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| Above the fold. News aggregated by www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org | Read today's editorials |
| Daily links to top stories in the news about environmental health. The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years. How worried should we be? What happens if the oceans keep acidifying and water temperatures keep rising as a result of global warming? Are those stresses going to wipe out coral reefs and fisheries? Or is there a chance that some ecosystems might remain surprisingly resilient? Washington Post [Registration Required] Florida farm workers allege pesticide exposure is giving them cancer. Marta Cruz left Michoacán, Mexico with her husband and 1-year-old son a decade and a half ago to work in the fields of Homestead, Florida. Cruz believes she and her son may have developed cancer from exposure to pesticides while working at a Florida nursery. Fox News High levels of contamination: How effective are the water purifiers you use? Millions of people in India fall prey to waterborne diseases every day. And this may be happening in spite of the use of water purifiers. Toxic chemicals such as arsenic, lead and disease-causing bacteria have contributed to an alarming increase in water contamination. Bombay Economic Times, India. Water hazard: How the UN plans to provide clean drinking water for everyone in Rwanda. An estimated 760 million people around the world still rely on unhygienic sources of water, damaging them and their children's health and education, and wider economic wellbeing. Progress is slowest overall in sub-Saharan Africa, in conflict-hit states such as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Independent, United Kingdom. Baltimore harbor project stirs environmental concerns. While the Harbor Point project's millions in public financing have dominated debate in Baltimore this summer, a carcinogen buried beneath the proposed waterfront development has sparked concerns about the safety of neighboring residents and the people who will work at the site in Fells Point. Baltimore Sun, Maryland. E-cigarettes have cities, businesses pondering action. E-cigarettes, a trendy alternative to smoking, are legal and little studied, but their use is being curbed in some places, just in case. Los Angeles Times [Registration Required] Radiation near Japanese plant’s tanks suggests new leaks. A crisis over contaminated water at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant worsened on Saturday when the plant’s operator said it had detected high radiation levels near storage tanks, a finding that raised the possibility of additional leaks. New York Times [Registration Required] Silver lining in China’s smog as it puts focus on emissions. Has public anger about noxious air has jolted the Chinese government, which long dismissed pollution as the necessary price of prosperity? This may be a positive outcome of the smog engulfing Beijing. New York Times [Registration Required] Air pollution takes toll on China’s tourism. China, one of the most visited countries in the world, has seen sharply fewer tourists this year ― with worsening air pollution partly to blame. Associated Press State closes oyster beds in four towns following illness outbreak. Massachusetts authorities have closed 40 oyster beds in the towns of Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury and Marshfield due to an outbreak of the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus driven by unusually warm water temperatures. Boston Patriot Ledger, Massachusetts. Scientists leave GOP due to attitudes toward science. Scientists used to be well represented among the nearly half of Americans who voted Republican. But that’s changed over the years, and one poll found that just 6 percent of scientists call themselves part of the GOP now. What happened? There might not be textbook answers, but there are theories. Salt Lake Tribune, Utah. Will the Sierra forests recover? Experts already are saying the ecosystem damage from California's biggest wildfire is huge. In a terrifying whoosh, the Rim fire changed the forest for at least a generation and maybe a lot longer. Fresno Bee, California. 'We are fighting for survival,' Pacific islands leader warns. Pacific islanders will challenge world leaders this week to act on climate change, warning that their low-lying atolls are close to becoming uninhabitable because of rising seas and increasingly severe floods, droughts and storm surges. London Observer, United Kingdom. The summer after Sandy. Last fall, Hurricane Sandy pummeled the region’s coastline, sweeping away houses, beaches and seaside attractions. As summer approached this year, it was not clear what bathers and boaters would find when they returned. So from June through August, The New York Times documented life near the water. New York Times [Registration Required] Facing fire over challenge to Louisiana’s oil industry. Studies of the state’s catastrophic land loss in the past century show that decades of oil and gas activity has come at a steep price. But no one anticipated a clash over these issues post-Katrina when a flood protection authority was created and the appointment process put a premium on technical expertise. New York Times [Registration Required] Car-sharing gears up in German cities. Around 46 percent of people living in the capital Berlin manage without their own vehicle. In New York, the figure is as high as 56 percent. Urban residents who still have vehicles don't use them very often, either. In Munich, the average vehicle is in use for just 45 minutes a day. Der Spiegel US could reclaim role as net energy exporter. U.S. oil output hit its highest level in 20 years in July in a power shift with big geopolitical consequences. Environmentalists and some analysts, however, caution that jubilant predictions from a country that consumes some 25 percent of the world's oil will run into environmental constraints including global warming and a lack of fresh water. Al Jazeera Where the forest ends. The plantations spreading over Sumatra aren't spreading onto empty land; poor rural villages often get swept up in big decisions made in Jakarta for Indonesia's forests. Living On Earth As fracking debate grows, both sides talk differences. On a cloudy day in July hundreds of people gathered in downtown Warren. It was the kind of civil discourse that underscores a larger debate evolving nationally about climate change, domestic energy and the political direction the country is moving. Youngstown Vindicator, Ohio. Researchers: Youngstown fracking likely source of 98 'tiny quakes.' A fracking waste disposal well linked to 11 earthquakes that rocked the Youngstown area was the likely source of at least 98 additional temblors that were too weak for people to notice, according to new research. Columbus Dispatch, Ohio. New efforts on stormwater runoff finally came after decades of pushing. For decades, stormwater runoff was viewed as nothing more than excess water, a nuisance to be piped or allowed to flow downhill, not a harmful mixture of chemicals and bacteria that would eventually turn lakes and rivers green, and feed thick patches of vegetation that range from annoying to toxic. Lakeland Ledger, Florida. Fatal ammonia leak hits Shanghai. At least 15 people were killed when ammonia leaked from a frozen storage and logistics business in Shanghai on Saturday, according to local news reports. New York Times [Registration Required] For regulators and Nestle Waters, conflict by the gallon. All three PUC commissioners and Maine's public advocate have ties to Poland Spring's parent company, which is seeking a 25-year contract. Portland Press Herald, Maine. Fighting pest, farmers find strange ally: a drought. Texas’ drought has left crops parched across the state, but the lack of water could have unintended benefits for South Texas farmers in one of the state’s longest-running agricultural battles, against the boll weevil. Texas Tribune, Texas. Scientists get green light for a cleaner world. Green chemistry is becoming increasingly popular in China. In February, a green energy engineering research center got, pardon the pun, the green light in Qingdao, Shandong province. Within five years it hopes to become a bridge between biomass energy research and industry. China Daily More news from today Shortcuts to stories from today about The good news, Avian flu, Climate, Children's health, Air pollution, Cancer, Reproductive disorders, Endocrine disruption, Birth defects, Learning and developmental disabilities, Immune disorders, Environmental justice, Superfund, Water treatment/sewage, Food safety, Integrity of science, Green chemistry. You can also read last weekend's news. Plus: If you were on vacation last week, don't miss last week's top stories... Would you like to display the news stories from EnvironmentalHealthNews.org on your own web site? Check out our RSS feeds. Compiled by Environmental Health Sciences | |
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