Friday 2 January 2009

It's Your Planet

















I was turned on to this environmental disaster by grrrl and her outrage made me outraged. It reminded me to wake my sleepy head up and remember to care more this year. It is your planet so please try to give a shit.

It is 2009; stop believing what the man tells you. And if your water source is from the Emory River in Tennessee, stop drinking it.

A containment wall in the Kingston Fossil Plant burst causing a 40 acre landslide of toxic sludge.

The Governor of Tennessee held a fistful of coal ash that spread over a valley to show that he is not worried about the toxicity. He was reportedly heard stating ‘This (sludge) is absolutely going to contain arsenic, lead, boron, and thallium. But this stuff, it’s not high-level waste. I don’t think people should be scared of the stuff. There’s a greater danger from air quality, from flying ash being ingested.’ It is reported further that despite the governors sludge-handling in front of the media that the state health commissioner repeatedly urged him to wash his hands afterward and also told people who visit the site that they should leave their shoes outside their homes and that their clothes should be washed multiple times.

Some disgracing video I just watched showed dead fish on the banks of the tributary and officials stating ‘in terms of toxicity, until an analysis comes in, you can’t call it toxic.’ Where is your moral responsibility?

Environmentalists are saying the sludge is four to five feet deep and could fill over 800 Olympic size swimming pools. Not only do they not know how to clean it up, they don’t know where to put it.

It is now being reported that independent water samples are as different from night and day to official water samples taken from the Emory River (surprise surprise). Unofficial reports list concentrations of eight toxic chemicals ranging from twice to 300 times higher than drinking water limits. These results are in such conflict from official results that as a result scientists and activists are warning people to drink bottled water (being one of the poorest states I don’t know how the average person will be able to buy it).

5 comments:

Jacinta said...

OMG. What a disaster.
It's terrifying what is happening to our planet, and the people in 'authority' who are stupid enough to tell the public it's all OK.

Unbelievable.

Renee, can you email me sometime... jacinta dot e at gmail dot com

Thanks.

Diane Rooney said...

Hello Renee! I've been meaning to stop by your blog and say hello and also thank you for your insight, kind words and time you've taken to stop by my blog.

I'm so sorry to hear about your cancer and I appreciate your comments about my parents and how we all cope.

Once again, thank you so much! I've added your blog to my family and friends section! *hugs*
x

Anonymous said...

Hey Renee,

Happy new year.. and thanks for the post. I know it's not popular in our part of blogland, and it wont get you any followers, or any awards, or even many comments.

Glad you had a look, I did nt know about the governer's antics.. we will watch.

Emerald Arts said...

This guy sounds like a complete and utter dickhead. No use sticking your head in the sand when the sand is likely to melt it off.

Ugh.

-Em

Anonymous said...

How can people detach themselves so much from the insane impact of this that they can take part in the poisoning of other people? What struck me personally about this was my internal reaction to it. I didn't find it hard to believe at all. No part of me questioned that this could be true, I thought, yeah I know things like this go on all the time. How sad is that?
Maybe I'll go recycle a can and save the world...