Latest data shows steep rises in CO2 for seventh year. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by the second highest annual rise in the past six decades, according to new data.
Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas were 414.8 parts per million in May, which was 3.5ppm higher than the same time last year, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, where carbon dioxide has been monitored continuously since 1958. Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises as high as 2C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible. How Many People Did Nuclear Energy Kill? Nuclear Death Toll.
'Forever Chemicals' Are Building Up in the Arctic. 'Anthropocene Project' Artfully Captures How Humans Change Earth's Landscape : Goats and Soda : NPR. Industrial methane emissions are 100 times higher than reported, researchers say. Emissions of methane from the industrial sector have been vastly underestimated, researchers from Cornell and Environmental Defense Fund have found.
Using a Google Street View car equipped with a high-precision methane sensor, the researchers discovered that methane emissions from ammonia fertilizer plants were 100 times higher than the fertilizer industry’s self-reported estimate. They also were substantially higher than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate for all industrial processes in the United States. “We took one small industry that most people have never heard of and found that its methane emissions were three times higher than the EPA assumed was emitted by all industrial production in the United States,” said John Albertson, co-author and professor of civil and environmental engineering. “It shows us that there’s a huge gap between a priori estimates and real-world measurements.” In one year, this woman has picked up 2 tonnes of plastic ocean trash. Karen Jenner scans a rocky Nova Scotia beach, looking for dots of colour amidst the rocks and seaweed — signs of plastic garbage deposited by the Bay of Fundy's massive tides.
"Today you could be here for a long time, because there's a lot of trash on the beach. " Two to three times a week, Jenner hits the beaches on the Bay of Fundy to pick up trash, filling five-gallon buckets with everything from fishing garbage, such as rope and lobster bands, to household items, including bottle caps, plastic cutlery and plastic bottles. In a year of collecting, she's taken home more than 2,200 kilograms worth of trash. Who is paying for Monsanto's crimes? We are. The chickens are coming home to roost, as they say in farm country.
For the second time in less than eight months a US jury has found that decades of scientific evidence demonstrates a clear cancer connection to Monsanto’s line of top-selling Roundup herbicides, which are used widely by consumers and farmers. Twice now jurors have additionally determined that the company’s own internal records show Monsanto has intentionally manipulated the public record to hide the cancer risks. Both juries found punitive damages were warranted because the company’s cover-up of cancer risks was so egregious. The juries saw evidence that Monsanto has ghost-written scientific papers, tried to silence scientists, scuttled independent government testing and cozied up to regulators for favorable safety reviews of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Tom Claps has warned shareholders to brace for a global settlement of between $2.5bn and $4.5bn. Weed killer Roundup increases risks of cancer by 40 percent, UW study finds.
SEATTLE – Exposure to chemicals in weed killer Roundup increases the risk of some cancers by more than 40 percent, according to a University of Washington study.
Researchers found that the link between the most widely used herbicide glyphosate and developing Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is stronger than previously reported. They examined studies between 2001 and 2018, finding that the risk of developing that type of cancer increases by 41 percent. “This research provides the most up-to-date analysis of glyphosate and its link with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, incorporating a 2018 study of more than 54,000 people who work as licensed pesticide applicators,” said co-author Rachel Shaffer, a UW doctoral student in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, in a press release.
'A Red Screaming Alarm Bell' to Banish Fossil Fuels: NASA Confirms Last Five Years Hottest on Record. 60 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump. 1. Revoked Obama-era flood standards for federal infrastructure projects This Obama-era rule, revoked by Mr. Trump in August, required that federal agencies protect new infrastructure projects by building to higher flood standards. Building trade groups and many Republican lawmakers opposed it as costly and burdensome. 2. Petrochemical Booster Rick Perry Rides to the Rescue of the Fracking Industry. Energy Department Plan to Reclassify Nuclear Waste Worries Environmentalists. The U.S.
Department of Energy wants to reclassify some of the waste that meets highly technical conditions.The agency says the change could save the federal government $40 billion in cleanup costs at nuclear sites across the nation. About 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes are stored in tanks in Washington state. Environmentalists fear a U.S. The Science Is Clear: Dirty Farm Water Is Making Us Sick. Neonicotinoid insecticide causes bees to abandon their young at night: study - Science News - ABC News. Spying on bumblebees as they nest has revealed strange behaviour in those exposed to tiny amounts of a widely used pesticide.
Key points for pesticide and bees Key points Bumblebees exposed to neonicotinoid insecticide spent less time nursingResearch adds to the case that widely used pesticide adversely affects beesNative bees could theoretically be at greater risk than honey bees, but experts say more research is needed A study published in the journal Science found bees exposed to an insecticide called imidacloprid were less likely to feed and care for their larvae, and spent more time hanging out around the edges of the nest. According to study lead author and Harvard University biologist James Crall, the most surprising and puzzling finding was that the effect on bee behaviour was strongest at night.
Pollution in agriculture. A Massive Oil Spill On Pakistan's Coastline Is Threatening All Sea Life And No One’s Taking Responsibility. The Pakistan oil spill might be the worst the country has ever seen.
An oil spill off Pakistan’s coast specifically from Mubarak Village to Churna Island is causing major problems for the marine life and residents of the area. The oil spill is being attributed to Byco’s underwater pipeline which might have burst. However, Byco has denied this claim and said all their pipelines are perfectly intact. Scientists Confirm China as Major Source of Banned Ozone-Depleting Chemicals. Despite being banned in 2010, about 40,000 tons of carbon tetrachloride, an ozone-depleting compound, are still emitted into the atmosphere every year.
But the origins of the illegal emissions have long baffled scientists. Now, an international team of researchers has tracked down the source of nearly half of the emissions to eastern China, according to a recent study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists at the University of Bristol in the UK — working alongside collaborators in South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States — plugged ground-based and airborne emissions data from near the Korean peninsula into two models that simulate the movement of gases through the atmosphere.
They found ongoing emissions of carbon tetrachloride from industrialized areas in eastern China that account for half the global total from 2009 to 2016. 93% of world's children breathing toxic air which 'stunts brains' and causes deadly disease, WHO warns. More than nine out of every ten children on Earth are breathing toxic air on a daily basis which stunts their brain development and causes deadly disease, according to a major report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
While air pollution is an increasingly recognised problem, which costs the global economy more than $5 trillion (£3.89 trillion) a year, it is “uniquely damaging” to children’s health, the WHO warns. It reports that 93 per cent of children – 630 million under-fives – live in areas where pollutants breach WHO-recommended safety levels, and even in wealthier countries 52 per cent of under-fives are routinely breathing harmful air.
“Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives,” said WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who recently likened the health emergency to the impact of smoking. Air pollution is the ‘new tobacco’, warns WHO head. Air pollution is the “new tobacco”, the head of the World Health Organization has warned, saying the simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more. Over 90% of the world’s population suffers toxic air and research is increasingly revealing the profound impacts on the health of people, especially children. “The world has turned the corner on tobacco.
Now it must do the same for the ‘new tobacco’ – the toxic air that billions breathe every day,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general. “No one, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. It is a silent public health emergency.” 88,000 tons of radioactive waste – and nowhere to put it. Another problem with China's coal: Mercury in rice. Mercury pollution is a problem usually associated with fish consumption. Pregnant women and children in many parts of the world are advised to eat fish low in mercury to protect against the adverse health impacts, including neurological damages, posed by a particularly toxic form of mercury, methylmercury. Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Hits Record High Monthly Average. April monthly average exceeds 410 parts per million for the first time in recorded history The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 410.31 parts per million (ppm) for the month of April, according to the Keeling Curve measurement series made at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
This marks the first time in the history of the Mauna Loa record that a monthly average has exceeded 410 parts per million. The $100bn gold mine and the West Papuans who say they are counting the cost. In 1936, Dutch geologist Jean Jacques Dozy climbed the world’s highest island peak: the forbidding Mount Carstensz, a snow-covered silver crag on what was then known as Dutch New Guinea. During the 4,800-metre ascent, Dozy noticed an unusual rock outcrop veined with green streaks. A Pen Isn't the Only Gift Trump Gave Dow Chemical. Perhaps the Senate, in its hearing on Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the U.S. Study Finds Common Cleaning Products Fail Safety Testing.
Before you wash another load of laundry or scrub a pile of dishes, keep reading. Puerto Rico Tap Water Violates Safety Standards, Environmental Group Says. An environmental group finds a high rate of water quality violations in Puerto Rico and calls on officials on the island and in Washington to invest in safety improvements. Ricardo Arduengo/AP hide caption toggle caption. Acidified ocean water found along US West Coast. San Francisco: A study of the California current system has found highly acidified water along the US West Coast. The study led by Francis Chan, a marine ecologist at the Oregon State University (OSU), said conditions will continue to worsen due to the atmospheric carbon dioxide primarily to blame for the increase in acidification has been rising substantially, Xinhua news agency reported.
Representational image. AP. What Humans Are Really Doing to Our Planet, in 19 Jaw-Dropping Images. Last week, Pope Francis and church officials encouraged everyone to consume less and think more about our impact on the environment. Scale of 'nitrate timebomb' revealed. Image copyright BGS. UN experts denounce 'myth' pesticides are necessary to feed the world. The idea that pesticides are essential to feed a fast-growing global population is a myth, according to UN food and pollution experts. A new report, being presented to the UN human rights council on Wednesday, is severely critical of the global corporations that manufacture pesticides, accusing them of the “systematic denial of harms”, “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” and heavy lobbying of governments which has “obstructed reforms and paralysed global pesticide restrictions”.
The report says pesticides have “catastrophic impacts on the environment, human health and society as a whole”, including an estimated 200,000 deaths a year from acute poisoning. Its authors said: “It is time to create a global process to transition toward safer and healthier food and agricultural production.” The world’s population is set to grow from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2050. 92 Percent Of The World's Population Breathes Substandard Air, WHO Says. Smog blankets Cairo, Egypt, in 2012. Overpopulation, overconsumption – in pictures.
The World's Most Polluted River Revealed in Photos. How Many Gigatons of CO2? Noise pollution is drowning out nature even in protected areas – study. Melting Permafrost. Mercury from industrialized nations is polluting the Arctic 2 clicks. Scott Pruitt Is Carrying Out His E.P.A. Agenda in Secret, Critics Say click 2x. Polluter-Friendly Scientists May Soon Join a Key EPA Advisory Panel. Court orders Trump administration reinstate Obama emissions rule. Global pollution is the world's biggest killer, threat to mankind's survival. Air Pollution. China and more 2 clicks. Uranium mining toxicity- click 2x. Ghana's Illegal Galamsey Gold Mining Affecting Cocoa Farmers, Chocolate Supply.
Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Hits Record High Monthly Average. Overpopulation, overconsumption – in pictures. Monsanto concealed effects of toxic chemical for decades, Ohio AG alleges.