Clearing the Air: Chemical Pollutants
Sunday, 14 June 2009 12:51
Enea
In the middle of winter, it's easy to assume that those dull headaches, raspy throats and stuffy noses are just another bout of flu or the common cold, but those symptoms could also be triggered by irritating chemicals inside your home. Furthermore, there are some indoor air pollutants that you may not be allergic to but still pose other, less obvious health risks in the long term. Evicting these sneaky houseguests is extremely important during the short days and long months we spend cooped up inside. A 2003 study published in Environmental Science & Technology and conducted by the Silent Spring Institute, an environmental health organization, found 66 endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), which interfere with reproductive function in animal studies, in the vacuum-cleaner dust of all the 120 homes studied. In a 2005 study by Clean Production Action, a Canadian-based nonprofit, researchers found EDCs, including phthalates, alkylphenols, pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organotins and perfluorinated compounds, in the vacuum-cleaner dust of all 70 homes they tested.
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Clearing the Air: Biological Pollutants
Sunday, 14 June 2009 12:49
Enea
When the weather outside is frightful and the fire inside delightful, it's so tempting to curl up on the couch and avoid the nasty winter air. But after a few hours, you may feel the beginnings of a dull headache, perhaps a raspy throat or a stuffy nose, maybe a little nausea. You might think it's just another bout of flu or common cold, but if the symptoms persist, they may actually be due to allergens or irritants you're inhaling indoors. Pesky yet omnipresent biological matter—mold, mildew, animal dander, dust mites, cockroaches and pollen, to name just a few—can spell misery to the more than 50 million Americans suffering from asthma and allergic diseases, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Furthermore, untreated allergies can lead to other illnesses like sinusitis and ear infections, and it's important to treat the symptoms while ridding your space of these triggers.
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Effects of Global Warming
Sunday, 14 June 2009 12:48
Enea
And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future. They’re happening right now. Signs are appearing all over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move. Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening. - Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
- Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
- Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
- Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
- Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
- Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Administration of crisis and Albania
Sunday, 26 April 2009 20:05
Enea
Let us carefully consider where is standing Albania in the swirl of crisis of developed countries. It is clear that the actual financial crisis is not our crisis. This means that architecture of Albanian banking system and in this case the low level of development of banking system has let Albania divided and passed by crisis. It is more or less a paradox, but in this case backwardness comes out to be an immune element toward problematic of actual crisis of financial markets. In fact it is a difficult situation for the developed countries. Albanian banking system has not the real factors that can escort or mix such a crisis in country. As our country has had a relatively long period of economical growth in high rates (6-7% per year), this has caused the crediting of banking system to be concentrated in functioning of direct crediting of private business in country, as motor element of economical growth of country.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 April 2009 20:07 )
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