Wendy Gordon - OnEarth Magazine, from NRDC

Mercury: EPA Puts Health First

EPA has announced it will set standards limiting mercury emissions from coal-and oil-burning power plants by late 2011, resolving a lawsuit filed by a dozen public health and environmental groups in December of 2008.
This is great news. Exposure to mercury, even at low levels, can cause neurological damage, memory and learning problems, and delays in speech and reading ability, making it a particular concern during pregnancy and early childhood. The most common source of human mercury exposure is through eating fish contaminated with methylmercury, an organic—and highly toxic—form of the heavy metal. How does mercury get into fish? Airborne mercury pollution, emitted from coal-fired power plants, waste incineration, cement kilns, among other sources, is carried by precipitation into waterways. There it is absorbed by plants and aquatic life and converted to methylmercury. As bigger fish eat contaminated smaller ...read full post

Comments (0) | October 28, 2009
Beyond Green

“Green is the new black” is so 2007. Oscars were won for a film about a slide show on global warming. Demand for hybrid cars outpaced production. Media companies, sports teams, everyone it seemed was turning green, toting thermoses and donning organic tees.
Was it all just a fad? Not entirely. A recent poll, conducted by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found that the percentage of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the earth is warming due to pollution, has dropped to 57 percent, down from 77 percent in 2006, and 71 percent in April 2008. However, despite their misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices, and a majority—56 percent—feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
With the economy and jobs foremost on people’s minds, no wonder they “see these ...read full post

Comments (0) | October 23, 2009
Keep Tap on Top

After more than a decade of blockbuster growth, U.S. bottled water sales dropped 6% this past year. Why? Because environmentally-minded consumers, urged on by their Mayors (in San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and NYC, NY as well as elsewhere) and environmental leaders, are rejecting bottled water as wasteful. Way to go, consumers!
Now stand by your tap. Bottled-water makers have stepped up a months-long price war to try to win you back. PepsiCo Inc.’s Aquafina brand sold at some grocery stores for as little as $2.99 for a 24-pack of half-liter bottles, reports the Wall Street ...read full post

Comments (1) | September 11, 2009
Recycling Pays in NYC

It’s been endlessly debated, does recycling make economic sense? In New York City, back in 2002, Mayor Bloomberg proposed cuts to the city’s recycling budget, raising questions both here and around the nation as to whether recycling was a cost-effective strategy for dealing with municipal solid waste. Even after the Mayor and the New York City Council agreed to restore glass and plastic recycling collections for all households in 2004, and to enter into a long-term contract for the sorting and reselling of collected recyclables, some economic questions lingered.
So the Natural Resources Defense Council commissioned a study to compare costs in New York City associated with curbside collection for recycling versus for waste to be exported to out-of-state landfills and incinerators. What they found was that while citywide costs per ton for curbside collection and disposal of recyclables was higher than for refuse going to landfills and incinerators, the difference was ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 28, 2009
Smarten Up and Stop Idling

Prenatal exposure to combustion byproducts lowers children’s IQ, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH). New York City children, exposed to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs,) the research (published in Pediatrics) showed, had full scale and verbal IQ scores that were 4.31 and 4.67 points lower, respectively, than those of less exposed children.
PAHs are chemicals released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco. High PAH levels were defined as above the median of 2.26 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3).
“The decrease in full-scale IQ score among the more exposed children is similar to that seen with low-level lead exposure,” noted Dr. Frederica Perera, director of the Columbia Center. “This finding is of concern ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 22, 2009
Ruminants roam where mowers and herbicides once ruled

Goats eat anything. Sheep, cows and horses aren’t bad either. And they’re low impact. Which is why this summer the Maryland State Highway Administration is renting a herd of goats and sheep to control invasive weeds in a wetland area. Their delicate hooves have a lighter step than the 7500-pound lawn mower which would leave deep ruts that could destroy the area’s hydrology and endanger the habitat of the endangered Bog Turtle.
It’s also why Seattle, which ranked first among large cities in NRDC’s Smarter Cities sustainability ranking, not only uses hydroelectric plants for 90 percent of its power, but goats rather than chemicals pesticides to clear brush and blackberries around substations. ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 12, 2009
Finally, Safe Food is the Main Course

Did you know that farms and food processors are inspected on average once every 10 years? No wonder there are so many instances of food contamination in the U.S., leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands hospitalized each year. Despite the toll, the federal government has shown no willingness to butt heads with the powerful food lobby and provide adequate protection for consumers and proper controls for industry, until now.

As profits and consumer confidence have plummeted with each new outbreak, the political climate has changed. So much so that in early June the House Energy and Commerce Committee reached unusual bipartisan consensus on the most sweeping reform of the food safety-system in at least 50 years.

At the center of the legislation is an effort to transform a slow and reactive government apparatus into a preventive food-safety system. The bill gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad new powers to regulate produce at the ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 9, 2009
Pushing Produce into Urban Food Deserts

There is a new fruit stand on the corner near my home. I think it’s terrific, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t belong there. The cart appeared on the day the New York Times announced a new citywide effort to encourage street vendors to bring fresh vegetables and fruit to low-income neighborhoods that have been called “food deserts” because of the predominance of fast-food outlets offering high-fat, high-sugar fare and the dearth of healthful culinary fare. I fortunately live in a neighborhood with several grocery stores offering an abundance of fresh, healthy whole foods, all within a few blocks of my home. There are fast-food outlets within walking distance, too, but they are farther away than the healthy food places.

The city, according to reports, has approved 1,000 new mobile food carts for neighborhoods in the five boroughs that have long ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 1, 2009
Cap and trade what?

When the conversation turns to cap and trade, is your first thought: “Oh, that will never work, it’s too complicated?” It’s true, it can be harder to get one’s arms around than a gas tax or even a carbon tax– who doesn’t get taxes, right? – but cap and trade is a familiar, and an effective, means by which to reduce pollution among regulators and industry.

In the 1990s, the U.S. acid rain cap and trade program achieved 100 percent compliance in reducing sulfur dioxide emissions. In fact, power plants took advantage of the allowance banking provision to reduce SO2 emissions 22 percent (7.3 million tons) below mandated levels for the first phase of the program. And on the global warming front, cap and trade is up and running in 10 states in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, which have pledged to work together to reduce climate altering pollution from regional power plants by 10 percent by 2018.

While driving down pollution, cap and trade will also ...read full post

Comments (0) | June 25, 2009
Cleveland Celebrates a River Reborn

Rivers in industrial cities, laden with raw sewage and oil-soaked debris, used to catch fire a lot in the early part of the 20th century, and nobody would give them much mind. But when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969, attitudes had changed, and “the Mistake by the Lake” sparked environmental reforms across the country. Within a year, the Environmental Protection Agency would be established and the first Earth Day would be held. Today, 40 years later, Cleveland is celebrating the Cuyahoga’s rebirth, now home to more than 60 species of fish as well as beavers, blue herons and bald eagles.

And most credit an active citizenry up and down the watershed who for 40 years have worked hard to improve the river. A year before the fire, Cleveland residents voted to tax themselves an additional $100 million for river restoration. Local governments removed dams, which trapped pollution and impeded fish migration. In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford created the Cuyahoga ...read full post

Comments (0) | June 22, 2009