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Past Presentation | What do kids think about the growing problem of plastic pollution? Our students explore young perspectives on plastic pollution causes, impacts and solutions through interviews with Maui kids ages five through ten.

Have patience.That, in essence, is the response of EPA officials to criticism that they are whiffing on an opportunity to strengthen commercial jet aircraft engine pollution regulations and benefit environmental justice communities.

California activists paved the way for defining climate change as an air pollution problem. Now it's federal law.

The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Thursday against Velsicol, claiming it violated the city's environmental laws by polluting a major waterway, the Anacostia River, and its surrounding environment for decades.

Professor of environmental chemistry Martin Scheringer joins "The Great Simplification" podcast to discuss new research on PFAS and their ubiquity in waterways all over the globe. The conversation then turns to plastic pollution and what we might do about it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Wednesday it is considering adopting new regulations to address...

California activists fought to frame climate change as an air quality problem. Now it’s federal law.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at reducing light pollution, citing concerns about costs.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality recently fined Georgia-Pacific’s Toledo mill about $62,000 for alleged air and water quality violations, some dating back two years.

The Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, for projects mitigating transborder water pollution between San Diego and Tijuana, recommend a course of action that could reduce the number of days of transborder flow by 76 percent.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said that it would be able to fund 132 projects for monitoring air pollution in 37 states after recent legislation passed congress. The funds, from both the Democrats’ COVID-19 Stimulus Package and their climate, tax and health care bill, will cover the grants. “This is the largest investment in...

A new lawsuit is pressing Florida’s top environmental leader to address wastewater problems contributing to an unprecedented manatee die-off in the Indian River Lagoon.

The polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons in “stacks” that resemble enormous ponds, are at risk for leaks or other contamination when Hurricane Ian comes ashore in the state, environmental groups say.

Environment Agency’s James Bevan says he wants to change law that provides tough water testing regimeThe head of the Environment Agency has signalled he wants to change a key regulation on water quality which repeatedly exposes how English rivers are being choked in a cocktail of sewage and agricultural pollution.James Bevan, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, said he wants to change the water framework directive, the law that provides a tough testing regime for English rivers. It provides a legal requirement that 75% of English rivers be in good health under its testing regime by 2027. Continue reading...

An environmental group filed a lawsuit this week against U.S. Forest Service officials that alleges they polluted waterways during their campaigns against wildfires by inadvertently dropping large volumes of chemical flame retardant into streams.

An environmental group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for allegedly polluting waterways by dropping large volumes of fire retardant from aircraft to fight wildfires.

Environmental groups say the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry are at risk for leaks or other contamination triggered by Hurricane Ian.

Brooklyn residents are using air quality and traffic sensors to see how new warehouses affect their communityFor the past year, a pair of plain-looking buildings has been at the center of a simmering conflict in a close-knit waterfront community in New York City. They look like warehouses, with tall concrete walls, loading bays and few windows. They sound like warehouses, emitting the rev of diesel engines and the chirps of reversing trucks. But by all accounts, they’re something very different.The two newcomers to Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood are hubs for Amazon’s growing last-mile delivery network. Unlike traditional warehouses, they’re bustling with around-the-clock activity, attracting convoys of cars, delivery vans, and semi-trucks to a neighborhood of narrow two-lane streets. Every day, shipments jostle through Red Hook’s crowded truck routes and make their way across New York, fulfilling Amazon’s promise of blistering-fast delivery. Continue reading...

Cars and highways are among the top contributors to ocean oil pollution, study finds.

A despairing handwring of a film shows the effects of environmental crisis on India’s capital – with images as nightmarish as sci-fi.

Our zip codes are more important than our genetic codes in predicting our overall health and lifespans. Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania face unique environmental health challenges. This guide explores those challenges and how you can help address them. What is environmental health? Environmental health is the relationship between human health and our environment. The field of environmental health is a branch of public health that looks at the health effects of everything from air pollution and water contamination to toxic chemicals in consumer products and climate change. These issues impact the health, wellbeing and longevity of people who live in some places more than others — including Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. Why is environmental health important in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania? Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania have long been home to extractive and manufacturing industries that substantially impact the environment and human health. Long ago the region was home to the lumber industry, then some of the world’s first oil wells and coal mining, then steel mills, and now natural gas extraction and petrochemical plants. Many cities, towns and neighborhoods throughout southwestern Pennsylvania were populated and built around these industries, so local politics historically have been led or heavily influenced by industry insiders. This resulted in policies that prioritize industrial growth, often at the expense of the environment and human health. The effects of these practices and policies still linger today. The region also features unique topography with plentiful mountains and valleys that influence the way pollutants move through the environment (or don’t) and who is most impacted by them. What this guide will cover Air pollution in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania Health impacts

Since 2000, India’s population has grown by nearly a third, and its economy has more than quintupled. Those booms have put immense pressure on the country’s natural areas.

As plastic pollution continues to be a global problem affecting both human and environmental health, scientists have developed new biodegradable materials which could help to rectify this.

Cars and highways are among the top contributors to ocean oil pollution, study finds

The initiative will give hard-hit communities $3 billion to address pollution.

Environmental groups joined the defense in court of New Mexico’s recently imposed oil and gas emission controls after an industry groups sued the state.

Nearly nine in 10 farms inspected failed to comply with regulations, according to a report from the Environment AgencyThe government’s efforts to protect UK rivers have been labelled an “abject failure” after two-thirds of farms in Devon were found to be causing pollution when inspected by the Environment Agency.Between 2016 and 2020, the agency visited more than 100 cattle farms in north Devon to check levels of compliance with environmental regulations, particularly around safe slurry storage and spreading. Continue reading...

PITTSBURGH—The site of a former coal-fired power plant northwest of Pittsburgh is leaking coal ash and poisoning surrounding groundwater, according to a new report. Coal ash, the material left behind after coal is burned, contains harmful substances like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury and uranium, among others. Exposure is linked to health effects like cancer, damage to the thyroid, liver and kidneys, and neurodevelopmental problems in children. Although coal consumption has declined across the U.S., the power industry continues to generate about 70 million tons of coal ash annually, and after 100 years of burning coal, U.S. power plants have generated about five billion tons of coal ash. The new report, published by the environmental law advocacy groups Environmental Integrity Project and EarthJustice, found that 91% of U.S. coal-fired plants have ash landfills or waste ponds that are leaking toxic chemicals and heavy metals into surrounding groundwater at levels that threaten streams, rivers and drinking water aquifers. It also found that many coal plant owners manipulate data or incorrectly claim exemptions to regulations to avoid having to clean up contamination. “Coal plants are polluting the nation’s water illegally and getting away with it,” Lisa Evans, a senior attorney at Earthjustice and coauthor of the report, said during a news briefing. “At least 91% of them are poisoning our water with hazardous toxics and doing little or nothing to address it. This is illegal.” The report ranks the top 10 worst contaminated coal ash sites in the country. GenOn’s New Castle Generating Plant, about 46 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, ranks sixth on the list. Groundwater near the site contains arsenic levels 372 times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s, or EPA’s, safety threshold, and lithium levels 54 times higher. Arsenic exposure is linked to multiple forms of cancer, neurological impairments in children and skin conditions. Lithium exposure is linked to kidney and neurological damage, decreased thyroid function and birth defects. The GenOn plant sits along the Beaver River, which feeds into the Ohio River, which, in turn, provides drinking water to more than five million people.“In addition to the Ohio River being an important source of drinking water to many Americans, people in the region also love to fish, swim and boat out in these waters,” Zach Barber, a community organizer with environmental advocacy group PennEnvironment, who was not involved with the report, told EHN. “This pollution poses real risks that are not being taken seriously by these companies or our regulators.”The GenOn site, which has approximately 50 acres of coal ash landfill containing about three million tons of ash, is the only location in Pennsylvania to make the report’s top 10 list. It follows coal ash dumps in Texas, Nevada, North Carolina and Wyoming (two sites), and ranks worse than sites in Maryland, Mississippi, Utah and Tennessee. The most polluted site in the nation is the San Miguel Electric Plant south of San Antonio, Texas. The report, an update to a 2019 report on coal ash sites, also details groundwater contamination at 292 additional coal plants in 43 states.“Coal ash waste is causing widespread water contamination that threatens drinking water supplies and the environment,” Lisa Evans, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement. “In every state where coal is burned, power companies are violating federal health protections.”Manipulating data to hide poisonous pollutionIn 2015, in response to nearly 160 cases of water contamination and several catastrophic coal ash spills, the EPA established the first-ever regulations governing coal ash disposal collectively referred to as the Coal Ash Rule. The rule required sites disposing of coal ash to post groundwater monitoring reports on their websites. There’s no federal database of these notices, so the authors of the report collected and analyzed the data to create their own. They concluded that many power companies are illegally manipulating data and monitoring to avoid cleanup requirements. Companies are supposed to collect samples from clean background wells that aren’t near coal ash disposal sites to compare against wells on site. But they found that companies often chose previously contaminated sites to use as background wells, making it harder to find evidence of coal ash pollution. Many plants also leave large parts of a disposal area unmonitored, use inappropriate statistical methods to hide patterns of contamination, and falsely attribute the contamination to another source, according to the report. “Coal plant owners are deliberately employing tricks to hide coal ash pollution,” Evans said. “People live next to these ponds. People drink the groundwater. Families use the lakes and streams next to these ponds. Leaving ash will make people sick and harm the water they depend on…but pennies over people has always been the norm where coal ash is concerned.” Some plant owners, including the owners of GenOn’s former New Castle Plant, say the sites were already contaminated before they arrived, so they shouldn’t be responsible for cleanup, according to the report. GenOn’s New Castle Plant landfill was built on top of an 80-year-old, 120-acre ash pond, and the company is only claiming responsibility for a small part of the landfill, according to the document. “GenOn must apply the Rule to the landfill as a whole,” the report concludes. “This approach is not only legally required, but also common sense – there is no way to restore groundwater at the site without addressing all of the coal ash known to be buried there.” GenOn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It isn’t the only company avoiding responsibility: The report found that at nearly half of the plants causing contamination, owners are not planning any cleanup, and most have denied responsibility. Of the plants that have agreed cleanup is necessary, only a handful have cleanup plans in place, and most lack clear timelines and fall short of federal standards. The report also notes that most coal plants are located in or near environmental justice communities (communities that are primarily made up of low-income residents and/or people of color), and that 70% of coal ash ponds that are dangerously close to groundwater are located in communities that are primarily Black or brown. How can we fix this?Both state agencies and the EPA have authority to enforce the Coal Ash Rule. In a few states, state regulatory agencies are actively working to enforce the rule, according to Evans, while other states rely on the EPA. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, or PA DEP, did not immediately respond to questions about its role enforcing the coal ash rule and whether it will address contamination at the New Castle Plant (we’ll update the story if they do). The report recommends a number of solutions, including increased federal oversight to stop coal companies from manipulating data and improperly claiming exemptions, implementing enforceable cleanup schedules, closing loopholes for sites that are no longer operational, requiring testing of drinking water near coal ash dumps and banning dangerous re-use of coal ash (such as using it as a soil substitute). “The first place to start is enforcing the rules we already have on the books,” Barber said. “But the only way to completely protect people from the health harms of coal is to leave it in the ground and switch to cleaner, renewable sources of energy.”

Under-fire water firms, criticised for their part in the scandal, have pointed the finger at the authorities in newly revealed lettersWater company bosses have blamed UK government inaction for a lack of progress in stopping sewage pollution, newly revealed letters show.According to data from the Environment Agency, sewage has been dumped into the seas and rivers around the UK more than 770,000 times over the course of 2020 and 2021 – the equivalent of almost 6m hours. Continue reading...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a Wednesday letter said Louisiana may have discriminated against Black communities who live near air pollution sources in the state.  In the letter to the leaders of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and Department of Health (LDH), the federal agency specifically raised concerns about residents who live...

The checks average $1,787 apiece.

Past Presentation | Rivers and creeks are like arteries that flow to our heart, the ocean. Plastic pollution is like cholesterol. In Central America and Southeast Asia groups are helping to stop the flow of plastic pollution to prevent impacts further downstream or on the sea and along our coastlines and reefs. Use the Global Alert app/platform to inspire cleanups and long-term solutions.

By Ainslie Cruickshank and Francesca Fionda For a decade Ktunaxa Nation has been calling for a Canada-U.S. body to investigate coal pollution. New records show the B.C. government and Teck Resources lobbied against it.

The streams near the trail pass through wetlands, which play a vital role in filtering out pollution from the water. Despite the sanitary start, the creek collects pollutants as it leaves the wetlands and flows further into the city. Runoff carrying chemicals, animal waste, and even trash seep into the creek as it travels, and these pollutants eventually end up in the aquifer, which Gainesville relies on for its drinking water.

Past Presentation | Featuring interviews with local experts, this short film documents a study of marine plastics being conducted in remote areas of Maui's northeast coast, and what it may tell us about the sources of plastic pollution, and potential solutions

Past Presentation | Two brothers and a friend set sail from Mexico with a dream to circumnavigate the world and surf. In their 3-year 40,000-nautical mile journey crossing all the major oceans of the world and visiting some 40 countries, they discover endemic plastic pollution on ”pristine” beaches. The films shows how the local and global effects of the ocean’s pollution are intertwined and explores solutions.

Whether it was floods, tainted drinking water or a severe hailstorm, the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board recently approved millions of dollars to address the Eastern Oregon environmental crises of months past.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Shell Pipeline Company and its contractor, Minnesota Limited, to pay fines related to violations of permit requirements and environmental laws.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has accused Owens Valley pollution regulators of trying to "squeeze" cash from the utility's water customers.

An Environmental Task force created by the Colorado legislature submitted their recommendations to fix inequity in pollution effects this week.

The first-of-its-kind plan will purge gas from existing buildings, not just new construction.

Toxic PFAS have likely contaminated roughly 57,412 locations across the U.S., according to a new study. Those locations include certain industrial facilities, waste processing facilities, and places where firefighting foam containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been used, such as airports and military bases. The study, published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, found likely PFAS contamination sites in all 50 states. It is the first study to use existing scientific data on PFAS contamination to create a model that can predict locations where contamination is likely. “PFAS contamination at these sites is not just possible, but probable,” Alissa Cordner, senior author on the paper and co-director of the PFAS Project Lab, told EHN. “Testing for PFAS is extremely expensive and requires a lot of time and technical capacity… One of our big goals is to help decision makers prioritize testing and remediation at these locations based on this high likelihood of contamination.”Related: What are PFAS? PFAS don’t break down naturally, so they linger in the environment and human bodies. Exposure is linked to health problems including kidney and testicular cancer, liver and thyroid problems, reproductive problems, lowered vaccine efficacy in children and increased risk of birth defects, among others. The chemicals have been found in drinking water systems throughout the U.S., in the bodies of humans and animals around the globe, in plants and crops, and even in rainwater at levels too high for safe consumption. Research on the chemicals has increased in recent years, but due to a lack of testing requirements at the federal level, we lack critical data about the scale, scope, and severity of PFAS releases and contamination in the U.S. The new study helps fill that gap and also provides a map of presumptive contamination sites. The researchers looked at 11 existing studies and regulatory lists that clearly linked levels of PFAS contamination to specific types of facilities, then referenced national databases to map the location of similar sites across the country. To ensure its accuracy, the researchers compared the results from their model against their existing map of known contamination sites based on published PFAS testing data, and found that about 70% of known contamination sites were captured by the model. The remaining 30% of sites were locations where PFAS have been found by testing at locations where they wouldn’t be expected by the model. "This model is likely an underestimation of contaminated sites,” Cordner said. “For example, we know that locations where sludge has been applied to farmland, and locations where firefighting foam has been used in training exercises are likely to be contaminated, but there are no federal databases of those sites, so they aren’t included here.”Lack of regulationsIn 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) laid out a road map to new regulations for PFAS, including regulating the chemicals in drinking water, but many health advocates and scientists who study the chemicals believe the agency is moving too slowly. In the meantime, some states have begun regulating the chemicals, but that has led to a patchwork of protections. “There certainly is a need for a federal [drinking water limit] on PFAS that’s protective of public health,” Cordner said. “In the meantime, we would love to see this research used broadly by local, municipal, and state decision makers to prioritize sites for testing and public health interventions.”PFAS in PennsylvaniaThe report identified about 2,100 presumed PFAS contamination sites in Pennsylvania, according to Cordner, putting the state 10th nationwide for number of presumed contaminated sites. California was the top state with roughly 7,200 sites, according to Cordner. In contrast, only 10 locations in Pennsylvania show up on the report’s map of known contamination sites.From 2019-2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducted statewide PFAS sampling that revealed one out of three drinking systems exceed the EPA’s recommended health thresholds for PFAS.Related: How toxic PFAS chemicals could be making their way into food from Pennsylvania farmsThe DEP has been working to set drinking water limits for PFAS in the state since at least 2017. That process is expected to be complete in 2023. In the meantime, the EPA’s recommended health thresholds for the two most common and dangerous PFAS, PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid), were lowered substantially earlier this year, putting Pennsylvania’s proposed limits on these chemicals hundreds of times above recommended health thresholds.“The EPA’s interim health advisory limits are so low, they’re essentially saying almost any amount of exposure to these chemicals is likely to be hazardous to human health,” Cordner said. She also noted that PFOA and PFOS are only two of a class of more than 12,000 similar chemicals, and called on regulators to move away from regulating them one at a time and instead regulate them as a class. “We need to stop all non-essential use of these chemicals in industrial processes, commercial products, and firefighting foam to prevent these harmful exposures.”

U.S. regulators will require a new Clean Air Act permit for a troubled oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which could cost its owners hundreds of millions of dollars and take three years or more to obtain, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

PITTSBURGH—More than 50 years after the passage of the national Clean Water Act, industrial polluters still regularly dump toxic chemicals linked to birth defects and cancer into local waterways, according to a new report.Among major watershed regions nationwide, the Ohio River basin received the largest volume of toxic chemical discharges by weight in 2020, according to the report, published today by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. Other heavily polluted watersheds included the Mid-Atlantic watershed, which encompasses parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland Delaware and New York; and the South Atlantic-Gulf, which encompasses Florida and parts of surrounding states.The report looked at data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Toxic Release Inventory, which documents self-reported emissions of toxic chemicals from industrial sources across the country. It found that western Pennsylvania’s waterways see particularly large releases of chemicals like compounds of nickel and chromium, which are linked to reproductive harm, including reduced sperm count, birth defects, miscarriages and premature births. The lower Monongahela watershed, which encompasses much of southwestern Pennsylvania (and falls within the Ohio River basin), ranks 4th nationally for releases of chemicals that cause reproductive harm into waterways. Around 7,364 pounds of these chemicals were dumped into the watershed’s rivers and streams in 2020, according to the report.“Pennsylvania’s waterways should be clean — for swimming, fishing, providing drinking water and supporting wildlife,” Ashleigh Deemer, deputy director with the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, said in a statement. “But all too often, polluters use our rivers as open sewers with no repercussions.”Under the Clean Water Act, pollution released into waterways is regulated and monitored in various ways. Most of the pollutants reported under the Toxic Release Inventory are released into waterways legally, but some environmental advocates argue that pollution allowances under the law are too high, given the health harms of these chemicals and improved availability of better pollution control technology in recent years.The polluters of U.S. watersheds In the Pittsburgh area, U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, about 15 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh, dumped more than 2.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals into local waterways, making it the top industrial water polluter in Pennsylvania. The Clairton Coke Works ranks 17th on a list in the report of the top 50 industrial water polluters by volume in the country (it’s also a top air polluter). The report also ranks U.S. Steel among the top 20 parent companies for total releases of toxic chemicals into waterways nationwide in 2020, along with companies like Tyson Foods, Koch Industries, BASF Corp., Dupont De Nemours Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. Statewide, the report found that more than 5.8 million pounds of toxic substances were dumped into waterways by industrial sites across the Commonwealth in 2020, including chemicals like nitrates from farming and byproducts from petroleum, steel and coal-related industries that are linked to cancer, reproductive harm and developmental issues in children. A total of 22,621 pounds of chemicals linked specifically to reproductive harm were released into the state’s waterways in 2020. Those figures make the Commonwealth the third worst in the country for chemical releases of chemicals linked to reproductive harm, the 12th worst state in the nation for toxic chemicals released into waterways by volume and the ninth worst for chemicals dumped into waterways by total toxicity. At the national level, the report found that 193.6 million pounds of toxic substances were dumped into U.S. waterways in 2020. The report found that the Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp.’s plant in Rockport, Indiana, dumped more than 11.9 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Lower Ohio-Little Pigeon watershed, which encompasses parts of Indiana and Kentucky, making it the worst industrial water polluter in the country. Necessary changesTo lower those releases and reduce related health effects, the report’s authors recommend requiring polluting industries to systematically reduce their use of toxic chemicals, and updating pollution control standards to eliminate the direct release of toxic chemicals into waterways. “The Clean Water Act has drastically improved our waterways since its signing nearly 50 years ago,” Heather Hulton VanTassel, executive director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper, said in a statement. “Nevertheless, due to loopholes, deregulations and lack of enforcement, our waterways are nowhere near where they should be.” “There needs to be stricter regulations on what can be discharged into our waters,” she added. “We need to close the loopholes, and we need to enforce our clean water laws.”

One report found that the risk of dementia declined significantly in women 74 and older following a reduction in two types of air pollution. A second report, relying on the same sample of more than 2,200 older women, found that lower levels of certain pollutants were associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline.

California has a new environmental law that’s described as either a major milestone on the road to tackling the scourge of plastic pollution—or a future failure with a loophole big enough to accommodate a fleet of garbage trucks. The law, which seeks to make the producers and sellers of plastic packaging responsible for their waste, […]

Drax accused of driving ‘environmental racism’ after further pollution claims against wood pellet mills in US deep south. Company billed as UK’s ‘largest source of renewable energy’ has now been forced to make settlement payments for air pollution claims against three of its US pellet plants - two of them are sited in poor, majority-Black communities

Past Presentation | How will organic farming be in future? Farmer Mechtenbach tries to use new nanotechnology to defend the health of his highland cattle against growing pollution.

The grants are focused on communities historically overburdened by pollution.

Past Presentation | Inspired by the popular OMI song Cheerleader, this musical parody set to a student-written song, highlights the importance of “bringing your own” in the fight against plastic pollution.

Past Presentation | Owsia (Darkened Water) tells the story of the aqueduct of Iranian city Yazd that has supplied water for hundreds of years. Now, the 2500 year old structure rots due to bureaucracy and corruption. Wastewater pollution is poisoning the pure and clean water that ran through the aqueduct during 84 kms of current.

Dozens of projects will receive millions to boost monitoring near industrial sites. The Biden administration wants to focus on environmental justice in communities impacted by decades of pollution.

Past Presentation | With colorful animation depicting the history of straws and segments narrated by Oscar winner, Tim Robbins, we learn about problems caused by plastic pollution and how to be part of the solution. Each day in the U.S., over 500,000,000 straws are used once and tossed. The vast majority aren't recycled and end up in landfills, litter streets, or add to an estimated 8.5 metric tons of debris in oceans annually. Ocean Conservancy ranks plastic straws as the fifth most frequent item found on beaches.

Past Presentation | The nuclear accident at Fukushima was pointed out as "pollution" by environmental historians and despite nearly a decade having passed since the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami disaster, the after-effects are still being felt by people from the region. As people grasp at possible ways to recover and move forward, IWASAKI Takamasa, the director of this film, uses the documentary format to look at the past to find ways to the future.

Oregon has done little over the past two decades to reduce cancer-causing diesel pollution, even though state regulators knew the major source of air pollution was harming Oregonians’ health.

Genetically modified bacteria can make all types of materials — and it's easy and cheap

Past Presentation | Younes is the survivor of a diving team in the Iran-Iraq war who lives beside the Persian gulf. He desires to set a status under the gulf as a memorial to those friends who were murdered in the Persian gulf. Meanwhile he faces the water pollution of oil companies.