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Climate Health

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  • Should we label cars the way we label cigarettes?

    Photos: New York City Department of TransportationMaybe the flashing skeleton will get their attention. That’s what the New York City Department of Transportation is hoping, anyway. The city announced yesterday that it will start using electronic message boards saying “Speed Limit 30” and “Slow Down” with a skeleton figure in an attempt to get drivers […]

    Sarah Goodyear Health

  • We spend $76.6 billion a year on health care for kids made sick by toxic chemicals and air pollution

    America spends a staggering $76.6 billion every year to cover the health expenses of our children who get sick because of exposure to toxic chemicals and air pollution, according to a recent study by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. That figure includes the cost of medical care and the […]

    Terry Tamminen Health

  • Nixing pollutants could save $76.6 billion in health care costs

    Between medical costs and lost productivity for parents, environmental illnesses in children cost $76.6 billion annually, says a new study in Health Affairs. That’s the cost of all illnesses that are correlated with exposure to pollutants and toxins. (Some of the associations are better-documented than others, but many — like lead poisoning, which costs $50.9 […]

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • This Sunday, get Mother Earth a big bouquet of youth activism

    Okay, normally it makes me throw up in my mouth a little to say "Mother Earth," but 16-year-old environmental activist Alec Loorz is just too cute, and he's helping to organize worldwide youth marches for the environment on Mother's Day. So the joke is inevitable. Your fault, adorable activist teen! Anyway, if you're looking for something […]

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • For half the nation’s population, it’s dangerous to breathe the air

    Close your eyes and stick your finger into a map of the United States. (A map. A big piece of paper with a picture of the country? Okay, look it up on Google Images, we'll wait.) Chances are you just poked a county with dangerous levels of ozone or particle pollution in the air. Nearly […]

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • Royal wedding will be slightly greener wretched pile of excess than usual

    I've noticed that I have zero posts in my Twitter feed about how awesomesauce the royal wedding is, and 2930820385 about how nobody else will shut up re: the royal wedding and its awesomeness. But clearly somebody somewhere is into this, so okay, this one's for you: Looks like Prince Harry and Princess Hermione, or whoever, are taking steps to turn their wedding from a completely over-the-top exercise in overconsumption to an eco-completely-over-the-top exercise in overconsumption.

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • No, ozone regulations were not easy

    There’s a certain story you hear from the Breakthrough crowd these days. It goes like this: climate change is not like previous environmental problems. When it came to ozone depletion or acid rain, there were economically viable technologies available. That made it easier for policymakers to impose regulatory limits. Alternatives to fossil fuel energy are […]

    David Roberts Health

  • AEI blogger celebrates the success of the acid rain program, without acknowledging its existence

    Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. For Earth Day, Steve Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute posted this shocker: “Energy Fact of the Week: Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Coal Have Declined 54 Percent.” He includes some nice government charts, which I’m sure he won’t mind my reproducing below. But from Hayward’s blog, you’d think this […]

    David Doniger Health

  • Underground environmentalism in communist East Germany

    When I had a free afternoon during my recent trip to Berlin, I headed down Unter den Linden (I love German street names — my hotel was on the Albrechtstraße, which is a whole meal in a word) to the relatively new DDR Museum, which showcases ordinary life under socialist rule in East Germany. It’s […]

    David Roberts Health

  • Will Richard Daley, Chicago’s outgoing ‘green’ mayor, help quash coal pollution?

    Will Richard Daley’s last month in office be marred by two old coal plants?Photo: Kate GardinerCross-posted from Midwest Energy News. A long-stalled Chicago ordinance that could force the city’s two aging coal-burning power plants to greatly reduce emissions or shut down now has enough backing to pass at the city council’s next meeting. But proponents […]

    Kari Lydersen Health