Ice on Greenland is melting four times faster than it did just 16 years ago, a study reports. The melting, which is a result of the Earth's warming atmosphere and oceans, is happening much faster than
The rule of unintended consequences threatens to strike again. Some researchers have suggested that injecting sulfur compounds into the atmosphere might help ease global warming by increasing clouds and haze that would reflect sunlight. After all, they reason, when volcanoes spew lots of sulfur, months or more of cooling often follows. But a new study warns that injecting enough sulfur to reduce warming would wipe out the Arctic ozone layer and delay recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by as much as 70 years.
Alarmed by rising global food prices, some European leaders are rethinking their commitment to use ethanol fuel and are considering other policy changes to lower the costs of basic staples. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the latest official to say that the European Union may have to back off its goal of having ethanol account for 20% of the motor vehicle fuel burned on Europe's roads by 2020.
Beijing's smog can choke first-time arrivals. Then there's the pervasive cigarette smoke, so much a part of China's culture that more than half of all male doctors smoke. That's about to change. Starting Thursday, the Chinese capital finally joins other major cities in cracking down on smoking in most public buildings. But even a communist government realized it could go only so far without stirring social unrest. Restaurants, bars and hotels can still allow smoking but must provide smoke-free areas or rooms.
Major greenhouse gases in the air are accumulating faster than in the past, despite efforts to curtail their growth. Carbon dioxide concentration in the air increased by 2.4 parts per million last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday, and methane concentrations also rose rapidly. Concern has grown in recent years about these gases, with most atmospheric scientists concerned that the increasing accumulation is causing the earth's temperature to rise, potentially disrupting climate and changing patterns of rainfall, drought and other storms.
An ubiquitous chemical found in hard plastic water bottles, DVDs, CDs and hundreds of other common items came under increased pressure Friday when Canada said it's potentially harmful and may ban its use in baby bottles. Health Canada made the announcement shortly after a U.S. company said it would stop selling hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk. MORE: Concerns 'cannot be dismissed' Health Canada's action could be the first step toward Canada banning the chemical altogether.
Mercury contamination in rivers can spread to nearby birds, even ones that don't eat fish or other food from the water. Researchers from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., found high levels of mercury in the blood of land-feeding songbirds living near the South River, a tributary of the Shenandoah, they report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. The South River was contaminated with industrial mercury sulfate from 1930 to 1950 and it remains under a fish consumption advisory.
The killing of 20 wolves in the Rockies since the animals lost endangered status is an unprecedented death toll that must be stopped in court, environmentalists say. "There's a great sense of urgency," says Michael Robinson, a wolf expert at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of several groups that plan to file a lawsuit this month. "The wolf population is being gunned down right now."
That's what Salatin, 51, the second-generation owner of Polyface Farm, commands for a two-hour, personally escorted tour of what may be the most famous family-owned pastures in America. Polyface is a centerpiece of Michael Pollan's best seller The Omnivore's Dilemma: A History of Four Meals, a treatise against the health and environmental costs of industrial agriculture in which Pollan likens the sweet, warm scent of Salatin's compost to "the forest floor in summertime."
New fees for food and drug companies anchor draft legislation released Thursday that's aimed at improving the safety of the nation's food and drug supply. The draft legislation, spearheaded by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and other Democratic leaders of a powerful House committee, also says regulators should inspect food and drug makers more frequently. The proposal, if enacted, would lead to major changes in food and drug oversight, and it was quick to draw rebukes.
