POLLUTION NEWS gaia church
You have the power to eliminate the entire amount of pollution caused by one person in an entire lifetime! In fact, it's an easy, simple decision: to have your tubal-ligation or vasectomy sooner!
.
Dec 21, 05: China's third largest zinc smelter has been ordered to stop production on suspicion of water pollution, state television said. Toxic levels of cadmium in the North River in the affluent southern province had reached 10 times normal levels. Cadmium is an element widely used in batteries that can cause liver and kidney damage, and which in compounds can be carcinogenic.
. . River pollution has become a sensitive topic in China. A toxic slick is moving toward the Russian city of Khabarovsk after an explosion at a northeastern Chinese petrochemical plant dumped poisonous benzene in the Songhua River.
. . China is the world's largest producer of zinc, producing 2.4 million tons in the first 11 months of 2005. Its exports dropped nearly 40% to just over 108,000 tons in the first 10 months of 2005 as domestic galvanised steel capacity expanded.
Dec 16, 05: In addition to thin air and sub-zero temperatures, climbers scaling Mount Everest face another challenge. Mountains in the Tibetan plateau where Everest is located contains levels of ozone as high as that of heavily polluted cities.
Dec 15, 05: Christmas is damaging the environment, says a new report by the Australian Conservation Foundation. The report titled "The Hidden Cost of Christmas" calculated the environmental impact of spending on books, clothes, alcohol, electrical appliances and lollies during the festive season.
. . Every dollar Australians spend on new clothes as gifts consumes 20 liters (four gallons) of water and requires 3.4 square meters (37 sq. feet) of land in the manufacturing process, it said. Last Christmas, Australians spent A$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) on clothes, which required more than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of land to produce, it said. Water that would approximately fill 42,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools was used in the production of Christmas drinks last December --most was used to grow barley for beer and grapes for wine.
. . The report said that gifts like DVD players and coffee makers generated 780,000 tons of greenhouse pollution, even before they were unwrapped and used. A third was due to fuel consumption during production. Even a box of A$30 chocolates or lollies this Christmas, will consume 20kg (44 pounds) of natural materials and 940 liters (207 gallons) of water.
Dec 13, 05: Killer whales have the highest concentration of man-made toxins of all Arctic mammals tested in Europe because of the oceangoing predators' taste for fatty fish, according to a new study.
. . Man-made toxins, such as PCBs, build up in animal fat and become more concentrated in moving up the food chain. Most toxins, often from household products, are carried to Arctic waters by ocean currents, winds, or in migratory fish and animals. "Killer whales can be regarded as indicators of the health of our marine environment."
Relatively little is known about the potential health and environmental effects of carbon nanoparticles —-just atoms wide and small enough to easily penetrate cells in lungs, brains and other organs. While governments and businesses have begun pumping millions of dollars into researching such effects, scientists and others say nowhere near enough is being spent to determine whether nanomaterials pose a danger to human health.
. . Studies have shown that some of the most promising carbon nanoparticles —-including long, hollow nanotubes and sphere-shaped buckyballs-— can be toxic to animal cells. There are fears that exposure can cause breathing problems, as occurs with some other ultrafine particles, that nanoparticles could be inhaled through the nose, wreaking unknown havoc on brain cells, or that nanotubes placed on the skin could damage DNA.
Dec 10, 05: At the global release of a report titled "End-of-Life Ships --The Human Cost of Breaking Ships", the organization said steps must be taken to ensure that established safety guidelines are observed by all parties involved in the industry. "India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and Turkey are the homes to the world's shipbreaking facilities." The ships were being sent for scrap without removing toxic waste.
. . Environmental group Greenpeace said thousands of workers involved in the shipbreaking industry are likely to have died over the past two decades due to accidents or exposure to toxic waste on the ships. "Every year, the shipping industry sends around 600 ships of all types to be dismantled on their beaches. The yards provide work, directly or indirectly, to thousands of people. Yet working at a shipbreaking yard is a dirty and dangerous job." The organizations said as per their estimates, every year, hundreds of workers become victims of accidents at shipbreaking yards or fall sick breathing toxic fumes. "Greenpeace and FIDH estimate that the total death toll of shipbreaking practices in the world over the last 20 years might be in the thousands."
Dec 8, 05: Stresses from polluted rivers to invasive species threaten to trigger an ecological breakdown in the Great Lakes, a group of scientists hoping to sway U.S. environmental policy said.
. . Seventy-five scientists who study the world's largest collective body of fresh water released their report on the myriad problems that need cleanup or restoration ahead of two key policy announcements next week.
. . After the task force releases its plan on the 12th, governors representing U.S. states and Canadian provinces that border the Great Lakes will announce revisions to century-old rules that restrict water withdrawals and diversions from the lakes. More than 30 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water.
. . "Toxic substances ... overfishing, invasive species, changes in hydrology affecting rivers --now we can add the effects of global climate change. These have been dealt with individually. What we need to do is look at the ecosystem -- the combination of stresses", Beeton said. "Historical sources of stress have combined with new ones and we have arrived at a tipping point. What we mean is that ecosystem changes will occur rapidly and unexpectedly."
. . The report emphasized the need for large-scale ecosystem restoration and not piecemeal efforts. Particularly important was preserving or restoring shoreline "buffer zones", such as wetlands and lake tributaries to help the lakes heal themselves. "These are the key areas for filtering the contaminants that enter the lakes. It's also where most of the wildlife habitat is."
Dec 7, 05: The eventual recovery of the gaping ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered two decades ago, may take years longer than previously predicted, scientists reported.
. . Researchers suspect that's because of all the older model refrigerators and car air-conditioning systems in the United States and Canada that are still releasing ozone-killing chemicals. Both countries curbed those chemicals in newer products.
. . If scientists are right, that means longer-term exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation, which raises the risk of skin cancer and cataracts for people. Long-term UV exposure is bad for the biodiversity of the planet too.
. . Current computer models suggest the ozone hole should recover globally by 2040 or 2050, but the analysis suggests the hole won't heal until about 2065. Meanwhile, the lesser-damaged ozone layer over the Arctic is expected to recover by about 2040, according to new modeling.
. . The size of this year's Antarctic ozone hole rivaled the all-time biggest hole detected in 2003. In September, the hole over the South Pole peaked at about 10 million square miles, or the size of North America. That was a notch below the 2003 record size of about 11 million square miles.
. . Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, in refrigerants, aerosol sprays and solvents have been largely blamed for most ozone depletion.
. . New research suggests that chlorine and bromine are not being depleted as fast as expected. In 2003, the ozone-depleting chemicals in the US and Canada made up about 15% of total global emissions even though the two nations have stopped producing the chemicals. It takes decades for these chemicals to dissipate and that may delay ozone hole recovery.
Nov 14, 05: Researchers have found male fish with eggs in their testes and female sex traits off the coast of Southern California and believe that chemicals in sewage may be the cause, an author of two studies said.
. . High levels of estrogen, both natural and man-made formulations used in birth control pills, are thought to cause such abnormalities in fish. Estrogen makes its way into sewage water and then the ocean through women's excretions. Compounds that act like estrogen, found in certain industrial chemicals, have also been blamed for such changes. But in this instance, Schlenk said higher levels of the egg protein were found in male fish in areas with lower levels of estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals in the sediment.
. . One of the culprits could be DDT. DDT is no longer used, but can remain in the environment for a long time.
Nov 7, 05: Petrol (gasoline)fumes which escape into the atmosphere as motorists fill up at the pumps --adding to summer smog-- are to be targeted in an English government crackdown.
. . Ministers are proposing that large UK service stations should fit fume control equipment in a bid to halve current emissions from petrol stations. Known as Petrol Recovery stage II controls, the devices would capture fumes and recycle them back into fuel. It would improve air quality and cut smog, which is damaging to human health and vegetation. Petrol fumes, when combined with nitrous oxide, are the biggest ingredient in summer smog.
. . Proposals aim to help capture 16,000 tons of volatile organic compounds a year from 2010 - more than half the current petrol emissions from stations.
Nov 7, 05: China and other developing countries will emerge as the world's biggest polluters over the next 25 years, driving a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.
. . Emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming and climate change, will climb 52% by 2030 if the world's energy use keeps growing as expected, the Paris-based IEA said in its World Energy Outlook 2005. "The increase in emissions from China alone will exceed the increase in all the OECD countries and Russia combined." China will account for nearly three quarters of the projected increase in CO2.
. . China is building hundreds of coal-fired power plants as it tries to keep pace with explosive growth in energy demand from the booming economy. The IEA said China would produce 19% of world CO2 emissions by 2030, up from 16% in 2003.
. . India, another rapidly growing economy, would raise its share of world CO2 emissions to 6% from 4% over the period.
Oct 31, 05: China's stricter environmental regulations are delaying construction of a 80,000 ton-per-year lead plant in Henan, but are encouraging small lead producers in Yunnan to merge their operations, industry officials said. China is a major lead supplier in the world but its exports are falling due to strong domestic demand. China produced 1.7 million tons of refined lead in the first nine months this year, up 24.5% from a year ago.
. . Emissions from Dongfang's 60,000 ton/yr lead plant exceeded levels set by the government when the plant ran trials in April 2004.
Oct 24, 05: China is to blacklist cities that fail to reach national air quality standards and penalize them by warning off investors, environment officials said. The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) will also control construction projects that could worsen air pollution in the worst-offending cities.
. . China's economy has grown into the world's seventh-largest during more than two decades of economic reform, but its growth has come at the expense of the environment. China is the world's second-largest producer of greenhouse gases.
. . Large Chinese cities are typically choked by car exhaust, factory emissions and construction dust, and pollution is compounded by coal-burning heating plants lit during the winter.
. . Zhang said there would be serious consequences for human health if emissions of sulphur dioxide were not curbed. SEPA was drafting a program focused on cleaning up coal power plants, with coal used to generate more than two-thirds of the country's power.
. . China's emissions of sulphur dioxide were the highest in the world last year, causing acid rain across 30% of the country, the report said.
. . With China also the world's fastest-growing car market, SEPA official Li Xinmin said it would also write regulations aimed at curbing auto pollution into the country's 11th Five Year Plan, which will come into effect from 2006.
Sept 23, 05: Lawsuits and violation notices against companies including Toys "R" Us, Warner Brothers, DC Comics, Time Warner, Walgreens, and others involve many lunch boxes featuring beloved children's characters including Superman, Tweety Bird, Powerpuff Girls, and Hamtaro. The level of lead in one lunch box, an Angela Anaconda box made by Targus International, tested at 56,400 parts per million (ppm) of lead, more than 90 times the 600 ppm legal limit for lead in paint in children's products.
Sept 23, 05: The Berkeley Pit, a remnant of what was once called "the richest hill on Earth", has also become Butte's top tourist attraction where visitors pay a small fee to enter a viewing platform and read about the lake's history. But if its lake rises above a certain level, it will ruin the town's ground water.
. . "The plan is to continue with pumps to keep the water below that level and then treat the water that they pump out and that's going to have to go on until the end of time", Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.
. . The water, with high concentrations of copper, arsenic and other metals, is dangerous enough that officials will warn off birds with gunfire, for a stay at the lake could prove fatal, as in 1995 when 342 snow geese died.
. . The effort costs at least $1 million a year.
. . "The end of time is a long time, so I wonder if all of the value of the copper that we took out will match the expenditure that we will make trying to clean up the mess. It was a few rascals that made all the money. But I guess that is in some ways the story of the West."
. . The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology estimates the Butte hill produced more than $48 billion in mineral wealth. The costs included 2,300 deaths from mining accidents, not including chronic illness sparked by mine exposure.
. . Even though the Berkeley Pit is not being actively mined, privately owned Montana Resources says it still extracts about 400,000 pounds of copper a month by filtering the water there.
. . The company is also operating the nearby smaller Continental Pit that will also have to be treated into the future. The firm says it has extracted more than 1.2 billion pounds of copper since its operations began in 1986.
Sept 21, 05: Wide-ranging proposals to clean up Europe's polluted air won approval from the European Commission after a debate over the package's multi-billion euro price tag threatened to scupper it. The measures, dubbed the "clean air strategy", will seek to bring the European Union up to par with the United States in capping emissions of particulates, or fine dust, in the air.
. . It will also set tighter limits for emissions of pollutants like nitrogen oxide and ammonia from different sectors of the EU economy like transport, power, and agriculture.
. . Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the measures, expected to cost 7.1 billion euros ($8.7 billion) a year from 2020 when they are fully implemented, would enable Europe to have one of the most advanced air policies in the world.
. . "If we do not act, we would have to pay much more in the future." The Commission estimates the health benefits of the strategy to be worth at least 42 billion euros a year from 2020 --six times the costs-- by reducing the number of deaths, sicknesses and related medical care that bad air spawns. Air pollution can make breathing more difficult, exacerbate asthma and bronchitis, and is blamed for 370,000 premature deaths a year in the 25-nation EU. The new measures aim to reduce that figure to 230,000 by 2020.
. . On the environmental side, the measures aim to cut down on the number of ecosystems like forests that suffer from acidification and other damaging effects of air pollution.
Sept 16, 05: The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has grown to near record size this year, suggesting 20 years of pollution controls have so far had little effect, the United Nations said today.
. . The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the hole would peak within a couple of weeks. "It will probably not break any records, but it shows that ozone depletion is going on and that the so-called ozone recovery has yet to be confirmed."
. . It had passed over Ushuaia, in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina, "leading to noticeable increases in UV (ultraviolet)" radiation.
. . U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the 189 states to have ratified the Montreal Protocol had eliminated more than 1.5 million tons of annual production of chemicals that destroy the ozone layer. But developing countries were "only at the half-way point in many of their obligations" under the pact, while in wealthy countries, a number of chemicals still need to be phased out.
Sept 14, 05: Spending to protect the environment, from coral reefs to forests, can bring big returns to aid a worldwide assault on poverty, a U.N.-backed report said. "The environment... is not a luxury good, only affordable when all other problems have been solved."
. . The study estimated that annual investments of $60-$90 billion in the environment over 10-15 years were needed to reach a world goal of halving the proportion of humanity living on less than a dollar a day, currently more than a billion people.
. . A further $80 billion a year was needed to limit global warming.
. . Once invested, it said that every dollar spent on clean water and sanitation in the Third World, for instance, could bring $14 in benefits ranging from lower health care costs to higher work productivity and school attendance.
. . "Conservation of habitats and ecosystems are also cost effective when compared with the short-term profits from environmentally damaging activities" including dynamite fishing, mining or deforestation, it said.
. . Every dollar invested in fighting land degradation and desertification, like building terraces to stop hillside erosion, could generate at least $3 in benefits, the Poverty Environment Partnership report estimated. And every dollar invested in protecting coral reefs could generate $5, ranging from scuba-diving tourism to renewable fish stocks.
. . "The carbon storage or 'sequestration' potential of forests ranges between $360 and $2,200 per hectare which makes them worth far more than if they are converted to grazing or cropland." The study said that it becomes far more cost effective to conserve forests than to clear them once carbon prices exceed $30 a ton. In a European Union market, launched this year as part of a U.N. plan to curb global warming, carbon dioxide emission allowances trade at about 22 euros per ton.
Sept 10, 05: Mexico has stopped producing ozone-depleting chemicals four years before a deadline set by an international agreement, and in the last 15 years has reduced the use of CFCs by 90%, the environment secretary announced. The last chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs —-manmade chemicals used in aerosol sprays, refrigerators and air conditioners-— were produced last month in Monterrey. The measures taken in Mexico will reduce the production of CFCs 12% worldwide.
. . Mexico's Environment Department has set up recycling centers and is keeping a close watch on companies that may want to import or export CFCs. It is also providing technical and financial assistance to industries switching to refrigerators that use ozone-friendly substances.
. . Scientists say it could be 20 years before ozone levels recover noticeably, and full recovery can be expected around 2050.
Sept 5, 05: From the air, sections of South Africa's sugar country resemble a vast green carpet that has been gently rolled across the landscape. But environmentalists say this bucolic scene is deceptive and masks an ugly truth: Much of the sugar industry has laid waste to fragile ecosystems, its tentacles reaching deep into valleys and destroying vital wetlands. "You can see from here how the sugar can just blanket everything, choking other things out", shouts Vaughan Koopman, a wetland ecologist.
. . Environmentalists say the industry is a thirsty one that not only sucks up a lot of water but also spews dirty water back through erosion, fouling river systems and damaging habitats. Conservation group WWF International says that in South Africa, 68 to 114 gallons of water are used to produce just one pound of sugar. It is hoping to change this through its Sustainable Sugar Initiative, aimed at encouraging both commercial and peasant farmers to adopt more ecologically friendly methods of working. A number of sugar farmers in South Africa --the world's 11th largest producer if the
European Union is viewed as one-- are starting to clean up their act and hoping to market their sugar as a "green product."
. . Erosion from farming practices and deforestation is a huge problem across Africa, with much of the continent's scarce top soil muddying rivers and flowing out to sea.
Aug 26, 05: Eritrea has lost 95% of its forests in the last 100 years because of drought, a growing population and a 30-year battle for independence during which many trees were chopped down to deny hiding places to combatants. A third of Eritrea's population --more than 1 million people-- were uprooted by the conflict with neighboring Ethiopia, putting even more pressure on dwindling resources.
. . The original mogogo stoves are smoky and dangerous and often difficult to start, sometimes needing kerosene to get going. Thick smoke from stoves and fires inside homes is associated with around 1.6 million deaths a year in developing countries, two UN agencies said last year. Families can contract fatal lung diseases from burning solid fuels that give off toxic gases in their poorly ventilated kitchens, the agencies said, estimating the risk to be the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.
. . The award-winning new mogogo stoves uses half as much firewood, insulates the flames and makes better use of ventilation. They're also safer because the flames are enclosed, protecting curious children from burns. It looks like a waist-high clay box which keeps the firewood off the ground and channels the smoke though an exhaust pipe, releasing it away from the structure. Wood, twigs, leaves and animal dung can be burned in the mogogo. Designed by Eritrean researchers, the improved stove won a British environmental award in 2003, but is only now reaching them. The aim is to teach local women how to build the stoves themselves so that they can pass on the knowledge to others.
Aug 23, 05: The winter hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica appears to have grown from last year but is still smaller than in 2003, when it was at its largest, the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
. . Large reductions in the ozone layer, which sits about 15-30 km above the earth, take place each winter over the polar regions, especially the Antarctic, as low temperatures allow the formation of stratospheric clouds that assist chemical reactions breaking down ozone. The WMO said the area where temperatures are low enough for clouds to have formed --an indication of the potential hole size-- now covered about 25 million square km. Concentrations of such ozone-depleting substances have "leveled off" and are set to decline.
. . Scientists say the hole spanned a record 29 million sq km in September 2003, exposing the southern tip of South America.
Aug 22, 05: Chinese protesters set fire to factory buildings and police cars in a clash sparked by toxic waste, police and residents said, the latest illustration of a growing wave of public dissent. Violence at the battery factory was also the third protest in the eastern province of Zhejiang in recent months caused by pollution, highlighting the environmental price of China's rise to become the world's seventh-largest economy.
. . "Some children died of lead pollution and the demonstration might have been initiated by the parents." Residents said children were falling ill from high levels of lead that had poisoned water and vegetables in several villages in the area. People burned the factory. The office building, workshops, and the factory's products were all set on fire."
. . The Ministry of Public Security has been quoted as saying there were more than 74,000 protests last year alone and the government has warned the wealth gap could be the cause of yet more unrest if no action is taken to narrow the difference.
. . Although China is the world's fastest-growing major economy, the ministry team found rural incomes last year averaged only about $355, less than a third of urban incomes. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has said some 26 million rural Chinese live in absolute poverty, earning less than $80 a year.
Aug 22, 05: Mirant Corp. said it may shut down its coal-fired Potomac River generating station in two days unless it can resolve concerns about the air quality in the vicinity of the power plant. The bankrupt power company has already reduced output at the plant's five units to their "lowest feasible levels" in response to the concerns.
. . The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality found three types of emissions from the plant can potentially affect localized air quality in a way that exceeds national standards.
Aug 21, 05: Hong Kong's government said it had discovered a suspected cancer-causing chemical in some freshwater fish imported from China, but denied the mainland had suspended exports to the territory. The discovery is the latest in a string of health scares to hit Hong Kong, which relies heavily on mainland China for its food supplies.
. . Last week, Hong Kong health officials said they had found the same chemical, malachite green, in eels and eel meat from mainland China, and authorities have stepped up inspections of pork after a pig-borne disease in southwestern China infected more than 200 people and killed nearly 40 of them. Malachite green, which has been found to be carcinogenic in rats, has been used widely by fish farmers to kill parasites. The chemical is banned in many countries, including China.
Aug 20, 05: A smoky haze that shrouded parts of Southeast Asia this month, forcing schools and businesses to close, is just one element of an air pollution problem that kills hundreds of thousands of people in the region annually, the World Health Organization said.
. . Air pollution in major Southeast Asian and Chinese cities ranks among the worst in the world and contributes to the deaths of about 500,000 people each year.
. . Indoor pollution is also a problem in developing Asian countries, where 60% to 80% of households use fuels such as wood or coal for cooking and heat.
Aug 16, 05: Mud and sand at the bottom of Puget Sound is increasingly tainted by pollution from vehicle exhaust, not heavy industry, a state Department of Ecology study says. The research, which compiled 12 years of sediment test results, showed that toxic metals associated with industrial pollution declined while chemicals tied to vehicle exhaust increased.
. . Researchers said pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, typically fall directly into the water from airborne exhaust or are washed into the sound by rainfall. Those chemicals can cause liver lesions and tumors in fish, and can change the growth rates and behavior of sediment-dwelling invertebrates.
Aug 11, 05: Palm oil farmers have used fire to clear their land of tall grass, shrubs and trees for years, without any idea that the noxious fumes caused problems in neighboring Malaysia or anywhere else. Palm oil farmers in Kulim said they have never received complaints from local forestry or environmental officials. Farmers, plantation owners and miners have set hundreds of fires in the last 11 days, taking advantage of the dry season to clear land.
. . "I don't see what choice I have. This will have to be cleared and planted with oil palm and rubber trees by next month", said the farmer, and burning is the cheapest and fastest way to do that. "We've been clearing land like this for generations."
. . Indonesia local fire departments —-short of fire trucks and other equipment-— have been battling forest fires with buckets of water and garden hoses. So far, they have refused offers of help by other Asian nations.
. . Across the narrow Strait of Malacca, the haze caused by the fires has precipitated Malaysia's worst ecological crisis since 1997. Schools have been closed, and hospitals filled with patients complaining of respiratory ailments.
Aug 12, 05: Malaysia got a short breathing space today from its worst air pollution crisis in eight years, as changing winds scattered acrid smoke from forest fires burning in neighboring Indonesia. Forest fires are often started in the dry season by farmers and plantation owners to expand their land holdings.
. . Air pollution readings fell in two areas declared emergency zones y'day, though there were still six districts where the air was classed as hazardous. The haze has sent asthma attacks soaring, forced hundreds of schools to close, grounded some flights and disrupted shipping. Sore throats and red eyes are commonplace and face masks are the capital's hottest seller.
Aug 10, 05: Australian scientists have developed a technique to use waste plastic in steel making, a process that could have implications for recycling scrap metal that accounts for 40% of steel production. Under the process, waste plastics are fed into electric steel-making furnaces as an alternative source of carbon and heated to super-hot temperatures of 1,600 degrees C.
. . Australians use roughly a million tons of plastics a year, much of which ends up as waste destined for landfills. Sahajwalla said many waste plastics, from shopping bags to dishwashing liquid containers and drink bottles, contain high enough levels of carbon. Typically you would add coal and coke. Sahajwalla said her process did not replace all of the coal and coke.
Each week, hundreds of new Subaru and Isuzu cars and trucks roll out of the Subaru factory in Lafayette, Indiana. What doesn't come out of the plant is garbage. When the garbage truck rolls up to the curb in front of your house each week, it hauls away more trash than is generated by the manufacturing processes at the factory.
. . The factory is the first auto assembly plant in North America to become completely waste-free: last year, 100% of the waste steel, plastic and other materials coming out of the plant were reused or recycled. Paint sludge that used to be thrown away, for example, is now dried to a powder and shipped to a plastics manufacturer, ending up eventually as parking lot bumpers and guardrails. What can't be reused --about 3% of the plant's trash-- is shipped off to Indianapolis and incinerated to generate electricity.
Some metals in computers are valuable enough that some recyclers ship container-loads of e-waste to nations like China where villagers are paid to take them apart --usually without protective clothing or environmental safeguards.
Aug 4, 05: Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned that greater care was needed to protect natural resources. "Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the world. The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it's so very thin", she said. "We know that we don't have much air, we need to protect what we have."
Aug 2, 05: The Full Moon has been blamed for a lot of things, most often falsely or without solid evidence. But here's one to add to the column of truths: Full Moons mean more polluted beaches. So do New Moons, when the satellite is not visible.
. . A new study of 60 beaches in Southern California concludes that water pollution varies with the lunar cycle, reaching the highest levels when tides are ebbing during the New and Full Moon.
. . The findings could affect beach how beach managers evaluate swimming safety. Scientists already know that coastal water quality is controlled by tides, rain and other factors. Bacteria levels can change in minutes. Levels of the bacteria enterococci are twice as likely to be above accepted limits during spring tides, which occur during Full or New Moon. (Spring tides have nothing to do with season, but they "spring up" in relation to normal high tides.)
. . Luna is primarily responsible for Earth's tides, with Sol contributing a bit of pull to the mix.
July 28, 05: In one experiment, eight cows spend two days in the space-agey, air-conditioned "bio-bubble." The large white structure houses a typical dry-lot corral, blanketed with dirt and, by the end of the experiment, manure. The cows are left to eat, chew and emit compounds while their every move is caught on video and the air is monitored by machines so sensitive they can detect one molecule out of a trillion others. A similar test is conducted in a smaller environmental chamber simulating a typical stall with a concrete floor.
. . The first results from that study show the presence of smog-causing compounds dropped significantly after the cows left chamber, even though they left fresh manure behind. "We thought it was the waste that would lead to the majority of emissions, but it seemed to have been the animals", he said.
. . The chief offender appears to be the ruminating process. After a cow eats, the food is briefly deposited in its bathtub-sized stomach. There it mixes with bacteria, begins to break down and produces methane, a greenhouse gas. About 20 minutes later, the food comes up again as cud. As the cow chews it, the methane is released into the air. The process also emits methanol and ethanol, both VOCs.
. . "This is a multibillion decision", said Mitloehner. "It's not just a number." Currently, regulators assume that a cow produces 12.8 pounds of VOCs a year. The current emission factor, which is based on a 1938 study, is out of date. A regulator for the air control district has proposed an increase to 20.6 pounds per cow. Industry groups estimate that number is around 5 pounds. The number will eventually determine which dairies must apply for air quality permits and invest in mitigating air pollution equipment.
July 27, 05: Although reported illnesses due to pesticide exposures at schools in the US are relatively uncommon, the incidence of such exposures among schoolchildren has increased in recent years, investigators report.
. . Illnesses were caused primarily by insecticides (35%), disinfectants (32%), repellents (13%) or herbicides (11%). Exposure was associated with both pesticide applications on school grounds and pesticide drift from applications to neighboring farmland.
. . Alarcon's team notes that their findings probably represent low estimates of the problem because cases may not be reported to surveillance systems or recognized as being related to pesticides.
July 21, 05: From catalytic converters to alternative fuels, the fight against big-city smog has for years been fought inside combustion engines and exhaust pipes. Now, scientists are taking the fight to the streets by developing "smart" building materials designed to clean the air with a little help from the elements.
. . Using technology already available for self-cleaning windows and bathroom tiles, scientists hope to paint up cities with materials that dissolve and wash away pollutants when exposed to sun and rain. "Among other things, we want to construct concrete walls that break down vehicle exhausts in road tunnels. It is also possible to make pavings that clean the air in cities."
. . The Stockholm-based company is part of a $1.7 million Swedish-Finnish project to develop catalytic cement and concrete products coated with titanium dioxide, a compound often used in white paint and toothpaste that can become highly reactive when exposed to ultraviolet light. This is the idea: UV rays hitting the titanium dioxide trigger a catalytic reaction that destroys the molecules of pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which are emitted in the burning of fossil fuels and create smog when combined with volatile organic compounds. The catalytic reaction also prevents bacteria and dirt from sticking to a surface, making them easily removed by a splash of water or rain. Organic compounds are broken down into carbon dioxide and water, while the nitrogen oxides yield nitrate salts.
. . Research in the field has been made possible by the revolution in nanotechnology —-science dedicated to building materials from the molecular level. The catalytic properties of titanium dioxide become active when it is applied in a very thin layer, or in microscopic particles. A range of self-cleaning products coated with titanium dioxide, including windows and photocatalytic ceramic tiles, are already on the market but the focus has mostly been on their practical value rather than the environmental impact.
. . In a test in 2003, the company coated 75,000 square feet of road surface on the outskirts of Milan with photocatalytic cement. It found nitrogen oxide levels were reduced by up to 60 percent, depending on weather conditions. A similar experiment in France found nitrogen oxide levels were 20 percent to 80 percent lower in a wall plastered with photocatalytic cement than one with regular cement.
. . The European Union last year earmarked $2.27 billion for a project to develop "smart" construction materials that would break down nitrogen oxides and other toxic substances, such as benzene.
. . Italcementi's products are 30 percent to 40 percent more expensive than regular concrete, and using the external air quality as a selling point doesn't necessarily appeal to builders with tight budgets. The company's sales pitch is that self-cleaning materials will save money in the long run. However, some scientists caution it's too soon to declare a titanium dioxide-fueled war on pollution.
July 21, 05: Levels of lead have dropped dramatically, exposure to second-hand smoke is down and most women are not burdened by unsafe levels of mercury, according to the latest U.S. government survey on chemical exposures. The latest report finds that 1.6 percent of U.S. children have elevated blood lead levels, compared to 4.4 percent in 1991-94 and 88.2 percent in 1976 to 1988. The removal of lead from gasoline was the main reason for the decline.
. . The report also looked at exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, using a measure of a chemical called cotinine, a breakdown product of nicotine. It found that cotinine levels in blood have fallen 68 percent in children aged 4 to 11 from a previous 1988-to-1991 test period, by 69 percent in 12- to 19-year-olds and by 75 percent in adults aged 20 to 74. But blacks and children still have higher levels than white adults.
. . The report also looked at mercury, specifically methylmercury, which makes its way into people most frequently when they eat contaminated fish. Levels in blood of above 58 micrograms per liter can cause nerve damage in developing fetuses. "None of the women in the survey has mercury levels that approached this level." But 5.7 percent of the women had levels that were one-tenth of this, and the CDC said it would seek studies to find out if these levels might affect a fetus.
. . The report also contains details on pesticides, weed killers, pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs and phytoestrogens. Some are known carcinogens, such as dioxins and PCBs.
July 19, 05: Canadian spotter planes will for the first time start monitoring Arctic waters for illegal discharges of waste by ships which could damage the region's delicate environment, officials said. As part of an experiment, the aircraft, which currently monitor ice conditions in the North, will look for signs of pollution from ships until the end of October, when the waters freeze.
. . Canada already conducts aerial pollution surveys over major shipping routes in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system.
July 17, 05: Thirty years ago, 80% of the people who came to Yosemite stayed overnight. Today, 80% spend only one day; the average visit is four hours. The same trends have shaped the south rim of the Grand Canyon, the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and --to a lesser degree-- parks such as Yellowstone and Zion.
. . At these and other parks, the National Park Service has responded by trying to herd visitors onto shuttle buses and into day parking to lessen traffic. But when the Merced River flooded Yosemite Valley in 1997, washing out campsites and roadways, the third-most visited national park in America had a unique opportunity to start afresh, deciding what to save and what to destroy.
. . The result was the Yosemite Valley Plan. 40 campsites and 100 rooms at the Yosemite Lodge will close. A dam and a bridge on the Merced River have already been removed. This combats the "Disneyfication" of the America's national parks, as the wonder of silence and discovery is lost in a rush to cater to the crowds on a four-hour whirlwind tour.
. . Some 95% of Yosemite is designated wilderness with more than 760 miles of hiking trails, he notes. So it's not too much to set aside a few of the park's most iconic places --like Lower Yosemite Falls-- to lure tourists out of their cars and give them at least a taste of Yosemite.
July 15, 05: The European Union's executive branch slammed France, Greece, Britain and Spain for breaches of EU environmental law & warned them to take action to comply with the bloc's rules. The Commission said it was taking legal action against France in 10 cases ranging from waste management to ozone protection. It was sending a final written warning --the last stage before going before the EU's highest court-- to France for its failure to protect a bird species known as the bearded vulture.
. . Greece drew the Commission's wrath in eight cases involving issues like air pollution, waste and protection of the ozone layer. Britain also had eight instances involving breaches from waste water treatment to noise laws. Lastly, Spain faced legal action for cases including a failure to protect birds and the ozone layer.
July 14, 05: Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in Europe will no longer benefit from a loophole that lets them escape tough emissions standards under draft proposals presented by the European Union's executive. The rules, dubbed "Euro 5", could go into force by mid-2008 and are the latest in a series of regulations designed to reduce car emissions that pollute the air and damage human health.
. . Diesel cars would be required to reduce emissions of particulate matter by 80% to 5 mg/km compared to the 25 mg/km set in Euro 4, the current rules. Nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions must be dropped by 20%. In gas-powered cars, a reduction of 25% in NOX and hydrocarbons emissions is foreseen, as well as the introduction of a particulate emission limit. Particulates can cause cancer and cardio-vascular problems, while NOX is blamed for lung disease and contributing to ozone formation.
. . SUVs [Stupid Useless Vehicles], which are becoming more popular in Europe, have previously been exempt under a rule that gave looser standards to heavy vehicles. "A lead time of 18 months is definitely not sufficient for the industry", the official said. He also disputed the need to clean up gasoline engines, which he said did not harm the environment. Environmentalists said the proposals did not go far enough. "Overall, it's a very disappointing package", said Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment. He said the technology was there to make the goals stricter.
July 14, 05: A major source of chemical contamination in the Arctic turns out to be bird droppings. Wind currents and human activities long have been blamed for fouling the pristine Arctic. But a study by a group of Canadian researchers found that the chemical pollution in areas frequented by seabirds can be many times higher than in nearby regions
. . The boomerang effect: "These contaminants had been washed into the ocean, where we generally assumed they were no longer affecting terrestrial ecosystems. Our study shows that sea birds, which feed in the ocean but then come back to land, are returning not only with food for their young but with contaminants as well. The contaminants accumulate in their bodies and are released on land", Blais said.
. . John Smol of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, said "the effect is to elevate concentrations of pollutants such as mercury and DDT to as much as 60 times that of areas not influenced by seabird populations."
. . The area of the study is one of the most desolate on Earth, Blais said, and the local food chain is dependent on the guano from the seabirds. Their droppings encourage the growth of mosses and plankton in the ponds, which feed lots of insects, which in turn support small birds called snow buntings, he said, &, if the seabirds were to disappear the whole ecosystem would disappear.
July 14, 05: A small Canadian company is helping some of the world's biggest miners clean up their polluted waste water in a novel process that it says pays for itself.
BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. says its water treatment method offers hope that the seepage of heavy metals from abandoned mine sites, which kills and harms aquatic life often for decades as no one wants to foot the bill, can be arrested.
. . The Vancouver, BC company has developed a chemical and biological process that purifies dirty mine water but at the same time extracts from it metals like copper, nickel and zinc, which it then sells back to metals producers.
. . CEO Marchant said that other clean-up companies typically use lime to tackle the problem of acid rock drainage, which is the name given to the outflow of acidic, metal-bearing water from operating or deserted mines. Lime neutralizes the water's acidic pH, creating water that meets government standards. But the process also leaves behind a metal-filled and potentially hazardous sludge, he said. "The environmental difficulty is that that sludge then has to be stored forever... and the metals are 'lost' forever", Marchant said.
. . By contrast, BioteQ uses hydrogen sulfide in its treatment plants, which allows metal ions to be removed from the acid rock drainage. These can then be formed into salable metal sulfide products containing high concentrations of metals like zinc, copper and nickel. Clean water comes out the other end.
. . BioteQ is treating water and extracting metals at three major mine sites in North America. The firm treats more than 5 billion liters of water a year and at the Phelps Dodge plant alone, it expects to recover 2 million pounds of copper annually.
. . Marchant is hopeful that BioteQ's analysis will show that the money it can earn from selling the copper, lead, zinc and cadmium it can recover at Britannia, will pay for the clean up. Given the number of abandoned mines worldwide, that will mean a lot of new business for BioteQ and a boon for the environment.
July 12, 05: The hellbender salamander's numbers continue to decline, and wildlife officials say more are showing up with unexplained deformities. The population of one subspecies has declined 70%. Hellbenders are being found with deformities that include missing or misshapen limbs, wounds that will not heal, and skin lesions. They're not birth defects.
. . The hellbender, North America's largest salamander, can grow to around 2 feet in length. The St. Louis Zoo is establishing a captive breeding program, which Ettling said now has four adults and a number of juveniles.
. . Ettling, the reptile curator, said amphibians are often the first to show ill effects from environmental change. "If it is affecting them, it's probably going to affect other organisms, all the way up to humans", he said. "It's kind of a wake-up call."
July 4, 05: A group of 189 developed nations, including the United States, have agreed to cut use of a pesticide that depletes the ozone layer. The group originally had agreed to phase out use of the pesticide, methyl bromide, by January. The pesticide has been used for decades to sterilize soil and help grow crops such as tomatoes and strawberries, but it also damages the Earth's protective ozone layer.
. . At a meeting in Montreal this week, 13 developed nations won exemptions to the 1987 U.N. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layers, allowing them to continue using the pesticide in 2006. They were permitted to use more than 14,300 tons of it, or nearly 20% less than the 17,700 tons approved for use this year. More than half of next year's amount will be used in the United States.
21% of India is covered by forests compared with a recommended 33% by the federal government.
June 25, 05: The Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptized, is heavily polluted with sewage and is in danger of drying up after decades of conflict and intense agricultural use, environmentalists said. In the early 1960s, the Jordan moved 1.3 billion cubic meters (46 billion cu ft) of water every year from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. But dams, canals and pumping stations built by Israel, Jordan and Syria to divert water for crops and drinking have reduced the flow by more than 90%. In the 1950s, Israel built a pipeline to pump water out of the Sea of Galilee, stopping its flow into the Jordan. Jordan then constructed a canal in the 1970s to divert water out of the Yarmuk River, a main tributary of the Jordan, to water its farmland. A dam being built by Jordan and Syria on the Yarmuk will cut off all its flow into the Jordan. "It is a health hazard. People should not be allowed to dip in the river. It is anything but holy water!"
. . "The Jordan River will disappear if nothing is done soon. More than half of it is raw sewage and runoff water from agriculture. What keeps the river flowing today is sewage", Munqeth Mehyar, chairman of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), an Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian group.
. . The dramatic decline in the Jordan is the main reason why the Dead Sea is also vanishing. The level of the world's saltiest large body of water is falling by a meter each year and the sea could disappear in 50 years.
June 21, 05: Alaska Natives have seen runny bone marrow in moose and caribou, and lesions and parasites in fish —-and that makes Shawna Larson wonder if toxic chemicals in these traditional foods are making people sick, too. "We see things our elders never used to see", she said at the 60th American Chemical Society Northwest Conference. "Why do we have cancer? Why do we have high diabetes?"
. . Larson, who works for Alaska Community Action on Toxins, and others say the anecdotal evidence linking sickness in the wild food supply to illness in humans needs to be studied. She also is working to change the way federal standards are used to measure harmful levels of toxins in Alaska's wild foods.
. . Cancer is the leading cause of death among Alaska Natives, yet 50 years ago the disease was rare.
. . Federal standards for measuring harmful levels of contaminants are based on the number of fish meals that would sicken a 160-pound white male. But Larson says the government also should consider constant low-level exposure because Native people eat fish more regularly.
June 7, 05: [Ok, there *is one --extremely tiny-- natural source of H...] Scientists have long studied bacteria that can clean up toxic waste by eating it. Other bacteria have been employed to produce electricity. Now scientists have found a two-for-one deal in bacteria that will eat toxic chemicals 24/7 and make electricity to boot. "The bacteria are capable of continuously generating electricity at levels that could be used to operate small electronic devices", says Charles Milliken of the Medical University of South Carolina, who conducted the research with colleague Harold May. "As long as the bacteria are fed fuel they are able to produce electricity 24 hours a day." [The article omits !!! even a mention of HOW the electricity is generated. Fuel cells, we assume.]
. . The new study involved Desulfitobacteria in a newly developed process that uses bacteria to consume human waste and other biomass produces four times more hydrogen than previous efforts. Some scientists and politicians envision an economy of the future fueled by hydrogen rather than fossil fuels. Others say that idea is rubbish.
. . The new technique won't by itself create a hydrogen economy, but it could help make wastewater treatment less costly. "While there is likely insufficient waste biomass to sustain a global hydrogen economy, this form of renewable energy production may help offset the substantial costs of wastewater treatment as well as provide a contribution to nations able to harness hydrogen as an energy source", said Penn State Professor Bruce Logan.
. . The process is, well, shocking. Bacteria already produce hydrogen. But this fermentation process has a limit. In the new study, Logan and his colleagues juiced the bacteria with a tiny amount of electricity, about 0.25 volts --a small fraction of what's needed to run a cell phone. [yes, but at what amperage?! It cud be a LOT of elec...] The supercharged bacteria could then break down acetic acid into carbon dioxide and hydrogen --a step they could not make on their own.
June 3, 05: Sweden will push for new rules to force polluters to clean up after themselves in the Antarctic when it hosts an international meeting next week about the icy continent, a unique ecological and scientific resource. Sweden backs a proposal that would make companies and organizations liable if they caused an oil spill or other disaster on the world's fifth-largest continent, where tourists now outnumber scientists and have become a growing concern.
. . The meeting will discuss how to manage the impact of the near 30,000 tourists who visit the Antarctic each year and also issues such as bio-prospecting --the search for organic compounds that could have medical or industrial applications.
June 2, 05: Toxic chemicals that poisoned your grandparents, or even great-grandparents, may also affect your health, U.S. researchers suggested. A study in rats shows the effects of certain toxic chemicals were passed on for four generations of males. The finding, published in the journal Science, suggests that toxins may play a role in inherited diseases now blamed on genetic mutations. "We believe this phenomenon will be widespread and be a major factor in understanding how disease develops."
. . For their study, Skinner and colleagues injected pregnant rats with vinclozolin, a fungicide commonly used in vineyards, and methoxychlor, a pesticide that replaced DDT. Both are endocrine disrupters --synthetic chemicals that interfere with the normal functioning of reproductive hormones, notably testosterone and estrogen. Animal studies have shown they can affect fertility and the development of genitals, for example.
. . Male rat pups born to these mothers had a 20% lower than normal sperm count, their sperm were less motile, meaning they did not swim as well, and they were less fertile.
. . When these male offspring were mated with females that had not been exposed to the toxins, 90% of the new male offspring had similar problems. The effect held for a fourth generation. That has never been seen before, although radiation and cancer chemotherapy are known to affect fertility and the children of people affected. Radiation can also cause "germline" genetic mutations -- mutations in DNA in egg and sperm cells that can be passed from one generation to the next. But it happens only rarely. These changes were not mutations, Skinner's team said. Instead, they were changes in a process called methylation, in which chemical compounds attach to and affect DNA.
. . Such changes might play a role in diseases such as breast cancer and prostate disease, both of which are on the rise, Skinner said.
June 2, 05: Mounted at about ear level on tripods, microphones are capturing the sound of quiet at the Grand Canyon. The four microphones are attached to sound level meters and computers that will later screen out all manmade sounds. Park officials are doing this because they need to establish the natural decibel level at the Grand Canyon before policymakers can decide whether the current noise-reduction regulations governing flights over America's most breathtaking natural wonder are adequate.
Scientists are continually on the hunt for helpful plants and microorganisms that thrive under conditions that would kill lesser beasts. Here are a half dozen currently on cleanup duty.
DHC -(Dehalococcoides species)
Found in: Upstate New York sewage
Eats: Chlorinated solvents
Used in: Naval weapons station and former electronics manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania
Water Hyacinth -(Eichhornia crassipes)
Found in: Tropical and subtropical lakes and streams
Eats: Arsenic
Used in: Bangladeshi wells and groundwater
Yellowstone Extremozyme -(Thermus brockianus)
Found in: Hot springs at Yellowstone National Park
Eats: Hydrogen peroxide
Used in: Paper-pulp and textile wastewater tests in an Idaho lab
Brake Fern -(Pteris vittata and Pteris cretica)
Found in: An abandoned lumberyard for pressure-treated wood in Archer, Florida
Eats: Arsenic
Used in: Contaminated soil near a former chemical weapons facility in Washington, DC; drinking water in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Geobacter -(Geobacter species)
Found in: Potomac River sediment
Eats: Uranium and other heavy metals
Used in: Groundwater from a cold war-era uranium mine in Rifle, Colorado
Indian Mustard Plant -(Brassica juncea)
Found in: the lab
Eats: Selenium
Used in: Soil contaminated by agricultural runoff in the San Luis Drain in Mendota, California
In a drive to reduce waste and increase recycling, Japan is raising the number of trash categories to dizzying heights.
North Dakota's plan to drain Devils Lake will pollute Canada and damage North America's most important bilateral water management arrangement.
May 18, 05: Some of the nation's top environmental groups said they will join the efforts of at least 13 states hoping to force industry to install mercury pollution controls tougher than those imposed this spring by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA in March issued new regulations that it said would cut mercury pollution from power plants in half by 2020, from 48 tons a year now to 24.3 tons. The new rules rely on the markets to reduce pollution, with companies buying and selling allotted pollution limits.
May 18, 05: Sewage is fouling the Great Lakes and other waters in the region because many municipal waste treatment systems are failing to stop overflows, environmental groups said in a report. Most municipal systems in six Great Lakes states that combine stormwater with domestic and industrial sewage haven't met minimum federal standards for preventing such discharges, nor have they received approval for long-term plans to control overflows, the report said.
. . The situation poses a health hazard that could get worse under Bush administration proposals to slash funding for wastewater system upgrades and to let sewage plants skip some stages of treatment during heavy rains or melting snow, environmentalists said.
. . Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin have 358 municipalities with federal permits for combined sewers, which use the same collection system for moving stormwater and raw sewage to treatment plants. When the systems overflow during storms, contaminated water is dumped into lakes, rivers and oceans — about 850 billion gallons nationwide each year. The pollution ranges from bacteria, viruses and parasites to metals such as mercury and lead.
. . The Great Lakes region has nearly half of the nation's 828 combined sewage systems, which tend to be located in older cities. Most newer systems keep sewage and stormwater separate.
May 17, 05: Kilauea volcano, one of Hawaii's most popular tourist attractions, is also by far the state's worst air polluter. Researchers now are trying to determine if that also makes it one of the state's biggest health risks. Since it began erupting on Jan. 3, 1983, the volcano has been sending an average of 1,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere each day, according to the Hawaii chapter of the American Lung Association. By the mid-1980s, Hawaii had the highest asthma death rate in the country.
. . This is 6,000 times the amount emitted by a major industrial polluter on the mainland, making Kilauea the nation's top producer of sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide from Kilauea reacts with other chemicals in the air to form a hazy, naturally occurring pollution known locally as "vog", or volcanic smog. When the lava enters the ocean, concentrations of hydrochloric acid are also formed.
May 10, 05: State researchers predicted that this summer could rank among the five worst in 20 years for algae blooms that threaten fish and other marine life in Chesapeake Bay. Scientists and ecologists believe a 15-km-wide algae bloom on the Potomac River could begin in early June and last for two and a half months. On a graphic distributed at a news conference Monday, the predicted bloom appears about halfway up the river, which empties into Chesapeake Bay.
. . Algae blooms begin as the Potomac warms, and phytoplankton begins feasting on toxic nitrogen and phosphorus that wash away from sewage pipes, streets and farm fields. As it feeds, the algae blooms into a sprawling shield that suffocates the water and marine life. Scientists say heavy rainfall since January is contributing to this year's poor water quality; rain washes more pollution and sediment into the bay and its creeks and rivers. A cool, dry or windy summer could help abate the blooms.
May 10, 05: Up to 5% of farmed Atlantic salmon in the world's top producer Norway suffer deformities perhaps linked to growing too fast or pollution, a scientist said. Deformities --often a curved spine because young farmed fishes' flesh can grow too fast for their skeletons-- also affect fish in other nations and other farmed species like rainbow trout or sea bream in pens from Norway to Chile.
. . In some fish farms off Norway rates of deformities can exceed 25% while in others it is almost zero. Reasons for the deformities were unknown but could include an imbalance of minerals in feed, polluted water, cramped pens or the wrong temperatures for water.
. . In some tanks for young fish, water is kept warmer than in the sea to promote faster muscle growth than in the wild as part of a bid to shorten the time to slaughter. With abundant food, the warm water may contribute to a bent spine as the pink flesh grows faster than the bones.
. . Deformed fish *can be sold for human consumption.
. . Separately, some U.S. research has suggested that eating farm-raised salmon poses greater health risks from dioxins, known to cause cancer.
May 7, 05: Reports in the late 1980s found the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface had declined by 4 to 6% since 1960. Suddenly, around 1990, that appears to have reversed. "When we looked at the more recent data, lo and behold, the trend went the other way." Thing is, nobody knows what caused the apparent shift. Could be changes in cloud cover, they say, or maybe reduced effects of volcanic activity, or a reduction in pollutants.
. . A third study in the journal this week, tackling a related aspect of all this, finds that Earth has reflected more sunlight back into space from 2000 to 2004 than in years prior. However, a similar investigation last year found just the opposite. A lack of data suggests it's impossible to know which study is right.
. . The bottom line, according to a group of experts not involved in any of these studies: Scientists don't know much about how sunlight interacts with our planet, and until they understand it, they can't accurately predict any possible effects of human activity on climate change.
. . The percentage of sunlight reflected by back into space by Earth is called albedo. The planet's albedo, around 30%, is governed by cloud cover and the quantity of atmospheric particles called aerosols.
. . Amazingly, one of the best techniques for measuring Earth's albedo is to watch the Moon, which acts like a giant mirror. Sunlight that reflects of Earth in turn reflects off the Moon and can be measured from here. The phenomenon is called earthshine.
. . "If we don't understand the albedo-related effects", Charlson said, "then we can't understand the effects of greenhouse gases." One theory is that if humans pump out more aerosols, the small particles will work to reflect sunlight and offset global warming. Charlson calls that "a spurious argument, a red herring." Greenhouse gases are at work trapping heat 24 hours a day, he notes, while sunlight reflection is only at work on the day side of the planet. Further, he said, greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for centuries, while aerosols last only a week or so. "There is no simplistic balance between these two effects", Charlson said. "It isn't heating versus cooling. It's scientific understanding versus not understanding."
May 5, 05: The Bush administration, in one of its biggest decisions on environmental issues, moved to open up nearly a third of all remote national forest lands to road building, logging and other commercial ventures. The 58.5 million acres involved, mainly in Alaska and in western states, had been put off limits to development by former President Clinton, eight days before he left office in January 2001.
May 2, 05: Mercury-laden clouds from gold mine smokestacks near Elko, Nev., are floating east and could pose a health threat and damage the ecology of the Great Salt Lake. The mines account for as much as 11% of total Mercury emissions in the United States. Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally. Exposure to the element has been linked to neurological and kidney diseases, autism, loss of motor control and death. Young children and pregnant women are most at risk. They estimate the 18 Nevada gold mines released between 70 and 200 tons of mercury.
May 2, 05: Huge swaths of the Pacific Ocean are loaded with discarded fishing nets that entangle marine mammals, turtles and sea birds, a new study found. Researchers used satellites to get a better handle on the scope of the so-called ghostnet problem, then flew over specific areas to count the junk. The nets tend to congregate, driven by wind and currents. Because they're made of synthetic materials, they decay slowly and can drift for years. Many end up on coral reefs, where removing them is time-consuming and costly.
Apr 27, 05: An annual dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has appeared earlier this year than in the past, suggesting it might be larger this summer. The dead zone is created by spring runoff, which carries fertilizer and other nutrients into the Gulf. Phytoplankton blooms around river mouths spread. When the creatures die and sink to the bottom, their decomposition strips oxygen from the water, creating inhospitable conditions for other marine life.
. . The lack of oxygen is called hypoxia. "We saw no hypoxia in this area until June of last year, and this year we found it in late March." The causes of the dead zone, and similar dead zones around the world, are not completely understood. But in two separate studies last year, agricultural runoff was blamed.
. . Stanford researchers last year tied phytoplankton blooms in the Sea of Cortez to specific episodes of fertilizing in Mexican fields and the resulting runoff to the sea. "There were roughly four irrigation events per year, and right after each one, you'd see a bloom appear within a matter of days."
It will be standing room only for those being buried at a new Australian cemetery that aims to provide cheap, environmentally friendly burials. Australia's Victoria state government has approved plans for the cemetery at Darlington, 200 km southwest of the Victorian capital Melbourne, where corpses will be buried vertically in body bags --instead of caskets-- on grazing land.
. . "You're not burning 90 kg of gas in a crematorium and there's no ongoing maintenance costs." He said burials would cost about A$1,000 (US$781), with bodies held in a morgue in Melbourne and transported to the cemetery in batches of up to 15 in a bid to reduce costs. Animals would be allowed to graze on the land again once it was stable.
Apr 17, 05: The European Union could save up to 161 billion euros a year by reducing deaths caused by air pollution, the World Health Organization has said. Air pollution reduces the life of the average European by 8.6 months. This is the equivalent of preventing 80,000 premature deaths and saving over one million years of life across the European Union. The toxic particles in pollution increase deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and the price of treating these ailments is costly.
Apr 15, 05: It is not as sunny as it used to be over China and pollution is probably to blame, Chinese researchers reported. They found a significant decrease in daily surface solar radiation and less sunshine per month compared with 1961 --especially over the eastern part of the country where most people live and most factories are located. The best explanation is a rise in aerosols --little particles that include soot, dust and even smaller bits produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
"Perchlorate, a rocket-fuel ingredient, is now found in nearly every sample of milk and lettuce tested; PBDE, a suspected neurotoxin in flame retardant, was detected in the breast milk of women in Texas at rates 10 to 100 times those of European women. Since the safety of these substances was not ascertained before they were released into the environment, our politicians have chosen our sons and daughters as de facto lab rats to test them." ~CARL POPE, the Sierra Club’s executive director.
Mar 30, 05: Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas, an international report said. The study, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years.
. . "At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning." "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted", it said.
. . Ten to 30% of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened with extinction. More land was changed to cropland since 1945, for instance, than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined. Future changes could bring sudden outbreaks of disease. Warming of the Great Lakes in Africa due to climate change, for instance, could create conditions for a spread of cholera. And a build-up of nitrogen from fertilizers washed off farmland into seas could spur abrupt blooms of algae that choke fish or create oxygen-depleted "dead zones" along coasts. It said deforestation often led to less rainfall. And at some point, lack of rain could suddenly undermine growing conditions for remaining forests in a region. And it estimated that many ecosystems were worth more if used in a way that maintains them for future generations.
. . A wetland in Canada was worth $6,000 a hectare (2.47 acres), as a habitat for animals and plants, a filter for pollution, a store for water and a site for human recreation, against $2,000 if converted to farmland, it said. A Thai mangrove was worth $1,000 a hectare against $200 as a shrimp farm. "Ecosystems and the services they provide are financially significant and...to degrade and damage them is tantamount to economic suicide", said Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N. Environment Program.
. . The study urged changes in consumption, better education, new technology and higher prices for exploiting ecosystems.
Mar 30, 05: Hong Kong has become a dumping ground for electronic waste from the United States, Europe and Japan and soil tests have uncovered excessive lead levels in the soil, according to Greenpeace. Nearly 100 large, open fields in the city's New Territories are covered in a sea of old computers, televisions, printers and printed circuit boards. Tests on soil samples collected at these blackspots were found to contain up to 10 times as much lead than uncontaminated soil.
. . The semi-rural New Territories, near the border with mainland China, has become a receiving and sorting station for the waste before disassembled parts are sent across the border for recycling.
. . The spillover into Hong Kong came after Beijing banned the import of electronic waste in 2000. Traders quickly worked around that by sending containers of waste into Hong Kong, where computers and other electronic goods are disassembled before being trucked into other parts of southern China.
Mar 30, 05: A steep decline in Puget Sound-area herring, a critical food source for larger fish, marine mammals and sea birds, has scientists mystified. Not only are adult herring dying earlier than normal, but some fear a stock that used to be one of the largest in Washington state's inland marine waters could go extinct.
. . They found high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls and other toxic substances in herring in south Puget Sound.
. . The herring decline may explain the disappearance of thousands of scoters [birds] from parts of the inland waters.
. . Much of the mystery to scientists is in the high percentage of herring that die before reaching the age of peak fertility. Herring in the inland waters typically used to live as long as 5 to 8 years, but now "it's rare to see one over 4." In the 1970s, about 20% of the sound's herring population died of natural causes annually, but now it's 67% to 84%.
Mar 29, 05: Deforestation, climate change, and pollution are compromising economic and social progress in the world's poorest nations, a major report has found. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is one of the biggest scientific collaborations ever undertaken --carried out by 1,300 researchers to collate all that is known about environmental degradation around the globe. The assessment found that human activities, particularly the spread of modern agriculture, have caused irreversible changes to the natural world.
Mar 28, 05: Dairy cows may stink, but they're only responsible for half the pollution-causing emissions that have been attributed to them, according to the preliminary findings of a University of California at Davis study. Researchers found each animal only released the equivalent of 6.4 pounds of smog-causing chemicals each year. Previous estimates used by the California Air Resources Board to set regulations for dairy farms had placed the amount at 12.8 pounds per year. The researchers also found that only 40% of the emissions come from the cows' excretions. The remainder seems to be emitted when the cows belch during rumination.
Nearly all (91% of) trash trucks in the United States get about 3 miles per gallon running on diesel fuel that produces highly toxic exhaust.
Mar 24, 05: The Environmental Protection Agency's decision to ignore researchers' analysis of possible health benefits from reducing mercury pollution from power plants was criticized by Democrats in Congress. "Why is the EPA suppressing the evidence that mercury pollution can be controlled better and faster?" asked Sen. John Kerry.
. . EPA officials said the study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis wasn't submitted until Feb. 22, more than a month after the deadline the agency set for considering new data. The agency published its new regulations on mercury pollution from power plants on March 15.
. . Hammitt's study estimated the potential public health benefits from cutting mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants in half 15 years from now at $5 billion a year, compared to the EPA's estimate of up to $50 million a year. The EPA put the cost of the cleanup to utilities and users of electricity at $750 million a year in 2020. The difference in the benefit numbers comes from Hammitt's inclusion of fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and less-contaminated oceangoing fish in his calculations. The EPA estimates that U.S. power plants account for 1% of global mercury pollution.
. . The government now advises that high levels of mercury in some fish, including albacore tuna, can pose a hazard for children and for pregnant or nursing women, causing brain and nerve damage.
Mar 22, 05: China's massive project to pump water to its parched north has a problem: a lack of clean water to pump. The country has begun its ambitious South-North water diversion scheme, but widespread pollution and failure by regional governments to improve waste treatment were ruining available supplies. When complete in 2050, the multi-billion dollar diversion scheme is intended to annually send 44.8 billion cubic meters of water from southern rivers to farms and cities in the dry north.
. . Liu called for stiffer punishment for uncompliant administrators and persistent polluters. "In one case, a polluter did 20 billion yuan of damage, but was only fined 1 million yuan, the maximum by law", she said.
Mar 17, 05: The use of salt to melt snow and ice from slippery roads has an environmental downside that can affect a widespread area long after winter has passed, scientists say. Road salt can affect amphibians in small seasonal wetlands called vernal pools located as far as 550 feet from roads. They said salt can be responsible for changes in water chemistry many miles downriver from a road crossing. "You can see the effects all the way down to the ocean."
. . The use of salt increased sharply after the interstate highway system was built in the 1950s and `60s. In Maine, 104,000 tons of salt have been used so far this winter.
. . Scientists know that road salt can kill trees and that white pines are particularly sensitive. Sometimes, road salt puts such a strain on native species that hardier invasive plants and animals take over.
. . Researchers have learned that excess salt changes stream chemistry, causing certain minerals to leach out of soils. At high enough concentrations, salt can increase the acidity of water, causing some of the same negative effects as acid rain.
. . Studies have shown that road salt attracts deer and moose, causing collisions with vehicles. Other scientists have learned that some amphibians refuse to cross salted roads and, as a result, can be separated from their traditional breeding areas.
Mar 16, 05: Chinese regulators last year shut down more than 10,000 polluting enterprises, as they faced an uphill battle to improve the country's environment, state media said. In the course of a special campaign to enforce the environmental law between April and November, altogether 6,462 heavy polluters were ordered to cease operations.
. . Another 3,861 enterprises were closed down temporarily until they had brought their facilities in line with the regulations, according to the agency, which cited the State Environmental Protection Administration. The same nationwide operation also led to 155 people being punished.
. . SEPA is one of China's most understaffed bureaucracies, but it has earned itself a reputation for activism with its no-nonsense attitude to pollution. Earlier this year, it ordered a halt to 30 construction projects that had failed to file an environmental impact assessment, as the law stated they should have.
Mar 16, 05: The major source of potentially climate-changing soot in the air over south Asia is home cooking fires, according to a team of Indian and American researchers. The burning of wood, agricultural waste and animal manure for cooking is the largest source of black carbon in the air in that region.
. . The effect of soot in the air over the Indian Ocean is some 10 times that of the so-called greenhouse gases, according to the researchers. The pollution causes the air to absorb more sunlight, warming the atmosphere and cooling the surface beneath. Such changes can affect rainfall patterns, contributing to intensity of floods and droughts.
. . They calculated that, of the black soot in the atmosphere, 42% originates from cooking fires, 25% from burning fossil fuels and 13% from open burning such as forest fires.
Mar 14, 05: A survey found the highest levels of silver contamination ever observed in the ocean. The high concentrations are in the North Pacific, a region thought to be relatively pristine, scientists said. The extent of contamination --50 times higher than the natural level of silver that should be there-- is not thought to be toxic to marine life, but it illustrate the global impact of industrial emissions, scientists said. "Unlike mercury, silver is not a human health concern", Flegal said. "But silver is second only to mercury in its toxicity to marine invertebrates." "The most likely source of the silver contamination is atmospheric emissions from coal burning in Asia."
. . Burned coal also produces nitrogen and sulfur compounds that contribute to acid rain and smog. Pollution from China rides prevailing westerly winds across the North Pacific, scientists say. A previous study by the same group found high levels of mercury in rainfall on the U.S. West Coast, also thought to be linked to Asian coal burning.
. . The United States burns coal, too, and emissions are known to drift eastward. A study released last month found ozone levels in the European Alps jumped 33% when a carefully monitored cloud of U.S. pollution blew across the Atlantic.
Mar 11, 05: The Bush administration ordered reductions in smog and soot pollution across 28 states in the East, South and Midwest with the goal of making the air cleaner to breathe for people downwind of coal-burning power plants.
. . EPA officials estimate that achieving the pollution cuts will end up costing about $4 billion a year, but that the benefits will be much greater; for example, $85 billion annually from improved health among people downwind. The benefits to outdoor visibility were put at $2 billion a year.
. . By 2015, nitrogen oxide pollution will have to be reduced by 1.9 million tons annually, or 61% below 2003 levels. Sulfur dioxide pollution must drop by 5.4 million tons, a 57% reduction.
. . The EPA said 474 counties now have too much smog and 224 counties have too much soot, fine particles of pollution that are 30 times smaller than human hair.
Mar 8, 05: China's soaring demand for timber, driven by its rapid economic expansion, is a major threat to the world's forests as illegal loggers make fortunes supplying the mainland, conservation group WWF said. "But logging bans in China should not lead to forest loss in other parts of the world. Decisive action is needed to ensure that supply chains leading to or through China begin with well-managed forests." Americans consume 17 times more wood per capita than the Chinese, but China is soon tipped to become the world's largest wood market.
Mar 8, 05: China is raising the environmental bar on the construction of heavily polluting factories and plants in a move that could bolster efforts to limit investment and cool the economy. China has suffered severe environmental damage in recent decades as economic development has accelerated, but the government has since adopted a series of measures to cool the world's seventh largest economy, which grew 9.5% last year. Steel, cement, aluminum, iron alloy, calcium carbide and coke-producing plants would undergo stricter environmental assessments before construction could begin.
Mar 8, 05: A four-year study in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, identifies several so-called mercury "hot spots" and suggests contamination by the toxic metal is more pervasive than originally believed. "We expected mercury to be widespread, but we were surprised to discover just how high the mercury levels are in animals like mink."
Mar 7, 05: The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine on a training exercise off the coast. More than 20 rough-toothed dolphins have died since Wednesday's beaching by about 70 of them.
. . A day before the dolphins swam ashore, the USS Philadelphia had conducted exercises with Navy SEALs off Key West, about 45 miles from Marathon, where the dolphins became stranded. Navy officials refused to say if the submarine, based at Groton, Conn., used its sonar during the exercise.
. . Some scientists surmise that loud bursts of sonar, which can be heard for miles in the water, may disorient or scare marine mammals, causing them to surface too quickly and suffer the equivalent of what divers know as the bends — when sudden decompression forms nitrogen bubbles in tissue.
Mar 7, 05: Stricter monitoring and reporting of problems with lead in drinking water will be required of utilities, states, schools and child care facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency said. EPA officials said they found few such problems nationally, but were moving to impose stricter requirements in its 1991 lead and copper regulations starting early next year, because of problems with lead in drinking water that surfaced in 2002 for thousands of residents in Washington, D.C.. Those problems only gained widespread attention two years later, and residents complained that the city did little to alert them.
Mar 7, 05: A Canadian smelter produced most of the lead, zinc and cadmium pollution found in a Washington state lake at the center of a cross-border environmental fight, according to a new study. The U.S. Geological Survey said studies of sediment in Lake Roosevelt also determined that slag that was dumped into the Columbia River for decades had evidence of weathering and breaking down, and could not be considered inert.
. . The lake, which was created on the Columbia River in 1941 with the building of the Grand Coulee Dam, is the focus of a fight between the U.S. government, Washington state Indian tribes and Canadian mining firm Teck Cominco Ltd.
Mar 4, 05: The world's airlines must make cuts of 12% in nitrogen oxide emissions blamed for depleting the ozone layer, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said. The pact was adopted unanimously among the 36-member council of the UN body. Airlines will have until 2008 to comply with the new restrictions.
The new nitrogen oxides standards are "12% more stringent than the previous levels agreed to in 1999." Reductions in emissions will be achieved mainly through modifications to aircraft engines.
. . But some airlines have argued, however, that the move will entail extra costs which could threaten the fragile recovery of the industry which slumped following the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the SARS epidemic in Asia and Canada.
Mar 4, 05: Stroll on Dubai's shore and dead coral crunches underfoot. The normally crystal-clear Gulf is fogged with silt. Eroding beaches need truckloads of sand to stay in place. The $14 billion manmade islands project that is luring buyers from around the world is also damaging the habitat for Gulf marine life.
. . The new land masses have buried coral reefs, oyster beds and sea grasses that nurtured fish and sea turtles. They block and reroute natural currents, eroding Dubai's famed natural beaches. One of the archipelagoes, the Palm Jebel Ali, lies in an area once protected as a marine wildlife zone.
Feb 25, 05: A global treaty proposed this week to fight mercury pollution has been rejected at a meeting in Kenya. Coal-fired power stations are the biggest source of mercury within the United States, accounting for around 40% of US production. "So we had all the ingredients for a meaningful agreement; but the United States was very obstructive to every idea except their partnership proposal."
Feb 22, 05: Emissions from old diesel engines cause more than 20,000 Americans a year to die sooner than they would have otherwise, an environmental group estimated. The states with the most deaths were New York with 2,332, California with 1,784, and Pennsylvania with 1,170, according to the group. The group said it based its figures on the most recent government emissions data — from 1999 — and from public health studies of the effects of various types of air pollutants.
. . They said regulations designed to make new diesel engines cleaner don't affect millions of older trucks, buses and construction engines. "Those are great rules, they will hold new engines to higher standards. ... In the meantime, we're stuck with a legacy of dirty diesel engines", said Schneider, advocacy director for the Clean Air Task Force, a coalition of regional and local groups.
. . The Environmental Protection Agency last year required new diesel engines on trucks and buses to cut in half the amount of nitrogen oxides produced. In 2007, emissions are to be cut further. Since many older diesel engines can run for 30 years, more action is needed by federal, state, and local governments to retrofit existing diesel engines to run more cleanly, the group said. Retrofits for a typical transit bus can cost about $5,000 to $7,000.
. . Diesel pollution is blamed for contributing to asthma, respiratory diseases, and heart attacks. The study estimates the risk of health complications from diesel exhaust for people living in cities is three times higher than the risk for those in rural areas.
Feb 20, 05: Federal scientists studying the Great Salt Lake have found some of the highest levels of mercury ever measured anywhere — prompting concern about some of the migratory birds that feed on the lake's brine shrimp. U.S. Geological Survey and Fish and Wildlife Service researchers were initially gathering information on selenium in the lake, but decided also to test the samples for mercury.
. . Concentrations of methyl mercury —-the element's most poisonous form-— exceeded 25 nanograms per liter of water. Fish consumption warnings have been issued when there was just 1 nanogram per liter.
. . The brine shrimp studied show evidence of mercury buildup that could be harmful to the lake's migratory birds. The study's preliminary findings eventually may overturn the long-held idea that areas of the lake's deep brine layer, which has no oxygen, is a kind of disposal system where toxins sink to the lake bed and become inert. Instead, the USGS study suggests the lake's peculiar chemistry actually speeds the conversion of mercury to its more toxic organic form. "It's not a disposal, it's a factory."
. . Mercury is a highly toxic element that occurs naturally in the environment but also has been introduced through mining and industrial activity.
Feb 16, 05: The Arctic may seem a remote and pristine region, but winds and tides carry man-made toxins to the region, endangering wildlife there, the World Wildlife Fund said. And the fragile Arctic can serve as an early warning to the rest of world, said the group, launching an international campaign to control or ban man-made chemicals.
. . Researchers have long known that that PCBs and other manmade toxins can cause hormonal imbalances in Arctic wildlife. For example. female bears with vestigial male sexual organs were found in 1997 on Norway.
. . Even those now largely banned, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, polychlorinated napthalenes, or PCNs, and DDT, can continue to cause harm because they take so long to break down.
. . Air with contaminants reaches the cold Arctic, condensation forms and the toxins are carried to the ground in rain or snow, where the cold slows their decomposition. "As a result, the Arctic acts as a final "sink" where pollutants from around the world accumulate and become trapped. For example, decabromodiphenyl ethers, or deca-BDEs, are one of about 70 types of brominated flame retardants, and are commonly used in televisions, computers, stereos, and plastic toys. They have been found in what sounds like an International Who's Who list of wildlife.
Feb 15, 05: A study of New York City newborns suggests that prenatal exposure to air pollution may be linked to genetic changes associated with an increased risk of cancer. The study by Columbia University followed 60 newborns and their non-smoking mothers in low-income neighborhoods, primarily in Harlem and the Bronx. Their exposure to combustion-related pollutants caused primarily by vehicles was measured by backpack air monitors worn by the women during the third trimester of their pregnancies.
. . When the babies were born, genetic alterations were measured. Researchers found about a 50% increase in the level of persistent genetic abnormalities in the infants who had the higher levels of exposure.
. . "This is the first time we've seen evidence that they can change chromosomes in utero. While we can't estimate the precise increase in cancer risk", Perera said, the findings underscore the need for government to take steps to protect children.
Feb 7, 05: The ozone layer over the Arctic has thinned due to colder-than-normal temperatures, and "large scale losses" are likely if the cold conditions continue, a European research group reported. The research prompted the European Commission to issue a statement warning that "should further cooling of the Arctic stratosphere occur, increasing ozone losses can be expected for the next couple of decades." It said the thinning could affect the Polar regions, Scandinavia and possibly as far down as central Europe.
. . A researcher said that "the meteorological conditions we are now witnessing resemble and even surpass the conditions of the 1999-2000 winter —-when the worst ozone loss to date was observed." Overall temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer are the lowest in 50 years, and have been consistently low for the past two months.
. . The concerns were triggered last November, when researchers found large areas of clouds in the ozone layer at an altitude of about 12 miles. Called polar stratospheric clouds, or PSC, they are the largest seen in the last 20 years and are an indicator of ozone depletion. The researchers noted that the clouds cause significant changes in the chemical balance of the stratosphere, which in turn speeds up ozone destruction in the presence of sunlight. The combination alters the breakdown of CFCs, the class of chemicals that erode the ozone layer. CFCs are being phased out, but their impact will continue for decades. They have also led to thinning of the Antarctic ozone layer.
Feb 3, 05: Air pollution built to unhealthy levels around the upper Midwest, a wintertime rarity caused by the absence of strong wind, and problems were expected to continue for children and other sensitive groups. Minnesota officials warned that air in the Twin Cities was unhealthy for anyone Wednesday, and Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, this week had their first-ever winter air alerts, warning of unhealthy conditions for people at risk.
. . A stagnant air mass over the region trapped fine particles near the ground this week. The particles come from sources such as car exhaust, factories and fireplaces.
Feb 3, 05: New York state needs to do a better job at reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and warning residents about fish contaminated with the poisonous element, environmentalists said. The charges were included in a report on mercury control efforts in five mid-Atlantic states released by the National Wildlife Federation. While praising New York for passing mercury labeling legislation and phasing out mercury products, the environmentalists said the state should be tackling mercury emissions from coal-fired plants. They suggested forcing plants to install modern pollution control equipment. The groups also faulted the state's fish consumption advisories.
Feb 1, 05: The China Three Gorges Project Corporation is refusing to obey a government edict to halt construction of the massive Xiluodu dam and could opt to pay fines instead of complying. The builder of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, has not abided by a January 18 order from the State Environmental Protection Agency. It had been told to stop construction of the controversial five billion dollar dam in the upper reaches of the Yangtze river as it lacked environmental assessment reports.
. . The company has also ignored orders to halt construction on the Three Gorges Underground Power Plant and the Three Gorges Project Electrical Power Supply Plant. The power projects were among 30 large-scale projects ordered stopped by SEPA last month due to a lack of mandatory environmental impact assessments. So far, only 22 of them have complied.
. . If the Three Gorges company refuses to comply, it can be fined up to 200,000 yuan (24,000 dollars), a mere slap on the wrist for China's largest hydroelectric power company. The SEPA order comes as the central government tries to cool China's booming economy and as SEPA tests its newly acquired powers under the 2003 National Environmental Assessment Law.
Jan 28, 05: Finland is the world leader in pursuing environmentally friendly policies, according to a study of 146 countries for a global index Friday that ranks North Korea, Iraq and Taiwan at the bottom. The index is based on an assessment of a country's natural resources, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts and how well it improves its environmental performance over time.
. . The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), unveiled at the World Economic Forum being held in the Swiss resort of Davos, put the United States in 45th place, although ahead of Britain in 66th.
. . While the United States scored well for its water quality and environment protection capacity, its overall score was brought down by waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Uruguay ranked third highest in the index, behind Finland and Norway.
Huge feedlots, with 12,000 animals on hand, each eating about 25 pounds of feed daily, results in as much as nine pounds of manure a day per animal —-some 54 tons every 24 hours!
Jan 28, 05: The coming weeks could bring the most severe thinning of the ozone layer over northern Europe since records began. The conditions are being driven by unusual weather in the high atmosphere above the Arctic, says the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit. The stratosphere, where the ozone layer lies, has seen its coldest winter for 50 years; there have also been an unusually large number of clouds. These factors hasten the rate at which man-made chemicals destroy ozone.
. . Ozone is a molecule that is composed of three oxygen atoms. It is responsible for filtering out harmful ultra-violet radiation (less than 290 nanometers) from the Sun. The molecule is constantly being made and destroyed in the stratosphere, which exists from about 10km to 40km above the Earth. In an unpolluted atmosphere, this cycle of production and decomposition is in equilibrium. But a number of human-produced chemicals, such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used as refrigerants, in aerosol sprays, as solvents and in foam-blowing agents, have risen into the stratosphere where they are broken down by the Sun's rays. Chlorine atoms released from these chemicals then act as catalysts to decompose ozone.
. . The incidence of malignant melanoma, the worst kind of skin cancer, is rising; but to what extent that has been caused by decades of ozone depletion is far from clear.
Jan 27, 05: Hundreds of indigenous people from the Americas have joined forces at an anti-globalization gathering in Brazil to press demands for control of natural resources on their traditional lands. Underlining their attachment to the land that nourishes them, they plan to hold daily fire rituals at the January 26-31 World Social Forum in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.
. . "We are here to give testimony about the invasion of our lands by forestry and mining companies, by the military, the multinationals that want to grab our resources", said Haji Manchineri of the Coordination of Indigenous People of the Low Amazon (COICA) group. Governments, he says, cave in too easily to pressure from multinational companies.
. . In Ecuador, Shuar and Achuar Indians managed to prevent the exploitation of an oil bloc, thanks to a decision by the International Labor Organization. Indigenous communities in the South American country are also demanding six billion dollars from Texaco as compensation for what they say is 20 years of environmental degradation caused by the oil company. A trial has been underway since mid-2003.
Jan 27, 05: North Carolina is trying to boost the buzz surrounding the state's crops. As farmers leave tobacco and move into new crops like cucumbers, melons, and berries, the state is confronting a crisis: it simply doesn't have enough honeybees to pollinate all those flowering plants.
. . Twenty years ago, the state had a healthy population of wild bees, but they have been ravaged by mites. Farmers now rely on a dozen or so commercial beekeepers to pollinate their crops. But most of those beekeepers are at least 60 years old.
Jan 26, 05: Nine chlorine plants in the nation pour at least eight tons of mercury into the environment each year — a situation that demands federal action to force companies to convert to cleaner technology, activists said. Environmentalists think the amount of mercury emitted by the plants may be even greater; the industry acknowledges that tons of the toxic metal are unaccounted for each year.
. . Chlorine at the plants is made by pumping electrically charged salty water through a vat of mercury, a process devised more than 100 years ago. Environmentalists say these plants are a largely ignored and unchecked source of mercury pollution.
. . Mercury settles in waterways and accumulates in fish. In humans who eat those fish, the metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in fetuses and children.
. . The environmentalists say these calculations may be wrong, because while the companies monitor the amount of mercury that goes out of their smokestacks, they merely estimate the amount that evaporates and leaves the factories through vents. In addition, industry officials acknowledge that they cannot acount for an additional 30 tons a year. They say that it could be stuck in factory pipes, and they are trying to find it.
. . Power plants remain the largest remaining human-caused source. They released 90,370 pounds of mercury into the air in 2002.
Jan 25, 05: The state and federal governments should buy more land, and do so quickly, in order to restore the Everglades before the property becomes developed or too expensive in coming years, according to a new report.
. . The government is already spending $100 million to $200 million each year to buy land for the restoration. But "it seems certain that some land not soon acquired will be developed or become significantly more expensive before the two-decade-long acquisition program can be completed", the report said. "Protecting the potential for restoration, i.e. protecting the land, is essential for successful restoration."
. . The 30-year, $8.4 billion federal-state program is intended to restore some of the natural water flow through the sensitive Everglades ecosystem, which once stretched uninterrupted from a chain of lakes near Orlando to Florida Bay.
Jan 24, 05: San Francisco may become the first city in the nation to charge shoppers for grocery bags. The city's Commission on the Environment is expected to ask the mayor and board of supervisors Tuesday to consider a 17-cent per bag charge on paper and plastic grocery bags. While the goal is reducing plastic bag pollution, paper was added so as not to discriminate. Officials calculate that the city spends 5.2 cents per bag annually for street litter pickup and 1.4 cents per bag for extra recycling costs.
Jan 19, 05: Stand on the major intersection linking Delhi's ring road with the clogged main artery to Taj Mahal town Agra and the number of vehicles spewing out thick, noxious smoke is terrifying. More vehicles seem to be emitting foul dark fumes than not. At night, when big, antiquated trucks re-supply the population of 14 million, the air around the Ashram flyover is so thick your nose can tingle and eyes turn red as you cough up greyish-black phelgm.
. . Levels of suspended particulate matter hit 10 times World Health Organisation recommended levels in Delhi and spiked at far worse. A minister told the conference five million Indians die every year due to air pollution.
. . Authorities in the Indian capital are launching a new crackdown on polluting traffic in a further bid to clean up one of the dirtiest cities in the world. After forcing buses and auto-rickshaws to switch to clean compressed natural gas (CNG) in 2002, fears are growing that those gains are being knocked over by the ever-growing number of vehicles on the roads, and particularly those burning cheaper diesel fuel.
. . But Rajeev Talwar, Delhi's transport commissioner, has announced tough new penalties for vehicles causing excessive pollution. It's fighting talk and, given India's legendary corruption, demands determined policing to succeed.
. . Delhi's air quality has improved --due to the introduction of clean fuel, relocating polluting industries out of Delhi and switching from coal to gas-based power plants. But they cautioned that the advances were being lost due to the soaring numbers of diesel cars. India has about 66 million vehicles on its roads with seven million added just last year.
. . "The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has found that whether it is suspended particulate matter, respiratory suspended particulate matter, sulphur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide, the levels have come down in the past two years.
The number of cases of chest infections, asthma attacks and respiratory allergies had declined in the past two years.
Jan 12, 05: Unburned fuel from rockets launched at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is causing serious illnesses in children who live near the site, a leading science journal said. "The level of some diseases such as endocrine and blood disorders in polluted areas is more than twice the regional average.
They estimate dozens of liters of unburned fuel from spent rocket stages containing toxic substances are sprayed over several kilometers during a launch. "Most other major bases used by NASA and ESA, such as Cape Canaveral in Florida, send rockets out over the ocean."
Jan 10, 05: A new report from the National Academy of Sciences raises by 20 times the amount of rocket fuel pollution in drinking water considered "safe", but environmentalists accused the government of influencing the report's findings.
. . The environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council challenged the report even before it was issued, saying the authors had been influenced by the Pentagon and defense contractors and it had evidence to prove it.
. . The pollutant from rocket fuel, a chemical called perchlorate, can affect thyroid function. There are no federal limits on how much is safe but independent groups have said the chemical could affect developing babies.
Jan 3, 05: Russia plans its first laws to crack down on industrial polluters in '05, and will force offending companies to invest in clean technology rather than pay fines, the natural resources minister said. Towns across Russia are poisoned by factories. At the most polluted sites, such as the Arctic town of Norilsk, plant life is dead for kms around the smokestacks and people complain of breathing problems and other symptoms. "Therefore, the natural resources ministry has taken the decision to create the first legal initiatives in this extremely sensitive sphere with the aim of creating ... a single ecological code."
. . Russia's factories are at best two-and-a-half times less energy efficient than their European competitors, and the new laws would aim to reduce pollution. "The first step would have to be the creation of a system encouraging our main polluters --industrial concerns-- not to pay fines but invest money in modernizing production to meet ecological demands", Trutnev said.
.
If you got here from the GAIA HOME PAGE, click on
"minimize" or "eXit". (upper right browser buttons)
If you didn't: the site.)