water pollution
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Climate change danger: Arsenic in the water supply
Droughts, climate change, and resource-intensive dairy farming have joined forces to make Mexico’s Laguna Region, once well-stocked with ponds, into a semi-arid semi-wasteland. Oh, and the drinking water is full of arsenic and it’s giving everyone cancer. Is this the most cheerful post we’ve ever written? Maybe!
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Water cyclists: An epic ride to raise awareness of a scarce resource
A year and a half ago, two Dutchmen set out by bike to spread the word about the global water crisis. Fourteen thousand miles later, they say the real work still lies ahead -- but first, they'd like to kick it with beers and a couple of nice girls.
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Discarded glass bottles can be used to clean up water
Unless you're stranded on a desert island, you should not throw empty glass bottles in the water. But you SHOULD apparently grind up those bottles, mix the ground glass with lime and caustic soda, and put that in the water to clean out toxic heavy metals.
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Otters are back in England
Once nearly extinct in England, otters have now returned to every county, indicating that rivers are at their healthiest in decades. Conservationists had predicted that it would be another 10 years before the otters reached this level of repopulation, so it's a real triumph for the iittle dudes. Not to mention an overwhelming stroke of good fortune for Brits, who can now watch otters play from the comfort of their homes, the lucky bastards.
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Meet the new water toxins, same as the old water toxins
Assuming it doesn't get cockblocked by industry or shut down by Michele Bachmann, the EPA is going to start regulating some gross stuff that hangs out in your water -- not because these are new toxins, but because they're finally being allowed to do something about the old ones. Forbes has a rundown on what you've been drinking, and how to stop drinking it anymore.
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Kentucky coal companies remind us why we really, really need the EPA
The latest episode in the saga known as Big Coal's Watergate began Tuesday when environmental and citizen groups filed a second notice of intent to sue the two largest mountaintop-removal mining companies in Kentucky.
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What Dow Chemical doesn’t want you to know about your water
Dow’s plant in Midland, Mich., is polluting the water with dioxin.Photo: erika dot netThis post originally appeared on Civil Eats. Earlier this year, I was contacted by a PR firm working for Dow Chemical to contribute a 60-second video for the Future We Create virtual conference on water sustainability the company launched yesterday. As a […]
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Get freaked about hydrofracking: now!
Like the sign says.Photo: Not an AlternativeBabydolls, behold the obvious: The situation in Japan is horrendous. Indeed, it trumps anything else that might previously have fallen under the aegis of horrendous. Having said that, there is another horrendous environmental threat that is gearing up to gush out of our collective faucets right here in the […]
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EPA puts off long-promised coal ash protections
(This post originally appeared at Facing South.) Communities imperiled by poorly managed coal ash won’t be getting help from the federal government any time soon. The Obama administration announced last week that it would not issue long-awaited federal regulations this year after all. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson shared the news in a March […]