Tag archives for pollution
As U.S. Carbon Dioxide Footprint Falls, Report Looks at Ways to Continue Emission Decline
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on February 7, 2013 As Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed the Obama administration’s commitment to combat climate change, new data indicates carbon dioxide emissions in the United States in 2012 dropped to their lowest levels since 1994. The report found expansion of renewables, increased efficiency and the increased availability of unconventional natural gas all contributed to the reduction in climate pollution. In fact, by the end…
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The latest figures on water quality in the Ganges, straight from the Central Pollution Control Board—a government organisation charged with monitoring it daily during the Kumbh Mela—suggest that contrary to earlier reports, it’s neither drinkable nor batheable. Given that 80-odd million people are expected to bathe in the river during the festival, I asked head of medical…
Climate Change under the Microscope in Report, Leaked IPCC Draft
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on December 20, 2012 As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., debate the so-called fiscal cliff—when U.S. federal tax increases and spending cuts are due to take effect at the end of 2012—new research in the journal Nature Climate Change says we are already at the edge of a climate cliff. It explores the cost and risk associated with surpassing critical emissions thresholds by 2020, and what would need to…
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Text and Photos by Gloria Dawson Riverkeeper’s patrol boat glides along Newtown Creek in New York City. Like a cruise ship captain leading a voyage through environmental hell, Phillip Musegaas points out oil slicks, the sewage treatment plant, and the huge pipes where raw sewage flows into the creek every time it rains. He notes…
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Tonight, anchored along the western shore of Lanai Island, we’re reveling in the briny land smell beneath volcanic seamounts and mountain goat habitat. Our scientific research is complete and all that remains is a final cleaning of the ship, a barbeque on deck, an alcohol-free swizzle party and another refreshing swim in the Pacific. Strange…
A Bolder Clean Water Act for the Next 40 Years
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on October 17, 2012 
As game-changing laws go, the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act ranks high. With images of rivers like the Cuyahoga burning and fish floating belly up in Lake Erie still fresh in the public’s mind, the Act transformed the nation’s relationship with fresh water. It forbade cities and industries from using rivers and lakes as waste…
Three days and almost 400 miles west of California, the rail is now free of slumped crew feeding the fish. From my aft berth, I can hear the deck being scrubbed above. Even though we’ve passed beyond the shallow edge of the continental shelf, we’re still amid cold, northern currents. With the exception of today’s…
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The winners of Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest were announced today, with first prize going to eight-year-old Anastasya Vorobko from Saint Petersburg in Russia, for her image SOS! This new photo contest, which was launched earlier this summer by National Geographic photographer, Reza, in association with the Azerbaijan-based NGO, IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental…
In 1988, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers measuring pollution in the Sea of Japan predicted that plastic contamination would show up in much greater quantities in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers had already confirmed the presence of a new, giant soup of plastics, which the media eventually dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In fact,…
Continuing Carbon Emissions Could Have Devastating Impacts on Poor Countries
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on September 27, 2012 Populations and livelihoods—mostly in developing countries—will suffer as average global temperatures continue to rise. This is according to a study, conducted by the humanitarian organization DARA, which found climate change could cost the world more than $1.2 trillion annually and contribute to the deaths of more than 100 million people if action against climate change isn’t taken.…
Young photographers aged 17 and under are reminded to submit their entries to the Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest 2012 by September 15. Initiated by National Geographic photographer, Reza, and the non-governmental organisation, IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action), the contest has already drawn entries from 73 nations around the globe, with…
Children aged 17 and under have a unique opportunity to showcase their photographs in an exciting new global contest initiated by National Geographic photographer, REZA, and the non-governmental organisation, IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action). The Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest, Festival and Exhibition 2012 aims to raise awareness of environmental issues…
Dying for the Ganges: A Scientist Turned Swami Risks All
Posted by Dan Morrison of National Geographic News Correspondent in Water Currents on March 16, 2012 
“At the moment I am quite resigned to my fate,” GD Agrawal, the 80-year-old dean of India’s environmental engineers, says from his hospital bed in the holy city of Varanasi. Agrawal hasn’t eaten since February 8. He hasn’t taken a drink of water since March 8; an intravenous drip of dextrose and vitamins keeps him lucid.
Fight Over Tar Sands Pipeline May Lead to Cancellation, “Huge” Consequences
Posted by Mason Inman on January 5, 2012 In November, the Obama administration decided to delay a decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline to bring tar sands from Canada to the United States. But in December, Republicans attached a provision to a tax bill, which President Obama signed, that urges the administration to decide on the pipeline within 60 days,…
Did the Chesapeake Bay Turn the Corner in 2011?
Posted by Dan Klotz on January 4, 2012 2011 may go down in history as the turning point for the Chesapeake Bay. The largest estuary in the United States, the Bay’s watershed includes almost 20 percent of the country’s Atlantic coast and produces an estimated 500 million pounds of seafood every year.
Peruvians Protest Gold Mine Construction
Posted by Anne Marie Houppert on December 30, 2011 Peruvian President Ollanta Humala announced a state of emergency in parts of the country early in December in response to protests over the construction of a huge gold mine in Cajamarca, reported CNN; the state of emergency was lifted in mid-December. The protesters cite potential adverse environmental effects on water and agriculture. The U.S. Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., which…
As Eurozone Crisis Deepens, Fight to Save Emissions Trading Scheme Begins
Posted by Mason Inman on December 22, 2011 Prices in Europe’s carbon emissions trading scheme have collapsed this year, in part because there were too many allowances in the system starting off, threatening the future of the whole market. “Without intervention … Europe’s climate policy is over,” one analyst said. Some of Europe’s biggest energy and manufacturing firms also wrote a letter to the…
A Swami’s Hunger Strike Ends Mining on a Stretch of the Ganges River
Posted by Dan Morrison of National Geographic News Correspondent in Water Currents on December 9, 2011 
An 11-day hunger strike by the swami of a small ashram ended on Monday night when the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand banned stone and sand mining from the Ganges riverbed near the city of Haridwar pending an environmental impact statement.
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The first time I dived at the remote Kingman Reef, in 2005, I thought I found paradise. When I returned in 2007, I thought I had entered the dark land of Mordor.
Posted by Hundreds of crocheters, ranging in age from 3 to 101, contributed to the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef currently on exhibit on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Few people have seen more real reefs than marine biologist Nancy Knowlton, the Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and a member…
Millions of Canada’s migratory birds, representing more than a hundred species, could be at risk when they return this fall to areas in the Gulf of Mexico affected by the oil spill, the Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI), a conservation charity, said today. “The Gulf Coast serves as important habitat for hundreds of Canada’s bird species…
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Public hearings started today for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) proposed rule on how to dispose of coal ash–the toxic byproduct of burning coal. In December, a billion gallons of coal ash spilled from the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, poisoning a river and burying neighboring homes. The disaster, which occurred four months before…
By Leon Marshall This post is part of a special National Geographic news series on global water issues. Johannesburg, South Africa–The South African economy is substantially founded on gold. But now the ecological legacy of this great wealth is coming back to haunt the country and in particular its industrial capital of Johannesburg in a…
The Jordan River, famous for the baptism of Jesus Christ and countless pilgrims since, is now so toxic that baptisms in its filthy water pose a health risk, according to a Middle East environmental group. Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) called on regional authorities last week to halt baptism in the Lower Jordan River…
The first group of hatchlings from endangered sea turtle eggs brought from beaches along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast was released into the Atlantic Ocean off NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, NASA said in this video released on YouTube. “Twenty-two Kemp’s ridley turtles were set free on a Kennedy Space Center/Canaveral…
