Tag - pollution

 
Menu
Search
 
May 09, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

POLLUTION

PFAS does not break down easily and remains in the body and the environment for a number of years, and is thus called “forever chemicals.”
JAPAN / Explainer
Mar 4, 2024
Japan’s food safety panel drafts intake limit for 'forever chemicals'
The report spells out the “tolerable daily intake” of PFAS through food for the first time. Here's what you need to know.
A satellite image shows the Rubymar cargo ship on Friday after it was heavily damaged in a Feb. 19 missile strike claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
WORLD
Mar 3, 2024
Ship sunk by Houthis threatens Red Sea environment
The sinking marks the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting ships in November.
A housing development next to the Sasol’s petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 2, 2024
What it's like to live in the most polluted place on Earth
Coal and steel plants offer steady work for residents in South Africa's Vaal Triangle, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a presidential permit for energy development that he signed during a tour of an oil rig in Midland, Texas, in July 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2024
How the planet could survive another Trump term
In his first term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, rolled back environmental regulations, unleashed gas drilling and more.
Smoke rises from the Posco steel mill in Pohang, South Korea.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
South Korea’s biggest polluters made millions from carbon sales
Seoul was one of the first in Asia to start an emissions-trading system, but it has fallen short of encouraging industrial polluters to reduce pollution.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that Japan's discharge of treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the sea was consistent with international safety standards.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 23, 2024
Indonesian activists sue Japan over release of treated water
They want Tokyo to stop releasing wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Activists hold placards during a rally ahead of environment day in Jakarta on June 4, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 1, 2024
Green pledges lack ambition, say Indonesian youth ahead of vote
While candidates have spoken during campaigns about the urgent risks posed by climate change, in a new development, detail is missing from policies.
The most relevant measure to gauge plastic bag use isn’t how many carriers get used, but how much material is consumed and how much pollution is produced in their making.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2024
Plastic bag bans have failed in every way except one
Reusable plastic bags need to be used 52 times before its environmental impact drops below that of a disposable one, according to a 2018 Danish study.
A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency with scientists from China, South Korea and Canada observe baskets of fish to be taken as samples at Hisanohama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, in October.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2024
IAEA reaffirms Japan's treated water release in line with standards
The report was based on a review carried out in October by a task force comprising the agency's officials and independent experts from 11 countries.
A paper published in The Lancet in December found that plastics likely enter most of our major organs and even affect the good bacteria that makes up our microbiome.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024
We don't know how worried we should be about nanoplastics
Nanoparticles can slip into the bloodstream, get into organs, and sneak into cells where they may cause harm.
Some 5 million people globally die of causes related to air pollution from fossil fuels each year and climate change has a huge impact on people's health and psychological well-being.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024
We’re finally recognizing climate change’s mental health toll
Climate change's impact on health, including psychological well-being, is overwhelming. COP28 took stock of this and put youth at the center of discussions like never before.
One way to cut the steel industry’s emissions is to recycle more iron and steel products than the world currently does.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2024
What steel decarbonization needs
One way to cut the industry's emissions is by recycling more iron and steel products than we currently do.
Climate activists install a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron at Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel tower to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, in December 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024
We need to remain true to the pillars of green wisdom
While the Group of Seven countries bear the greatest CO2 responsibility, China, which is now the second-largest emitter in history, must be fully committed, too.
Columbia University researchers have found that on average, bottled water contain 110,000 to 370,000 tiny plastic particles in each liter, 90% of them nanoplastics.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 9, 2024
Bottled water has more plastic particles than previously thought
The discovery of nanoplastics, which could not be detected until recently, suggests that health concerns linked to plastic pollution may be dramatically underestimated.
Kotaro Seki, CEO of Ellange, in front of the truck that he uses to collect nets from fisheries
JAPAN / Society / OUR PLANET
Jan 7, 2024
Trash into treasure: Can fishing net waste be the future of fashion?
A pair of Japanese startups are looking to solve a problem for the nation's fisheries: What to do with old fishing nets.
Voters in countries representing more than 40% of the world’s population, including India, Indonesia and the U.S., will go to the polls between now and the end of 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2023
Democracy and climate politics are set to collide next year
Voters in countries representing more than 40% of the world’s population will go to the polls between now and the end of next year.
Scientists discovered what they described as widespread and dangerous levels of toxic chromium in areas of Northern California severely burned by wildfires in 2019 and 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 15, 2023
Wildfires are unleashing dangerous metals from soil, study shows
Firefighters and anyone living downwind of a wildfire would be at most immediate risk if chromium 6 becomes airborne.
Traffic along a highway amid heavy smog and pollution in New Delhi in November
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 7, 2023
As China enjoys cleaner air, India's pollution struggle continues
Huge swaths of northern India choke on clouds of polluted air during winter as temperatures drop, winds disappear and farmers set fields ablaze.
Workers organize used clothing for packaging at a warehouse near Barcelona on Aug. 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 7, 2023
How to fix the carbon crisis in fast fashion
Positive partnerships between brands and manufacturers are crucial for the sector to achieve its net-zero goals.
While broad-based action at the COP28 summit is critical, the fact is that just a few key actors such as the U.S., China and India have the power to bring about a radical reduction in global emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023
COP28 can deliver progress on climate change, but will it?
Committed global climate action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge.
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Thanks, tourists. Views of Mount Fuji are now blocked.
Tourists pose in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji on Friday in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Local residents are upset over littering, overcrowding and the inconvenience caused by the visitors.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Two more arrested over brutal murder of couple in Tochigi
A vehicle carrying Seiha Sekine, the 32-year-old common-law husband of the deceased Tokyo couple's first daughter, leaves a police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Tuesday.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Xi bristles as Macron and von der Leyen urge China to do more on Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen walk after their meeting in Paris on Monday.
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view
Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER