Tag: environment

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Seafood company under investigation after allegations of animal abuse

Campaigners say animal welfare was disregarded at a salmon hatchery run by Cooke, one of the worlds largest seafood companies, in Maine A major global seafood company is under investigation by state officials in Maine after allegations of animal abuse. Undercover footage sustainability policy includes a pledge to raise fish with optimal care and consideration of animal welfare practices. Campaigners said animal welfare was disregarded at the Cooke facility in Maine. They said the video shows some of the salmon at the farm suffered from spinal deformities, and that some had fungus growth eating away at their faces. Workers also slammed and stomped on the fish, COK said. I watched as their bodies were slammed into the ground over and …

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Why this top federal scientist is worried about public health under Trump | Carey Gillam

The US government has become dangerously complacent about public health If you want to understand the perilous state of federal scientific research, ask Linda Birnbaum. For 40 years, Birnbaum has worked as a toxicologist for the US government, rising through the ranks to direct both the National Institute of Environmental October retirement from the institute she says she has tried to protect from the ramifications of Donald Trumps election, Birnbaum has words of warning about the dire path ahead she sees for public health. We ought to listen to what she has to say. Birnbaum fears that the US regulatory system has become too politicized, too beholden to corporate money and power, and lacks the urgency and political will needed …

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Uproar after research claims red meat poses no health risk

One expert says findings by international experts represent egregious abuse of evidence New research that claims red and processed meat is probably not harmful to our health has caused controversy among experts who maintain people should cut down. The World Health Organization has classified red and processed meats as cancer-causing. Public health bodies worldwide urge people to limit their intake of red and processed meat to reduce their cancer risk. The NHS advises that people who eat 90g of meat a day equivalent to three thin slices of roast meat should cut down to 70g. Aside from public health, calls are multiplying for people to cut back on meat consumption because of the climate emergency and the greenhouse gas emissions …

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Tap water contaminants linked with 100,000 cancer cases, US study finds

Most of the risk is from naturally occurring arsenic, the byproducts of chemicals used to disinfect water and contaminants Contaminated tap water causes 100,000 cancer cases in the US over a lifetime, according to a new study from scientists with the Environmental Working Group. Most of the cancer risk is from naturally occurring arsenic, the byproducts of chemicals used to disinfect water and radioactive contaminants, according to the database for that purpose. In Washington DC, for example, regulators detected 10 contaminants at levels that exceeded health guidelines, which are recommendations rather than requirements. Most are associated with cancer.

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China’s young climate heroes fight apathy and the party line

Zhao Jiaxin and Howey Ou are trying to convince Beijing to take radical carbon-cutting action One is a student engineer who became obsessed after watching an incendiary film about air pollution. The other is a 16-year-old who went on Chinas first climate strike. Zhao Jiaxin and Howey Ou are part of a small but growing minority of young Chinese determined to press their country towards more radical carbon-cutting action. The pair are also Chinas sole winners of carbon neutral green tickets the leading carbon emitter. It generates 60% of its electricity from coal-fired power and coal consumption and carbon emissions have risen for two years in a row after a plateau between 2014 and 2016. Emissions are expected to rise …

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‘Like a sunburn on your lungs’: how does the climate crisis impact health?

Children, pregnant women and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and heat but the impact is already felt across every specialty of medicine The climate crisis is making people sicker worsening illnesses ranging from seasonal allergies to heart and lung disease. Children, pregnant people and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and rising heat. But the impact of the climate crisis for patients, doctors and researchers is already being felt across every specialty of medicine, with worse feared to come. article in the New England Journal of Medicine lays out dozens of similar studies to show how the climate crisis affects each practice of medicine. Renee Salas, a co-author of the report, …

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Barcelona’s car-free ‘superblocks’ could save hundreds of lives

Report predicts radical scheme could cut air pollution by a quarter as other cities including Seattle prepare to follow suit Barcelona could save hundreds of lives and cut air pollution by a quarter if it fully implements its the new tobacco by the head of the World Health Organization. Over 90% of the worlds population suffers toxic air and research is increasingly revealing the profound impacts on the health of people, especially children. Children and babies developing bodies are most at risk from toxic air, with 300 million living in places where toxic fumes are six times above the international guidelines. A comprehensive global review found that One in 20 deaths in the UK is still attributable to small particle …

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People Make Fools Of Themselves For Bullying A 16-Year-Old Activist Who Chose To Travel For 13 Days Instead Of Flying 10 Hours

The reason the 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl is traveling by sea is that she loves the environment so much, she refuses to fly on airplanes. This is just plain awesome. Unfortunately, some people don’t think so and lambasted her because they don’t agree with the message she’s sending. Some made fun of her because they think she just wants attention, while others think there’s nothing wrong with flying and rubbed their opinions in her face. Be sure to scroll down to the very end of this post to read Bored Panda’s interview with Marc Moran, who defended Thunberg on Twitter. Facebook | Instagram Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg is ‘making a splash’ by sailing to New York from Plymouth, England …

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Ditch your air-conditioning. You’ll be fine | Franklin Schneider

A hot room wont usually kill you, but a hot planet will. If you feel sweaty, just imagine how your grandchildren are going to feel We think of air conditioning as a first world luxury, but its really more of an American one. In Europe, fewer than 5% of households have air conditioning, article in the New York Times (for which, full disclosure, I was interviewed, though my quotes didnt make it in) pointed out something that Ive often observed anecdotally: that the perception of thermal discomfort is correlated with GDP. In other words, only rich people whine about the heat, crank the a/c, and then go on Twitter to brag about how theyre not setting foot outside. Everyone else …

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The Notre Dame Fire Spread Toxic Lead Dust Over Paris

This story originally appeared on CityLab and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Three months after the devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, reports of a new, previously unheeded threat to local residents have emerged: lead poisoning. According to confidential documents leaked to the (paywalled) website Mediapart earlier this month and discussed across French media, locations surrounding the fire-damaged cathedral have registered levels of lead contamination ranging between 500 and 800 times the official safe level. The building’s roof and spire were clad in several hundred tons of the metal, which can be toxic if particles are inhaled or consumed, especially to children. The blaze that consumed the cathedral’s roof liquified oceans of lead and lofted a plume …

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Can you afford to be green when you’re not rich? I kept a diary to find out

Politicians and corporations have placed the burden of environmental responsibility on the consumer but how easy is it to go green when youre barely getting by? How easy is it to go green, to make deliberate, eco-friendly choices when youre barely getting by? Can you be green and poor, as I am? This is the question I have been pondering as politicians and corporations have placed the burden of environmental responsibility on the consumer: stop using plastic straws, carry reusable shopping bags, recycle everything. I live in an environmentally conscious place: a rural town with thriving local food businesses, a farmers market and many organic farms. But its also a small town in central Appalachia, in the poorest county in …

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Toxic caterpillars spark health scare across Germany

People suffer rashes and breathing difficulties as warm weather brings infestation Marauding caterpillars with toxic hairs have brought parts of Germany to a standstill, leading to closures of swimming pools, restaurants, public parks and sections of the motorway. Oak processionary moth caterpillars, named after the nose-to-tail processions they form to travel between the oak trees they devour, have fine, long hairs with an irritating toxin that can cause blistering rashes, feverish dizzy spells and asthma attacks. For years, the caterpillar used to be a relatively rare sight in Germany, found only in isolated areas of woodland. But following a this years mild spring and warm, dry summer, the oak processionarys nests have been found in large numbers all over the …

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