Great Barrier Reef ‘in danger of being damaged’ due to grounded oil-leaking coal freighter from China

The Great Barrier Reef is in danger of being damaged due to a stranded Chinese ship leaking oil into the ocean after it ran aground off north-eastern Australia. By Our Foreign StaffPublished: 4:05PM BST 04 Apr 2010 The 230 metre (754ft) Shen Neng I bulk coal carrier was on its way to China from the […]

Farm pesticides linked to deadly skin cancer

By Gordon ShetlerEnvironmental Health NewsMarch 31, 2010 Workers who apply certain pesticides to farm fields are twice as likely to contract melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, according to a new scientific study. The researchers identified six pesticides that, with repeated exposure, doubled the risk of skin cancer among farmers and other workers who […]

BPA widespread in ocean water and sand

By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT, ENVIRONMENT REPORTER Published on Thursday, Apr. 01, 2010 4:30PM EDT Japanese scientists testing ocean water and sea sand have found widespread contamination with high levels bisphenol A, a chemical used to make plastic that’s able to mimic the female hormone estrogen in living things. Its presence in sea water comes from the […]

Ken Salazar: Water a ‘ticking time bomb’ for California

The U.S. Interior secretary discusses water infrastructure and climate change legislation with Times editors and reporters. March 22, 2010 Below are excerpts from a conversation Monday morning between U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Times reporters and editorial board members. Dan Turner, L.A. Times: I know that you’ve been involved in the climate bill talks. […]

Ecologists fear for Lake Baikal as Putin saves factory

  BAIKALSK, Russia (Reuters) – On the shores of Lake Baikal, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is held up as a savior and cursed as a scourge after allowing a Soviet-era paper mill to reopen beside the world’s largest freshwater lake. Ecologists have branded Russia’s most powerful man as the killer of Baikal, a 25-million-year-old […]

Metal-tainted insects poison carnivorous plants

By David DeFranza  on 04.1.10 When we think about pollutants moving their way up the food chain, we picture a process that begins with plants or plankton and gradually compounds until it reaches species at the top — like polar bears or humans. In the case of carnivorous plants, new research has shown, consuming toxic […]

Image of the Day: Manaquiri River Anoxia

Brazilian fisherman Elson de Oliveira, hauls a dead alligator into his boat at Reis Lake, in Manaus, Amazonas state, on Dec. 3, 2009. Plummeting water oxygen levels due to a severe drought have led to thousands of fish dying along the Manaquiri River. MARCIO SILVA / AFP / Getty Images The Big Thirsty: From contamination […]

A bad winter and pesticides spell more trouble for honeybees

  By Bonnie Hulkower, New York, New York  on 03.30.10 TreeHugger has reported in the past about the mysterious honeybee decline due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Without any discernible explanation, entire hives of honeybees have been abandoning their hives and dying. There are likely many reasons for CCD, including: parasites, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, […]

Graph of the Day: Size of Hypoxic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, 1977-2007

The relationship between the size of the hypoxic zone in July (km2) and the May nitrate+nitrite N loading (kg N) to the Gulf of Mexico each year. A linear regression of the data is shown. The individual data points are in four chronologically-sequenced groups separated from each other when the data fall below the slope, […]

Britain air pollution shortens lives by up to nine years

  EVEN breathing can be dangerous these days. Air pollution is knocking up to nine years off the lives of people who live in pollution hotspots or have a respiratory illness. So says a report by the UK House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee. Tiny particles of sulphate, carbon and dust are the most damaging […]

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