Mars Is Littered With ‘Much More’ Than 16,000 Pounds of Human Trash
If and when human beings take our first steps on the rusty soil of the Red Planet, we will be greeted by something extremely familiar: our own trash. In an…
Tobacco Companies to Pay for Cigarette Butt Pollution in Spain
For many people, the first signs of spring are the sounds of birds and the budding of trees. Where I live in Toronto, the most prominent sign of spring is…
US Considers Gas Stove Regulations as Research Mounts on Indoor Air Pollution Risks
The age of fire is over and it’s time we stop burning things. Activist and author Bill McKibben agrees: “We’ve reached the point in human history where we should stop…
EPA Launches $550 Million Program for Environmental Justice Grants
In August of 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, creating the largest investment in environmental and climate justice in U.S. history. As part of that, the…
Sea Spray at California Beach Comes with Aerosolized Raw Sewage
There’s something sublime about sea spray—the salty mist that drifts from breaking waves and gives beachgoers a kiss of the ocean. But unfortunately, that kiss could be tainted with bacteria,…
How Does Mercury Get in Fish?
Nearly all seafood contains mercury, a naturally occurring metal buried deep in the Earth’s crust. At room temperature, elemental mercury is quite dangerous; just a few drops can contaminate an…
Ocean Plastic Sees Staggering Increase Since 2005, Study Finds
The first study describing the discovery of marine plastic debris was published in the journal Science in 1972; the researchers reported that “plastic particles, in concentrations averaging 3500 pieces and…
With 100 Trillion Bits of Old Satellites Circling the Planet, Scientists Call for Action on Space Junk
Houston, we have a problem. The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with landfills groaning under the stress. We’ve delivered more than 170 trillion plastic particles…
Unexpected Species Are Colonizing Rafts of Plastic Debris in the High Seas
It used to be that coastal species lived in coastal habitats. This makes sense. But now, a new study describes a surprising number of coastal marine invertebrate species thriving in…
It’s Time to Ban Cigarette Filters
We thought plastic straws were bad? Cigarette filters would like a word. Unlike the very obvious litter impact of single-use plastic straws, shopping bags, or bottles, cigarette butts seem unassuming.…