Another prenatal precaution has been added to the running list: don’t breathe! A number of studies have concluded exposure to air pollution, such as that found routinely in major American cities, can adversely affect fetal development (see "Womb Pollution?" In Brief, November/December 2004).
In 1992, Alabama faced a unique situation—a surplus of income from offshore drilling. Voters overwhelmingly backed a plan that would use the money to save the state’s rapidly vanishing landscape. The program was called Forever Wild and since its inception it has purchased more than 100,000 acres of land and wetlands.
Anthropologist Elizabeth Guillette found a community of farmers in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico that was divided by geography and culture. Farmers living in the lower lands of the valley adopted modern fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, while their counterparts living on the mountain continued farming without commercial chemicals. Guillette found that children of farmers who use chemicals produce less-detailed and less-accurate drawings than those raised by indigenous farmers who use natural agricultural practices.
Dentistry is the third-leading user of mercury in the United States economy and is the largest source of mercury pollution in wastewater.
Scientists continue to investigate the role of predatory carnivores as an indispensable element in the “green world hypothesis.”
More and more animal diseases are “jumping” the species barrier to infect human beings, and the avian influenza strain H5N1 is no exception. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since 2003, 170 people have contracted avian influenza H5N1, 90 of whom have died.
During summer break, many college students spend their free time working at fast food joints or hanging out with friends. But University of Texas student Amanda Cuellar spent last summer doing much-needed development work in Mexico, working with Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW).
Backpackers take note: New developments in eco-hostelling are providing rucksack-toting travelers with environmentally friendly alternatives to the typical budget flophouse. The Minneapolis EcoHostel opened last year as a comfy guesthouse in the heart of Minnesota’s Twin Cities.
The lure of catching wildlife on camera may save Texas Hill Country ranchers" way of life, not to mention disappearing open spaces. Instead of shooting deer with a rifle, people are paying money for a chance at shooting wildlife on film.
From November to April, hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to whale-watching excursions in the Hawai`ian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Few of these visitors realize that their boats are dumping sewage directly into the sanctuary.
