Health and Environment: A Closer Look at Plastics
Plastics have transformed modern society, providing attractive benefits but also befouling waterways and aquifers, depleting petroleum supplies and disrupting human health.
Illegal Oil Refineries In The Niger Delta, in Pictures
Photographer Akintunde Akinleye documents for Guardian UK, the dangerous practice of illegal oil refining in the Niger Delta, which damages the environment and the health of local people…
Plastic Oceans
Sir David Attenborough talks about plastic and tells us the hard truths about it’s use and the cost to the environment.
Shell’s plans in Arctic at risk; call for halt to oil exploration
The entire future of Shell’s drilling plans in the Arctic was put in doubt on Friday after two of Barack Obama’s most trusted advisers called for a permanent halt to oil exploration.
University of Vermont Joins Other Colleges in Banning Bottled Water
The University of Vermont recently became America’s largest public institution to enact a campus-wide ban on plastic water bottles. If more colleges and universities ban plastic water bottles on their campuses, the bottling industry may be forced to seek other markets.
Cost of West Coast Marine Debris Cleanup Exceeds $500 Million Annually
According to a recent EPA-sponsored study, the annual cost of marine debris cleanup programs on the west coast of the U.S. is likely more than a half a billion dollars.
A River of Haze
Air quality has emerged as a significant problem for India and Bangladesh in the past decade. A recent study found that levels of air pollution in large Indian cities increased at some of the fastest rates in the world between 2002 and 2010, faster even than rapidly-growing Chinese cities.
BPA Linked to Potential Adverse Effects in Children and Adolescents
Exposure to a chemical once used widely in plastic bottles and still found in aluminum cans appears to be associated with a biomarker for higher risk of heart and kidney disease in children and adolescents, a study reveals.
In Japan, a Painfully Slow Sweep
More than a year and a half since the nuclear crisis, much of Japan’s post-Fukushima cleanup remains primitive, slapdash and bereft of the cleanup methods lauded by government scientists as effective in removing harmful radioactive cesium from the environment.