Lab-on-a-Chip the Latest Weapon Against Pollution
Israeli scientists have developed a tiny laboratory, complete with a microscopic workbench, to measure water quality in real time. This lab-on-a-chip can detect pollutants and pathogens, and the Pentagon hopes it may detect the intrusion of a biological weapon into a U.S. water supply.
The Environmental Food Crisis: A Crisis of Waste
Over half of the food produced globally is lost, wasted or discarded as a result of inefficiency in the human-managed food chain, finds a new study by the United Nations Environment Programme released today.
Obama Shifts U.S. Policy to Back Global Mercury Control Treaty
The Obama administration has reversed the former U.S. position on limiting mercury pollution worldwide. Before astonished environment ministers attending the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council opening session in Nairobi today, the U.S. delegation endorsed negotiations for a new global treaty to control mercury pollution, to begin this year.
The Bush administration had opposed legally binding measures to control mercury, despite broad support among a majority of countries in the UNEP Governing Council.
Marine Life Explorers Find Same Species at Both Poles
Gray whales are one of at least 235 species that live in both polar seas despite a distance of more than 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) between them, Census of Marine Life explorers said today.
Climate Could Cross Critical Threshold by 2100, Expert Warns
Without decisive action by governments, corporations and individuals, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, warns a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Doctors Fight Planned Corpus Christi Coke-Fired Power Plant
Coastal Bend medical doctors, health care professionals, and others from all walks of life are seeking a contested case hearing as a part of their fight against the Las Brisas coke-fired power plant proposed for the Gulf coast port city of Corpus Christi.
Appeals Court Reverses Limits on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
In a victory for the coal industry, a panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers erred in his March 2007 decision that required full consideration of the environmental effects of mountaintop removal and slowed the issuing of new permits.
