"The Environmental Protection Agency and American Lung Association said they’re close to settling a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group to force regulators to issue overdue rules on soot."
"Human activity is affecting Earth in many ways, but a new study suggests that continued population growth and its impact on climate and ecology could trigger a more profound chain reaction of effects within little more than a decade."
Jacob Park, associate professor of Business Strategy and Sustainability at Green Mountain College in Vermont, researches the complex relationship between business and global environmental issues. He writes for the "Sustainable Planet" column of OurWorld 2.0, published by the UN University in Tokyo. Jacob welcomes questions and comments from the SEJ community on his multi-year project exploring social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging economies.
"A Massachusetts solar company to which Mitt Romney personally delivered a $1.5 million loan when he was governor has gone belly up, leaving him vulnerable to the same 'picking winners and losers' charges that he's been lobbing at President Barack Obama over Solyndra."
"The president's reelection campaign wasted no time noting Romney's support for Lowell-based Konarka Technologies, which announced Friday it had filed for bankruptcy protection with plans to lay off more than 80 workers and liquidate its assets.
"Three conservation organizations today filed legal action challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's failure to update air quality standards for acid rain."
"YORK RIVER, Virginia -- Dying wetland trees along Virginia's coastline are evidence that rising sea levels threaten nature and humans, scientists say - and show the limits of political action amid climate change scepticism."
"The state's top wetlands expert has been reinstated after a three-week investigation, but the question of who initiated it and why remains unclear. Connie Bersok was put on paid leave from the state Department of Environmental Protection on May 11, two days after she refused to approve a permit for the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank in Clay County. Bersok told co-workers she had complained to the DEP's inspector general about her bosses' push to approve the Highlands Ranch permit, then wound up suspended herself."
"When award-winning West Virginia anti-coal activist Maria Gunnoe went to Washington, DC, last week, she was prepared for obstructionist tactics. She was prepared to face icy stares and hard questions from Republican lawmakers. She was not prepared to be branded a pedophile."
"A senior Chinese official demanded on Tuesday that foreign embassies stop issuing air pollution readings, saying it was against the law and diplomatic conventions, in pointed criticism of a closely watched U.S. embassy index."
"Five of the biggest names in American business have formed a group to accelerate the development and use of plant-based plastic."
