environmental damage

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AI Helps Make Fast Fashion Giant Shein a Top Polluter
AI Is Juicing Fast
Fashion's Biggest Polluter
longform
Sep 29, 2024 11:30 AM CDT

AI Is Juicing Fast Fashion's Biggest Polluter

Shein nearly doubled its carbon emissions in 2023

(Newser) - Fast fashion and artificial intelligence have bad environmental rap sheets on their own, so what happens when you combine the two? Grist reports that the top dog in fast fashion , Shein, has established goals to reduce carbon emissions, but the company's use of AI to optimize their model may...

Couple Didn't Get the Memo on Over-the-Top Gender Reveals

Now they're under fire after Brazilian waterfall was dyed blue, possibly causing environmental damage

(Newser) - In the latest gender reveal celebration gone awry , a couple is being accused of possibly causing environmental damage after an entire waterfall was dyed in their honor. The Washington Post reports the incident took place Sunday in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, where the 59-foot Cachoeira Queima-Pe waterfall plunges...

Amid War in Ukraine, a New Looming Concern

Contamination of nation's water, air, and soil could take years to assess and clean up, experts warn

(Newser) - Death and destruction isn't all that's been left in the wake of Russia's unrelenting war on Ukraine. Contamination of the nation's water, air, and soil are also now a concern, and it's an issue that could take years to remedy. Fires, explosions, building collapses, and...

Protests Pressure Serbia on Environment

Weekend actions demand cleaner air, end to mining project

(Newser) - Thousands of people rallied in Belgrade on Sunday to demand an end to Serbia's alarming levels of air pollution. The rally came a day after another environmental protest in which demonstrators blocked bridges and roads in different parts of the country and scuffled with riot police, the AP reports....

500M Animals Feared Dead in Australia Fires

'Our concern is that ... they're not there anymore, basically'

(Newser) - Those devastated to learn of the likely deaths of thousands of koalas in Australia's wildfires should take a deep breath. Ecologists from the University of Sydney now estimate some 480 million animals have been killed since September, per News.com.au . The outlet notes the figure is "likely...

After Man Dumps Fridge in Ravine, Cops Get Last Laugh
After Man Dumps Fridge in
Ravine, Cops Get Last Laugh
in case you missed it
Aug 10, 2019 2:41 PM CDT

After Man Dumps Fridge in Ravine, Cops Get Last Laugh

The culprit had to drag it back up

(Newser) - Let the punishment fit the crime? That's what police in Spain did when they forced a man to drag a refrigerator up a deep ravine. Police say the 24-year-old is the person seen in viral footage tipping a fridge down the ravine in Almería. "We're going...

Researchers See Controversial Way to Help Planet

It involves getting rid of meat and dairy agriculture, or at least reducing

(Newser) - A comprehensive new study finds that more than 75% of the world's farmland—an area the size of the US, EU, China, and Australia combined—could be freed up for new uses and the world still wouldn't go hungry. The big catch: Humans would have to stop consuming...

Hurricane Harvey's Toxic Impact Wasn't Fully Disclosed

6 months later, only a few spills have been investigated by the feds: AP

(Newser) - More than a half-year after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, the extent of the resulting environmental assault is beginning to surface, while questions about the long-term consequences for human health remain unanswered. County, state, and federal records pieced together by the AP and Houston Chronicle reveal more than...

The Oil Slicks Covered 4 Square Miles. A Day Later, 13 Times That

Environmentalists are fretting after tanker spill in East China Sea

(Newser) - Environmental activists are raising the alarm following what the New York Times calls the largest tanker oil spill in nearly 30 years. The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tons, or more than 1 million barrels, of natural gas condensate when it collided with a freighter in the East China Sea...

One of America's Most Toxic Places: a Town Called Picher

Only 3 residents remain

(Newser) - The former lead and zinc mining boomtown of Picher, Okla., has seen better days. It swelled to some 14,000 residents when bullet demand rose during both World War I and II, with Wired reporting previously that "most" of the lead found in bullets used by America during those...

Yellow Sludge From Colorado Mine Spill Reaches New Mexico

And, it's headed for Utah next

(Newser) - A plume of yellow sludge spilling from an old gold mine into the Animas River in Colorado has arrived in New Mexico. Communities affected by the sludge have a 90-day water supply, and water treatment plants are no longer drawing from the river. A cleanup crew supervised by the EPA...

Scientists: China's Bulldozing of Mountains Is Nuts

Chinese experts say environmental damage is already evident

(Newser) - China is bulldozing its mountains by the dozen to make way for cities—a move that could prove disastrous, Chinese scientists warn in Nature . The country is only a fraction of the way through its plan to flatten more than 700 mountains, move the debris into valleys, and build on...

Why Calif. Pot Farmers Open Fire on Scientists

In California, marijuana growers are damaging the environment

(Newser) - Think pot growers are kind, environmentally-minded hippies? Not in the so-called Emerald Triangle, a weed-farming region of California where illegal growers are spewing pollution, poisoning wildlife, and scaring scientists away from probing the environmental effects of pot-growing, Mother Jones reports. One wildlife ecologist received threats against his family, and researchers...

Air Pollution Is Going to Be China's Biggest Export

William Pesek: This 'geopolitical headache' has dangerous implications

(Newser) - Home to 16 of the 20 dirtiest cities on Earth, some of the world's filthiest waters, and deadly, particulate-filled air, China is growing so polluted that it is threatening both the Communist Party's leadership at home and the quality of life around the region, writes William Pesek in...

China's Growth Destroyed 80% of Its Coral Reefs

Alarming degradation found, 'window of opportunity' to save them closing

(Newser) - Thirty years of dynamic growth in China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but the environmental damage has been brutal. The latest evidence: More than 80% of its coral reefs are gone, thanks to development, overfishing, and pollution, reports AFP . A new report calls the damage "a...

Gulf's Mystery Sheen Baffles BP, Coast Guard

But the once-burst well is still sealed

(Newser) - Underwater inspections conducted with robot submarines at the site of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have failed to identify the source of a persistent sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, officials said yesterday. It's not all bad news: The Coast Guard and BP both said...

Study: Electric Cars Hurt the Environment

At least in areas that burn fossil fuels for electricity

(Newser) - Buying a Model S or a Leaf might not be the proverbial tree hug you thought it was. Electric cars actually harm the environment more than their gas-powered counterparts in many places, a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has concluded. That's in part because...

Sand Mining Craze Stirs Up Health Fears
 Sand Mining 
 Craze Stirs Up 
 Health Fears 
in case you missed it
May 19, 2012 7:15 AM CDT

Sand Mining Craze Stirs Up Health Fears

But fracking companies love the tiny particles

(Newser) - The upper Midwest is home to the latest craze in American mining: sand. Mining companies are knocking on doors in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and nearby states to dig up tons of the stuff so oil and gas producers can inject it into the ground in a process known as fracking. Sand...

BP Faces $52B in Gulf Spill Fines

With trial to begin tomorrow, lawyers negotiating furiously

(Newser) - With the trials set to begin tomorrow for BP and the other companies involved in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP alone could conceivably face up to $52 billion in fines and compensation, reports the AP . Under the Clean Water Act, which requires a minimum of $1,100...

NZ Shipwreck Breaks Apart, Threatens New Oil Spill

Nearly 400 tons of oil could leak as storms pound wreck

(Newser) - A cargo ship that has been grounded off the New Zealand coast since October broke in two last night, spilling more debris and raising fears of further oil leakage, reports the AP . Nearly 400 tons of oil leaked into the ocean soon after the Rena ran aground, and 1,100...

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