Researchers discovered high levels of lead in water sources used in Flint Schools.

Researchers have been increasingly concerned about high levels of BPA in school lunches. Now, it seems like school water sources may also be dangerously contaminated.

Tests conducted at schools in Flint, Michigan, showed unsafe levels of lead in the water that had been sourced from a nearby river.

Uncovering High Levels of Lead

Water being sourced from the Flint River contained high levels of lead.
Image: M Live

The levels of lead found in Flint water sources were above federal safety standards. This could be partially caused by cuts to funding for the children’s lead-screening program.

A few years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had $29.2 million allocated to the program. The funding was then cut by 93 percent.

But cuts to the lead-screening program isn’t the only culprit.  In April 2014, the financially troubled city disconnected from Detroit’s water system, now known as the Great Lakes Water Authority, in an attempt to save money.

The city began using water from the Flint River, which had absorbed lead leaking from the pipeline. Although the budget went up to $15 million last year, the screening program for children was still cut by half.

A report from the National Center for Healthy Housing in Columbia, Maryland believes the spike in contamination is caused by the lower staff numbers, specifically for outreach and education in vulnerable populations.

“Funding goes up and down in waves,” said pediatrician Jennifer Lowry, director environmental health center at 301-bed Children’s Mercy Kansas City (Mo.) hospital, who participates in lead-screening in Kansas and Missouri.

“Kansas has no lead program,” Lowry said. “Missouri thinks it’s an important one to have.”

Effects of Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning causes serious health problems that disproportionately affect children in poverty.
Image: Asian Metal

Lead exposure can cause lower intelligence in children, lessen self-control in teens and cause criminal behavior in adults, said Professor T. Lyke Thompson, director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. The most frightening truth, however, is that the effects of lead poisoning can be permanent.

A 2011 Health Affairs analysis that calculated the societal costs of childhood lead poisoning, such as lower lifetime productivity, totaled $50.9 billion in 2008.

“Lead is ever-present in places where there is older infrastructure and older houses,” Thompson said. “You can deny its existence, but it will catch up to you.”

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint, compared the amount of lead present in children in 2013 to the presence in 2015. It was during this timespan that the city switched from Lake Huron water to Flint River water.

The amount of children in Flint with 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood doubled since 2015. The levels present in children in Genesee County were much lower, increasing only slightly. The children who are most affected are economically disadvantaged, living in lower-income housing.

“What’s sad is there is already a disparity in lead poisoning, but now the disparity is widening,” Hanna-Attisha said.

Combating The Contamination

Michigan will rebuild infrastructure to bring clean water from Detriot’s system into Flint schools.
Image: Deleware Liberal

On Thursday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder created a plan that would connect the city’s water system to Lake Huron. The plan would cost $12 million to funnel water from Detroit’s system.

The plan is one of many attempts to combat lead poisoning with an increase in government spending, which requires approval from the state legislature before it can be implemented.

When the CDC cut lead safety standards from 10 to 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood, the government cut its spending.

“When they reduced it to 5, that redefined half a million children as having an elevated level,” Lowry said. “That’s the same year they took all the money away.”

If children are found with high levels of lead in their blood, investigators often inspect the home to find the source and stop the exposure.

The study was frightening, but researchers hope Gov. Snyder will make a change to the Flint water system. Flint will begin using Lake Huron water until an 80-mile, $274 million pipeline that pulls water from Genesee County is up and running next summer.

“There is no safe blood level for lead, so let’s prevent the exposure from happening in the first place,” Lowry said.

The post Are America’s Children At Risk For Lead Poisoning? appeared first on Citizens Report.

Shell has decided to stop hunting for an Arctic oil source after the most recent Alaskan drilling project, Burger J well, yielded disappointing results.

Multinational oil and gas provider Royal Dutch Shell plans to stop hunting for new sources of oil in Alaskan waters. After a failed attempt that cost the company billions of dollars, Shell will no longer search for spots to set up Arctic drilling.

As usual, the defeat of one is the victory of another. Environmentalists, who tried to prohibit the not-so-green voyage for fuel, rejoiced at the announcement.

A Disappointing Exploration

Shell spent $2.1 billion to gain permission to check out a well in the Chukchi Sea but discovered an insufficient amount of fuel.
Image: G Captain

Shell was planning to initiate offshore drilling near the Alaskan coast to secure a site that would generate future profits. The company invested more than $7 billion in Arctic offshore exploration, specifically in a project called the Burger J well.

However, the company was disappointed after finding out the site didn’t contain sufficient quantities of oil and gas.

In 2008, Shell spent $2.1 billion to gain permission to check out a well in the Chukchi Sea, an area about 80 miles near the northwest coast of Alaska. A team of 28 ships drilled to 6,800 feet but discovered little fuel.

“Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and the U.S.,” Marvin Odum, president of Shell USA, said in The Hague, Netherlands. “However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome for this part of the basin.”

In a press announcement, the company has said they will halt exploring the Alaskan waters for “the foreseeable future.”

But the inadequate amount of oil in the most recent well isn’t the only reason that Shell is throwing in the towel. The company also cites “challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska” as an additional cause for calling it quits.

“The well will be sealed and abandoned in accordance with U.S. regulations,” according to the announcement.

Shell will be taking two oil rigs, the Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer, in a southward direction.

According to Shell spokeswoman Megan Baldino, the project workforce has yet to be relocated. However, it’s likely that stopping the project will result in a lessened need for staff, which is probably code for downsizing.

Reducing Risks For Arctic Animals

Originally environmentalists attempted to block the project, which could have damaged the Arctic’s fragile ecosystem.
Image: Polar Bears International

The Chukchi and Beaufort sea will be affected by the project abandonment. Margaret Williams of the World Wildlife Fund in Anchorage said the withdrawal is stunning.

“That’s incredible. That’s huge,” she said. “All along the conservation community has been pointing to the challenging and unpredictable environmental conditions. We always thought the risk was tremendously great.”

The exploration could have damaged the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic, causing increased greenhouse gases, crude oil spills and threats to polar bears, walruses and ice seals. In addition, environmental activists cite storms, shifting ice and extended dark months as dangers to the workers.

“Polar bears, Alaska’s Arctic and our climate just caught a huge break,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Here’s hoping Shell leaves the Arctic forever.”

The Nation’s Oil Dependency

The oil industry is beginning to change as gas prices drop and the public calls for cleaner energy sources.
Image: Washington Times

The federal permit allowing Shell to drill expired in September, giving the company one month to retreat before sea ice forms.

The Arctic waters possess an estimated 23 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Chukchi basin was seen as “a potential game-changer” by Shell officials. Using the oil from Arctic wells, Shell hoped to fuel America for 50 years.

The company drilled six wells so far, but originally planned to continue exploration for another year. The production process could have taken more than a decade.

The outcry from environmentalists is a stark contrast to sentiments from Alaskan officials, who supported Shell in hopes that the newly harvested oil could fuel the trans-Alaska pipeline, currently running at less than one-quarter capacity.

A growing demand has shifted in the oil industry as prices have dropped, along with increasing support for cleaner energy sources. The world will need another 10 million barrels of oil a day between 2030 and 2040.

“Areas like the Arctic are one of the areas that, if we’re going to be able to do this, we need to examine,” he said.

The post Shell Puts An End To Alaskan Oil Chase appeared first on Citizens Report.

Hundreds of thousands of American mines were unregulated and left abandoned. Metals like copper and lead leaked out of the rock and into nearby watersheds, creating unstable sites that could contaminate Western American groundwater.

The western region of the United States was untouched before thousands trekked far from home in search of the American dream.

These men wanted to build a life. They began to stretch out, swallow the land and use it for profit. Many were employed as miners, breaking into the earth’s rock day in and out to uncover valuable minerals.

The mines were largely unregulated during the great migration and subsequent industrial boom. Fast forward hundreds of years later and these regional mines are now abandoned, left to contaminate Western water sources with dangerous metals.

The Evidence of Contamination

Drainage from unmaintained mines has affected 40 percent of western watersheds thus far, but the real toll has yet to be calculated.
Via: Reveal News

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office released a report that found at least 161,000 abandoned hardrock mines in 12 western states and Alaska. These mines pose an environmental risk, with at least 33,000 leading to the contamination of surface and groundwater.

Drainage from these unmaintained mines has affected 40 percent of western watersheds. In Colorado, 230 mines have leaked metals into 1,645 miles of rivers and streams, according to The Department of Public Health and Environment.

In addition, 161,000 sites were identified as environmental risk factors, with 332,000 unstable areas that could decay, collapse and cause a toxic waste-water leak.

The contamination stems from a lack of regulation imposed on western mining sites and the site’s owners. When miners struck the rock, they released iron sulfide, which blended with air and pyrite and created sulfuric acid. The acid dissolved the rock and allowed metals like copper and lead to flow into the mine’s wastewater.

Despite the fact that there was knowledge of the worsening situation, no one was required to stop it.

“In the old days, there was very little control, and not much attention paid to control,” Ronald Cohen, an environmental engineer at the Colorado School of Mines, explained to public radio station KUNC.

The Clean Up

Earthworks action is only one environmental organization calling on regulators to clean up the abandoned toxic sites.
Via: Clean Up The Mines

Earthworks Action, an environmental advocacy organization, created a comprehensive list of all the currently identified abandoned mines and the issues that have stemmed from the lack of regulation.

The list includes sites in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Earthworks Action estimates that it would take $72 billion to fix the mess, which was allowed to worsen without restraint. And that’s not including the mines that have yet to be identified and investigated.

These mines not only contaminate the water supply. They also pollute soil, kill wildlife and harm humans. Since no one claims ownership to the mines, taxpayer money would most likely fund the clean up.

If 33,000 abandoned mines could end up to contaminating surface and groundwater and 332,000 unstable areas could collapse and lead to toxic exposure, government agencies have a lot of work to do.

The post Abandoned Mines Leak Metals Into Western American Water Supply appeared first on Citizens Report.

Environmental experts examined 38 contrarian climate science papers that are frequently cited in arguments against global warming. They found common errors present throughout climate change denial.

A contrarian is defined as “one who takes an opposing view.” When trying to denounce the idea of climate change, contrarians often refer to Galileo Galilei, a famed astronomer who often rejected the consensus.

Today, 97 percent of experts have reached a consensus about the existence of global warming, whereas about 2-3 percent disagrees with the majority. When scientists decided to explore contrarian theories, they found common errors across 38 research papers that deny climate change.

Examining Contrarian Papers

Contrarian science cites the sun, planetary cycles or ocean cycles, but there’s no consistent alternative reasoning that has been agreed on by all contrarians.
Via:ZME Science

Researchers compared contrarian climate science conclusions in a study published in the journal of  Theoretical and Applied Climatology. They attempted to replicate contrarian findings, but ended up realizing that many of the same mistakes appeared throughout the research.

The research was conducted by Rasmus Benestad, Dana Nuccitelli, Stephan Lewandowsky, Katharine Hayhoe, Hans Olav Hygen, Rob van Dorland and John Cook. The scientists used a tool to analyze the most popular research papers that was based on an R programming language.

“We specifically chose a targeted selection to find out why they got different answers, and the easiest way to do so was to select the most visible contrarian papers … Our hypothesis was that the chosen contrarian paper was valid, and our approach was to try to falsify this hypothesis by repeating the work with a critical eye.

If we could find flaws or weaknesses, then we would be able to explain why the results were different from the mainstream. Otherwise, the differences would be a result of genuine uncertainty,” according to Benestad, a lead study author. 

The tool checked research methods and results and found a few common themes:

• Cherry picking. To confirm their point, contrarians would often pick and choose certain pieces of data. They would round it or make conclusions based on vague ideas. The statements weren’t contextualized and didn’t properly portray the findings because key information was left out.
• Models couldn’t be reproduced. Climate contrarians argue their models can predict future climate change but were unable to show temperature changes in the past.
•  Curve fitting. If the data didn’t fit the theory, researchers stretched it out by taking different variables and making them fit a given curve. These curves didn’t represent physical reality.
• Reviving myths. Contrarians have brought back false research to revive climate change myths that have already been disproved.

Conclusions About Contrarian Research

Many world leaders continue to pump pollution into the atmosphere, using contrarian research to deny the effects of climate change.
Via: Church Militant

The study only examined the most popular contrarian papers, which means more errors could potentially be found if the study was expanded. Although these kind of methodological errors could also occur in research that supports climate change, the study concludes that these mistakes were the norm and not the exception.

Perhaps one of the most interesting arguments against contrarian research is that there is no other concise theory for what is happening to the planet. Contrarian science cites the sun, planetary cycles or ocean cycles, but there’s no consistent alternative reasoning that has been agreed on by all contrarians.

Human-caused global warming has a 97 percent expert consensus. Contrarians have contradicting theories and flawed methodologies.

“After all this, the conclusions were surprisingly unsurprising in my mind. The replication revealed a wide range of types of errors, shortcomings, and flaws involving both statistics and physics,” Benestad said.

The post Finding Common Flaws In Climate Change Denial Research appeared first on Citizens Report.

Alexis Benter

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has issued its latest recommendations, with some coming as a surprise to many consumers. For the first time the committee is urging Americans to consider “the impact of food production, processing, and consumption on environmental sustainability.” “Linking health, dietary guidance, and the environment will promote human health and the sustainability of natural resources and ensure current and long-term food security,” the committee says.

Eat Green

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has iterated that our everyday food choices affect global warming and the environment. They urge consumers to make better choices when grocery shopping because even small changes to what we buy and eat can help reduce global warming emissions, preserve our ocean resources and reduce toxic chemicals in the air, soil and water.

The NRDC offers its own guidelines to help consumers make healthier and smarter food choices.

Eat Lower on the Food Chain

Like the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the NRDC also recommends we eat less meat. Foods that come from higher on the food chain require extensive processing, which uses more energy and releases more pollution. The NRDC estimates that if we all eliminated just a 1/4 lb serving of red meat each week, the reduction in gas emissions would be the same as getting 4 million to 6 million cars off the road.

Buy Organic

Organic farming is safer for people and the environment because it uses no synthetic pesticides and fertilizers which contaminate the air, soil and water supply.

Compost Don’t Waste Studies estimate that the average household wastes 14 percent of the food it purchases, which inevitably ends up in landfills where it releases methane into the atmosphere as it decomposes. The NRDC urges consumers to only purchase foods they know they can eat before the expiration date, and to compost food waste instead of tossing it into the garbage can.

Buy Local

The Burberry Company

Buying local is not just about supporting local farmers. Although that’s great, it’s also about reducing the pollution and energy used to transport foods domestically and internationally.

The Meat Industry Weighs In

Beyond the fact that certain politicians have made it clear they oppose the new dietary guidelines, which fuse nutrition advice with environmental advocacy, heavyweights in the meat industry have also chimed in with their objections. They suggest that a dialogue about environmental sustainability was “outside the committee’s charter.”

The post New Dietary Guidelines Ask Americans to Start Thinking of the Environment appeared first on Citizens Report.

Alexandria Clark

Montana is no stranger to large oil spills. In July 2011, an oil pipeline burst and poured 63,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River. The same thing happened in January when another pipeline burst beneath the Yellowstone River and 50,000 gallons of crude oil leaked into the river again.

The Impact on Glendive Residents

Oil shone on the top of the water for dozens of miles. The small town of Glendive smelled of strong diesel. The local government told residents to avoid drinking the tap water because high levels of benzene contaminated the water supply. The municipal water plant cited that benzene levels were two to three times higher than what the Center for Disease Control considers a safe level to consume. This incident hurt many of those living in Glendive.

Residents flocked to their local grocery store and seized all of the remaining bottled water. Officials warned the town that it could be weeks before the water supply was safe to consume. It took Bridger Pipeline, the owner of the pipeline that burst, almost a week to bring in extra water for the citizens of Glendive.

The recent pipeline spill damaged many businesses in and around Glendive. The town benefits from the fish and farmland surrounding the Yellowstone River. The pipeline bursts changed the land forever by adding thousands of gallons of chemicals that are difficult and costly to clean up.

The Impact on Public Opinion

Following these two spills, many residents were concerned with the government’s recent approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would be an extension of the current Keystone Pipeline, which would run over the Yellowstone River. Despite the opposition, some argue that the extension presents benefits for the members of the surrounding communities.

“The State Department has affirmed the safety of the Keystone XL Pipeline. It’s important this job-creating project is approved,” said Montana Senator Steve Daines in an article from Al  Jazeera.

While the new pipeline would be safer, nothing is perfect, and many are concerned that it will present just as many risks as the old one. Using oil stop valves may also be an option to safely stop fluids like oil from spilling.

Building the Keystone XL Pipeline would undoubtedly produce jobs, but many residents in surrounding areas do not believe the jobs are worth the environmental risks and costs. The area of Eastern Montana has been a prime spot for many companies engaging in fracking. The practice reduced unemployment throughout Montana but has lead to significant environmental risks that some believe will contribute to climate change if the operation continues at its current rate.

President Obama has vowed to veto the extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline, but it is yet to be determined whether or not he will follow through with his promises. The town of Glendive will continue to struggle with these pipeline spills if more care is not taken to reduce them. The Keystone XL Pipeline will present a safer option, but it will not end the environmental and economic risks associated with oil pipelines.

The post Multiple Oil Spills in Montana Impact Residents and Politics appeared first on Citizens Report.

In4sport

It is no secret that “vegetarianism” and “veganism” have been on the rise in recent years. According to a New York Magazine article, “perhaps inspired by Jay Z and Beyoncé’s 22-day vegan diet or the recent outing of Al Gore as a ‘newly turned vegan,’ news outlets on both sides of the Atlantic [have already declared] 2014 ‘the year of the vegan.'”

And as the U.S. Department of Agriculture is getting ready to release this year’s dietary guidelines, there may soon be another push for the trend of Americans eating less meat. In the past, these guidelines (updated every five years) have advocated for overall healthier eating, but recently, the government is advising for the guidelines to also reflect the health of the environment.

Shrink that Footprint

Meat’s Environmental Impact

The production of meat contributes a large carbon footprint (release of greenhouse gases). Although Americans are now eating less meat than they have in the past, the deeply-embedded American diet includes an assortment of meat items (e.g. hamburgers, fried chicken, steaks). This comes with a huge environmental cost.

According to the Washington Post, “Carnivores contribute far more to environmental decay than do vegetarians.” The production of lamb, beef, and pork in the United States find their way to the top of the largest emission of greenhouse gases (CO2)–with a combined CO2 weight of 78.3 kilograms (Source: Environmental Working Group).

A recent study shows the environmental impact of beef, in particular, creates a lot of damage. The heavily-consumed red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than chicken or pork. With the animal’s large weight and complicated biology, an incredibly large amount of grains and/or grass is needed to feed them. Not to mention the amount of waste that is produced daily is enough to make one feel sick.

Dr. Tim Benton, professor at the University of Leeds, said the study uses national US data, and therefore, provides a good overview of the current situation.

“The biggest intervention people could make towards reducing their carbon footprints would not be to abandon cars, but to eat significantly less red meat,” Benton said.

Red Orbit

Meat’s Impact on Our Health

The question of whether or not the consumption of meat is harmful is still under research. This explains why the government advises Americans to eat leaner meat rather than decreasing their intake. The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are pushing for a lean-meat diet, afraid that international and government agencies will cut meat production considerably.

Today, there is a larger community of vegetarians and vegans than ever before, something that was unfathomable 70 years ago. The eating of meat is becoming increasingly less popular and this is due to known health factors that have emerged throughout the years.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest a diet containing protein foods that are lower in solid fats and calories. Fats from animal products (i.e. meat, eggs, dairy) are considered solid fats, whereas fats found in seafood and nuts are considered healthier oils.

The connection to heart disease and cancers also surfaces when discussing meat consumption.

A National Cancer Institute (NCI) study of 500,000 individuals suggested that those who ate the most red meat on a daily basis were 30 percent more likely to die due to a health cause during a 10-year period than were those who ate the least amount of the red meat.

In the past, meat has been made infamous due to associations with atherosclerosis (the hardening or clogging of the arteries), shortened lifespan (according to Harvard School of Public Health), the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes (report from JAMA Internal Medicine), and many more.

Not only are humans said to be at health risk as a result of the meat industry, but the very animals also suffer from maltreatment.

“From locking animals in tiny cages, to slicing parts of their bodies off without any pain relief, to genetically selecting them to grow so obese and so fast that many become lame, it’s by far the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world,” said Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States.

As the meat producers and lovers of all-things animal flesh await their fate, for now, just keep in mind all of the information mentioned. At the end of the day, it is up to the consumers to determine their own conditions of health–and that of the environment.

The post To Eat Meat, or Not to Eat Meat appeared first on Citizens Report.

Thanks to his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has helped to create a machine that has the potential to bring potable water to over 2 billion people globally.

The “Omniprocessor” is a machine that extracts water from sewage that’s piped into the treatment facility. The leftover dry sewage is then incinerated to generate steam, and this steam powers the entire machine.

To illustrate his faith in the project, Gates publicly drank a glass of water that, only minutes before, had been human feces.

As if turning waste into potable water wasn’t already a great idea, the energy produced by the extraction process is more than enough to power the machine, so the owner of these treatment facilities can actually turn a profit. Gates thinks the Omniprocessor would work particularly well in India and hopes that local governments and entrepreneurs will be interested enough to invest.

Gates has been on a mission to reinvent the toilet since 2012 when he offered a $400,000 prize to those who could pitch innovative ideas on how to solve the world’s sanitation crisis. Although he received many ideas from inventors, the Omniprocessor was unique in that it completely revolutionized the sewage treatment plant and, unlike many well-intentioned ideas, it actually delivers on its promise.

“The processor wouldn’t just keep human waste out of the drinking water; it would turn waste into a commodity with real value in the marketplace. It’s the ultimate example of that old expression: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Gates wrote in his blog The Gates Notes.

Featured image courtesy of: Orzzzz

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While many discussions about climate change, which Kerry pointed out is “violently affecting communities” worldwide, are had in a sort of doom-and-gloom tone, Kerry seemed optimistic and said that responding to climate change NOW offers an “unprecedented number of plusses, and frankly, almost no downside.”

Green Tech to the Rescue

In order to respond to climate change and see the largest impact in the shortest amount of time, everyone is going to have to get on board and make greener choices. The green technology emerging in 2015 will allow average yet conscientious consumers to gain control over their own carbon footprints. In other words, the jig is up, and anyone who gives a damn will no longer be able to say, “I don’t know what I can do to help the situation.”

Here are a few of the green technologies you can expect to see, and hopefully adopt, in the next year:

The Internet of Things

More consumers would develop efficient energy habits if they knew exactly how much energy they were using on a daily basis. Enter the ‘Internet of Things.’ In the very near future, your refrigerator and other appliances will be connected to the Internet and this will allow you to track your usage and reduce your energy bills significantly. Industry experts predict 2015 will be the year where more homes and business will rely on internet-connected products like smart thermostats.

Green Apps

Choosing to eat local, organic produce and boycott products containing environmentally-harmful chemicals is no longer a trend that is exclusive to celebrities. But with each passing year, this common sense mentality of wanting to make choices that positively affect the planet has become part of mainstream culture. Because of this, you can expect to see a plethora of apps (like iRecycle, which lets people know where they can properly dispose of just about any household item) that help “green” consumers make eco-friendly decisions.

Clean Technica

The Sun will Finally Have its Day in the Sun

Solar power technology has been emerging for decades, but 2015 could be the year that the sun will finally have its day in the sun. Known as artificial photosynthesis, the energy from sunlight can now be harvested and turned into fuels such as gasoline, ethanol and diesel. Though it won’t all happen this year, it is safe to say that in the near future, we will no longer have to depend on fossil fuels. Let’s see how the oil lobbyists respond to this good news.

Featured photo courtesy of: WordPress

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