We at the Evangelical Environmental Network are thankful for the EPA’s promulgation of its Heavy-Duty Vehicle NOx Standard today. This rule is a much-needed first action to curb NOx pollution from freight trucks and other large vehicles. Heavy-duty vehicles contribute 63% of dangerous nitrogen oxides and other pollution in our air, harming respiratory and cardiovascular […]
In 1962 environmental scientist Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring,” a bestselling book that asserted that overuse of pesticides was harming the environment and threatening human health. Carson did not call for banning DDT, the most widely used pesticide at that time, but she argued for using it and similar products much more selectively and paying […]
An unprecedented, massive harmful algal bloom (HAB) stretching throughout San Francisco Bay appears to be in decline, but the State Water Resources Control Board, San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) are warning that depleted oxygen levels could lead to “large-scale aquatic deaths” in the days ahead. By Dan […]
Litter is perhaps the most tangible of all environmental problems. And it’s not just a disrespectful few who are responsible for it. Litter, defined in its broadest terms, includes any solid material present in the environment that was made or processed by people. It may have arrived there from an accidental spillage, as debris washed […]
PFAS chemicals seemed like a good idea at first. As Teflon, they made pots easier to clean starting in the 1940s. They made jackets waterproof and carpets stain-resistant. Food wrappers, firefighting foam, even makeup seemed better with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. A. Daniel Jones, Michigan State University and Hui Li, Michigan State University The Conversation […]
Climate science is clear: Floodwaters are a growing risk for many American cities, threatening to displace not only people and housing but also the land-based pollution left behind by earlier industrial activities. In 2019, researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office investigated climate-related risks at the 1,571 most polluted properties in the country, also known […]
The following is the written testimony of EEN’s Vice President for Science & Policy, The Rev. Dr. Jessica Moerman, from the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis hearing entitled “Cutting Methane Pollution: Safeguarding Health, Creating Jobs, and Protecting Our Climate” on June 24, 2022: Dear Chair Castor and Ranking Member Graves, Thank you for your service to […]
Plastic pollution is a global problem, contaminating terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Microplastics — plastic particles smaller than five millimetres in size — infiltrate and circulate in the global planetary dust cycle, water cycle and carbon cycle. By Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto and Xia Zhu, University of Toronto The Conversation Microplastics have infiltrated the […]
Pay-as-you-throw is a policy that charges people for the amount of trash they toss out. It’s also sometimes called variable-rate pricing or pay-as-you-waste. Lily Baum Pollans, Hunter College The Conversation Many cities and towns around the world, including over 7,000 in the U.S., have pay-as-you-throw waste policies. Examples include Seattle, Berkeley, Austin and Portland, Maine. […]
Earlier this week Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) went on a tirade against sage grouse, attacking the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) upcoming changes to sage grouse management in the United States. Unmentioned in her attack was the fact that Terra Energy Partners, a company with extensive operations in sage grouse country, has paid her husband nearly $1 million […]
As a child growing up in the tiny village of Blandburg, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, where my playgrounds were un-reclaimed coal strip mines less than 75 yards from our backdoor, I am pleased to see today’s announcement regarding the Department of the Interior releasing $725 million first funds of the $11.3 billion funds authorized by the […]
The production and release of plastics, pesticides, industrial compounds, antibiotics and other pollutants is now happening so fast and on such a large scale that it has exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution, the safe limit for humanity, a new study claims. We asked Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, a PhD candidate at Stockholm University and one […]
Wishcycling is putting something in the recycling bin and hoping it will be recycled, even if there is little evidence to confirm this assumption. Hope is central to wishcycling. People may not be sure the system works, but they choose to believe that if they recycle an object, it will become a new product rather […]
RedGREENandBlue’s top 10 stories of 2021: Steven Donziger beat Chevron in court, so they crucified him. He just won his appeal Michael Mann on “Don’t Look Up”: DO see this film! Earth’s magnetic field broke down 42,000 years ago and caused massive sudden climate change Sharkfest: 10 solutions to overfishing that could save our oceans […]
If you’ve pumped gas at a U.S. service station over the past decade, you’ve put biofuel in your tank. Thanks to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, almost all gasoline sold nationwide is required to contain 10% ethanol – a fuel made from plant sources, mainly corn. With the recent rise in pump prices, […]