In May 2002, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released an extensive report saying that, “there was a growing gap between the efforts to reduce the impact of business and industry on nature and the worsening state of the planet”  and that “this gap is due to the fact that only a small number of companies in each industry are actively integrating social and environmental factors into business decisions.”

The interests of a few (powerful, profit driven corporations) who have the ability to lobby our politicians here in the United States exert enormous influence on policy allowing them to get away with the continued harm to our t environment. The monetary gains of the few seem to outweigh the deeper concerns and well being of the many.

But the world has become more educated and thus concerned. We realize that we truly are in this together because it is our collective atmosphere….not only do we all require air to live, but clean air is imperative to our general health. We now have an awareness that what happens “over there” does impact us “here”.

Attempts have been made to address the issue of greenhouse admissions on a global level through treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was signed by nearly all nations at the 1992 mega-meeting popularly known as the Earth Summit and adopted by Parties to the UNFCCC in 1997 and the first phase was entered into in 2005.(1) It is discouraging to note the United States originally signed on but never ratified the protocol. Especially, because it is known we are the second largest polluter on the planet!

Indeed, the Kyoto Protocol was flawed. It did not require China and India to participate due to their status of being a developing country during the 150 yr. period of time that the world was producing greenhouse gases.(1) In light of our current statistics on the worst offenders, China being #1 and India #4, leaving them out of this equation harms the planet. Another flaw observed was that the protocol allowed countries to buy emission credits from less polluting countries in the first phase. The idea being we wanted to come up with a net amount of emissions. This bargaining chip mentality seemed a delay tactic for the worst offenders. 

China, USA and India….the world’s biggest producers of greenhouse emissions have never participated in the treaty. Other countries like Russia and New Zealand have dropped out. This means that the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol will cover only about 15% of global emissions. (1) Although admirable that other countries are hanging in there, if we are to seriously reduce emissions, we need to address the worst offenders, to understand the primary motivations for their continued poor performance and assist the transition to cleaner alternatives.

How has the United States cooperated in reducing emissions? 

We ratified the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) in 1987. (2). By ratifying the Montreal Protocol and its subsequent adjustments and amendments, the United States has committed to a collaborative, international effort to regulate and phase out ozone-depleting substances. The two ozone treaties have been ratified by 197 parties, which includes 196 states and the European Union, making them the first universally ratified treaties in United Nations history.(3)   

This international agreement led to an amendment of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in 1990 which authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to manage the phaseout of ODSs. (4)

 Data collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that air quality in the United States has continued to improve since the implementation of the Clean Air Act. This act created provisions to monitor six major air pollutants in the United States: carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. There are also a large number of secondary pollutants that the Environmental Protection Agency keeps an eye on as well.

We have seen the following improvements:

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Since 1980, ground level Ozone has dropped by 28%. 

Lead, one of the more dangerous industrial compounds that can be found in the air, has dropped by 89%.

Nitrogen Dioxide levels, which results from combustion appliances in the home, have fallen by 52% .

Sulfur Dioxide which is produced by the fuel combustion in automobiles and power plants, have dropped 83%.

Since 2000, Carbon Monoxide levels are down 51%.

Small Particulate Matter has fallen by 27%.

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The not so good news is that we continue to pump 60 million short tons of Carbon Monoxide into the atmosphere yearly. The truth is we have a long way to go. Coal generates 44% of our electricity in the US and is our single biggest air polluter. In addition it pollutes our land and water.

For alternatives see: Energy 

“Our reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear energy is destroying the earth that we live on. It threatens not only our future, but the future of life as we know it. We must stand behind, and shore up the regulations we have to prevent this; demand without compromise that new, better, regulations be enacted; and insist that the use of these energy sources be stopped.”

  Helen Caldicott,  MD

Helen Caldicott MD

 Co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and the 2003 winner of the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize. She recently established the Nuclear Policy Research Institute. Helen is a pediatrician and is one of the world’s most important authorities on the health effects of ionizing radiation. In this video, she speaks clearly, concisely and very powerfully about the real nature of what we are facing at Fukushima. 

Click Here  and  Here  

 “Because of the radiation involved, nuclear energy is the most dangerous and expensive way to generate electricity.  The United States is home to 23 GE Mark I nuclear reactors, the same model that underwent meltdowns in Fukushima. In 1972 engineers who worked on the Mark I design resigned because they knew [the reactors] were dangerous.“

  Helen Caldicott MD

Each year, in the United States, we produce 250 million tons of trash according to the EPA statistics gathered in 2011.

Of that, we recycle 87 million tons. That gives us a 34.7% recycling rate.

To give you an idea about our growing “wasteful” habits, in 1960 each person in the US threw away 2.7 lbs of trash a day. Currently we throw away 4.4 lbs. daily.

We have improved our recycling rates from 5.6% in 1960 to 34.7%. But we clearly have a way to go.

In 2011, we generated 3.41 million tons of e waste in the U.S.

Of this amount, only 850,000 tons or 24.9% was recycled, according to the EPA (up from 19.6 in 2010).

The rest was trashed in landfills or incinerators. 

These EPA numbers are for selected consumer electronics which include products such as TVs, VCRs,DVD players, video cameras, stereo systems, telephones, and computer equipment.

  Click Here 

United States

Large Scale Water Treatment Programs