Pollution
How Hong Kong ‘Sees’ Invisible Tailpipe Emissions and Pulls Polluters Off the Road
The city has deployed a system of sensors to flag highly polluting vehicles. Nearly all of them have been repaired, helping to clean Hong Kong’s air.
Pollution75 articles archived since 1845
Oceans
We Need a Global Plastics Treaty to Stop an Environmental Disaster
Truly global participation in the process will create more than just a Paris Agreement for plastics
Fossil Fuels
EPA Is Preparing to Reinstate California’s Authority to Set More Stringent Car Emissions Rules
The move would reverberate around the country because more than a dozen other states follow California’s regulations
Pollution
How to Destroy ‘Forever Chemicals’
Health-damaging PFASs are nearly impossible to break down—but a new hot-water technique can destroy them
Pollution
Protecting People from Deadly Shellfish
Indigenous communities along Alaska’s coast are developing scientific networks to test shellfish for toxins because the state is not doing so
Pollution
Wildfires Are Fueling a Toxic Combo of Air Pollutants
The 2020 fire season subjected half the western U.S. population to a stew of particulate matter and ozone
Pollution
Rivers Dump Mercury into Coastal Fisheries
Most of the pollutant arrives at the coasts by river
Oceans
Half of the World’s Coastal Sewage Pollution Flows from Few Dozen Places
An analysis of roughly 135,000 watersheds reveals that large amounts of key pollutants come from human wastewater, not just agricultural runoff
Climate Change
Climate Change Is Acidifying and Contaminating Drinking Water and Alpine Ecosystems
Hotter, drier mountains leach more metal into streams from abandoned mines and natural deposits
Automobiles
Access to Electric Vehicles Is an Environmental Justice Issue
We must build tomorrow’s transportation infrastructure with equity at its core
Climate Change
How Airborne Microplastics Affect Climate Change
Like other aerosols, these tiny particles scatter and absorb sunlight, influencing Earth’s temperature
Pollution
Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water
Experts hope that with the incoming Biden administration, the federal government will finally regulate a class of chemicals known as PFASs
Pollution
Assessing COVID Risk and More with Air Quality Monitors
The consumer devices track pollutants as well as CO2—a proxy for potentially virus-laden human breath
Pollution
Landmark Ozone Treaty Could Prevent More Than 400 Million Cases of Cancer
The Montreal Protocol has helped heal the ozone layer that blocks harmful ultraviolet rays
Engineering
Winged Microchips Glide like Tree Seeds
The tiny sensors could gather and transmit environmental data as they drift through the air
Pollution
Tiny Robots Could Clean Up Microplastic Pollution
In a proof-of-concept study, microscopic self-propelled devices found and broke down microplastic particles
Pollution
Plant Absorbs Toxic RDX Contamination
Modified switchgrass can sop up weapons chemicals on military ranges
Pollution
Electric School Buses Reduce Pollution, but New Infrastructure Deal Slashed Funding
Advocates worry that reduced funds will not go to the communities most in need
Public Health
People of Color Breathe More Unhealthy Air from Nearly All Polluting Sources
A trend of disproportionate exposure to deadly air pollution among Asian, Hispanic and Black people persists in most cases regardless of the emission source, a study finds
Water
What’s Really in Your Water?
Rapid at-home tests for contaminants are on the way
