Florida workers over the weekend rushed to prevent the collapse of a reservoir wall containing hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater from a defunct phosphate mine, a looming environmental catastrophe that prompted mandatory evacuation orders and a declaration of emergency by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. By Jake Johnson Common Dreams A leak in the […]
The skies in Beijing turned orange recently, thanks to what was widely reported as a massive sandstorm. The problem, at least in terms of public health, is that it was not actually a sandstorm. It was a dust storm. By Matt Telfer, University of Plymouth The Conversation This might sound like an act of geological […]
Following the emergence of evidence that power plants using a chemically treated coal—purportedly designed to reduce smog—generated more smokestack pollution not less, the Government Accountability Office has reportedly launched a congressional probe of the “refined coal” tax credit program that yields at least $1 billion per year for U.S. corporations. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams With the […]
Around the globe, concern is mounting about the unfolding climate and ecological catastrophe. Yet the extraction of natural resources through mining and energy projects continues on a large scale, with disastrous environmental consequences. By Judith Verweijen, University of Sheffield and Alexander Dunlap, University of Oslo The Conversation To understand how this is possible, one place […]
“While financial analysts, policymakers, and massive corporations squabble over the finer points of the fracking debate, families living amidst the wells day in and day out live in constant fear about what the industry might cost them—if they had another child, would they need to worry about birth defects? Are these exposures increasing their kids’ cancer risk? Would it […]
Texas oil refineries released hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants including benzene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide into the air as they scrambled to shut down during last week’s deadly winter storm, Reuters reported Sunday. By Brett Wilkins Common Dreams Winter storm Uri, which killed dozens of people and cut off power to over four million Texans […]
For decades, polluters and their apologists have conducted a concerted campaign to discredit and destroy science they knew showed how burning fossil fuels is a public health threat. (There’s even a pithy hashtag!) Then, in the 1990s, when the EPA considered regulating second-hand smoke, the tobacco industry devised a plan to substantially restrict the science EPA […]
While arguments for rapidly phasing out fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy are often based on the climate crisis and its devastating impacts, a study published Tuesday bolsters the public health case for clean power sources, revealing that fossil fuel-related air pollution killed an estimated 8.7 million people in 2018 alone, accounting for 18% of total global deaths that […]
After three protesters were arrested on Monday at a Minnesota construction site for Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, more than 50 water protectors on Tuesday marched onto an easement—with two people locking themselves to an excavator—and temporarily shut down work on the contested tar sands project. By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams “The group, led by Anishinaabe warriors from Camp […]
What do your toothbrush and your running shoes have in common? Plastic. We now live on Planet Plastic, where billions of tons of waste from everyday products made of these chemical contaminants are strewn literally everywhere — on the highest mountaintops, in the deepest seabeds, in dense tropical jungles, and all across barren deserts. By Jim […]
On his first day in office President Joe Biden started signing executive orders to reverse Trump administration policies. One sweeping directive calls for stronger action to protect public health and the environment and hold polluters accountable, including those who “disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities.” By David Konisky, Indiana University The Conversation To […]
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with two counts of willful neglect of duty for his role in the deadly and ongoing Flint water crisis, news that comes in the wake of a report indicating Snyder was aware of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to the emergency months before he acknowledged it in public. By Jake Johnson […]
It’s hard to imagine navigating modern life without a mobile phone in hand. Computers, tablets and smartphones have transformed how we communicate, work, learn, share news and entertain ourselves. They became even more essential when the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes, meetings and social connections online. By Callie Babbitt, Rochester Institute of Technology and Shahana Althaf, […]
Study says America’s rivers are changing color and that’s not good news: According to a study published in this week’s journal Geographical Research Letters, a third of the tens of thousands of mile-long river segments in the United States have shifted color in satellite images in the past 37 years. By Meteor Blades That includes 11,629 miles that became greener or went […]
The original Starve the Beast policy is widely known: tax cuts for the rich to bust the Federal budget and force cuts to social programs for Blacks. But tax cuts have been taken much further, and have resulted in Policing for Profit and other vast abuses meant to make Blacks and others of the oppressed […]