Pollution is found not only in the natural environment, but also in your own home and work, regardless of where you live or what you do for a living. But how does one gage their own personal exposure to these pollutants and toxins?

The only way to quantify your exposure to known toxins is to have a wide-spectrum blood test done. This has been done for people who suffer cases of acute exposure as well as by journalists investigating the pervasiveness of chemical exposure. However, these tests are very expensive – more than $10,000 dollars in 2005 as reported by National Geographic.

What such tests don’t tell you is how these chemical interact together in your body, since no one actually knows. You can, however, get a general idea of the sources of contamination by taking stock of all the places where you encounter pollution, including:

• air pollution
• water pollution
• soil pollution
• food residues
• bio-accumulated toxins
• fragrances, additives and other chemical additives
• industrial waste
• pharmaceutical drugs

How to Gage Your Pollution Exposure Risk is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

If you’re looking for pollution, you’re in luck. It’s everywhere. Pollution is present in the air in the form of carbon dioxide that causes climatological chaos, CFCs and methane that destroy the protective ozone layer, sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain and smog, not to mention all the other chemicals that contribute to respiratory ailments and cancers. You’ll find it in the soil, deposited as it falls from the air and lingering for decades after being applied to croplands or washed into the silt of riverbeds in North America’s most seemingly pristine estuaries. Pollution is also found in the water, making ground-level pollution mobile, taking raw discharge from factories and sewage plants. That’s just to name a few – you simply can’t get away from it.

Once it was reasonable (though naive) to think that the skies and ocean were large enough to dilute anything human beings could collectively throw at it. However, the Earth has been shown to be an effectively closed system that can no longer handle the number of people or the polluting waste that we toss out.

Basic Types of Pollution and Where to Find It is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

Pollution doesn’t only affect human health directly. It also has a tremendous impact on the natural environment and the organisms that inhabit it. This is especially true for endangered and threatened species that rely heavily upon specialized environments or lie high upon the food chain. Whether as a consequence of habitat destruction, direct poisoning that kills outright or the invasion of invasive species, pollution is directly or indirectly responsible for exterminating and creating endangered species.

By the onset of the 21st century, there were no parts of the Earth free from some type of chemical pollution. Furthermore, the threat posed by atmospheric pollution and climate change threatens to degrade and destroy habitats for creatures from polar bears to plankton.

Were that not enough, these threats tend to multiply. Amphibians are one example: pesticide poisoning of the water weakened their natural immunity to fungus that has already wiped out several species and critically endangered many others.

How Pollution Affects Endangered Species and Bio-Diversity is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

Perhaps one of the most concerning things about the predicted course of climate change over the next century is the likelihood of rising sea levels. It is thought that by 2100, the melting glaciers and ice caps could rise the level of oceans all over the world by as much as 3.4m/11 feet.

While this may not sound like a particularly large rise in sea level, consider that the 20mm (about inch) rise in sea levels that have already been observed in the last 150 years have been already been responsible for the submergence of several South Pacific islands and atolls.

The engine that drives this is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and the one that has the greatest impact in the early 21st century is carbon dioxide. This is one of the primary by-products of the burning of fossil fuels, which are responsible, in large measure, for the massive increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Rising Sea Levels and Carbon Dioxide Pollution is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

It is well known that the majority of pollution is caused and emitted by the most developed nations. North America, in particular, is responsible for a large portion of both chemical and greenhouse gas emissions. This is partly due to the relatively high standard of living that is enjoyed here which includes transportation, heating and cooling, as well as the high rates of meat and dairy consumption.

By way of comparison, the majority of the world’s population lives in areas where the consequences of pollution are felt more keenly. This is partly due to a disproportionate distribution of wealth and living standards. It is also partly due to the closer relationship that people living in Africa and Asia have to the natural environment. This situation is not likely to change anytime soon, given the global nature of pollution spread, that knows no boarders.

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The spread of pollution affects both humans and wildlife worldwide. However, unlike human beings who are capable of surviving just about anywhere, most species are reliant upon specific environments for their survival.

Climate change, for instance, has already been responsible for changing the distribution of species worldwide. Many of these organisms, whether on land, air or sea, are unable to simply pack up and follow where the conditions they are adapted to are moving. Animals that rely upon conditions at the poles, for instance, are finding that there is nowhere to go, even if they are relatively mobile.

More directly, chemical and radioactive pollution that is now found in every ecosystem on Earth is making these species less able to compete. Whether it’s fish and mammals that rely upon water at a specific temperature or a unique delivery of nutrition, reproductive health and overall fitness suffers as a result of these pollutants.

How Pollution Contributes to Extinction Pressure is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

With the gas prices being so high, more and more people are becoming aware of how valuable energy is in our daily lives. Hybrid cars show how energy can be conserved and pollution reduced. The cleanest non hybrid car can put about 90 percent smog pollution in the air versus the hybrid.

The Honda insight was the first hybrid on the US market in 1999. It is electrically powered and can go 61 mpg on city roads and 70mpg on the highway. Then in 2000, Toyota brought the Prius to the market, it goes 52 mpg in the city and around 45 mpg on the highway. The Honda Civic hybrid came out in 2002 with 46mpg on city roads and about 51mpg on the highway. Since then there have been other hybrid models such as, the Chevy Silverado, the Dodge Ram pickup and the Ford Escape SUV.

Hybrids are more efficient for a number of reasons. For one, the battery of a hybrid lasts longer. It is equipped with two energy supplies- the gas and electricity. The car is made of lighter materials, that means less energy is used. The engine in a non-hybrid is heavier so it requires more power to accelerate and to go up an incline. And with a hybrid there are fewer cylinders.

Hybrids have less internal machinery. The energy and time needed to move a cylinder up and down in a non hybrid is greater. To start the car, the non hybrid engine needs more power because it has more cylinders. In addition, each cylinder uses more fuel for cylindrical displacement.

There are some tips to keep in mind when driving a hybrid to maximize energy and mileage productivity.

Drive slowly-Aerodynamic drag increases if you drive fast. If you slow down you will save energy.

Drive at a constant speed- Increasing your spend and then slowing down wastes fuel.

Try not to break suddenly-The motor in a hybrid is like a generator. Energy is lost if you stop abruptly. Try to give you car some recovery time.

Hybrid Cars Could Help In Conserving Energy And Reducing Pollution is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

Even if you are not an environmentalist, the price of gas will definitely make you a conservationist. Gas prices continue to climb. Personally, going to the gas station with my little red gas can is not a trip of leisure, it has always been a chore.

It is common knowledge that gas powered lawn mowers are serious environmental polluters. It is estimated that 1 hour of lawn mower use equals driving an SUV 100 miles. I have read that lawnmowers contribute up to 5% of the nation’s pollution. Even more alarming comparisons and statistics can be found on the internet.

Fertilizers and weed killers are contaminating our rivers and streams. Herbicides that run off yards in Minnesota affect the Mississippi Delta just as much as those used in Arkansas. We worry about terrorists attacking our water supply as we cumulatively lay down the spring and fall weed-and-feed.

Even as more cities are putting on water restrictions, lawn sprinkler companies are hard pressed to keep up with demand. During the driest times one only has to drive a few blocks in the early morning to get a free car wash. Even in a pouring rain sprinklers systems are going full tilt.

So what can we do to keep our yards looking nice without doing harm to the environment? Robotic lawn mowers are one answer.

Robotic lawn mowers can mow on a schedule and return to the charging base by them selves all season long without human intervention. This has two benefits, the most obvious is more time to do other things. The second is the less time people spend doing yard work the less money they are going to spend on their yards. Translation: fewer herbicides and pesticides equals less underground water contaminates.

By allowing the grass to get too high and then cutting it too low causes thatch. Thatch is that long dead cut grass that smothers the roots and prevents the morning dew from reaching the tender roots on top, it also acts like a blanket in the hot sun. By allowing the robotic lawnmowers to cut frequently only the very tips of the grass are cut. Since the clippings are very small they break down very rapidly and become a natural fertilizer. This means the need for less water and less application fertilizer, yet a much lusher and greener yard.

Robotic lawn mowers run on batteries, they burn no gas or oil. It is estimated that it costs only $7.00 a year in electricity to mow all season long. That is quite a savings!

Due to higher quality components robotic lawn mowers built today have a life expectancy of about 10 years, the same as a quality riding lawn mower.

In summary, robotic lawn mowers emit no pollution, are fully autonomous, and will dramatically reduce the need for watering and fertilizers while making your yard even more green and beautiful. Save the planet and save the sweat.

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The coolant systems of most refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers and other condenser devices were almost exclusively designed to use the CFC most commonly known as Freon.  Between the 1950s and its phase out in the late 1990s, this otherwise initially non-toxic material made its way into nearly every home in North America.

Newer models use a different type of coolant that is less harmful (though potentially greenhouse gas emitting) to the ozone layer.  While new machines are far more energy efficient, significant energy savings are also achieved by recycling your existing model.  This can be done with relatively minor changes to the system that shouldn’t cost much at all compared to the cost of a new machine.

While freon coolant isn’t a concern while the refrigerator is running properly, its leaks that allow it to escape into the larger atmosphere – it’s not “consumed” any way during operation.  More extensive modifications, including replacing the seals with more efficient ones and increasing the insulation value of the surrounding housing, can significantly increase the energy efficiency of an older ‘fridge that’s otherwise working well.

Retrofit an Older Refrigerator is a post from: Pollution Guide. A good blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Use Hostgator, and you'll never have issues again!

Pollution liability insurance is known as “pollution incidents”" in the insurance world. There is a thought to suggest that this insurance policy came into picture following the great amount of asbestos litigation in the 1970s. It was around that time that insurers thought it better to do away with pollution liability insurance in general policies and instead offer it independently.

Pollution liability insurance protects you in two ways: one is when the pollution takes place on your property; the other is when you suffer losses resulting from pollution on somebody else’s property. In such cases, it is the insurer’s responsibility to recover costs from the party that caused the incident. Conversely, your policy pays for damages you may cause to other properties.

The most general use of pollution insurance is to protect lenders, buyers and sellers in property transactions. Conventionally, buyers do hire environmental consultants to assess sites. That may take a little over twenty days and cost up to $5,000. Concomitant to the delay, there is another major danger in this. Consultants opine on the current condition of the site and not what may happen in the future.

Pollution liability insurance, on the other hand, guards the insured for the entire term of the policy, including for any later discovery of damage. The policies are largely renewable and can be in place for up to ten years. Also, these policies are a lot more cost effective than a site assessment.

Pollution liability insurance is doubtless a useful and an economically viable way of managing environmental risks. It can be particularly beneficial to those companies that deal with materials that may be considered as pollutants once released into the environment.

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