Reuters
November 24, 2011

Air pollution caused more than 100 billion euros ($134.95 billion) in health and environmental damage, highlighting the need for more renewables sources of energy, a report published on Thursday by the European Environment Agency found.

Europe’s 10,000 largest factories and energy facilities resulted in 102-169 billion euros in health issues, such as respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and environmental costs because of air pollution in 2009, the most recent available data.

Per citizen, the cost was between 200-300 euros.

A Boston hedge fund plans to begin a massive mining project in the Niagara region, destroying acres of pristine farmland and contaminating drinking water supplies in the region. They are still waiting for approval from the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, to much public outcry. If you wish to sign the petition to stop this project, visit www.avaaz.org.

Huffingtonpost.ca
July 7, 2011

Zerofootprint Founder and CEO Ron Dembo is a blogger for the new Huffington Post Canada. In his second post he asks readers: why don’t we measure and compare the air quality of the places where we spend most of our time - our homes, schools, and offices? Isn’t it time this changed? Read on:

Stop people on the street and ask them if the air quality in their home matters to them. I bet they would say “yes” across the board—yet, I’m willing to bet that most of us know more about the fuel efficiency of our cars, or the price of the houses in our neighborhood, or the cost of a haircut than we do than about the quality of air in our children’s schools. Strange, isn’t it? Is it that we don’t really care?

It is safe to say we should measure what we care about—so why don’t we? According to Health Canada, the average Canadian spends 90 per cent of their time indoors. We know poor air quality can cause sickness—think of mould, VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), flame retardants on our furniture, etc.

What if I told you your house had 10 times the VOCs that are found in your neighbors’ houses? What if the boardroom on the fourth floor in your office was 20 times worse than the one on the third floor? Guess where you would hold meetings! And guess how long it would take before the fourth floor boardroom would be fixed.

Or, imagine your son’s school with air quality much worse than your daughter’s. It wouldn’t be long before you would be lobbying for a change.

Clare Hutchison, Wales Online
September 13, 2010

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our health and well-being and it is already affecting the health of millions - yet we don’t often think of it as a health issue at all.

According to the World Health Organisation, climate change already accounts for 150,000 deaths per year around the world, with this predicted to increase dramatically in the coming decades

Business Week, The Associated Press
June 4, 2010, 6:24PM ET

Lab tests confirm underwater layers of oil
By CAIN BURDEAU, BATON ROUGE, La.

Laboratory tests confirmed that oil from a spewing Gulf of Mexico well has accumulated in at least two extensive plumes deep under the surface, scientists with the University of South Florida said Friday.

Plastic Pollution is an everyday reality. Plastic is a material that the Earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists, except the small amount that has been incinerated, and has become toxic air and particulate pollution.

Make a Difference! Join the Plastic Pollution Coalition!

The Guardian
By Tom Robbins
April 14, 2010

A green hotel in Copenhagen is claiming a world first by using guests on exercise bikes to generate electricity.
Forget solar panels and wind turbines, a hotel that bills itself as one of the “greenest” in the world has found a new source of renewable energy – its guests.

From next Monday, those staying at the 366-room Crown Plaza

Globe-Net
By Marc Stoiber
April 10, 2010

SUSTAINABILITY is not always a thing of beauty. In January, Maddock Douglas released a study that tracked the actual versus the perceived sustainability of more than 90 leading U.S. corporations. The results were eye-opening, to say the least.

In the Maddock Douglas study, there were entire sectors, such as electronics, that consistently led

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 9, 2010

China Releases First National Pollution Census

BEIJING (AP)—China said Tuesday that its first national pollution census has mapped more than 5 million sources of industrial, residential and agricultural waste throughout the country, but that the results won’t be publicly available for now.

The New York Times
Published: January 7, 2010

A Push for Cleaner Air

Between them, the Obama administration and the federal courts have reversed most of the Bush administration’s wrongheaded environmental regulations. But a few bad rules linger on the books, among them an inadequate health standard governing harmful ozone, which most people call smog.