Latest Environmental chemistry Stories

By merging more than a decade of atmospheric data from European satellites, scientists have compiled a homogeneous long-term ozone record that allows them to monitor total ozone trends on a global scale "“ and the findings look promising.Scientists merged monthly total ozone data derived from the vertically downward-looking measurements of the GOME instrument on ESA's ERS-2 satellite, SCIAMACHY on ESA's Envisat and GOME-2 on the European Meteorological Satellite Organization's...

Dr. Terrence Collins Offers Public Lecture on Growing Field of Green Chemistry September 15 at UC Berkeley Campus BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer concerns over hazardous chemicals in the air and water have led scientists to find solutions in the new field of green chemistry. "The most troubling health effects are associated with endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that may interfere with cellular development in humans and animals," says Dr. Terry Collins, a...

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rising populations coupled with limited water resources have driven communities around the world to begin reusing their wastewater streams. However, increasing levels of microconstituents such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) have forced municipalities to turn to new technologies to manage their water resources. These are just some of the learnings from a recent water reuse seminar in Deerfield Beach, Fla.,...

A North Carolina State University researcher has devised a new technology that really does not stink. In fact, it could be the key to eliminating foul odors and air pollutants emitted by industrial chicken rendering facilities and "“ ultimately "“ large-scale swine feedlots.Dr. Praveen Kolar, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State, has developed an inexpensive treatment process that significantly mitigates odors from poultry rendering operations....

ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announced that tomorrow, August 18, 2009, will be an Air Quality Action Day, a day when air quality will be unhealthy, especially for sensitive individuals, such as children, seniors and people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, due to forecasted high levels of both particulate matter and ground-level ozone pollution. The alert is issued for the New York downstate metropolitan region (the...

ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announced that today, August 17, 2009, is an Air Quality Action Day, a day when air quality is unhealthy, especially for sensitive individuals, such as children, seniors and people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, due to forecasted high levels of ground-level ozone pollution. The alert is issued for the New York downstate metropolitan region (the five boroughs, Long Island and lower...

Residents, Businesses Urged to Reduce Air Pollution HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection and its regional air quality partnerships have forecast air quality action days for Sunday, Aug. 9 in the Pittsburgh and Liberty/Clairton regions, and Monday, Aug. 10 for the Susquehanna Valley, Philadelphia, Berks/Lehigh and Liberty/Clairton regions. The Berks/Lehigh Valley region includes Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties; The Susquehanna...

ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announced that today, August 4, will be an Air Quality Action Day, a day when air quality is unhealthy, especially for sensitive individuals, such as children, seniors and people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, due to forecasted high levels of ground-level ozone pollution. The alert is issued for the New York downstate metropolitan region (the five boroughs, Long Island and lower Hudson...

The elderly are warned to avoid outdoors during high ozone levels but ozone has a negative effect on lung function in healthy adults, U.S. researchers said. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, recruited 31 healthy non-smoking people to participate in 6.6-hour sessions during which they were exposed to ozone at 60, 70, 80 or 87 parts per billion, or filtered air, while undergoing six 50-minute bouts of moderate exercise followed by 10-minute breaks. A 35-minute lunch break...

Chemicals pumped into the air by fossil fuels create smog-forming chlorine atoms that boost ozone levels, researchers in California said. Under extreme circumstances, the chemicals could account for nearly half of California's state-set limits on outdoor air pollution, scientists at the University of California, Irvine, said Monday in a release. We should be monitoring it and incorporating it into atmospheric models, chemistry professor Barbara Finlayson-Pitts said. We still don't really...