Tag: human health

In Search of Quiet Places

  • Gordon Hempton uses a mic stand shaped like a human head to accurately capture the sounds we hear. (Photo by D Harrington)

There are very few truly quiet places left in this country. There’s noise pollution even in the wildest, most remote national parks.

Gordon Hempton has been traveling to some of those last quiet places and he wants to protect them. He’s an Emmy-winning professional sound collector. He’s traveled the world to record everything from city streets to howler monkeys. He’s the author of One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Quest to Preserve Quiet. He’s joining me from Olympia National Park in Washington State.

You’ve said that you’ve found just 12 places so far in all of the U.S. where there’s an interval of at least 15 minutes without human noise. What do you think we’re missing out on if we lose those places?

AUDIO EXTRA: Hear more from Gordon Hempton

The Sound Tracker

Hempton on WBUR’s On Point

Hempton in Newsweek

Transcript

HEMPTON: In a quiet place in nature not only are we listening to many, many square miles, but we are connecting, we are re-connecting, with where we come from, who we are and how our bodies have evolved to take it all in.

RW: A documentary has been made about you – called Soundtracker – and in it, the thing that struck me the most was when you talked about having to trust your gut feeling. You were in Sri Lanka, it was dark and you were recording…


(sound of Hempton’s Sri Lanka recording comes up under)


HEMPTON: Right, I learned a very important lesson that morning in the Sri Lanka rainforest of Sinharaja. And I was there to record morning bird song and that means getting up early, so I was walking into the forest, in the dark, and started to roll. And then my good feeling changed to panic. I could honor my panic and simply leave my equipment running, and so I walked away. Months later, I’m sitting in my Seattle studio reviewing the tape… I hear my footsteps disappear and moments later, there’s the guttural growl of the leopard.


(leopard growling)


RW: I have to tell you I found that sound to be terrifying!


HEMPTON: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, I know. I hate to think what would’ve happened if I’d remained there.


RW: So you’ve recorded all over the world for 30 years. How do you find these true quiet places?


HEMPTON: You know, I’ve been looking at Michigan. The very first thing I do, I look at the nighttime view of the United States, and I looked in this case at the nighttime view of Michigan. The upper half of Michigan was surprisingly dark. Then I went to the FAA chart to see all the airways that are charted and I could see that most of Michigan was covered. But there were two areas that were not. So I went to Google Earth and zoomed in on those places and I could see there were quite a few roads. But there were two locations: Manitou Island, particularly a site on that island that is Perch Lake. And also Lily Lake on Isle Royale National Park.


RW: So what can we do to protect these places?


HEMPTON: There’s one action we can all participate in to save the vanishing quiet places of this country. And that is to pass a single piece of legislation that will create for the very first time these areas off limits to all aircraft over our most pristine national parks.


RW: Gordon Hempton is a professional sound collector and the author of: One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Quest to Preserve Quiet. Thank you so much.


HEMPTON: Well, all right, thank you Rebecca.


RW: You can hear some of Gordon Hempton’s work and his favorites on our website: environment report dot org. I’m Rebecca Williams.

Fish Farmers Add to Drug Resistance Problem

Fish farmers in some parts of the world are using large amounts of antibiotics to prevent infections. Some scientists are concerned that could cause problems for the industry and human health. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams explains:

Transcript

Fish farmers in some parts of the world are using large amounts of
antibiotics to prevent infections. Some scientists are concerned that could
cause problems for the industry and human health. The GLRC’s Rebecca
Williams reports:


Fish that are raised in farms can get stressed. That makes them more
susceptible to infections. Researchers are finding it’s common for farmers
to give their fish extra antibiotics to prevent illness instead of just
treating fish once they’re sick.


Dr. Felipe Cabello is the author of a report in the journal Environmental
Microbiology. He says the overuse of antibiotics in fish farming is leading
to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He says that could mean more infections,
not only in fish but also in people:


“I think as aquaculture increases, the antibiotic use is going to increase
in the industry and then this is going to bring an increase in antibiotic
resistance.”


Cabello says antibiotic use is especially heavy in developing countries,
where it’s mostly unregulated.


For the GLRC, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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State to Tighten Mercury Restrictions?

Illinois has joined the ranks of states that say federal mercury standards don’t go far enough. Governor Rod Blagojevich says he’ll tighten restrictions on his state’s 22 coal-burning plants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Robert Wildeboer reports:

Transcript

Illinois has joined the ranks of states that say federal mercury standards
don’t go far enough. Governor Rod Blagojevich says he’ll tighten
restrictions on his state’s 22 coal burning plants. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Robert Wildeboer reports:


Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich says he first became aware of the
dangers of mercury when his pregnant wife began limiting how much
fish she ate.


Coal-burning plants emit Mercury into the atmosphere. It eventually
ends up in the water supply, contaminating fish.


Blagojevich says current federal standards are inadequate. He wants
plants to contain 90 percent of the mercury pollution they create within 6
years.


“What we’re doing here today is protecting Lake Michigan. Our Lake.
Not just the lake of the city of Chicago, not just the lake of those of us
who live in Illinois, but the Lake that our whole country has come to rely
on and it’s critical for us to protect our natural resources, our lakes and
our rivers and our streams.”


Blagojevich says his proposed standards are among the toughest in the
nation. Critics say the extra financial burden could cause businesses to
move to neighboring states, but Blagojevich says he hopes other Great
Lakes states adopt similar measures.


For the GLRC, I’m Robert Wildeboer.


Host tag:


Illinois won’t adopt the proposed rules until they are approved by a state
legislative committee.

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Trash Burning Can Threaten Human Health

  • Burning trash smells bad and it can create the conditions necessary to produce dioxin. If livestock are exposed to that dioxin, it can get into the meat and milk we consume, creating health risks. (Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance)

For most of us, getting rid of the garbage is as simple as setting it at the curb. But not everyone can get garbage pick-up. So, instead, they burn their trash. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… that choice could be affecting your health:

Transcript

For most of us, getting rid of the garbage is as simple as setting it at the
curb, but not everyone can get garbage pick-up. So, instead, they burn
their trash. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports… that choice could be affecting your health:


(Sound of garbage trucks)


It’s not been that long ago that people everywhere but in the largest cities
burned their trash in a barrel or pit in the backyard. That’s not as often
the case these days. Garbage trucks make their appointed rounds in
cities, small towns, and in some rural areas, but they don’t pick up
Everywhere, or if they do offer service, it’s much more expensive
because the pick-up is so far out in the country.


Roger Booth lives in a rural area in southwestern Illinois. He says
garbage pick-up is not an option for him.


“Well, we burn it and then bury the ashes and things. We don’t have a
good way to dispose of it any other method. The cost of having pick up
arranged is prohibitive.”


He burns his garbage in the backyard. Booth separates bottles and tin
cans from the rest of the garbage so that he doesn’t end up with broken
glass and rusty cans scattered around.


A lot of people don’t do that much. They burn everything in a barrel and
then dump the ashes and scrap in a gully… or just burn everything in a
gully or ditch. Booth says that’s the way most folks take care of the
garbage in the area. No one talks about the smoke or fumes put off by
the burning.


“I haven’t ever thought much about that. So, I don’t suppose that I have
any real concerns at this moment. I don’t think I’m doing anything
different than most people.”


And that’s what many people who burn their garbage say.


A survey conducted by the Zenith Research Group found that people in
areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota who didn’t have regular garbage
collection believe burning is a viable option to get rid of their household
and yard waste. Nearly 45-percent of them indicated it was
“convenient,” which the researchers interpreted to mean that even if
garbage pick-up were available, the residents might find more convenient
to keep burning their garbage.


While some cities and more densely populated areas have restricted
backyard burning… state governments in all but a handful of states in
New England and the state of California have been reluctant to put a lot
of restrictions on burning barrels.


But backyard burning can be more than just a stinky nuisance. Burning
garbage can bring together all the conditions necessary to produce
dioxin. Dioxin is a catch-all term that includes several toxic compounds.
The extent of their impact on human health is not completely know, but
they’re considered to be very dangerous to human health in the tiniest
amounts.


Since most of the backyard burning is done in rural areas, livestock are
exposed to dioxin and it gets into the meat and milk that we consume.


John Giesy is with the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center at
Michigan State University. He says as people burn garbage, the dioxins
are emitted in the fumes and smoke…


“So, when they fall out onto the ground or onto the grass, then animals
eat those plants and it becomes part of their diet, and ultimately it’s
accumulated into the animal and it’s stored as fat. Now, particularly with
dairy cattle, one of the concerns about being exposed to dioxins is that
then when they’re producing milk, milk has fat it in, it has butter fat in it,
and the dioxins go along with that.”


So, every time we drink milk, snack on cheese, or eat a hamburger, we
risk getting a small dose of dioxin. Beyond that, vegetables from a
farmer’s garden, if not properly washed, could be coated with dioxins,
and even a miniscule amount of dioxin is risky.


John Giesy says chemical manufacturing plants and other sources of
man-made dioxin have been cleaned up. Now, backyard burning is the
biggest source of dioxins produced by humans.


“So, now as we continue to strive to reduce the amount of dioxins in the
environment and in our food, this is one place where we can make an
impact.”


“That’s the concern. That’s the concern, is that it’s the largest remaining
source of produced dioxin.”


Dan Hopkins is with the Environmental Protection Agency. He says,
collectively, backyard burning produces 50 times the amount of dioxin as
all the large and medium sized incinerators across the nation combined.
That’s because the incinerators burn hot enough to destroy dioxins and
have pollution control devices to limit emissions. Backyard burning
doesn’t get nearly that hot and the smoke and fumes spread unchecked.


The EPA wants communities to take the problem of backyard burning
seriously. It wants state and local governments to do more to make
people aware that backyard burning is contaminating our food and
encourage them to find other ways to get rid of their garbage.


“(It) probably won’t be a one-size-fits-all solution, but by exchanging
successful efforts that other communities have had, we should be able to
help communities fashion approaches that have a high probability of
success.”


But public education efforts are expensive, and often they don’t reach the
people who most need to hear them. The EPA is not optimistic that it
will see everyone stop burning their garbage. It’s not even a goal. The
agency is just hoping enough people will find other ways to get rid of
their trash that the overall dioxin level in food is reduced.


For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.

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Military Base Closure Contamination

Environmental issues may slow the re-development of
some of the military bases that are scheduled to close over the next several months. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Environmental issues may slow the re-development of some of the military bases that are
scheduled to close over the next several months. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach reports:


The defense department says many of the military bases to be shut down may have leaking fuel
tanks, construction debris, heavy metal contamination and other problems. The department’s
office of economic adjustment works with communities to sort through the long list of legal,
financial and environmental issues. These issues must be solved before a base can be re-developed.


Spokesperson Lynn Boese promises the defense department won’t just abandon the sites.


“The federal government can’t transfer the property until it’s been remediated so that there’s no
danger to human health or the environment.”


But Boese cautions that the feds typically only pay for clean up to so-called similar use standards.
If the bases are re-used for things such as homes or day care centers more clean-up would be
needed… and those costs could be passed on to someone else.


For the GLRC, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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Study: Farmers Suffer From Chemical Exposures

A study of more than 18,000 farmers shows a link between neurological symptoms and long-term exposure to agricultural chemicals. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

A study of more than 18,000 farmers shows a link between neurological symptoms and
long-term exposure to agricultural chemicals. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin
Toner reports:


The study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences included data on
farmers in North Carolina and Iowa. The farmers answered questions about lifetime
exposure to herbicides and insecticides, and about their history of neurological
symptoms.


Dale Sandler is chief of epidemiology for the NIEHS. She says 20 percent of the farmers
in the study experienced 10 or more neurological symptoms – some years after the
exposure.


“Dizziness, light-headedness, tremor, loss of vision, headache, fatigue. These are, as you
know, non-specific and people have these symptoms unrelated to pesticides, but they’re
also classic signs of pesticide poisoning.”


Sandler says the goal of the study is to find ways farmers can apply pesticides in a safer
way. She says future studies will look at links to long-term neurological diseases, such as
Parkinson’s.


For the GLRC, I’m Erin Toner.

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Dilemmas for Wastewater Treatment Plants

  • Water contamination from sources that might include some wastewater treatment plants closes some beaches. (Photo by Lester Graham)

Municipal sewer plants are sometimes blamed for high E. coli bacteria counts that close beaches to swimmers. Some cities are working to find better ways to treat the water and put it back into nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:

Transcript

Municipal sewer plants are sometimes blamed for high E. coli bacteria counts
that close beaches to swimmers. Some cities are working to find better ways to treat the
water and put it back into nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus
reports:


(sound of cars moving along a small street and a few people talking)


A typical summer day by the lake: SUVs pull boats on trailers. People saunter from an
ice cream shop to the city beach. Jet skis and water skiiers slice through the waves.
Carpenters raise trusses on homes being built into the remaining lakefront lots.


Just a few years ago it seemed towns like this were just for loggers and locals. But now
people are flocking to the lakes around the Midwest and staying there. And that’s putting
a strain on local sewer plants.


(sound of machines inside the water treatment plant)


For 40 years, the treated waste water from the Boyne City, Michigan sewer plant has
been released into the big lake it was built on…Lake Charlevoix.


“It’s located right adjacent to a public swimming beach, park, marina and some valuable
waterfront property. We are only a block off the downtown district.”


Plant manager Dan Meads wants to stop mixing the end product with the water where
tourists and the locals swim and play. He tests daily for E. coli bacteria. He
doesn’t want anyone getting sick. But it’s still a concern, and there are other concerns.


In recent years, the United States Geological Survey has reported on new kinds of
contaminants that they’ve found in ground and surface water. The USGS says treated
wastewater from sewer plants can contain hormones from birth control pills, antibiotics,
detergents, fire retardants, and pesticides.


USGS microbiologist Sheridan Haack says the effects of all these compounds are still
unknown. Most are found in tiny quantities, but combined they could cause any number
of chemical reactions.


“There are many different chemical structures and it would be very difficult to state for
all of them what we would actually expect the environmental fate to be and how they
would actually be transported through the environment.”


Haack says the medicines people take don’t disappear. They eventually leave the body
and are flushed down the toilet. Those drugs have been tested for safe human
consumption, but the question is: what happens when those chemicals are mixed in with
industrial waste, accidental spills and nature’s own chemical processes? Haack says they
just might come back around to hurt humans, fish and wildlife.


The Boyne City solution is to build a new wastewater treatment plant two miles from the
beaches up the Boyne River. Officials say contaminants will be diluted by the time they
flow back down into Lake Charlevoix.


(sound of the Boyne River)


Larry Maltby volunteers for a group called “Friends of the Boyne River.” The group
doesn’t like the city’s plan to discharge treated wastewater directly into the river. It wants
them to consider some non-traditional methods. They say the new sewer plant could run
a pipe under a golf course or spray the treated water on farm fields… or let it drain into
wetlands to let nature filter it out.


“It will seep into the soils which are very sandy and gravelly underneath the golf course
and then the filtration through the ground will have a great deal of effect of continuing to
purify that water. Much more so than it would be with a direct deposit, straight into the
surface waters of Michigan.”


Lawyers for the Friends of the Boyne River have appealed to the state dept of
environmental quality and filed a lawsuit.


But wastewater treatment plant manager Dan Meads says the city doesn’t want to please
just one group and end up angering another…


“There isn’t any guarantee that you can satisfy everybody. We think we have the best
option available.”


As municipalities are short on funds and personnel, they don’t want to wait for decades
for the perfect solution. Still, nobody wants any amount of pollution to affect their home
or their recreational area.


Sheridan Haack with the USGS won’t take either side in this dispute. She says not only
are the dangers from contaminants unknown, the best way to deal with them is unknown.


“I am not aware of any consensus in the scientific community on the nature or types of
treatment for this broad range of chemicals.”


In the meantime… communities such as Boyne City have the unenviable task of trying to
dispose of their residents sewage without polluting the beaches, the fishing, and the
environment that brought folks there in the first place.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris McCarus.

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STUDY: PBDEs FOUND IN SUPERMARKET FOOD

Researchers have found a potential toxin in our food. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has an update on the ongoing concern over brominated flame retardants:

Transcript

Researchers have found a potential toxin in our food. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mark Brush has an update on the ongoing concern over brominated
flame-retardants:


Brominated flame-retardants, or PBDEs are used to prevent fires in
everything from couch cushions to computer components. Several studies have
shown that there are higher amounts of these chemicals in Americans than in
people anywhere else in the world.


Researchers from the University of Texas recently tested 32 food items from major
supermarket chains in their area. They published their findings in the journal
Environmental Science and Technology. They found that all products with
animal fat in them, and one soy-based infant formula, were contaminated with PBDEs.


Dr. Arnold Schecter headed up the study. He says the human health effects have yet to
be understood:


“We don’t know whether these levels by themselves or in combination with
other chemicals could be causing human health effects. And, you know, we’re
particularly worried about the most sensitive population, before birth,
nursing infants, and the elderly, or people with special health problems.”


Experts say they’re concerned about these chemicals because they behave a
lot like PCBs, which are known to cause multiple health problems in humans.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.

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Doctors Publish Fish Buying Guide

Last month, the Federal Advisory Panel re-evaluated the food pyramid. The panel’s now saying Americans should increase the amount of fish they eat to two servings a week. But sorting through the various recommendations on how to avoid some contaminants in fish can be tricky. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports on a group of doctors, who say their new guide will help clarify the concern about mercury in fish:

Transcript

Last month, the Federal Advisory Panel re-evaluated the food pyramid. The panel’s now
saying Americans should increase the amount of fish they eat to two servings a week.
But sorting through the various recommendations on how to avoid some contaminants in
fish can be tricky. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports on a
group of doctors, who say their new guide will help clarify the concern about mercury in
fish:


Health officials continue to warn citizens about the dangers of mercury in fish. The EPA
indicates that eight percent of women of child-bearing age have elevated unsafe mercury
levels. Exposure early in life can damage the nervous system, leading to a variety of
learning disabilities.


Susan Marmagas is with the Physicians for Social Responsibility. She’s traveling the
country promoting a new wallet-sized guide to help consumers make informed choices.
She says the guide is stricter than federal guidelines.


“What we said is let’s make a very clear guide so that people can continue to eat fish as a
part of a healthy diet, but fish that are low in contaminants.”


Marmagas says the guide encourages the consumption of small fish, like tilapia and
halibut. These fish are at the bottom of the food chain, and therefore contain less
mercury.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lisa Ann Pinkerton.

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Epa Report: Mercury Contamination Widespread

More and more Americans are being warned that the local fish they eat could be contaminated with mercury and other toxins, according to a new report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:

Transcript

More and more Americans are being warned that the local fish they eat could be
contaminated with mercury and other toxins, according to a new report by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett
reports:


The EPA report reflects the number of state-issued fish consumption advisories. And
according to those advisories, more than a third of the nation’s lakes, and close to a
quarter of its rivers contain fish that could be contaminated. In addition to that, 100
percent of the Great Lakes and its connecting waterways are covered by fish consumption
advisories.


EPA officials say the increased warnings reflect better monitoring by states, and not
increased emissions.


But environmental groups are using the data to attack the Bush administration’s proposed
new mercury emission rules as doing too little, too late. Ed Hopkins is with the Sierra
Club.


“I’m sure that everyone would like to see mercury emissions reduced sharply, so that fish
are safe to eat again.”


The EPA is expected to issue new rules for mercury that would require coal-fired power
plants to reduce their emissions by 70 percent by 2018. By contrast, the Clinton
administration called for a 90 percent reduction by 2008.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.

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