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. …
Among the many environmental concerns surrounding nuclear power plants, there is one that provokes public anxiety like no other: the fear that children living near nuclear facilities face an increased risk of cancer. Though a link has long been suspected, it has never been proven. Now that seems likely to …
Tens of thousands of American families may be living in buildings once used as methamphetamine labs - most of them oblivious to the fact. Some who have learned of their home's history similarly attribute mysterious ailments to the toxic legacy of illicit drug manufacture, but like Katrina Evans they are …
Livestock auctions are not normally the stuff of headlines, but then it's not every day that cows as unusual as Dundee Paradise and Dundee Paratrooper are going under the hammer. The dairy cows were due to be sold at Easter Compton cattle market near Bristol, UK, last month, but at …
If war ever breaks out in space it's not the loss of individual satellites that will do the damage, but the debris this produces. It will stay in orbit and go on harming satellites for decades, according to two studies presented at the American Physical Society meeting in St Louis, …
Rich nations, including the US and UK, are planning to push rapidly industrialising nations like China and India into accepting "back door" limits on their greenhouse gas emissions. They want climate negotiators to agree global technical standards on "dirty" manufacturing industries like aluminium, iron and steel, cement and chemicals - …
If there is an example of a silver bullet among genetically modified (GM) crops, it would be virus-resistant papaya trees. They saved the papaya industry in Hawaii from devastation by the ringspot virus, a serious pathogen that deforms fruit and eventually kills conventional trees.
More than a billion acres have been planted with genetically engineered crops in the USA since 1996, but we do not fully know their ecological costs and benefits.
Once, plant breeders dreamed of plumper tomatoes, heartier soybeans and juicier corn kernels. These days, visions of squat poplars and earless corn stalks are dancing in their heads. They are hoping these new fangled crops will make cost-effective biofuels.
For most of the past century, diesel engines have been associated with smoky, smelly trucks and buses. Now there's a surprise: A new generation of diesel-powered passenger cars is delivering punchy performance and emission levels so low they pass muster in all 50 U.S. states. Boasting good fuel efficiency, the …
A generous award seeks to encourage green energy pathways over a carbon intensive economy for India The Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environment organisation in the US, has instituted an annual $100,000 (Rs40 lakh) Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award to recognise outstanding environmental success in India. …
There's little doubt that free-market capitalism helped to get us into the mess we're in. As Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, puts it: climate change is "the greatest market failure the world has ever seen". The question now is whether capitalism is able to make amends. …
Lean times lie ahead for fishermen in California and Oregon. Last week, US regulators decided to cancel the entire salmon season for this year. The long-term prospects for the salmon themselves are unclear. In the long term, however, the future of the salmon, and the people that rely on them, …
Mercury is a persistent contaminant that biomagnifies up the food web, causing mortality, reproductive failure, and other health effects in predatory wildlife and humans. From 1930 to 1950, industrial mercuric sulfate entered the South River, a tributary of the Shenandoah River in Virginia (United States). To determine whether this mercury …
A few U.S. energy companies have drawn up plans for synfuels plants that would produce millions of barrels of the alternative fuel annually. The technology is gaining support from a a group of climate scientists who believe that, barrel for barrel, synfuels can emit less carbon dioxide (CO2) than oil …
A recent spike in wholesale and market prices for rice, wheat and maize has touched off food riots and prompted countries with surpluses to impose restrictions on grain exports. In response, U.S. President George W. Bush ordered up $200 million in emergency food aid. Behind the scenes, however, researchers charge …
In one of the most significant wetlands regulations in 2 decades, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spelled out what developers must do to mitigate damage from their construction projects.
Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is an increasingly significant obstacle to the conservation of wildlife. The growing body of HWC literature tends to focus on biological, economic and local aspects associated with HWC. The factors driving HWC at the local level are, however, shaped in turn by numerous other factors, including laws …
Over the past few years, the U.S. carbon offset market has experienced tremendous growth. This expansion can be attributed to several factors, including the creation of regional greenhouse gas initiatives, the anticipation of federal regulation, and growing public concern regarding climate change. In the absence of a national system of …
Human activities have significantly intensified natural phosphorus cycles, which has resulted in some serious environmental problems that modern societies face today. This article attempts to quantify the global phosphorus flows associated with present day mining, farming, animal feeding, and household consumption. Various physical characteristics of the related phosphorus fluxes as …
