As concerns over climate change and resource depletion grow, comparing the environmental impact of various products has become something of a pastime: Paper towels or hot-air hand dryers? Paper or plastic grocery bags? Plane, train or automobile? Read full article > >

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Determining the environmental impact of a product is a complex process

For the past three years, promoters of shale gas and environmentalists opposed to coal-fired power plants have hailed the sudden abundance of U.S. natural gas as a bridge to a renewable-energy future. But natural gas has become so cheap that many energy experts and environmentalists now wonder whether it will turn into a long, bumpy detour. Read full article > >

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Cheap natural gas jumbles energy markets, stirs fears it could inhibit renewables

Growing inequality, environmental decline and “teetering” economies mean the world must change the way it does business, a major UN report says.

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UN maps ‘future worth choosing’

An audit released by Apple on Friday reveals widespread violations of worker rights and environmental practices by manufacturing partners for the company’s wildly popular iPhone, iPad and other gadgets around the world. Read full article > >

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Apple report reveals labor, environmental violations

PRIEST LAKE, Idaho — Chantell and Mike Sackett’s dream house, if it is ever built, will have to be situated just so in order to minimize the view of neighboring homes and maximize the vista of pristine water and conifer- covered mountain. But their roughly half-acre lot in the Idaho Panhandle has proved to be the perfect staging ground for a conservative uproar over the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency. Read full article > >

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Supreme Court case involving Idaho lake house ignites conservative cause against EPA

Even as more Americans buy foods labeled organic, the products are moving away from a traditional emphasis on local growing and limited environmental strain.

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Questions About Organic Produce and Sustainability

Brazil fines US oil giant Chevron $5.4m (£3.5m) for breach of its environmental licence when it tackled an oil spill in November.

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Brazil fines Chevron for oil leak

A recent oil spill off Nigeria could have a severe environmental impact on fishing and the coastline, Friends of the Earth warns.

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Nigerian warning over oil spill

Northern Ireland’s environmental crime unit is recruiting more investigators which it is claimed will enable a greater crackdown on law-breakers.

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DoE crime unit planning crackdown

Endangered fairy shrimps are under threat as a dry autumn has affected the ponds they live in, environmentalists say.

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UK’s fairy shrimps under threat

On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency threw back the curtain on its big new regulation to limit mercury emissions and other toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants. As David Roberts writes , this is potentially a very big deal from a public-health perspective, as the rule is expected to “save tens of thousands of lives every year and prevent birth defects, learning disabilities, and respiratory diseases.” Read full article > >

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How to tally up the benefits from EPA’s mercury rule

Washington might be a small town, but sometimes it feels downright tiny. Take, for instance, the new neighbors — on diametrically opposite sides of the political spectrum — who nevertheless found themselves in cozy quarters in the same office building on 15th Street NW. The Natural Resources Defense Council–the greeny environmental group– had been ensconced on the third floor of the building for a few months when a new tenant arrived. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity had moved into a suite only a floor above the green group’s space. Read full article > >

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Enviros, clean-coal advocates make strange bedfellows

Environmental groups are in a stage of transition toward local, grass-roots efforts.

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News Analysis: Environmentalists Get Down to Earth

SAO PAULO — Brazilian federal prosecutors said Wednesday they are seeking $10.6 billion in damages from U.S.-based Chevron Corp. because of environmental harm caused by an offshore oil leak. The prosecutors are also asking a judge to order Chevron and Transocean Ltd., the drilling contractor for the well where the leak occurred in November, to halt all activities in Brazilian territory for an indefinite period. Read full article > >

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Brazilian prosecutors seeking $10B in damages from oil company Chevron for offshore leak

Energy companies that drill for natural gas have spent unprecedented amounts of money lobbying the Cuomo administration as environmentalist groups have struggled to be heard.

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Hydrofracking Debate Spurs Huge Spending by Industry