Unearthed

An Atlanta-based company offers what they say is an ecologically friendly and lasting solution that incorporates cremated remains into artificial reefs.

From Barbie dolls to the latest consumer gadgets, most of the goods stocking North American store shelves arrive by ship. Large marine vessels such as container ships and oil tankers are one of the least-regulated sources of air pollution in the United States. As these ships make their way to and from their ports of call, a steady stream of toxic filth is released from their smokestacks.

More than 28 million Americans patronize tanning salons each year, with young women constituting the fastest-growing group of users. A recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found a staggering 51 percent of high school girls visited tanning beds at least four times in the past year. "Laying out" is a cheap pastime—sessions under the lights run for roughly five bucks a pop—but dermatologists wonder about the long-term costs.

When the 175-acre Villa Montalvo estate in Saratoga was bequeathed to the state of California in 1930, the owner stipulated that the new park continue nurturing music, art, literature and architecture. One result was the creation, in 1942, of the oldest artists’ residency program west of the Mississippi. In 1998, Villa Montalvo’s board of trustees […]

Despite findings which link the pesticide atrazine to sexual mutations in frogs, EPA is considering a 3-4-fold increase for atrazine in drinking water.

Institute for Environmental Research and Education will ask residents to decide how they should combine energy from the sun, wind, composting and tides to wean themselves from fossil fuels. Someday soon, cars will run on island-produced power stored in the form of hydrogen.

A Natural Multi-Vitamin Which tree grows quickly, provides tasty and nutritious food, is both resilient and common in tropical areas, and can even purify water—but has been overlooked by modern medicine? The Moringa or “drumstick” tree (moringa oleifera) “is an all-natural, inexpensive and accessible multi-vitamin,” said Lowell Fuglie, West Africa representative of Church World Service. […]

The soot spewing from the exhaust pipes of diesel buses doesn’t just look dirty, it is dirty. Diesel exhaust accounts for 20 percent of U.S. air pollution, says the Natural Resources Defense Council. Some forward-thinking transit agencies are fighting back with hybrid diesel-electric buses. New York City Transit (NYCT), for example, took the lead and […]

Even without global warming, Phoenix has been the poster child for what’s known as the heat-island effect. Asphalt radiates solar heat like a stovetop, creating a heat island where farmlands and desert have been paved over to make room for tract housing and some four million vehicles. The heat island has become a large land mass. And it’s getting hotter. Global warming and runaway development could make Phoenix hell on Earth—with freeways.