By Roberta Kwok8 May 2013 (The Guardian) – In the 1970s, a population of Arctic foxes on an island in the Bering Sea began to mysteriously decline. The animals were thin and mangy, and nearly all the cubs died. Today, only about 100 foxes remain. The animals were not felled by an infectious disease, a […]
15 April 2013 (Reuters) – Coal-fired power generation in Asia and cattle ranching in South America are the most damaging businesses for nature with hidden costs that exceed the value of their production, a U.N.-backed report said on Monday. Global output of basic goods from cement to wheat caused damage totalling $7.3 trillion a year […]
By Ian Simpson26 March 2013 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fifty-five percent of U.S. river and stream lengths were in poor condition for aquatic life, largely under threat from runoff contaminated by fertilizers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday. High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, runoff from urban areas, shrinking ground cover, and pollution from […]
By IAN URBINA18 March 2013 (The New York Times) – Last year, two inspectors from California’s hazardous waste agency were visiting an electronics recycling company near Fresno for a routine review of paperwork when they came across a warehouse the size of a football field, packed with tens of thousands of old computer monitors and […]
18 February 2013 (Reuters) – A new United Nations plan to involve all nations in marshalling science to fix environmental problems ranging from toxic chemicals to climate change will be put to the test from Monday at talks in Nairobi. The 40-year-old U.N. Environment Programme will open its annual governing council to all the world’s […]
By Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News18 January 2013 (Scientific American) – As United Nations delegates end their mercury treaty talks today, scientists warn that ongoing emissions are more of a threat to food webs than the mercury already in the environment. At the same time, climate change is likely to alter food webs and patterns […]
United Nations, New York, 10 January 2013 (UPI) – People in developing countries are facing increasing health and environmental risks linked to exposure to mercury, a U.N. report says. Parts of Africa, Asia and South America are at risk of increasing emissions of mercury into the environment, mostly the use of the toxic element in […]
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 […]
By Eugene Robinson18 October 2012 (The Washington Post) – Not a word has been said in the presidential debates about what may be the most urgent and consequential issue in the world: climate change. President Obama understands and accepts the scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is trapping heat in the atmosphere, with […]
[cf. Earth’s greatest mass extinction caused by coal: study] By Robert Bryce27 July 2012 Standing in the dispatch office of the North Antelope Rochelle Mine near Gillette, Wyo., Scott Durgin pointed at a flat-panel display. The regional vice president for Peabody Energy smiled. The most productive coal mine in the world was on target. Since […]
