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Golden Brown

California is home to six of the 10 most polluted metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to national smog rankings released today by the American Lung Association. In fact, the top four areas were all in the Golden(Brown) State: Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Visalia-Tulare-Porterfield. Those rankings mask the fact that California’s air quality […]

Umbra on peeing al fresco

Dear Umbra, If I am going to pee outside, is it more environmentally sound to squat in the back yard where the pee salinates the soil, or next to the road where the liquid runoff can enter sewers, or in the woods where there are no ornamental plantings to disturb, but there might be snakes? […]

Gone With the Flow

The Khasi Hills of northeastern India are one of the wettest places on Earth, typically experiencing torrential rains throughout the monsoon season and laying claim to the world record of 1,000 inches of rainfall in just one year. Now, though, the Khasi Hills are drying up due to environmental changes wrought by pollution, deforestation, the […]

Urinetown

Speaking of water conservation, a waterless urinal designed by a Los Angeles company could save some 40,000 gallons per year for each model installed — but plans for expanding use of the urinals are plugged up in the L.A. bureaucracy. The device resembles a conventional urinal except that atop the drain is a plastic cartridge […]

Tribe-ulations

Oil and gas development on Indian lands in the U.S. could move forward unimpeded by environmental concerns if Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) gets his way. The only Native American in the Senate, Campbell wants to exempt energy projects on Indian lands from federal environmental regulation — and as chair of the Senate Indian Affairs […]

Caffeine Buzz Kill

Wild tigers, orangutans, and other megafauna in Sumatra, Indonesia, are being pushed out of their native habitat as lowland forests are clear-cut to make room for coffee plantations. The cheap robusta beans grown in this region end up in instant coffee. From 1996 to 2001, land cleared for coffee production in the Lampung region of […]

Beverly Hills Flop

Erin Brockovich, the tenacious eco-crusader made famous by Hollywood, is back in the news: She says that many former Beverly Hills High School students have been stricken with cancer because of exposure to toxic fumes from an active oil field on school property. Brockovich and her boss, attorney Ed Masry, yesterday filed 25 personal injury […]

Well Done

With many makeshift wells in New Delhi, India, running dry, and many more in danger of following suit, citizens are turning to an old-fashioned solution: rainwater harvesting. Five pilot projects in the city have successfully tested out an inexpensive system for collecting monsoon rainwater and directing it underground to replenish over-tapped aquifers. New Delhi officials […]

Lettuce Study This More

A toxic chemical used in rocket fuel was found in four of 22 winter lettuce samples purchased at Northern California grocery stores, according to a report by the Environmental Working Group. The lettuce contaminated with perchlorate, a hormone disrupter, was traced to farms in Southern California and Arizona that irrigate their crops with Colorado River […]

Smokestack Heart Attack

Minor increases in urban air pollution can provoke heart attacks, new international research indicates. A study of seven European cities and regions, including London, Madrid, Paris, and Rome, found that when sulfur dioxide levels rose even slightly, hospital visits for coronary problems increased over the following 48 hours. The research, published in the European Heart […]