Greenwire/NYTimes.com: Food Insecurity Looms in Parched Horn of Africa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A drought in the Horn of Africa, triggered by the same La Niña episode that caused massive flooding in Australia last year, is plunging millions of pastoralists closer to food insecurity.
Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Uganda are most affected. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 8.4 million people are in need of food aid in the region, according to spokesman David Orr. Thousands of livestock have already died in Kenya and Ethiopia from animal diseases associated with the drought. The severity this year will depend on the rainy season between March and May. [...]
Read MoreGreenwire/NYTimes.com: Study: Human Exposure to BPA ‘Grossly Underestimated’
Americans are likely to be exposed at higher levels than previously thought to bisphenol A, a compound that mimics hormones important to human development and is found in more than 90 percent of people in the United States, according to new research. U.S. EPA says it is OK for humans to take in up to [...]
Read MoreEPA Developing Tool to Assist in Enviro Justice Initiative
July 30 — U.S. EPA is working on a coarse screening tool as part of its “environmental justice” initiative to help its employees spot pockets of people whose health has suffered disproportionally over the years. The Environmental Justice Strategic Enforcement Assessment Tool uses a complex combination of census data, a respiratory hazard index, poverty levels, [...]
Read MoreGreenwire/NYTimes.com: Dengue Re-emerges in U.S., Spurring Race for Vaccine
June 28 — For the first time in more than 65 years, dengue has returned the continental United States, according to an advisory the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued in late May. While a few cases were reported earlier, they were primarily in Americans who had caught the virus abroad or at the [...]
Read MoreGreenwire/NYTimes.com: High-Speed Rail Will Spur Growth in Hub Cities, Says Mayors Report
June 14 – Billions of dollars of new business and tens of thousands of jobs will flow to four hub cities — Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany, N.Y. — where plans for major high-speed rail networks are located, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Their report, released in Oklahoma City today, is the [...]
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