Landfill decision

Here is the Daily News story on the landfill hearing that was held yesterday in Boston.

But after a hearing at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston yesterday, the city was included in the case, Mayor John Moak said. The mayor said he is expecting to pay even more in legal fees to fight on the city's behalf.

"The case" is between New Ventures, the Attorney General and the DEP? I thought they were "negotiations" as the result of a case that has been settled. Oh, well, whatever - the city is now involved and therefore there are going to be legal fees.

But it's a good thing, right? No more secrets.

"It is another lawsuit. It is another action that we have to go through," Moak said. "It may be good because we can present our case to the judges. But anytime we are involved in another lawsuit, it gives my pocketbook palpitations."

Hey, well, check out Ari Herzog's blog. How much IS the city spending on bottled water? I think employees have come to expect that their employer will supply bottled water for them to sip.

As I sip my S.Pellegrino ...

I read this, from the Chicago Sun Times. To recap:

Americans spent nearly $11 billion last year on bottled water, making it the nation's second-favorite beverage, after soft drinks. (me:YIKES!)

That's a lot of water -- and a lot of waste, environmental advocates say.

It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil -- enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year -- to make the plastic bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water, according to the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., environmental think tank. (me:OMG!)

The NRDC tested more than 100 types of bottled water and found "spotty" quality, with a third of the brands containing contaminants such as arsenic in at least some samples, said Adrianna Quintero, an attorney for the group. (me: Arsenic??)

"The problem with bottled water is we really have no way of knowing what we're getting," Quintero said.

There's an alternative, experts say, and it's cheaper: Buy a reusable bottle, and fill it with tap water, which is stringently regulated. (me:But what if the tap water tastes bad?)

But if you still want to buy bottled water (me:OK, I do), they suggest picking a domestic brand over one that was shipped halfway across the globe, giving the environment a break by using less fuel to ship it -- and then recycle the bottle. (me: Looking with suspicion at the bottle of S.Pellegrino)

I was just discussing this with my neighbor (the buying water stuff; we both recycle like maniacs). Is it hype or does municipal water really taste bad? I'm so used to buying bottled water that it's more by rote than by choice that I pick up 2 gallons of it for $1 at Market Basket.

Walk, or use a Pedicab, when you can

This report on CNN is something to think about. The story is about kids with asthma and pollution.

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because their lungs don't fully form until they are adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted ...

Outdoor irritants range from pollen to cold air (?) to air pollution. (My question mark.)

Michael Chang, an atmospheric research scientist at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, estimated that 50 percent of air pollutants are created by cars and trucks.

He explained many parts of the U.S. are now transitioning to higher temperatures and more humid summers.

"We don't have the winds that blow things out of the air," Chang said. "The stuff we put into the atmosphere lingers longer."

He compared the air quality in many big cities to a chemical soup of thousands of compounds, including ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter. The Environmental Protection Agency describes ground-level ozone as the primary component of smog. It includes motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, gasoline vapors and chemical solvents.

We, of course, do not live in a big city, but we've got that wonderful landfill and its hydrogen sulfide emissions that go who knows where.

When I belonged to Tufts Healthcare a few years ago, I received a newsletter that basically said if you jog during rush hour, you inhale toxins equal to smoking a whole pack of cigarettes - or more, depending on the traffic.

"Jogging late in the afternoon during the summer is not the best time," Chang said. "Ground-level ozone is at its worst at that time of day."

(Georgia pediatrician Avril) Beckford goes one step further, warning parents to not choose a house, school or playground that is close to a busy road or a highway.

Garbage Island

Leading up to Earth Day, I'm going to try and find environment-related stories on which to comment. This one struck me, big time:

I came across an alarming video/report on the CNN website. Apparently there is this large area of plastic floating in one remote part of the Pacific Ocean. It has a name: Garbage Island.

It seems that in this area, northeast of Hawaii, conditions are such that boats don't really go there - what does go there is plastic of all descriptions. It gets caught in the swirling water where there is little wind and just stays there. The 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is now twice the size of Texas.

As if that weren't bad enough, the report says, the plastic photodegrades. It's still plastic, but it breaks into little pieces. It makes the water look like the inside of a snow globe.

These little pieces, it continues, are gobbled up by small fish. The cycle continues until we get to the part where we humans have a nice piece of fish on our plate.

Eighty percent of the garbage found in the ocean comes from the land.

I have just one word for you: recycle.