Environment-Water and Air Quality
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‘It was filthy and it stank terribly’: how Europe’s dirtiest river was brought back to life
by Ajit Niranjan 10/7/25 The Guardian
For more than a century, putrid fumes emanated from the “sewer of the Ruhr”, creating a pungent whiff that assaulted towns throughout Germany’s industrial heartland.
A toxic California landmark could render parts of the state ‘uninhabitable’
by Ariana Bindman 18/12/23 SFGATE
Millions of dollars of federal government funding, however, may help prevent the disaster from getting even worse.
Revealed: how a little-known pollution rule keeps the air dirty for millions of Americans
by Molly Peterson 16/10/23 The Guardian
A legal loophole has allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency to strike pollution from clean air tallies in more than 70 counties, enabling local regulators to claim the air was cleaner than it really was for more than 21 million Americans.
Microplastic-eating plankton may be worsening crisis in oceans, say scientists
by Karen McVeigh 9/11/23 The Guardian
A type of zooplankton found in marine and fresh water can ingest and break down microplastics, scientists have discovered. But rather than providing a solution to the threat plastics pose to aquatic life, the tiny creatures known as rotifers could be accelerating the risk by splitting the particles into thousands of smaller and potentially more dangerous nanoplastics.
Kabul On Course To Be World's First Capital To Run Out Of Water
by Farangis Najibullah 6/7/25 RadioFreeEurope
Kabul could become the world’s first capital to run out of water completely, experts say, blaming the crisis on rapid population growth, climate change, and mismanagement.
Scientists make disturbing discovery on the deepest parts of the seafloor: "Not a single inch of it is clean"
by Eric Ralls 7/6/25 earth.com
Videos of snagged sea turtles and bottle-strewn beaches have already ignited public concern, but those images barely hint at what sinks far below the reach of sunlight.
Microplastic-eating plankton may be worsening crisis in oceans, say scientists
by Karen McVeigh 9/11/23 The Guardian
A type of zooplankton found in marine and fresh water can ingest and break down microplastics, scientists have discovered. But rather than providing a solution to the threat plastics pose to aquatic life, the tiny creatures known as rotifers could be accelerating the risk by splitting the particles into thousands of smaller and potentially more dangerous nanoplastics.
World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert
by Karen McVeigh 11/24/24 The Guardian
The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution.
Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 “high ambition” nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production.
Trump EPA rollbacks would weaken rules projected to save billions of dollars and thousands of lives
When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced a wide-ranging rollback of environmental regulations, he said it would put a “dagger through the heart of climate-change religion” and introduce a “Golden Age” for the American economy.
PFAS levels in ground and air could be higher than expected, research suggests
by Tom Perkins 26/5/23 The Guardian
Background levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in the ground and air may be much higher than previously thought, federal testing of spatially random soil samples from across New Hampshire suggests.
Inside a plan to use AI to amplify doubts about the dangers of pollutants
by Dharna Noor 27/6/25 The Guardian
Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr, a Denver-based risk analyst and former Trump adviser who once reportedly claimed there is no proof that cleaning air saves lives, is developing an AI application to scan academic research for what he sees as the false conflation of correlation with causation.
Climate movement strikes back with first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit against EPA
by Tracy J. Wholf 26/6/25 CBS NEWS
When Donald Trump won reelection, Jennifer Hadayia knew she'd need a good lawyer. As the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, an environmental nonprofit advocacy organization that works to reduce the risks of air pollution on public health, she had fought the first Trump administration in court already on a variety of issues.
Glass Is the Real Threat”: New Study Finds Glass Bottles Leak 50x More Microplastics Than Plastic, Alarming Scientists Globally
by Eirwen Williams 26/6/25 SUSTAINABILITY TIMES
Recent research has revealed an unexpected source of microplastic contamination: glass bottles. While traditionally seen as a cleaner alternative to plastic, glass containers have been found to shed significantly more microplastics into beverages such as beer, soda, and lemonade. This discovery challenges conventional wisdom and raises questions about the safety of our everyday drinkware.
New biodegradable plastics are compostable in your backyard
by Sarah McQuate 10/7/23 PHYS ORG
We use plastics in almost every aspect of our lives. These materials are cheap to make and incredibly stable. The problem comes when we're done using something plastic—it can persist in the environment for years. Over time, plastic will break down into smaller fragments, called microplastics, that can pose significant environmental and health concerns.
The Mekong is slowly dying.
by Laura Bicker November 2023 BBC
Mai takes a deep breath before disappearing below the muddy brown waters of the biggest freshwater lake in South East Asia. A few bubbles rise to the surface - the only sign that he is underwater, freeing his fishing net, which he had left hanging between trees in a flooded forest.
Revealed: how a little-known pollution rule keeps the air dirty for millions of Americans
by Molly Peterson, Dillon Bergin and Emily Zentner 16/10/23 The Guardian
Regulators have exploited a little-known provision in the Clean Air Act called the “exceptional events rule” to forgive pollution caused by “natural” or “uncontrollable” events – including wildfires – on records used by the EPA for regulatory decisions, a new investigation from the California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian reveals.
‘Forever chemicals’ pollute water from Alaska to Florida
The Guardian Lynne Peeples 12/22/20
“PFAS is everywhere,” he says. “It’s really hard to get any change.”
Indeed, various forms of PFAS are still used in a spectrum of industrial and consumer products – from nonstick frying pans and stain-resistant carpets to food wrappers and firefighting foam – and have become ubiquitous. The chemicals enter the environment anywhere they are made, spilled, discharged or used. Rain can flush them into surface sources of drinking water such as lakes, or PFAS may gradually migrate through the soil to reach the groundwater – another key source of public water systems and private wells.
Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies
The particles were found in the placentas from four healthy women who had normal pregnancies and births. Microplastics were detected on both the foetal and maternal sides of the placenta and in the membrane within which the foetus develops.
A dozen plastic particles were found. Only about 4% of each placenta was analysed, however, suggesting the total number of microplastics was much higher. All the particles analysed were plastics that had been dyed blue, red, orange or pink and may have originally come from packaging, paints or cosmetics and personal care products.
US rivers and lakes are shrinking for a surprising reason: cows
Cattle-feed crops, which end up as beef and dairy products, account for 23% of water consumption in the US A recent analysis published in Nature found cattle to be one of the major drivers of water shortages. Notably, it is because of water used to grow crops that are fed to cows such as alfalfa and hay. Across the US, cattle-feed crops, which end up as beef and dairy products, account for 23% of all water consumption, according to the report. In the Colorado River Basin, it is over half.
Water scarcity and fish imperilment driven by beef production
Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the region. We assess opportunities for alleviating water scarcity by reducing cattle-feed production, finding that temporary, rotational fallowing of irrigated feed crops can markedly reduce water shortage risks and improve ecological sustainability. Long-term water security and river ecosystem health will ultimately require Americans to consume less beef that depends on irrigated feed crops.
Controversial Pesticides Are Suspected Of Starving Fish
The evidence is circumstantial. Right around the time the fish started having problems, early in the 1990s, farmers near the lake started using these pesticides on their rice paddies to control insect pests. Yamamuro also found traces of these chemicals in some parts of the lake. Those levels, she thinks, are high enough to cause problems for tiny aquatic animals. Also, neonicotinoids kill insects, but not the algae that the thriving fish were eating.
Neonicotinoids disrupt aquatic food webs and decrease fishery yields
Cascading effects of pesticide use It is now well known that neonicotinoids negatively affect pollinators. As research has expanded, it has become clear that these globally used insecticides directly affect other ecosystem components, including vertebrates. Yamamuro et al. now show that these compounds are indirectly affecting species through trophic cascades (see the Perspective by Jensen). Since the application of neonicotinoids to agricultural fields began in the 1990s, zooplankton biomass has plummeted in a Japanese lake surrounded by these fields. This decline has led to shifts in food web structure and a collapse of two commercially harvested freshwater fish species. The authors argue that such dynamics are likely occurring widely.
It's raining plastic: microscopic fibers fall from the sky in Rocky Mountains
Rainwater samples collected across Colorado and analyzed under a microscope contained a rainbow of plastic fibers, as well as beads and shards. The findings shocked Weatherbee, who had been collecting the samples in order to study nitrogen pollution.
