The Trump administration Monday finalized the rollback of a major fuel economy standard for cars and trucks, a move critics say will cause more climate-warming pollution, human health problems and higher fuel costs for consumers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Department of Transportation, published new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards Monday…
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Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, many New York City residents are still grappling with complicated health conditions related to exposure to the toxic air and debris around ground zero. “We were digging through the pile and using rakes to spread out all the debris to look for anyone’s remains,” says retired New York City firefighter Brenda Berkman. “We were working alongside really…
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Darya Minovi was mapping pollution from medical sterilization plants across the country when many of the communities she was speaking to began asking the same question. The facilities emit ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen, and those who lived nearby wanted to know how much the emissions were increasing their cancer risk. She turned to data compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency to find…
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In 1965, a presidential advisory panel issued a report warning that pervasive chemical and carbon pollution was harming environmental health and changing the climate. Five years later, President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act. Since that 1970 law and its amendments were passed, combined emissions of a half dozen harmful air pollutants from vehicles and industrial sources have…
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Air quality around the Washington, D.C. area declined dramatically on Sunday, one day after a massive fireworks display was put on for the United States’ 250th birthday celebration. The worst air quality ratings were recorded near neighborhoods with the highest populations of Black people, one reporter noted. In an attempt to create a record-breaking performance…
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If you’re lucky, your family is still using great‑grandma’s red beans and rice, black‑eyed peas, and potato salad recipes. And if you’re extremely fortunate, those meals might still taste like home, even without her hands. But climate pollution has quietly made sure that the food on your plates is not the same food she was eating. Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is stripping nutrients…
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