|
作者：傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾 博士
燃煤發電廠比任何其他發電方式排放更多的有毒污染物，每生產1千度的電力，就會產生2,071磅的二氧化碳、13.8磅的硫氧化物、4.8磅的氮氧化物及3.2磅的微粒子。
相較之下，利用天然氣產生1千度的電，僅排放1,205磅的二氧化碳、0.008磅的硫氧化物、4.3磅的氮氧化物及幾可忽略的微粒子。
二氧化碳正是導致全球暖化的溫室氣體，它將太陽的熱能困在大氣層裡，使得全球氣溫提高。
部份科學家說，50年之內，地球上的冰河可能都會融化，加上在下一世紀全球溫度預測會上升10.5度（華氏），因此，海平面在未來1年內可能將升高10英呎。這個過程在我們這一代已經開始，當然也會持續到下一代，也許我們會親眼看見一些沿海的城市被淹沒。
火山、浪花、腐敗的植物以及浮游生物都會排放二氧化硫，但排放最多的是燃燒煤炭與石油。美國環保署指出，高濃度的二氧化硫會導致在戶外活動的氣喘病童及成人的呼吸性傷害，短期暴露在高濃度二氧化硫的氣喘病患將會導致肺功能衰退。
長期暴露在二氧化硫中所致的病症則包括呼吸性疾病、肺防禦功能的改變及已有心血管疾病的加劇，有心血管疾病或慢性肺病的患者以及孩童與老年人更是特別的危險。
二氧化硫也是酸雨的主要成份，它會飄行數百或數千哩遠後再隨雨水落下，形成的硫酸足以殺死湖泊及河流中的生物，使森林毀滅，使汽車烤漆剝落以及建物毀損，全世界的戶外雕塑也因暴露在酸雨之下而逐漸腐蝕。
位於科羅拉多州丹佛的卻洛奇燃煤發電廠（照片提供 華倫•葛瑞茲攝影，國家再生能源實驗室）
環境新聞網（Environment News Service）在2000年曾報導，燃燒煤及油的發電廠在1998年，排放大約9百萬磅的有毒金屬及金屬化合物到大氣中，其中有許多是已知或疑似的致癌物，以及會傷害神經系統的毒性物。
哈佛大學公共衛生學院在2000年5月的報告中指出，位於麻薩諸塞州的兩座燃煤發電廠，要為受燃煤發電污染所影響的3千2百萬居民負責，這些人口分布在新英格蘭州、紐約州及紐澤西州。報告中說，這兩座電廠每年造成大約4萬3千個氣喘病發及159個早夭的案例。
美國在1988年至1997年間的二氧化硫排放量是持續減少的，這都要歸功於空氣清淨法，以及這段期間內沒有新燃煤電廠興建的事實。但是，這樣的情形將會因新布希政府對於污染防治走回頭路的政策而改變。
許多分析家認為，這些環境破壞政策是對於企業在共和黨競選期間為數龐大的捐款之回饋。舉例來說，政治中心指出電力公司捐獻破記錄的1,640萬美金給共和黨，也捐給民主黨6百萬美金。
美國最大煤礦公司之一的皮博迪煤礦集團主席，就曾捐獻25萬美金給共和黨全國委員會。
不要被我們貪心的工業領導人美麗的詞彙給愚弄，他們的說法是-煤既便宜又可被「綠化」。政客使用的錯誤計算方程式，輕易地忽略掉增加的健康醫療及環境破壞的成本，若是把這些成本都計算在內，煤炭足以和核能競爭何者是最貴的電廠燃料。而且，以目前的技術也無法將煤「綠化」。
許多環保分析家依舊堅持，美國若能認真地節約能源，是可以避免任何能源危機及蓋新電廠的需求。可悲的是，當一個國家的富強是以大多需要電力的企業擴張速率及物資消耗程度來衡量時，認真節約能源的努力是不會被鼓勵落實的。
你的聲音被聽見是很重要的，現在尤甚以往。寫信給布希總統及你當地的國會議員，告訴他們，你無法容忍在為企業創造有利的環境的同時，卻把我們地球的氣候及子孫的健康當垃圾一樣對待。
告訴你所選出的議員，你個人正在努力改變我們國家的優先重點，你不再將以擁有商品及消耗資源作為生活的動機。
告訴他們，你不需要一個藉由污染土壤、空氣、水及我們身體而產生的強大經濟體系。告訴他們從現在起，你不再為那些僅佔人口3%的貪心人們工作、使他們致富：因為你將不再需求便宜商品和服務，也不再只是為消費而辛勤工作。
告訴他們，現在你的第一優先是你家人的健康快樂以及恢復與自然世界的連結。如果我們告訴由我們所選出的議員這些事，包準把他們嚇死，希望藉此能促使他們採取行動。
相關資料
1. 閱讀環境新聞網的一篇關於有毒煤炭工業細節的文章：http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/
2000L-08-15-06.html
2. 閱讀「救治我們的世界」系列文章之一，瞭解霍皮族及納瓦伙族人為生存而對抗皮博迪煤炭公司的處境：http://www.jps.net/jackieg/articles/may
03-1999g.html 關於這場危機的現況，請瀏覽「行動資源中心」相關網站：http://www.arcweb.org/campaigns/
big_mountain/
3. 關於布希政府最近打擊環境的行徑，在「西雅圖時報」的特別報導中有完整且令人寒心的摘要。
4. 有關二氧化硫的危險性：http://www.epa.gov/oar/aqtrnd97/
brochure/so2.html
5. 察看哈佛大學的研究：http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/
releases/press05042000.html
6. 找出你的國會議員是誰，並寫電子郵件給他們。如果你知道你的郵遞區號，也可以到下列網站查詢：http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/zip
toit.html
7. 寫電子郵件到president@whitehouse.gov聯絡布希總統，告訴他這對環境及我們健康的打擊必須停止。
8. 到Working Assets經營的「行動改變一切」網站上發出你的聲音，在那裡你可以很容易地將你對不同議題的看法，透過電子郵件傳送給合適的人。
傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾 博士是住在西雅圖的作家兼老師，你會發現他正在準備迎接他兒子的誕生，同時盤算如何在這個糟糕的世界保持他兒子的健康。請將你的想法及意見告訴他：jackie@healingourworld.com，並請參觀他的網站:
http://www.healingourworld.com
【文章連載】
■只為了目前幾百萬瓦的電力
我們會毀了將來 (上) (下)
全文與圖片詳見：http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-
03-30g.html
Environmental News Service 版權所有 (環境資訊協會 鄧國光 譯，李欣哲、蔡麗伶 審校)
中英對照譯稿請見：http://e-info.org.tw/issue/energy/2001/
sub-energy01102301.htm |
|
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Coal fired power plants emit more toxic pollution than any other form of energy production. For every megawatt hour of electricity produced, coal generates 2,071 pounds of carbon dioxide, 13.8 pounds of sulfur oxides, 4.8 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and 3.2 pounds of particulate matter.
By comparison, natural gas emits 1,205 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, 0.008 pounds of sulfur oxides, 4.3 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and negligible particulate matter.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is contributing to global warming, trapping in heat from the Sun and raising global temperature.
Some scientists say that within 50 years, all the world's glaciers may melt. This, combined with a predicted 10.5 degree increase in global temperature over the next century, could raise sea level around the world as much as 10 feet over the next 1,000 years. This process has begun in our lifetimes, and certainly in our children's lifetimes, and we may see many coastal cities around the world obliterated.
Volcanoes, sea spray, rotting vegetation and plankton emit sulfur dioxide (SO2). But the largest amounts of it come from the burning of coal and oil. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that high concentrations of SO2 can result in breathing impairment for asthmatic children and adults who are active outdoors. Short term exposures of asthmatic individuals to elevated SO2 levels can result in reduced lung function.
Effects associated with longer term exposures include respiratory illness, alterations in the lungs' defenses, and aggravation of existing cardiovascular disease. Individuals with cardiovascular disease or chronic lung disease, as well as children and the elderly, are particularly at risk.
SO2 is also a primary component of acid rain. The pollutant travels hundreds or thousands of miles from where it is emitted and falls with rain, forming sulphuric acid that kills life in lakes and streams, kills forests, eats through paint on cars, and destroys buildings. Outdoor sculptures all over the world are being eaten away by acid rain exposure.
Cherokee Station coal powered plant Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy National Renewable Energy Lab)
In 2000, the Environment News Service reported that coal and oil fired power plants released almost nine million pounds of toxic metals and metal compounds into the air in 1998, many of which are known or suspected carcinogens and are neurotoxic, affecting the nervous system.
A report released by the Harvard School of Public Health in May 2000 said that two coal fired plants in Massachusetts were responsible for affecting 32 million people in New England, New York, and New Jersey. The report said that the two plants were responsible for an estimated 43,000 asthma attacks and 159 premature deaths per year.
Between 1988 and 1997, SO2 was decreasing in the U.S. thanks largely to the Clear Air Act and the fact that no new coal fired plants were being built. That situation is surely to change with the new Bush administration's rollbacks of pollution controls.
Many analysts are seeing these environmentally destructive policies as payback for the huge contributions made to the Republican campaigns by industry. For example, electric utility companies gave a record $16.4 million to Republicans, says the Center for Responsive Politics. They gave $6 million to Democrats.
The chairman of the Peabody Coal Group, one of the nation's largest coal companies, contributed $250,000 to the Republican National Committee.
Don't be fooled by rhetoric from our greedy industrialist leaders that coal is cheap and that it can be made "green." The faulty arithmetic used by politicians conveniently omits the costs of increased health care and environmental destruction from the equation. If the true costs of coal were figured in, it would rival nuclear power as the most expensive form of power plant fuel. And coal can't be made very green with today's technology.
Many environmental analysts continue to insist that serious energy conservation efforts in the U.S. could eliminate any energy crisis and the need for new power plants. Sadly, serious conservation efforts are not encouraged in a land where the country's health is measured by the rate of industry expansion and the consumption of goods, most of which require electricity.
Now more than ever before, it is important for your voice to be heard. Write President Bush and your local legislators and put them on notice that you will not tolerate creating a healthy, favorable climate for business and industry while the climate of our planet and the health of our children is trashed.
Tell your elected representatives that you personally are working to change our nation's priorities and that you no longer put the acquisition of goods and the consumption of resources as your reason for living.
Tell them that you have no use for a system that creates a robust economy by polluting the earth, the air, the water, and our bodies. Tell them that you are, as of this very minute, no longer working for the greedy three percent of the population that gets rich because we demand cheap goods and services and work hard to buy them.
Tell them that your top priority is now the health and happiness of your family and the restoration of your connection to the natural world. If we told all these things to our elected leaders, it would scare them to death - and hopefully into action.
RESOURCES
1. Read about the details of the toxic coal industry in an Environment News Service article at:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/
2000L-08-15-06.html
2. Read about the plight of the Hopi and Navajo people as they fight for their survival against the Peabody Coal Company in Healing Our World articles at:
http://www.jps.net/jackieg/articles/may
03-1999g.html. For the current status of this crisis, visit the Action Resource Center at:
http://www.arcweb.org/campaigns/
big_mountain/.
3. For a thorough, and chilling, summary of the Bush administration's recent assault on the environment, see the "Seattle Times" special report.
4. Read about the dangers of sulfur dioxide at: http://www.epa.gov/oar/
aqtrnd97/brochure/so2.html
5. See the Harvard study at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/rel
eases/press05042000.html
6. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at:
http://www.visi.com/juan/
congress/ziptoit.html
7. Contact President Bush at: president@whitehouse.gov. Tell him that this assault on the environment and on our health must stop.
8. Use your voice at the Act For Change website operated by Working Assets. There, you can easily send email messages on a variety of issues to the right people.
Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found preparing for the birth of his son, wondering how to keep him healthy in this troubled world. Send your thoughts and ideas to him at:
jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at:
http://www.healingourworld.com
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/
2001L-03-30g.html |
