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. …
Landfill disposal of municipal solid waste represents one of the largest anthropogenic global methane emission sources, and recent policy approaches have targeted significant reductions of these emissions to combat climate change in the US. The efficacy of active gas collection systems in the US was examined by analysing performance data, …
Future coastal flood risk will be strongly influenced by sea-level rise (SLR) and changes in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones. These two factors are generally considered independently. Here, we assess twenty-first century changes in the coastal hazard for the US East Coast using a flood index (FI) that …
Satellite remote sensing of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) can provide valuable information for estimating surface nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Using an exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) method and taking into account the effect of wind on observed NO2 distributions, we estimate 3-year moving-average emissions of summertime NOx from 35 US (United …
Air contaminated with pollutants such as ozone and tiny particles could cause the premature death of about 6.6 million people a year by 2050 if nothing is done to improve air quality, warns this study published in the journal Nature Assessment of the global burden of disease is based on …
More than 3 million people die prematurely each year from outdoor pollution and without action deaths will double by 2050 More than 3 million people a year are killed prematurely by outdoor air pollution, according to a landmark new study, more than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. Wood and coal burning …
The negative impacts of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure on human health are a primary motivator for air quality research. However, estimates of the air pollution health burden vary considerably and strongly depend on the datasets and methodology. Satellite observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) have been widely used to …
Surface coal mining in the eastern USA disturbs hundreds of hectares of land every year and removes valuable and ecologically diverse eastern deciduous forests. Reclamation involves restoring the landscape to approximate original contour, replacing the topsoil, and revegetating the site with trees and herbaceous species to a designated post-mining land …
Under a deal approved Tuesday by the federal government, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would shed its costly obligation to provide drainage to the Westlands Water District and in exchange, forgive the district’s $350 million debt to federal taxpayers. Also adopted by Westlands, the agreement must still be approved by …
Next week, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will add to earlier pledges to cut greenhouse-gas emissions with specific guidance on what the two countries will do at home to keep climate change at bay, officials said. The United States and China announced Tuesday that cities, states and …
Western land managers are ramping up the use of a controversial practice to curtail devastating wildfires: removing smaller trees in fire-prone areas to save the entire forest from going up in flames. The implementation of the method, known as thinning, has increased in national forests during the past 10 years …
Flash floods killed 12 people near Utah's border with Arizona when a "large wall of water and debris" triggered by heavy rain pounding nearby canyons swept them away in their cars, officials said on Tuesday. In Zion National Park to the north, three people died and four were missing after …
The UK has dropped out of the top ten of a respected international league table on renewable energy for the first time since it began 12 years ago. In its quarterly report published on Wednesday, EY said the new Conservative government had sentenced the renewable energy industry to “death by …
Fracking by the U.S. oil and gas industry has increased the burden on the nation's water resources, but still accounts for less than 1 percent of America's total industrial water use, according to a paper by researchers at Duke University published on Tuesday. The controversial extraction method consumed roughly 48 …
While many G20 nations are showing some commitment to tackling climate change, most are also still spending heavily to subsidize the fossil fuel industry. A new study finds that subsidies for thermal coal production in two key supply regions – the Powder River Basin (PRB) in the United States and …
Children exposed to insecticides at home may have a slightly increased risk of developing leukemia or lymphoma, a new review finds. The analysis, of 16 studies done since the 1990s, found that children exposed to indoor insecticides had an elevated risk of developing the blood cancers. There was also a …
On Thursday, a federal appeals court overturned the EPA's decision to approve marketing of sulfoxaflor, a pesticide that acts like the same neonicotinoids class associated with bee declines. "In this case, given the precariousness of bee populations, leaving the EPA's registration of sulfoxaflor in place risks more potential environmental harm …
Last winter’s snow accumulation in the mountains that provide state’s most important natural water system was just 5% of what is normal, study finds The Sierra Nevada snowpack that is a critical water source for California fell to a 500-year low last winter – far worse than scientists had estimated …
Two explosive wildfires have displaced 23,000 people in northern California and threaten to wreak more devastation in rural communities, which have lost hundreds of homes. The so-called Valley fire in Lake County raged untamed on Monday after incinerating 61,000 acres, or 95 square miles, in just two days. Overcast weather …
The ornate ivory statues and carvings sold in Scott Defrin's New York gallery date from the 17th and 18th centuries, but the antique dealer's business is being upended by a 21st century fight over saving the African elephant. Despite a 25-year-old international ban on most international elephant ivory trade, poachers …
The US Navy has agreed to limit its use of sonar that may inadvertently harm whales and dolphins in waters near Hawaii and California. A federal judge in Honolulu signed the deal between the Navy and environmental groups on Monday. It restricts or bans the use of mid-frequency active sonar …
