Poisons+and+Hydrocarbons+703+mclark


 * Town of Basgo****, Maine** **Project**


 * Topics for Consultants**


 * Poisons and Hydrocarbons**:


 * __What are they?__**


 * __Why are they dangerous to us and the environment?__**


 * __How will development increase the chances of introducing more of these to the estuary?__**


 * __What suggestions do you have for controlling pollutants?__**


 * __What are they?__**

Hydrocarbons are unburned vapor from fuel or oils. These poisons are released into the air by industries that burn coal or oil, also oil spills release hydrocarbons into the air. Oil is natural so bacteria can break it down, however we spill more then the bacteria can break down.

Persistent Poisons are materials that we dump into the water cycle that don’t break down as easily as Hydrocarbons.

Metallic elements are metals that are in the environment naturally but only cause problems when humans dump huge amounts of it into the water cycle.

Organochlorines are organic compounds that are made in chains or rings of carbon atoms. These are almost the same as Hydrocarbons accept they have chlorine molecules attached.

POPs are persistent organic pollutants.The dirty dozen are a group of POPs that are extremely poisonous and dangerous. eight are pesticides including DDT. Two are PCBs (poly chlorinated biphenyls), and two are dioxins or furans.Dioxins and furans are poisons that go into the environment as a byproduct of some sort of industry like by burning or dumping. They are like smokestacks that are used in large industries. They release poisons into the air from doing an industry.


 * __Why are they dangerous to us and the environment?__**

Hydrocarbons and poisons are dangerous to the environment in many ways. Firstly when persistent poisons get into a body they hang around for a long time sometimes building up in the tissue. The building in the tissue is called bioaccumulation. Also when POPs get into a person or an animal’s body it may get absorbed into the fats of the animal or person. This is called biomagnification. When POPs get into a body they can cause very many health problems. Scientists don’t know a lot about POPs and how they affect us, but what they do know is scary stuff. They can sometimes make you ill and kill you. Mercury can affect vision, hearing, speech, movement, coordination, thinking, and behavior. Furans can affect nervous system, sense organs, immune system, liver problems, skin lesions, and can even affect reproduction. Dioxins can cause cancer, and organochlorine pesticides can cause cancer, birth defects, and it could damage organs.


 * __How will development increase the chances of introducing more of these to the estuary?__**

Many types of industries release poisons and hydrocarbons into the air. It is important to monitor this so people’s health and the environment’s health does not get ruined. Also another thing that development can do to introduce it to the estuary is that when families move into Basgo they have cars and SUVs. This is bad because the oil from the cars drip into parking lots and flow into the estuary and get into the water cycle. Also the fact that more people are there increases the chance of people getting rid of their waste illegally by dumping it into the wild river or the estuary. It also means more gas spills when people fill up their tank for their boat, lawnmower, snowmobile, or car.


 * __Some things that Basgo can do to control pollutants__**

When Basgo gets development they need to watch out for industries that produce dioxins or furans, these things ruin habitats, and cause many problems with your body.

Basgo should use a hydroelectric power plant because it is caused by water and is all natural. Tidally powered tidal plants cause decreasing numbers of shellfish and other edible seafood which would ruin their fishing industry.

When building the industrial park on the west side of the Wild River make sure that your industries do not burn coal or gas, and never use chemicals called PCBs (polychlorinated Biphenyls) because it can insert Hydrocarbons into the air which can cause very many problems.

A thing that may not be able to be controlled is that when families move in to Basgo to limit the amount of SUVs because they put more hydrocarbons into the air then other types of cars.

Make sure when you are filling up cars and SUVs in gas stations to get across to gas businesses to watch out for the small spills that happen when filling up cars.

Never make businesses that release mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic and copper into the air or water by burning or just dumping it out.

Never use pesticides

Never use incinerators to burn garbage or hospital supplies Basgo should make a collection center for people who do their own oil to drop off and be reused because oil is recyclable.

SOURCES

Here are the sources I used for this page

http://www.epa.state.il.us/air/vim/guide/air_pollution.html#problem http://www.recycleoil.org/more.html http://www.savebay.org/advocacy_SOTB06.asp http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html