Monthly Archives: April 2018

Household Products Are Now a Major Source of Outdoor Air Pollution in Urban Areas

1 Reply

By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

6789942482_dbd03d330a_o

Credit: , CC BY-ND 2.0

Air pollution is by the World Health Organization as the “the world’s largest single environmental health risk” and causes of premature deaths annually. is associated with respiratory diseases (including asthma and changes in lung function), cardiovascular diseases, adverse pregnancy outcomes (such as preterm birth), and even death. , the World Health Organization concluded that outdoor air pollution is carcinogen to humans. In other words, air pollution is an —may not always be visible, but it can be deadly. Continue reading →

Air Pollutants Are Transported and TRANSFORMED in the Atmosphere

Leave a reply

A guest post by L. Ciancarella

The following post is one of a series previewing the research that will be presented at the in Rome, Italy (13-17 May 2018).

Atmospheric pollution is a matter of chemistry, not only because human and natural activities emit chemicals, but also because the atmosphere is a chemical reactor with the meteorological and climatic variables activating and/or catalyzing molecules’ transformations. Continue reading →

Micro and Nanoplastics in the Environment: Risk for the Environment and Human Health

Leave a reply

A guest post by Francisca Fernandez-Piñas, Miguel Gonzalez-Pleiter, and Roberto Rosal

The following post is one of a series previewing the research that will be presented at the in Rome, Italy (13-17 May 2018).

The use of plastic materials has been increasing since the mid-20th century to reach current production volumes of more than 300 million metric tons per year. The global flow of plastic materials is still linear, which means it is not “circular,” or a closed loop that results in sustainable re-use. From manufacturing to landfilling, more than 30% of plastic materials end up leaking into the environment in an uncontrolled manner. This is particularly evident in the aquatic environment where plastic debris has been detected in increasing amounts since the 1970s. Continue reading →

Human-Made Changes of the Mississippi River’s Flow Amplify Extreme Flooding

Leave a reply

By Roberta Attanasio, Blog Editor

For millennia, human societies have altered river flows in different ways. In the 20th century, the impact of human activities on rivers and watershed environments has increased exponentially—and engineering works such as channelization and dam construction have created new, complex, hybrid human-natural systems. Continue reading →

Start with the problem, is wildlife in decline or not?

7 Replies

The following post is one of a series previewing the research that will be presented at the in Rome, Italy (13-17 May 2018).

A guest post by Andrew C. Johnson

Over a nearly 30 year career in environmental science I have witnessed scares over pesticides, endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles, and now microplastics. The pattern is largely the same, a chemist detects the substance, and then laboratory tests confirm that some toxic properties exist. Further studies are then carried out in the laboratory at what are called ‘environmentally relevant concentrations,’ which appear to clinch the deal. Catastrophe is around the corner, if it hasn’t happened already.

White_tailed_eagle_raftsund_square_crop

White-tailed eagle grabbing a fish near Raftsund, Lofoten/Norway Photo by Christoph Müller CC-BY 4.0

But what is really happening to exposed wildlife?  Why do we not seem to ask this question?  Could it be that wildlife exposed to our current fashionable substance of concern are prospering, whilst others might be suffering due to something we have not examined yet?  Even worse, existing problems for wildlife might be due to a chemical, such as a metal, which we have lost interest in due to their having gone out of fashion?

Rather than being chemical driven, let us learn to re-connect with trends in wildlife populations and examine their responses to the place and timing of exposure.

Session: Can trends in wildlife populations revolutionise our understanding of the impacts of chemicals on the environment?
15 May 2018 | 8:30 a.m.–10:05 a.m. | Room E

1024px-Killerwhales_jumping

Two mammal-eating “transient” killer whales photographed off the south side of Unimak Island, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Photographer: Robert Pittman Published courtesy of NOAA.