Debris from last year’s tsunami in Japan, including some potentially toxic materials, is increasingly being discovered along the Alaska coastline.

Since January, millions of pieces of debris have washed ashore along the Alaska coast, from soccer balls and buoys to motorcycles and large drums (more…)

A new study estimates that fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region can migrate into underground drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously estimated.

The study, based on computer modeling and funded (more…)

Two years ago, an explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform killed 11 workers and marked the beginning of a prolonged environmental disaster now acknowledged as the worst in American history. Before the Macondo well was finally capped, more than two hundred million gallons of crude oil had gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, killing untold (more…)

A planned shale gas drilling project in New York state would utilize a waterless form of hydraulic fracturing, a new technique designed to reduce the potential pollution associated with the controversial natural gas drilling process.

Rather than using typical hydraulic fracturing (more…)

Africa, typically a dumping ground for electronic waste from other nations, could produce more e-waste than the European Union by 2017, experts say.

Across Africa, a combination of population growth and increased access to mobile phones and other technology will produce a surge in e-waste over the (more…)

Over the years, I’ve learned that the most productive way to deal with climate change deniers is to point out that global warming is only one of half-a-dozen reasons to knock off our dependence on coal and oil. “Just pick you favorite,” I smile.

How about the obvious and growing damage to (more…)

The exhaust fumes from gasoline vehicles contribute more to the production of a specific type of air pollution-secondary organic aerosols (SOA)-than those from diesel vehicles, according to a new study by scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). Secondary organic aerosols, tiny “tar balls” resulting from combustion (more…)

Bowing to increasing public concern about poor air quality, the Chinese government has approved strict new air pollution standards, including tougher rules for ozone and for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.

The new rules, approved during an executive meeting (more…)

The amounts of pollution produced by tar sands excavation sites are comparable to those of a medium-sized city or a large power plant, according to a new study by Environment Canada, the nation’s environmental agency.

Using satellite remote sensing observations, scientists (more…)

It must be pretty damaging for any industry’s reputation to be labeled Dinosaur of the Year. And that’s what the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) has called the cruise ship industry. NABU, which is based in Germany, singled out cruise lines AIDA and TUI to get their yearly trophy, which goes to people or companies with “the most ridiculous statement or (more…)