The open burning of waste poses grave health risks to millions
We’re generating more waste than at any other time in history what with a greatly increased global population, rampant consumerism and the wanton use of…
Nature & Environment
Life-saving drinking water disinfectants have a “dark side”
Disinfecting drinking water against spathogen is necessary, but by-products from the process are a ubiquitous — and likely growing — problem across the U.S. Solutions…
Why solar geoengineering should be part of the climate crisis solution
Betsy Mason Q&A — Climate scientist David Keith The controversial technology of reflecting sunlight away from the planet could help blunt the worst impacts of…
New research: nitrous oxide emissions 300 times more powerful than CO₂ are jeopardising Earth’s future
Nitrous oxide from agriculture and other sources is accumulating in the atmosphere so quickly it puts Earth on track for a dangerous 3℃ warming this…
Thousands of tonnes of banned pesticides shipped to poorer countries from British and European factories
Year long investigation reveals full scale of Europe’s ‘abhorrent’ trade in pesticides banned from its own farms – and the UK’s leading role The United…
Permit for Controversial $9 Billion Plastics Plant in “Chemical Alley” to Be Put on Hold
Proposed emissions from the plant would triple the levels of cancer-causing chemicals in one of the most toxic areas of the U.S., but the Army…
Of hemp’s many uses, one of the most promising could be in construction
“Hempcrete,” made from the woody core of hemp, is showing promise as an environmentally friendly building material. October 6, 2020 — It has become almost…
The plastic myth and the misunderstood triangle
Of all the plastic we’ve ever produced, only 9% has been recycled. So what happened to all that plastic you’ve put in the recycling bin…
Wildfires’ toxic air leaves damage long after the smoke clears
When researchers arrived in this town tucked in the Northern Rockies three years ago, they could still smell the smoke a day after it cleared…
Scientists honing new ways to measure a city’s carbon footprint
Boston may be emerging as a model for how scientists and the public can better quantify and understand their city’s carbon dioxide emissions. Millions of…
Without ‘Transformative Change’ to Global Economic Systems, Humans Risk Causing More Deadly Pandemics
“There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic—us,” write the authors, who have previously published planetary status reports from IPBES. “As…
Climate change forces virus migration
“All the world is topsy-turvy, and it has been topsy-turvy ever since the plague.” This quote is from The Scarlet Plague written by Jack London…
As sea level rise threatens their ancestral village, a Louisiana tribe fights to stay put
Ten years ago, as news of the BP oil disaster reached Louisiana’s Grand Bayou Indian Village, Rosina Philippe dispatched her brother Maurice Phillips on a…