BREAKING!...The Earth (Environmental News 2 Use)
Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 09:58:11 AM PDT
Yes I'm still doing these roundups,haven't given up yet version.
Poison found in kids' clothes from China. Scientists in New Zealand have found formaldehyde in woollen and cotton clothes at levels 500 times higher than is safe. Sunday Star Times
China product safety concerns have high stakes, far-reaching effects. The cascade of defective imports from China in recent months reached a peak last week when toymaker Mattel Inc. recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys coated with toxic lead paint. San Francisco Chronicle
Study finds volatile organics in turf fields. Significant amounts of four volatile organic compounds are released into the air when tire crumbs used in synthetic turf athletic fields is under conditions mimicking a hot summer day. New London Day
U.S. castoffs resuming dirty career. Some townspeople in this 19th-century mill village on the Connecticut River celebrated when workers began tearing down a shuttered coal-fired power plant this year. But the demolition is hardly a victory against climate change. It's being rebuilt in Guatemala. Boston Globe
Ex-nuclear plant gathers dust. Eighteen miles south of Fayetteville, on the edge of the Ozark National Forest, sits a dilapidated monument to both the promise of nuclear energy and the problems it can create. Little Rock Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Shell's rocky return. Shell is mounting an aggressive return to the polar ocean, staking hundreds of millions of dollars to lease vast offshore acreage, staff an Anchorage office and assemble a flotilla of drilling ships to sink more holes in the Beaufort Sea. Anchorage Daily News
The bounty around us. From farmers to families, they hope to fix global by eating local. Seattle Times
How to add oomph to ‘organic’. The organic industry has gone wild in the last decade, but you wouldn’t know it at the Department of Agriculture. New York Times
Organic soda 'Made in Germany' takes on the world. Beer? Coke? Evian? All passé -- in Germany at least. A new organic soda called Bionade has taken the country by storm and now has its sights set on the world. But, as the company is now discovering, success brings its own problems. Der Spiegel.
Climate connections: Algeria vs. the Sahara. Algeria is a country threatened by changing weather patterns and the encroachment of the Sahara desert. In 2001, flash floods and mudslides left hundreds dead and thousands homeless. National Public Radio.
Climate of concern among Hunter winemakers. Hunter winemakers are confused and without direction about the impact of climate change, a leading viticulture expert says. Sydney Morning Herald
For its efforts to go green, Gastonia tagged `Cool City.' It was one of the hottest days of the year, but Gastonia kept cool. On Aug. 13, the city joined ranks with more than 600 other cities to become of America's "Cool Cities," a program of the Sierra Club. Charlotte Observer
New field for earmarks in U.S. goals on energy. Tucked away among the $3.2 billion in Congressional earmarks in the recently passed energy and water spending bill is a $4 million grant to a small company in suburban Chicago that is trying to solve the problem of capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions. Spartanburg Herald Journal
Bill Clinton lauds Tahoe restoration effort. Former President Bill Clinton returned to Lake Tahoe on Friday, 10 years after he launched what became a $1 billion restoration program, and called the alpine lake a focal point for the world's two biggest environmental challenges: global warming and resource depletion. Oakland Tribune
Dean batters Caribbean banana industry. Hurricane Dean has delivered a potentially fatal blow to a once-vibrant banana industry on three small eastern Caribbean islands, authorities said Saturday. Associated Press via the Seattle PI.
Local farmers make biodiesel a homegrown effort. A group of county farmers are hoping consumers will extend their "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" attitude from the grocery store to the fuel pump. Santa Cruz Sentinel
Harness the sun to save money, save Earth. Solar water heating for home use and as means of heating pool water has been both an affordable and popular technology for many years. Now, harnessing the sun’s power to create energy to power one’s home is growing increasingly popular. Helena Independent Record
Valley may be greener, but we aren't giving up driving. While Silicon Valley champions the environment like few places on earth, climbing into Priuses and paying premiums for alternative energy, most people here aren't willing to ditch their automobile to get to work. San Jose Mercury News
Ford hiring 70 engineers for alt-fuel projects. The company is looking to hire 70 new engineers and scientists to support its growing programs for alternative fuel vehicles. Detroit Free Press
USDA to check organic Chinese soybeans. U.S. Department of Agriculture auditors are scheduled to make their first -- and long-awaited -- trip to China this month to check on organic food operations there. Des Moines Register
Health alert issued over baby carrots from Mexico. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to consume Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots because the product may be contaminated with shigella. Canadian Press.
Is that sparkling smile worth it? The widespread use of whitening toothpaste, mouthwash and home kits - products that often contain sodium hydroxide, considered a poison by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - have worrying health implications, not to mention their effect on waterways as they swirl down the sink. Toronto Globe and Mail
Imported food leaving bad taste. As the world turns into a huge buffet line for the American appetite, consumers face increasingly tough decisions about what export countries and food products pose higher risks of making them sick, while government inspectors struggle to protect and inform them. Springfield Republican
What is green dry cleaning? Dry cleaners looking for a chemical-free method have learned something from the domestic goddesses who run for the club soda to prevent a stain from setting. Associated Press.
Golf cleaning up its ecological act. Over the past 15 years, the country's golf courses have made an effort to get their ecological act together. Vancouver Province
Retired buses travel around world. Buses considered too old, too polluting, or too unsafe for schoolchildren in the United States are being sold to other nations. Boston Globe
Made, badly, in China. Here's the truly dark side of the economic force known as globalization, where greed prevails above all. Albany Times Union
Mossville residents are surrounded by 14 toxic industrial facilities, several of which routinely release dioxins into the air, water, and land. Residents have an average level of dioxins that is 3 times higher than the average level of dioxins in the general U.S. population. Yet governmental agencies continue to issue permits which all the facilities to increase the toxic pollution they release. Industrial sources of dioxin poisoning in Mossville, Louisiana. Published by Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Household cleaning chemicals, like tens of thousands of chemicals found in the consumer marketplace, are available to the consumer with virtually no information on the potential consequences for human health and little oversight by the government. Research has shown that five common household chemicals used in cleaning products are linked to reproductive harm and to asthma. Household hazards: Potential hazards of home cleaning products. Published by Women's Voices for the Earth.
OPEN LETTER TO AL GORE TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT ON THE GREEN PARTY TICKET - on OpEdNews
Permalink | 17 comments