The study compared chlorine pools with a healthier and more eco-friendly option, pools sanitized with copper and silver. Researchers suggest that the chlorine causes changes in the airway, promoting the development of allergic diseases. While more research is still needed, 20% of Olympic swimmers have asthma. Interesting, right?

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World-wide distribution of discovered or inferred gas hydrate deposits in sediments, USGS, 1996

Nature is not entirely defenseless against rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A class of elements called halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, etc., often occurring in pairs) are emitted into the atmosphere via ocean spray, where they destroy ozone (O3), a significant greenhouse gas and aerosol that promotes warming.

The removal or destruction of certain gases/chemicals in the atmosphere is referred to as “scrubbing”.

Ozone in the outer ionosphere actually protects the planet’s biosphere from harmful solar radiation. But in the troposphere (as tropospheric ozone) it bonds with other particles and acts to trap heat in the atmosphere. At ground level, O3 is a main constituent of smog.

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Highly toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the dust, it can also poison a person through exposure to soluble forms, inhalation of its vapour, or eating fish contaminated with it. It’s mercury. We all know mercury for its presence in thermometers. And we all know what it means for the mercury to be rising (as is currently a major global issue). But what does it mean when mercury is falling?

It means that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced a bill that would eliminate mercury from chlorine production within two years. The Mercury Pollution Reduction Act of 2009 (S. 1428), co-sponsored by Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), would abandon the use of mercury technology within two years; specifically by requiring four chlorine plants within the states to make the shift to mercury free technology in producing chlorine and caustic soda.

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Britain’s largest water company has been fined £125,000 ($180,000), after polluting London’s River Wandle to such an extent that it wiped out twenty years of painstaking conservation work in a single day.

The shocking incident occurred in 2007, when Chlorine escaped from a Thames Water sewage treatment works, killing most of the fish along a 3 mile stretch of one of the city’s most iconic urban rivers. Local residents tried to save some of the distressed fish by transferring them from the river into buckets of clean water, but they were too late. One man rescued a large number of eels, but found they were bleeding from the gills and they all later died.

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Gidget recently inquired about PEVA as a possible clear plastic alternative. I jumped at the chance to look into this plastic, which I had not heard of, to see about its potential for crafting and how it rates in relation to PVC.

Gidget pointed out that IKEA was selling clear plastic shower curtains and that they were made out of PEVA, not PVC. I happened to be at an IKEA the other day and was able to look over said shower curtain. Indeed, it said 100% PEVA. It was clear and light and flexible. The biggest difference that I noticed right away was its lack of smell! It was also thinner and a bit more cloudy (but still clear) than PVC, but still flexible and pliable enough to be run through with a needle and thread.

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But not so fast, my thrifty water-loving friend–if you live in the city or otherwise have access to municipal treated water. While the clear fluid coming out of your faucet is H2O just like the stuff in that naughty $40 plastic bottle, it may have a few things added to the H’s and O’s that could be more costly than any plastic bottle.

Unfortunately, municipal water treatment nowadays means more than just water cleansed of poop, pee, and various other nasty bits of stuff in order to make for a potable potation coming out of your tap. And what municipalities put into the water could be as unhealthy for the planet as they are for you.

Probably the most infamous introduction to municipal water is fluoride. Way back in the 1940s, fluoride found its way into American water systems after scientists discovered that people who ingested fluoride-treated water apparently had less instances of tooth decay. And ever since, fluoride treatment has been standard practice in municipalities worldwide.

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I’ve always professed that every baby should wear cloth diapers; however, with my son wearing one diaper in 24 hours, it takes a long time to make a diaper load of laundry. After a week, these cloth diapers get very rank, and I don’t really want to put them in my washing machine or waste energy and water to wash them more often.  Thus, I’ve resorted to Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers, as it is too late in the game (I don’t plan to have any more children) to invest in gDiapers. I do feel a slight pang of guilt using a landfill, aka disposable, diaper, but I rationalize six years of cloth diapering two kids has earned me the right to one disposable diaper a day.

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Editor’s note:  This post originally appeared on Feel Good Style, one of our sister sites on the Green Options network. We thought our readers would enjoy it too! 

Fairy Tales all natural, organic hair care for children just launched their new “Summer Hair Care” kit. Fairy Tales Hair Care has created a specialty line of hair care products loaded with fruit enzymes and citrus extracts of lemon, grapefruit, pineapple and orange to help wash away sea salts, minerals and chlorine “green.” An infusion of aloe, sweet almond oil, jojoba and vitamin A, E and D then deep condition and moisturize the hair leaving it soft and silky even after a day at the beach or pool.

The Fairy Tales Hair Care kit includes

Lifeguard clarifying shampoo
Lemon -Aid Conditioner
Coco Cabana leave-in Sun Spray

In addition to the hair care products they also have created a non toxic bug repellant for the little ones. The rosemary Repel Spray contains pure, organic oils of citronella, rosemary, tea tree, lavender and geranium. These great smelling herbs have been shown to repel bugs such as mosquitoes, gnats and head lice!

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Fairy Tales all natural, organic hair care for children just launched their new “Summer Hair Care” kit.  Fairy Tales Hair Care has created a specialty line of hair care products loaded with fruit enzymes and citrus extracts of lemon, grapefruit, pineapple and orange to help wash away sea salts, minerals and chlorine “green.”  An infusion of aloe, sweet almond oil, jojoba and vitamin A, E and D that deep condition and moisturize the hair leaving it soft and silky even after a day at the beach or pool.

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On every package of Seventh Generation’s, non-toxic household products, you can find their corporate motto:

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions upon the next seven generations.”

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What’s riding the rails in your hometown? A few hobos maybe, but also potentially deadly chemicals rumble through America’s communities daily. My hometown paper, The Galesburg Register-Mail, printed a series of articles on the dangers nearly every train brings to a community. And in Galesburg, IL, this is particularly important: approximately 1,000 cars travel through the city daily on two major railroads that cross town, the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe, now known as BNSF, since the two merged.

How dangerous are some of those cars? Well, they carry some nasty stuff:

• Anhydrous Ammonia: This colorless gas may be fatal if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. It could explode if exposed to heat, or burn, but it doesn’t ignite readily.
• Chlorine: It, too, can be fatal if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. If a spill occurs during the daytime, people within at 1.5 mile radius must be evacuated; at night, more that 4.5 miles need to be evacuated.
• Diesel Fuel: Yep, it’s dangerous too: explosive when vapors are mixed with air, and it can burn eyes and skin.
• Hydrochloric Acid: If a container is heated or contaminated with water, an explosion could occur. Inhalation of vapors can kill, cause burns or severe injury.
• Methanol: Nasty stuff that’s flammable and explosive. Again, inhalation, ingestion or absorption by the skin can be fatal.
• Sodium Chlorate: Same thing: possibly fatal if inhaled or ingested. It can accelerate burning if involved with a fire, or it can explode.
• Sodium Hydroxide: It’s explosive but will not flame. The usual warnings about inhalation, ingestion or being absorbed by the skin.
• Sulfuric Acid: It, too, is explosive, and will burn (but not ignite). It can inflict severe burns on the skin, and is deadly to inhale or ingest.
• Uranium: The article doesn’t cover uranium, but it too is being carried by railroads around the world in various forms, from the newly mined to spent rods. Always dangerous, I just wanted to add it to the mix.

Any of these chemicals could, if spilled during a derailment, spread a fatal cloud over a community. The chance of that happening, according to the article, is about the same as winning the lottery. A spokesman for BNSF railway, Steve Forsberg, is quoted as saying that "less than three-tenths of 1 percent of all rail shipments are materials that could be turned into a toxic cloud."

Do railroads have to carry these materials? Yes, they are required by federal law to move them by the federal common carrier obligation. Would they rather not? Yes, the article says: it’s a "bet the business" public service. But then, the rails are safer than transportation by truck, where the accident rate is many times more common.

Research is underway to make tank cars more reliable in case of an accident, such as staying upright and intact in case of derailment. But don’t expect any progress soon as research has been delayed until the first of the year.

The solution, of course, is to "go green" by producing safer chemicals, but that appears a long way off. Possibly the most dangerous chemicals are chlorine, which is still used to disinfect water, and anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer base.

Accidents have occurred and will continue to do so. One of the scarier happened a short time ago when a tank car filled with chlorine rolled 20 miles through Las Vegas, past hotels and resorts on the Strip until it was safely stopped. I recall a tank car explosion in Kingman, AZ, back in the 70s that resulted in fatalities. According to Patricia Abbatte, executive director of Citizens for Rail Safety, "The doomsday scenario is that one tank car of chlorine could kill up to 100,000 people in 30 minutes."

Until something better comes along, your friendly railroad will whistle it’s way through your community, past schools and homes carrying a deadly cargo.