Recent US events have highlighted how the use of coal for energy can endanger the health of our rivers.
Environmental Health
Stopping chemical catastrophes: Can we do better than calling for stronger storage tanks?
More than a month after the Freedom Industries chemical spill in West Virginia, it remains unclear if Charleston’s water is truly safe to drink and what the health consequences of exposure to these chemicals may be. Legislation has been introduced that calls for more inspections, better tank construction, overflow containment and emergency response. But why not go beyond and also call for safer chemistry?
Environmental Health
Let’s not call it a “spill,” thousands of gallons of MCHM in water supply of 300,000 West Virginians
This is probably too much to hope: the water contamination emergency in WV be recognized as the latest example of the inadequacies in our nation’s policies on toxic chemicals.
Today is World Water Day, and this year the celebration focuses on The Year of International Water Cooperation. UN Water reminds us that rivers often flow through multiple countries, and actions by one country or community can affect their neighbors’ ability to meet their water needs.
Haiti’s cholera epidemic began in late 2010, following the earthquake that devastated the country. Now, the country is requesting international funds for a 10-year-plan that can not only eliminate cholera transmission, but strengthen public health overall.
Environmental Health
Demands for safer working conditions, fair wages drew Martin Luther King to Memphis
Today we commemorate the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated in Memphis, TN in April 1968. The civil rights leader was visiting Memphis to support hundreds of city sanitation workers in their demands for safer working conditions and dignity on the job.
A study on use of new cookstoves in India finds that solving soot problems isn’t as simple as just giving people new stoves. Long-term use of equipment provided by aid groups is also an issue in water and sanitation projects.
Forty years ago today, the Clean Water Act was enacted. Since then, US waterways have gotten cleaner – but some people seem to be forgetting why we need regulation like this in the first place.
A study on use of new cookstoves in India finds that solving soot problems isn’t as simple as just giving people new stoves. Long-term use of equipment provided by aid groups is also an issue in water and sanitation projects.
Deborah Sontag’s New York Times piece “Haiti’s Cholera Outraced the Experts and Tainted the UN” is a reminder that while public attention to the earthquake-ravaged country has waned, cholera still presents a major threat to the country’s people. It’s also just a sad story about how one apparently small malfunction can have disastrous consequences for […]