Watson, Meet Eco
Could algorithms be used to automate environmental management? (Photo: Pixabay)
Dave Rejeski
Wednesday, January 24, 2018

In a not-so-far-away future, environmental management will be done largely by algorithm. Here is how that could happen . . . .

In 2015, two graduates from Stanford business school, William Glass and Eden Kropski, founded a firm to produce and sell high-performance sportswear made entirely of synthetic fibers bioengineered from yeast microbes. The product was a runaway success and low-impact, but shipping it around the planet wasn’t.

D.C.’s Flushable Wipes Law Gets Clogged in District Court
Flushable wipes (Your Best Digs / Flickr)
Robert Kelsey
Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Flushable wipes have proven to not be so flushable and are wreaking havoc on some of the world’s major cities. Municipalities like New York City, spend millions of dollars to remedy clogging issues the wipes cause. New York City officials said in 2015 that "wipe-related equipment problems," have cost the city more than $18 million since 2010.

Look! A New Pollutant
A new class of nanopollutants was recently discovered in coal ash,
Dave Rejeski
Monday, October 2, 2017

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, coal-fired systems have been emitting a pollutant we did not even know existed . . . until now. In 2014, a team of scientists studying arsenic in the Dan River coal ash spill site in North Carolina discovered a new nano-scale version of titanium oxides that had never been seen before.* What they discovered were titanium suboxides, or so-called Magnéli phases, which were first synthesized in the 1930s. These substances are extremely rare in nature, seen only in rocks having an extraterrestrial origin (meteorites, lunar rocks, and interplanetary dust particles), and at one known point on the earth’s surface—rock formations on the central coast of western Greenland.

When Cars Lie
The Volkswagen Jetta TDI was one model using defeat devices to sidestep emission
Dave Rejeski
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

For months, Volkswagen has been reeling from an emissions manipulation scandal affecting over one-half million U.S. vehicles and costing the company more than $20 billion in reparations. The financial and reputational damage has now invaded the VW supply chain, with Bosch, the company who developed the emissions control programs for VW, agreeing to pay customers over $300 million in damages. Who is next? Probably Fiat/Chrysler and Daimler, both under investigation for evading diesel emissions rules.

Lago Agrio: The Drama Continues
Guillermo Granja/Reuters
Nora Moraga-Lewy
Thursday, August 25, 2016

I was in the 10th grade when I first heard about the ecological and human health disaster caused by petroleum extraction in Ecuador. A film festival in my hometown showed Crude, a documentary that details the impact of abandoned oil fields near Lago Agrio and the accompanying legal battle. Local populations whose livelihoods and health were allegedly harmed by careless corporate and government actions had been fighting to hold Texaco accountable for cleanup and compensation since 1993. The film, however, focused on several key characters that became involved in the case many years later. There were lawyers (Steven Donzigner and Pablo Fajardo), a corporation (Chevron, which acquired Texaco in 2001), celebrities (including Sting), and a young and charismatic Presidente (Rafael Correa of Ecuador).

A Call for TSCA Reform: Senator Paul's Unexpected Interest in H.R. 2576
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
Lynn L. Bergeson
Thursday, June 2, 2016

The last thing the push for TSCA reform needs is another delay, and Senator Paul's unexpected interest in H.R. 2576 has caused just that. Under typical circumstances, a Member's focused interest in legislation is refreshing, and as today highlights, entirely too infrequent. In this instance, the circuitous road to TSCA reform is anything but typical—the complexity of the legislation has invited an unusual divisiveness that has frustrated passage—and delay is the enemy of the good.

Timing is Everything: TSCA Reform and Nanomaterials
nanotube
John Pendergrass
Thursday, May 19, 2016

Timing is everything. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, updating and reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which hasn’t been revised since its passage in 1976. The overwhelming vote (403–12) reflected the fact that the chemical industry, much of the environment community, and most other interested parties have agreed on the need for such reform for years, if not decades.

Thanks to Environmental Pioneers in the United States Who Set the Example for the Rest of the World
William Eichbaum, former Vice President World Wildlife Fund
Robbin Marks
Thursday, May 12, 2016

ELI was founded in 1969—a time when U.S. environmental law was in its infancy and needed a place for cultivation and growth (an imperative that is still incredibly relevant today given the interconnectedness and severity of conservation challenges across the globe). At that moment in time, individuals across the country looked around and saw rivers catching on fire, poor air quality making it hard for children to breathe, and unfettered toxic pollution.

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