Current Event 5/30/12

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/on-climate-change-its-money-vs-mouth/ This article is about how many big companies like ExxonMobil, General Electric, Caterpillar and Boeing all claim to support climate change science, but in reality go behind consumers backs and greatly contribute to politicians and research groups that deny threat of global warming. These companies put out in image to the world that they believe in as well as want to stop climate change. The Union of Concerned Scientists researched and found out that in actuality, these companies are donating large amounts of money to support groups and funds that try to play down global warming and its causes.

Current Event 5/16/12

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/a-new-tactic-for-climate-skeptics/ I chose this blog because just the other day we discussed and learned about the unabomber. The company, Heartland, used Ted Kaczynski on their billboard to stop global warming. The billboard read, “I still believe in global warming. Do you?” with a picture of his face right next to this saying. Within hours of the billboard being posted, it was taken down due to the shocked reactions of people passing by. The company has been known to use dramatic images and people to get their message across such as Charles Manson, Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee. The Heartland Institute does not apologize for the dramatic billboard and they "will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.”

Current Event 5/9/12

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/sipping-from-the-garden-hose-think-again/ The Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization, released a study talking about potentially hazardous chemicals in gardening tools. They tested around 200 gardening products, including hoses, gloves, kneeling pads and tools for lead, cadmium, bromine, chlorine, phthalates and bisphenol A. They found that two-thirds of the products tested had contained levels of one or more chemicals in the allowable amount for consumers. 30 percent of products tested contained lead exceeding the Consumer Product Safety Commission‘s standard of 100 parts per million for children’s products. To show how chemicals can move from garden hoses to water, the researchers left a section of garden hose filled with water out in the sun over multiple days. When the water was tested after being out in the sun, it was found to exceed federal standards for safe drinking water for several chemicals, including four times the standard considered safe for phthalates, 18 times that for lead and 20 times that for BPA. THe link above includes the video discussing the study and results.