Tag: Waste Materials and Disposal

A Ton of Space Junk Tumbles Unpredictably to Earth Every Week

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One December afternoon, the sky tore open and a fiery hunk of metal, wider than a school bus, came hurtling down. It was louder than a thunderclap when it plunged into a patch of farmland, startling everyone in the village of Mukuku, about three hours south of Nairobi, Kenya. “People were thinking this is the end of the world,” said John Mukunuu, who lives nearby. When the villagers arrived, they found a giant ring, taller than a man and heavier than a horse, lodged into the earth. They watched it…

Seafood Is Safe After Fukushima Discharge, But Some Won’t Eat It

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Seafood is having a bad week in East Asia, which is bad news for a region where it’s a major part of the diet. Experts say Japan’s discharge into the ocean of treated radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant, which began on Thursday, does not and will not pose health risks to people who eat seafood. But even though the scientific evidence bears that out, not everyone is convinced. On Thursday, the Chinese government widened a ban on seafood imports to include all of Japan instead of…

China’s Nickel Plants in Indonesia Created Needed Jobs, Plus Pollution

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For most of his 57 years on the island of Sulawesi, Jamal was accustomed to scarcity, modest expectations and a grim shortage of jobs. People mined sand, caught fish and coaxed crops from the soil. Chickens frequently disappeared from front yards, stolen by hungry neighbors. Mr. Jamal, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, regularly rode his motorbike to construction jobs in the city of Kendari, a half-hour away. Then, six years ago, a towering smelter rose next to his home. The factory was built by a company called…