pollution

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China Admits: It's Smog, not Fog

State-run media finally talking about health threats of pollution

(Newser) - Those shadowy days that appear in mid-afternoon in Beijing aren't just caused by fog after all, Chinese officials are finally admitting. It's throat-choking, eye-watering, blinding smog. And it's been so atrocious the last few days that authorities have had to cancel flights out of Beijing International Airport,...

How to Create 1.5M Jobs: Bump Up Recycling
How to Create 1.5M Jobs: Bump Up Recycling
new report
Nov 15, 2011 11:58 AM CST

How to Create 1.5M Jobs: Bump Up Recycling

Increasing recycling could boost economy and reduce pollution

(Newser) - Help the planet and create jobs, all at the same time? According to a new report, it might be that easy: If the US increases its recycling rate from 33% to 75% by 2030, an additional 1.5 million jobs will be created, according to the Tellus Institute. Why such...

Environmental Strategy of GOP: 'Too Dirty to Fail'

They protect polluters on the false pretext of saving jobs: EPA chief

(Newser) - House Republicans claim that to create jobs, we need to loosen environmental regulations. To that end, they’ve “averaged roughly a vote every day” in session to weaken the rules—and have already cut back the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws, writes EPA chief...

Chesapeake 'Dead Zone' Could Be Largest Ever

Marine life threatened in oxygen-starved portion of bay

(Newser) - High nutrient pollution levels have caused the Chesapeake Bay's underwater "dead zone" to expand unusually quickly this year: It covers a third of the bay and will likely become the bay's largest-ever area of oxygen-starved water. The dead zone, which sucks oxygen from deep waters and kills...

Chevron Appeals Massive Amazon Pollution Fine

Oil company claims indigenous supporters 'corrupted' trial

(Newser) - Chevron has launched an appeal challenging a whopping $9.5 billion penalty for polluting much of Ecuador's Amazon region. Company attorneys are accusing lawyers and supporters of the indigenous groups who brought the suit against Chevron of "corrupting" the trial, and claims that the finding against the corporation is...

Big Stink: Great Garbage Patch's Size Exaggerated

Think 1% the size of Texas, not twice as big

(Newser) - The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is often said to be twice the size of Texas—but that and other scary-sounding claims are “grossly exaggerated,” some scientists are now insisting. A new study shows the plastic waste patch is actually 200 times smaller than previously claimed when comparing...

How the States Rank on the Environment

Vermont, Maine, and Hawaii lead the way

(Newser) - Which states are the most environmentally friendly? 24/7 WallSt analyzes pollution levels, energy use, and environmental policies to rank them from 1 to 50:
  1. Vermont: Among its many "green" attributes, Vermont has the smallest carbon footprint in the country. It also releases the fewest carcinogenic toxins.

Ozone Hole Shrinks Again
 Ozone Hole Shrinks Again 
Dec 3, 2010 4:22 PM CST

Ozone Hole Shrinks Again

Efforts to phase out CFCs may actually be working

(Newser) - Here's a rare bit of good environmental news: The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, cause célèbre of the '90s, is smaller than it's been for the past 5 years, MSNBC reports. The latest data fit with a pattern of reduction over the last few years that...

Top Polluters Got Waivers, Cash for Stimulus Projects
Top Polluters Got Waivers, Cash for Stimulus Projects
investigation
Nov 29, 2010 10:11 AM CST

Top Polluters Got Waivers, Cash for Stimulus Projects

BP, DuPont escape environmental rules

(Newser) - The White House has handed wads of stimulus cash to the biggest US polluters and given them "sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of environmental oversight," finds a Center for Public Integrity investigation. Coal burners like Westar Energy and chemical maker DuPont have been among the beneficiaries...

Toxin Plagues Brockovich Town, Again

Cancer-causing material spreads through wells

(Newser) - A toxic plume of chromium continues to trouble the California desert town that Erin Brockovich put on the map—and the pollution is getting worse, reports the AP . High levels of the material, which can cause cancer, have spread through wells near Hinkley. “Because of the widespread nature of...

Beak Deformities on the Rise in Northwest

Abnormality at 10 times normal levels

(Newser) - Something is warping the beaks of thousands of birds in Alaska and the Northwest. A recent US Geological Survey found a shocking number of birds with “avian keratin disorder,” which causes the either the upper beak, lower beak, or both to grow abnormally long and curved, often crossing...

Underground Acid Lake Threatens Johannesburg

City needs millions to pump toxic water from mines

(Newser) - Johannesburg is frantically attempting to procure millions of dollars for a new pumping station, before a rising tide of toxic mine water seeps into the city’s streets. Abandoned mine shafts in and around the city have filled up with ground water, which oxidizes with the metals within the mines,...

Oil Spill Sends Foul Smell to New Orleans

Strong winds complicating cleanup efforts

(Newser) - The oil spill oozing ashore in Louisiana is making life miserable for residents of New Orleans because of the stench. Complaints are jamming city phone lines, and officials say they can only assume the odor is coming from the Gulf, reports the Times-Picayune . Andrew Sullivan, meanwhile, posts this from a...

Plastic Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic
 Plastic Garbage Patch 
 Found in Atlantic 
in case you missed it
Apr 18, 2010 3:10 PM CDT

Plastic Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic

Covers thousands of square miles, endangers fish

(Newser) - If you’re planning on taking a cruise, hopefully your ship won’t travel through the “great Atlantic garbage patch” that covers thousands of square miles between Bermuda and the Azores islands. The plastic debris is so small that some pieces are almost invisible, and the floating trash heap—...

'Plastic Sea' Found North of Caribbean

Atlantic plastic patch threatening food chain

(Newser) - Researchers trying to determine just how much plastic trash is building up in the world's oceans have found a large concentration just north of the Caribbean. The study—based on more than 22,000 plastic fragments collected over the years—found that a huge area between 22 and 38 degrees...

Cigarette Butts Are Toxic Waste: Study
 Cigarette Butts Are 
 Toxic Waste: Study 
fired up
Nov 9, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Cigarette Butts Are Toxic Waste: Study

Cigarette-soaked water kills fish

(Newser) - The chemicals in cigarette butts are lethal to fish, and the finding is bolstering researchers who want coffin nails classified as toxic waste. San Diego State University researchers submerged filters from smoked cigarettes in tanks of water for 24 hours, then added fish. Within 5 days, half the fish died....

Target Will Pay Shoppers to Bring Their Own Bags
 Target Will Pay Shoppers
 to Bring Their Own Bags 
green & green
Oct 19, 2009 2:31 PM CDT

Target Will Pay Shoppers to Bring Their Own Bags

Large retailers join smaller niche stores to offer rebates for reusing

(Newser) - Target and CVS will reward customers for using reusable shopping bags, and the efforts could take a billion plastic bags out of circulation. Though some retailers—notably Wal-Mart—have been slow to hop on the eco bandwagon, initiatives at smaller chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have met...

Test Finds Mercury in Every Fish

A quarter contaminated beyond EPA safety limit

(Newser) - Catch a fish in one of America's streams, and there's a good chance it will have at least trace amounts of mercury. The most comprehensive survey to date from the US Geological Survey tested more than 1,000 fish from nearly 300 streams around the nation—and found mercury in...

Paris Anglers Again Catch Salmon in Seine

(Newser) - "A world of slime without human form": that was how Victor Hugo once described the Seine, the murky, polluted river that divides Paris in two. Yet recent efforts to clean up the river, from skimming the surface to pumping it with oxygen, have led to a resurgent fish population...

What Tourists Can Do to Protect Coral Reefs

(Newser) - Snorkelers and scuba divers aren’t the worst threat to the embattled coral reefs of the world—climate change, commercial fishing, and pollution take top honors—but the casual tourist can lessen, and even mitigate, the damage he or she causes, Slate reports. Of course, snorkelers shouldn’t purposefully snap...

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