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POPSSeaweed suspected in French death Environmentalists say decades of misuse of Brittany's agricultural land is to blame for the explosion of algae, due to the high levels of nitrates used in fertilisers and excreted by the region's high concentration of livestock. They have called for tighter controls on farming.
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POPSPollution From Yard Runoff May Be Worse Than Thought Western Australia was supposed to be banning soluble fertilizers for everyone. (Can't work out how they get to the plant if not soluble, but........) No nitrates. The algae in rivers had been cut when councils stopped using the soluble stuff to green up river banks. Ants are a problem everywhere. Invent safer poisons.
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POPSCourt Sanctioned Okeechobee Pollution The U.S. sends tens of millions of dollars a year to Africa and developing countries to help them prevent drinking water contamination. It is ironic that, at the same time, the U.S. EPA is legalizing contamination of drinking water supplies here at home.
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POPSFlower turns animal waste into fuel continues: Duckweed, they discovered, has an appetite for animal waste, quickly converting it to leafy starch that can then be converted into ethanol. The current source for most U.S. ethanol is industrial-scale corn farming, which requires large amounts of toxic pesticides and dead zone-feeding, fuel-intensive fertilizers. When the costs are added up, corn-based ethanol may prove little cleaner than gasoline. Duckweed could help solve both problems at once. "We did small-scale tests in the laboratory to convert duckweed starch to ethanol using the same technologies as the fuel industry currently uses in corn," said Cheng. "With the same technology, we can easily convert it."
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POPSLobstermen, scientists team up t will take years for data to reveal meaningful trends on complex issues such as climate change, Manning said. The temperature readings could also help gauge the intensity of regular toxic "red tide" algae blooms, which grow faster in certain temperatures and can devastate the shellfishing industry.
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POPSChampion Imperils Himself
Wu Lihong, an activist who crusaded for decades about the pollution of Lake Tai, the center of China’s ancient “land of fish and rice.” Mr. Wu, however, bore silent witness. Shortly before the algae crisis erupted in May, the authorities here in his hometown arrested him. In mid-August, with a fetid smell still wafting off the lake, a local court sentenced him to three years on an alchemy of charges that smacked of official retribution. Senior officials have tried to address environmental woes mostly through pulling the traditional levers of China’s authoritarian system: issuing command quotas on energy efficiency and emissions reduction; punishing corrupt officials who shield polluters; planting billions of trees across the country to hold back deserts and absorb carbon dioxide. But they do not dare to unleash individuals who want to make China cleaner. Grass-roots environmentalists arguably do more to expose abuses than any edict emanating from Beijing. But they face a politica
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POPSWhiff of ancient oxygen turns back clock Oxygen was toxic to early life forms. The 'Great Oxidation Event' changed the environment so these organisms could not survive apart from some places where oxygen is excluded, like deep sea vents. This event gave the opportunity for a new strand of life to develop of which we are a part.
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