Glug and Toss Water Bottles Clog Landfills
WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2007 (ENS) –
Environment News Service
Glug and Toss Water Bottles Clog Landfills
May 14, 2007
Bottled water is not only costly at the cash register, it is environmentally costly, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute.
Millions of tons of oil-derived plastics, mostly polyethylene terephthalate, PET, are used to make the water bottles, most of which are not recycled.
Each year, about two million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States, Worldwatch estimates. In 2005, the national recycling rate for PET was only 23.1 percent, far below the 39.7 percent rate achieved a decade earlier.
To add to the environmental bad news, excessive withdrawal of natural mineral or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater, and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping.
“Bottled water may be an industry winner, but it’s an environmental loser,” says Ling Li, a fellow with the Institute’s China Program who authored the update to the annual Worldwatch Vital Signs report.
“The beverage industry benefits the most from our bottled water obsession,” said Li. “But this does nothing for the staggering number of the world’s poor who see safe drinking water as at best a luxury, and at worst, an unattainable goal.”
An estimated 35–50 percent of urban dwellers in Africa and Asia lack adequate access to safe potable water, according to Worldwatch’s State of the World 2007 report.
Bottled water can be between 240 and 10,000 times more expensive than tap water, Worldwatch says. In 2005, bottled water sales in the United States alone generated more than $10 billion in revenue.
Global consumption of bottled water more than doubled between 1997 and 2005, making it the world’s fastest growing commercial beverage.
The United States remains the largest consumer of bottled water, but among the top 10 countries, India has nearly tripled its consumption, while China more than doubled its consumption between 2000 and 2005.
In the United States, regulations concerning bottled water are generally the same as for tap water, but are weaker for some microbial contaminants.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits bottled water to contain certain levels of fecal matter, whereas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not allow any human waste in city tap water, the Worldwatch report points out.
Earth Day 2007: The Pill is Gone!
Environment News Service
Earth Day 2007: The Pill is Gone!
May 7, 2007
MARQUETTE, Michigan (ENS) — –> In an effort to protect drinking water and the Great Lakes, northern Michigan residents honored Earth Day by turning in tens of thousands of prescribed pills plus narcotics with an estimated street value of $500,000 during the third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep.
The 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep targeted out-of-date and unwanted medications of all kinds, according to Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership. More than a ton of pharmaceuticals and personal care products were turned in by the public.
About 2,000 people turned in items but the many had also collected pharmaceuticals from other family and friends, organizers said.
Since Earth Day 2005, the annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweeps have collected nearly 400 tons of hazardous waste for recycling or proper disposal. Federal officials say the projects have all set records for hazardous waste collections in the Great Lakes area, and are an important tool for protecting the environment.
The 2007 clean sweep went off without a hitch thanks to the U.P. chapter of the Michigan Pharmacists Association, and numerous law enforcement agencies including the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and Michigan Sheriff’s Association, organizers said.
Pharmacists and law enforcement officers were present at all collection sites to ensure security and proper collection of the pharmaceuticals, Lindquist said.
“This is what would have been a doctor’s traveling pharmacy,” said Marquette pharmacist Kent Jenema, showing a leather zippered case to an EPA observer. “This has a lot of old patent type medications from mostly natural sources that predates some of the pharmacy that we know today.”
The EPA and Lindquist said the clean sweep targeted medicines because trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are turning up in America’s rivers, lakes, and drinking water. Most treatment plants are not designed to filter out these medications.
When leftover and waste pharmaceuticals get flushed down drains, research is detecting them in lakes and rivers “at levels that could be causing harm to the environment and ecosystem,” said Elizabeth LaPlante, senior manager for the EPA Great Lakes National Programs Office in Chicago, Illinois.
“Specifically, reproductive and development problems in aquatic species, hormonal disruption and antibiotic resistance are some concerns associated with pharmaceuticals in our wastewater,” LaPlante said.
Lindquist said recent national studies show that over 80 percent of the rivers sampled “tested positive for a range of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, birth control hormones, antidepressants, veterinary drugs and other medications.”
The pharmaceuticals collected in Michigan will be taken to an EPA-licensed incinerator at Veolia Environmental Services near St. Louis, Missouri.
The third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep was coordinated by the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Cedar Tree Institute, both Marquette environmental groups and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
The project involves the congregations of over 140 churches and temples representing nine faith communities – Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha’i, Jewish, and Zen Buddhist.
Reverend Jon Magnuson, Earth Keeper Initiative founder, said “one of the gifts that the faith community brings to the environmental movement is that the external damage done in the environment is a reflection of what is going on in the human condition, in the human heart – so as we heal and cleanse the Earth, we are also healing the human heart.”
Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to U.S. Premature Births
http://earthhopenetwork.net/Pesticides_Fertilizers_Linked_US_Premature_Births.htm
Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to U.S. Premature Births
ENS May 7, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
The rising premature birth rate in the United States is associated with increased use of pesticides and fertilizers containing nitrates, according to research by a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine.Paul Winchester, MD, reports his findings today at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting in Toronto, Canada, a combined gathering of the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. “A growing body of evidence suggests that the consequence of prenatal exposure to pesticides and nitrates as well as to other environmental contaminants is detrimental to many outcomes of pregnancy. As a neonatologist, I am seeing a growing number of birth defects, and preterm births, and I think we need to face up to environmental causes,” said Dr. Winchester.
Dr. Paul Winchester is a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and medical director of Newborn Intensive Care Services at St. Francis Hospital, a community hospital in Indianapolis.
A premature baby is born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Premature birth occurs in between eight to 10 percent of all pregnancies in the United States.The rate of premature birth in the United States has risen about 30 percent between 1981, when the government began tracking premature births, and 2005, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The prematurity rate was 9.4 in 1981; it has increased every year since then except for slight dips in 1992 and 2000.
Winchester and his colleagues found that preterm birth rates peaked when pesticides and nitrates measurements in surface water were highest, from April through July, and were lowest when nitrates and pesticides were lowest, in August and September. More than 27 million U.S. live births were studied from 1996-2002. Preterm birth varied from a high of 12.03 percent in June to a low of 10.44 percent in September.
The highest rate of prematurity, 11.91 percent, occurred in May and June and the lowest, 10.79 percent in August and September. These results were independent of maternal age, race, education, marital status, alcohol or cigarette use, or whether the mother was an urban, suburban or rural resident.
Pesticide and nitrate levels in surface water were also highest in May-June and lowest in August and September, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Preterm births in the United States vary month to month in a recurrent and seasonal manner. Pesticides and nitrates similarly vary seasonally in surface water throughout the U.S. Nitrates and pesticides can disrupt endocrine hormones and nitric oxide pathways in the developing fetus,” Winchester said.
Prema
ture baby in an incubator, a controlled safe environment where it can grow until it is functioning independently.
Because they are born too early, premature babies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop and need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, where they stay until their organ systems can work on their own.”I believe this work may lay the foundation for some of the most important basic and clinical research, and public health initiatives of our time,” said James Lemons, MD, professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine.
Dr. Lemons is director of the section of neonatal-perinatal medicine at the IU School of Medicine and heads the Riley Hospital for Children of Clarian Health’s section of neonatal-perinatal medicine. “To recognize that what we put into our environment has potential pandemic effects on pregnancy outcome and possibly on child development is a momentous observation, which hopefully will help transform the way humanity cares for its world,” Lemons said. In young infants, ingestion of nitrates, components of fertilizers that are often washed into surface water and groundwater, can reduce the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.
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Today it is possible to minimize fertilizer applications. Mounted on a high-clearance sprayer, this crop canopy sensors monitor plant greenness, which is translated into a signal by an onboard computer that controls the application rate of nitrogen fertilizer to the soil.
The association between nitrate-contaminated well water and inability of the blood to carry oxygen was first described by Hunter Comly, an Iowa City physician during the early 1940s. In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act set a maximum contaminant concentration for nitrates of 10-milligram per liter for public water supplies, but it does not apply to private wells. In a 1994 survey of 5,500 private water supplies in nine Midwestern states, 13 percent of the wells were found to have nitrate concentrations greater than the standard. The state of Wisconsin is well aware of the problems nitrates in drinking water can cause for premature babies, especially in rural areas. In 2006, the state Department of Natural Resources, DNR, issued a warning that nitrates that are washed into groundwater from fertilizer can be dangerous to infants, and especially to premature infants. “All infants less than six months of age are at risk of nitrate toxicity, but premature babies and babies with other health problems are more sensitive than healthy infants,” the DNR said.
Well owners are advised that the only way to know if their drinking water contains nitrate is to have a water sample tested by a certified laboratory. Testing is recommended for well water used by pregnant women and is “essential for a well that serves infants under six months of age,” the DNR says. The state of Indiana Department of Natural Resources does not address this issue.
At the Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory in Wapato, Washington, a technician applies a test pesticide to a rapeseed variety being grown for canola oil production.
For the past four years, Winchester and colleagues have focused attention on the outcomes of pregnancy in Indiana and the United States in relation to environmental pesticides and nitrates in surface and drinking water. Last year at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting, Dr. Winchester reported that birth defects peak in Indiana and in the United States as a whole during April through July, the same months as pesticides and nitrates reach their maximum concentrations in surface water. This year’s presentation expands upon that work. Collaborating with Dr. Winchester on this study were Akosua Boadiwaa Adu-Boahene and Sarah Kosten of the IU School of Medicine, Alex Williamson of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Ying Jun, PhD of the University of Cincinnati. The work was funded by the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics of the IU School of Medicine.
Glyphosate Testing – RoundUp in Drinking Water
Get Your Drinking Water Tested – Well Water / City Water
New EPA Web Site Makes It Easier To Be Good Environmental Stewards
News for Release: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Contact: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / ryan.dave@epa.gov
(Washington, D.C. – May 2, 2007) The new EPA Web site on stewardship programs, launched today, can help business, government and private citizens make intelligent choices on sustainable environmental benefits. Simple everyday decisions by organizations and individuals on such issues as recycling, reuse or choice of fuel support pollution prevention and environmental stewardship.
The Web site will enable users to find EPA partnership programs, such as the Energy Star energy saving program, which best align with their needs and interests. Businesses can search for EPA programs based on their industrial category, environmental issue of interest, and geographic area. One specific Web site, for example, shows businesses how they can help employees reduce the environmental impacts of commuting.
The Web site also provides information links individuals can use to protect the environment in different settings, such as home, work, school and shopping. One Web site shows citizens how they can use pesticides safely.
For more information see Environmental Stewardship Web Site
Everybody Has Homework on Healthy Schools
New DVD and Other Resources Available to Help Parents, Communities Make the Grade
Children are considered by most health experts to be among the most vulnerable to environmental threats. National Healthy Schools Day is April 30 and on this day, EPA is reminding communities to get involved with their schools to ensure that their facilities are not putting children at risk.
To help with such efforts, EPA is releasing a new, free DVD, “What Your School or Child Care Facility Should Know About Lead in Drinking Water” and a new document, “Water Quality Funding Sources for Schools – A Resource for K-12 and Child Care Facilities.” These materials explain how schools and child care facilities can test for lead in drinking water; report results to parents, students, staff, and other interested parties; and fund actions to address environmental issues in their facilities.
EPA has also developed a wide range of programs and tools, such as the HealthySeat program, dedicated to preventing or resolving environmental issues in schools.
If you need more information on this subject, Contact: Enesta Jones, (202) 564-4355 / jones.enesta@epa.gov
More information on the drinking water resources: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/schools/guidance.html
More information on the Healthy Schools Web Portal: http://www.epa.gov/schools
News Brief
From: “U.S. EPA”
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:33:47 -0500 (CDT)
Gallup Poll: Americans Worry More About Water Than Warming
Gallup Poll: Americans Worry More About Water Than Warming
The American public is most worried about polluted drinking water, although concerns about global warming concerns have grown over the past two years, and are now at their highest level ever, according to the most recent nationwide Gallup poll on attitudes towards the environment.
Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,009 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 11-14. Pollsters asked people if they personally worry a great deal, a fair amount, only a little, or not at all about 10 environmental problems.
A majority of those polled say they worry ‘a great deal’ about four different environment problems involving water – 58 percent are concerned about pollution of drinking water; 53 percent worry about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; 52 percent are concerned about contamination of soil and water by toxic waste; and 51 percent worry about the maintenance of the nation’s supply of fresh water for household needs.
At least four in 10 respondents say they worry a great deal about air pollution (46 percent), damage to the earth’s ozone layer (43 percent), the loss of tropical rain forests (43 percent), and global warming (41 percent).
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed worry about the extinction of plant and animal species. Only 25 percent of Americans worry a great deal about acid rain.
Analyzing the poll results, Gallup’s Joseph Carroll says, ‘Overall, Americans’ concern about global warming has not generally shown much fluctuation since Gallup first asked the question in 1989. Still, concerns about global warming are up slightly this year and are at their highest level recorded by Gallup, albeit by only one percentage point.’
In 1989, roughly one in three Americans worried a great deal about global warming. This sentiment decreased in the mid-1990s, falling to as low as 24 percent in 1997. Then, concerns gradually increased over the next few years, reaching 40 percent in 2000 before dropping again during the earlier part of this decade.
But, worry has been on the rise again in the past two years, with about four in 10 Americans expressing a great deal of worry about the issue.
The poll found that Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to express concern about all of these environmental problems.
Youthography Poll: Government Should Do More for Environment
Youthography, which focuses on polling North America’s young people, found that 58.7 percent of Americans polled aged 14-29 believe that ‘the government should be doing more to protect the environment.’
In Youthography’s latest national Ping survey of more than 1,900 Americans aged 9-29, close to 75 percent said they believe the world will be more polluted in 25 years.
‘Younger generations have grown up with recycling and the notion of being green, and they’re experiencing the most dramatic effects of global warming we’ve seen,’ said Youthography Chief Strategic Officer Mike Farrell.
‘That, coupled with the fact that they feel the government has not taken a leadership role on the environment has left them with a feeling of ‘we need to do this, it’s our future at stake.’ This has brought many of them together, and they are starting to show some momentum as a powerful force. However, these attitudes have not reached a mainstream tipping point in terms of real effects on their actual behavior – yet,’ Farrell said.
Among those between 9-13, 68.8 percent of female participants gave top importance to ‘taking care of the environment,’ while 54.7 percent for males gave the issue top importance.
Of the 14-29 year-olds, the concept of ‘being environmentally friendly’ was rated of top importance by 54.5 percent females and 46.9 percent males.
While more than 90 percent of youth indicate a social cause is important to them, when making purchasing decisions, few are considering whether products are organic, or packaged with recycled materials.
Only 20 percent are worried about how the products they purchase are made and the impact that could have on the Earth.
When shopping, 27.3 percent of 14-29 year olds try to reduce the amount of items with packaging always or most of the time.
When it comes to recycling, all age groups are taking a more active part with close to half of young Americans polled ‘always’ or ‘almost always’ recycling newspapers, cans, bottles and plastics.
The Green Guilt Poll
The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, RBRC, a nonprofit organization focused on rechargeable battery and cell phone recycling, commissioned a public opinion poll to find out where the environmental guilt lies in America.
The survey, which was conducted by GFK Custom Research on behalf of RBRC, reveals that 20 percent of Americans suffer from ‘green guilt,’ and many more admit to less-than-perfect recycling habits.
In fact, only about 52 percent of respondents recycle their glass and cardboard, while roughly 60 percent recycle their newspapers.
About one in every three of those surveyed recycle their used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones, while 14 percent of Americans admitted to not recycling anything at all.
Those who identified themselves as ‘recyclers’ say that the main reason they recycle is to help preserve the environment.
The 43 percent who do not recycle all recyclable items are unclear about their local recycling laws and recycling locations, while 34 percent of Americans feel that it takes too much effort to separate their trash.
Of those polled, 43 percent doubt that their individual actions will have any impact on the future of the environment.
‘We actually found the results of the survey encouraging since most Americans are at least recycling something and just need the proper resources and guidance to help them do more for the environment,’ said Ralph Millard, RBRC executive vice president. ‘RBRC’s Call2Recycle program can help them do just that since it is a free and convenient solution for individuals to recycle their used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones.’
Cell phones collected through the Call2Recycle program will be recycled or refurbished and resold when possible with a portion of the proceeds benefiting select charities.
The survey aimed to identify the one thing that could most easily be incorporated into consumers’ lifestyles in order to protect the environment. One in four respondents felt that they could easily turn off their air conditioning or heat when not at home, while 19 percent said that they could unplug appliances that are not in use.
Nearly 15 percent felt that the easiest habit to adopt would be recycling their used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones, whereas roughly 12 percent would rather bring a coffee mug to their local coffee shop, instead of using paper or Styrofoam cups.
But just as some habits are easy to adopt, others are hard to break. Nearly one-quarter of those surveyed admitted that they could never switch to cloth diapers from disposables, nor would they ever buy a hybrid car.
Who Cares? Care2 Poll Takes Pulse of Conscious Consumers
Care2, an online community of environmentally conscious consumers, polled 800 members of its six million member community to gauge perceptions and misperceptions on global warming and green living and how they affect political views and actions.
This poll found that 76 percent are adopting green living practices for both health and environmental reasons. Eighty-four percent are most interested in greening their homes, while 71 percent want to green their cars, and 61 percent want to green their offices.
Nearly half of those polled (48 percent) said cost is the main obstacle that keeps them from going green, while 35 percent said lack of knowledge about alternatives is an obstacle.
Care2 found that for 88 percent of respondents global warming is a ‘very significant’ issue, and 78 percent think they might be able to change the course of global warming.
Sixty-one percent of those polled think global warming will affect them and their families in a variety of ways, from weather and climate changes to diseases.
The pollsters found that 79 percent of those questioned said that global warming will affect their 2008 presidential votes.
The Green Party and Democrats were viewed as doing the best job of making global warming policy a priority. Democratic candidates most likely to make a difference on global warming are Barack Obama (26 percent), Hillary Clinton (24 percent) and John Edwards (20 percent), the survey found.
Care2 has launched the Internet’s first click-to-donate race to stop global warming. Visit the site http://stopglobalwarming.care2.com and click on one button, and Care2 will make a donation to pay for the removal of one pound of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Orbitz Poll: Majority Will Pay More for Eco-friendly Travel
A new survey by the online travel company Orbitz found that travelers are reassessing how they travel, where they stay and the impact they leave behind when on vacation.
The Orbitz poll was conducted online using MarketTool’s Zommerang panel of 320 adults ages 19-65, who are regular travelers.
Over two-thirds (67 percent) of those polled placed importance on the eco-friendliness of a destination, and 65 percent said it would somewhat impact their decision to stay at a hotel if they knew the hotel was using solar or wind energy to supplement the powering of the building.
A strong majority (63 percent) said they would pay a little more to rent a hybrid vehicle or stay at a green hotel.
More than half (52 percent) of Americans polled said they would be willing to donate a small portion of their vacation budget to help save the environment when booking a trip.
Although great strides have been made regarding eco-travel awareness,
Many of those polled said that destinations in the United States could be doing a better job when it comes to working to protect the environment. More than half believe that the tourism industry in the United States is not environmentally friendly.
‘As a responsible global business within the tourism industry, Orbitz is working to provide its customers with more eco-friendly travel information and choices,’ said Heather Leisman, senior director of merchandising for Orbitz. ‘Orbitz encourages our customers increase their awareness and consideration of the planet – whether sea kayaking in Alaska or cleaning up a beach in Key West.’
Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Rachel Carson
Contest Hopes to Raise Environmental Awareness
EPA and non-profit organizations are teaming up for the third year to sponsor a contest designed to increase environmental stewardship and public awareness of environmental issues. This year, the theme is commemorating the 100th anniversary of environmentalist Rachel Carson’s life.
It is an intergenerational photo, essay, and poetry contest that will be judged by the public. The contest’s intergenerational approach reflects Carson’s efforts through her writings to have adults share with children a sense of wonder about nature and help them discover its joys.
Entries must be joint projects involving a person under age 18 and a person 50 years of age or older and must be received by Friday, June 15. Finalists will be selected by a panel of judges. The public will then be asked to vote for their favorites in each category: photography, essay, and poetry. The winners will be announced in July. More information about the contest and its requirements is available on the Web.
Born on May 27, 1907, Carson is considered the founder of the contemporary environmental movement through her landmark book, Silent Spring. Its publication is credited with causing a reversal in the nation’s pesticide policy.
The contest is sponsored by the U.S. EPA Aging Initiative, Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council Inc.
More information about the contest: http://epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm
Drinking Water Week begins Sunday, May 6
Checking for Leaks Can Save Water
HARRISBURG (April 26) As a water conservation activity to support this week, PADEP is encouraging all homeowners to test their toilets to determine if they leak. Leaks can waste as much as 300 gallons of water a day without anyone noticing.
To find a leak, homeowners can add 10 drops of food coloring and wait about 30 minutes. If the water in the toilet bowl has even a hint of color, it indicates that the tank is leaking. A bad “flapper”, the circular object that covers the hole in the bottom of the tank, causes most leaks. Flappers are fairly easy to replace, and homeowners can buy one for less than $5 at a hardware store.
Homeowners may want to contact their water utility to see if they offer free audits to detect leaks or free pamphlets that instruct them about how to find and fix their own leaks. Repairing leaking toilets saves money and is a positive action consumers can take to protect this limited resource.
April 21 Earth Day Jam to benefit CCEEC
Leadership Carbon will be observing Earth Day on April 21 in a most unique way.
It will be raising funds for the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.
The 2007 Class of Leadership Carbon has assembled a concert featuring five bands which will be performing at Flagstaff Mountain Resort, with the concert being held from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The bands performing will be Bounty Hunter, Becky and the Beasts, Maury and Friends, Chief Brody, and The Three of Us. All are donating their services as a contribution to Earth Day and Leadership Carbon.
Tickets can be purchased from any member of Leadership Carbon, from the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill, Horizons Shop in Jim Thorpe, and Maury’s Music in Coaldale.
They also can be obtained on line by going to www.carboneec.org/earthdayjam.html.
Read full story at tnonline.com
Two Sides to Every Coin
PA Environmental Council Names Sponsors for Governor’s Awards Dinner
The Event Will Honor Winners of the 2007 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence in Harrisburg
HARRISBURG, Pa., April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswireThe Pennsylvania Environmental Council today announced that the Dominion Foundation, Constellation Energy, InterPower/AHL Con and PPL will serve as sponsors for a dinner in Harrisburg on April 17 to honor the recipients of the 2007 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.
Pa. called a culprit in global warming: Only California and Texas produced more greenhouse gases in the U.S., group says.
The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania (April 13, 2007)
Apr. 13–Pennsylvania created more carbon dioxide emissions than all but two other states in 2004, making it “a big part of the global warming problem,” according to an environmental advocacy group.
The Keystone State was behind only Texas and California in giving off fumes considered the primary contributor to climate change, according to PennEnvironment, which issued a report Thursday on nationwide carbon emission trends between 1990 and 2004.
Emissions from coal-burning power plants and automobiles are the main culprits, the group says.