The Issue
Environment
Farms and ranches cover more than half of all land in the United States. EWG works to keep the land productive and to protect soil, water and wildlife.
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The Latest on Environment
President Obama’s proposed budget continues the long string of broken promises that have left conservation programs billions short over the past two farm bills. While the White House and the US Department of Agriculture rightly communicate that farmers are a critical component in the fight against global warming, their budget proposes to cut the very programs that can help them win.
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The American Lung Association (ALA) just issued its 10th annual State of the Air report for 2009 yesterday. Use it to learn your county's air pollution ratings - they have an interactive air pollution map so you can click your state and drill down from there.
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For the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey has identified the top 150 polluting watersheds in the Mississippi River Basin that cause the annual 8,000 square-mile “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on the USGS report released today, members of the Mississippi River Water Quality Collaborative urge the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state policy makers to use the report to solve water quality problems both within the states and downstream in the Gulf.
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The agriculture provisions of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) open two loopholes that threaten to let coal-fired power plants and other big climate polluters off the hook and slow progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Read MoreCongress's proposed "increase" in Environmental Quality Incentives Program funding is really a cut of $285 million from what was promised in the 2008 farm bill. Without proper conservation funding, few resources are available to mitigate the environmental damage caused by modern commodity crop agriculture.
Read MoreFor a quarter century, environmentalists, farmers, and government officials from six states have relied on sporadic, “random acts of conservation” to mitigate the unintended damage these agriculture activities have had on the once majestic Chesapeake Bay.
Read MoreNitrogen and phosphorus pollution from agriculture sources flowing from the Mississippi River is devastating the northern Gulf of Mexico and impacting human health, killing fish and limiting recreation along the way.
Read MoreWhen Congress passed the 2008 farm bill on June 18, 2008, it promised to increase funding for the most important and popular program in farm country to prevent water pollution and tackle other priority conservation problems.
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Letter sent by a coalition of environmental groups, including EWG, to congressional leadership requesting support of the March 18, 2008 Farm Bill “Framework’s” $4.951 billion increase in new funds above baseline for the bill’s voluntary, incentives-based conservation programs.
Today the USGS released findings that show agricultural practices in 9 states contribute 75% of the nitrogen and phosphorous pollution to the “Dead Zone” in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Currently, the growing Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the size of New Jersey.
Read MoreDue to lax standards and implementation problems, USDA's conservation compliance program is missing cost-effective opportunities to make further, substantial reductions in cropland soil erosion and agriculture-related toxic run-off. Conservation compliance is critical to mitigating the damage agriculture related pollution does to streams, waterways and the Gulf of Mexico.
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We are one summer away from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the host country is trying to win the gold by going green. This week’s Outside the Box hurdles organic pork, strict air quality control standards, and vast urban renewal in a marathon of environmental stories that might leave you forgetting about lead paint and toxic food.
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Ecosystems are fragile like a house of cards: add the wrong component in the wrong place and it can come tumbling down. Worlds are at war as this week’s OTB resembles a third rate science fiction novel and takes a closer look at species invasion and ecosystems in peril.
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"'What might it be that you've got in the box?'
"And Smiley says, sorter indifferent-like, 'It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it ain't—it's only just a frog.'
Read MoreCremation is a big environmental issue, as well as the choice of most Australians. While the process reduces us to ash, it also produces pollutants and carbon dioxide that goes directly into the atmosphere. According to estimates of the Australian government, one cremation produces up to 50 liters of carbon dioxide and it takes about 70 minutes.
Read MoreSeptember 9th sounds like a good day for a green street festival, doesn't it?
Read MoreNo time to click over to Enviroblog during the day? Looking for an even easier way to stay up to date on environmental health news? Now you can get Enviroblog delivered to your inbox!
Read MoreA couple of months ago, I ranted against the mainstream news media's rush to hail Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as an environmental hero.
Read More"First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings -- where and when -- are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."
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