Environment on Earth

Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of glaciers, according to a study.
The report, by scientists in France and Italy, found microscopic particles in the air that can be seeds for water droplets at a Nepalese mountain observatory, the […]

IT SEEMS to happen with depressing frequency - sunny skies turn to rain just as the weekend arrives. Now Spanish researchers say they have evidence that in some parts of Europe the weather really does follow a weekly cycle, although not in the straightforward way that the anecdote might suggest.
Evidence has been mounting over the […]

Olympic host Beijing enjoyed its cleanest air in 10 years this month and will adopt strict new measures to ensure its notorious smog does not return, a top environment official said.Over the past 18 days, air quality in the capital ranged between excellent and fairly good on China’s index, Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the […]

Beijing’s air for the opening track-and-field events at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is “better than expected,” said U.S. Olympic distance runner Amy Yoder Begley.”When I came to China to race in 2002,” Yoder Begly said in an e-mail earlier this week, “the air caused my lungs and nasal passages to burn.” She also described […]

 California will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for “wantonly” ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, and construction and agricultural equipment, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said.
Brown said the lawsuit, to be announced at a news conference at the Port of Long Beach on Thursday and filed in Washington after […]

The American Trucking Associations filed a federal lawsuit in a California court against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to stop plans intended to reduce diesel fuel pollution.The Arlington, Virginia-based trade group estimates over 10,000 independent truckers will be prohibited from the Los Angeles port, which is banning independent truckers as of October 1 […]

With the Games due to start in less than three weeks, Beijing cranked up antipollution measures by yanking cars off the roads, expanding mass transit and staggering work hours in a bid to meet its pledge of a “green” Olympics.
Under rules to curb smog and traffic congestion that will last from July 20 to Sept. 20, […]

Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area and is caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide.
In the 1950s a new type of smog, known as Photochemical Smog, was first described.
Smog is a problem in a number of cities and continues to harm human health.
Ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen […]

Common-sense environmentalism recognizes that almost everyone today is an environmentalist. We all want a healthy, green environment for ourselves and our families. What distinguishes common-sense environmentalism from more extreme environmental activism is a commitment to fight real environmental problems rather than imagined ones and a realization that free markets are an ally rather than an […]

The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet earth.
Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the earth’s ecosystems. Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory […]