The US Energy Department renames fossil fuels ‘molecules of freedom’
In a press release issued earlier this month the US Department of Energy referring to natural gas as “freedom gas” and “molecules of freedom.” The terms were used in a press release announcing the authorization of increased exports of natural gas from a coastal Texas natural gas terminal. The patriotic terms drew some exasperated comments from people like Washington governor and presidential candidate Jay Inslee who tweeted “This has to be a joke. (Remember freedom fries?)” But the term has actually been used before. In early May, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry referred to liquefied natural gas exported to Europe as “the United States… delivering a form of freedom to the European continent.”
Dangerous levels of antibiotics found in rivers around the world
The largest study on antibiotics in waterways has found that dangerous levels of antibiotics exist in two out of three test sites around the world. Researchers tested 711 sites in 72 countries and found antibiotics in 65 percent of the rivers. In 111 of the sites the levels of antibiotics present exceeded safe levels. Poorer countries generally had higher levels of contamination. In Africa, 35 percent of rivers exceeded safe limits for concentrations of antibiotics and in Asia over 20 percent of rivers exceeded limits. In Bangladesh, a drug used to treat vaginal infections was found to be 300 times over the safe limit. High levels are blamed on inappropriate disposal of garbage and sewage dumped right into rivers and a lack of technology in some countries to remove the drugs.
