Video: Some U.S. neighborhoods dangerously contaminated by lead fallout

By Alison Young and Peter Eisler, USA TODAY22 April 2012 Kathleen Marshall used to think the fenced backyard of her Philadelphia home was a safe place for her five children to play. Not anymore. Marshall was horrified to learn that a long-forgotten factory once melted lead just across the street and that soil tests by […]

Is this village in Alaska home to first climate change migrants in U.S.?

25 April 2012 (RTCC) – The villagers of Newtok in Alaska could have gained the undesirable title of America’s first climate change refugees. The community in the west of the state has undergone drastic changes as melting permafrost has literally shifted the ground beneath them and the loss of sea ice has removed a vital […]

Engineer first to face criminal charges in 2010 BP spill

By Miguel Llanos and Pete Williams24 April 2012 The first criminal charges in the 2010 BP gulf spill were filed on Tuesday against a former BP engineer accused of intentionally deleting hundreds of text messages about the size of the spill. It’s clear from the court document unsealed with the case that the Justice Department’s […]

Sugar daddies: The 25 corporate persons who are buying this election

By Frank Rich 22 April 2012 […] Sugar daddies—whom I’ll define here as private donors or their privately held companies writing checks totaling $1 million or more (sometimes much more) in this election cycle—are largely a Republican phenomenon, most of them one degree of separation from Karl Rove and his unofficial partners in erecting a […]

Scientists call for Arctic fishing moratorium – Loss of permanent sea ice makes industrial fishing viable for first time

22 April 2012 (Canadian Press) – A group of more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries has called for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic until more research can be completed on waters that were once covered by ice year-round. The scientists said the loss of permanent sea ice has opened up as […]

Delaware River at record low levels

By Nora Muchanic18 April 2012 TRENTON, N.J., (WPVI) – The depth of the Delaware River is at record low levels for this time of year. That has people who rely on the river very worried. “It’s like you see the bottom. The bottom. There’s no water down there,” said Benita Parrotta of Hamilton Twp., N.J. […]

Corn Growers Association: Climate change is ‘a grave threat to rural livelihoods and quality of life’

By Stephen Lacey 20 April 2012 Corn farmers concerned about the impact of climate change are speaking out, calling the problem “a grave threat” to the nation’s agricultural sector. Responding to the increase in severe weather — and the prospects for a “quantum jump” in such devastating events — a group of corn farmers is […]

Video: Gulf still grapples with massive BP oil leak 2 years later

Watch Gulf Still Grapples With Massive BP Oil Leak 2 Years Later on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour. [Sorry for the ad.] 20 April 2012 (PBS) – Two years after the largest oil leak in U.S. history, the Gulf of Mexico region still struggles with its impact. Jeffrey Brown, David Valentine of the University […]

Rising sea levels put coastal communities at risk

By Arlene Martinez19 April 2012 Oil spills, water pollution, harmful pesticides: those are the types of contaminants that spurred environmental crusaders to initiate the first Earth Day in 1970. Damage from industries, businesses and agriculture was noticeable, from thick sludge in landfills that bordered homes to unnatural plumes of green smoke that were emitted from […]

Phenology gardens track ties between weather, nature

By Mary Beth Breckenridge, Akron Beacon Journal 20 April 2012 How strange has this spring been? Denise Ellsworth can tell you exactly. Ellsworth is one of the coordinators of the Ohio Phenology Garden Network, a patchwork of gardens that helps scientists track the timing of natural occurrences. The gardens supply data on when plants bloom, […]

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