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Federal Leaders Are Failing On PFAs

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back critical protections that ensure safe drinking water. These regulations help ensure that our water is free of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” an especially hazardous form of industrial chemicals that linger in the environment indefinitely. PFAS are damaging to human health at even the lowest doses. Exposure to PFAS can contribute to serious illnesses including kidney cancer, liver disease, thyroid disorders, or autoimmune disorders. There are no current treatments to remove PFAS from the body. Despite the evidence of these dire health risks, the administration is shirking their responsibility to protect people across the country from PFAS exposure.

Green Goals, Dirty Fuel: Europe’s Fertiliser Industry Bets On Shale

The coastal city of Freeport, Texas is a dense tangle of metal pipes, tanks and towers. Located 60 miles south of Houston, it’s home to a sprawling petrochemical complex – one of the largest and most polluting in the United States.    Among its facilities is a plant dedicated to the production of ammonia, a colourless compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, and a key ingredient in fertilisers widely used on industrial arable farms – including on fields of barley, wheat and maize across Europe. Chemicals giants Yara and BASF opened the “world-scale” factory to great fanfare in 2018, promising “cost-efficient” and “sustainable” ammonia production.

Health Groups Shun Advertisers Working For Fossil Fuel Companies

More than 30 medical organisations representing 12 million health professionals worldwide have pledged to boycott advertising and public relations agencies that work with the fossil fuel industry, citing the impacts of the climate crisis on human health. “Health organisations have great power that they can bring to bear in their hiring of advertising, marketing, and design companies by choosing to work only with agencies that do not take money from fossil fuel companies,” said Jeni Miller, global executive director of the Climate and Health Alliance, a consortium of more than 200 organisations that developed the initiative.

Where Spirits Weep Beneath The Snow: The Cry Against Arizona Snowbowl

On the western slope of Arizona’s highest landmark, Humphreys Peak, and approximately 4.8 miles from its 12,633-foot-tall summit, rests the skeleton of a 777-acre-wide ski resort. The Arizona Snowbowl, a piece of engineering made up of eight lifts that serve 61 runs, is beloved by some but resented by others. It’s been torn between these two sides since 1938, the year it first started serving skiers from Arizona and beyond on its groomed runs, tree-lined back bowls and terrain parks. Flagstaff meteorologist Mark Stubblefield has been riding the Snowbowl’s slopes almost every winter since 1987.

In Uncertain Times, The Port Of Oakland Goes Electric

The Port of Oakland’s surrounding Black communities have fought for decades for their right to cleaner air. Now that dream is within reach. In October 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the port a $322 million grant to transition its cargo handling operations to zero emissions. Matched by the port and local partners, the total investment will be close to half a billion dollars, all flowing into green, sustainable energy. This effort will reduce the more than 69,000 tons of yearly greenhouse gas — the equivalent of burning more than 160 Statues of Liberty’s weight in coal — emitted by drayage trucks, cranes, forklifts, and tractors.

Student Activists Pass Municipal Resolution To Make Polluters Pay

Northampton, MA. – Sunrise Movement activists at Smith College and local advocates passed a Climate Superfund Resolution in Northampton last Thursday. On Earth Day dozens rally in Amherst, calling on the Amherst Town Council and other municipalities in the Connecticut River Valley to join the call to make polluters pay. Thursday’s resolution in support of H.1014/S.588, “An Act to Establish a Climate Change Superfund”, was the first to pass in Western Massachusetts, following previous resolutions in Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Malden. “I’ve watched my generation strike, resist, campaign, lose hope, and get back up again,” said Emma Coopersmith.

Report: America’s Ten Most Endangered Rivers

According to the 40th annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers report by American Rivers, half the rivers in the United States contain unsafe pollution levels, with freshwater species becoming extinct faster than land or ocean species. The Mississippi River topped the list, with federal flood management changes putting the health of the river at risk, jeopardizing the safety and clean water of those who depend upon it. Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster within the Mississippi River Basin, according to the report. More severe and frequent floods have damaged homes, agriculture and businesses.

Biodiversity Study Highlights Destructive Global Impact Of Humans

One of the largest studies ever conducted on biodiversity loss worldwide has revealed that humans are having a severely detrimental impact on global wildlife. The number of species is declining, as well as the composition of populations. “Biological diversity is under threat. More and more plant and animal species are disappearing worldwide, and humans are responsible. Until now, however, there has been no synthesis of the extent of human intervention in nature and whether the effects can be found everywhere in the world and in all groups of organisms,” a press release from University of Zurich (UZH) said.

Environmentalists, Community Band Together Against Buc-ee’s

Missy’s Grill sits off a tree-lined stretch near where Interstate 40 and I-85 merge, an unassuming diner advertised by no billboard, no lit sign — just ​“Missy’s Grill” in white plastic lettering. Del Ward stands in the parking lot, gesturing emphatically across the road at a cattle farm that was nearly turned into a gas station the size of a small mall. It would have been the first Buc-ee’s travel stop in North Carolina. Five years ago, Ward was on his way to Missy’s for a sandwich when he noticed a little sign about a zoning meeting. That’s how he learned about the proposed mega gas station in his tiny hometown.

World Water Day: Scientists Took Action Against Polluting Project

An international group of scientists have taken action across the world to challenge a major extractivist project that’s set to endanger the health and livelihoods of local communities in southwest Peru. To mark World Water Day 2025 on 22 March, activists from Scientist Rebellion mobilised a range of global actions in solidarity with communities fighting the impending river pollution-disaster, the Tia María copper mine in the agricultural Tambo Valley. Communities have been fighting the controversial Tia María copper mine for over 15 years. Crucially, local Indigenous residents have voiced overwhelming opposition to the project that will pollute rivers and endanger their agricultural subsistence and livelihoods.

Supreme Court Weakens Rules On Discharging Raw Sewage Into Water

The United States Supreme Court has voted five to four to weaken rules that govern how much pollution is discharged into the country’s water supply, undermining the 1972 Clean Water Act. The case involved San Francisco suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after the city was found to have violated the terms of a permit required for the discharge of wastewater pollution into the Pacific Ocean, reported The Washington Post. San Francisco officials argued that the EPA’s authority had been exceeded due to vague permit rules that made it impossible to tell when a line had been crossed.

3M Knew ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Its Firefighting Foams Were Toxic

For decades, 3M — a multibillion-dollar chemical company based in Minnesota — sold its firefighting foams as safe and biodegradable, while having knowledge that they contained toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to newly uncovered documents, reported The Guardian. Starting in the 1960s and continuing until 2003, 3M’s firefighting foams contained perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), two types of PFAS “forever chemicals.” The synthetic chemical compounds have been linked to a variety of health problems like thyroid disease, hormonal and fertility problems, high cholesterol and cancer.

Texan Uses Pollution Settlement To Help Coastal Community

Port Lavaca, Texas — Few people still fish for a living on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The work is hard and pay is meager. In the hearts of rundown seaside towns, dilapidated harbors barely recall the communities that thrived here generations ago. But at the docks of Port Lavaca, one group of humble fishermen just got a staggering $20 million to bring back their timeless way of life. They’re buying out the buyer of their catch, starting the largest oyster farm in Texas and dreaming big for the first time in a long time. “We have a lot of hope,” said Jose Lozano, 46, who docks his oyster boats in Port Lavaca. “Things will get better.”

Meatpacking Plants Pollute Poor, Non-White Communities Disproportionately

Postville, Iowa — In March, officials in Postville shut down its water treatment facility for two days as city employees worked to prevent polluted water from a meatpacking plant from entering the water supply.  Agri Star Meat and Poultry had discharged more than 250,000 gallons of untreated food processing waste — blood, chemicals and other solid materials — into the city’s wastewater system. Chris Hackman, the city’s wastewater operator for the past 25 years, said it was one of the worst incidents he could remember.  “We’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. 

Organizers Fight The Greenwashing Of Plastic Pollution

By now, it’s indisputable that we’re experiencing a global crisis of plastics production and plastics waste. There may be as much as 200 million tonnes of plastic in our oceans. Humans annually consume thousands of plastic particles and their harmful chemicals. The Global North dumps massive amounts of plastic waste on the Global South. Powerful corporate interests, especially in fossil fuels and petrochemicals, are driving the ongoing boom in plastics production. The plastics industry is pushing false solutions like chemical recycling, even as it’s clear that we can’t recycle our way out of this crisis.

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