Off the menu: A study finds traces of a toxic flame retardant (which, as the Chicago Tribune recently exposed, do almost nothing to prevent fires but can damage human health) in peanut butter, cold cuts, and other common school lunch ingredients. The chemical joins a list of other harmful manmade products that have turned up in popular foods recently, including DDT and PCBs. Oh, for the day when ABCs were the only thing schoolkids had to worry about on their lunchbreak. Huffington Post
Breaking point?: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the Arctic have reached 400 parts per million -- and as the Arctic goes, the rest of the planet will soon follow. (For context, worldwide CO2 levels stood at about 275 ppm before the Industrial Revolution started belching fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere.) There’s general scientific concern that if CO2 levels settle at anything much north of 350 ppm, the resulting climate impacts could be catastrophic for human civilization. Catastrophe, ahoy. Associated Press
It’s no joke: “A ‘fracking’ executive, a state legislator, and an oil-and-gas-industry lobbyist walk into a bar.” Let’s just say it doesn’t get any funnier from there -- but it isn’t meant to. Columbus Dispatch
Safe streets: Can a major American city cut traffic fatalities down to zero within a decade? Chicago is trying. Atlantic Cities
Big Gulp ban: Meanwhile, in New York City, Mayor Mike Bloomberg continues his war on unhealthy stuff like smoking and obesity by saying vendors can’t sell soda in containers of more than 16 ounces. Grist
Coal: still king (for now): Politicians in coal country are falling all over themselves to paint their rivals as “anti-coal” (like we shouldn’t all be against a fuel source that pollutes our air and water?). But the reality is, even as U.S. coal use is declining, it’s soaring around the globe, keeping demand for coal high even as this country seeks safer, cleaner alternatives. Slate
Not so sweet: The FDA says Big Ag can’t change the name of “high fructose corn syrup” to “corn sugar” as a way of trying to fool consumers into thinking it’s a natural ingredient. Yay! But the ruling will do nothing to change the wholly unnatural amount of sweeteners we already squeeze into our food. Boo! Mother Jones
Photo flap: Want to see 100-year-old pictures taken by pigeons with cameras strapped to their bellies? Yeah you do. Twisted Sifter
Tips: @OnEarthMag (tag it #greenreads)
Image: Wikimedia
