Aaron Baker is a Science Teacher at High Point Regional High School, recipient of a Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators, and a former conservation biologist.
19 Posts
Sussex, New Jersey
PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of over 12,000 synthetic chemicals used in hundreds of consumer and agricultural products around the world. When we consume food and water, or are exposed to products and air, with PFAS, they are absorbed and concentrated in different parts of the body including the liver, kidneys, bones, and blood.
How does climate change affect property risk and access to insurance? New extremes from climate change, including more rainfall, stronger winds, rising sea levels, and higher temperatures, are increasing property risk and making it difficult for insurers to predict risk.
Earthquakes are caused by the movement of one tectonic plate against another and can also be induced through human activity including the disposal of liquid waste from oil and gas wells.
Wildfires can move and burn large areas at an incredible speed, leading to significant damage to both natural areas and property. In the United States, they are becoming more frequent and intense in some areas, and proximity to wildfires may reduce property values.
There are about 3 million miles of natural gas pipelines in the U.S. linking production and storage sites with consumers. Within this network, there are nearly 500 natural gas pipeline incidents per year including explosions, fires, and leaks that lead to loss of life, injury, and property damage.
Tornadoes are narrow rotating columns of air and can be the most violent of all atmospheric storms. The most powerful tornadoes can cause injury, loss of life, widespread damage, and the complete destruction of homes.
Cell towers are increasingly common throughout the US. Close proximity to cell towers has been found to reduce property values and the health effects of RF radiation exposure emitted from cell towers remains unclear.
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges normally dry land. The floods included in this analysis caused personal injury or loss of life, property damage, and/or disruption to commerce or transportation.
Severe Winter Weather often involves cold temperatures, icy roads, utility power failures, loss of Internet and other services, and can be sufficiently impactful to cause personal injuries or loss of life, significant crop or other property damage, and/or disruption to commerce or transportation.
Brownfields are often abandoned or unused property that might be contaminated. Although they can be dangerous to your health and bad for nearby property values when cleaned up and redeveloped they have the potential to become a community asset.
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power generator that produces electricity by splitting atoms to create steam, which is then used to power up steam turbines. Statistically, nuclear power plants are extremely safe, but there have been incidents where various malfunctions led to serious problems and safety risks.
Breathing polluted air can be risky. Keep track of the Air Quality Index (AQI) in your area and follow the guidelines in your area to protect yourself when air quality is unhealthy.
Hurricanes are storms that form over tropical or subtropical water and have the potential to produce devastating winds and flooding from storm surge and extreme rainfall. Both flooding and high winds are dangerous safety risks and cause significant property damage.
Drought is a lack of precipitation that results in a water shortage. In the US, drought is the second most costly form of natural disaster and can have far-reaching health and safety consequences including reduced air quality, reduced quantity and quality of water, and an increased risk of...
Smog is a mixture of pollutants made up mostly of ground-level ozone that can damage the respiratory system. They form through chemical reactions among nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Most of the air pollutants come from vehicles, power plants, refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial sources that create combustion from fossil fuels, which chemically react with sunlight to form ozone.
On December 2022, researchers from the National Ignition Facility achieved fusion ignition for the first time in history. The energy potential of nuclear fusion is superior to all other sources of energy that we know on Earth. Controlled nuclear fusion releases nearly four million times more energy than the chemical reactions that occur when burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, or gas.
Particle pollution, also called particulate matter (PM), consists of tiny particles of solids and liquids in the air, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke, and drops of liquid. Breathing particle pollution can be harmful to your health.
As our climate changes, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather is increasing. These events include hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall, floods, severe winter weather, hail, and tornadoes.