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Exxon Niger Spill Spreads for 20 Plus Miles

Posted by amir on Thursday, 10 January 2013 in Oil Spill

, coating waters used by fishermen in a film of sludge. A Reuters reporter visiting several parts of Akwa Ibom state saw a rainbow-tinted oil slick stretching for 20 miles from a pipeline that Exxon had shut down because of a leak a week ago. Locals scooped it into jerry cans. Mark Ward, t...

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20 Steps to a Green 2013

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 01 January 2013 in Sustainable Development

If you want to be kinder to the planet and save some money at the same time, here are 20 ways to go green in 2013. Buy fresh, local food this summer at your local farmer's markets. The Merrimack Farmers Market has a great selection of locally produced food. You could also grow you...

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Happy New Year! How About a New You?

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 01 January 2013 in Human Health

As we welcome in the New Year around the world I’m sure many of us will be making resolutions for the months ahead. The 1st of January marks a fresh start and a great opportunity to set personal challenges to improve ourselves, our lifestyles, and perhaps make a difference to the world aroun...

2012 Endangered Species Winners and Loosers

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 25 December 2012 in Animals

With 2012 seeing the largest mass of summer ice melting in the Arctic in modern history, it’s no surprise experts predict more of the same for 2013. The melting ice has implications for some of Canada’s most threatened species. Metro spoke with World Wildlife Fund scientist and researcher Pete Ewin,...

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A Green Christmas?

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 in Climate Change

It’s almost Christmas, but basketball hoops and kayaks are still popular items at Natick Outdoor Store. "We’re not selling many sleds, but the upside is they’re still buying other gifts," said Henry Kanner, who manages the downtown Natick shop. While Kanner’s store offe...

EPA rejected for Air Quality Plan

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 in Air Quality

A federal appeals court has overturned U.S. EPA's latest plan for eight regions of the country, such as California's San Joaquin Valley, that still aren't meeting air quality standards for smog that were replaced more than a decade ago. Levels of ground-level ozone, the main component of ...

Is the EPA Doing Enough to Protect Your Air?

Posted by amir on Sunday, 25 November 2012 in Air Quality

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the Clean Air Act (CAA) prevented the premature loss of 160,000 American lives per year in 2010. By 2020 this number is expected to rise to 230,000. This makes the Act one of the most important public health measures ever enacted. Where do these num...

Saving Fish - From The Fisherman to the Dish

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 20 November 2012 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

A visit to the seafood section of nearly any local supermarket these days is likely to induce feelings of guilt. You cast an eye on the Atlantic cod, halibut, salmon, and yellowtail flounder glistening on ice—only to discover that each is among the 13 species now overfished in New England, according...

Doing Good While Doing Well

Posted by amir on Thursday, 15 November 2012 in Sustainable Development

Problem: Changing the US and other countries in the world to create a green-based economy, while phasing out fossil fuels. Solution: It will take more than government programs and incentives. Companies and other organizations need to embrace the change and can prosper in doing so. This week's Solu...

Why Obama's Win Won't Help Renewable Energy

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 in Wind

Barack Obama's re-election may have seemed like a sure win for solar and wind power, given the President's history of supporting green energy. But the optimism quickly darkened in the aftermath. In the days following the election, renewable energy stocks fell, along with the broader market. The fu...

California - Saving Wildlife with Proposition 30

Posted by amir on Sunday, 04 November 2012 in Wildlife Conservation

For a decade, the state legislature and three different governors have struggled to close a troubling state budget gap. In recent years, programs ranging from public healthcare to wildlife management have suffered cuts. Earlier this year, the legislature and the governor agreed on a budget...

Solar Increases and Becomes Contagious

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 23 October 2012 in Solar

Apparently doing something good can be contagious. Or at least this seems to be the case with solar power adoption. According to a study by Yale and New York University, published though Marketing Science, individuals are most likely to install solar panels on their home if one of their neighbors ha...

Stop the Trade in Bear Bile!

Posted by amir on Sunday, 07 October 2012 in Wildlife Conservation

Two brother bear cubs rescued from suspected smugglers in Vietnam have become poster children for a campaign against the use of capturing and harvesting bears for their bile. The two men arrested said "they bought the cubs for $1,500" and were "going to sell them for a much higher p...

World-Wide Biodiversity Loss

Posted by amir on Tuesday, 02 October 2012 in General Environment

A rare look at a golden frog - last seen in 1996 A public consultation held simultaneously in 25 countries — 19 of them in the developing world — showed 84 per cent of participants believing that most people in the world were seriously affected by biodiversity loss. The results of the consultation ...

Tracking European Air Quality

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 in Air Quality

The largest and most comprehensive effort to research air pollution in Britain is underway in London and the skies above it. As many as 80 scientists from eleven universities are tracking nearly 1,000 different types of gases and particles in the atmosphere. Pollutants are being ...

Technology and Sustainable Development

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 in Sustainable Development

Washington, D.C.—More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and countries such as India and China are in need of hundreds of additional cities to accommodate growing populations. People in many cities suffer from inadequate transportation, sub-standard buildings, lack o...

The High Cost of Oil Spills in Nigeria

Posted by amir on Wednesday, 05 September 2012 in Oil Spill

People from a region contaminated by oil spills from an ExxonMobil oilfield off the southeast coast of Nigeria have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to take action about the oil pollution. The oil spills, which a United Nations report says may require the world's biggest cl...

EPA Says Water Is A Pollutant?

Posted by amir on Monday, 27 August 2012 in Water Conservation

The EPA has declared water, the substance the Clean Water Act was created to protect, a pollutant - and it is getting the federal government dragged into court. How so? They are requiring Fairfax County, Virginia, to artificially control the flow of water in Accotink Creek watershed beca...

Trout Problem the Result of Oil Spill

Posted by amir on Monday, 20 August 2012 in Oil Spill

As BP's oil approached the coast in 2010, many marina operators and fishing guides who had been wiped out by Hurricane Katrina found themselves looking back at that disaster with something akin to longing. Experience had taught them that although hurricanes could beat them down, at least they left ...

Antarctic Speeds Ice Loss

Posted by amir on Friday, 10 August 2012 in Climate Change

Scientists from the U.K. have uncovered a 1.6 kilometre-deep rift valley under the ice in West Antarctica, a feature which they say may explain why that part of the continent is losing ice so rapidly. Detailed in the journal Nature, experts from the University of Aberdeen and British Antarctic Surv...