Pollution from car emissions killing millions in China and India

By John Vidal17 December 2012 (guardian.co.uk) – An explosion of car use has made fast-growing Asian cities the epicentre of global air pollution and become, along with obesity, the world’s fastest growing cause of death according to a major study of global diseases. In 2010, more than 2.1m people in Asia died prematurely from air […]

Graph of the Day: Average Level of Fine Particulate Matter in Asia Air Pollution, 1993-2010

By Cornie HuizengaHong Kong, December 5, 2012. Improvements in air quality improvements in Asian cities that were visible in the last decade have stalled and the levels of fine particulate matter (PM10), the most important air pollutant in terms of health impact, are back to pre-2000 levels and still climbing in many of the cities […]

Asian cities’ air quality getting worse, experts warn

By BETTINA WASSENER5 December 2012 HONG KONG (The New York Times) – Air pollution has worsened markedly in Asian cities in recent years and presents a growing threat to human health, according to experts at a conference that began on Wednesday [Better Air Quality Hong Kong 2012]. Clean Air Asia, a regional network on air-quality […]

Siberia pesticide dumps may prove a bigger hazard than nuclear waste

By Marie Jégo 27 November 2012 (Guardian Weekly) – At Tegul’det (population 3,000), a village in the south-east corner of Tomsk oblast, it takes a lot to upset the residents, busy hunting, fishing and preening their vegetable patches, except during the six long winter months, when their only distraction is cutting holes in the ice […]

Even low-level radioactivity is damaging, says meta-analysis of published studies

13 November 2012 (University of South Carolina) – Even the very lowest levels of radiation are harmful to life, scientists have concluded in the Cambridge Philosophical Society’s journal Biological Reviews. Reporting the results of a wide-ranging analysis of 46 peer-reviewed studies published over the past 40 years, researchers from the University of South Carolina and […]

American Lung Association: 41 percent of Americans live in counties with unhealthful levels of ozone or particle pollution

Thanks to the Clean Air Act, we’ve made great progress in cleaning up air pollution from across the U.S. The State of the Air 2012 shows that the air quality in many places has improved, but that over 127 million people—41 percent of the nation—still suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe. […]

Romney and Obama ignore coal’s dark side

By the Editors 17 October 2012 Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have traded barbs over coal in both their debates, each accusing the other of failing to champion the fuel. It’s a shame that neither U.S. presidential candidate acknowledges the difficult economic reality coal now faces, or mentions that this form of power still produces […]

Photo gallery: Aerial view of deforestation at the Tar Sands mine in Alberta, Canada

By Mark Duell18 October 2012 These incredible pictures show the bleak landscape of bitumen, sand and clay created by the frantic pursuit of 173 billion barrels of untouched oil. The Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, are the world’s third largest oil reserve – but lush green forests once blanketed an area there larger than England. […]

Nigeria state governor surveys flood damage: ‘The situation is pathetic’ – Sexual assaults in refugee camps ‘a daily occurrence’

By Emma Amaize21 October 2012 Managing the ravaging flood in Delta State has been a complicated affair for both the victims and the state government. In some camps established for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the state, 18 at the time of this report, facilities have been over-stretched. Besides, in one or two communities, […]

Nigeria flood disaster ‘worst since 1948’ – More than 600,000 people displaced, 589 square miles of farmland destroyed – Crocodiles and hippos washed into homes

By Felix Onuah and Tim Cocks11 October 2012 LOKOJA, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday visited some of the hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by the country’s worst flooding in at least five decades, calling it a ‘national disaster’. Vast stretches of Africa’s most populous nation have been submerged by […]

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