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It's a Drought, It's a Flood … It's Superdisaster
The rising number of natural disasters brought on by climate change is seriously threatening developing countries, and more “superdisasters” are in the works as the world’s poor concentrate in ever more vulnerable places, according to a report released yesterday by the Red Cross. In the past six years, the number of people who needed aid […]
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A Lung Time Coming
Nine Latin American cities, which together are home to some 68 million people, yesterday called for a regional alliance to fight smog. The cities’ senior environmental officials signed a declaration acknowledging that half the health problems in their urban areas are attributable to environmental degradation. The declaration also called on local authorities to take serious […]
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Whodunnit? Wedunnit
Humans produced most of the gases that have eroded the Earth’s ozone layer, according to a study published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. A team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took measurements of air trapped in polar snowpack in Greenland and Antarctica, showing for the first time that major […]
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Clouding, the Issue
High-altitude clouds of ice crystals were spotted on Tuesday by scientists in Colorado and Utah, the farthest south such clouds have ever been seen in the Northern Hemisphere, suggesting that the same greenhouse gases that are warming Earth’s lower atmosphere are also chilling and adding water to the upper atmosphere. In other climate news, jet […]
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Don't Let Them Eat This Cake
France yesterday called for the sales of all new genetically modified foods to be suspended in the European Union until they are clearly labeled, but EU officials said it’s unlikely the proposal would be accepted. EU environmental ministers are meeting today to settle differences on policies for genetically modified foods. Meanwhile, biotechnology companies are engaging […]
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Pilot Crashes into Senate
Republican Senate leaders yesterday accused the Clinton administration of violating a congressional ban against carrying out the Kyoto climate change treaty by planning a pilot program with Russia to jointly cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said GOP leaders plan to insert language barring the program into a bill funding the EPA. The project […]
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Removing Heavy Metal from the Radio
The European Union is weighing a proposal that would require electronics makers to take responsibility for their products once their useful lives are over, with the intent of encouraging companies to design products that are more recyclable. Computers, cell phones, medical equipment, and household appliances would all be affected. The proposed legislation would also require […]
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Virginia Slim on Pollution Controls
Environmentalists have won a court order forcing the federal government to act more aggressively to protect Virginia waterways from pollution. A federal judge ruled that Virginia officials have been lax in setting maximum pollution levels and that the EPA is responsible under the 1972 Clean Water Act to make sure the state sets the levels […]
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Don't Chew on This
Lead exposure in children may lead to tooth decay, perhaps accounting for as much as 11 percent of cavities in kids, according to a new study published in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Though lead has been removed from gasoline and household paint in the U.S., the Centers for Disease […]
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What Do Butterflies, Ski Passes, and Eggs Have in Common?
The British government plans to start monitoring numbers of butterflies and the sales of Scotland ski passes, among other indicators, as part of an effort to track climate change. Each year, the government will publish an annual report taking a look at potential signs of global warming, also including the number of floods, the time […]
