Reality TV star sparks outrage after sharing video of shocking scene at local beach: 'This is unacceptable'
The internet makes it increasingly easy for anyone to witness a wide range of environmental issues, regardless of their location.
In a recent TikTok post, Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt), an American reality television star who probably wasn't on your bingo card to appear in an article for raising awareness about pollution, shared a troubling video of toxic runoff.
"Look at this water," Pratt says in the video as he pans the camera, showing dirty, mucky water at the edge of the ocean. "That's before they even bring the toxic waste down from town."
Toxic runoff, or runoff pollution, is created when rainwater or melted snow runs off the streets, carrying with it harmful waste or substances, trickling down until it reaches water sources, the Environmental Protection Agency explained.
"Runoff picks up fertilizer, oil, pesticides, dirt, bacteria and other pollutants as it makes its way through storm drains and ditches - untreated - to our streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean," it said in its report.
While there is a limited amount of runoff in natural areas, due to soil, fields, and plants being able to absorb most of the water, urban areas are much different.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, "Close to 100 percent of the rain that falls on concrete and other hard surfaces produces runoff. One inch of rain falling on an acre of hardened surface produces 27,000 gallons of runoff."
Earlier this year, people in Los Angeles were warned against drinking the water or going into local water sources, due to the extensive runoff from heavy rains following the LA wildfires.
Furthermore, new research has shown that storm runoff is a silent contributor to microplastic pollution. As urban areas have asphalt, concrete, and even rubber pavement, the runoff picks up the microplastics these materials possess as they break down, and carries the microplastic particles into the ocean with the water.
Commenters on the TikTok video showed their distress about the polluted runoff.
Do you think America has a plastic waste problem?
Definitely
Only in some areas
Not really
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
One person said, "This is unacceptable….how does our government allow this BS."
"This is actually insane…wow," someone else added. "Thanks for sharing all of this."
To do your part in protecting the Earth, you can educate yourself on key climate issues, such as toxic runoff.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Severe storms on Tuesday in Philadelphia region to bring heavy rain, gusty winds. Here's the weather forecast.
Good Tuesday, everyone! Get your outdoor activities done early as showers and storms are set to arrive in the Philadelphia region by late afternoon and early evening, bringing heavy rain, frequent lightning, and winds gusting to 60 mph-plus as a line of strong storms moves through. The region will be fully in the warm sector with highs in the low 80s to low 90s and dew points in the 70s — supporting strong instability. A strengthening upper-level trough will push a cold front through the area later in the day. If morning clouds and convection clear in time, conditions will support strong to severe storms. The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the region in a slight risk (2/5) for severe thunderstorms, with damaging wind gusts as the main threat. Alongside the severe threat, there's also a risk of localized flash flooding. Potential rainfall values between 2.0 – 2.5 inches and deep warm cloud layers will support heavy rainfall rates, especially if storms train over the same area. Delmarva is under a slight risk (2/4) for excessive rainfall, with a marginal risk (1/4) elsewhere. CBS News Philadelphia Will Tuesday's weather affect Phillies-Padres game? There's a good chance the Phillies game may be postponed or adjusted somehow. Stay tuned for updates on that because the weather should be arriving around the time of first pitch. The cold front slows as it moves through Tuesday night, with lingering showers possible through Wednesday morning, especially near coastal areas. Lows Tuesday night will be in the 60s to low 70s. CBS News Philadelphia Philadelphia weather forecast for the rest of the week An upper-level trough lingers over the Northeast into the weekend. While Wednesday and Thursday will be warm, humidity will drop slightly behind the front. Most of Wednesday looks dry, with only a slight chance for showers Thursday near and northwest of I-78 as a weak front moves through. Friday and Saturday look pleasant. High pressure will settle over the region with mostly sunny skies, highs in the 80s and comfortable dew points in the low to mid 60s. It's shaping up to be a nice holiday weekend, with no weather issues expected to impact your plans on the Fourth of July! Here's your 7-day forecast: CBS News Philadelphia Tuesday: NEXT Weather Alert for p.m. storms. High 89, Low 76. Wednesday: Clearing nice. High 86, Low 72. Thursday: Sunny, hot. High 90, Low 71. Friday: Nice for the Fourth! High 86, Low 67. Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 88, Low 65. Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 91, Low 70. Monday: Partly cloudy. High 89, Low 75. NEXT Weather Radars Hourly Forecast
UPI
3 hours ago
- UPI
Europe swelters under heatwave with record start to summer
People cool down in the fountains of Trocadero, across from the Eiffel Tower, during a heatwave in Paris. Heat warnings were in effect for the first part of the week across 16 regions in France, including Paris which was placed on the country's highest heat alert as temps hit 100 degrees. File Photo by Ian Langsdon/EPA-EFE June 30 (UPI) -- Europe is sweltering under an intense heatwave, as temperatures soar across Spain, Portugal, France and Italy for one of the hottest summer starts ever recorded. Spain is experiencing its hottest June on record. On Saturday, El Granado in Andalusia hit 114 degrees Fahrenheit. In Portugal, the heat registered close to 116 degrees in Mora. "Over the next few days, at least until Thursday, intense heat will continue in much of Spain," said Ruben del Campo, a spokesperson for the national meteorological service AEMET. In Turkey, wildfires burned for a second day, as strong winds fanned the flames near Izmir, and forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 people. Fires also broke out in Croatia and Greece amid extreme temperatures. Heat warnings were in effect in 16 cities in Italy, including Rome and Venice, and across 16 French regions, including Paris. Paris, which is seeing a record number of tourists, was placed on the country's highest "red" heat alert. Other regions remained under an "orange" alert. Nearly 200 schools throughout France are closed or partially closed. Government officials in Italy planned to ban open-air work during the hottest part of the day, as tourists sought refuge in fountains. The heat is also being felt in Germany, where temperatures are expected to top 100 degrees this week. The heatwave is being blamed for lowering water levels on the Rhine River, the country's major shipping route. And heat alerts were issued for England and Wales, where milder temperatures are more common. The United Nation's human rights chief blamed the heat on climate change and warned Monday that heatwaves will become more common if human causes are not reined in. "Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more," Volker Turk told the UN's Human Rights Council. Excessive temperatures throughout Europe are typically reserved for summer's hotter months of July and August, as UN Secretary General António Guterres called for "more ambitious Climate Action now," during a UN conference in Seville. "Extreme heat is no longer a rare event -- it has become the new normal," Guterres wrote in a post on X. "I'm experiencing it firsthand in Spain during the Financing for Development Conference," he added. "The planet is getting hotter and more dangerous -- no country is immune."
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
An ancient village in the Himalayas ran out of water. Then, it moved and started over
SAMJUNG, Nepal (AP) — The Himalayan village of Samjung did not die in a day. Perched in a wind-carved valley in Nepal's Upper Mustang, more than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) above sea level, the Buddhist village lived by slow, deliberate rhythms — herding yaks and sheep and harvesting barley under sheer ochre cliffs honeycombed with 'sky caves' — 2,000-year-old chambers used for ancestral burials, meditation and shelter. Then the water dried up. Snow-capped mountains turned brown and barren as, year after year, snowfall declined. Springs and canals vanished and when it did rain, the water came all at once, flooding fields and melting away the mud homes. Families left one by one, leaving the skeletal remains of a community transformed by climate change: crumbling mud homes, cracked terraces and unkempt shrines. A changing climate The Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain regions — stretching from Afghanistan to Myanmar — hold more ice than anywhere else outside the Arctic and Antarctic. Their glaciers feed major rivers that support 240 million people in the mountains — and 1.65 billion more downstream. Such high-altitude areas are warming faster than lowlands. Glaciers are retreating and permafrost areas are thawing as snowfall becomes scarcer and more erratic, according to the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development or ICMOD. Kunga Gurung is among many in the high Himalayas already living through the irreversible effects of climate change. 'We moved because there was no water. We need water to drink and to farm. But there is none there. Three streams, and all three dried up,' said Gurung, 54. Climate change is quietly reshaping where people can live and work by disrupting farming, water access, and weather patterns, said Neil Adger, a professor of human geography at the University of Exeter. In places like Mustang, that's making life harder, even if people don't always say climate change is why they moved. 'On the everyday basis, the changing weather patterns ... it's actually affecting the ability of people to live in particular places,' Adger said. Communities forced to move Around the globe, extreme weather due to climate change is forcing communities to move, whether it's powerful tropical storms in The Philippines and Honduras, drought in Somalia or forest fires in California. In the world's highest mountains, Samjung isn't the only community to have to start over, said Amina Maharjan, a migration specialist at ICMOD. Some villages move only short distances, but inevitably the key driver is lack of water. "The water scarcity is getting chronic,' she said. Retreating glaciers — rivers of ice shrinking back as the world warms — are the most tangible and direct evidence of climate change. Up to 80% of the glacier volume in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas could vanish in this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren't drastically cut, a 2023 report warned. It hasn't snowed in Upper Mustang for nearly three years, a dire blow for those living and farming in high-altitude villages. Snowfall traditionally sets the seasonal calendar, determining when crops of barley, buckwheat, and potatoes are planted and affecting the health of grazing livestock. 'It is critically important," Maharjan said. For Samjung, the drought and mounting losses began around the turn of the century. Traditional mud homes built for a dry, cold mountain climate fell apart as monsoon rains grew more intense — a shift scientists link to climate change. The region's steep slopes and narrow valleys funnel water into flash floods that destroyed homes and farmland, triggering a wave of migration that began a decade ago. Finding a place for a new village Moving a village — even one with fewer than 100 residents like Samjung — was no simple endeavor. They needed reliable access to water and nearby communities for support during disasters. Relocating closer to winding mountain roads would allow villagers to market their crops and benefit from growing tourism. Eventually, the king of Mustang, who still owns large tracts of land in the area nearly two decades after Nepal abolished its monarchy, provided suitable land for a new village. Pemba Gurung, 18, and her sister Toshi Lama Gurung, 22, don't remember much about the move from their old village. But they remember how hard it was to start over. Families spent years gathering materials to build new mud homes with bright tin roofs on the banks of the glacial Kali Gandaki river, nearly 15 kilometers (9 miles) away. They constructed shelters for livestock and canals to bring water to their homes. Only then could they move. Some villagers still herd sheep and yak, but life is a bit different in New Samjung, which is close to Lo Manthang, a medieval walled city cut off from the world until 1992, when foreigners were first allowed to visit. It's a hub for pilgrims and tourists who want to trek in the high mountains and explore its ancient Buddhist culture, so some villagers work in tourism. The sisters Pemba and Toshi are grateful not to have to spend hours fetching water every day. But they miss their old home. 'It is the place of our origin. We wish to go back. But I don't think it will ever be possible,' said Toshi. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
