A new system for cleaning soils contaminated with industrial toxins harnesses the power of White rot - a common fungus that decays fallen wood in forests. Research in Finland shows it can also destroy dioxins and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons.
… Finland white-rot-3.jpg A new system for cleaning soils contaminated with industrial …
The Chilcot report reveals that the UK has disclaimed any duty to decontaminate the toxic, radioactive ash left behind by its DU munitions, or even monitor the impacts on human health, writes Doug Weir. But Iraq and other countries are working towards a UN Resolution this October that would hold contaminating governments like the UK and the US legally accountable for DU pollution.
… DU shells, has no formal responsibility of cleaning up the mess. The question is examined …
The first ever global life-cycle assessment of clean energy sources shows that a renewable system could supply the world's entire electricity needs by mid-century, writes Tim Radford.
Renewables can supply 100% of world's power by 2050 Tim Radford | 15th October 2014 News Energy Renewables Science Mining hydropower_site_at_holbuvatnet_sunndal_2013-cut.jpg The first ever global …
A six-month investigation finds that the revolving door between government and the chemical industry has led the EPA to rely on easily manipulated toxicology research carried out entirely on computers - and this 'in silico' science often trumps both biology and epidemiology when it comes to regulatory action, or lack of it. The result? Toxic substances remain in everyday products.
Triumph of digital toxicology: why the US won't regulate deadly chemicals Valerie Brown Elizabeth Grossman | 27th November 2015 News Science Toxics Regulation USA Health computer-cut.jpg A six-month …
Below-par farm biosecurity should block farmers from participating in England's badger culls, writes Anna Dale. But a large body of evidence of poor and negligent biosecurity by farmers suggests that Natural England, the government's official regulator, is turning a blind eye to this strict requirement - and undermining the purpose of the cull.
… herds by the use of double-fencing, cleaning and disinfecting shared equipment or … for cattle, and raising troughs and regularly cleaning and disinfecting them. Risk … cattle feed stores and buildings, cleaning out water troughs regularly and …
Sooner than it takes to build a nuclear power station, lithium-air batteries could be helping wind and solar to make coal, oil and nuclear obsolete, say Cambridge scientists. Five times lighter and five times cheaper than current lithium batteries, Li-air would open the way to our 100% renewable future.
Li-air battery could make oil obsolete in ten years The Ecologist | 23rd November 2015 News Renewables Technology Energy Science Nuclear tesla-cut.jpg Sooner than it takes to build a nuclear power …
The UK government is all for fracking, writes Dr Robin Russell-Jones, but on climate grounds alone it should be banned. Evidence from the US shows that shale gas is twice as dirty as coal from a climate viewpoint due to 'fugitive emissions' of methane. That makes fracking incompatible with the UK's climate change commitments and the Paris Agreement - as the CCC may soon rule.
Fracking is twice as bad for climate as coal - will the Climate Change Committee ban it? Dr Robin Russell-Jones | 9th June 2016 News Climate Change Emissions Methane Fracking Fossil Fuels COP21 …
The BBC has been excelling itself in its deliberate understatement of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, writes Chris Busby. While calling in pseudo experts to say radiation is all but harmless, it's ignoring the science that shows that the real health impacts of nuclear fallout are around 1,000 times worse than claimed.
No matter what BBC says: Fukushima disaster is killing people Chris Busby | 14th March 2016 Comment Japan Nuclear Radiation Health Science fuku-water-sampling-cut.jpg The BBC has been excelling …
A new report from leading physicians published today reveals the excess mortality caused by UK air pollution, writes Vanessa Amaral-Rogers. The Government has already been found in breach of the EU's Air Quality Directive, but its policies remain weak. Will it finally step up to prevent early deaths from this silent killer?
… the capital in the next 4 years, starting by cleaning up London's iconic red buses. "Smog …
One of the biggest threats facing marine life is the 'microplastic' particles found in ocean ecosystems from bottom to top of food chains. Just back from a voyage of environmental exploration in the tropical Atlantic sampling the waters to build up a global picture of this ubiquitous pollutant, Ana Stanič writes of the joys and trials of life on the waves, and the need to keep our oceans clean.
In search of the unseen: an investigation into plastics in our oceans Ana Stanič | 21st February 2016 Ethical Living Oceans Pollution Waste Science 360-kmq.jpg One of the biggest threats facing …
Nanotechnology has the power to affect every aspect of life on the planet. Here, the Ecologist presents the many claims of its promoters and outlines some of the major developments taking place now or in the near future. In response, some of it’s leading critics analyse the risks that nanotechnology poses in their various fields of expertise.
Promising the World, or Costing the Earth? The Ecologist | 1st May 2003 News Nanotechnology Science Technology Military Nanotechnology Science And Technology investigates.jpg Nanotechnology has the …
Plastic pollution in the oceans is impacting every level of marine life, writes Kate Rawles, from micro-plankton to whales. And here is your chance to do something about it - join a research expedition to the Azores next month to study the problem and develop solutions!
Microplastic ocean pollution - will you join our research voyage? Kate Rawles | 5th August 2014 Comment Oceans Pollution Consumerism Toxics Oil Science rozalia-fishing-plastic-ceri-lewis-cut.jpg …
A new study explains for the first time how nanoparticles like those in diesel exhaust fumes cause heart disease by lodging in inflamed blood vessels, writes Oliver Tickell. The study, published as the UK government is ordered before the High Court to justify its refusal to publish plans to tackle illegal air pollution which afflicts 38 million people, also raises wider fears about 'engineered nanoparticles' in the environment.
As government delays pollution plan, study shows how killer nanoparticles cause heart disease Oliver Tickell | 26th April 2017 News Science Pollution Health UK Law Technology …
Somebody somewhere has to have a cunning plan to fix our environmental problems and save the world – right? Jim Thomas sorts through the big tech ideas you’ll be reading about this year
What technologies for solving environmental problems will we see in 2009? Jim Thomas | 23rd April 2009 Comment Science Technology Fix Problems Science And Technology Big_Fix_MAIN.jpg Somebody …
LAURA BRIGGS reports on an innovative project that turns city-centre air pollution from vehicle exhausts into Air-Inks for artists
Re-Purposing Air Pollution to make Air Inks Laura Briggs | 7th February 2017 Ethical Living Pollution Science Innovation Art air-ink solvents test.jpg LAURA BRIGGS reports on an innovative project …
The UK government claim that fracking is a 'clean' energy source rests on the conclusions of a single scientific paper, writes Paul Mobbs. And now that paper has been conclusively invalidated: it uses misleading figures that understate the methane emissions from fracking, and subsequent findings have left it totally discredited. Yet the paper is still being quoted to justify fracking, and the fool the public on its climate change impacts.
Whitehall's fracking science failure: shale gas really is worse for climate than coal Paul Mobbs | 24th May 2017 News Fracking Climate Change Science Fossil Fuels USA UK ch4-cut.jpg The UK government …
Chinese scientists have established beyond doubt that water polluted with nitrite is feeding the worldwide cancer epidemic. But while China is beating cancer by providing new sources of nitrite-free water, Western scientists, regulators and the editors of scientific journals are doing their best to suppress the truth.
Pure water the key to China's victories in the war against cancer Kenneth Hsu | 30th March 2015 Activism Health China Pollution Science redflagcanal_tigersmouthcliff-cut.jpg Chinese scientists have …
Today's threats of legal action by ClientEarth against the UK Government highlight the problem of London's poisonous air, which is killing some 10,000 people a year, writes John Weeks. Fortunately there are simple, low cost, effective measures that could be taken to bring about big improvements to the city's air quality, fast.
Five ways to slash London's lethal air pollution John Weeks | 24th February 2016 Comment Health Pollution UK Science Cities london air pollution.jpg Today's threats of legal action by ClientEarth …
Forest fires raging near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in north Ukraine are releasing a surge of airborne plutonium particles as radioactive twigs, branches and leaf litter burn.
Chernobyl fire radiation hazard as 'hot particles' of plutonium go up in smoke RT The Ecologist | 30th April 2015 News Nuclear Radiation Forests Ukraine Science forest-fire-us-cut.jpg Forest fires …
Trees in cities make us feel happier and more relaxed, writes Pat Thomas, but that's only the beginning of the benefits they confer. They also reduce air pollution, levels of asthma and other respiratory problems, and lower healthcare costs by $7 billion in the US alone.
Hug a tree, save your life Pat Thomas | 9th August 2014 Comment Health USA Science Forests tree-hugger-cut.jpg Trees in cities make us feel happier and more relaxed, writes Pat Thomas, but that's …
Just as climate change deniers leap from scientific uncertainty over the precise impacts of greenhouse gas emissions to certainty of little or no impact at all, so 'pro-nuclear environmentalists' conflate uncertainty of the mortality arising from Chernobyl and other nuclear disasters to certainty of few if any deaths, writes Jim Green. Their position is equally indefensible.
Radiation harm deniers? Pro-nuclear environmentalists and the Chernobyl death toll Dr Jim Green | 7th April 2016 News Nuclear Health Science Radiation WMD Ukraine Belarus doll.jpg Just as climate …
The anti-fracking movement scored a great victory when Lancashire councillors refused planning permission for two fracking wells, writes Damien Short. But dig deeper and the triumph was all the greater, as it overcame not just Cuadrilla, but a morass of pro-fracking bias and legal and scientific misrepresentation from those meant to be providing impartial advice.
Lancashire's fracking victory was even greater than we knew Damien Short | 21st July 2015 News Fracking Energy Politics Human Rights Law Science camp-frack-cut.jpg The anti-fracking movement scored a …
Already 60% of seabird species have plastic in their guts, often as much as 8% of their body weight. And with ocean plastic increasing exponentially, that figure will rise to 99% by 2050, threatening some birds' survival. Unless we act.
Ocean plastic plague threatens seabirds Chris Wilcox Britta Denise Hardesty Erik van Sebille | 1st September 2015 News Oceans Birds Waste Science albatross-pair-cut.jpg Already 60% of seabird species …
Native Hawaiians and others are gathering today for a peaceful protest at the ground-breaking ceremony for a huge new telescope on the 4,207 meter summit of Hawaii's 'sacred mountain', Mauna Kea.
Native Hawaiians protest 'sacred mountain' telescope The Ecologist | 7th October 2014 News US Hawaii Indigenous Peoples Science Pollution Land Grabs mauna-kea-cut.jpg Native Hawaiians and others are …