It's been a while since the last You can make a difference tip. My friend S. who usually sends us the tips has been busy...or lazy...or both :)
OK, OK, I can't really blame her, she recently started a new job, and it has been an overwhelming period for her, to say the least. But she still managed to find the time to send a new tip, so here it is:
This month’s tip is about batteries.
Problem is, they are dumped like harmless candy.
When batteries corrode, their toxic content (lead, lithium and mercury to name a few) leak into the ground, and eventually get into the water. These heavy metals build up in animals that drink the water and in humans who eat them.
Facts: Lead, used as a sweetener for wine by the Romans is believed to be the cause of the recorded dementia of Roman Emperors, and thus ... the fall of the Roman Empire!
“Mad as a hatter”: working every day with mercury-soaked felt turned hat makers crazy.
Today, the most common way people get poisoned by mercury is by eating mercury-contaminated fish.
Fish belong in the sea anyways - not in tummies! :)
Sounds good. I am not a big consumer of batteries anyway, I only buy them for my remote control. But if you are a big battery consumer, be careful where you discard them.
And S., I don't agree with your last statement...I love eating fish too much. And, FYI, your sister ate lots of fish on today's boat trip...fish that your mother bought...Hehe...I think you need to have a nice long chat with them :)
1 comment:
Battery disposal is a huge problem. All that acid that leaks out of them - yuk!
When we were Mauritius and snorkelling just off the hotel beach, J and I must have picked up about 10 D and 9v batteries off the seafloor.
The thing is, then we didn't know what to do with them, because if they end up in a landfill, they do just as much damage there.
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