According to a recent poll, some four in ten Americans believe air pollution is worse today than it was just a few years ago, while another three in ten say it is about the same.  What is the truth?  Well according to Joel Schwartz of the American Enterprise Institute, our air quality is better today than you might expect: "Based on the 8-hour ozone standard, the past three years have been the three lowest-ozone, or smog, years on record. As a result of these three record-low years, the ozone attainment rate skyrocketed from 57 percent of monitoring sites in [...]

Who's to blame for Americans being overweight?  Well some activists and trial lawyers want to point the finger at food and beverage companies.  But according to a recent article on Foodnavigator.com, the vast majority of Americans think consumers themselves, not the makers of chips, cola, or chocolate bars, should shoulder the blame.  Indeed of those surveyed, four in five agreed that Americans are eating too much and becoming more obese, but more than three-quarters don't believe companies should be held legally responsible for our widening waistlines.  But this issue is surely a heavy pocketbook one as well, with obesity-related [...]

Many who believe that we must act quickly to avoid major problems from man-made global warming largely base their arguments on the predictions of computer-generated models.  But are these models trustworthy?  Well according to a major study in the Journal of Geophysical Research, these climate models still have a number of serious problems, and may not even be improving with time.  Amazingly, one portion of the study found that using more realistic simulations of the ocean actually led to worse temperature projections than when less realistic ocean data was used.  It's little wonder then that scientific debate continues to [...]

In the fictional movies War of the Worlds and the Dawn of the Dead, towns and villages were assaulted by space aliens and zombies.  But in a chilling, real world account, a local village in Bangladesh has been under attack from, believe it or not, a large herd of rampaging elephants – and this has wildlife officials quite concerned.  According to the Environmental News Network, hundred of villagers from the town of Barkal recently took refuge on boats after their homes were destroyed and crops were plundered by the marauding mammals.  Attempts to scare the elephants with fire and [...]

Recently the Bush administration proposed relaxing restrictions on controlled aerial shootings of coyotes and wolves in certain designated wilderness areas. While some believe this is bad policy, others like former Fish and Wildlife specialist Jim Beers believe it is an important tool in conservation management. Comments Beers: "Predator control is only done for the good of our society. Wilderness Areas are like any other land unit that harbors harmful predators such as coyotes and cougars that threaten other wildlife, rural communities, businesses, and persons. As wolves and coyotes decimate western elk and antelope herds and cougar attacks on people [...]

The so-called environmental transition contends that as nations become more prosperous, they tend to invest more in keeping the environment clean. But is there any evidence this theory is true? Well according to the free market group PERC, the nation of China might prove to be one such example. Recently the ancient city of Xianyang, home to China's first emperor, just began operating a new sewage disposal facility on a tributary of the Yellow River. The new $37 million U.S. factory will treat tons of city sewage per day - something that hasn't gone on for thousands of years. [...]

Are most people concerned about imminent global warming? Well one may think so, but a new poll indicates at least half the public is cool to the idea of a significant global warming threat, at least anytime soon. Commissioned by NBC News and the Sci-fi channel, the poll found that only 47 percent of those interviewed believed global warming will happen in their lifetime. This is significantly below greater concerns such as an act of terrorism, for which eighty percent of those polled believed it was likely to occur, or a pandemic, which registered as a seventy four percent [...]

To tighten the belt on childhood obesity, a British government agency recently proposed that all ads for junk food be banned from television before 9 p.m. But according to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan of the American Council on Science and Health, there are some weighty problems to such heavy-handed government intervention. For starters, how does one distinguish between junk foods and healthy foods, since fruit juices, for example, are high in sugar, while avocados, butter, and cheese are high in fat. Since she also points out that in a well-balanced diet, there is room for moderate intake of fun foods [...]

Fifty years ago, the chief architect of our interstate highway system said his roads would take Americans "from anywhere to everywhere." Well, Americans do enjoy their interstate mobility, but in America's major cities, traffic congestion now causes some 3.7 billion hours of delay, and wastes over 2 billion gallons of fuel per year. That's why, according to Ted Balaker of the Reason Foundation, there's mounting support for public-private partnerships that are using new toll roads and variably priced toll lanes to ease the congestion. Indeed, with Texas now embarking on a privately financed, $7 billion road from San Antonio [...]

How much disease and death around the world could be prevented through healthier environments? Well the answer is quite a lot, according to an important new global study by the World Health Organization. The study found that approximately 1/4 of all premature deaths around the world, and more than 1/3 of those among children, were attributable to various environmental factors. Most significant among these were diarrhea caused by unsafe drinking water and sanitation, and lower respiratory infections caused by the indoor burning of solid fuels like wood and dung. But in some respects, this report also offers encouragement, since [...]

When June Carabell decided to fill in a few ditches on her property, she never realized she might be violating the federal Clean Water Act, nor that her case, which was recently decided by the Supreme Court would be a ground breaking victory for property owners everywhere. Comments Congressman Richard Pombo: "When the government interprets man-made ditches as waterways deserving Clean Water Act protection, we have clearly deviated from the original intention of the Act. The Supreme Court is right to demand that lower courts clarify what waterways merit protection under the Clean Water Act. This should hearten private [...]

When you think of Superfund cleanup, you probably think of toxic waste and Love Canal, not your local family farm. But that could soon change is some environmentalist get their way who, believe it or not, think that animal manure should be treated like industrial waste. According the Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com, environmental groups including the NRDC and Sierra Club are demanding that Congress refuse to clarify that Superfund was never intended to apply to animal waste. This is significant because even though manure is already heavily regulated under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, huge penalties [...]

When you think of lasers, you probably think of devices used by Luke Skywalker or the Starship Enterprise.  But if some scientists at EPA have their way, you'll soon think of lasers as weapons to fight air pollution.  This, according to the Junk Science home page, which recently reported that atmospheric scientists using NASA technology have been roving the streets of Boston, New York, and Manchester, New Hampshire firing lasers at the tailpipes of city buses –  not looking to destroy the vehicles, of course, but looking for evidence of air pollution.  The lasers produce low-powered light beams that [...]