The scientific evidence linking air pollution to heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular death has “substantially strengthened,” and people, particularly those at high cardiovascular risk, should limit their exposure, according to a newly updated American Heart Association scientific statement.
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Evidence growing of air pollution’s link to heart disease, death
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Bicycle commuting is green, healthy and cheap — so why don’t more people do it?
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Bicyclist (Photo: Savo Ilic/dreamstime)
It’s May, which means it’s Bicycle Month. Cities and cycling clubs around the country are promoting bicycle riding by sponsoring group rides and bike commuter events , culminating around Bike to Work Day on May 21. But the presence on the American calendar of a designated month to encourage bicycle transportation underscores the fact that most people in this nation get around by driving cars, not by riding bikes.
California cities dominate list of metro areas with worst air quality
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Smog across Los Angeles (Photo: NASA)
From Green Right Now Reports
The American Lung Association State of the Air 2010 report released today ranks the metropolitan areas by the levels of ozone and particle pollution during 2006, 2007 and 2008. For particle pollution, the ALA ranks separately the areas with high year-round (annual average) levels and high short-term levels (24-hour) found in monitoring sites across the United States. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is used to compile the rankings.
American Lung Association ranks U.S. cities with cleanest air
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010The American Lung Association State of the Air 2010 report ranks the metropolitan areas by the levels of ozone and particle pollution during 2006, 2007 and 2008. For particle pollution, the ALA ranks separately the areas with high year-round (annual average) levels and high short-term levels (24-hour) found in monitoring sites across the United States. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is used to compile the rankings.
A big question: Is our love of sweets and high-fat food an addiction?
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Is America’s obesity problem really a problem of addictive behavior?
Could it be that Overeaters Anonymous got it right? That our modern love of fatty, sugary foods is not just a fleeting affair but a fatal attraction – or more precisely, an addiction?
If this were the case, it would place America’s obesity problem in a whole new light, one that cries out for solutions to help people avoid slipping into an addictive behavior that leads to a host of medical problems, from heart disease to diabetes.
In a study published Sunday in the online journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Scripps Research Institute in Florida, looked at the biological underpinnings of unhealthy eating by giving lab rats unlimited access to high-fat, high-sugar foods.
Common herbicide atrazine emasculates male frogs in study
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
African clawed frog (Photo: Columbia University)
Blame lawns. And Big Ag. A new study looking at the effects of the common pesticide atrazine has found that it emasculated three-quarters of the male frogs exposed to the chemical.
It turned one in ten of the male frogs into females.
The study suggests that a key reason for the vast worldwide decline of frogs could be their exposure to atrazine and similar pesticides. “The 75 percent that are chemically castrated are essentially ‘dead’ because of their inability to reproduce in the wild,” says Dr. Tyrone B. Hayes, a University of California-Berkeley professor and lead researcher of the study.
Butt out! Smoking is both health and environmental risk
Friday, February 12th, 2010
By Janna Vanderyt Tebbs
It’s not news that smoking is bad for you. In fact, tobacco use causes more deaths each year than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined. On top of that, we’ve all heard the risks of second-hand smoke. Not only is it a nuisance, but second-hand smoke poses serious health risks such as cancer, lung disease and heart disease. That’s right – you don’t even have to smoke to endanger your health, you just have to be breathing near someone else who’s smoking.
Even in the face of such staggering statistics and increasing social pressures (more states are passing legislation to create smoke-free public places), roughly 43.4 million adults in America continue to smoke, putting their health and the health and comfort of others around them at risk. And as if we need it, here’s one more reason to heap onto the reasons-to-kick-the-habit pile: Smoking is bad for the environment!
Chocolate: How do we love thee? Let us count the ways
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Over the past year or so, there’s been a velvety, yummy buzz: Chocolate may just save the planet!
Divine Hearts are actually good for your heart
Actually, that’s a stretch. But in the months leading up to the Copenhagen climate talks last December, several chocolate-makers claimed they were venturing further into fair trade practices, including Nestle, Mars and Cadbury.
Add to that the promising method of “cabruca farming” in Brazil — a way of supplementing rainforests with valuable cacao plants to offset wholesale slash-and-burn techniques. Then multiply those happy developments by now-abundant data showing that chocolate — dark chocolates and bittersweets, specifically — are good for our health, and you’ve got a growing body of evidence that semi-sweet, Fair Trade chocolate is not only good for body, heart and soul; it could be good for the environment.
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