present in so many of the breast tissue samples does justify further investigation.”

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President’s Choice Organic Baby Cereal Recalled

by Angela January 19th, 2012 - No Comments »

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and grocery store chain Loblaw Companies Ltd. has issued a voluntary recall on eight types of President’s Choice brand organic baby cereals, warning that the products may be rancid. The affected products, which come in 227-gram green and white boxes, include cereals made from mixed grains, oats, rice and wheat; the full list of products and their UPC codes are available on the CFIA website.

At least one related case of illness has been reported so far, and parents are being warned not to feed their children any cereal that smells “off” or has a strange odour. If an infant has already consumed one of the affected products, parents should watch for symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and seek medical attention if there are any concerns.

For those with questions or comments, President’s Choice can be contacted directly at 1-888-495-5111 or customerservice@presidentschoice.ca, while the CFIA can be contacted Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735.

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SOPA and PIPA Protests Strike Multiple Sites Today

by Angela January 18th, 2012 - No Comments »

The internet is dark today, as many popular websites have blacked out their homepages in protest of two extremely restrictive anti-piracy bills currently working their way through the United States Congress. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) could significantly change the way the internet operates, legal scholars and technology experts have warned.

In light of this, major websites like Wikipedia, Wired, WordPress, Imgur, Reddit, dotSub and even Google and Mozilla have agreed to take part in a form of passive protest. For 12 to 24 hours, a vast number of sites have turned out their lights, replacing all or part of their websites with an explanation and a cry to arms, encouraging users to contact their local representatives and make their voices heard about SOPA/PIPA if they don’t like having their internet censored.

It’s no coincidence that many of these websites are built around user communities: under SOPA/PIPA, collaborative sites will be held responsible for anything their users choose to share. They will have to censor users or face the risk of being shut down by the entertainment industry if unlicensed material pops up somewhere on their service. Sites that operate outside U.S. jurisdiction, meanwhile, can be completely cut off, as ISPs will be ordered to block access to that domain name, denying American users the right to so much as visit the website.

Along with blacking out their pages, many websites have also provided detailed information about the proposed bills and why they are taking a stand against it, such as this blog post from the Wikimedia Foundation, this article from Wired, and the above video.

There are also a number of tools to make it easy for people to contact Congress and make their voices heard, such as this form at SOPAstrike.com, or this one from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you’re outside of the U.S., this form encourages you to contact the State Department via email.

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Mexico City’s Garbage Getting Out of Control

by Angela January 17th, 2012 - 1 Comment »

Picture by Wonderlane: Flickr

Trash is piling up in city streets and illegal dumping sites are springing up after Mexico City closed one of the world’s largest landfills last month, without putting into place a viable alternative to deal with the refuse. With dumps in the surroundings cities refusing to take the trash, garbage trucks have been lining up for over five hours to unload at transfer stations, while citizens of the Mexican capital have taken to surreptitiously unloading their refuse on street corners.

According to plan, the Bordo Poniente landfill was closed on December 31 as scheduled. Eliminating the landfill, which was built on a dry lake bed to handle the clean up from a massive earthquake in 1985, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about two million tons annually… assuming they can find something else to do with all that garbage.

The city is currently struggling to update its antiquated garbage system, where trucks drive around daily, ringing a bell to signal that people should bring out their trash. Those who can’t wait around all day for the garbage trucks have often resorted to leaving their trash on the city streets.

Officials have asked residents to separate their trash since 2003, but no real system was in place to handle it. What little recycling was getting done was being handled by the truck drivers, who would tear open garbage bags and pull out plastic and glass. Now the city plans to install large recycling containers on the street corners where people have been leaving their trash, hoping to encourage citizens to dispose of their garbage properly.

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Methane and Black Carbon Reduction Could Affect Climate Change: NASA

by Angela January 16th, 2012 - 1 Comment »

Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Flickr

While carbon dioxide remains the worst perpetrator of global warming over the long term, reducing methane and black carbon (soot) would have a more immediate effect on both climate change and health, and measures to curb these emissions could be more quickly implemented, according to a new study from NASA researchers.

With the help of computer models, the research team at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies found that by shifting focus to reducing methane and black carbon, global warming could be slowed by almost one degree Fahrenheit by 2050. It may not sound like much, but these same measures could prevent as many as 700,000 to 4.7 million premature deaths every year, especially in south Asia, while also increasing the world’s crops by 135 million metric tons each season, say the researchers.

In order to achieve this, the team has proposed 14 changes, which include major infrastructure changes like capturing and containing the methane gas released during coal mining, upgrading water treatment plants and banning agricultural burning, to simpler tasks like upgrading cook stoves and boilers and installing filters in diesel vehicles.

 

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Programmed to be Fat Explores if Pollution is Making us Fat

by Angela January 15th, 2012 - No Comments »

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If you watched CBC’s Nature of Things last week, you were lucky enough to see “Programmed to be Fat“, a documentary about the science surrounding the question of whether or not pollution is making us fat – or not. Various researchers have been exploring the question since the obesity rate of infants (not children, but babies) has risen 74% over the past twenty years. While this could be due to a number of factors, pervasive chemicals in our food and air, like Bisphenol A, could actually be making us fat.

The documentary doesn’t just explore the science but how the theories surrounding it have evolved. According to the documentary, the theory has been around for a while, but has gotten a bad rap because early writers jumped a gun on most of the ongoing studies and cited bad science, which the food lobby pounced on like a barn full of hungry pigs. More recent studies explored in the film are extremely convincing, and if you weren’t avoiding BPA before watching this documentary, you’ll certainly be doing so when you’ve watched it.

You can watch the documentary online at The Nature of Things website. If you think of it before running to your cupboards and dumping out the canned food, come back here and leave us your comments.

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Processed Meats Like Bacon and Sausage Linked to Cancer

by Angela January 14th, 2012 - 2 Comments »

Well, we all knew bacon wasn’t exactly good for us, but now it seems some researchers in Sweden have linked it to pancreatic cancer. Bacon, sausage and other processed meats can increase the risk of cancer by 19% if they are eaten every day. I don’t know about you, but about the only time I really dig in to the bacon is occasionally on the weekend, and the rest of the week it’s fruit and oatmeal. The researchers also acknowledged that the link may be due to obesity, which if you are pounding back extra helpings of the best tasting thing on earth (sorry, vegans, but I LOVE BACON) is just going to happen naturally.

While they don’t say that switching it up to chicken or turkey bacon will help, I have to say I’m a huge fan of the turkey bacon. While it is still processed, it is much leaner-tasting than it’s porky cousin and fabulous in a quiche. Turkey sausages are equally nomilicious to those of the omnivorous persuasion.

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Everything’s Bigger In Texas, Including Greenhouse Gas

by Angela January 13th, 2012 - No Comments »

Photo by Ryan Somma: Flickr

They say everything is bigger in Texas… and that includes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to a new online tool released by the Environmental Protection Agency that shows the reporting data from 2010 on an interactive map.

According to the 2010 data, Texas had the dubious honour of taking top prize for GHG emissions in 2010, with 294 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent released into the air by its power plants and refineries. Following at quite a gap, Pennsylvania came in second with a count of 129 million metric tons. Idaho and Vermont, meanwhile, reported the lowest number of emissions.

In terms of industry types, power plants nationwide were the worst culprits in creating greenhouse gasses, responsible for almost three-quarters (72.3 percent) of all GHG emissions reported in 2010. They were followed at a distant second by refineries (5.7 percent) and chemicals (5.4 percent).

The EPA’s GHG Reporting Program first launched in October 2009. The new interactive map marks the first time that comprehensive GHG data, reported directly by the industries themselves, has been made easily accessible to the public.

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Environment Canada Cuts 60 Employees This Week

by Angela January 12th, 2012 - No Comments »

Environment Canada will be axing 60 employees this week as part of some massive cutbacks being implemented by the federal government. While the department is not allowed to reveal exactly which jobs are being declared surplus, Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), the union representing some of the workers, said that they broadly incorporate senior engineers, environmental compliance officers, biologists, climatologists and other public servants responsible for everything from reporting on pollution to researching climate issues.

And the bad news keeps on coming: according to a press release issued by the PIPSC, these surplus notices will not count towards the mandated five to 10 percent budget cutbacks required of Environment Canada by the federal government. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also noted that some federal departments, which could include EC, may face even bigger budget cuts than previously suggested.

Last August, Environment Canada told the unions that it would be cutting or reassigning some 776 jobs, which is roughly 10 percent of the department’s workforce. At least 300 of these workers will lose their jobs, while the rest may be moved to different positions. Those who are let go will receive either a cash payout, an education allowance, or they can take a spot on the government’s priority list in the hopes of landing a different public service job.

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