michigan – Alternative Energies

Aura Bogado
article
flint-mike
January 11, 2016
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Map shows how Michigan’s lead problem extends far beyond the Flint water crisis

Flint is Michigan’s poster child for environmental disaster — a crisis that could have been avoided. As my colleague Raven Rakia has pointed out, lead exposure, which causes an array of health problems and is especially bad for children, is completely preventable. But that doesn’t mean that those responsible for public health do their jobs. In Flint, a city that’s nearly 60 percent black and where more than 42 percent of residents live below the poverty line, officials switched to a cheaper water source. That source was cheaper for a reason: The water was polluted and corrosive. So it leached lead from the old pipes when they piped it in. That burdened local residents with water that’s been making them sick for more than a year. But high levels…

Rebecca Leber
cities
climate
January 3, 2016
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The EPA’s role in Flint’s water crisis

This story was originally published by The New Republic and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in recent weeks has come under intense pressure over the water crisis in Flint, Mich., which was precipitated two years ago when his administration, in an effort to cut costs, changed the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The move led to a dangerous increase in lead in the water supply; just 5 parts per billion is cause for concern, especially for children, but Flint’s tap water has had five times that amount. And yet, officials insisted until late last fall that the water was safe for its 100,000 residents to drink. In response to a public outcry, Snyder has released…

Raven Rakia
children
council
January 2, 2016
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The real heroes of the Flint water crisis

On Sunday night, while smart people were probably doing anything other than watching the Democratic debate — good for you — I sat through two hours of the candidates praising themselves for not being Republican. It wasn’t until the very end that one of the current greatest environmental disasters in the U.S. was mentioned: the Flint water crisis. In case you’re Marco Rubio and haven’t heard about the crisis that has finally made its way onto every major news outlet: Flint’s water is poisoned. And it’s been poisoned for months — possibly for over a year. The city’s water supply has high levels of lead, caused by corrosive water from the Flint River deteriorating pipes. Children are showing high levels of lead exposure — which…

admin
america
american
January 2, 2016
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Stormy weather ahead for wind farms?

Researchers will study the vibrations of wind turbines at a large Chilean wind farm along with health impacts on nearby residents. The goal is to make wind turbines more acceptable. Currently, scientists lack sufficient understanding of wind turbines’ noise and best ways to mitigate the effects, they say.