Questions and answers about the environment.

Dear EarthTalk: Are there any health hazards associated with the use of the new silicone bake ware and cooking utensils?  I have found information associated with the hazards/benefits of Teflon and other cookware but nothing on the use of silicone.                               – Jean McCarthy, Sebastian, FL
With all the negative press about Teflon and about [...]

Dear EarthTalk: I work for an office equipment company selling copiers, fax machines, computers and printers. Each year new models come out making old ones obsolete. As a result, we have loads of trade-ins with nowhere to go. What can we do with this old equipment? — Jeff P., Worcester, MA
Electronic waste, or “e-waste” as [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What are the environmental impacts of all the de-icing and snow removal taking place on roads everywhere in the wake of all the recent storms? – Benjamin P Sander, via e-mail
The act of removing pure white snow seems innocuous enough, but it is actually fraught with negative environmental side effects. One major [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What is the potential for carbon “nanotubes” in battery technology? I heard them referred to as the biggest battery breakthrough to come along in years. And what else can we expect to see in terms of new battery technology in coming years? – R.M. Koncan, via e-mail
The rechargeable lithium-ion batteries now so common [...]

Dear EarthTalk: Where do I recycle old ski boots (hard plastic)? My recycling center does not take hard plastic. – Beth Fitzpatrick, Stamford, CT
Americans recycle more plastic than ever these days, but there are still plenty of items that are not accepted by municipalities, including many hard plastic items like ski boots.
If such items [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What are the environmental implications of all the food we throw away here in the United States? — Mike Schiller, Cambridge, MA
Food waste is a huge issue in America, especially in light of the growing divide between the profligate rich and the hungry poor. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Loss [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What are the primary environmental concerns in the aftermath of the big earthquake in Haiti? — Frank Dover, Portland, OR
As would be the case after any natural disaster, water-borne illness could run rampant and chemicals and oil could leak out of damaged storage facilities as a result of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that [...]

Dear EarthTalk: How does growing human population, and its resultant landscape changes, affect the flight paths of migratory birds that might carry diseases? – Ronnie Washines, Toppenish, WA
As human population numbers grow, oceans of people seem to spread out into every conceivable environment—even the forests and estuaries used for eons by migratory birds as nutrient-rich [...]

Dear EarthTalk: Are there any conservation efforts focused on animal species endemic to islands likely to be submerged by rising sea levels? – H. Wyeth, Anahola, HI
Islands are indeed likely to be the areas hardest hit by our warming climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of leading climate scientists from [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What’s better for the local ecology, sewers or septic tanks? – T.H., Darien, CT
You probably won’t have much choice as to whether that home you’re thinking of buying is on sewer or septic. Most likely it’s a done deal, unless the neighborhood is presently all on septic but is considering a petition to [...]

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve been following reports about President Obama’s stimulus package and what it may mean for creating green jobs. Beyond that, are there programs in place to help businesses switch to greener raw materials and/or to green up operations overall?                        — Diane, via e-mail
Even though the push to create green jobs is [...]

Dear EarthTalk I’ve heard of extremely environmentally friendly homes and communities called “Earthships” popping up across the U.S. What are they exactly? – Kelsey Kuehn, Kirtland, OH
An Earthship is a kind of passive solar home—or community of homes—typically made of natural and recycled materials such as old tires and recycled cans. Such homes make use [...]

Dear EarthTalk: I ride my bike to work along busy urban streets. Should I be worried about inhaling pollutants from vehicle emissions and other sources? — J. Kaufman, San Francisco, CA
The short answer is, yes, probably. Cars, trucks and buses emit considerable amounts of airborne pollution as they make their ways [...]

Dear EarthTalk: Wouldn’t a return to installing bidets in bathrooms at home go a long way toward cutting disposable tissue use and saving forests? – Peter K., Albany, GA
Besides being more sanitary than toilet tissue, bidets—those squirty accessories so popular in Europe, Japan and elsewhere that clean your underside using a jet of water—are also [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What do organizers hope to accomplish at the upcoming (December 7-18, 2009) United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen? — F. Rojas, Oakland, CA
The upcoming COP15 meeting in Denmark—so named because it is the 15th such international gathering of the Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention [...]