EcocentricEcocentric
Environmentalists here in the U.S. are not happy with President Obama, in part because he pulled back on a promise to tighten ground-level ozone and smog standards for air pollution. But American greens should remember: much of the rest of the world has it far, far, far worse.
That’s one takeaway from a new report by the World …
EcocentricEcocentric
Solar, wind, biofuels and other renewable sources of energy get the hype, but there’s no getting around the fact that most of our electricity still comes from fossil fuels. About half the U.S.’s electricity and 40% of the world’s power comes from carbon-intensive coal. That’s bad news for the climate—coal is the single-biggest …
EcocentricHealth
If there’s one thing you’re guaranteed to see in media coverage of the wildfires raging through the Southwest, it’s numbers: people evacuated, homes destroyed, and square miles swallowed by the savage flames. While these are crucial slices of information in any natural disaster, it’s important to remember the other, more …
EcocentricHealth
Cross posted from Healthland:
Endocrine disruption, diabetes, obesity—to the list of ills potentially associated with exposure to the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), you can add one more: childhood asthma. In a new study presented over the weekend at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver, researchers from the …
EcocentricHealth
Crossposted from Healthland:
It can sometimes seem that we spend most of our journalistic time trying to scare you. Or maybe that’s just my posts — I tend to get the environmental danger of the week. But, sorry to say, I’ve got another thing for you to be frightened of, and it’s something you might not expect: armadillos.
That’s …
EcocentricHealth
Crossposted from TIME’s Healthland
Bad news for women who like to get their hair severely straightened with the popular Brazilian blowout technique à la Jennifer Aniston: it may look good, but apparently it’s not good for you.
EcocentricHealth
Crossposted from Healthland:
It’s no secret that air pollution — besides damaging the pulmonary system and blackening the skies — can also lead to cardiovascular problems and even heart attacks. But a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) indicates …
EcocentricHealth
Over on Healthland, I have a gallery looking at the various ways that unchecked warming might harm human health. It’s pegged to a recent push by the major health organizations in the U.S. to draw attention to climate change. If environmentalism doesn’t work as a motivating force, maybe health will. Check it out here.
EcocentricHealth
Crossposted from TIME’s Healthland:
For about 36 million Americans with seasonal allergies, torture time is just around the corner. As spring flowers, the pollen will flow, resulting in nasal congestion, red itchy eyes and overall awfulness. It’s not just cosmetic either—for an estimated 23 million Americans with asthma, …
EcocentricHealth
On the main page I have a piece on a fascinating Science study that showed how scientists were able to genetically engineer chickens to make them virtually unable to pass on avian flu. That could have major implications for influenza—birds can spread new flu viruses to human beings—and for veterinary disease, if researchers can …
