We’re already paying the costs of climate change. The new power plant emissions standards could not be more timely. For citizens of a democratic society, there may be no greater obligation than to act today to protect future generations from the threats of tomorrow. That is what the Obama administration did on Friday, when it…
PCBs cause birds to sing a different tune
Low level exposures to PCBs cause neurological changes in birds that alter a critical behaviour: birdsong. Songbirds living along the Hudson River in New York state are exposed to levels of PCBs that don’t kill them but do disrupt the songs they sing, reports a team of researchers from Cornell University. Their study reveals that…
Plastic bags: symbol of consumer waste may ignore worse offenders
Campaign to consign polluting carrier bag to the bin of history misses valuable point, say recyclers and packaging firms The greatest contribution that plastic bags have made to human society is their use as a toilet. In developing countries, the bags are commonly used as a repository for human faeces, where they end up hanging…
EPA outlines first steps to limit US coal plant pollution
Proposal to tackle emissions from the power sector will require new plants to be about 40% cleaner than current coal plants Barack Obama took his first real step to fulfilling his sweeping climate action plan on Friday, proposing the first rules to limit carbon pollution from future coal-fired power plants. The new rules on natural…
Researchers Are Designing Self-Cleaning Beaches
In 2011, water pollution closed or drove visitors away from U.S. shores on more than 15,000 beach days across the country. In many places, the problem is getting worse. As coastal towns crowd with rooftops and parking lots, they produce more runoff from rain. The runoff picks up bacteria from animal waste and collects in…
Why bananas are giving caimans bad blood
New research finds pesticides in spectacled caiman blood, exposing the impact of heavily sprayed plantations Globally, retailers have a soft spot for Costa Rican bananas. The Central American country is the biggest provider of the staple fruit in the United Kingdom, contributing 25% of its banana imports in 2007, and maintaining its place over the…
In every whale’s earwax is a record of its lifetime exposure to pollutants
Scientists have developed a new method for learning all sorts of interesting things about whales by studying their earwax In addition to the amazing revelation that whales have earwax, we learn that a team of researchers in the US has published a paper detailing a new method that they developed for measuring a whale’s lifetime…