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Earth

Keeping It Green

(There's No Planet B)

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Atmospheric CO2 Levels

(Monthly Averages)


Oct 14, 2025: 424.4 ppm
10 years ago: 396 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350 ppm

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT







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Page Updated:
Nov. 7, 2025




 



Environmental Impact News - Within the Past Month (Latest Dates First)

  • • Valencia Floods Expose Need For Sustainable Transport
    Car-Driven Climate Risk

    {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

    Nov. 5, 2025, Experts told Climate Home News that last year’s destruction in Spain highlights a little considered problem that can put people at greater risk from increasingly heavy rains: an over-reliance on road transportation.

    In late October 2024, a weather system known locally as the DANA killed 229 people and turned towns near Valencia into rivers of mud. In the days that followed, images of wrecked cars swept by floodwaters into piles as high as buildings circulated around the world.

  • • Brazil Proposes a New Type of Fund to Protect Tropical Forests
    The Multibillion-Dollar Fund Would Essentially Pay Countries to Keep Forests Standing

    NYT

    Nov. 5, 2025 -To mow down a forest is usually lucrative. You can sell the wood, then clear areas for animals to graze, or mine for valuable ores, or grow corn or other crops year after year.

    This is how most of the world’s tropical rainforests have vanished in the past 25 years, including in Brazil.

    Brazil is trying to change that.

  • • Philippines Begins Cleanup After
    Typhoon Kalmaegi Leaves at Least 85 Dead
    Typhoon Kalmaegi Leaves at Least 85 Dead, Dozens Missing

    REUTERS

    Nov. 5, 2025 -Residents of the central Philippines on Wednesday began scraping mud from streets and homes that survived after Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 85 and left dozens missing as it tore through the region.

    Scenes of destruction emerged in the hardest-hit province of Cebu, a major tourist hub, as floodwaters receded, revealing the scale of the damage: homes reduced to rubble, overturned vehicles, streets choked with debris, and lives upended.

  • • Spinning Leftover Yeast From Beer
    Into Soft, Strong, Biodegradable Fabric
    This New Yeast-Based Fiber Could Replace Millions of Acres of Cotton Fields

    ZME

    Nov. 4, 2025 -Penn State researchers say the stuff we throw away after making beer, wine, and even some medicines could help feed people and clean up fashion at the same time. In their new study, a team led by Penn State reports a fiber spun from leftover yeast biomass that beats natural fibers in strength while requiring far less land and water.

    The idea is simple on its face. Beer and drug makers end up with tons of spent yeast — a mix of proteins, lipids, and sugars — once fermentation is complete. That “waste” usually heads to low-value uses or the bin. However, in their study, the team isolated the protein, dissolved the resulting pulp in a common solvent, and extruded it through a spinneret. They were then able to produce continuous strands that can be washed, dried, twisted into yarn, and woven into cloth. The solvent is the same one used to make the popular semi-synthetic fibre Lyocell and, according to the researchers, 99.6% of it can be recovered and reused each cycle.

  • • Senators, Advocates Demand Explanation
    On Asbestos Risks From East Wing
    The White House Said It Had Mitigated Risks Associated With the Building Material, Which Was Widely Used at the Time of the East Wing’s Construction and Can Be Hazardous

    WAPO

    Nov. 1, 2025 -Democratic senators and public health advocates are demanding that the White House and its contractors prove their rapid demolition of the East Wing last week did not expose workers and passersby to asbestos, a construction material that has been linked to cancer and lung disease.

    White House officials have said work to abate hazardous materials at the site was performed last month but have so far not provided documentation of what contractors did to mitigate risks associated with the material, which was widely used in building projects at the time of the East Wing’s 1902 construction and 1942 renovation.

  • • The Surprising Persistence of Carbon in Retired Farmland Soils
    New Research Turns an Old Assumption On Its Head

    Anthrop

    Oct. 31, 2025 -When farmland is returned to the wild, it shows a striking ability to hold onto the carbon that built up in farm soils over time, retaining this stock for 30 years or more, a unique, long-term study shows.

    The new finding challenges a long-held view that farmlands release large amounts of CO2 when they are rewilded. At issue are two opposing features of nitrogen fertilizer. On one hand, nitrogen fertilizer drives pollution and can increase emissions from the soil. On the other hand, by nourishing plant growth it also increases biomass, which in turn captures more carbon that is stored in the ground.

  • • LADWP Says It Will Shift Its Largest Gas Power Plant to Hydrogen
    LA Just Greenlit an $800M Plan to Turn Part of Its Biggest Gas Plant into a Hydrogen Facility

    {energy central}

    Oct. 31, 2025 -The LA Department of Water and Power voted 3-0 to convert two aging gas units at the Scattergood Generating Station to burn a mix of natural gas and green hydrogen by 2029—a move officials call “critical” to hitting the city’s 100% renewable energy goal by 2035.

    Supporters say the project keeps reliability intact while preparing for a hydrogen future. Critics, including the Sierra Club and Communities for a Better Environment, argue it’s a $800M bet that could lock in methane use for decades and worsen local pollution.

  • • The Scariest Part of Halloween? A Billion Pounds of Pumpkin Waste
    Once a Vital Food Crop for Ancient Americans, the Humble Pumpkin Has Turned into Disposable Halloween Décor

    ZME

    Oct. 30, 2025 -Throw up your spider webs and hang those skeletons, Halloween is here! As all terrors are let loose on the day, excessive food waste is also creeping up. Billions of pumpkins have been bought for the occasion — and most of them will end up in the landfill, not beneath a pie’s crust. Which is a shame, as pumpkins are delicious.

    In a world where 2 billion people are malnourished, even though we produce enough food to feed the total world population, and where families turn to food banks even in wealthy countries, wasting perfectly edible pumpkins is immoral. It’s also pollution. Here’s what you need to know.

  • • Honeywell Unveils Tech to Make Marine Fuel, SAF From Biomass
    Honeywell has Unveiled a new Biocrude Upgrading Tech That Turns Agricultural and Forestry Waste Into Low-Carbon Fuels For Hard-To-Decarbonize Sectors

    {energy central}

    Oct. 29, 2025 -Biomass like wood chips and crop residues can be processed into biocrude at collection sites, then refined into marine fuel, gas, or SAF at larger facilities. The system can be delivered as a modular, prefab plant to reduce deployment time and cost.

    Why it matters: Renewable fuel producers have long struggled with feedstock logistics and high costs. Honeywell says its process lowers both by using local waste sources and cutting production expenses.

  • • A River Restoration in Oregon Gets Fast Results
    The Salmon Swam Right Back

    NYT

    Oct. 29, 2025 -After being absent for more than a century, Chinook salmon have returned to their historic spawning grounds at the headwaters of the Klamath River in Oregon.

    Oregon wildlife officials said this month that the fish had made it past a key milestone, a long lake, and had reached the tributary streams that make up the river’s headwaters.

  • • All Operational US Liquefied Natural Gas
    Terminals Have Violated Pollution Limits
    Analysis of Public Records Comes as Trump Administration Aims to Fast-Track Approval of New LNG Export Terminals

    TGL

    Oct. 29, 2025 -Every fully operational liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the US has violated federal pollution limits in recent years, a new report has found.

    The analysis of public records comes as the Trump administration is aiming to fast-track the approval of new export terminals in an attempt to sell more domestic LNG to Europe and Asia. Joe Biden had previously placed a pause on LNG exports, which Donald Trump lifted on the first day of his return to office.

  • • Lyme Bay Was Meant to Be An
    International Conservation Success Story
    So Why Are Fishermen
    Losing Faith In It?

    ZME

    Oct. 29, 2025 -“It’s annoying, really, the way they say this area is a success,” says a fisherman in Lyme Regis, gesturing towards the sea from the town’s historic harbor wall. “Everyone I know is either selling their boat or thinking about it”.

    It’s not what you expect to hear in a place celebrated as a global triumph of marine conservation. Lyme Regis, a charming seaside town on England’s south coast, is the heart of the Lyme Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA). On paper, it’s a paradise regained. Scientific reports are filled with striking figures of ecological recovery, making it the poster child for a conservation network meant to safeguard the UK’s seas.

  • • America’s Super-Rich Are Running
    Down the Planet’s Safe Climate Spaces
    Data Shows Wealthiest 0.1% of the US Burn Carbon at 4,000 Times the Rate of the World’s Poorest 10%

    TGL

    Oct. 28, 2025 -The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to The Guardian<.

    These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.

  • • Delhi Turns to Cloud Seeding to Spur Rain, Curb Pollution
    This Is the First Time It is Being Tried In the Indian Capital

    REUTERS

    Oct. 28, 2025 -Authorities in the Indian capital territory of Delhi began seeding clouds on Tuesday to induce artificial rain and bring down pollution levels in the city that has been battling poor air for days, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said.

    The method seeks to increase precipitation by adding small chemical particles to clouds around which water droplets form, eventually developing into raindrops.

  • • The Mysterious Rise of Cancer Among
    Young Adults in the Corn Belt
    In Iowa, Young Cancer Patients Are Making the Small State a Bellwether of a Generational Reckoning

    WAPO

    Oct. 27, 2024 -WINTERSET, Iowa — Mackenzie Dryden’s happiest childhood memories are of running barefoot through the sunlit corn fields of her hometown. But when she was diagnosed with cancer 2½ years ago at 18 years old, a disturbing thought began to take hold.

    Could something in the land she loved have made her sick?

    Dryden went to social media for answers, and stumbled upon a deeper mystery: Within just two years, four other recent graduates from her high school — home to only 500 students — had also been diagnosed with advanced cancers.

  • • Exxon Sues California Over New Climate Disclosure Laws
    The Oil Giant Said Requirements That Companies Calculate New Details About Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Risks Violate Exxon’s Free Speech Rights

    NYT

    Oct. 25, 2025 -Exxon Mobil sued California late Friday claiming that two new state laws that aim to fight climate change would violate the oil company’s free speech rights.

    The two laws, passed in 2023 and known as the California Climate Accountability Package, would require thousands of large companies doing business in the state to calculate and report the greenhouse gas emissions created by the use of their products, along with the business risks that climate change represents for the companies.

  • • More Than 100M Red Crabs Migrate On
    Christmas Island, Delighting Conservationists
    Authorities Report Progress in Controlling Pests – the Yellow Ant Invaders – That Are Threatening the Charismatic Crustaceansts

    TGL

    Oct. 24, 2025 -Christmas Island’s red crabs begin their famed annual migration as authorities report progress to control pests threatening the charismatic crustaceans.

    More than 100 million red crabs making their annual trek from Christmas Island’s rainforest to the coast are creating a migration spectacle that occupies countless bucket lists.

    Their dominance of the landscape is an eye-catching phenomenon loved by tourists and treasured by residents.

  • • This Air Filter Could Make Your Home
    (and Everyone Else’s) a Carbon-Capture Plant
    Engineers Have Made a Nanofiber Filter That Fits in Building Ventilation Systems and Soaks Up CO2 at Lower Cost Than Massive Direct-Air Capture Plants

    Anthrop

    Oct. 23, 2025 - Direct air capture, the technology to snag carbon dioxide emissions from thin air, has always been contentious. It requires giant fans to blow large volumes of air across expensive sorbent materials and then heating those materials to release the trapped CO2. Costs have been high, and haven’t gone down much despite a few large projects running for the past few years.

    Researchers now say they have a low-cost alternative to large DAC plants. They want to turn houses and buildings into distributed carbon-capture plants with an air filter that passively captures CO2 from building ventilation systems. “Same as rooftops provide existing access to solar energy without additional land use, buildings can also support DAC through the existing ventilation systems,” the authors write in the journal Science Advances.

  • • Wetlands Help Remedy Agricultural Pollution
    Some Illinois Farmers Are Installing New Ones

    ICN

    Oct. 23, 2025 -One September morning Jim Fulton was pumping fuel into a combine harvester and watching the sky for rain.

    Fulton’s family has been farming in Illinois since the 1890s. Fulton, who now grows mostly soybeans and corn, said he thinks a lot about how to protect the land. That explains, in part, why he has created a man-made wetland on his 690-acre property in Livingston County, a method that has been gaining traction as an agricultural innovation.

    “My dad was conservation-minded. It’s kind of been passed on to me,” said Fulton, 69. When a Chicago-based nonprofit called the Wetlands Initiative gave a presentation in 2018 on “smart wetlands,” Fulton said he thought, “well, that sounds interesting.”

  • • Trump Opens Pristine Alaska Wilderness
    to Drilling in Long-Running Feud
    The Interior Department Also Said It Would Allow a Contentious Road to Be Built Through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Southwestern Alaska

    NYT

    Oct. 23, 2024 -The Trump administration on Thursday announced a plan to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest remaining tracts of pristine wilderness in the United States.

    The decision was the latest twist in a long-running fight over the fate of the refuge’s coastal plain, an unspoiled expanse of 1.56 million acres that is believed to sit atop billions of barrels of oil but is also a critical habitat for polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.

  • • $1.3M to Remove Toxic Fluorescent
    Lights in WA Schools Left On the Table
    It Isn’t Clear Why Most School Districts Haven’t Participated in the Cleanup Programs

    “SeattleTimes

    Oct. 16, 2025 -For six years, state Department of Ecology officials have offered money to any Washington schools looking to remove and replace lights containing PCBs, banned chemicals that have the potential to seep into classrooms.

    Just one school district has taken advantage of the funding. Only two other districts have tapped into a similar pool of money allocated by state education officials.

  • • U.S. Mine Waste Contains Enough Critical
    Minerals and Rare Earths to Easily End Imports
    But Tapping into These Resources Is Anything but Easy

    ZME

    Oct. 23, 2024 -Most U.S. metal mines are built to dig for one or two things: copper, iron, or in some places maybe gold. But here’s the thing — when these mining companies pull up ore, the majority of its content isn’t copper or iron or gold. It’s something else. And that “something else” might just hold the keys to our clean energy future.

    “We’re only producing a few commodities,” said Elizabeth Holley, a mining engineer at the Colorado School of Mines. “The question is: What else is in those rocks?”

    The answer, as her new study shows, is a lot.

  • • New York City Needs More Housing
    Should it Come With Promises to Protect Green Space?

    ICN

    Oct. 22, 2025 -The Elizabeth Street Garden, a cherished green space in lower Manhattan, was at the center of a heated debate that pitted locals against affordable housing advocates and city officials.

    Residents in the neighborhood, known as Little Italy, and beyond were deeply attached to the garden and rallied to save it, fighting plans to build a 123-unit affordable housing development for senior citizens on the site. Their efforts led Mayor Eric Adams to abandon the project.

  • • Gulf South Residents and Green Groups Sue
    Trump and EPA Over Toxic Air Pollution Exemptions
    The Lawsuit Fights a White House Proclamation Exempting 50 Chemical Manufacturing Plants From Hard-Won Restrictions on Cancer-Causing Pollutants

    ICN

    Oct. 22, 2025 -Frontline community groups teamed up with national environmental organizations Wednesday to sue the Trump administration for letting chemical manufacturing plants off the hook for toxic, carcinogenic air pollution.

    The lawsuit targets an executive action from July that gave 50 plants a two-year exemption from a Biden-era U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that tightened restrictions on cancer-causing air toxics like ethylene oxide and chloroprene. After years of fierce grassroots advocacy from communities harmed by chemical plants, the EPA enacted the 2024 HON rule—Hazardous Organic NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants)—and projected that it would reduce air pollution-related risks for communities living near these facilities by about 96 percent while cutting the industry’s emissions by more than 6,200 tons annually.

  • • Congress Members Question Pentagon’s
    Delay in ‘Forever Chemical’ Cleanup
    A Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Has Asked the Military to Explain Why Cleanup of PFAS Chemicals At Bases Nationwide Has Been Pushed Back

    NYT

    Oct. 22, 2024 -Three dozen members of Congress, including two Republicans, asked Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explain why the Pentagon has pushed back its cleanup of “forever chemical” contamination at nearly 140 military sites nationwide.

    The New York Times reported last month that the Department of Defense had delayed its cleanup efforts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, which are used in firefighting foam at military installations across the country. The chemicals are linked to serious diseases including cancer.

  • • Cutting Emissions, the Roundabout Way, in New Hampshire
    The City of Keene, has Become an Example of the Safety and Climate Benefits of Swapping Traffic Lights For Roundabouts
    May Be Some 'Good Signs'

    NYT

    Oct. 21, 2024 -In 2023, Keene, a small college town with about 23,000 residents, installed its seventh and newest roundabout. These circular intersections are easily confused with rotaries or traffic circles, but are distinctly free of traffic lights. Instead they require drivers to yield to traffic before entering and are constructed to be slower-moving while minimizing stopping.

    These features make modern roundabouts significantly safer than other intersections. Because of the position of the cars, they can drastically reduce the chances of potentially deadly crashes, like T-bones or head-on collisions. And because cars can generally keep moving without idling at red lights, they also burn less gasoline.

  • • An Iranian Volcano Appears to Have
    Woken Up 700,000 Years After Its Last Eruption
    Iran’s Taftan Volcano Shows Unsettling Signs of Pressure Building Beneath Its Surface

    ZME

    Oct. 21, 2024 -For centuries, the Taftan volcano in southeastern Iran was considered inactive; just another mountain in the desert. But recent evidence shows that something beneath it has started to shift.

    Between July 2023 and May 2024, the ground near Taftan’s summit rose by roughly 9 centimeters, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters. The finding marks the first clear sign of unrest at a volcano that last erupted about 700,000 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • • PNW Could Face Energy Shortage During Extreme Conditions
    The Report Analyzed the Region’s Energy Plans Against Potential Weather and Hydropower Conditions Across Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Parts of Utah and Wyoming

    “SeattleTimes

    Oct. 21, 2024 -Does the Pacific Northwest have the energy it needs to prevent rolling blackouts? A new report commissioned by the region’s largest utilities has raised concerns.

    Starting next year, the Northwest could face a power shortage that would challenge the reliability of the grid during extreme conditions, according to the report.

  • • Why Diwali Is Also the Start of Air Pollution Season in New Delhi
    The Air Quality in India’s Capital Ranks Among the Worst in the World, But Experts Say Politics Stand in the Way of Improving It

    NYT

    Oct. 21, 2024 -As India and the Indian diaspora celebrated Diwali on Monday, residents of New Delhi and much of north India also gasped through the start of air pollution season.

    Despite a yearslong ban on Diwali firecrackers, which exacerbate the seasonal increase in pollution, a drop in temperatures at this time of year creates a blanket of smog so thick that many historical sites in New Delhi, India’s capital, become invisible. The city’s residents choke on its air, with the air quality index soaring past 350 on Monday.

  • • Lead Contamination Still Threatens Children Decades After Ban
    Researchers Mapped Lead Contamination in Chicago’s Soil and the Results Are Alarming

    ZME

    Oct. 20, 2024 -Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage multiple body systems and lead to learning and developmental problems. The element has been phased out of use in paint, gasoline, and other industrial applications for decades, but it can persist for years in the soil. Children, who can be particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning, can accidentally ingest and inhale lead particles when they play in contaminated areas.

    Even though one in four U.S. homes likely has soil lead levels over the recommended safety limits, no major U.S. city includes systematic soil monitoring as part of its lead prevention services, and blood testing often happens only after exposure. That’s why this research is so important.

  • • From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy
    As Tech Companies Build Data Centers Worldwide to Advance Artificial Intelligence, Vulnerable Communities Have Been Hit By Blackouts and Water Shortages.

    NYT

    Oct. 20, 2024 -The United States has been at the nexus of a data center boom, as OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others invest hundreds of billions to build the giant computing sites in the name of advancing artificial intelligence. But the companies have also exported the construction frenzy abroad, with less scrutiny.

    Nearly 60 percent of the 1,244 largest data centers in the world were outside the United States as of the end of June, according to an analysis by Synergy Research Group, which studies the industry. More are coming, with at least 575 data center projects in development globally from companies including Tencent, Meta< and Alibaba.

  • • Battery Storage Public Hearing Draws Frustration in MA
    More than 600 Residents Turned Out to protest a Proposed Lithium-Ion Battery Storage Facility in Tewksbury, Massachusetts

    {energy central}

    Oct. 19, 2025 -Opponents called the site “a disaster waiting to happen,” pointing to its location near homes, assisted living facilities, and a wellhead protection zone. Local leaders cited fire risks, environmental concerns, and unclear community benefits.

    Many urged the state to delay approval until new battery buffer zone bills—which would bar projects within 2,000 feet of homes or 3,000 feet of sensitive ecosystems—can take effect.

  • • Dolphins Are Getting Alzheimer’s
    Symptoms Due to Pollution and Algae
    Could Toxic Algae Be Nudging Marine Mammals—and Perhaps Humans—Toward Cognitive Collapse?

    ZME

    Oct. 20, 2024 -Dolphins keep turning up on Florida’s beaches, stuck in the shallows and barely moving. Volunteers and scientists try to help by cooling them down, keeping them wet, and sometimes getting them back to sea. But many don’t make it.

    Why such intelligent, social creatures beach themselves has long mystified scientists. Now, a new study published in Communications Biology offers an unsettling possibility: some of these dolphins may be suffering from Alzheimer’s-like brain disease, triggered by exposure to toxic algae flourishing in warming coastal waters.

  • • World’s Landscapes May Soon Be ‘Devoid of Wild Animals’
    Margot Raggett, Whose Latest Compilation Shows Animals Scrubbed From Natural Habitats, Calls For Rethink on UK Accelerated Housebuilding

    TGL

    Oct. 29, 2025 -Margot Raggett has spent the past decade raising money for conservation efforts around the world but now she feels nervous about the future. “It does feel like we’ve taken a backward step,” she said.

    The wildlife photographer has raised £1.2m for the cause in the past 10 years through her Remembering Wildlife series, an annual, not-for-profit picture book featuring images of animals from the world’s top nature photographers. The first edition was published in 2015, when the Paris climate agreement was being drafted but, in the years since, efforts to tackle the climate crisis have been rolled back.

  • • A Completely New Way To Cool Things That
    Could Make Our Polluting Fridges Obsolete
    From Ice to Ions, Scientists Have Now Made a Breakthrough in Heating and Cooling Technology

    ZME

    Oct. 17, 2024 -During winter, you’ll often see municipal trucks spray salt on roads and sidewalks to clear them of snow. Although no heat is added, the dissolution of the salt effectively lowers the freezing point of water, which explains why the ice melts even in sub-zero temperatures. And since the natural world is guided by energy conservation, the melting ice cools its environment.

    Remarkably, no energy input is required for this to happen, which gave some scientists a cool idea. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the U.S. have used this exact physical principle to develop a new refrigeration device that cools stuff in an entirely different way compared to your kitchen fridge.

  • • Scientists Find a New Way to Trace
    Years of Exposure to Deadly Indoor Radon
    Your Toenails Could Reveal If You’ve Been Exposed to This Invisible Cancer-Causing Gas

    ZME

    Oct. 17, 2024 -When Emi Bossio began to cough, she didn’t think it would be anything serious. She was 47, a healthy lawyer in Calgary who had never smoked. “I ate nutritiously and stayed fit,” she said. “I thought to myself, I can’t have lung cancer.”

    But the diagnosis came anyway—and it upended her life. “It was super shocking. A cataclysmic moment. There are no words to describe it.”

    Bossio had to leave her law practice to focus on treatment. Later, she began speaking publicly about lung cancer and how it can strike even those who never light a cigarette. Her story led her to Aaron Goodarzi, a biochemist at the University of Calgary who studies one of the most overlooked environmental killers on Earth: radon.

  • • New method Recycles Arsenic For Clean Energy
    From Poison to Power

    Anthrop

    Oct. 21, 2025 -Arsenic is a double-edged sword. It is a known carcinogen found naturally at high levels in groundwater. But it is also an element that is critical for clean energy technologies such as solar cells.

    Connecting those two flows, researchers have found a way to convert the arsenic in groundwater into pure arsenic nanoparticles that can be used in manufacturing. “The creation of valuable [critical raw materials] from carcinogenic treatment by-products is a potentially disruptive technology for the water sector that can alter global [arsenic] supply chains,” Kaifeng Wang and Case M. van Genuchten, geochemists at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, write in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.

  • • Organizations, Businesses Across the Country Urge
    Congress to Stand Up For Energy Efficiency Standards
    Hundreds of Businesses and Organizations Are Urging Congress to Defend Federal Appliance Efficiency Standards That Save Consumers Money and Cut Emissions

    {energy central}

    Oct. 15, 2025 -Led by Environment America and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, groups in 10 states delivered letters to lawmakers calling for protection of water- and energy-saving standards facing rollback threats.

    A broad coalition of local governments, nonprofits, and companies from Alaska to North Carolina say efficiency rules are “common-sense climate policy” that lower bills and boost competitiveness.

  • • Unsafe Amounts of Lead Found in Some Protein Powders
    More Than Two-Thirds of the 23 Protein Powders Tested Had Lead Levels Exceeding the Group’s Daily Intake Safety Standards

    WAPO

    Oct. 15, 2025 -More than a dozen protein powders tested for toxic metals were found to have unsafe or concerning amounts of lead, the nonprofit watchdog Consumer Reports said Tuesday, adding that the average lead levels in such products appear to be worsening compared to years prior.

    Of 23 protein powders tested, more than two-thirds contained more lead in a single serving than is considered safe to ingest in a day, Consumer Reports said, citing its own safety standards.

  • • Newsom Vetoes California’s Ban on ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Cookware
    He Was Concerned That the Measure Restricting PFAS Chemicals Would Make Pots and Pans More Expensive for Californians

    NYT

    Oct. 14, 2024 -Gov. Gavin Newsom of California vetoed a bill that would phase out harmful “forever chemicals” used in nonstick cookware, saying he was worried it would make pots and pans more expensive for Californians.

    The veto, announced late Monday, is a victory for the cookware industry as well as for celebrity chefs and cooks who had defended the chemicals’ use, saying that nonstick pans are safe when used responsibly. Rachael Ray, David Chang and Marcus Samuelsson had all opposed the bill.

  • • The West's Power Grid Could Be Stitched Together
    If Red and Blue States Buy In

    {energy central}

    Oct. 13, 2025 -California just opened the door with a new law that allows for a regional energy market across 11 states. Supporters say a Western RTO would cut costs, strengthen reliability, and speed the clean energy transition by letting states trade surplus power instead of building peakers that sit idle most of the year.

    Yes, but: Some states worry about losing control. Climate leaders don’t want coal-heavy neighbors dragging them backward, and conservative states distrust California’s influence. Others warn a Trump-era FERC could use a regional grid to prop up fossil fuels.

  • • Microplastics Are Everywhere
    You Can Do One Simple
    Thing to Avoid Them

    WAPO

    Oct. 13, 2025 -If you are concerned about microplastics, the world starts to look like a minefield. The tiny particles can slough off of polyester clothing and swirl around in the air inside your home; they can scrape off of food packaging into your take-out food.

    But as scientists zero in on the sources of microplastics — and how they get into human bodies — one factor stands out.

    Microplastics, studies increasingly show, are released from exposure to heat.

  • • How Microplastics May Be Reshaping Our Bodies and Minds
    The Plastic Inside Us

    TGL

    Oct. 12, 2025 -Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs – even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn’t just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is lodged deep inside us.

    Now, researchers suspect these particles may also be meddling with our gut microbes. When Dr Christian Pacher-Deutsch at the University of Graz in Austria exposed gut bacteria from five healthy volunteers to five common microplastics, the bacterial populations shifted – along with the chemicals they produced. Some of these changes mirrored patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer.

  • • A Short-Lived Win in a Never-Ending Fight Over Forever Chemicals
    For Seven Years N.C. Activists Overcame Political and Scientific Hurdles to Convince the EPA to Enact PFAS Regulations in Drinking Water

    ICN

    Oct. 12, 2025 -AK ISLAND, N.C.—Emily Donovan stood before 100 people in the pews at Ocean View United Methodist Church in a small seaside town in Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was May, the start of beach season. She had invited a scientist to speak about the astronomical levels of PFAS—nicknamed “forever chemicals”—that had been detected in sea foam four miles away.

    But before she began her presentation, Donovan, a co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, had to deliver some bad news. That morning, Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator appointed by President Donald Trump, had announced his intention to rescind drinking water regulations for several types of PFAS compounds.

  • • A Push For ‘Global Energy Dominance’
    Puts Alaskan Wildlands at Risk

    “SeattleTimes

    Oct. 11, 2025 -This is the Western Arctic of Alaska, America’s Arctic. Much of it was set aside as a petroleum reserve by President Warren G. Harding in 1923. Congress in 1976 set limits on drilling here, intended to protect the land’s spectacular ecological value. The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), at 23 million acres, is the largest sweep of public land in the country, and it has remained largely undeveloped.

    Now Trump in his second term, just as in his first, is calling for full-on extraction of oil and gas here. The Trump plan would open about 82 percent of the NPR-A to oil and gas extraction, including 13 million acres in five designated Special Areas, where protections against drilling were strengthened under the Biden administration.

  • • San Andreas and Cascadia Faults May
    Produce Synchronized Earthquakes
    Samples From the Seafloor Reveal Evidence of Several Earthquakes Along the West Coast’s Two Major Fault Zones Happening In Quick Succession Over the Past 3,000 Years

    “Scientific

    Oct. 13, 2025 -The West Coast of North America is a geologically tumultuous zone where tectonic plates collide, subducting under and scraping past one another. Over the eons, this activity has regularly caused major earthquakes. New research reveals that some of these seismic events may have happened in sync along the coast’s two major faults: the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

    A team of researchers analyzed a trove of seafloor sediment from the region where the faults meet off the coast of northern California. The researchers’ findings, published recently in Geosphere, reveal that the fault systems have produced several synchronized earthquakes over the past 3,000 years.

  • • Electric Heating Gains Ground
    as Natural Gas Declines in U.S. Homes
    See the Breakdown

    {EIA}

    Oct. 10, 2025 -An increasing share of U.S. households are using electricity for heating, although natural gas remains the most common heating fuel. In 2024, 42% of U.S. households reported that electricity was their main space heating fuel, according to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Natural gas was the main heating fuel in 47% of homes last year, a decline from 49% in 2010.

    Evolving trends in home heating fuels reflect shifts in housing populations, changes in technology and policy, and decisions by households and home builders. The center of American population continues to generally move west and south, from areas with colder weather to areas with warmer weather. As that population has shifted, overall demand for space heating has declined.

  • • Most Energy Execs Fear ‘Major Incident
    on Power Grid Due to Aging Infrastructure
    The Nation’s Aging Power Infrastructure is on Borrowed Time

    {energy central}

    Oct. 10, 2025 -Roughly 9 in 10 executives believe a preventable “major incident” is likely within years, according to SwissDrones’ Energy Infrastructure Index, as extreme weather and rising demand strain equipment built decades ago.

    About 70% of US transmission lines are 25+ years old, with many nearly the end of their 50–80-year lifespan. The American Society of Civil Engineers downgraded the nation’s energy infrastructure to a D+ this year.

  • • China’s Green Push for the Global South
    Domestic Overproduction of Green Technologies Means New Markets Need to Be Found

    {GEO POLITICAL FUTURES}

    Oct. 10, 2025 -As the world transitions from hydrocarbons to renewables, Washington and Beijing are pursuing diverging paths that will have important implications for global leadership and geoeconomic power in the 21st century. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has rolled back green energy policies, doubled down on fossil fuels and questioned the viability of green technology. China, meanwhile, has set its sights on eliminating its reliance on foreign oil and natural gas to become the first global electro-state. In this global reordering, Africa – home to 60 percent of the world’s best solar resources and chronic energy deficits – has become the proving ground for Beijing’s ambitions.

    Click now to learn more.

  • • 2025 Chemistry Nobel Goes to Molecular Sponges
    They Purify Water, Store Energy and Clean Up the Environment

    “Scientific

    Oct. 8, 2025 -The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded for a versatile technology that can be used for an astonishing variety of purposes, from environmental remediation to drug delivery and energy storage.

    Metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, are molecular sponges that are already in clinical trials for use in cancer radiation treatment and are being sold as a way to contain carbon dioxide taken from cement and to fuel hydrogen production. They are also being explored as methods of pulling water out of air in arid places, cleaning up wastewater, and removing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the environment and for providing targeted drug delivery. The researchers behind MOFs—Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi—will share the Nobel Prize and divide the award of 11 million Swedish kronor, or about $1 million.

  • • How a City Awash in Garbage Is Trying to Take Out the Trash
    Illegal Dumping has Inundated Oakland, Calif., a City With More Garbage Than Almost Anywhere Else

    NYT

    Oct. 8, 2025 -It’s hard to stay calm when it’s your job to rid Oakland, Calif., of trash.

    Josh Rowan, the city’s acting public works director, becomes irate when he drives through the canyons of cardboard boxes, mattresses and busted appliances in Oakland.

    “I stay furious, piping mad, dropping F-bombs kind of furious,” he said on a recent morning as he sifted through sour-smelling garbage beside a road. He said his anger fueled his work.

    “I love this city, but what’s up with all of the trash?”

  • • These Florida Communities Wanted to
    Be More Sustainable and Resilient
    A New State Law Blocks Their Efforts

    ICN

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Manatee County’s commissioners didn’t expect to be threatened with removal from office for considering two measures meant to enhance disaster resilience in this fast-growing county on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

    The measures, both amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan, were widely supported in the sizable county that stretches south from Tampa and east from the Gulf of Mexico, encompassing beachy barrier islands and bucolic inland communities. One of the measures was intended to protect the county’s wetlands and guard against future flooding by prohibiting development within 50 feet of the marshes

  • • Vulture Nests Serve as 600-Year Archives
    of Human and Environmental Change
    How Scavenger Behavior Can Provide New Data for Archaeology, Toxicology, and Ecosystem Studies

    Anthrop

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Endangered bearded vultures disappeared from the cliffs of southern Spain decades ago. But a peculiar legacy remains, one that offers a glimpse back in time more than 600 years.

    The massive nests these vultures built are also a sort of guano-stained archive, full of human bric-a-brac dating as early as the 13th century. Scientists studying the vultures uncovered a trove of more than 200 human-made odds and ends when they picked through 12 abandoned nests.

  • • Scientists Seek to Turbocharge a
    Natural Process That Cools the Earth
    Terradot, a Carbon Removal Company, is Using “Enhanced Rock Weathering” to Sequester Carbon

    WAPO

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years.

    The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean, where the carbon remains stored.

  • • The Link Between Air Pollution and Infertility
    A Harvard Researcher, Investigated the Fertility Risks Women Face From Air Pollution

    NYT

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Shruthi Mahalingaiah: I am a physician scientist, which means I am a doctor who does research, specializing in environmental exposure and women’s reproductive health.

    Several years ago, I received a nearly $3 million federal research grant to start asking questions about air pollution exposures and reproductive health. No one was asking this.

  • • Nestle Bows Out of Initiative to Reduce Dairy’s Climate Impact
    The Food Giant Has Left the Dairy Methane Action Alliance, an Effort to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Herds of Cattle

    {Bloomberg}

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Less than two years ago, a group of the world’s biggest food companies, including Nestle SA, Danone SA and Kraft Heinz Co., announced a major alliance to cut methane emissions from their hundreds of thousands of dairy suppliers.

    Last month, however, Nestle’s logo vanished from the initiative’s website. Officials at the Swiss food giant confirmed that they’ve withdrawn from the effort, known as the Dairy Methane Action Alliance.

  • • Growing ‘Continuous Corn’ Drives
    Emissions of a Powerful Greenhouse Gas
    It Doesn’t Have To

    ICN

    Oct. 8, 2025 -Year after year, the same 15 million acres across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are planted with corn.

    Each August, the fibrous green leaves in those fields reach eye level. And each November, the dusty stalks are razed to stumps.

    “Continuous corn,” as the growing strategy is called, allows farmers to profit from a steady demand for corn from the ethanol and livestock industries. The approach is also a major source of a potent and little-discussed greenhouse gas: nitrous oxide.




The Issues: What We Need to Know

 

  • Lead Poisoning Details
  • Help End Food Wast
  • Global Sand Mining
  • Carbon Offset Credits
  • Air Pollution and PM2.5
  • Breaking Down Toxic PFAS
  • Ethylene Oxide Exposure
  • Chicago Urban Agriculture
  • Clean Up Your Cleaning Act
  • Arsenic In Our Babies’ Cereal
  • Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
  • Paying Back Koch Industries
  • Radon's Impact on Our Lungs
  • The Guardian Climate Pledge
  • About Those Toxic Chemicals
  • A Cleaner Way to Remove CO2
  • Dos and Don’ts of Pesticide Use
  • Danger: Seismic Airgun Blasting
  • Confronting Ocean Acidification
  • What Our Agencies Don’t Tell Us
  • Avoid Hurricane Surge Flooding
  • Map Showing the Lost Rainforests
  • Toxic Release Inventory Program
  • Fossil Fuel Facts You Should Know
  • Pesticides and Farm Worker Safety
  • What to Know About Ground Water
  • The Mushroom That Can Eat Plastic
  • Bali Fights For its Beautiful Beaches
  • Your Car Needs a Professional Wash
  • Can We Restore the Gulf of Mexico?
  • The Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires
  • The PFAs in Clark's Marsh, Michigan
  • Know The Clean Drinking Water Facts
  • Wipes Are Tearing Up Our Sewer Systems
  • Green Ammonia fo a Sustainable Future
  • Companies Reducing Their CO2 Footprint
  • Derailed Train Ordered Pay Cleanup Costs
  • Lifestyle Changes to Shrink Carbon Footprint
  • • What Will Power the A.I. Revolution?
    It Could End Up Increasing Emissions, at Least in the Short Term

    NYT

    Jan. 7, 2025 - Last week, Microsoft announced that it would spend approximately $80 billion during this fiscal year to build data centers for its booming artificial intelligence business.

    That gargantuan sum is a testament to the opportunity that Microsoft and other tech giants see in A.I.

    It also has the makings of a climate conundrum.

  • • ‘Forever Chemicals’ Reach Tap Water via Treated Sewage
    Wastewater, Even After Treatment to Make it Drinkable, Contains High PFAS Levels

    NYT

    Jan. 6, 2025 - As the world grapples with climate change, population growth and dwindling supplies of fresh water, more people are set to rely on treated wastewater to sustain their daily lives.

    But wastewater, even after treatment, contains high levels of harmful “forever chemicals” that are already contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans, researchers said in a study published on Monday that analyzed wastewater samples nationwide.

  • • Heavy Snow and Ice Move From Midwest to Mid-Atlantic
    Hundreds of Thousands of Customers from Missouri to Virginia were Suffering Power Outages...

    WAPO

    Jan. 6, 2025 - A wide-reaching winter storm dropped more than a foot of snow and closed major highways in parts of the Midwest as it continued its trek eastward Monday. In parts of the Great Plains, snow totals exceeded anything that had been seen in decades. At least three fatalities were reported in two traffic incidents in the Midwest.

    Click now for more of the story.

  • • Biden to Block Oil Drilling Across
    625 Million Acres of U.S. Waters
    Affecting Future Oil and Gas Leasing Across Parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Bering Sea

    WAPO

    Jan. 4, 2025 - President Joe Biden will move Monday to block all future oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of federal waters — equivalent to nearly a quarter of the total land area of the United States, according to two people briefed on the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement is not yet public.

    Click now for additional information.

  • • ‘A Place For Kids to Play and a Place to Store Water’
    The Stormwater Capture Zone
    that is Also a Playground

    TGL

    Jan. 3, 2025 - For a city that is almost small enough to fit inside Manhattan’s Central Park just a few miles away, a lot of history has played out within the narrow borders of Hoboken, New Jersey.

    It was the site of the first organized baseball game in 1846, home of one of the US’s first breweries in the 17th century and the place where Oreo cookies were first sold in 1912. And, as any Hobokenite will tell you, the Mile Square City, as it is called, is also known for something else.

  • • How an Antacid For the Ocean Could Cool the Earth
    A New Technology Promises to Remove Carbon From the Atmosphere and Prevent Ocean Acidification

    WAPO

    Jan. 3, 2025 - The world’s oceans stow vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Now, a growing group of scientists and companies say they’ve found a way to increase that storage capacity by tweaking ocean water chemistry.

    The technique, known as ocean alkalinity enhancement, usually involves dissolving acid-neutralizing rocks in the ocean, allowing it to absorb more carbon dioxide.

  • • This Hidden Mineral is Crumbling
    Thousands of Home Foundations Across New England
    Pyrrhotite Causes Cracks in Concrete. But Research on How Widespread the Issue Might Be Has Only Scratched the Surface

    ZME

    Jan. 3, 2025 - In 2020, Karen Bilotti and her husband, Sam, started to notice fine lines in their basement’s concrete walls. Ordinarily, they might not have given them a second thought. But the Bilottis had recently heard about a growing group of nearby homeowners in Massachusetts with larger cracks in their foundations, and Sam began to worry.

    “‘With our luck, our house is probably affected,’” Karen recalled him saying. “And I’m like, ‘You’re crazy. You’re absolutely ridiculous. There’s no way.’”

    Through core testing, scientists and engineers had determined the culprit behind fissures like those in their neighbors’ homes was pyrrhotite, a mineral made up of sulfur and iron found in some concrete aggregates.

  • • Not a Happy New Years Eve For Puerto Rico
    Power is Restored to Nearly All of Puerto Rico After a Major Blackout

    PGI

    Jan. 2, 2025 - Power was restored to nearly all electrical customers across Puerto Rico on Wednesday after a sweeping blackout plunged the U.S. territory into darkness on New Year’s Eve.

    By Wednesday afternoon, power was back up for 98% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million utility customers, said Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power in the archipelago. Lights returned to households as well as to Puerto Rico’s hospitals, water plants and sewage facilities after the massive outage that exposed the persistent electricity problems plaguing the island.

  • • Underwater Volcano Off Oregon Coast
    Scientists Anticipate the Submarine Volcano Will Erupt Before the End of 2025

    ZME

    Jan. 2, 2025 - In the depths of the Pacific Ocean, 470 kilometers off the Oregon coast, a drama is unfolding. Axial Seamount, one of the most active underwater volcanoes in the world, is swelling with magma. Scientists believe it will erupt before the end of 2025—a bold prediction, but one based on decades of monitoring and a unique volcanic rhythm.

    Bill Chadwick, a geophysicist at Oregon State University, likens the situation to a pressure cooker nearing its limit...

  • • Detecting Hidden Moisture in Your Walls
    This Radar System Can Do Just That

    ZME

    Jan. 2, 2025 - Mold is one of the most significant challenges for homeowners, and once it takes hold, it can be incredibly difficult to eliminate. Preventing mold is the best approach, and the cornerstone of mold prevention is managing humidity. Now, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a method using microwave radar to monitor the moisture content in wood inside walls.

    “We know microwave radar shows great promise for this, because it’s well known that it can measure the moisture in wood samples,” ORNL’s Philip Boudreaux said. “But can it measure moisture in wood that is inside a wall to detect high-moisture issues before they become a big problem? That’s the challenge.”

  • • Bird Flu Strikes Again
    Severe Case Confirmed in the US

    ZME

    Jan. 2, 2025 - A patient in Louisiana has been hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu (H5N1). This is the first instance of serious illness from this virus in the United States. Although health officials emphasize that the risk to the general public remains low and the virus still isn’t transmitted from human to human, this as a stark reminder that avian influenza remains a persistent and pervase threat, especially to those in close contact with birds and other animals.

    Click now to read all about it.

  • Louisiana Plastics Plant Put On Pause is a Win For Activists
  • Parisians: Recovering a River Now Buried Under the City
  • Cities Take Action to Limit Loud and Polluting Lawn Care
  • Air Pollution Causes Over 1 Million Stillbirths Each Year
  • Plastic Pellets Flow From the Mississippi Into the Gulf
  • How About a Little Radio-activity in Your Fertilizer?
  • Sustainable Concrete: Do What the Romans Did
  • NY Fracked Gas Plant Rejections Set Precedent
  • To Clear City Smog, Chile Pushes Electric Taxis
  • • Moving Stockholm Toward an Emissions-Free Future
  • Slaughterhouses Pollute Our Waterways
  • Amazon and Others Destroy Unsold Products
  • Plastic Pollution is in All Areas of the U.S.
  • Tropicana Sued Over Malic Acid Presence
  • Drinking Water With ‘Forever Chemicals’
  • Did We Really Need a Clean Water Rule?
  • Solving the Global Cooling Problem
  • Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon
  • Insects Could Vanish Within a Century
  • Declining: The Dirt Beneath Our Feet
  • Wiping Out the Boreal Forest - Literally
  • Coal Ash: Hazardous to Human Health
  • NRDC Warns of Up to 40% Food Waste
  • Mangroves May Store More Much CO2
  • How Do I Reduce My CO2 Footprint?
  • C’mon Congress - Get the Lead Out
  • Reinvent Cement
  • World Oceans Day
  • The Global Safety Net
  • Tropical Deforestation
  • NOAA Carbon Tracker
  • Ocean Plastics Pollution
  • Dirty Water = Dirty Fish
  • The Real Cost of Carbon
  • 16 Must-See Documentaries
  • Going Green When You Go
  • Your Car's Carbon Footprint
  • Interactive Power Grid Maps
  • Minimizing Pesticide Usage
  • Asbestos Exposure Treatment
  • Micro-plastics Raining Down
  • Diesel School Buses & Health
  • Singapore's Marina Barrage
  • Drinking Water Report Card
  • The Toll s Single-Use Plastics
  • Up Arrow
  • Compare Your City's Pollution
  • What Is Amphibious Architecture?
  • Costa Rica Reversed Deforestation
  • Headed for the Last Roundup®?
  • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
  • Head & Shoulders Above the Rest
  • How Your State Makes Electricity
  • Australia’s Ecosystems Collapsing
  • The Goldman Environmental Prize
  • Transportation Emissions in the U.S.
  • How Fracking Threatens Our Water
  • Air Pollution and Its Health Impacts
  • Keeping Plastics Out of Our Oceans
  • The World's Most Controversial Tree
  • A Plant in Florida Emits Nitrous Oxide
  • Who's Sueing Who Over Gulf Oil Spill?
  • Coffee With a Side of Microplastics
  • Affect of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells
  • Cancer Causing Radon in Your Home
  • Up Arrow



    India: Source of the Worst Pollution

    The World Air Quality Report 2024 by AQI aims to highlight the global air quality trends in 2024 to support the progress on environmental actions globally. Thus, the report focuses on the PM2.5 concentrations and AQI (Air Quality Index) across countries and cities. To offer a comprehensive air pollution view, both real-time and historical data from AQI.in have been collected and utilized.
    The report analyzes the AQI and PM2.5 levels in the air across 5,750 cities in 140 countries and regions. The data for this report was collected from more than 15,432 air quality monitoring stations operated by governmental bodies, research institutions, universities, and other organizations.
    The data used in the following report was sourced from AQI.in, which monitors and collects real-time air quality. This report categorizes the data by countries, regions and cities and also includes city-wise and country-wise rankings. The Asia region has more extensive data coverage because of a higher number of air quality monitoring stations in the area.
    The report utilizes AQI and PM2.5 metrics to understand the air pollution risk globally. • AQI: Calculated based on the U.S. standardized measurement system. • PM2.5 Data: Reported in µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter), adhering to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for PM2.5 levels. • Cigarette data is based on PM2.5 levels using Berkeley’s rule: 1 cigarette = 22 µg/m³ PM2.5.

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    x s

    Oil Spill History
    Site Title

    "Birds and Oil Don't Mix"

    • • The Oilspill That Never Quite Goes Away
      Signs of BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Persist Over a Decade Later

      GIZMODO

      Aug. 10, 2022, -Though the leak was eventually capped (temporarily in July 2010 and permanently in September 2010), the spill damage and lingering effects didn’t end there. Even more than a decade later, some signs of the environmental catastrophe remain, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

    • • Massive Spill Hits Southern California’s Beaches
      About 3,000 Barrels of Oil Leaked from a Broken Pipeline Off the California Coast

      Oct. 3, 2021, (Bloomberg Green)-California beaches in Northern Orange County were closed and wetlands contaminated by a huge oil spill caused by a broken pipeline off the coast.

      About 3,000 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline and washed up on beaches and wetlands in Huntington Beach, a popular spot for Southern California surfers and beach goers. The beach’s ocean and shoreline have been closed indefinitely, the city said in a statement Sunday.

    • • Mystery: Origin of the Oil Killing Brazilian Sea Turtles?
      Oil Is Killing Brazil’s Turtles
      Where Is It From?

      Oct. 12, 2019  (TIME)- More than a month since oil started washing up on some of Brazil’s most touristic beaches, dotting sand with b lack patches, killing sea turtles and scaring off fishermen, the origin of the crude is still a mystery.

      “We don’t know the oil’s origin, where it came from or how it got here,” Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said at an offshore exploration auction in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday


      Click now for more details
    • • One Dead in Gulf of Mexico Rig Accident
      One dead in Gulf of Mexico
      Rig Accident - But No Pollution

      July 21, 2019 (UPI) -There is no pollution associated with an explosion on a drilling platform about 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, a regulator said.

      The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it was notified by oil and gas operator Fieldwood Energy of an explosion on its Echo Platform.

      Fieldwood said one contract worker was killed and three other employees were treated for injuries at an onshore medical facility.

      Click now for the whole story.
    • • 14-Year-old Oil Leak in Gulf:
      Far Worse Than Taylor Energy Says
      New Estimate for an Oil Leak:
      1,000x Worse Than Rig Owner Says

      June 25, 2020 (NY Times Climate Forward) -A new federal study has found that an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began 14 years ago has been releasing as much as 4,500 gallons a day, not three or four gallons a day as the rig owner has claimed.

      The leak, about 12 miles off the Louisiana coast, began in 2004 when a Taylor Energy Company oil platform sank during Hurricane Ivan and a bundle of undersea pipes ruptured. Oil and gas have been seeping from the site ever since.

      Click now to read all about it.
    • • It’s Been Nine Years
      Since the Deepwater Horizon Incident
      Nine Years After Deepwater Horizon

      April 16, 2017 (National Wildlife Federation) - It has been nine years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing eleven men and unleashing an 87 day-long torrent of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. National Wildlife Federation has taken an active role in Gulf recovery, advocating for science-based decision-making to benefit wildlife and their habitats as Gulf leaders invest recovery funds into restoration.

      While there are still decades of recovery ahead, significant strides have been made over the last eight years to restore the Gulf for coastal communities and wildlife. As we reflect on the lives lost and the damage wrought, we should also consider how we can prevent a similar disaster from happening in the future.

      Click now for the complete story

    • • Torrey Canyon Oil Spill - Learning From History
      Torrey Canyon Disaster –
      the UK's Worst-Ever Oil
      Spill 50 Years On

      Mar. 18, 2017 (The Guardian) - “I saw this huge ship sailing and I thought he’s in rather close, I hope he knows what he’s doing,” recalled Gladys Perkins of the day 50 years ago, when Britain experienced its worst ever environmental disaster.

      The ship was the Torrey Canyon, one of the first generation of supertankers, and it was nearing the end of a journey from Kuwait to a refinery at Milford Haven in Wales. The BP-chartered vessel ran aground on a rock between the Isles of Scilly and Land’s End in Cornwall, splitting several of the tanks holding its vast cargo of crude oil.

      Click now for the complete story

    • • The Prospect of Cuba Drilling
      In The Gulf Concerns Tampa Bay
      Advocates of Gulf Oil-Drilling
      Ban Worried By Talks With Cuba

      Aug. 18, 2016 (Tampa Bay Times) - Progress in international talks over who owns a piece of the Gulf of Mexico has raised the specter of a Deepwater Horizon tragedy along local shores.

      A few hundred miles from the west coast of Florida is a 7,700-square-mile area of the Gulf of Mexico known as the Eastern Gap, thought to be rich with oil but with no clear owner.

      The U.S., Cuban and Mexican governments are now negotiating how to split the area among the three nations. Once that happens, each country can drill for oil in its allotted portion.

    • • Shell Oil Mimics BP With 90,000 Gal. of Crude
      Shell Oil Spill Dumps Nearly
      90,000 Gallons of Crude Into Gulf

      May 13, 2016 (EcoWatch) -An oil spill from Royal Dutch Shell’s offshore Brutus platform has released 2,100 barrels of crude into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

      The leak—roughly 88,200 gallons—created a visible 2 mile by 13 mile oil slick in the sea about 97 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

      Officials said that the accident occurred near Shell’s Glider field, an underwater pipe system that connects four subsea oil wells to the Brutus platform, which floats on top of the water with a depth of 2,900 feet.

      Click now for more
      (if you can bear it).

    • • Blowout Highlights Gulf Drilling Dangers
      Blowout Highlights
      Gulf Drilling Dangers

      July 25, 2013 (Mother Nature Network) -Flames erupted from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, torching a natural gas plume that had been leaking since a blowout earlier in the day. All 44 rig workers were evacuated before the fire began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, but the rig continued spewing gas until Thursday morning, when its scorched frame finally collapsed enough to cut off the leak.

      Click now for the whole story.
    • • Obama White House Lifts Deepwater Drilling Ban
      Obama White House Lifts Deepwater Drilling Ban

      Oct. 12, 2010 (CBS News) -The Obama administration on Tuesday lifted the deep water oil drilling moratorium that the government imposed in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.

      The administration has been under heavy pressure from the industry and others in the region to lift the six-month ban on grounds it has cost jobs and damaged the economy. A federal report said the moratorium likely caused a temporary loss of 8,000 to 12,000 jobs in the Gulf region.

      While the temporary ban on exploratory oil and gas drilling is lifted immediately, drilling is unlikely to resume immediately. Drilling companies must meet a host of new safety regulations before they can resume operations, officials said.

      Click now for more
      if you can bear it.
    • • Enter the No-Spin Zone of the Deep: the BP Live Feed
      The No-Spin Zone of the Deep

      June 5, 2010 (Christian Science Monitor) - It was the last thing BP wanted: An open, high-definition live video feed – a "spillcam," if you will – showing in excruciating detail the massive oil geyser fouling the Gulf of Mexico, a situation admittedly caused by the giant extractive firm.

      But after a series of PR disasters – waffling, obfuscating, misplaced optimism, a gaffe-prone CEO – the decision by BP, under pressure from Congress, to put the live feed on the air reaped some unexpected plaudits for the company.

      Click now for the complete
      story from the archives.
    • • Can We Restore the Gulf of Mexico?
      Gulf Oil Spill:
      Dispersants Have Potential
      to Cause More Harm Than Good

      May 11, 2010 (CISTON PR Newswire) -The chemical dispersants being used to break up the oil leaking into the gulf following the explosion of British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig have the potential to cause just as much, if not more, harm to the environment and the humans coming into contact with it than the oil possibly would if left untreated.

      That is the warning of toxicology experts, led by Dr. William Sawyer, addressing the Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group, a group of lawyers working to protect the rights and interests of environmental groups and persons affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The group represents the United Fishermen's Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), among others.

      Click now to learn more.
    • • Exxon Valdez: The Story That Never Goes Away
      20 Years After Exxon Valdez
      Oil Spill, Alaskan
      Coastline Remains Contaminated

      Mar. 24, 2009 (Democracy Now) - Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The Exxon Valdez spilled between 11 and 38 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound.

      The spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of Alaska’s shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. It also dealt a staggering blow to the residents of local fishing towns, and the effects of the disaster are still being felt today. We speak with Riki Ott, a community activist, marine toxicologist, former commercial salmon fisherma’am and author of two books on the spill. Her latest is Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill.

      Click now for the story
      deep in the archives.
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    America's Greenest Cities
    Back Arrow

    Provided by Mother Nature Network

    # 1 - Portland, Ore

    The city of microbrewery mania and home to megastore Powell's Books — one of the few remaining independent booksellers in the country — is No. 1 in sustainability. Declared the most bikeable city in the United States for its 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes, Portland certainly makes forgoing gas-powered travel easy. And for lessons in DIY sustainable food sources, classes are available for container gardening and cheese making, or beekeeping and chicken keeping.

    # 2 - San Francisco, Cal.

    San Francisco

    Declared by Mayor Gavin Newsom to be America's solar energy leader, this vibrant city of cultural tolerance was a 1960s icon and epicenter for the Summer of Love. But in addition to peace, love and solar power, there's also an innovative recycling program with an artist-in-residence at the recycling facility. The artist uses his work to inspire residents to recycle and conserve. San Francisco is also the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags, a concept that supports its effort to divert 75 percent of landfill waste by 2010.
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    # 3 - Boston, Mass.

    Boston

    It's hard to think of this city without also thinking of tea — as a commodity, not a drink. Boston ranks high among the urban green elite. Sustainability efforts include a "Green by 2015" goal to replace traditional taxi cabs with hybrid vehicles, recycle trash to power homes, use more solar panels, and use more electric motorbikes for transportation.

    The city's first annual Down2Earth conference was held in 2008. It's designed to educate residents about how to live the most sustainable lifestyle.

    # 4 - Oakland, Calif.

    Boston

    Residents of this port city have access to an abundance of fresh, organic food, much of which is locally sourced. It's also home to the nation's cleanest tap water, hydrogen-powered public transit and the country's oldest wildlife refuge.

    Oakland also plans to have zero waste and be oil-independent by 2020, and already gets 17 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
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    # 5 - Eugene, Ore.

    Eugene
    Known as the Emerald City for its natural green beauty, this baby boomer haven and second largest city in the state has been doing the "green" thing since the 1960s. In 2008, after only one year of service, the Emerald Express, a hybrid public transit system, won a Sustainable Transport award. Cycling is the preferred mode of transportation, made possible by the 30 miles of off-street bike paths and 29 dedicated bike routes, which total a whopping 150 miles of smog-free travel throughout the metro area.

    # 6 - Cambridge, Mass.

    Cambridge

    In 2008, Prevention Magazine named Cambridge "the best walking city." Thoreau's Walden Pond can be found in nearby Concord, and education powerhouses Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University are located here. In 2002, city officials implemented a major climate protection plan and today most city vehicles are fueled by B20 biodiesel or electricity. All new construction or major renovations must meet LEED standards. And a project called "Compost that Stuff" collects and processes organic waste from residents, restaurants, bars and hotels.

    # 7 - Berkeley, Calif.

    Berkeley

    A great place to find an abundance of organic and vegetarian restaurants is also on the cutting edge of sustainability. Berkeley is recognized as aleader in the incubation of clean technology for wind power, solar power, biofuels and hydropower.

    # 8 - Seattle, Wash.

    Seattle

    The unofficial coffee klatch capitol of the country is also sustainable-living savvy. More than 20 public buildings in Seattle are LEED-certified or under construction for LEED certification. Through an incentive program, residents are encouraged to install solar panels on their homes for energy conservation. Sustainable Ballard, a green neighborhood group and sustainability festival host, offers ongoing workshops about how to live in harmony with the environment.
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    # 9 - Chicago, Ill.

    Chicago

    The Windy City has embraced land sustainability far longer than you may think. In 1909, pioneering city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham created a long-range plan for the lakefront that balanced urban growth, and created a permanent greenbelt around the metropolitan area.
    This greening of the city continues through the Chicago Green Roof Program. More than 2.5 million SQF city roofs support plant life — including Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and the city hall building. Also, about 500,000 new trees have been planted.

    # 10 - Austin Tex.

    Austin

    Carbon neutral by 2020 — it's an ambitious goal, but Austin Energy is the nation's top seller of renewable energy among 850 utility-sponsored programs, which makes its goal to power the city solely on clean energy within reach. As the gateway to the scenic Texas Hill Country, acreage in Austin devoted to green space includes 206 parks, 12 preserves, 26 greenbelts and more than 50 miles of trails.


    Safer Habitats Table of Contents

    (Click on a link below to get the full picture.)

    Clean Air Council Climate Emergency Network Common Dreams Earthworks
    Env. Impact Assessment Environmental Working Group Florida Black Bears Fly California
    Gold Rush vs Salmon Habitat Guardian Sustainable Business Los Angeles Mass Transit Mass.gov
    Sierra Club UNLV Recycling Virginia Dept of Env. Quality Your Cities, Yourselves
         
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    Organizations for Safer Habitats

    (Click on an image for more of the story)

    The Guardian Sustainable Business

    EWG Logo
    Read articles like "Famers Turn Tobacco into Airplane Fuel," Infographics on Air Pollution and Your Health, Cardboard Boxes You Sleep In, and much, much more.






    Florida Black Bears are in trouble, and they can't hire their own lawyers. -but we can help.

    Gold Rush vs Salmon Habitat

    Transboundary Watershed Map
    Five major mining projects have been proposed for the transboundary watershed – the waters shared by British Columbia and southeast Alaska. The region is home to important salmon producing rivers that originate in British Columbia and run through Alaska to the sea. A number of environmental groups, Alaskan Natives and commercial fishermen strongly oppose some of these mining developments across the border. They argue mining could have negative impacts on the salmon and water quality, and irrevocably alter the region's economy, environment and way of life

    Environmental Working Group

    EWG Logo
    Two-thirds of produce samples in recent government tests had pesticide residues. Don't want to eat bug- and weed-killers? EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce helps you shop smart. We highlight the cleanest and dirtiest conventionally-raised fruits and vegetables. If a conventionally grown food you want tests high for pesticides, go for the organic version instead. And remember - the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh risks of pesticide exposure. Dirty Dozen™ Plus highlights hot peppers and leafy greens - kale and collard greens - often tainted with unusually hazardous pesticides.
    Earhworks Logo
    Hydraulic Fracturing (AKA Fracking). Another assault to the environment for which we can thank Haliburton and others. Read all about this extreme method of natural gas extraction , and its impact on water quality and other serious health issues (human and other species). Click the Earthworks icon to learn more.
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    100 Coal Plants Unplugged. This Sierra Club milestone, 100 coal plants defeated, marks a significant shift in the way Americans are looking at our energy choices. Read on and/or view video.
    What Massachusetts is doing about Climate Change?
    Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change.
    The eroding village of Kivalina in the Northwest Arctic is suing Exxon Mobil and 23 other energy companies for damage related to global warming.  Read all about it.
    This is the web page for Climate Emergency Network news.
    Click now to get there.
    Impact reports for the high speed rail system. You can fly California without leaving the ground, or the carbon footprint associated with air travel. Includes maps of the extensive rail system. ALL ABOARD!



    The Cape Wind Project will bring clean energy to Nantucket Sound. The project has been delayed by NIMBY (not in my back yard) issues by some who claim to be environmentalists.
    An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the likely positive and/or negative influence a project may have on the environment. “Environmental Impact Assessment can be defined as: The process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made.”[1] The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider environmental impacts before deciding whether to proceed with new projects.
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    EIR + Facts about the Los Angeles Metro - yes, L.A. has a mass transit system. Also read about the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

    Your Cities, Yourselves


    Smart-growth advocates offer tips for changing your neck of the woods.

    Virginia Dept. of
    Environmental Quality


    The Office of Environmental Impact Review coordinates the Commonwealth's response to environmental documents for proposed state and federal projects. The environmental impact review staff distributes documents to appropriate state agencies, planning districts and localities for their review and comment. Upon consideration of all comments, the staff prepares a single state response.
    Discover how Networkfleet can help lower fleet fuel costs and greenhouse emissions with technology that combines GPS vehicle tracking with onboard engine diagnostics.
    Monitoring the environmental impact of Pennsylvania's energy generation. A steward in validating the state's compliance with the Clean Air Act. What happens in Pennsylvania doesn't necessarily stay in Pennsylvania.
    Between 2003 and 2006, the UNLV Rebel Recycling Program recycled 2,144.5 tons of materials. Paper/Fiber (cardboard, paper, books) recycled was 1,641.6 tons. The diversion of these materials from the Apex landfill to the manufacturing process resulted in a positive impact on the global environment. Click on the logo for more.
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    Companies Producing Cleaner Power

    (More companies will be
    added to this page shortly)


    1366 One Step Closer to
    Opening US Solar PV Wafer Facility

    1366 Technologies Logo

    Solar silicon wafer innovator 1366 Technologies has landed new funding led by newest partner Tokayama, and is ready to scale up to a 250-MW production line ahead of an anticipated upswing in demand.
    Ten months ago 1366 moved into a new 25-MW pilot facility in Bedford, Massachusetts, to nail down process and tweak equipment for its solar silicon wafering technology to take the next step toward commercialization. In June of 2013 the firm inked a R&D deal with Japanese silicon producer Tokuyama with hints that it could expand to an equity investment.

    Clearsign Logo

    What if a cost-effective air pollution control technology could actually increase energy efficiency? What if it were possible to prevent harmful emissions from the combustion of any fuel, including gas, biomass, coal — even tire-derived fuel and municipal solid waste — in the flame, before those pollutants were ever formed?

    Redox Power Systems Logo

    The executives at Fulton-based Redox Power Systems are making a bold bet: The homes and businesses of the future will be powered by an extraterrestrial-looking apparatus loaded with fuel cells that convert natural gas and air into electricity.
    The technology promises to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than the systems that power many buildings today, but the company has to first overcome the economic and social barriers that often beset renewable energy ventures.
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    Mesothelioma is a Disease Brought
    On By Exposure to Asbestos

    Disclaimer: There are many sites that focus on treatment, but we lack the credentials to recommend the best ones*. We've provded a short list:

    *Always consult with a professional
    before making your choice.