pollution
-
Why going green during a recession actually creates jobs
Economists have long known something that politicians apparently do not: If you need to impose expensive environmental regulations, there’s no better time than during a recession.
-
Critical List: Mexico City’s pollution-busting vertical gardens; tiny kitchens
A look at the news of the day.
-
Flame retardants can turn a burning room into a gas chamber
You know brominated and chlorinated flame retardants are bad when when even Walmart bans them from its products. Unfortunately, some fire codes require them.
-
Fungi can eat pollution right out of the soil
Fungi are freaking amazing: Give them enough time and they will eat anything, even the toxins spread over polluted sites around the world. Mohamed Hijri, a professor at the University of Montreal, figured — why wait for nature to take its time neutralizing the damage we’ve done to the planet? Why not urge it along? […]
-
Robot jellyfish will use water for fuel, spy on you
A team working out of Virginia Tech and the University of Texas at Dallas is building a robotic jellyfish that mimics the real thing. Here it is in action: The robot gets its power from hydrogen and oxygenate, which reacts with platinum to create heat, driving the jellyfish’s “muscles.” One day, the jellyfish won’t even […]
-
Behold H&M’s new green collection
H&M’s business model — selling cheap clothes that either disintegrate or fall out of fashion quickly — doesn’t exactly fit into the “buy less stuff” model of sustainability. But they’re still trying to sell eco-consciousness, in the form of “bonded recycled polyester,” which usually serves as jacket lining, apparently. This one’s probably the cutest of […]
-
Critical List: Happy vernal equinox, Alec Baldwin calls Inhofe an ‘oil whore’
Happy spring! Check out the Google doodle celebrating the vernal equinox. A new survey shows that fewer Americans consider alternative energy development a bigger priority than oil, coal, and gas production. Air emissions from fracking contain pollutants that pose health risks to those living nearby, a new study confirms.
-
Critical List: More people have safe drinking water; Asia’s pollution is hitting the U.S.
The U.N. met its Millennium Development Goal to halve the number of people without safe drinking water. President Obama is giving a press conference this afternoon — the first in months. It’s supposed to be about mortgage relief, but odds are someone will ask him about gas prices, too. Twenty percent of ground pollution in […]
-
Why less arctic ice means more mercury in your babies
Thin sea ice leads to a "bromine explosion" that turns gaseous mercury in the atmosphere into a toxic pollutant that falls on snow, land and ice and can accumulate in fish.