A major hazardous byproduct of oil and gas operations, called “brine,” poses a pressing problem because of its long-term radioactivity and the extreme volumes produced each year.

Billions of gallons of this waste have been injected into Class II injection wells throughout Ohio and millions of gallons have been spread on Ohio roads as a deicer and dust suppressant.

Several activist groups in Ohio have been working to educate the public and elected officials about the dangers of spreading oil and gas waste brine and to ban this practice for the benefit of current and future generations, and nature.

Each year in Ohio, several billion gallons of a substance, called “brine”, is produced from oil and gas wells. This byproduct, euphemistically called “brine,” is actually toxic and radioactive waste. While it is true that it has a high concentration of salt, it is well known that oil and gas brine contains heavy metals including Cadmium, Arsenic, and Lead, and dangerous compounds such as Benzene. 

The assassination of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, while she was covering an Israel Defense Force incursion in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, has sent shock waves throughout the world. Shireen was a well-known and respected reporter for Al-Jazeera. She and three other reporters were pinned down by Israeli snipers. She was wearing a helmet and press jacket that clearly identified her as a PRESS when Israeli forces shot her in the face. Another Palestinian journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, was shot in the back, but is reportedly in stable condition.

WHAT?
On Thursday, May 12, 2022, local comic book artist, writer, and publisher Ken Eppstein dropped off just over 2,000 one-page cartoon strips at the Beechwold Post Office. These cartoons will be delivered to homes and businesses within his neighborhood using the Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) service. This project was paid for through a grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC). In addition to the cartoon on the front of the mailer, the flip-side will feature a link to a survey about comic reading habits. The goal of this project is to bring a conversation about cartoons and comic arts to a broader community.

WHO?
Ken Eppstein is a veteran of the Columbus small press and cartoon arts scene. He has been publishing his “Nix Rock ‘n Roll Comics” since 2011. The Nix Comics catalog has over 40 publications featuring work by over 80 artists. Ken has also written for the Columbus Alive, Red Stylo Media, SOLRAD Comics Literary Magazine and many small press zines, blogs and publications.

If it’s true, as General William Tecumseh Sherman reputedly observed during America’s Civil War, that “war is hell,” according to Kyiv-born Maryna Er Gorbach’s Klondike, the “hottest seat in hell” (to paraphrase Dante) seems reserved for those ensnared in the civil war in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. One of the grimmest films I’ve ever seen, Klondike is so bleak in its realistic depiction of warfare that it almost makes two antiwar classics that won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars – Lewis Milestone’s1930 All Quiet on the Western Front and Oliver Stone’s 1986 Platoon – look like musical comedies in comparison.

As Oksana Cherkashyna, who stars as Irka, told the audience after a SEEfest screening at the Lumiere Cinema in Beverly Hills, Klondike dramatizes actual events that took place when the war between Russia and Ukraine really “started eight years ago” in 2014, with armed conflict in the Donbas, while what we’re witnessing now is “a full-scale invasion” by the Russian Federation of Ukraine.