Tag Archives: pollution

We Green DC
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Getting Polluted: These Guys Wrote the Book

Lourie and Smith discuss Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Lourie and Smith discuss Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Call it a science project for grown-ups. One day, as a joke, longtime buddies Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, environmental advocates from Canada, decided to marinate themselves in everyday chemicals for a week — innocent-looking things like shampoos, canned food, sofas with stain-resistant coating — and see what happened.

Why? They had been involved with Environmental Defence Canada’s Toxic Nation project, which has tested and found toxic chemicals in Canadians young and old and from all walks of life. But when those test volunteers asked what act, what product, used on what day had put the chemicals into their bodies…well, there were no clear answers.

So Smith and Lourie spent a week in a condo, trying to get polluted, and not in the alcoholic way, but with chemicals that are part of our daily lives. Said Lourie, “I didn’t drink a beaker of mercury. We did nothing millions of Americans don’t do every day.” Still, this idea “delighted our wives no end,” said Smith.

Last Wednesday in their first U.S. event, they told the tale of the resulting book, Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things, to a packed room at the Busboys & Poets at 14th and V. In one experiment, Smith took lots of showers, using highly scented hair products, soap, shaving gel, lotion, deodorant and cologne. Lourie quipped, “Rick never smelled so good.” But did his phthalate levels go up?
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Alexandria, The Daily Feed
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Lovebirds and Ducks Agree: Alexandria Waterfront is Filthy as Homemade Sin

Love Note

I found this note on a dock at Alexandria’s waterfront area the other day while my Lovely Wife and I were taking what could have been a lovely stroll. Of course, the jerk who was so upset about pollution as to write this note also was dumb enough to make more litter by leaving it there.

The river is polluted and dirty, littered with bottles, tires, bags, shoes and even dead fish. Yes, apparently it’s even too dirty there for the fish. On our 20-minute walk, I counted no fewer than five fish floating in the filth. That’s pretty messed up.

Take a look at one view of the trash:
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Arlington, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Four Mile Run Stream Full of Shit Again

Another sewage spill into Four Mile Run Stream. This seems to happen every few months. What the heck is going on and why can’t Arlington’s seem to fix the real problem here?

From Arlington County Alert:

A sewage spill into Four Mile Run Stream near Westover Park is affecting waters and parks all the way to the Potomac. Residents are advised not to fish in or have any contact with the waters – including wading or swimming – until further notice.

So it’s not even safe to swim or wade in shitty water? Thanks, Arlington County, for telling me not to wade into sewage but not fixing a repeat problem.