The World from PRX

pollution

Air quality levels have been bad in Accra since December as harmattan season kicks in across Ghana. The data coming in shows the situation is not improving.
Climate Change
Hazy skies over Accra: Harsh harmattan season in Ghana leads to health hazards, poor air quality
cars on streets
Development
90% of the cars on Ghana’s roads are imported used cars. Many are polluting or unsafe.
Antonio Trujillo holds a cigarette while resting on a bench, in Pamplona, northern Spain
Environment
Big tobacco is forced to pay for cigarette butt pollution in Spain, but smokers may soon be on the hook
Delegates began to share their concrete visions on what they believe the future plastic treaty could look like at the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1).
Environment
Negotiators meet in Uruguay to map out global plastics treaty
Downtown Oaxaca city in southern Mexico. 
Environment
Oaxaca trash dump closure wreaks environmental havoc
Plastic pollution has become a major concern in Ghana.
Environment
Ghana’s fishermen are drowning in plastic. The govt is trying to tackle pollution before it’s too late.
The Shell Norco refinery in Norco, Louisiana, Thursday, March 8, 2018.
Health & Medicine
A new interactive map can help assess carcinogenic emissions risk
Workers prepare to replace older water pipes with a new copper one in Newark, New Jersey, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021.
Health & Medicine
Scientists link childhood lead exposure to adult mental health problems
The Shell Norco oil refinery along the Mississippi River in Norco, LA.
Environment
Hurricane Ida adds misery to ‘Cancer Alley’: Part II
In this July 27, 2018, photo the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun.
Environment
Fossil fuels cause 1 in 5 premature deaths worldwide, study says
Kristal Ambrose, Bahamas Plastic Movement
Environment
Bahamas Plastic Movement founder wins Goldman Environmental Prize
Two people are shown in the distance standing on a brown dirt and rock ledge.
‘China’s Erin Brockovich’ goes global to hold Chinese companies accountable
Los Angeles smog
Prior exposure to air pollution increases risk of death from COVID-19, new research suggests
A man picks through a huge heap of plastic trash
Environment
‘More waste, better taste’: This Garbage Café offers food in exchange for plastic
A shrimp boat is shown in a illustration that combines the boat with a map of the Mississippi Delta.
Growing Food, Sowing Trouble
Gulf shrimpers fight for their livelihoods in a fertilizer-fueled dead zone
Air pollution in China
Health & Medicine
Air pollution is a silent killer, even when it meets EPA standards
Plastic beach pollution
Environment
‘Beyond the crisis point on plastic waste’: New bill is wake-up call, says senator
Smog Salt Lake City, Utah
Environment
A new EPA rule will require confidential health records for scientific studies
A group of young protesters hold signs and posters.
Health & Medicine
How climate change affects children’s health
Buildings shrouded in smog with a red orb in the sky
Environment
Environmental emergency declared in Mexico’s smog-choked capital
Close up of colorful plastic bits
Environment
Microplastics have turned up in the remote Arctic Ocean, which means they’re everywhere
glacier
Climate change: Obsession with plastic pollution distracts attention from bigger environmental challenges
a man climbs a pile of garbage
Environment
If you recycled all the plastic garbage in the world, you could buy the NFL, Apple and Microsoft
Westlake Chemical
Health
EPA weakens oversight of toxic chemicals
Greenpeace
Environment
Greenpeace: Plastic pollution has spread to Antarctica
Red Dog Mine
Environment
The most toxic town in America
Dogs by creek
Environment
A message for dog owners enjoying the great outdoors: Leave no poop behind
Kiawah Beach, SC
Environment
Coastal Republicans oppose the new ‘Drill, baby, drill’
Plastic collection worker
Environment
The Plastic Banks works to turn plastic trash into cash and other necessities for the world’s poor
Raised hands at school
Environment
For poor and minority children, excessive air pollution creates a toxic learning environment
London residents take a stroll in Hyde Park on an autumn day. A new study showed that taking walks in a park setting may be much more beneficial than a similar walk on a crowded city street.
Lifestyle
When it comes to walking in a park or down a city street, a study finds not all exercise is created equal
Sunmi (left) and Máyori (right) with their mother in their home. Sunmi was diagnosed by the Health Ministry in September 2015 with developmental disabilities, learning disability and chronic epistaxis (nose bleeds) from high levels of lead in her blood.
Health
Centuries of mining take a toll on health in Peruvian communities
coal ash pollution
Science
In a Kentucky lake, fish tell the story of long-term coal ash pollution
Volunteers crouch on the wet sand as they pick up trash from a beach near Mumbai's Versova jetty
Environment
This Mumbai lawyer inspired a massive beach cleanup
BagShare at work
Lifestyle
The BagShare Project promotes a local solution to a global problem
Archive photo of the US’s cold war-era Camp Century in Greenland.
Environment
Waste from a secret US base was left to be entombed “forever” in Greenland’s ice. But forever has changed.
Archive photo of the US’s cold war-era Camp Century in Greenland.
Environment
Waste from a secret US base was left to be entombed “forever” in Greenland’s ice. But forever has changed.
A pile of printer parts dusted with toners like carbon black, a probable carcinogen known to cause respiratory problems.
Economics
The US is still dumping some of its toxic e-waste overseas
LaTanya Dickson's family has to travel 20 miles to get clean water, which they store in jugs under the kitchen table of their hogan on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona.
Environment
An NGO focused on water poverty turns its attention from Africa back to the US
Brazilians embrace at Piscinão de Ramos, an artifical lake next to Guanabara Bay.
Culture
Banned from the beach for pollution, these Brazilians brought beach culture to a lake
Isabel Swan
Environment
Olympic sailor Isabel Swan wants a clean bay in Brazil for the Olympics
A "Water Pickup" sign points to a bottled water distribution center in Flint, Michigan in January. In an effort to save money, state officials running Flint's affairs implemented changes to the city's water system that resulted in widespread lead contamin
Environment
This is your brain on lead, and lots of other nasty pollutants
Microbeads are found in this foaming scrub from Neutrogena.
Environment
Update: Why Canada (and now the US) is banning microbeads
Algae bloom
Environment
This blue-green water may look stunning, but it’s also seriously bad news
Biologist Mario Moscatelli along the shores of Guanabara Bay in Rio
Environment
This ‘Star Wars rebel’ biologist isn’t giving up on cleaning Rio’s polluted bay
Coal fired power plant in Wyoming
Environment
The SCOTUS ruling on mercury emissions stops years of momentum
A mock-up of an atomic waste barrel is pictured at the entrance of the annual meeting of German utility giant E.ON in Essen on May 3, 2012.
Environment
‘It’s worse than any site I’ve been to:’ radioactivity and a Missouri neighborhood
Kong Ning wears a wedding dress decorated with 999 face masks for her performance art work 'Marry the blue sky' as she poses for a photograph in front of the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters on a hazy day in Beijing November 19, 2014.
Environment
China quashes debate on viral documentary on air pollution
MTR explosions
Health
Dust from mountaintop mining promotes the growth of cancer cells, a new study says
Scientists with the US Geological Survey gather samples near coal train tracks in the Columbia Gorge near Washougal, Washington. Little research has been done on how coal interacts with the environment.
Environment
Scientists dig into booming coal exports and their effects on wetlands
In Ohio, concerned citizens can bring water from their wells to a monthly water monitoring program.
Environment
Fearing pollution, some local governments are demanding back zoning control over oil and gas
Business, Economics and Jobs
America’s waste winds up in poorest countries
China smog
Environment
What deteriorating air quality looks like around the world
A police car is seen smashed and overturned as demonstrators protest against the construction of a waste incinerator in Hangzhou, China.
Environment
What makes people overturn police cars in authoritarian China?
An electronic sign above a Paris highway on March 17 reads "Road traffic forbidden for even-numbered license plates." Public transportation was free and drivers of cars with even-numbered license plates faced fines as authorities sought to reduce air poll
Environment
As the air clears in Paris, here’s a look beyond the smog emergency
An electronic sign above a Paris highway on March 17 reads "Road traffic forbidden for even-numbered license plates." Public transportation was free and drivers of cars with even-numbered license plates faced fines as authorities sought to reduce air poll
Environment
As the air clears in Paris, here’s a look beyond the smog emergency
Global Politics
EPA orders less toxic chemical dispersants in oil spill cleanup
smog cop
Environment
China does a “180” on air pollution policy to combat its deadly smog
Two office workers in Beijing told me they're thinking about moving out of the city because of the air pollution.
Environment
Beijingers don masks to defend themselves against dirty air — and to make a fashion statement
Environment
In China, entrepreneurs lead fight to curb air pollution