pollution

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China Getting Serious About Environment

Polluting businesses told to clean up or get lost in many provinces

(Newser) - When its lake turned green and sludge poured from taps, the longtime home of China’s chemical industry closed 1,340 polluting factories, becoming the standard-bearer for a green wave now sweeping China, the Washington Post says. For the first time, the central government has given its provinces weapons to...

Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters
Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters
Sep 30, 2007 8:15 AM CDT

Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters

EPA cuts down on criminal cases, says focus is on biggest offenders

(Newser) - The EPA has taken a decidedly less aggressive tack in criminal cases, the Washington Post reports, a trend advocates fear will embolden polluters. The number of prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions have all dropped by more than a third. One ex-official, who resigned in protest, blamed the Bush administration,...

World's 10 Most Polluted Places
World's 10 Most Polluted Places
Sep 16, 2007 8:32 AM CDT

World's 10 Most Polluted Places

Presenting the world's most polluted places.

(Newser) - Millions around the world live in soot-blackened cities and toxic wastelands. Time offers a reverse travel guide to the most polluted places on Earth:
  1. Linfen, China
  2. Tianjin, China
  3. Sukinda, India

Do Carbon 'Offsets' Really Offset Anything?

Inconvenient Truth director says offsets have 'symbolic quality'

(Newser) - Everyone from Al Gore to Coldplay has jumped on the carbon offset bandwagon, but the Los Angeles Times reports that their payments don’t actually make the air any cleaner. Here's how they work: "Offset” companies invest in existing clean energy and win the right to sell “reductions”...

Calif. Town Is Nation's Smoggiest
Calif. Town Is Nation's Smoggiest
Aug 10, 2007 3:13 PM CDT

Calif. Town Is Nation's Smoggiest

Air above tiny Arvin is a magnet for pollutants

(Newser) - Arvin, Calif., proves that you don’t need factories or freeways to have America’s worst air pollution. The agricultural town’s mountain locale collects pollution, the AP reports, giving the air a toxic smell and raising health concerns. The EPA uses the ozone level to gauge smog across the...

10-Year Model Predicts Record Temperatures

Global warming to surge in 2009, new study says

(Newser) - A new 10-year model of climate change forecasts several years of record temperatures between 2009 to 2014, the BBC reports. Most global warming predictions see significant climate changes over a century; the new model, developed by British meteorologists using present-day observations, offers shorter-term predictions of event such as El Nino...

Beijing Smog May Postpone Olympic Events

With exactly 1 year to go, China scrambles to reduce pollution

(Newser) - The air pollution in Beijing is so bad that some 2008 Olympic events may have to be postponed. IOC president Jacques Rogge is worried about participants in endurance events like cycling because air quality remains dismal despite government efforts, such as shutting down factories, to improve it. Construction for the...

In Countdown to 2008 Olympics, Beijing Besieged

Pollution, human rights, food safety issues all draw fire

(Newser) - As the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics begins tomorrow, activists and Olympic organizers alike have been vocal in their concerns about the host city. The government is under fire for press harassment: journalists were detained for several hours yesterday after a Reporters Without Borders conference, and six Free Tibet...

Smog Cloud Menaces Asia
Smog Cloud Menaces Asia
Aug 3, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

Smog Cloud Menaces Asia

Asian Brown Cloud is melting Himalayan glaciers

(Newser) - An enormous cloud of smog over southern Asia threatens 2 billion people with flooding and drought, a new study shows. The "Asian Brown Cloud" is melting Himalayan glaciers, the Times of London reports, and the resulting floods will menace heavily populated downstream areas. And the cloud's driving up temperatures...

Some Laser Printers May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Office machines puff pollutants like smokers

(Newser) - Working near a laser printer might be as bad for you as second-hand smoke, according to a new study. Some major brands of printers emit particles of toner that can damage the lungs of people nearby—and even light concentrations can potentially cause heart and lung diseases.

Polluted Fish Swamp Great Lakes
Polluted
Fish Swamp Great Lakes
Jul 6, 2007 4:23 PM CDT

Polluted Fish Swamp Great Lakes

Industrial chemicals raise contaminant levels into range unsafe for eating

(Newser) - Industrial chemicals contaminate many species of fish that populate the Great Lakes, making them too hazardous for safe human consumption, says a Canadian conservation group. "The lakes continue to be polluted to such an extent that human health is threatened," says a report released yesterday that lists industrial...

China's CO2 Output Passes US
China's CO2 Output Passes US
Jun 20, 2007 5:25 AM CDT

China's CO2 Output Passes US

Building two power stations a week

(Newser) - China has overtaken the US as the world's biggest CO2 emitter. A Dutch study says China is coughing up 9% more fossil fuel into the air than last year, compared with a 1.4% increase from the superpower across the Pacific. And the trend is up: China's industry is growing...

Turkey Waste Fuels Power Plant, Debate

Droppings look like green fuel, but activists call foul

(Newser) - A $200 million power plant in rural Minnesota burns turkey droppings, calling the plentiful waste from nearby farms an alternative fuel source. But critics disagree: They argue it's nearly as big a polluter as standard power plants, and puts out relatively little juice for its government-subsidized costs. "As a...

So Cal May Ban Wood-Burning Fireplaces

Proposed regs will eliminate new fireplaces; limit current ones in winter

(Newser) - Southern Californians will be roasting their chestnuts in the oven if an air pollution plan is passed that would ban fireplaces in all new homes and prohibit wood-fueled blazes for as many as 20 days every winter. The regulations, proposed by South Coast Air Quality Management, seeks to clean up...

CO2 Emissions Soared From 2000 to 2004

Greenhouse gas increase tripled over '90s rate

(Newser) - Worldwide carbon dioxide emissions boomed between 2000 and 2004, a new study shows. Output of the greenhouse gas accelerated by 3.1% each year, compared to a 1.1% rate during the '90s, according to the National Academy of Sciences, faster than all but the most dire forecasts.

Taj Mahal Needs a Facial
Taj Mahal
Needs a Facial
May 16, 2007 6:52 AM CDT

Taj Mahal Needs a Facial

India considers mud pack to clean yellowing monument

(Newser) - The Taj Mahal doesn't have any problems that couldn't be cured by a day at the spa. Centuries of pollution have left the enormous mausoleum with a yellow tinge; to restore its marble to pristine white, India is considering applying a clay mask.

Bloomberg Aims to Take NYC Green
Bloomberg
Aims to Take NYC Green
Apr 23, 2007 6:32 AM CDT

Bloomberg Aims to Take NYC Green

Plan calls for $8 fee to drive into Manhattan

(Newser) - Michael Bloomberg chose Earth Day to launch an ambitious, expensive and politically uncertain campaign to make New York City “the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city.” The most provocative proposal: charging drivers $8 a day for entering Manhattan below 86th Street.

UN Report: Climate Change Will Hit Poor Hardest

Poorest will be hit hardest

(Newser) - Expect floods, droughts, fires—and resulting starvation, conflict, and mass migration—as climate change becomes more pronounced, says a U.N. report released today. And expect the poor to get hit the hardest, as deserts get drier, deltas flood more often, and small islands are overwhelmed.

Utilities May Profit From Ruling
Utilities May Profit From Ruling
Apr 3, 2007 8:31 AM CDT

Utilities May Profit From Ruling

Some corporations may profit off tighter greenhouse gas regulations

(Newser) - Some utility  companies may actually benefit financially from the Supreme Court ruling forcing the EPA to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions, the Wall Street Journal reports.  While it will cost them millions in the short-term to meet new requirements, utilities in government-regulated markets—mostly in the Southeast, Great...

EPA Must Regulate Greenhouse Gases
EPA Must Regulate Greenhouse Gases
Apr 3, 2007 7:52 AM CDT

EPA Must Regulate Greenhouse Gases

Supreme Court ruling a rebuke to Bush's hands-off policy on auto emissions

(Newser) - Carbon dioxide must be regulated by the federal government unless it can provide a scientific reason not to, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 5-4 decision, which ordered the EPA to consider CO2 an "air pollutant" as defined by the Clean Air Act, was a blow to the Bush...

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