A class of chemicals linked to multiple health hazards in humans have been detected in hundreds of wildlife species across the United States, according to a report issued Wednesday. The report was released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) along with a map demonstrating that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are contaminating wildlife on every continent except… Source Source / Read More: At Least 330 Species Are Contaminated With Cancer-Causing “Forever Chemicals”
Environment
Colorado Law Could Force Boulder to Sell Oil and Gas to a Private Company
Extraction Oil and Gas, a Denver-based energy company, sent Boulder County an offer this summer. It’s one that local officials don’t want, but can’t refuse. The company, a subsidiary of one of Colorado’s largest oil and gas producers, Civitas Resources Inc., gave the county three options: Sell access to its oil and gas, partner up as a working interest owner or get thrown into a legal process… Source Source / Read More: Colorado Law Could Force Boulder to Sell Oil and Gas to a Private Company
Russia’s Uranium Sales Help Fund Ukraine War, Exiled Environmentalist Says
Image Credit: Facebook: “Экозащита!” We continue our coverage from the U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with prominent Russian environmentalist Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental organization Ecodefense and winner of the 2021 Right Livelihood Award for defending the environment and mobilizing grassroots opposition to the coal and nuclear industries in Russia. Slivyak says the Russian war in Ukraine, especially the Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, should serve as a warning to immediately transition to renewable energy sources, not nuclear energy, and to stop relying on fossil fuels. “As long as the United States and…
Across the Midwest, Counties Are Building New Jails on Toxic Land
This story was published in partnership with Capital B News. Nestled in Cleveland’s Industrial Valley, the intersection of Transport Road and Rockefeller Avenue holds the story of the city’s toxic past — and potentially poisonous future. Once the home of a massive oil refinery, the plot is now the potential new home of a $700 million jail in the heart of Cleveland’s industrial corridor. County officials say the new jail is needed to provide a safer and better-resourced facility after more than one dozen detainees died in county custody in recent years. But the plan has ignited a movement to…
“The Earth Is Telling Us It’s Exhausted”: An Interview With Poet Natalie Diaz
This interview with poet Natalie Diaz is an excerpt from We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth, edited by Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth. Natalie Diaz (Mojave/Akimel O’odham) believes words have, quite literally, physical energy. This is one reason she continues to work to preserve the Mojave language with its last remaining speakers. To her, this is far more important than the fact she is a MacArthur Genius Award winner, has won a Pulitzer for her poetry, an American Book Award, and was the youngest poet ever elected a chancellor of the…
Climate Crisis Is Driving Flooding That Could Surface Toxic Soil in Cities
For decades in Houston, where resident Bryan “Lucas” Parras grew up near the city’s shipping channel, neighborhoods have faced the cumulative impacts of toxic emissions. The area is crammed with industrial facilities, chemical plants and oil refineries. Pollution has become such an ingrained part of life, Parras said, that residents on the city’s East End automatically adjust to the health threats: limiting time outdoors, filtering their water and making sure to carry their inhalers in case of asthma attacks. “A lot of the pollution in Houston has just become normalized because there’s so much and because so little has been…
Eliminating Air Pollution Could Save More Than 53,000 Lives Per Year, Study Says
A new study has concluded that tens of thousands of premature deaths in the U.S. could be avoided if air pollution was reduced or completely eliminated. The study, published by researchers from the University of Wisconsin (UW) in the journal GeoHealth on Monday, notes that, by eliminating air pollution resulting from energy-related activities in the U.S., more than 53,000 premature deaths could be avoided on an annual basis. The prevention of those deaths would also save $608 million in benefits relating to illnesses and deaths caused by air pollution. The UW researchers reached this conclusion by analyzing data from the…
Satellites over the Amazon capture the choking of the ‘house of God’ by the Belo Monte Dam – they can help find solutions, too
Satellites over the Amazon capture the choking of the ‘house of God’ by the Belo Monte Dam – they can help find solutions, too Pritam Das, University of Washington; Faisal Hossain, University of Washington; Hörður Bragi Helgason, University of Washington, and Shahzaib Khan, University of Washington The Xingu River is revered as the “house of God” by the Indigenous people living along its Volte Grande, or Big Bend, in the Brazilian Amazon. The river is essential to their culture and religion, and a crucial source of fish, transportation and water for trees and plants. Five years ago, the Big Bend was…
Manchin Just Delivered Another Blow on Climate. He’s a Threat to Humanity.
Once again, the name Joe Manchin is on the lips of every person who gives a fig for salvaging the ongoing, deepening climate crisis. Once again, a senator with monstrous conflicts of interest regarding his own coal fortune has thrown soot and ash into the gears of progress. It seems entirely apparent that the man has no intention of letting any meaningful climate legislation see the light of day. It’s time to make it clear that his blockading actions are, in many ways, equivalent to murder. We must say as much, and call out the perpetrator: Manchin, Manchin, Manchin. This…