Into the depths

In the previous series of blogs, the various sources of mercury and radionuclide pollution in water had been covered. The identification of problems often requires solutions to address them and in recent years, nature-based solutions (NBS) to environmental problems have… Continue Reading →

Over a decade since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there has been waning public interest in the aftermath of the accident (Hidaka et al., 2022). However, recent news of the Japanese government’s approval of nuclear plant operator TEPCO’s release of water… Continue Reading →

Figure 1: Fukushima nuclear power plant (NBC, 2021) Radionuclide water pollution occurs though multiple sources, from natural processes like the decomposition of rocks containing high concentrations of radionuclide, to anthropogenic sources like uranium mining (Tsivoglou & Towne, 1957). With the… Continue Reading →

Figure 1: Global distribution of uranium resources (NEA, 2016) Among the endless pollutive impacts of mining activities to aquatic ecosystems, one of the issues which had caught my attention was radioactive pollution due to uranium mining. Uranium is said to… Continue Reading →

Figure 1: Global distribution of ASGM workers (artisanalmining.org, 2023) In the previous blog, the processes of mercury pollution by artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and its environmental impacts were explored. Despite the extensive negative externalities produced by the improper usage… Continue Reading →

Gold, with its bright and everlasting sheen, is one of the most sought-after precious metals across all countries and cultures. The intensive extraction and refining process makes gold all the more valuable, with a single gram of gold costing over… Continue Reading →

The prior post had discussed how climate change had influenced the introduction of mercury into arctic water bodies through permafrost slumping. As mentioned previously, elemental [Hg0] and ionic [Hg(II)] mercury undergoes biotic methylation through microbial activity into its more toxic… Continue Reading →

The situation of global climate change has extended its claws into the Arctic region, where its effects are the most pronounced. Surface rates in the Arctic are predicted to be double the rates globally due to Arctic amplification (Meredith et… Continue Reading →

Moving on from the waters of Japan, I was surprised to find out that the marine biodiversity of the remote Arctic have been progressively contaminated by mercury. This highlights the global nature of mercury pollution, with anthropogenic emissions contributing to… Continue Reading →

Minamata, Japan 1960s. Source: The Asia Pacific Journal It all began in early 1956, where an unprecedented phenomenon had arisen among the quite waters of Minamata Bay. A growing number of people experienced a deterioration in limb control, spiralling into… Continue Reading →