Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Environmental and health activists who have given a bad name to asbestos are facing the wrath of an industry that pleads that this is the best option for our country--------- FACT: In June 2001. the Supreme Court in Brazil rejected a petition by some activists for ban of asbestos-cement production. …
On June 11, the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the current worldwide epidemic of the new influenza virus A(H1N1), commonly called swine flu, to the status of a pandemic, the highest level of global alert. This is the first flu pandemic in 41 years. The last one was the 1968 …
The United States will donate 420,000 packets of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to the Pan-American Health Organization to help fight the swine flu pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, federal health officials said Thursday. Argentina, Brazil, Chile and other countries are experiencing rapid increases in serious cases and deaths …
As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower. Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how …
The American economy lost 467,000 more jobs in June, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent in a sobering indication that the longest recession since the 1930s had yet to release its hold.
More than 800 animal and plant species have gone extinct in the past five centuries with nearly 17,000 now threatened with extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported on Thursday. A detailed analysis of these numbers indicates the international community will fail to meet its 2010 goal of …
The world's seagrass meadows, a critical habitat for marine life and profit-maker for the fishing industry, are in decline due to coastal development and the losses are accelerating, according to a new study. Billed as the first comprehensive global assessment of seagrass losses, the study found 58 percent of seagrass …
Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy sources, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. Consumers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest city-owned utility in the United States with 1.45 million electricity customers, will …
President Barack Obama, buoyed by a domestic victory on climate policy, faces his first foreign test on the issue next week at a forum that could boost the chances of reaching a U.N. global warming pact this year. Obama, who has pledged U.S. leadership in the fight against climate change, …
The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday offered loan guarantees worth $59 million to two renewable energy companies as the agency tries to quickly boost green energy production with a windfall of funding from the economic stimulus package. Energy storage company Beacon Power Corp was awarded a $43 million loan guarantee …
Australia's emissions trading laws look more likely to pass a hostile Senate after U.S. Congressional support for a similar climate bill eroded political opposition in Australia to carbon trading. Analysts said the passing of the Clean Energy and Security Act by the U.S. lower house on Friday has forced Australia's …
Brazil wants historic emissions to be the basis for greenhouse gas pollution targets, slated for discussion during December climate talks in Copenhagen, Brazil's top climate negotiator said in an interview. Jose Miguez, who heads Brazil's Interministerial Commission on Global Climate Change, said Brazil is not yet proposing targets for emissions …
A Florida toddler was strangled on Wednesday by a 12-foot (3.6-metre) albino Burmese python that escaped from a holding tank in the girl's home, authorities said. The pet's owner, a boyfriend of the child's mother, found the python on top of the 2-year-old girl in the rural community of Oxford, …
In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans. The support of Wal-Mart, the nation
In a setback for Novartis AG, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked the Swiss drug maker for more information about its meningitis-vaccine candidate, Menveo, with respect to patients between ages 11 and 55. "The FDA has requested additional information mainly on the manufacturing of the drug, but it didn't …
Fighting to prevent the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn from being labeled a Superfund site, city officials are proposing an alternative cleanup plan that they say would still be overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency but would take only about half the time a Superfund project would require. A Superfund designation, …
The United States will agree to a goal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius at next week's Group of Eight summit, a senior European official involved in preparing the meeting said on Wednesday. President Barack Obama has promised to take far tougher action to slow …
The U.S. Energy Department said on Wednesday it will provide up to $408 million in funding for two projects aimed at developing advanced "clean coal" technologies. The department said it will provide up to $308 million to Hydrogen Energy International LLC in California and up to $100 million to Basin …
