Environmental Health in the News . . .

2 February 2012

Europe to target pharmaceutical pollution with new water quality rules
From: Click Green Staff
The European Commission has unveiled a new set of water pollution rules, which will for the first time include certain pharmaceutical products. The Commission is proposing to add 15 chemicals to the list of 33 pollutants that are currently monitored and controlled in EU surface waters. The popular pain-relieving drug Diclofenac is one of three pharmaceuticals to be put on the European water watch-list, which law-makers say is another step towards improving the quality of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The 15 substances include industrial chemicals as well as compounds used in biocides and plant protection products. They have been selected on the basis of scientific evidence that they may pose a significant risk to health.

31 January 2012

NASA Confirms Man's role in Global Warming
From: ClickGreen Staff
A new NASA study confirms the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity - not changes in solar activity - are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of the Earth's energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth's surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers' calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space.

Do Pollutants Cause Breast Cancer?
From: Paloma D’Silva, Sierra Club Green Home
Breast cancer is partly caused by toxic chemicals in the environment, according to a recent study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). These pollutants are surprisingly common, and most women are exposed to them from a variety of sources. Carcinogenic pollutants come from radiation and from consumer products. They are in household cleaning products, microwaves, cosmetics, hairsprays, and refrigerators. These chemicals seep into water as runoff from landfills, affect people as well as animals, and have been shown to cause breast cancer in women. The Breast Cancer Action Foundation believes that the environmental factor has been overlooked in research, and that its influence has been grossly underestimated.

30 January 2012

Palm Oil Biodiesel and greenhouse gas emissions
From: Editor, MONGABAY.COM
Greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil-based biodiesel are the highest among major biofuels when the effects of deforestation and peatlands degradation are considered, according to calculations by the European Commission. The emissions estimates, which haven't been officially released, have important implications for the biofuels industry in Europe.

Dam About to Bust on Clean Hydrokinetic Energy
From: Tina Casey, Triple Pundit
A company called Verdant Power has won the first ever commercial license for a hydrokinetic tidal power facility in the U.S., and that could be just the first drop in a torrent of more than 100 new hydrokinetic projects that are still in the initial stages of permitting around the country. Verdant's project, called RITE for Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy, will tap the powerful currents of New York City's East River to generate clean electricity.  Hydrokinetic energy shows great promise for growth in the U.S., since the turbines can potentially be installed in industrial waterways such as wastewater treatment plants and food processing plants as well as natural waterways, but until recently the technology has been treading water, so to speak, in the research and development phase. The success of the RITE project could mean that hydrokinetic turbines are ready to cross over into mainstream commercial use.

27 January 2012

Nanotechnology Safety Strategies Need Improvement
From: Scott Sincoff, ENN
According to a report released by the National Research Council (NRC), human and environmental safeties of nanomaterials remain uncertain despite the spending of billions of dollars in nanotechnology research and development over the past ten years.

Fructose Effects
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple monosaccharide found in many plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose is generally regarded as being 1.73 times as sweet as sucrose. Fructose is a common sweetener used in many products such as soda as a result. There is now some new research evidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk is present in the blood of adolescents who consume a lot of fructose, a scenario that worsens in the face of excess belly fat.

The Era Of Cheap Water Is Over: Deloitte
From: Editor, Justmeans
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today launched the Water Tight 2012 report, which explores the future of the global water sector in the year ahead. The report examines how major global trends such as population growth, increasing economic development, and urbanization, coupled with the changes in climate patterns, underscore the importance of effective public policy and private sector water stewardship in managing this finite and shared resource.

19 January 2012

Working in an office can damage your health, new study warns
From: ClickGreen staff, ClickGreen
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists are reporting that the indoor air in offices is an important source of worker exposure to potentially toxic substances released by carpeting, furniture, paint and other items.  Their report, which documents a link between levels of these so-called polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in office air and in the blood of workers, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

European Commission Aims to Cut Food Waste 50 Percent by 2020
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Europe may be facing much larger problem than what to do with its food waste. But being pushed through the European parliament is a bill that will have widespread significance. That is because food waste accounts for one of the largest sources of overall waste going to landfills. Per year, the average person throws away 300 kg (660 lbs) per year, and of this, two thirds is still edible. MEPs are railing against what they see as unsustainable levels of waste. The resolution being passed through parliament is set to be approved today.

18 January 2012

China Sets Historic Limits on GHG Emissions from Select Regions
From: David A Gabel, ENN
China is starting to get on board with the international push to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Last week, China's authoritarian government ordered five cities and two provinces to institute limits on GHG emissions. These areas will now have to submit proposals to the national government's National Development and Reform Commission on how they plan to achieve it.

NASA GISS Identifies 14 Air Pollution Control Measures to Slow Global Warming, Improve Health and Increase Crop Yields
From: Andrew Burger, Global Warming is Real
Fourteen air pollution control measures, if implemented today, could not only slow the pace of global warming, according to an intensive study by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), but also improve health and boost agricultural productivity. All regions of the world would benefit as a result, NASA found, but the biggest health and agricultural gains would be realized in Asia and the Middle East as a result of greenhouse (GHG) emissions reductions.

17 January 2012

Don't wait for wealth — better health needs basic tools
From: Charles Kenny, Science and Development Network
Encouraging demand for new and increasingly cheap interventions available now can boost health in developing countries, says Charles Kenny. The conventional wisdom is that wealthier is healthier: staying alive longer takes expensive stuff, and so a country's quickest way to better health for its people is economic development. There's a lot to that argument. Good nutrition, shelter, hospitals — they all cost money. And that's surely a big part of why life expectancies in high-income countries are twenty years longer than those in low-income countries worldwide, according to World Bank data. Even within countries, household surveys suggest richer families live longer and stay healthier than poorer ones.

13 January 2012

Small efforts to reduce methane, soot could have big effect
From: Devin Powell, Science News
Carbon dioxide may be public enemy number one in the fight against global warming. But taking aim at methane and soot has a better chance of keeping the planet cooler in the short run, a new study finds. Cutting the amounts of these two pollutants that are poured into the sky would diminish warming by half a degree Celsius by 2050, researchers report in the Jan. 13 Science. That could buy a little time for the world — slowing sea level rise, glacial melting and other problems caused by rising temperatures. Targeting these agents of climate change would also improve air quality, potentially preventing up to 4.7 million premature deaths every year, the researchers calculate.

Warmer summers causing colder winters
From: David Fogarty, Reuters, SINGAPORE
Warmer summers in the far Northern Hemisphere are disrupting weather patterns and triggering more severe winter weather in the United States and Europe, a team of scientists say, in a finding that could improve long-range weather forecasts.  Blizzards and extreme cold temperatures in the winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 caused widespread travel chaos in parts of Europe and the United States, leading some to question whether global warming was real. Judah Cohen, lead author of a study published on Friday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, and his team found there was a clear trend of strong warming in the Arctic from July to September.

12 January 2012

US EPA issuing new Air Quality rules
From: Timothy Gardner, David Gregorio, Reuters
The Environmental Protection Agency is introducing its most ambitious clean air rules in decades, though it is making some concessions to election-minded Republicans who oppose them. The EPA, facing backlash from heavy industry, has delayed several of the rules and made adjustments in others. Some industry groups say the rules will cost companies billions of dollars and increase power bills for consumers.

List of natural disasters and extreme weather makes 2011 the worst on record
From: Click Green
A sequence of devastating earthquakes and a large number of weather-related catastrophes made 2011 the costliest year ever in terms of natural catastrophe losses. Estimates of around US$380 billion in global economic losses were nearly two-thirds higher than in 2005, the previous record year with losses of $220 billion. The earthquakes in Japan in March and New Zealand in February alone caused almost two-thirds of these losses. Insured losses of $105 billion also exceeded the 2005 record of $101 billion.

Green House Gases and Where They Are
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In January 2012, for the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released greenhouse gas (GHG) data collected under the GHG Reporting Program. GHG is primarily Carbon Dioxide but includes many other other chemicals such as methane. The data shows 2010 U.S. GHG emissions from large industrial facilities, and from suppliers of certain fossil fuels and industrial gases. Reporting entities used uniform methods for estimating emissions, which enables data to be compared and analyzed. The data shows the larger GHG emitters are power plants followed by petroleum refineries. GHG data are now easily accessible to the public through the EPA’s GHG Reporting Program. The 2010 GHG data to be released includes public information from facilities in nine industry groups that directly emit large quantities of GHGs, as well as suppliers of certain fossil fuels and high global warming gases.

10 January 2012

New CO2 Sucker Could Help Clear the Air
From: Robert F. Service, Science AAAS
Researchers in California have produced a cheap plastic capable of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. Down the road, the new material could enable the development of large-scale batteries and even form the basis of "artificial trees" that lower atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in an effort to stave off catastrophic climate change.

06 January 2012

The Perils of Vacuum Cleaners
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Some vacuum cleaners — those basic tools for maintaining a clean indoor environment in homes and offices — actually contribute to indoor air pollution by releasing into the air bacteria and dust that can spread infections and trigger allergies, researchers report in a new study. It appears in the ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology. Lidia Morawska and colleagues explain that previous studies showed that vacuum cleaners can increase levels of very small dust particles and bacteria in indoor spaces, where people spend about 90 percent of their time. In an effort to provide more information about emission rates of bacteria and small dust particles, the scientists tested 21 vacuum cleaners sold in Australia.

EPA Report Identifies Toxic Contamination in Communities Across the Country
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Yesterday, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its annual report of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI consists of information on toxic chemical disposals and toxic air emissions, as well as waste management and pollution prevention activities. The EPA report covers neighborhoods all across the United States for the year 2010. Many of the facilities identified in the TRI are regulated by the EPA and state agencies through various programs such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Community-Right-to-Know (CRTK). Total toxic releases for 2010 were higher than the previous two years, but lower than 2007 and 2006.

05 January 2012

FDA Caves in to Lobbyists on Antibiotics, Putting Public Health at Risk
From: RP Siegel, Triple Pundit
The FDA is putting the brakes on plans to regulate the consumption of antibiotics by healthy livestock raised for human consumption. The news was conveniently announced during the low news period between Christmas and New Years, despite the fact that the agency has been stalling on their decision since October. They gave no reason for its action, stating only that it intends to "focus its efforts for now on the potential for voluntary reform and the promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials in the interest of public health."

Study: Parasitic Fly to Blame for Honeybee Population Decline
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Populations of honeybee have been in a seemingly unstoppable downward spiral, and scientists are still grasping to find the cause. A new study from the San Francisco State University suggests that one factor may be a parasitic fly, Apocephalus borealis, which lays its eggs in the bees' abdomens. The parasitic eggs cause atypical behavior in the bees, causing them to abandon their hives. Like a scene out of Alien, the eggs eventually hatch and the newborn flies burst out of the bee, killing it in the process.

03 January 2012

Mercury in the Atmosphere
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Mercury is an extremely toxic material. It is known to emitted to the atmosphere but what happens to the Mercury after that? How is it removed or processed? Humans pump thousands of tons of vapor from the metallic element mercury into the atmosphere each year, and it can remain suspended for long periods before being changed into a form that is easily removed from the atmosphere. New research shows that the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere work to transform elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which can easily be deposited into aquatic ecosystems and ultimately enter the food chain.

02 January 2012

Enjoy your portable music, but not TOO loudly, if you want to preserve your hearing!
From: Haaretz Translation by Tal Hefer, No Camels
According to a study conducted in the Department of Communication Disorders at Tel Aviv University, about a quarter of Israeli youth may develop hearing disorders due to prolonged exposure to music players and loud noise. 289 adolescents aged 13-17 participated in the study that examined the habits of music listening through headphones attached to MP3 players, mobile phones and computers.

30 December 2011

Satellite Studies Reveal Groundwater Depletion around the World
From: Andrew Burger, Global Warming is Real
Access to freshwater resources has always been a critical need for human and all forms of life on Earth. With a world population estimated at just shy of 7 billion and growing, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says agricultural production will need to increase 70% by 2050. As agriculture takes up most of human water use, that’s going to put vastly greater demands and strains on our water resources at a time when climate change is changing temperature and precipitation levels and patterns in ways that cannot be predicted at local levels but are likely to make this even more difficult to achieve.

23 December 2011

Smoking Linked to Skin Cancer in Women
From: Tinamarie Bernard, Green Prophet
Conventional thinking suggests that the best way to avoid skin cancer is to use sunscreen, particularly one made from organic materials. New research, however, continues to find other risk factors. Long known as a causative factor in lung cancer, new research suggests that smoking increases your chances of developing skin cancer, especially if you are a woman. For the now, the data is correlational.

Historic Mercury Regs from EPA a Boon for Health, the Environment and Jobs
From: Bill DiBenedetto, Triple Pundit
A few small drops of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and the fish that happen to reside there, thanks to coal-fired plant emissions. That’s a major reason why the EPA’s decision to regulate the emissions of mercury, lead and other toxic pollutants from coal- and oil-fired plants is a major victory for the health and environmental welfare of the nation. And please ignore the scare tactics from Big Coal and right-wing politicos about blackouts, job losses and energy security risks as a result of the rules.

21 December 2011

Exploring Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture
From: David A Gabel, ENN
The type of agriculture practiced in a given region depends heavily on the climate and weather that region receives. So naturally, with climate change, agriculture will be forced to change. Certain crops will have to be discarded for alternative crops which may grow better in the new climate. In other cases, agriculture will simply be no longer sustainable. Farms may have to close down or move to different latitudes or elevations. The unpredictable nature of climate change will make this quite a conundrum for farmers and the world at large.

Nitrate in the Thames
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Nitrate pollution occurs usually as a result of agricultural practices (fertilizer). Intensive agriculture practices developed during the past century have helped improve food security for many people but have also added to nitrate pollution in surface and ground waters. New research has looked at water quality measurement over the last 140 years to track this problem in the Thames River basin. The Thames River catchment provides a good study example because the water quality in the river, which supplies drinking water to millions of people, has been monitored for the past 140 years, and the region has undergone significant agricultural development over the past century. The nitrate transport route as well as application use was studied for its net effects on the Thames.

20 December 2011

Wind industry accused of blowing off worker safety rule
From: Myron Levin, FairWarning.org
Wind power is riding a strong breeze. In the last five years, generating capacity in the U.S. has nearly quadrupled. Clusters of tubular wind towers, rising up to 300 feet above ridgelines and gusty plains, are an increasingly familiar sight. But in the scramble to expand clean energy and green jobs, the wind industry has fallen short on worker safety.

Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Shifts, NASA Says
From: Editor, Science Daily Reported by ENN
By 2100, global climate change will modify plant communities covering almost half of Earth's land surface and will drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type -- such as forest, grassland or tundra -- toward another, according to a new NASA and university computer modeling study.

19 December 2011

Study finds link between air pollution and increase in DNA damage
From: ClickGreen staff, ClickGreen
A study in the Czech Republic has found a link between exposure to certain air pollutants and an increase in DNA damage for people exposed to high levels of the pollution.

16 December 2011

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant finally in cold shutdown
From: Kiyoshi Takenaka and Shinichi Saoshiro, Reuters
TOKYO -- Japan declared its tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to be in cold shutdown on Friday in a major step toward resolving the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

After 40-year decrease, figures show rise in UK acid rain pollution
From: Click Green Staff, ClickGreen
The UK Government has revealed a year-on-year increase in the amount of sulphur dioxide emissions, which reverses a 40-year downward trend.

9 December 2011

Super Hospital Disinfection
From: Andy Soos, ENN
One of the nastier things to happen to a hospital patient is to go to be cured but end up being infected by something from the hospital. A Queen’s University infectious disease expert has helped in the development of a disinfection system that may change the way hospital rooms all over the world are cleaned as well as stop bed bug outbreaks in hotels and apartments. "This is the future, because many hospital deaths are preventable with better cleaning methods," says Dick Zoutman, who is also Quinte Health Care’s new Chief of Staff. "It has been reported that more than 100,000 people in North America die every year due to hospital acquired infections at a cost of $30 billion. That’s 100,000 people every year who are dying from largely preventable infections." The new technology involves pumping a mix of ozone and hydrogen peroxide vapor gas mixture into a room to completely sterilize everything — including floors, walls, drapes, mattresses, chairs and other surfaces. It is far more effective in killing bacteria than wiping down a room.

One Quarter of World’s Agricultural Land "Highly Degraded", UN Report Concludes
From: Michael Ricciardi, Matter NetworkOn Monday, the UN released the results of the first ever global study on the state of Earth’s land. The main finding: 25 percent of all land is “highly degraded” making it unsuitable for agriculture. The implications of this finding are enormous; the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that farm output must increase by 70 percent by 2050 to accommodate the food needs of an estimated 9 billion humans.

8 December 2011

European Pesticides in Waterways
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Insecticides enter rivers through runoff from fields and to a lesser extent when they drift into the water during application. Contamination levels have been rising in many central and southern European countries for 20 years with the biggest growth expected in areas that now have relatively low agriculture pesticide pollution, the Helmholtz study shows, based on projections through 2090.

7 December 2011

CO2 from the Air
From: Andy Soos, ENN
What seems to be directly correlated to global warming is CO2 in the air. So why not take it directly out of the air? Since most of the world’s governments have not yet enacted regulations to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, some experts have advocated the development of technologies to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air. But a new MIT study shows that, at least for the foreseeable future, such proposals are not realistic because their costs would vastly exceed those of blocking emissions right at the source, such as at the power plants that burn fossil fuels.

Global Nuclear Generation Capacity Falls
From: Editor, Worldwatch Institute
Washington, D.C.—Due to increasing costs of production, a slowed demand for electricity, and fresh memories of disaster in Japan, production of nuclear power fell in 2011, according to the latest Vital Signs Online (VSO) report from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite reaching record levels the previous year, global installed nuclear capacity—the potential power generation from all existing plants—declined to 366.5 gigawatts (GW) in 2011, from 375.5 GW at the end of 2010.

6 December 2011

At least 74 percent of current warming caused by us
From: Jeremy Hance, MONGABAY.COM
A new methodology to tease out how much current climate change is linked to human activities has added to the consensus that behind global warming is us. The study, published in Nature Geoscience found that humans have caused at least three-quarters (74 percent) of current warming, while also determining that warming has actually been slowed down by atmospheric aerosols, including some pollutants, which reflect sunlight back into space.

5 December 2011

Low Cost Solar Cells
From: Andy Soos, ENN
The cost of a solar cell is given per unit of peak electrical power. Manufacturing costs necessarily include the cost of energy required for manufacture. Solar power must become more efficient and less expensive to compete with energy produced by fossil fuels. Silicon-based solar cells are the dominant technology in the field, but the widespread adoption of these cells has been slowed by their high costs. Solar cells that use inorganic nanocrystals or quantum dots could be a cheaper alternative, but they are generally less efficient at turning solar energy into electricity. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers have now found a new way to generate an electrical field inside the quantum dots, making them more suitable for building an energy-efficient nanocrystal solar cell.

Three-quarters of English Channel sea birds contain toxic levels of plastic
From: ClickGreen staff
Data from studies monitoring the amount of consumer plastic eaten by sea birds suggest that levels in the North Sea are well above targets... and the figures are rising.

Global Carbon Emissions Reach Record 10 Billion Tons, Threatening 2 Degree Target
From: Editor, Science Daily
Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by 49 per cent in the last two decades, according to the latest figures by an international team, including researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia.

Plastic Bags: On Their Way Out?
From: Debra Atlas, Sierra Club Green Home
In California alone, consumers use upwards of 19 million plastic bags per year, which require approximately 8 million barrels of oil to produce. 90 percent of the bags used in the United States never get recycled. Globally, of the 500 billion of the flimsy, single-use bags we go through, many end up either in landfills or as wind-blown or ocean gyre litter that gets consumed by wildlife and marine life, resulting in many agonizingly painful deaths.

18 November 2011

Hybrids safer for drivers, less so for pedestrians, study finds
By Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times
A highway safety research group says occupants may suffer fewer injuries in crashes because of the vehicles' added weight, but their quiet electric motors have become a safety hazard for walkers.

16 November 2011

Bulgarian Air Pollution
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Chronic pollution makes Bulgaria one of the world’s deadliest places to live because of poor air quality, despite years of efforts to improve monitoring and comply with EU standards. But Bulgaria's problems are not isolated and reflect broader concerns over air quality among EU member states. Bulgaria has made steady progress in improving environmental monitoring and adopting regulations on air, water and environmental quality since joining the EU in 2007. Analysts say such steps have been followed by poor enforcement and neglect by both national and EU authorities.

15 November 2011

Cooking Stoves in Developing Nations Linked to Pneumonia
From: David A Gabel, ENN
In many developing nations around the world, cooking is primarily done over a wood-burning fire pit. It is estimated that this is the primary cooking and heating source for 43% of the global population, about 3 billion people. A team of international researchers have found that pneumonia is linked with young children who are continuously exposed to the smoke from cooking fires. They found that if smoke-reducing chimneys are used on the cooking stoves, cases of severe pneumonia can be reduced by one-third.

Japan's Radioactive Farmland Mapped
From: Sarah Simpson, Discovery News
Nuclear fallout in farmland in eastern Japan is worse than expected. Now officials have a map of exactly where they should concentrate regulatory and clean-up efforts. In July the Japanese government expanded its Fukushima Evacuation Zone and banned shipments of beef that consumed radioactive hay from the area. But until now, officials have had to rely almost exclusively on sporadic soil samples to make such decisions.

Air pollution linked for first time to droughts and major storms
From: ClickGreen staff, ClickGreen
A groundbreaking new study has found an increase in air pollution can reduce rainfall in drought-affected regions and worsen the severity of storms in wet regions or seasons. Researchers have discovered that increases in air pollution and other particulate matter in the atmosphere can strongly affect cloud development in ways that reduce precipitation in dry regions or seasons. This while increasing rain, snowfall and the intensity of severe storms in wet regions or seasons, according to results of a new study.

14 November 2011

Reducing Carbon Footprint in the Supply Chain
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (supply chain). One of the problems is where does the chain end and where does it begin.

11 November 2011

The Importance of Riverbed Carbon Storage Capacity
From: David A Gabel, ENN
The soils and sediments at the bottom of rivers are rich in organic material. They can store carbon for thousands of years according to a study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Despite often high rates of erosion and sediment transport, the riverbed can hold organic carbon for 500 to 17,000 years. The researchers focused their studies on the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin in India, which feeds off waters from the Himalaya Mountains. The fact that riverbeds store much carbon is a cause for concern. In a changing climate, the soils could be destabilized, releasing the carbon back to the atmosphere.

The hidden costs of gold: mercury poisoning blights mining communities
From: Jody Clarke, Ecologist
The high price of gold has sent thousands into the informal mining sector and exposed workers and the environment to the devastating effects of mercury poisoning. Trembling and irritable, at times psychotic, the hat makers of 19th century England were known to be a bit odd, at best. Separating fur from animal skins, they washed them in a compound "called mercury nitrate, a process that released vapors into steaming" air already choked with fumes.

10 November 2011

Key malaria parasite discovery raises vaccine hopes
From: Christine Ottery, Science and Development Network
[LONDON] Hopes for a vaccine that would be effective against many different types of the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, have been raised by research published today.

Lead Air Quality
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It has long been understood that lead in water is not good. Well neither is lead in the air. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that available air quality information indicates that 39 states are meeting the health-based national air quality standards for lead set in 2008. Based on 2008 to 2010 air quality monitoring data, EPA also determined that Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Puerto Rico each have one area that does not meet the agency’s health based standards for lead. Exposure to lead may impair a child’s IQ, learning capabilities and behavior.

7 November 2011

Last year's greenhouse gas emissions topple worst-case scenario
From: Jeremy Hance, MONGABAY.COM
Global carbon emissions last year exceeded worst-case scenario predictions from just four years before, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). A rise of 6 percent (564 million additional tons) over 2009 levels was largely driven by three nations: the US, India, and China. Emissions from burning coal jumped 8 percent overall. The new data, supported by a similar report from International Energy Agency (IEA), makes it even more difficult for nations to make good on a previous pledge to hold back the world from warming over 2 degrees Celsius.

Climate change imperils global prosperity, UN warns
From: Population Matters
A new report from the United Nations Development Program warns that if drastic measures are not taken to prepare nations for the impacts of climate change, the economic progress of the world's developing countries could stall or even be reversed by 2050.

26 Ocotber 2011

Calcutta leads world city list most at risk from climate change
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A major new mapping study, analysing climate change vulnerability down to 25km² worldwide, has revealed some of the world's fastest growing populations are increasingly at risk from the impacts of climate related natural hazards and sea level rise.

Water use growing twice as fast as population!
From: Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters
Like oil in the 20th century, water could well be the essential commodity on which the 21st century will turn.  Human beings have depended on access to water since the earliest days of civilization, but with 7 billion people on the planet as of October 31, exponentially expanding urbanization and development are driving demand like never before.

19 October 2011

The Effect of Urban Heat Islands
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Cities are centers of human and industrial activity. They are also considered commonly centers of urban warmth or heat. Jacobson and Ten Hoeve are authors of a paper describing the research that will be published in Journal of Climate. The paper is available online now. The study modeled climate response from 2005 to 2025. Some global warming skeptics have claimed that the urban heat island effect is so strong that it has been skewing temperature measurements that show that global warming is happening. They have argued that urban areas are a larger contributor to global warming than the greenhouse gases produced by human activity, and thus drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are not needed. "This study shows that the urban heat island effect is a relatively minor contributor to warming, contrary to what climate skeptics have claimed,"

Curbing Cooking Smoke That Kills More People Than Malaria
From: Christopher Joyce, NPR Topics: Environment
Environmental hazards sicken or kill millions of people — soot or smog in the air, for example, or pollutants in drinking water. But the most dangerous stuff happens where the food is made — in peoples' kitchens.

14 October 2011

House votes to delay pollution rules on boilers
From: Timothy Gardner, Reuters
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to delay Environmental Protection Agency limits on pollutants from industrial boilers, its latest move to hinder air rules designed to protect public health.

13 Ocotber 2011

Feeding 9 billion people is possible with sustainable farming
From: ClickGreen staff, Click Green
An international team of scientists has proposed a five-point plan for feeding the world while protecting the planet. The research concludes that "feeding the nine billion people anticipated to live on Earth in 2050 without exhausting the Earth's natural resources is possible, provided that we adopt a more sustainable food production approach."

Cities Can’t Combat Climate Change Alone
From: Andrea Newell, Triple Pundit
By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and are responsible for 70 percent of global CO2 emissions. It will be cities, not individual states or governments, who will need to employ effective urban planning, implement eco-friendly ordinances, reduce emissions, and plan for the coming effects of climate change. In Life in the Big City: Unlocking Smart Development (SXSW Eco), the discussion centered around the premise that cities, centers of global economic activity and innovation, have the greatest power to impact climate change. But can they do it alone?

Why the Black Death Was the Mother of All Plagues
From: Editor, Discovery News
Plague germs teased from mediaeval cadavers in a London cemetery have shed light on why the bacterium that unleashed the Black Death was so lethal and spawned later waves of epidemics. The DNA of Yersinia pestis shows, in evolutionary terms, a highly successful germ to which the population of 14th-century Europe had no immune defences, according to a study published Wednesday in the British journal Nature. It also lays bare a pathogen that has undergone no major genetic change over six centuries. "The Black Death was the first plague pandemic in human history," said Johannes Krause, lead researcher and a professor at the University of Tuebingen, Germany

12 October 2011

Toxic fallout as activists challenge strawberry industry's pesticide use
From: Rosie Spinks, ENN
Faced with the potential use of a dangerous pesticide methyl iodide to spray crops in their backyards, a group of Californian teenagers decided to stand up to the might of industrial agribusiness. Rosie Spinks reports It's a short walk - about five or six steps - from the neat and cosy kitchen of Carolina Rios's family home to the edge of the strawberry fields that serve as her backyard. On a calm Monday evening in April, Carolina's father, Sabino (both pictured below), stands between two rows, his crisp white sweatshirt blending with the mist hanging over the farm.

5 October 2011

Europe Electronic Waste
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Electronic waste is a number of different types of waste streams. It can include old computers, TV's etc. The European Parliament and the 27 EU member states are set for difficult negotiations over the recast of the bloc’s electronic waste directive as some European Parliament members insist on ambitious targets for collecting and recycling discarded fridges, phones and other e-waste than the member states can accept. The European Parliament's Environment Committee voted yesterday on its second reading recommendation on the recast of the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, aiming at toughening existing rules on electrical and electronic equipment.

How Children Associate Snack Foods with Satisfying Hunger
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Childhood obesity is a major problem in the developed world. An abundance of cheap high-calorie goodies have left its impression in our youths' waistlines. A new study from psychologists at the University of Bristol in the UK analyzes why some children are more at risk at becoming overweight. They found that for those children who have grown familiar with snack foods like candy bars, soft drinks, cookies, and chips, learn to associate those foods with the feeling of fullness. Other, more wholesome foods, may then be associated with not being able to satisfy one's hunger.

Population has bigger effect than climate change on crop yields, study suggests
From: Bernard Appiah, Science and Development Network
Population pressure will be as significant a factor as climate change in reducing crop yields — and thus increasing food insecurity — in West Africa, according to a modelling study.

Non-Toxic Beauty: Do You Know What’s In Your Lipstick?
From: Joanna, Matter Network
Adding a touch of lipstick to your outfit will add some color to your face and can even accentuate your smile. However, that glamor comes with a price. The average woman will ingest about 6 lbs of lipstick in her lifetime. That’s a whole lot of unnatural ingredients to process in your body! To help you understand a bit more in what lipstick is made out of, here are some of the harmful ingredients you will come across in the product.

4 October 2011

Coffee: is the black stuff as green as it should be?
From: George Blacksell, Ecologist
From deforestation to fertilizer; our taste for coffee has left some of the world’s most precious eco-systems in a precarious state. George Blacksell looks at how the coffee industry is cleaning up its act. The world’s second most tradable commodity after oil; coffee growing and processing has proven itself to be a lucrative industry. The burgeoning coffee culture that sprang up over the last few decades has led to overwhelming success for handful of coffee franchises and a massive spike in supermarket sales. Of the high street coffee chains, Costa, Starbucks, Cafe Nero and Pret A Manger have cornered the lion’s share of the profits. While no one is denying their right to make a buck, the big question is whether the profits these franchises are making are trickling down to the people actually growing the beans? And how green are they really? Is the high street coffee industry one we should buy into or should we be avoiding it altogether?

26 September 2011

Respiratory Hazards for City Bicyclists
From: David A Gabel, ENN
A new report presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam over the weekend claims that individuals who regularly bicycle in major cities like London and Amsterdam have increased levels of black carbon in their respiratory systems. A condition commonly associated with turn-of-the-century industrial revolution processes, black lung is still persistent in the right environments. City cyclists are at a higher risk simply because they are breathing heavier in a relatively polluted environment.

27 September 2011

World has 'enough water' for future food needs
From: ENN - Gozde Zorlu, Science and Development Network
There is enough water in the world's rivers to meet the demands of the expanding global population, but the rivers have to be better managed, according to a series of studies released today at the 14th World Water Congress in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil.

Climate Change Set to Increase Ozone-Related Deaths Over Next 60 Years, Scientists Warn
From: ENN - Editor, Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2011) — Scientists are warning that death rates linked to climate change will increase in several European countries over the next 60 yrs.  The research is part of the Climate-TRAP project and its health impact assessment lead by Prof Bertil Forsberg from the Umea University in Sweden. The aim is to prepare the health sector for changing public health needs due to climate change.

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