• kbal@fedia.io
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    4 days ago

    Hundreds of years of burning coal has spread mercury compounds all over the land, so that quite often when they build a new dam for hydroelectric power it’s dissolved into the water and ends up concentrated in fishes that people eat.

    • Toasticus@piefed.social
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      2 days ago

      Man, humans have fundamentally and irreversibly fucked up this planet. We burn coal, so we have that problem you mentioned. I learned recently how chemical companies have done decades of a poor job just dumping chemical waste wherever they want or developing things that does more harm than good at the planet’s expense.

      Enjoy it while it’s here I guess.

    • HubertManne@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      having to be careful about how much fish you eat due to mercury is one of the top dystopian things to me. People think about agriculture and grains with civilization but when you look at how important and common fish was to our diet for so long. Its crazy.

      • plyth@feddit.org
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        3 days ago

        And they feed fish products to cows and chickens. The mercury should be there, too.