Health
What Is Factory Farming?
We should start by clearing up a myth: A factory “farm” is no farm at all. It’s quite simply an animal factory built for efficiency. Approximately 70 billion farm animals worldwide call these places home – including chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, goats, and sheep.
Chocolate That Is Less Bittersweet
February is a boon for the chocolate industry, with heart-shaped confections found everywhere from drugstores to gas stations. Of course, the same could be said of almost any holiday, as chocolate has become a quintessential part of Easter, Mother’s Day and more.
The European Union Can Ban GMO Crops
The widespread use of genetically modified organisms or GMOs in crops is an increasingly controversial practice. Here in the US, there are battles over labeling laws and disclosures about which foods contain GMOs and which ones don’t.
Keeping The Air Clean While Getting Warm
Fireplaces and stoves are coveted features in many homes, providing warmth and ambiance. But managed improperly, these heat sources can be inefficient and unhealthy.
Reducing Phosphorus Pollution In Lake Erie
Toxic algal blooms have been spreading throughout Lake Erie. In August, contamination left 400,000 residents in Ohio and Michigan without water for 72 hours. Now, legislators are taking steps to prevent future catastrophes by regulating farming practices.
[Read more…] about Reducing Phosphorus Pollution In Lake Erie
Curbing Curbside E-Waste
These days, technology seems to grow old overnight. In the rush to get the latest gadget, computers, cell phones, and TVs are routinely cast aside. But as of January 1, residents of New York State can no longer put their discarded technology out for curbside pickup. This includes printers, DVD players, video game consoles, electronic keyboards, and older tube TVs.
A New Carbon Sponge
One way to mitigate the effects of burning fossil fuels is to capture the carbon emitted in the process and to prevent it from entering the atmosphere. The most common method in use today at natural gas and coal-burning plants is called amine scrubbing.
Let’s Get The Lead Out!
Lead has long been recognized as a potent neurotoxin associated with cognitive problems. Children who are exposed to lead often have lower IQ scores and behavioral troubles.
Can Organic Crops Be Competitive?
More and more people want to buy organic produce for a number of reasons. There are valid concerns about pesticides, chemical fertilizers, GMO crops, and even the nutritional content in conventional agriculture. Organic farming offers an environmentally sustainable alternative to chemically intensive agriculture. On the other hand, there is a pervasive perception that organic farming simply cannot produce enough food to satisfy the world’s growing appetite.
Strontium And Drinking Water
Thanks to the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, every five years the Environmental Protection Agency identifies new contaminants in our drinking water supply and determines if they should be regulated. This year, of the handful of contaminants assessed, the EPA made a preliminary determination to regulate strontium.
An App Called i-Tree
There are computerized applications for just about everything – from tracking our finances to planting a vegetable garden. So it should come as no surprise that there are even apps that aid in the conservation, management, and understanding of urban forests.
Dangerous Air Near Oil And Gas Sites
A peer-reviewed study recently published in the journal Environmental Health looked at the air quality near natural gas wells in five states: Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. In 40 percent of the air samples, laboratory tests found benzene, formaldehyde and other toxic substances at levels above what the federal government considers safe for brief or long-term exposure. In some cases, the levels were far above the safe standards.
Road Salt
Salt has been used to keep winter roads free of ice and snow since the 1940s. It works by lowering the freezing point of water. In the U.S. alone, some 15 million tons of salt is applied to roadways each year. While its use has real benefits, in terms of safety and navigation, there have been cumulative costs to the environment.
What Is The Carbon Limit?
A central issue in dealing with climate change is determining how much carbon we can emit into the atmosphere before global temperatures increase too much. How much is too much? Most experts think that if average temperatures increase by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the consequences will be severe and irreversible.
Deep Sea Carbon Dioxide Storage
The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean. One important part of this is the growth of phytoplankton, which act like a natural sponge for carbon dioxide. When these plankton die, they can sink to the bottom of the ocean and thereby store some of the carbon dioxide that they have absorbed. This process has been termed a “biological carbon pump.”
Pizza Box Chemicals
The Natural Resources Defense Council has recently asked the Food and Drug Administration to take action on several chemicals commonly found in food packaging. One group of chemicals in particular – long-chain perfluorocarboxylates, or PFCs – has already been identified by the FDA as potentially unsafe.
Factory Farms And Super Germs
Nearly 80% of the antibiotics sold in the United States are fed to livestock and poultry in an effort to encourage growth and stave-off unsanitary conditions. This chronic exposure leads certain bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance, resulting in dangerous and difficult-to-treat staph infections, like MRSA.
Radon
Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. It is invisible, has no smell or taste, and is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States causing an estimated 20,000 deaths per year.
Apples And Antibiotics
