EHN Originals

Veteran water commissioner will have oversight of Great Lakes restoration, inherits a drinking water crisis in Benton Harbor  U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan named Chicago’s Debra Shore to…

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Climate change makes our temperatures more extreme, resulting in fatal heat waves and droughts: conditions favorable to wildfires. And, while some wildfires spark naturally, up to 90% of wildfires we’re seeing today are caused by human activity, highlighting a need for human intervention in both climate change and safe outdoor practices. As our planet warms,…

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Every year, approximately 5,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The malady extinguishes firing nerve cells, severing the highways between our brain and muscles. People progressively lose their ability to walk, talk, eat—and eventually their last breath—within two to five years. No one knows the causes,…

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PITTSBURGH—In the wake of growing concerns over the oil and gas industry’s handling of radioactive waste, activists and policymakers are working to change laws that exempt the industry from safety regulations. For decades, national environmental organizations have tried unsuccessfully to close federal loopholes that exempt the oil and gas industry’s radioactive waste—which has been linked…

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Dr. Pallavi Pant joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss combatting air pollution in India, and how she’s working to elevate the voices of fellow female scientists. Pant, an air pollution scientist and a staff scientist at the Health Effects Institute, also talks about why she chose to pursue research at…

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PITTSBURGH—Air pollution in Pittsburgh reached unhealthy levels for 57 days—or nearly two months—in 2020, according to a new report. The report, published today by environmental and public interest advocacy groups Environment America, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), and Frontier Group, tallied days that exceeded federal guidelines for ozone or particulate matter pollution in urban…

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It’s a pesticide called 1,3-Dichloropropene that’s commonly sold under the brand name Telone. And although it’s largely unknown outside agricultural circles, 1,3-D has an outsized footprint. In 1990, state regulators banned use of the carcinogenic pesticide after unsafe levels were found in the air. Yet in 2018, the most recent year for which we have…

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In recent years, countries across the globe have implemented laws to mitigate plastic production and pollution. In the past two years, both large developed nations like Australia and smaller developing countries like Sri Lanka and Belize have passed ambitious national laws to phase out a number of plastic products like bags, cutlery, and straws. But…

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En los últimos años, países de todo el mundo han puesto en marcha leyes para mitigar la producción y la contaminación por plástico. En los últimos dos años, tanto grandes naciones desarrolladas como Australia como países en desarrollo más pequeños, como Sri Lanka y Belice, han aprobado ambiciosas leyes nacionales para eliminar progresivamente una serie…

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This has been a banner year for made-up science: from horse-medicine COVID cure-alls to the reliable potions and hexes of climate change contempt, 2021 has it all. And with habitat loss and extinction, the appalling rise of plastic pollution, and the elapsing clock for climate action, it’s a particularly bad time for ignorance to stage…

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