Childhood leukaemia produced by toxic cocktails

"Children frequently exposed to household insecticides used on plants, lawns and in head-lice shampoos appear to run double the risk of developing childhood leukaemia. Leukemia makes up about a third of all cancers in children."
Every-day 'normal' practices in this place have the price that some young human beings have to suffer from cancer of their blood cells.
Practices, products and cocktail effects mentioned were:

Toxic insecticides around the home and garden
Shampoos for head lice, medication shampoos
Mosquito repellents ,insect sprays
Passive cigarette smoke
Garden pesticides on plants, lawns
Fungicides

Elsewhere hair dyes, petrochemicals, benzene were mentioned.
Look around your subs or at Manly beach and see how the production of misery (for some) takes place...

Suburbs draining toxins into Manly beach & lagoon

Suburbs drain toxins and faeces to Manly beach and Manly lagoon as a way of disposing of these unwanted substances cheaply. Removal of collective effluent (anti product), also known as 'stormwater' can take place by labour - 'sweeping' - or 'God-sent rain' to 'flush it down' for free as a handy 'solution'. The ever increasing amounts are turning waterways into a cheap mode of transport and beaches into toxic deposits costing the Earth. Authorities are searching for cost-effective ways ("more bang for our buck...") to attempt to collect it via different means ('sweeping', blowing, traps and diversions). The production of this toxic cocktail draining from the subs is not in question and is 'regulated' via 'recommendations' and a culture of 'tidyness'.
Perpetually-running cars, petrol-powered equipment blowing, chipping etc, giving the motor boat a good blow out, washing the motor form the inside (on a water restriction day of course) are all common everyday practices. Blowing (via petrol) all unwanted dog faeces and other garbage, away from one's property into the public gutter belongs to the tidy mind-set. Chemicals galore, from pesticides, herbicides, paints, foamy carwash and oil are freely liberated into the public drain. All the everyday actions of the everyday people are then drained into the non 'my space'. Maybe the council will 'suck it up' or the rain will transport it with ease away, away…

Next day down at Manly beach or the lagoon for some of that iconic free nature, only trouble is, it contains the invisible collective anti-product that is very toxic.

"The lagoon has a reputation of being one of the most polluted waterways on Australia's eastern seaboard...Such is the level of contamination in stormwater that the NSW Environmental Protection Agency also recommends no human contact with surface waters at Manly Beach and Sydney Harbour for 24 and 72 hours respectively, after rainfall."

"Mr Galloway found that concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, lead and zinc in Manly's stormwater exceed ANZECC guidelines for pollutant concentrations in waterways by between two and 168 times."

The environmental science study has found "…that high levels of sediment, nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and heavy metals (copper, lead and zinc) are being swept down gutters and deposited into Manly Lagoon and local waterways."
More:
Image: Manly Beach mix
Lawns & pesticides

Update:
American Chemical Society (2009, August 21). Homes Pollute: Linked To 50 Percent More Water Pollution Than Previously Believed. 220809 via Science Daily

Private cow paddock or national heritage park?

For thousands of years the area of the Alpine National Park ecosystems and rich biodiversity was cared for by the Aboriginal communities. For the last one hundred and fifty years a tradition of mining the land for meat and minerals has taken place. This private appropriation of the land has resulted in erosion, feral animals degrading the delicate habitat, the spread of weeds and various dumps which later had to be picked up by the public to take care of. Even after the area was protected and restored as a National Park under public ownership, many mindsets refuse to acknowledge the law and insisted on their un-reflected 'traditions'.

The extractive 'heritage' of driving cattle through the National (public) Park seems unstoppable.Today,cowboys engaging in illegal acts "…are vowing to defy the new rules…" Privately 'grazing' public assets is a 'tradition', a 'heritage' right to trample the land. The authorities seem unable to counter the DIY law of 'the people'. Despite the $100,000 handouts each from the public purse, the 40 cattle-barons insist on turning the national heritage into a private cowpaddock.
More:
The 'proud to defy rules' tradition
'Harvesting' the N.P.
Converting NP to private property
Alpine National Park
What you can do

Bits & Bytes in Manly

At the seashore, between the land of atoms
and the sea of bits, we are now facing the
challenge of reconciling our dual citizenship
in the physical and digital worlds.

Hiroshi Ishii, MIT Media Lab

via Ambient Findability, What We Find Changes Who We Become, Peter Morville (Sample chapter 1, pdf) started the easy going read.

Snapshot Manly:

Librarian: "What's a weblog ?"
Internet café: "What's a hot spot?"
National Park staff: "I just work here."

Deadly transport, unsafe 4WDs, necrotic suburbs & oil

"More than 20 million people are severely injured or killed on the world's roads each year." In the holiday season in Australia many sought to 'get away form it all' by driving to that place where 'it' is not on. In the rush 74 people so far lost their lives. Many of these 'accidents' where due to 4WDs, some were 'hit and run' cases, some think, "...that it is driver behaviour that causes these fatalities." Floral crosses along Australian roads become part of the 'normal' sacrifice landscape that drivers rush past. Learning or regulation seems impossible, to pay the 'toll' to a 'means of transport' just has to continue, so it seems.

Recent research shatters the myth that 4 WDs offer more safety, especially for kids."Child injuries from rollover accidents were more common in SUVs and outweighed the safety benefits of larger, heavier vehicle frames, according to an analysis of insurance claims… However, people who use an SUV as their family vehicle should know that SUV's do not provide superior protection for child occupants." But they do offer 'sitting above it all' (blocking the view for all) and a refrigerated cargo space for golf clubs, fishing rods, triple prams, BBQ, a hunting dog and 2 poodles etc. How convenient!

A study found that the time of 'cheap oil' and unsustainable blandburbs is over. Many sub-urbanites have to pay dearly for their 'locational disadvantage' and the ones without privatised petrol consuming mobility suffer from automobile apartheid. 'Oil Vulnerability in Australian Cities' is available in pdf.

As long as Aussie troops are in southern Iraq the 'vulnerability' will be held in check. So go stick this sticker on your hummer (My 4WD loves Iraqi oil), pack it up, mount that seat, rev up the AC and push your way to Manly beach.

New Index for Mnly

We now have an index for the Mnly blog in our sidebar which is helpful for accessing previous posts.
Social Bookmarks Australia always has many more interesting links too.

Manly round-up

Despite the total fire ban in NSW large open flames went up at Shelley Beach Headland on the 030106 very close to the bush at around 8 pm. Simultaneously two (regular) fire twirling 'derwishes' lit up their metho sticks at Shelley Beach and threw their fire sticks about. Only when the fire-engine sound was right at Shelley Beach were all fires magically put out. Obviously they all had a clear understanding of what the meaning of 'total fire ban' is.

Good news is that Manly watch has caught on: As two (illiterate?) guys with numerous fishing-rods and gear walked the rocks looking for an appropriate spot of Manly Point Marine Reserve a local went up and informed them of the $ 22,000 fine that might be enforced one day.

The Pacific Thai looks bright and airy after the renovations. There is only one kneeling table left, dare to curl up, the view is worth it. The vegetarian food is fresh and plentiful. The staff are very polite and speedy. Anything else but musak would lift the atmosphere enormously.

Ground Zero still has the best cup, but it has to be knocked off the sticky table. More cleaning please!

The latest trend is to use leaf blowers in the rain to push the mush over to the neighbour or at least the public space.With this vibrating 'tornado' in hand, spewing petrol the last chance of silence is robbed.

NYE explosives and toxic showers

The beginning of the new year in Sydney was started off by exploding 3000 kilos of fireworks. Despite a total fire ban, many non-pyro-technicians set alight more of these explosives in backyards, gardens and other public places.
Originally gunpowder combustion was invented in China, to ward off 'bad forces'. So maybe the big bang 2006 party follows suit to ward off bad forces like: a flaming inferno, mega urban development without water, necrotic suburbs without the 'juice' to get in or out, the trade deficit etc.
People rush to stand in the fall-out zone and be showered by heavy metal compounds and other toxic chemicals. The sound injures any hearing and many limbs and pets are torn apart. Often the crackers (Cottage Pt Rd.) start a bushfire. Litter and toxins are generously socialised.
In many countries the population is protected from these polluting practices and even the entertainment industry seeks to debut safer, quieter and more environmentally friendly fireworks.

Turn on the motors while Australia burns

As the temperature reached 44.2C in Sydney, experts claim that the heat-wave cannot be linked to global warming: "Just one of those sorts of things we have".

The CSIRO expects it to become the norm:"… We can expect a doubling or trebling of the number of scorchers in the next 30 to 40 years"

Meanwhile "Australia's green think tank… has accused the Federal Government of fiddling on climate change while Australia burns." "The Government's own estimates show that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions will increase by around 45 per cent in the two decades to 2010 and will actually accelerate thereafter".

The World Meteorological Organisation claims, that "This year is currently the second warmest and likely to be among the warmest four years in the temperature record since 1861."

As the Inuit file a legal petition against the US government for it's emission of greenhouse gases, the insurance industry views the world's changing climate as uninsurable.

In Manly for example the reaction is to overcome the effects of The Great Warming by turning their dwellings and auto-mobiles into fridges. Giant noisy compressor motors buzz away (illegally) 24/7 in the hood, attempting to turn entire un-insulated houses into freezer-bunkers. Cars, especially 4WDs, are usually left running. The creation of this kW- intensive artificial habitat is unsustainable und socially irresponsible.
More:
Kyoto or the big Australian Party
Climate Justice
Have a Hot, Dry, Stormy Life, Kid