Browsing environmental news sources so you don't have to. Contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Follow ENB on TwitterRead the full story in the Chicago Tribune.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a “cash for clunkers” bill that aims to boost new auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.
When the state ordered Crestwood officials nine years ago to test their community well for toxic chemicals, they said it wasn’t necessary because all of the village’s drinking water came from Lake Michigan.
“This sampling would not apply to our facility,” Frank Scaccia, the village’s certified water operator, wrote in an April 2000 letter to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Citing Scaccia’s letter and other documents, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday that accuses Crestwood officials of lying more than 120 times about their secret use of a community well contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals. The suit outlines a systematic coverup of Crestwood’s routine use of its tainted well and provides more details about actions first publicly revealed by the Tribune in April.
Read the full post at Yahoo Green.
Summer is the time for picnics, going to the beach, and barbecues. Unfortunately, it’s also the time for indoor pests. Commercial pest control is full of nasty chemicals, even though there are natural ways to fight off many pests. Here are some ideas for ridding your home of creepy crawlies, without needing a hazmat suit (and of course, saving you some money).
Remember: The number one rule to keeping many bugs out is keeping the house clean. So don’t let your dirty dishes pile up, make sure to sweep and vacuum, etc. Prevent any need for nontoxic pest control by using nontoxic household cleaners or even make your own homemade cleaners.
Read the full post at Yahoo Green.
There’s no single answer to the fuel of the future, at least certainly not at this time. Part of the solution lies in reclaiming waste streams that now mostly end up in landfills. Some of these — like poop — we don’t even want to think about, but it’s about time we did. And scientists are on the case, given the strange-but-true examples cited here.
Cellulosic ethanol (made from sugar cane, wood waste or sweet sorghum) is probably the wave of the future, but here are some other ways we can — and probably will — make fuel from bio-materials.
Federal Energy and Fleet Management: Plug-in Vehicles Offer Potential Benefits, but High Costs and Limited Information Could Hinder Integration into the Federal Fleet. GAO-09-493, June 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-493
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09493high.pdf
Scientific Integrity: EPA’s Efforts to Enhance the Credibility and Transparency of Its Scientific Processes, by John B. Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before a joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and its Subcommittee on Oversight. GAO-09-773T, June 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-773T
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09773thigh.pdf
Read the full story at Edie.net.
Raids on two sites in east London and Essex have stopped the possible illegal export of electrical waste, according to police.
Read the full story from 60 Minutes (from November 2008).
60 Minutes is going to take you to one of the most toxic places on Earth – a place government officials and gangsters don’t want you to see. It’s a town in China where you can’t breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead.
It’s worth risking a visit because much of the poison is coming out of the homes, schools and offices of America. This is a story about recycling – about how your best intentions to be green can be channeled into an underground sewer that flows from the United States and into the wasteland.
Read the full story from How Stuff Works.
You don’t need much to be a runner, or so many of us believe. Just running shoes, right? For endurance runners, however, the gear list can quickly grow to include much more than shoes. A runner might assemble a collection of performance apparel, gadgets and nutritional drinks, gels and bars — and then there’s getting to and from marathons, which aren’t always close to home.
All of this adds up to runners with giant footprints — carbon footprints, that is. A carbon footprint measures the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere as we live our daily lives. Running gear often includes synthetic materials, and the manufacturing and transportation of those materials and products emit toxins and fossil fuels.
