You are here: Home / Archives for The Magazine / Science and Technology / Earth and Environment

What is nonpoint source pollution?

By

Aug. 26, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Nonpoint source pollution comes from many diffuse sources, but in the aggregate creates a formidable challenge for municipal, state and federal environmental and water control authorities -- and is likely the largest threat to our water quality. Pictured: Runoff of fertilizer-laced soil from a farm. (USDA)

Whose fault is it?

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

Does medical waste still wash up on American beaches?

By

Aug. 26, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Medical waste washing up on New Jersey beaches was a big problem in the late 1980s, closing beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the New Jersey shore. Although that problem was addressed for the most part, bacterial contamination from sewage treatment outflows, contaminated storm water and other sources caused more than 24,000 beach closures or advisories across the U.S. last year. Pictured: a washed-up syringe. (iStock)

An analysis of potential problems

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , ,

Consequences of stripping the EPA of water quality regulatory authority

By

Aug. 26, 2011   Leave a Comment  

A new bill, passed by the House of Representatives and awaiting vote in the Senate, aims to strip the EPA of its authority over individual states' water quality. Pictured: The Cuyahoga River on fire in 1952. When it happened again in 1969 it helped kick start the modern environmental movement including the establishment of the Clean Water Act and the founding of the EPA. (Media credit/Wikipedia)

It’s happening

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

Ocean dead zones

By

Aug. 13, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Perhaps the most infamous U.S. dead zone is an 8,500 square mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico, not far from where the nutrient-laden Mississippi River, which drains farms up and down the Midwest, lets out.

Hypoxic oceans

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , ,

Our destructive consumer culture

By

Aug. 8, 2011   Leave a Comment  

William Rees of the University of British Columbia reports that human society is in a “global overshoot,” consuming 30 percent more material than is sustainable from the world’s resources. Pictured: A "Buy Nothing Day" activist leaflets in San Francisco. (Media credit/Steve Rhodes)

“Global overshoot”

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , ,

Cyanide fishing is killing the fish, the reefs, and maybe us

By

Aug. 8, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Cyanide fishing began in the 1960s in the Philippines as a way to capture live reef fish for sale primarily to aquarium owners, but is today also done to supply specialty restaurants in Hong Kong and other large Asian cities. Pictured: The ocellaris clownfish, a popular aquarium fish often captured after first being stunned by bursts of cyanide-laced seawater squirted from a plastic bottle. (Metatron)

All so the rich can have another status symbol

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Green Cafe Network

By

July 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

The Green Café Network (GCN), a project of Earth Island Institute, seeks to green the coffeehouse industry and harness cafe culture for community environmental awareness. Pictured: San Francisco's Border Lands Cafe, a GCN member. (Media credit/Steve Rhodes)

Environmental stewards, banding together

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

What are debt-for-Nature Swaps?

By

July 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Debt-for-nature swaps are agreements whereby a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures. Pictured: a Yellow Spotted River Turtle in Bolivia's Beni Biosphere Reserve, the location of the very first debt-for-nature swap, brokered by the non-profit Conservation International in 1987 (Open Cage)

A novel idea, but what does it do?

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

Modern agriculture’s enormous environmental footprint

By

July 23, 2011   8 Comments  

With the vast majority of the world's farms now relying on synthetic chemicals to grow crops and petroleum-derived fuels to drive the engines of production, modern agriculture has become overwhelmingly toxic to the atmosphere and is hastening global warming. Pictured: a crop duster in Tennessee. (Media credit/Roger Smith via Flickr)

Synthetic is bad

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sorting through plastics

By

July 23, 2011   2 Comments  

According to the Colorado-based EcoCycle, the use of disposable packaging -­ especially plastic ­- has increased by more than 10,000 percent over the past 50 years. Pictured: plastics headed for sorting and recycling. (Media credit/Dan LaMee via Flickr)

Recycle by number

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , ,

Looking at the safety of carpets made from recycled PET plastic

By

July 16, 2011   2 Comments  

There is no documented proof that recycled PET plastic carpet fibers are dangerous if ingested in small amounts, but it is advisable to stay safe by keeping them out of our mouths and noses by vacuuming often. Pictured: PET bottles headed for recycling. (Media credit/Twicepix via Flickr)

Recycled plastic bottles OK to walk on?

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , ,

Could we harness energy from earthquakes? Not likely.

By

July 16, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Big earthquakes throw off vast amounts of energy, but fault lines run deep below the Earth's surface, so tapping into that energy would be a challenge way beyond what humans -- at least at present -- have the technological capability to achieve. Pictured: Port au Prince in the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked Haiti in January 2010. (Media credit/Marco Dormino/United Nations Development Programme)

Theoretically,,,

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , ,

KFC, Taco Bell, and the destruction of the rain forests

By

July 9, 2011   3 Comments  

YUM! Brands, which operates 38,000 fast food restaurants in 110 countries (including KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, WingStreet, A&W and Long John Silver’s), continues to ignore calls to stop sourcing palm oil, paper and other goods from suppliers notorious for destroying tropical rainforests in Indonesia and elsewhere. Indonesia’s tropical rainforests are home to orangutans, tigers, elephants, clouded leopards and dozens of other endangered plants and animals. (Media credit/Marufish via Flickr)

Even McDonald’s takes better care of the environment

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Re-processing nuclear waste

By

July 9, 2011   1 Comment  

Reprocessing nuclear waste -- practiced in France and several other countries but not in the U.S. where it was invented -- involves breaking down spent nuclear fuel to recover material for use in new fuels. Proponents say it reduces the amount of nuclear waste, resulting in less highly radioactive material that needs to be stored safely. Pictured: France's Cattenom nuclear power station. (Media credit/Toucanradio via Flickr)

Pros and cons

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , ,

The brave new world of “green chemistry”

By

July 1, 2011   Leave a Comment  

A brave new world known as “green chemistry” seeks to reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, use and disposal of products. (Thinkstock)

Questioning everyday materials

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Protecting migratory birds

By

June 25, 2011   1 Comment  

Migratory birds face many threats, including human development that displaces wetlands, hunting, obstructions like offshore oil rigs -- and climate change, which is affecting migration cycles and breeding patterns. Pictured: a Sooty Shearwater, which migrate 9,000 miles between nesting sites in the Falkland Islands and feeding sites in the North Atlantic Ocean. (Media credit/Mike Baird)

Environmental changes having a dangerous effect

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , ,

Is it time to rethink nuclear power?

By

June 17, 2011   Leave a Comment  

The non-profit organization, Beyond Nuclear, calls nuclear power "counterproductive to efforts to address climate change effectively and in time" and says that funding diverted to nuclear deprives real climate change solutions, like solar, wind and geothermal energy, of essential resources. Pictured: The Three Mile Island nuclear generating station, circa 1979 near the time it suffered a partial meltdown. (Department of Energy photo)

Did you know radioactive rain recently fell in Massachusetts?

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Planning for the next “Katrina”

By

June 17, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Even before the effects of global warming started to kick in, the vast majority of America’s coastlines were reeling from threats including habitat destruction, sewage outflows and industrial pollution. Pictured: Flooded area of northwest New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (Coast Guard photo)

Is the government doing enough?

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Lead in reusable grocery bags?

By

June 11, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Plastic reusable shopping bags are petroleum-derived and may contain other contaminants, including lead, especially if they feature ornate designs or patterns. The safe bet is to use cloth bags, like the one pictured here from Eco Bags, because they are free of lead, they last for years, and they are easy to wash. (Media credit/Eco Bags)

Disney bags are the worst

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , ,

Farm raised fish: Not necessarily free of mercury, PCBs or dioxin

By

June 11, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Farm-raised fish can still absorb mercury, since most fish farms are located in the ocean, close to or abutting the shoreline. They can also absorb PCBs and dioxins, as the near-shore waters they occupy are the first stop for run-off from land-based sources of pollution. Pictured: A fish farm in Shanghai. (Media credit/Ivan Walsh)

Depends on the water

Filed Under: Earth and Environment Tagged With: , , , , , ,