Ahhh — to remember the glory days before dirty air descended on Delhi, a methane leak in California gassed thousands, and catastrophic smog in China prompted people to buy bottled air, of all things. Before the Industrial Revolution, the world was basically one big, serene Walden Pond, right? Wrong. Take off those rose-tinted glasses and get acquainted with the story of […]
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Hey, corporations destroying the planet: If you’ve been getting away with illegally logging forests, dumping waste, or overfishing, you might want to reconsider your actions. A new generation of high-tech detectives has traded in their spyglasses for surveillance that’s, shall we say, a little more 21st century — and they think they can catch you red-handed.Fast Company reports that “A growing […]
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Scientists have long suspected that waste dumped into the ocean would ultimately find its way into the seafood that ends up on dinner tables. A new study provides evidence that this is more than just a theory. After analyzing fish caught off the coasts of California and Indonesia and sold in local markets, researchers found 25 percent contained man-made debris. […]
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Annual global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels could drop slightly in 2015, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project led by a Stanford University researcher. This surprising result contrasts with the rapid growth in emissions before 2014, underlining the need for action to stabilize and permanently lower global CO2 emissions, the researchers conclude. “In 2014, global CO2 […]
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A floating island made out of plastic the size of Hawaii made entirely from plastic bottles could become the hottest postcode on earth, and is part of an incredible environmental vision for the future. CGI images show how a team of Dutch scientists plan to take 44 million kilos of plastic waste currently bobbing around in the Pacific Ocean and […]
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More people are driving in traffic every day and breathing in toxins from all the automobiles traveling the same road at the same time. The air around this traffic is filled with millions of tiny particles of magnetite (iron oxide) which enters the body. When it enters the body, it can concentrate in the brain and has been linked to […]
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An influential panel of climate scientists has expressed higher confidence than ever that human activity is the main cause of the rise in global temperatures since the 1950s, Reuters.com reports. A leaked draft of an upcoming report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, based on a broad analysis of published scientific studies, concludes with 95 percent certainty […]
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Over the past decade, thanks in part to widespread restrictions on when and where people can light up, the number of Americans who smoke has rapidly declined. But despite that reduction, some 58 million Americans are still regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although this is a 50 percent drop […]
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The European Union’s environmental agency said targets to curb pollution and climate change by 2050 would he missed without “profound changes” in technology, lifestyle and policy. The agency said poor air quality in Europe causes hundreds of thousands of early deaths a year.
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Worrying about everyday problems will shorten your life. A British study found that people who reported feeling even mild anxiety—the sort that distracted them, depleted their self-confidence, or occasionally kept them awake at night were 16 percent more likely to die over a 10-year period than people with no such concerns. About one in four people experiences mild anxiety, but […]
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