Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Indiana University professor Christopher Craft says the doom-and-gloom predictions for the Gulf oil spill's effects on coastal wetlands are premature.

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As federal legislators and regulators consider taxing utility companies for carbon emissions, a new UC Berkeley study suggests a fixed pricing structure on natural gas service that would protect consumers and satisfy utility companies.

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For the first time, the government is developing fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles like buses and big rigs. Over the long haul, truckers should benefit from new technologies, says engine expert John Johnson. But it's a different story for automobile drivers.

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Iowa State University researcher Diane Debinski has been studying the meadows in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains since 1992 and she believes changing climate could affect the diversity of plants and animals in the region.

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Scientific evidence presented indicates top-down regulation by predators operates in most ecosystems.

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Most people today embrace sustainability, although it may be the greatest technological challenge our society has ever faced. That challenge pales in comparison to the ethical crisis it presents to society.

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As the crisis continues, University of Vermont experts examine the fallout -- social, political, financial and environmental.

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A team of researchers from Washington State University and the University of Georgia have found that organic farming increases biodiversity among beneficial, pest-killing predators and pathogens. In potato crops, this led to fewer insect pests and larger potato plants.

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A new academic study found that even brief exposure to ultrafine pollution particles near a freeway is potent enough to boost the allergic inflammation that exacerbates asthma.

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The July 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) will feature a call for an international ban on the mining and use of all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos. The commentary by Joseph LaDou, MD, and other Fellows of the Collegium Ramazzini demonstrates clearly the need for an international ban on all forms of asbestos: although 52 countries have banned asbestos, many others still use the mineral, exposing millions of people to an agent for which there is no scientifically verified safe level. LaDou contends, “All asbestos-related diseases are preventable if asbestos is banned globally.”

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Even though urban cyclists face hazards such as exposure to car exhaust and the risk of traffic accidents, it’s still far healthier to park the car and get on a bike. The health of the individual cyclists may improve as they drive less and exercise more, and the resulting reduction in exhaust emissions will benefit the entire community, according to a study published online June 30 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that children living near the Kiteezi landfill in Kampala, Uganda, have blood lead levels nearly 20 times as high as the typical lead level found in U.S. children.

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A new study in PNAS is believed to be the first to show experimentally that competition could be a factor in regulating ecological communities regardless of the intensity or frequency of disturbance.

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University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery.

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Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are planning a large-scale, long-term ecosystem experiment to test the effects of global warming on the icy layers of arctic permafrost.

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People who fish for a living pursue top profits, not necessarily top predators, according to the first-ever analysis of worldwide catch and economic data for the past 55 years. This differs from the observation raised 10 years ago that humans were “fishing down” the food web.

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The amount of fresh water flowing through the Arctic as snow or rainfall, in rivers and by evapotranspiration is rising in agreement with models of a warming climate, according to a major new study by climate scientists in the U.S., Norway and Finland who analyzed all available Arctic observations.

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Anaerobic manure treatment lagoons may release more methane that current rules allow.

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Scientific journal features research on how water moves through soil and bedrock

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Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Cornell University Professor of Law and an expert in environmental law, comments on the recent court decision to lift a federal embargo on deep-water oil drilling.

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Leaders at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are pairing engineering smarts with old-fashioned common sense to trim energy costs and reduce the carbon footprint of the university’s historic Troy campus.

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Burn, grow, graze, and repeat. This is a formula that integrates fire and grazing strategies to restore grass to rangelands in the southern plains of the United States. Throughout the world, woody plants are showing an increased presence in grasslands and savannas, reducing the amount of grasses to sustain livestock and altering wildlife habitat and biodiversity. In the U.S. Great Plains, honey mesquite has encroached upon native grasslands to impact cattle grazing strategies and necessitate development of plant control efforts.

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A UMDNJ environmental and occupational health expert on human exposure to toxic substances has recommended strategic training and monitoring of workers and volunteers exposed to the Gulf oil spill to identify, and possibly mitigate, human health risks.

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In the race to become the warmest year in the satellite temperature record, 2010 is running a close second to 1998 but might begin to falter as the El Ninåo Pacific Ocean warming event continues to fade.

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The number of very hot days is increasing worldwide, but the rate of increase is more than double in the most sprawling metropolitan regions compared with more compact cities, according to a team of Atlanta-based scientists. This was true regardless of the urban regions’ climate zone, population size, or rate of growth.

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Invasive Plant Science and Management – A field test in Montana pitted dog against human in an effort to identify and eradicate spotted knapweed. This weed threatens the survival of native species and can bring about both economic and ecosystem damage. Finding plants in order to eradicate them before they can spread creates a challenge for human eyes, but not for dog noses.

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Male fish that used to be feminized after chemicals, such as the pharmaceutical ethinylestradiol, made it through the Boulder, Colo., Wastewater Treatment Plant and into Boulder Creek, are taking longer to become feminized after a plant upgrade to an activated sludge process, according to a new study.

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Grassed waterways including compost filter socks reduce soil erosion and herbicide concentrations from fields.

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The University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative, in partnership with the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials and public health organizations around the state, have issued two new guidebooks aimed at helping health-related agencies and organizations cope with climate change.

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Increasing pressure from the international community may be the catalyst needed to ensure fossil fuel subsidy reform is high on the climate change agenda of the G20 summit in Toronto this month.

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There are so many aspects to the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana is that it can be hard to know where to turn for an informed comment. Several scientists and alumni from Michigan Technological University have research and practical expertise that you might find helpful.

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Researchers are seeking to accelerate the chemical breakdown of the hydrocarbons contained in the oil spilled in the Gulf. Objectives include identifying sources of naturally occurring marine organic matter that will speed up the rate of this breakdown and identifying the bacteria involved.

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As efforts to address the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue, University of Alabama experts are available to comment on areas ranging from the needs of small businesses devastated by the disaster to petroleum engineering, water quality and ecosystem issues.

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Three Iowa State University engineers—one drawing on hands-on experience and the others applying theory, mathematics, and computational modeling—offer a look into the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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The University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative, in partnership with the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials and public health organizations around the state, have issued two new guidebooks aimed at helping health-related agencies and organizations cope with climate change.

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The International Institute for Sustainable Development is encouraged that climate change is on the agenda of the G8 and G20 and urges Canada to follow-up with a solid commitment on fossil fuel subsidy reform as a critical next step.

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The wipe material, designed for the U.S. Military, proves itself on the soiled beaches of Grand Isle, La.

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It is a well-known fact that trees provide many benefits to city dwellers such as shade and clean air. But when it comes to Torontonians who appreciate trees versus others who plant them in their backyards to revitalize the city’s urban forests, it depends on which neighbourhood you live in, say Ryerson University researchers.

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Numerous studies are documenting the growing effects of climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the world’s oceans. But most of those have studied single, isolated sources of pollution and other influences. Now, a marine geochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has published a report in the latest issue of the journal Science that evaluates the total impact of such factors on the ocean and considers what the future might hold.

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A research team led by the University of Illinois at Chicago has advised the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to phase in green infrastructure requirements for better and cheaper control of stormwater in all new development and redevelopment.

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Atmospheric research often focuses on clouds’ impact on weather and climate. Yet even low clouds are a long way off, with a base some 6,000 feet above earth. University of Notre Dame fluid dynamics and engineering professor Harindra Fernando works the other end of the air column closer to home—the bottom of the atmosphere in the city, which is known as the urban boundary layer.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 15 gave UC San Diego a 2010 Energy Star CHP Award for its high efficiency, low-emission combined heat and power (CHP) plant that provides 85 percent of the campus’ annual electricity needs.

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Establishing a firm link between environmental change and human disease has always been an iffy proposition. Now, however, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writing in the current (June 16, 2010) online issue of the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, presents the most enumerated case to date linking increased incidence of malaria to land-use practices in the Amazon.

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The world is a cooler, wetter place because of flowering plants, according to new climate simulation results published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The effect is especially pronounced in the Amazon basin.

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Four Tufts graduate students have won $10,000 from the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge for their research into solutions to some of the world's most urgent social, economic and environmental challenges.Tufts is one of a select number of universities that participate annually in the global competition established by Dow Chemical Co. in 2009.

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Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure and sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean affect drought in the Sahel region on the southern Sahara rim. This has been revealed in an international study.

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As turboprop and jet aircraft climb or descend under certain atmospheric conditions, they can inadvertently seed mid-level clouds and cause narrow bands of snow or rain to develop and fall to the ground, new research finds. Through this seeding process, they leave behind unusual “hole-punch clouds.”

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Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia continues to lead on sustainable issues as the university has prepared new anti-idling guidelines for vehicles operating on campus.

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Professor and ecological engineering expert Marty Matlock is available to discuss environmental damage from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

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Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have established the first link between air pollution and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), a known cause of cardiovascular diseases.