Who is our nation’s biggest polluter?

According to the Washington Post, it’s the US Defense Department.

According to a recent report, the Defense Department has refused to sign agreements required by law to allow Environmental Protection Agency officials to oversee cleanup of 12 military sites on American soil.

At Fort Meade, located in Maryland, toxic chemicals are being dumped into the soil and contaminating groundwater.  This is causing, and I quote, “imminent and substantial dangers to public health and the environment.”

Regarding other military branches, cleanup efforts have been mixed.  While the Navy has taken certain responsibility for their dirty sites, the Air Force has not signed an EPA agreement in 14 years.

Despite the threat of $28,000 fines per day, the Pentagon continues to ignore their duty to protect the health and well being of the citizens they’ve vowed to protect.

Check out some more of the country’s worst polluters here.

Photo by Citizen110.

Full LA Times article here.

Green Air Filter:

A recent information blitzkrieg has stormed the Green arena on companies like Enviance and GreenCore Technology Inc. working to help the army reduce its munitions emissions as they’ve been pegged as one of the world’s largest climate offenders in their role as democracy defenders.

Where is this coming from?  Could it be our President is as concerned about the damage he’s doing to the earth as he is about obliterating its inhabitants?

The whole idea is like a mushroom cloud of contradictions fraught with government contracts for Green defense technology that screams of misguided agendas.  With the amount of time and resources our country spends on soaking up the top graduating physicists from MIT to work on defense initiatives or purchasing solar air conditions to meet the requirements of the Naval Research Laboratory’s 365 days/year of air conditioning, it’s astounding to think how this flow of intellectual energy and finances could be diverted to prevent any of these problems from happening in the first place - climatological or ideological.

Photo by kig1309.

Full New York Times article here.

Green Air Filter:

One rising trend in the business world in recent years has been to develop amiable relationships with charitable organizations. In the past, these collaborations were seen as publicity stunts to help corporations come off less overarching and less evil. Now they are also seen as viable business ventures.

In the past 2 decades, the World Bank has invested up to $400 billion in 7,000 different environmental projects. But according to the latest internal reviews, many of these projects have not been followed through. Big business should keep in mind that there exists an original purpose for these environmental projects that is not just free publicity and a boost for the economy.

Photo by Jeevs Sinclair.