Pollution Must Not Be Trying Hard Enough

Republicans say environmental regulations kill jobs; therefore, pollution must create jobs.

Except that is not what I found. My guess is pollution isn't trying hard enough to find jobs. No good lazy pollution.

The facts are the top 25 cleanest cities for year round particulate pollution have an average unemployment rate of 7.4%

The top 25 dirtiest cities for year round particulate pollution have an average unemployment rate of 9.7%

The national average is 8.8%.

If you look at the Top 10 Cities in each category then you find that the cleanest cities have a median unemployment rate of 6.3% and the dirties Top 10 have a median unemployment rate of 12.5%.

So I can literally claim that pollution doubles unemployment.

This myth is busted.

Stephen Colbert explains it further:

The Colbert Report
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Sources:
-American Lung Association State of the Air 2011 City Rankings: http://www.stateoftheair.org/2011/city-rankings/
(I chose year long particulate pollution as the best proxy for overall environmental health factors)

-Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas: http://bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm

The data from my spreadsheet:

‪Dirtiest (yr round particulate) ‬ ‪Unemployment rate‬
‪#1: Bakersfield-Delano, CA ‬ ‪13.7‬
‪#2: Visalia-Porterville, CA‬ ‪ ‬ ‪15‬
‪#2: Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ ‬ ‪8.1‬
‪#2: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA 11.3‬
‪#5: Hanford-Corcoran, CA ‬ ‪14‬
‪#6: Fresno-Madera, CA ‬ ‪14.9‬
‪#7: Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA ‬ ‪6.8‬
‪#8: Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL ‬ ‪8.9‬
‪#9: Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN 8.7‬
‪#10: Modesto, CA ‬ ‪15.1‬
‪#10: Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN ‬
‪9.6‬
‪#12: Charleston, WV ‬ ‪7.5‬
‪#12: Steubenville-Weirton, OH-WV ‬ ‪10.4‬
‪#12: Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH ‬ ‪7.6‬
‪#15: Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH ‬ ‪8.5‬
‪#15: Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN ‬ ‪8.1‬
‪#17: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL 8.7‬
‪#17: Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI ‬ ‪11.7‬
‪#17: Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX ‬ ‪8.6‬
‪#20: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV ‬ ‪8.9‬
‪#21: New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA 8.3‬
‪#22: Lancaster, PA ‬ ‪6.4‬
‪#22: Dayton-Springfield-Greenville, OH ‬ ‪9.2‬
‪#24: Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN 7.9‬
‪#24: Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD 8.4‬
‪#24: York-Hanover-Gettysburg, PA ‬ ‪7.4‬
‪#24: Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH ‬ ‪8.2‬
‪ ‬
‪Cleanest (yr round particulate) Unemployment rate‬
‪#1: Cheyenne, WY ‬ ‪6‬
‪#2: Santa Fe-Espanola, NM ‬ ‪5.4‬
‪#3: Tucson, AZ ‬ ‪8‬
‪#4: Great Falls, MT ‬ ‪6.4‬
‪#4: Honolulu, HI ‬ ‪5.7‬
‪#6: Anchorage, AK ‬ ‪6.2‬
‪#7: Albuquerque, NM ‬ ‪6.9‬
‪#7: Amarillo, TX ‬ ‪6‬
‪#9: Redding, CA ‬ ‪13.5‬
‪#10: Salinas, CA ‬ ‪10.1‬
‪#11: Bismarck, ND ‬ ‪2.5‬
‪#12: Boise City-Nampa, ID ‬ ‪8.5‬
‪#13: Billings, MT ‬ ‪5.4‬
‪#14: Flagstaff, AZ ‬ ‪7.3‬
‪#14: Sarasota-Bradenton-Punta Gorda, FL ‬ ‪11‬
‪#14: Fort Collins-Loveland, CO ‬ ‪6‬
‪#14: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL ‬ ‪11.2‬
‪#14: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL ‬ ‪11.6‬
‪#19: Claremont-Lebanon, NH-VT ‬ N/A
‪#20: Rapid City, SD ‬ ‪4.2‬
‪#20: Port St. Lucie-Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL 13.7‬
‪#22: Duluth, MN-WI ‬ ‪6.5‬
‪#23: Fargo-Wahpeton, ND-MN ‬ ‪3.3‬
‪#24: Burlington-South Burlington, VT ‬ ‪4.2‬
‪#24: Bangor, ME ‬ ‪6.4‬
‪#24: Orlando-Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL ‬ ‪10.2‬
#12: Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH 7.6
#15: Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH 8.5
#15: Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN 8.1
#17: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL 8.7
#17: Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI 11.7
#17: Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX 8.6
#20: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV 8.9
#21: New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA 8.3
#22: Lancaster, PA 6.4
#22: Dayton-Springfield-Greenville, OH 9.2
#24: Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN 7.9
#24: Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD 8.4
#24: York-Hanover-Gettysburg, PA 7.4
#24: Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH 8.2

Elections Matter OR Evidence That Government Agencies Matter

Elections matter because of who the elected officials appoint. When those people are competent then government can be effective.

What is prompting this for me is how Energy Secretary Steven Chu told BP how to get images of their failed oil well. That's right - a government official helped a private company because the government knew more.

See TheAtlantic: How Steven Chu Used Gamma Rays to Save the Planet

An eternal fact of Washington is that government gets much more attention when it performs badly than when it performs well...


Now consider Chu, the Nobel Prize Winner who has been at BP headquarters in Houston with a team of government scientists trying to figure out how to stop the leak. According to a government official, BP initially "dismissed" Chu's gamma ray suggestion, but came back a week later and admitted "Chu's right."

Ha! And I believe this is an example of epistemic closure:

How Oil Spills And Dog Fur Are Like Chocolate And Peanut Butter

They go great together!

Matter of Trust will accept clean fur, wool, human hair, and nylons and use these resources to create effective oil mats. See: Hair Mats Information

I have a dog with a two layered coat and can brush out garbage bags full of fur from him. I've never known what to do with this hair, though I leave some on the ground for the birds and squirrels, this seems like a much more responsible option.

There's more on the story at the San Jose Merc News: Unusual weapon against oil spill: tons of hair and fur

Matter of Trust is collecting clippings from thousands of salons, barber shops, even pet groomers across the country, along with pantyhose and stockings — all to be used to help mop up the oil threatening wildlife and livelihoods in its path.

Hair booms (gobs of clean hair stuffed into panty hose) or hair mats (hair woven into 1-foot squares) can be dragged along the coast to sop up the oil, wrung out and used again.

Hair booms work because each strand has scales on it, and those scales attract oil molecules, said Ingrid Setzer, the Floridian leading the collection campaign. The oil sticks to the scales, Setzer said, and the water filters out.

Slick

In the past I have read about the idea of purposely releasing oil or other material onto the ocean's surface to abate approaching hurricanes.

Could the Gulf Of Mexico oil leak could protect the area from hurricanes this summer? If the slick gets dispersed far enough then it may be possible to snuff out Caribbean born hurricanes. Dr. Jeff Masters has more on the topic: How oil might affect a hurricane

Brilliant Politics

President Obama made a lot of noise by opening up some parts of the continental shelf to drilling, then a couple of days later the E.P.A. released new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks AND issued rules for how much CO2 cars can release.

Funny that the drilling got all the attention but the E.P.A. are what will really matter.

We are in the midst of a political magician.

See:
U.S. Issues Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cars

Offshore Drilling's Payoff May Not Be Energy

Vinegar - There Really Is Nothing It Cannot Do

PhysOrg: Cleansing toxic waste -- with vinegar

The research team, led by Dr Doug Stewart from the School of Civil Engineering and Dr Ian Burke from the School of Earth and Environment, has discovered that adding dilute acetic acid (vinegar) to the affected site stimulates the growth of naturally-occurring bacteria by providing an attractive food source. In turn, these bacteria then cleanse the affected area by altering the chemical make-up of the chromium compounds to make them harmless.

This Is Not Why People Live In Wyoming

1st Wyoming ozone advisory issued this winter

Mmmm... Perchlorate

Words fail.

See: Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations for Neurotoxin

Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.

This Shouldn't Happen

Denver Post - Wyo. ozone alert stirs debate

Wyoming officials issued an unprecedented health alert Wednesday in a rural gas-drilling area for a buildup of ozone — usually a summertime air pollutant in urban areas.

The Pinedale area had high ozone readings a week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criticized the federal Bureau of Land Management for planning thousands of new gas wells in the area without adequate air-quality protection.

Jackson Hole Star Tribune - 'The last place this should be'

Dave Smith, a broadcast engineer and electronics expert who owns his own business, has a shop on the south end of town, just off the main drag. Born and raised in Pinedale, he's witnessed the impacts of gas drilling on his once "sleepy little town," he said. And he hopes the air quality warning alarms some people, because he believes people in the area should be alarmed.

"It's interesting," Smith said. "When I grew up here we hated environmentalists. We hated tree huggers. We had no use for any environmental agency. You know, the word environmentalist was a fightin' word. If somebody walked up and introduced himself as an environmentalist, it was OK to punch him in the nose."

He also hated the concept of protected "wilderness" when he was growing up here, he said, because this area was so pristine, it was silly to think such a designation was necessary.

"I've kind of changed my mind a little about that. I still don't agree with the rabid tree huggers, you know, 'Save everything,' I don't agree with that. But right now, if it wasn't for the conservation groups and environmental groups, we would have a living hell going on here."

The air pollution is obvious to anybody from here, Smith said, because one need only to look at the sky and at the sunsets. But there are other impacts of the drilling that are not as obvious, including the benzenes and hydrocarbons that are making their way into the ground.

This is why elections matter.

My Chemical Kid

Element in lotions may enter babies' skin: Researchers suggest avoiding use of products

Researchers are suggesting that parents hold off on the lotions, creams, powders and shampoos they apply to their babies' skin - unless those products are medically necessary.

This reminded me of an interview on the Diane Rehm show with Devra Davis. In it she points out how suntan lotion, bath soap, and other cosmetic items are never tested on small children and this is a problem since skin is the largest organ, absorbs anything put on it, and little kids have a much higher skin surface area to body mass ratio than adults.

The Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia has an extensive Guide to Less Toxic Products

Yes! Two Girls For Every Boy

Seen on TreeHugger - Man-Made Chemicals Cause 2:1 Ratio of Girls to Boys Born in Arctic

And:

Recently, the historical sex balance of the human race has begun to change around the world as well. Throughout history there has usually been a slightly greater number of males than females born each year, but a paper published in the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences this year said that in Japan and the US there were 250,000 boys fewer than would have been expected had the sex ratio existing in 1970 remained as it was.