eco-roundup7

Entirely too many items in our inbox to wait for the weekend…

How Did 100,000,000 Women Disappear?

In India, China and sub-Saharan Africa, millions upon millions of women are missing. They are not lost, but dead: victims of violence, discrimination and neglect.

Microbes Eat Hydrocarbons, Leave Behind Non-toxic Residue

ScienceDaily reports that researchers in China have found a new microbe that can digest hydrocarbons, suggesting a more effective approach to bioremediation of toxic spills.

Challenging the Pursuit of Economic Growth for It’s Own Sake

Climate Progress draws a parallel between Robert F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, both of whom challenged our “monomaniacal pursuit of GDP” as part of an unsustainable economic worldview.

Yet Another New, High Water Mark

With the Greenland Ice Sheet melting faster than expected, the eastern United States faces the prospect of a total sea level rise exceeding 6 feet by 2100, based upon our current path of greenhouse gas emissions.

Pulling Clean, Potable Water From Thin Air (Part II)

Last month, we highlighted the EcoBlue home/office unit capable of extracting up to 7 gallons per day from the humidity in the air.  This month, Science Daily reports on a new scalable, autonomous system powered by renewable energy.

EPA’s Mixed Message on Mountaintop Removal Mining

The Obama administration on [June 11] announced steps to alleviate the environmental damage done by mountaintop coal mining in the Appalachian states, vowing stricter scrutiny of proposed mines, stronger oversight of existing projects and — further in the future — new regulations to protect local waterways and wildlife.

But the new efforts will not prohibit the practice of topping mountains, nor will they include a review of dozens of new strip-mining permits approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in recent weeks. The news has left environmentalists cautiously optimistic that the White House will rein in the destructive mining method, but also wary that it hasn’t yet gone far enough.