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Arica, a port city close to the border with Peru, has expanded rapidly since the 1980s, with housing developments moving into what were previously industrial areas. FLASHPACKER TRAVELGUIDE / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Laura Sear and Leslie Steed (Arica, Chile)
Arica is a dusty, windswept port city in northern Chile. Tourists wander the city's long seafront under the shadow of a dramatic buff-colored cliff called El Morro. But the bracing sea air belies a toxic controversy that has bounced from court to court, from Chile to Sweden, in vain search of resolution.
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An EPA sponsored cleanup of the toxic Gowanus Canal dredges a section of the canal of industrial debris on Oct. 28, 2016 in Brooklyn. The Gowanus is a Superfund site from years of industrial waste spilling into the water, and it is listed in GAO's report to be at risk from a climate disaster. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis / Getty Images
The climate crisis has put at least 945 designated toxic waste sites at severe risk of disaster from escalating wildfires, floods, rising seas and other climate-related disasters, according to a new study from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), as the AP reported.
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Heavy metals that may damage a developing brain are present in 95 percent of baby foods on the market. Cirou Frederic / PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections / Getty Images
Heavy metals that may damage a developing brain are present in 95 percent of baby foods on the market, according to new research from the advocacy organization Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), which bills itself as an alliance of scientists, nonprofit organizations and donors trying to reduce exposures to neurotoxic chemicals during the first three years of development.
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Water Inequality Used to Be a Developing World Problem Only. Not Any More.
14 October 2019
Insights + Opinion
Protestors marched outside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Monday, August 26, during the MTV Video and Music Awards to bring attention to the water crisis currently gripping the city. Karla Ann Cote / NurPhoto / Getty Images
By Will Sarni
It is far too easy to view scarcity and poor quality of water as issues solely affecting emerging economies. While the images of women and children fetching water in Africa and a lack of access to water in India are deeply disturbing, this is not the complete picture.
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Mining Powers Modern Life, but Can Leave Scarred Lands and Polluted Waters Behind
03 October 2019
Insights + Opinion
The Bingham Canyon open-pit copper mine in Utah has operated since 1903. David Guthrie, CC BY 2.0
By Matthew Ross
Modern society relies on metals like copper, gold and nickel for uses ranging from medicine to electronics. Most of these elements are rare in Earth's crust, so mining them requires displacing vast volumes of dirt and rock. Hard rock mining – so called because it refers to excavating hard minerals, not softer materials like coal or tar sands – generated $600 billion in revenues worldwide in 2017.
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Turkish Scientist Sentenced to Prison for Publishing Paper Linking Pollution to Cancer
02 October 2019
Science
A child plays under the heavy smoke of factories in Dilovasi, Turkey on Nov. 7, 2006. BULENT KILIC / AFP / Getty Images
A Turkish food engineer, columnist and human rights advocate was sentenced to 15 months in prison last week for publishing an environmental paper that linked pollution to a high incidence of cancer in Western Turkey, according to Science Magazine.
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New Jersey Gov. Murphy said 6,500 households in Newark have signed up for lead service line replacement, and so far more than 900 service lines have been replaced. Edwin J. Torres / Governor's Office
21 Million Americans Are Relying on Unsafe Drinking Water, Here's What We Can Do About It
05 September 2019
Health + Wellness
Push Doctor / Flickr
Since the Flint drinking water crisis erupted five years ago, Americans have realized that many cities and towns struggle to ensure safe water. Currently residents of Newark, New Jersey are drinking bottled water after the city realized lead filters it handed out had failed.
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People observe the damage to Notre-Dame de Paris from the April 15, 2019, on May 1. Jeanne Menjoulet / CC BY-ND 2.0
Paris officials sealed off the area around the Notre Dame Cathedral to remove lead particles that have settled after a devastating fire destroyed the iconic cathedral's roof and spire in April.
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lisegagne / E+ / Getty Images
By Nicole Ferox
When my daughter was in preschool, she told me that instead of washing hands before lunch, the children used hand sanitizer. The thinking behind this was probably that hand sanitizer kills bacteria and viruses and therefore — presto! — problem solved. Hands are clean, and it's so much quicker.
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