Aug 29 Hurricane Harvey damages petrochemical refineries, releasing thousands of pounds of airborne pollutants By Nsikan Akpan ExxonMobil disclosed Tuesday that two refineries accidentally released 12,000 pounds of hazardous vapors after being damaged by Hurricane Harvey. But the disclosures represent just four of more than a dozen reports filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality since… Continue reading
Aug 29 This New York river dumps millions of fabric microfibers into the ocean daily By Teresa Carey The Hudson River dumps 300 million microfibers into the Atlantic Ocean each day, according to a new study. Invisible to the naked eye, these fibers can cause health problems for animals and humans. Continue reading
Aug 11 When faced with pollution, these sea snakes shed their stripes By Teresa Carey Australian ecologists found turtle-headed sea snakes cope with excessively polluted waters by losing their white stripes. Continue reading
May 10 Senate blocks move to repeal Obama-era rule on methane emissions By Matthew Daly, Associated Press A Congressional Review Act measure to repeal the methane waste reduction rule failed on a vote of 51-to-49 in the Republican-led chamber. Continue reading
May 09 Take a 360 degree stroll through a ‘Trash Mountain’ By Mike Fritz The Ghazipur landfill in New Delhi, India stretches across some 70 acres of land. The area has been dubbed “Trash Mountain” because it holds 10 million tons of garbage now piled higher than the city’s skyline. Workers can earn about… Continue reading
Apr 03 Watch 7:02 Tackling India’s towering landfills takes cultural innovation By PBS NewsHour In Delhi, India, the capital of the world's fastest growing economy, there's a towering symbol of the environmental cost of development: tons of festering, toxic trash, piled up 10 stories high, with more and more added every day. Efforts have… Continue watching
Feb 27 Column: How Mardi Gras beads get to the French Quarter By David Redmon for The Conversation A U.K. criminologist tells the dark story behind the production and use of Mardi Gras beads. Continue reading
Feb 20 Watch 8:32 Fighting to breathe in the world’s most polluted city By PBS NewsHour Delhi now outranks Beijing as the world's most polluted city. Carbon dioxide, ozone and fine carbon particles get trapped over India's capital, mostly due to dirty fuels, causing long-term health consequences such as lung and heart disease. Special correspondent Fred… Continue watching
Dec 08 Watch 4:15 News Wrap: House passes government funding bill By PBS NewsHour In our news wrap Thursday, the House approved a bill to fund the government through April. It includes disaster relief for Louisiana and aid for the contaminated water system in Flint, Michigan. Despite its passage, members of both parties complained… Continue watching
Nov 30 Column: Our planet will suffer if Trump shutters NASA Earth science By David Biello The end of ice on Earth is merely one thing we won’t be able to monitor if NASA stops using satellites to look at our home, author David Biello writes… Continue reading