Ecology and Environment

At the end of December 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service awarded $1.4 billion in grant and loan financing to San Miguel Electric Cooperative, a utility provider that operates in rural Texas. The financing will go…

7 January 2025, Quezon City.  The environmental and health watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition bewailed the rise in the number of people, especially young children, who were injured or killed in firecracker-related incidents, prompting it to call for stronger regulations to…

Since the start of the 21st century, major planetary ecosystems, like the Amazon rainforest and Antarctica have consistently deteriorated, but within only the past two years, these two major ecosystems have deteriorated much faster than ever before. This is happening…

3 January 2025, Quezon City.  As devotees flock to the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno for the First Friday Mass of 2025, an environmental watchdog group appealed to the faithful to join in making the upcoming Traslacion…

Maryland is suing W.L. Gore & Associates, the maker of Gore-Tex — a waterproof material often used in outdoor gear such as raincoats — alleging its leaders continued to use per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “forever chemicals” long after they…

Major portions of the Arabian Peninsula are already exceeding 2°C above pre-industrial and likely headed for a staggering temperature rise over the coming decades. This disturbing news comes via a major new study by Saudi Arabia’s most prestigious university. The…

Ocean acidification, a growing global concern linked to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is having increasingly profound effects on marine ecosystems, particularly in regions like the Bay of Bengal. As the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases due to fossil-fuel combustion,…

Japan has its sights set on renewable energy producing 40 to 50 percent of its electricity by 2040, with another 20 percent coming from nuclear power, according to a new draft of its basic energy policy. By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes Japan is the second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

The definition of alarm: “A warning of danger” (Merriam-Webster) according to The State of the Climate Report 2024, 25 of 35 vital signs are at record extremes. By all accounts, this is an over-the-top alarm that’s setting off bells and…

TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) is a type of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) A new report from Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe revealed the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in mineral water products…