U.S. National Parks are Filled With Mercury and DDT

The national parks of the American west have a well-deserved reputation as places of stunning natural beauty, an abundance of untamed wildlife, and now high levels of airborne pollutants.

A hazy Mt. McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park

I’m guessing you knew about the first two, but the last one was probably new to you. After all, we see out national parks as places to escape America’s polluted urban landscapes and reconnect with Mother Nature. They’re supposed to exist as an oasis of purity in a desert of pollution.

Google Might or Might Not Keep Your Medical Secrets

Oh, the fun the UK-based readers miss out on by not having privatized healthcare.

Google, who we all know and love and may have serious privacy concerns about, is getting into the business of storing, distributing, and making searchable (to you and your medical professionals) your personal healthcare records.

China Denies it Manipulated Air Pollution Results for the Olympics

In the run-up to the 2008 Olympics Beijing’s environment has been under intense scrutiny.

Beijing’s Olympic countdown clock. Image by Steve Cadman

So it’s understandable that at least a few people were suspicious when, after the Wall Street Journal alleged the government was manipulating the results, January and February were announced to have the cleanest air recorded in the city for years.

Ten Years Until Autonomous Robot Soldiers and Terrorist Robobombs

Deadly robots hold a special place in the heart of pop culture consumers.

A Special Weapons Observation Remote Direct-Action System (SWORDS) robot.

Even in some of their earliest appearances in the pulp novels of the 20th century, robots were often treated as evil killing machines. Decades of research into robotics has helped tone down their image somewhat. There are a

Mayor of Chattanooga Pays Tribute in Attempt to Stave off Siege

The face-off between Georgia and Tennessee over the Tennessee River and Nickajack Lake is growing more similar to the fashion in which the Persians and Spartans bantered in “300″ every day.

Steele pays tribute to Egyptian god Ra. Millennia later the mayor of Chattanooga mocks Georgia with a “tribute of water”.

With the announcement Tuesday that Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield was proclaiming it “Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day”–and dispatching a truckload of bottled water to parched Atlanta the following morning– the hours are clearly counting down until the time he finds himself forced to kick Sonny Purdue into a (dry) well.

Environmentalism in 1739

The environmental movement today, much like many other socio-political movements, is focused mainly on the present and future. With that focus, it’s easy to lose sight of how environmentalism, and the environment, came to be where it is now.

This series attempts to give a little more perspective for we environmentalists, who can sometimes regard the world before the industrial revolution as an idyllic place with none of the problems we face in the present day. While

5 Ugliest Baby Animals

Photos of baby animals doing adorable things with mildly clever captions underneath seem to be all the rage.

The Shar-Pei puppy was just a little too cute to make the list, but it’s still ugly. Image by Sasa Klepac

Even this stone-hearted blogger has occasionally been moved to the point of saying “awwwwww” by a particularly adorable photo of a puppy. I think these cute baby animals get too much attention solely because they’re huggable. I want to rectify that and give some attention to the baby animals that only a mother could love.

4 Lost Cities of the Americas

As a kid, I was always fascinated by the fact that cities could be lost and rediscovered. The notion that cities once prosperous and bustling with people have since become forgotten urban deserts eaten by the landscape around them is both fascinating and puzzling at the same time. How can you lose something as large as a city?

Quite easily as it happens. So I’ve decided to start a catalogue - a series if you like, on lost cities that have been

Pollution is Damaging Your Junk

In today’s world, the environment can be an extremely divisive issue.

There are constant political battles between those who believe in global warming effects and those who deny global warming is happening. Industry clashes with activist groups over everything from animal testing to pollution.

South Africa Brings Back Elephant Killing

All across Africa conservation groups are working to preserve populations of threatened elephants from threats like ivory poachers.

An elephant in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Image by Rob Hooft.

Recently, however, the South African government decided that the population in their country was sufficiently large to reinstate elephant culls.

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