Study finds link between increase in local temperature and bacterial resistance to antibiotics – “There will be a drastic and deadly rise in antibiotic resistance in coming years”

By Kat J. McAlpine 21 May 2018 (Vector) – Over-prescribing has long been thought to increase antibiotic resistance in bacteria. But could much bigger environmental pressures be at play?While studying the role of climate on the distribution of antibiotic resistance across the geography of the U.S., a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists from Boston Children’s Hospital […]

“Climate change is real” automakers tell White House in letter – “We have a continuing role in reducing greenhouse gases and improving fuel efficiency”

By Ryan Beene 21 May 2018 (Automotive News) – Automakers urged the White House to cooperate with California officials in a coming rewrite of vehicle efficiency standards, saying “climate change is real.”The plea came in a 3 May 2018 letter to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, […]

Climate science misrepresented by House Science Committee members

16 May 2018 (Silencing Science Tracker) – Several members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology misrepresented climate science during a hearing on 16 May 2018. For example: Committee Chair Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) questioned scientific research showing that sea level rise is caused by climate change. Rep. Smith entered into the record […]

White House, EPA blocked chemical pollution study showing widespread contamination of U.S. water supplies, citing “potential public relations nightmare”

By Annie Snider 14 May 2018 (Politico) – Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a “public relations nightmare,” newly disclosed emails reveal. The intervention early this year — not previously disclosed […]

Pentagon revised report to remove risks from climate change – “Taking out maps of critical areas of flooding, that’s pretty fundamental”

By Chris Mooney and Missy Ryan 10 May 2018 (The Washington Post) – Internal changes to a draft Defense Department report de-emphasized the threats climate change poses to military bases and installations, muting or removing references to climate-driven changes in the Arctic and potential risks from rising seas, an unpublished draft obtained by The Washington […]

Puget Sound microplastic pollution “everywhere we’ve surveyed for it”

By Tad Sooter 16 May 2018 BREMERTON (Kitsap Sun) – Walk any Puget Sound beach and you’re bound to find plastic garbage —  a soda bottle, a chunk of foam, maybe a dog’s lost chew toy. But that’s just the plastic pollution you can see. The results of a recent volunteer-powered research project suggest there […]

Endangered Florida sparrow could vanish this year and more birds are at risk – “Extinction is a real possibility”

By Jenny Staletovich 3 March 2018 MIAMI (Miami Herald) – The grasshopper sparrow, a tiny Florida prairie bird perched on the verge of extinction for the last decade, may have encountered a final, unconquerable foe: an invasive new disease quickly killing off its young. The disease has spread so rapidly that wildlife managers now fear […]

Recycling, once embraced by businesses and environmentalists, now under siege – “Recycling as we know it isn’t working”

By Bob Tita 13 May 2018 (The Wall Street Journal) – The U.S. recycling industry is breaking down. Prices for scrap paper and plastic have collapsed, leading local officials across the country to charge residents more to collect recyclables and send some to landfills. Used newspapers, cardboard boxes and plastic bottles are piling up at […]

Actors were paid to support Entergy’s power plant at New Orleans City Council meetings – “They paid us to sit through the meeting and clap every time someone said something against wind and solar power”

By Michael Isaac Stein 4 May 2018 (The Lens) – Last October, about 50 people in bright orange shirts filed into City Hall for a public hearing on Entergy’s request to build a $210 million power plant in eastern New Orleans. Their shirts read, “Clean Energy. Good Jobs. Reliable Power.” The purpose of the hearing […]

Trump White House quietly cancels NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System – “We really shoot ourselves in the foot if we let other people develop the technology”

By Paul Voosen 9 May 2018 (Science) – You can’t manage what you don’t measure. The adage is especially relevant for climate-warming greenhouse gases, which are crucial to manage—and challenging to measure. In recent years, though, satellite and aircraft instruments have begun monitoring carbon dioxide and methane remotely, and NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), a […]

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