Pollution Causes Beach No-Swim Days Across the U.S.
Environmental News Network | August 8, 2007
Summer time is beach time. Right? Yes, but a National Resources Defense Council report identified 25,000 “no-swim day” occurrences in 2006 alone, topping survey records over the last 17years. Pollution along U.S. ocean shores, bays, and Great Lakes caused beach closings and advisories. The culprits: agricultural runoff, sewage, oil spills, and stormwater runoff. Impervious surfaces such as parking lots, construction sites, roads and roofs play a big role.
EcoHealth Links: Cities | What’s Swimming in Your Glass? | Tides | Things are Heating Up!

Find out more about red tides, sources of pollution—and how they affect humans and animals in the online article, EcoHealth, and NRDC report.

Storms Stop Underground and Aboveground Traffic in New York City
BBC | August 9, 2007

Floods in South Asia Cause Misery for Many in South Asia
Planet Ark | July 31, 2007
Around the world, the intensity of severe storms is on the rise. Flooding and heavy rains and high winds are destroying property and even killing people in New York City and parts of Asia. In New York, trees were uprooted, smashing into cars; and roofs were torn from houses. Nebraska had four inches of rain in one hour and in Illinois, people had to evacuate their homes. In India, four million have been affected by monsoon flooding, forcing them to take the high ground and seek shelter on rooftops. Hundreds of deaths from flooding, storms and landslides have occurred in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal. Scientists say that rising global temperatures caused by climate change have triggered these storms. These stories tell more.
EcoHealth Links: Floods | Storms | What is Global Warming? | Global Trade | Sustainability | Chemicals

Going Local or Organic Creates Concerns
Planet Ark | July 18, 2007
How can we cut down on greenhouse gas emissions? Is it better to eat organic food flown half way around the world or eat locally grown food that requires more carbon—in the form of fertilizers or heavy equipment? These decisions affect the economies of farmers everywhere. One such debate between African farmers and British businesses has heated up. Most organic produce in Great Britain is imported from Africa. To slow global warming, Britain is threatening to ban ' produce. Worried African growers maintain that even with air travel, producing crops in tropical countries is far more energy efficient than growing them in Europe. What do you think? In Britain, public concern has prompted retailers to start labeling air-freighted produce.
EcoHealth Links: Green Revolution, Red Alert |  Global Trade | Sustainability | Chemicals

Organic Farming: A New "Green Revolution"?
Planet Ark | July 11, 2007
The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s changed farming around the world. Pesticides, herbicides, and new farming practices enabled farmers to grow more food than ever before. While the Green Revolution methods have always stirred controversy, a new University of Michigan study confirms that organic farming (which excludes use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides) can yield equal or greater food supplies. In developing countries, organic methods yielded up to three times as much food as the conventional methods and held their own against conventional methods in wealthier countries.
EcoHealth Links: Chemicals | Sustainability | Green Revolution, Red Alert

Stressed-Out Bees Lead Scientists to Solutions
WebWire | May 7, 2007
Honeybee die-off has sent researchers diving for answers. They may have found one. It turns out that bees under stress, due to weather or lack of pollen, release a pheromone, a chemical that spreads the word that times are tough. Pheromones are a nonverbal form of communication that animals use to transmit messages to other members of the same species. Dogs, for example, use pheromone to mark their territory, convey gender, age, size, reproductive status, and even when they were last in the area. In the case of honeybees, the pheromones ends up attracting an invasive beetle from Africa, which carries a yeast that breaks down pollen. The result: havoc around the globe. Look for solutions in this article.
EcoHealth Links: Nature’s Secrets

Global Warming: A Wake-Up Call
National Geographic | May 4, 2007
Humans can do something to stop global warming, concludes a major climate report, released by the IPCC. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a committee of the United Nations, issued its third report in a year. This network of 2,500 scientists, policymakers, and economists from more than 120 countries met in Bangkok to detail options for stabilizing the concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere and preventing the worse from occurring. The first report concluded that global warming is accelerating and that human activity is responsible. The second warned of present and future consequences (e.g., disease, droughts, floods, and severe storms.) The third invites action.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Floods | Storms | Droughts | Stay Cool

Honeybees Create a Buzz
Environmental News Network | May 3, 2007
The honeybee population has taken a nose-dive, and scientists consider it a crisis. What’s all the fuss? Honeybees do more than make honey. They pollinate nearly 100 flowering crops, including apples, nuts, cherries, and soybeans. A third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinating plants, and honeybees do 80 percent of the work. Without them, we will have far less food on the table.
EcoHealth Links: Nature’s Secrets

Polar Bears: Warmer Arctic Melts Icy Habitats
Environmental News Network | March 6, 2007
Polar bears are losing their home. While this is bad news for the bears, it may end up forcing faster action to stop global warming. Plans are afoot to list polar bears as a “threatened species.” If this goes into effect, U.S. government agencies, for example, will have to protect the polar bears, the sea ice where they live—all of which could affect oil and gas exploration, commercial shipping, and ultimately the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases that are warming the atmosphere.
EcoHealth Links: What is Global Warming? | Stay Cool

Organic Food Choices Increase
Planet Ark | February 19, 2007
People will have more choices. Demand for organic food in Europe and North America has grown in the last 10 years. In Germany alone, the sale of organic food increased by 17 percent in 2006. As people learn about industrial agriculture and conventional farming, the desire for safe, chemical-free food increases. Organics are even popping up on the shelves of the big name mega-chains.
EcoHealth Links: Livestock | Chemicals | Agriculture: Green Revolution | Sustainability

World Health Organization Says Warming Will Spread Disease and Increase Hunger
Planet Ark | February 16, 2007
Too "little attention is being paid to the impact of rising temperatures...on the health of the region's 1.4 billion people," says World Health Organization South Asia health adviser. "The link between climate change and human health is still not known even at the highest levels of government," emphasizes Alex Hildebrand. He predicts an increase in diseases; crop and food shortages caused by drought; heat waves; and water scarcity.
EcoHealth Links: Global Warming | Cholera | Agriculture: Growing Problems | Disease Outbreaks | Pollution | Water

Cut-Flowers: Cutting Corners Have Health Costs
AlterNet | February 13, 2007
By the time cut flowers reach buyers, they may have been sprayed, dipped or dunked in a host of potentially-harmful fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals. Who would have thought? At the center of concern are hundreds of thousands of workers in a water-logged savannah located in Colombia, South America, producing a huge number of flowers sold in the U.S.. To make sure that you are buying organic, look for the “VeriFlora” label, a program launched by U.S. consumers, growers, Whole Foods and other retailers.
EcoHealth Links: Agriculture: Green Revolution | Chemicals | Global Trade

Call for Tougher U.N. Role
Reuters | February 3, 2007
One day after the world’s top climate scientists reported that global warming was man-made and could cause major problems, 46 nations called for a new branch of the United Nations with increased power to enforce international environmental laws. Sadly, the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gases—the U.S., China, Russia, and India—did not sign this document.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Stay Cool

Major Report Is a Wake-Up Call to World Leaders
Keep Media | February 2, 2007
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a committee of the United Nations, has turned up the heat with its first report in six years. The Report shows that global warming is accelerating and that human activities (e.g., burning oil, cutting trees) are responsible. It warns us that the effects will be irreversible for centuries to come. Governments, environmental groups and businesses have responded, with many calling for prompt actions.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Food and Water | Storms | Droughts | Stay Cool

Sprawl Dumps Ancient City Into Garbage Crisis
Planet Ark | January 31, 2007
As cities grow, so does their garbage—and related health problems. Even the world-famous ancient capital of Athens, Greece has modern-day problems. It has run out of space for its garbage. Fearing toxic fires and landslides that could release hazardous dioxins into the air, officials are closing Athens’ main dump, which was designed to accept only 500 tons per day, not the more than 5,000 it does today.
EcoHealth Link: Cities | Pollution

Moved to Make a Difference
CS Monitor | January 2, 2007
Fifteen year old Ryan Hreljac had a big dream. Hreljac, a resident of Canada, remembers learning at age six that children in Africa often had to walk miles each day just to find water for their families to survive, and that children could die from drinking unclean water. Ryan set out to do something about it. Today, Ryan’s Well Foundation has raised more than $1.5 million dollars and built over 255 wells that serve more than 427,000 people in 12 countries.
EcoHealth Links: Food and Water | What’s Swimming in Your Glass? | Water Control

Britain Gives Go-Ahead to GMO Potatoes Trial
Planet Ark | December 4, 2006
Many people in Britain do not want GMO (genetically modified organisms) to be grown in the United Kingdom. However, officials recently announced that the German chemical company BASF is going to be allowed to grow trial crops of a GMO potato that is resistant to potato blight, a type of mold which caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840's.
EcoHealth Links: Genetic Engineering | Chemicals | Sustainability | Green Revolution, Red Alert

Haze Health Warning Issues
BBC | October 7, 2006
A health warning was issued in Singapore by Singapore's environmental agency due to the thick haze, or smog, caused by large fires set to clear trees in Indonesia.
EcoHealth Links: Pollution | Deforestation | Pollution Without Boundaries

Avian Influenza Facts
BBC | October 22, 2005
Avian influenza, a virus that can jump from birds to humans and cause extreme sickness and death, has infected birds in Asia and Europe. The big concern is the possibility of the virus spreading between humans. If that happens, a global pandemic is possible. Stay tuned to EcoHealth for information on avian influenza.
EcoHealth Links: Globalization | Livestock | Disease

Summer Heat Wave and Hurricanes 2005
Union of Concerned Scientists | October 5, 2005
Hurricanes have always affected the Gulf Coast states, but global warming may be making matters worse. Scientific evidence now suggests a link between hurricane strength and duration and global warming. Rising sea levels cause storm surges which result in coastal flooding, erosion, and damage to coastal properties. To see images of wetlands protecting inland areas, check out satellite images of Louisiana wetlands before and after Katrina.
EcoHealth Links: Global Warming | Storms

Great Lakes Soil Probed for Helpful Fungi
ENN | May 31, 2005
Scientists think new drug agents that could be developed into antibiotics, cancer drugs and fungus fighters may be hanging out in the soil of the Great Lakes. Though this discovery is exciting, don’t buy diving equipment yet. The team still has to prove that the agents in the soil are new in order to get pharmaceutical companies interested in developing them into drugs. Only seven new anti-bacterial drugs have been approved in the last seven years.
EcoHealth Links: Soil | Plants

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment | March 2005
Scientists gathered research for four years in a global effort to create a major scientific report. The report shows that 60% of ecosystem services to society are being degraded or used unsustainably. Examples of such changes include disease emergence, abrupt alterations in water quality, the creation of dead zones in coastal waters, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate.  

China's Acid Rain Is "Out of Control"
Planet Ark | December 1, 2004
Acid rain is "out of control" in the world's most populous nation, reported an official Chinese newspaper. Last year, sulfur and nitrogen polluted rain fell on some 250 Chinese cities and costs the nation $13.3 billion. The problem has two main causes: The Chinese own more cars than ever before, and China burns huge amounts of coal to meet its swelling energy needs.
EcoHealth Links: Pollution without Boundaries | What Is Global Warming? | Air | Cities

Philippine Floods Kill 306 People
Planet Ark | December 1, 2004
Flash floods and huge mudslides have killed 306 people in the Philippines, and about 150 other people are missing. Officials blame this disaster on deforestation caused by illegal logging. Trees help hold soil in place so killing or removing them can make mudslides much more likely.
EcoHealth Links: Deforestation | Soil

Air Pollution Shortens European Lives
Environmental News Network | November 29, 2004
Burning fossil fuels and wood cuts two years off the lives of many people living in Europe, scientists have discovered. Tiny bits of pollution, called fine particles, escape into the air and can travel long distances. Humans who inhale these particles can suffer some not-so-fine effects, especially a higher risk of heart attack. Most fine particles are produced by cars and trucks, power stations, and factories.
EcoHealth Links: Air | Ozone

Green Roofs Sprout in Chicago
National Geographic News | November 15, 2004
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is encouraging builders to cover roofs with a layer of plants. To get things going in 2000, he created the city's first green roof-a garden atop City Hall. He also required that many tax-supported projects include green roofs. Today they're part of more than a hundred construction projects in the Windy City. Green roofs help cool buildings in summer, and they keep rainwater from overwhelming city sewers. In addition, green roofs fight the urban heat island effect. That's when buildings and streets hoard heat, making cities and towns much hotter than forests or countrysides.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Heating Up | Cities

Melting Glaciers in Tibet
New York Times | November 9, 2004
Tibet has long been home to the world's largest concentration of mountain glaciers. Now it is also home to raging rivers and mighty waterfalls that are transforming once-frozen landscapes high in the Himalayas. All that wild water comes from glaciers that are melting faster than ever before. Earth's temperature is rising. "Make no mistake," said one scientist, "what's happening to the glaciers in Tibet is happening around the globe."
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Sea Level

Major Study: Arctic Is Warming Rapidly
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment | November 8, 2004
Earth’s northernmost region is heating up almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Three hundred scientists from around the world reached that conclusion after studying the region intensively for the past four years. This “rapid and severe climate change” is having huge effects. Glaciers and sea ice are melting rapidly, and Arctic winters are shorter than before. These and other changes could endanger the survival of polar bears and many other species, and Arctic happenings likely foreshadow serious problems for the entire globe.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Sea Level | Stay Cool

Global Warning: Signs from Earth
National Geographic | September 2004
"There's no question that Earth is getting hotter-and fast," reported National Geographic in a 73-page look at "the biggest story in geography today." Over the past century, Earth's average temperature rose a full degree Fahrenheit. In the next hundred years, the planet may get three to ten degrees warmer still. "The results aren't pretty," as you can see at the magazine's website, which offers summaries of the report's three sections and links for learning more.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Heating Up

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Rice Yields Decrease as Temperatures Increase
BBC News | June 29, 2004
Researchers and scientist linked rice yields and temperature data which showed for each degree centigrade of warming, rice yields dropped by 10%. This is a major concern because as rice is a staple diet for most of the world's growing population.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming? | Agriculture | Battle for Balance | Hunger

New Satellite Data Unequivocal About Warming
The Heat is On | May 6, 2004
Powerful new evidence now supports documentsthat global warming .is real. A research team led by Qiang Fu, of the University of Washington in Seattle, addresses and resolves the questions raised by skeptics about tropospheric warming.
EcoHealth Links: What Is Global Warming?

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California County Outlaws GM Crops
Planet Ark | March 4, 2004
On March 2, the voters of Mendecino County, in northern California, passed a measure against planting genetically modified crops or raising bioengineered animals. Supporters of the ban hope it will help Mendocino farmers compete in Europe, where biotechnology is widely distrusted. The new law is the first of its kind in the U.S.
EcoHealth Link: GM Food

Libya Taps Huge Fossil Aquifer
New York Times | March 2, 2004
The African country of Libya sits atop an enormous supply of water—"the equivalent of a lake larger than Germany and hundreds of yards deep." Trapped in sandstone, the water fell as rain over the landscape 75,000 to 250,000 years ago. To mine the water, Libya has spent the past 11 years constructing a massive system of pipes and pumps. Half completed, the project covers an areas twice the size of Texas.
EcoHealth Links: Water | Water Control | Irrigation

Dengue Fever Kills 322 in Indonesia
Planet Ark | March 1, 2004
Indonesian officials have reported 18,000 cases of dengue fever, a mosquite-borne virus that strikes the South Asian country each year. The disease has killed 322 people so far this year. That's double the number of deaths at thus point a year ago.
EcoHealth Links: Disease Agents (Dengue Fever) | Disease | How Disease Spreads | Disease Outbreaks

Amazon Fires Spark Stormy Weather
Planet Ark | February 27, 2004
To clear land in the Amazon Basin, humans set hundreds of thousands of fires each year. The blazes create vast clouds of dense smoke that affect climates across South America. The smoke impedes rainfall and makes thunderstorms more violent, reported an international team of scientists.
EcoHealth Links: Storms | Droughts | Air | Deforestation

Disaster Deaths Multiplied in 2003
Planet Ark | February 27, 2004
Last year, natural disasters killed 75,000 people-seven times the number of 2002 victims. The trend is likely to continue as rising temperatures spark heat waves, floods, extreme weather, and other problems. "It is to be feared that extreme events which can be traced to climate change will have increasingly grave consequences in the future," predicted a report by the insurance firm Munich Re.
EcoHealth Links: Heating Up | Floods | Storms | Stay Cool

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