Are they are environmentally unfriendly?

March 28, 2008 at 4:47 am (Environmental News)
I heard this the other day and have looked into it. finding nothing to say this wrong I need to share it will you ..

The New energy saver Light globes you know the ones with the funny globe.well they are as you would know are flourescent,

flourescent bulbs have been linked to increasing siezures in epileptics and other health issues, however this is not my issue with these bulbsit is the content of mercury contained within them which is of concern.

I had no idea that this was the case and although they are of saving the planet credentials, at what cost I ask?

Here is a story I have found at Reuters Mercury in energy-saving bulbs worries scientists

The Story is as follows:

By Lisa Von Ahn
NEW YORK (Reuters) - There's an old joke about the number of people it takes to change a light bulb. But because the newer energy-efficient kinds contain tiny amounts of mercury, the hard part is getting rid of them when they burn out.
Mercury is poisonous, but it's also a necessary part of most compact fluorescent bulbs, the kind that environmentalists and some governments are pushing as a way to cut energy use.
With an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and with Wal-Mart alone hoping to sell 100 million this year, some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps.
Mercury is probably best-known for its effects on the nervous system. The Mad Hatter in the classic children's book "Alice in Wonderland" was based on 19th-century hat makers who were continually exposed to the toxin.
Mercury can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.
U.S. regulators, manufacturers and environmentalists note that, because CFLs require less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, they reduce overall mercury in the atmosphere by cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants.
But some of the mercury emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain more readily than inorganic elemental mercury released directly from a broken bulb or even coal-fired power plants, according to government scientist Steve Lindberg.

"Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Continued

The story continues so please visit the link and read on.. it is enlightening do you think we might be cutting of our noses despit our face could this cause more problem than they solve?

Your thoughts welcome

Stop the Cull!

Australia is wonderful country, with its great people and diverse creatures it truly is wonderous place, but every once in a while we do stupid and horrid things much like anywhere else in the world.
This is one of those times.. click here to sign the Petition
Contractors are being brought to Belconnen a former navel base in Canberra, to kill around 400 kangaroos and stop them over grazing. news report is as follows:




SYDNEY (AFP) -- Australian animal rights activists vowed Wednesday to prevent the planned killing of more than 400 kangaroos on defence department land after the government refused to intervene.

"We are going to blockade the gates 24 hours a day from Saturday so they can't get in and kill them," Pat O'Brien, president of the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, told AFP.

Contractors are preparing to cull the animals on a former naval site at Belconnen in the national capital Canberra to protect native grasslands from overgrazing.

The authorities have turned down an alternative plan to relocate the kangaroos, citing expert advice that this would be inhumane.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett rejected accusations by some activists that the government was being hypocritical by failing to protect kangaroos while taking a strong stand against Japan's whaling programme.

"Our views on whaling are clear and we will continue to resolutely oppose the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean," he told reporters.

"A balanced and properly scientifically delivered programme to ensure that we preserve and enhance our environment and our ecology and our wildlife is pretty good policy as far as I am concerned."

The plan is to shoot the kangaroos with tranquiliser darts and then administer lethal injections.

There was an international outcry in 2004 when about 900 kangaroos were destroyed at the site of a dam supplying water to Canberra, and the latest cull has also drawn fire from abroad.

British-based animal welfare group Viva, which has the support of former Beatle Paul McCartney, has launched a petition against the cull and says on its website that it has received support from people in 25 countries.

Millions of kangaroos are killed in Australia every year, but O'Brien said the Canberra kangaroos were a special case because they were trapped by the defence department fences and could not move to the wild even if they chose to.

"There is a commercial kangaroo kill which we are also working very hard to stop," he said. "They are killing about three-and-a-half million kangaroos this year.

"The meat is sold for dog's food or exported to France, Germany and Russia mostly. It's just a terrible, terrible industry."

The rationale behind the killing was that there were too many kangaroos, he said.

"But four years ago they were saying there were 65 million kangaroos in Australia, now they're saying there are only 20 million. We've had 10 years of heavy drought and incessant heavy commercial shooting."

As stated even Paul McCartney is getting in on this if they removed the fences the kangaroos would move on, they could relocate them, but to say this would inhuman is ridiculous what letting them live is more inhuman than killing them well thats just stupid dont you think.

Click to find out how to help stop this murdering of a National Icon and save innocent creatures trapped by fences

Click here to sign the Petition today