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Dirty Air Leaves a Chemical Trail in Your Blood That May Serve as an Early Warning of Heart Trouble
Breathing dirty air leaves a chemical trail in the blood. Researchers at UCLA Health say part of that trail leads back to the mitochondria, the structures that burn fuel inside nearly every cell.
The markers are two kinds of fatty molecules. Levels rose in mice that breathed diesel exhaust, and they rose in 26 young adults from Los Angeles after several weeks in Beijing. The paper was released on September 24 in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
Outdoor air pollution caused an estimated 4.2 million early deaths in 2019, according to the World Health Organization. The agency puts about 68% of that toll on heart disease and stroke.
Population studies track these types of patterns. The chain of events inside the body is harder to pin down. A review of 95 studies found heart effects from fine particles below current U.S. limits, and it did not settle how the damage happens.
When Data Centers Cluster Together, How Dirty Are They? One County Wants Answers.
Across the United States, thousands of data centers are seeking to break ground — sometimes forming clusters when several are planned near one another. How much pollution might big groups of data centers like these create?
Typically, local zoning boards or planning commissions consider each data-center proposal individually, not as a group. But in one corner of Pennsylvania — where more than a dozen data centers and power plants are being proposed — officials are trying to change that by studying the total air-quality and health effects of all the proposed projects together, before approving them.
“What happens if you put them all in the same valley, around the same neighborhoods?” said Bill Gaughan, a county commissioner in Lackawanna County, where the new study is being undertaken.
As opposition grows nationwide to the pollution caused by data centers and the immense power plants they require, officials in Lackawanna County said they hoped their approach might set a new precedent for how proposals are reviewed in other communities.
New Jersey Hits Data Center With ‘Record’ $1.1M Fine After Drone Exposes 62 Unpermitted Gas Generators
A data center slated to provide “AI infrastructure” to Microsoft later this year has been hit with a $1.07 million fine by the US state of New Jersey after allegedly installing no fewer than 62 natural gas generators on-site without obtaining the correct environmental permits.
The state found out about the generators after a local farmer photographing a neighboring golf course noticed equipment appearing on the campus. This led to an investigation by the nonprofit newsroom Floodlight, in partnership with the Guardian, and the deployment of a thermal drone — which reportedly observed 45 of the 62 generators in operation.
The fine was based on New Jersey’s Air Pollution Control Act, which requires both preconstruction permits to install the generators and operating certificates to run them. Neither had been obtained across all 62 units, the department said in an announcement.
Microplastic Pollution Found in 100% of Delaware River Tributaries Tested
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Fleece fragments in a washer flow into a wastewater treatment plant. A plastic bag blows into a stream. A water bottle washes down a storm drain. All can end up in the region’s waterways as microplastics smaller than a grain of rice and find their way into drinking water and the stomachs of animals and fish.
This kind of microplastic pollution was detected in 22 stream and river segments across the Delaware River watershed, according to a new survey of waterways by the nonprofit advocacy group PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center. Researchers analyzed water samples from sites along the Delaware River and its tributaries across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York.
The research was conducted in partnership with the nonprofit Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center. Scientists with the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University helped analyze the results, which were released Wednesday during a news conference at Fairmount Water Works.
Contamination was found in the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers and the Schuylkill. It was found in Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, Brandywine Creek in Chester County, and Cooper River in Camden County. And it was found along the Christina River in Delaware.
The Global Shell Game Hiding Forever Chemicals
I grew up walking the boardwalk in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, peering into the froth of the Cape Fear River. The name came from 16th-century mariners who feared its mouth, which was known to churn ships into wrecks. But for the last few decades, there has been something new to fear in the river.
The Cape Fear River was tainted with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the Wilmington Star-News reported in 2017, a group of synthetic compounds now commonly known as “forever chemicals.” As their name suggests, forever chemicals are renowned for their persistence. One of the strongest bonds in chemistry, carbon and fluorine, gives PFAS their nonstick properties.
A seemingly endless list of products — dental floss, tampons, cellphones, wall paint, yoga pants, carpets, contact lenses, hair-straightening treatments, toilet paper — rely on those bonds to smooth, harden, slicken, and withstand heat and wear. But that chemical strength also means that PFAS don’t break down in the environment. They accumulate over time, contaminating our soil, produce, fish, and drinking water — and eventually finding their way into us.
