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Air on the Side of Caution

With just two weeks left in the official California smog season, the data are in: After years of air-quality improvements, the state experienced a sudden downturn this year, enduring a shroud of haze and ozone pollution even in areas unaccustomed to smog. The usual suspects — urban communities like San Francisco and the famously smoggy […]

Billions and Billions Swerved

It’s been 13 years since the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and eight years since a jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages against the company — and three days since a federal judge began hearing arguments that the award was inappropriate. After the 1994 case, […]

Invasion of the Habitat Snatchers

Earlier this year, the northern snakehead — that flesh-eating, land-crawling invasive fish — colonized a Maryland pond and an entire country’s imagination. But the snakehead is small fry compared to the larger problem of nonnative species in the U.S.: According to a report released yesterday by the National Wildlife Refuge Association, 8 million of the […]

Send in the Marine Reserves

Australia has unveiled plans to create the world’s largest marine reserve in 16 million acres of the Indian Ocean, 2,500 miles off the nation’s southwest coast. The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve will be twice the size of Switzerland and will protect one of the world’s most pristine marine environments from exploitation, including […]

Nuclear Bombay

Scientists in India say the country could be at risk of a nuclear catastrophe — and in this case, Pakistan has nothing to do with it. Kakrapara Atomic Power Station is considered the nation’s best nuclear plant, but its reactors emit radiation three times greater than the international norm. With 12 other nuclear reactors in […]

Carrot Juice

Compost isn’t just for your garden anymore: Scientists at the University of the West of England have created a microbial fuel-cell battery powered by organic waste. The miniature battery converts biochemical energy from food into electricity, using E. coli bacteria that release hydrogen atoms as they break down carbohydrates. The fuel cell runs on sugar […]

Umbra on ground-level ozone

Dear Umbra, Where I live, the air is declared “unhealthful” on many days in the summer due to ground-level ozone pollution. On those days, we have to stay inside until after about 3 p.m. My question is: What causes ground-level ozone to form and what are its reported health effects on adults and children? DeanBakersfield, […]

Just Deserts

A controversial plan to transform a tract of the Mojave Desert into a giant water-storage facility was killed yesterday by California’s Metropolitan Water District. First presented in 1997 by Keith Brackpool, an advisor and leading financial backer to Gov. Gray Davis (D), the $150 million project would have entailed the construction of a 35-mile pipeline […]

Nuke of Earl

The nuclear industry was “bubbling with new hopes and plans” during a recent conference-cum-pep-rally in Lille, France, according to Pascal Colombani, chair of the E.U’s Atomic Energy Commission. Heartened by Finland’s recent decision to build western Europe’s first nuclear power plant in more than a decade, the nuclear industry is trying to position itself as […]

Us Against DEM

A coalition of environmental and health advocacy groups in Alabama wants to reform the state’s Department of Environmental Management — starting with its name. Saying the agency is too concerned with management and insufficiently concerned with protection, the coalition called yesterday for a new “Department of Environmental Protection” characterized by a different leadership structure, stricter […]