tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-229714752009-07-05T20:58:13.024-04:00This is the official blog for EnvironmentalChemistry.com, which provides chemistry, environmental and hazardous materials news, information & resources.Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-86717169722880150452009-06-07T10:39:00.007-04:002009-06-07T10:59:44.711-04:00

For many Digg.com users, the removal of Digg's shout feature also meant they lost the ability to share articles and communicate privately with their Digg friends. While not an ideal solution, one work around to the loss of the Digg shout feature is to use Twitter.Create a Twitter profileTo effectively use Twitter, however, you first need to create a Twitter account that uses the same user name

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-20215076441858211392009-05-28T15:21:00.004-04:002009-05-28T15:46:40.500-04:00

In the past couple of years there have been a lot of product scares about lead in various products imported from China. But one product that normally contains lead that no one ever thinks about is garden hoses. Yes, for the most part the majority of garden hoses contain lead. The reason is that lead is used during the manufacturing process as a stabilizer for the PVC used to make the hose.

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-38222845080032442742009-05-22T13:44:00.000-04:002009-05-22T13:50:24.825-04:00

It is the season to start vegetable garden in the northern hemisphere and organic gardening is all the rage. As I've been planning and working on our garden I've been pondering the merits and limits of organic gardening. Something I've been thinking about is whether organic gardening is necessarily eco friendly gardening. To be an "orthodox" organic garden, one must use: certified organic

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-55293116220965268742009-05-17T08:48:00.003-04:002009-05-17T11:22:47.985-04:00

Like so many folks on the Internet I have been building up social networks on various social networking sites. One of my favorite haunts is Digg. I like Digg because it is oftentimes a good way to find news articles and blog posts on issues I am interested in (progressive politics and environmental issues). Many of the articles I read there are shouted to me by the "friends" I have built up in

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-27918090439769417202009-05-14T12:34:00.004-04:002009-05-14T19:11:13.428-04:00

Recently, I noticed my Senator, Susan Collins (Maine, Republican), had introduced a bill called the "Energy Assistance Fund Act" (S.855) whose purpose is to help make the U.S. more energy independent by improving the energy efficiency of homes via weatherization (a really big issue here in Maine) and providing tax credits for consumers to invest in renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal,

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-89224418061070641802009-05-02T12:19:00.003-04:002009-05-02T12:36:43.328-04:00

For almost two years I have been working on starting a new section to EnvironmentalChemistry.com that would focus on building green homes and doing eco renovations. The challenge has been to find the right projects to document. Well after some false starts and frustrating delays I am happy to announce our first project and accompanying series of articles under our new "Go Green" section. At

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-56436945595771460712008-05-09T12:43:00.000-04:002008-05-09T12:46:08.759-04:00

Once again Apple ranked dead last on an environmental organization's survey of electronics manufacturers. One year ago (April 2007), Green Peace ranked Apple dead last on their survey of electronics companies because of Apple's secretiveness about their environmental practices and their failure to disclose measures they were taking to remove hazardous chemicals from their manufacturing processes

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-23700686181713929942008-05-03T00:15:00.003-04:002008-06-10T14:17:44.450-04:00

Fuel tax breaks are nothing but election year panderingPoliticians are nothing if not creative when it comes to political pandering without bringing real relief. The latest proposals to cut fuel taxes during this summer (e.g. before the election) is just such example. The claim is that this will save Americans eighteen cents per gallon or $3.60 per 20 gallon tank of gas. This makes for great

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-21794203014213650372008-04-14T08:57:00.003-04:002008-04-14T09:08:13.146-04:00

Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, developmental delays and intellectual retardation are among the neurodevelopmental disorders that extract an enormous emotional, mental and financial toll in terms of compromised quality of life and lifelong disability. Additionally, these require special education, psychological and medical support services that drain resources and contribute to further

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-40115472827380999122008-03-10T12:36:00.009-04:002009-07-01T08:18:50.432-04:00

Like many users of EnvironmentalChemistry.com, we use Firefox as our primary web browser. I've been using Firefox since 2003 when it was known as Firebird and along the way I started customizing the default Firefox theme to reduce the amount of vertical space used by menus, toolbars, etc. When Firefox 2.0 was released in 2006 I had to rebuild my theme to make it compatible with Firefox 2.0.

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com110tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-49097829672957699652008-02-11T10:32:00.000-05:002008-02-11T10:36:54.548-05:00

Whatever their motivation - be it energy independence for the U.S. or an attempt at fighting climate change for Europe - world governments are now heavily subsidizing biofuels. U.S. President George Bush pledged up to $150 million for work on cellulosic ethanol in his 2006 State of the Union address, and as recently as March 2007 he visited Columbia to convince the Brazilian and Columbian

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-7305559806135320402007-12-28T16:26:00.000-05:002007-12-28T18:31:37.713-05:00

Yes it has been a long time since I posted a new blog article on our editor's blog and there is a reason for this. As some may recall I wrote a couple of articles about my participation in the Internet search for Steve Fossett, which was being hosted by Amazon's Mechanical Turk. After Amazon called off their Internet search effort there was a core group of us who did not want to see the

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-80296705135615320852007-10-31T16:04:00.000-04:002007-10-31T16:06:14.332-04:00

After eight weeks, the Internet search for Steve Fossett, which I have been participating in, via Amazon's Mechanical Turk has been called off (although other search efforts continue). Back on Sept. 18, 2007 I wrote with great enthusiasm how I thought this type of collaborative effort to review satellite photos via the Internet could revolutionize search and rescue (see: "Using the Internet to

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-19610401625111089842007-10-29T10:03:00.000-04:002007-10-29T10:06:13.957-04:00

When I embarked upon my recent trip to China, I was ready for the worst in terms of pollution. I had been told that tap water was not only not potable, but also not suitable for bathing because it was so murky that nobody would want to bathe in it. (Showers were considered to be ok). I guess they figured the impurities would just roll off. We were told to take dust masks with us so that we

Robertahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00139946521278729742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-85446610956802082372007-10-22T21:00:00.000-04:002007-10-22T22:29:46.446-04:00

Twelve years ago today, on October 22, 1995, I started what would eventually become EnvironmentalChemistry.com. I remember the day quite well. I was attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a non-traditional student and after relentless badgering from one of my friends, I had been finally goaded into creating a website. This was before the heady days of the dot com bubble. It was also

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-22976706604416308462007-10-18T09:08:00.000-04:002007-10-18T09:10:04.069-04:00

I just returned from the World Special Olympics Summer Games in Shanghai, China, where one of my riding students was representing the U.S. Special Olympics Equestrian Team. In the coming weeks I will be writing about China's environmental accomplishments and shortcomings, but today I wanted to share my Olympic experiences. The Special Olympics Summer World Games in Shanghai took center stage in

Robertahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00139946521278729742noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-24744131915858900842007-10-16T14:24:00.000-04:002007-10-16T20:03:14.778-04:00

One of the things that always amazes me is how poorly non-profit environmental organizations understand Fair Use clauses of the copyright law and how frequently individuals (even leaders) of these organizations plagiarize from others when writing their own articles. In our case, articles we publish on EnvironmentalChemistry.com have been frequent victims of copyright infringement and/or

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-15040351348661388452007-10-15T09:43:00.000-04:002007-10-16T13:55:54.996-04:00

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a consortium of 13 counties in Western Pennsylvania will be hosting the nation’s foremost annual conference for first responders, counter-terrorism professionals, emergency managers, and medical, law enforcement and industry personnel in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on December 2-5, 2007.According to the U.S. EPA's press release for this conference, more than

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-78135419635755945022007-10-10T15:32:00.000-04:002007-10-10T15:33:39.745-04:00

I just received in my email a notification that Floyd Landis plans to appeal his case that we have written so much about to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).In announcing his decision to appeal his case, Floyd Landis wrote:"Knowing that the accusations against me are simply wrong, and having risked all my energy and resources – including those of my family, friends and supporters – to

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-75210058927604818792007-09-24T07:10:00.000-04:002007-09-24T19:39:00.502-04:00

Too often the discussion of renewable energy development focuses on climate change (aka global warming) to the exclusion of other equally important environmental, national security and social justice concerns. While yes, climate change is a serious concern (in spite of what the skeptics try to portray), we need to invest in and not unduly burden the development of renewable energies like wind and

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-16194078299139300232007-09-22T10:43:00.000-04:002007-09-22T11:03:33.948-04:00

Jacquelyn Guiseley of Raymond Maine and our very own Roberta Barbalace are packing up and headed off to China to participate in the upcoming Special Olympics which will run from October 2 through October 11. Jacquelyn will be representing the United States as part of the U.S. Special Olympic equestrian team and is one of four members of the U.S. Special Olympic team who are from Maine. Roberta

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-77659402266148808782007-09-21T14:11:00.000-04:002007-09-21T20:49:36.637-04:00

Yesterday (9/20/2007), the National Park Service's Appalachian Trail Superintendent Pam Underhill of West Virginia, stated that global warming was "irrelevant" while testifying in opposing to the placement of Maine Mountain Power's proposed 18 wind turbines on Black Nubble Mountain near Sugarloaf Maine. Underhill, who was testifying in her official capacity as a NPS superintendent front of

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-70250682138698658092007-09-20T17:45:00.000-04:002007-09-21T08:29:47.323-04:00

"Whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. . . So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches . ." Luke 16:10.1. From the beginning, the Laboratoire National de Dépistage et du Dopage ("LNDD") has not been trustworthy. In this case, at every stage of testing it failed to comply with the procedures and methods for

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-66047475131101039612007-09-18T08:22:00.000-04:002007-09-19T15:23:59.534-04:00

For over a week now I have been participating in the Internet search for lost aviator Steve Fossett using Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk and Google Earth. The premise is simple. Via Mechanical Turk, anyone anywhere in the world who has an Internet connection can help in the search for Steve Fossett by joining Mechanical Turk and reviewing little squares of updated satellite photos which represent

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22971475.post-39036767245280355372007-08-24T16:27:00.000-04:002007-08-24T16:45:44.662-04:00

I have been stewing all week on the dog fighting allegations against the NFL Quarterback Michael Vick. When I listen to the outcry in some quarters not to ban him from the NFL (after all, he didn't murder someone) and then look at our three month long wait for a decision from the arbiters in 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis' drug doping hearings (see my post: " Floyd Landis verdict update

Ken (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07434682840236999820noreply@blogger.com32